Chapter 88: The Tree Spirit
“Geo, how did it go?”
“Well… it was better than I expected. They were more understanding than I thought.”
I recounted my interaction with the lord to Shifa, who had been waiting at my house—Anii tagging along as usual.
“So, can we say that the lord has officially approved this?”
“An official Home Garden… huh, I don’t really get it either,” Shifa said with a small laugh.
It wasn’t exactly “official,” but I could be certain that it had been recognized. The location had moved farther away, but the lord had given me permission to expand the garden, and that was already a big deal.
A few days later, Sena, exhausted from studying for the upcoming promotion exam, trudged over.
“Onii-chan, I’m so tired… can you give me something sweet?”
“Well, I suppose I can’t say no. I’ll cut up an apple for you,” I said.
“Yay!”
I pulled an apple from storage and began slicing it efficiently with a knife. At that moment, Miranda, still half-asleep, wandered over.
“I’m hungry too, you know…”
“Here, take it,” I said, tossing a whole apple toward her.
“I feel like you’re treating me worse and worse… shari… mmm, this is good,” she muttered through bites of the crisp apple, complaining while clearly enjoying it.
After that, I teleported to the third Home Garden. With the lord gone, it was time to fetch Milk and Pippi.
“Milk, Pippi, I’m here to take you back—huh?”
“Mofumofu!”
“Nii-nii!”
“Fuwafuwa!”
“Pii-pii!”
The mysterious children who had supposedly run away were now frolicking with Milk and Pippi. They’d come back…
“It feels so nice~”
“It’s warm~”
They were completely at ease, clearly fond of them now.
“Nii!”
“Pippi!”
Milk and Pippi noticed me and turned, and the mysterious children froze when they realized I was there.
“W-w-w! It’s that human from before!”
“He’s back!”
“Nii-nii!”
“Pipipii!”
“Huh? Are we… okay?”
“Are you the master of this soil?”
They seemed to understand each other…?
“M-master!”
“M-master!”
They were… worshipping me?
“This soil is really good~”
“Full of nutrients~”
“Ah, thank you,” I said, accepting their praise of the garden.
“So… who are you guys?” I decided to ask, thinking I might finally be able to communicate with them.
“‘Who are we~?’”
The children exchanged glances and tilted their heads in unison, looking utterly adorable.
“You’re definitely not human, right?”
“Not human~”
“Nope~”
They shook their heads vigorously.
“Then… what are you?”
“‘Who are we~?’”
Still no clue, huh.
“Sorry, that was probably too hard,” I said gently.
“‘Too hard~’”
“Well… then, where did you come from?”
“‘Over there~’”
Each of them pointed in completely different directions. Which one was right?
“Did you both come from different places?”
“‘Together~’”
Yeah… this was going nowhere.
“So, anyway… you just liked this soil and decided to stay?”
“‘Yes~’”
Even if they weren’t human, leaving children of about three years old in a place like this felt a bit worrying. This garden had no protective walls, after all.
Judging by their behavior, they didn’t seem bad, and they’d taken a liking to Milk and Pippi. Maybe I should bring them home.
“There’s a bigger place with soil just like this. Do you want to come with me?”
“Bigger~?”
“Same soil~?”
“Yeah. It’s safe there, unlike here. No need to worry about dangerous monsters, and your friends will be there too.”
The children exchanged glances again, then nodded enthusiastically in unison.
“‘We’ll go~’”
And so, I brought them to the first Home Garden.
“Wow! It’s huge~!”
“Master, it’s amazing~!”
The two of them were overjoyed, running around a garden many times larger than the last. The truth was, there was an even bigger garden beyond this one.
“Hey, hey, wait—who are these kids!?” Shifa exclaimed.
“I picked them up,” I said casually.
“You… picked them up!? You have to make sure they get home properly!”
“Nope. As you can see, they don’t seem to be human,” I explained.
“Could they be Dryads?” Shifa asked.
“You know about them?”
“Dryads are tree spirits, usually living in mountains or forests.”
“Tree spirits…?”
“Yeah. I don’t know the details, but I’ve heard of them. They’re usually very cautious and almost never show themselves in front of humans.”
No wonder they were so scared of humans at first.
“The flowers on their heads… if someone plucks them, they die. But they’re very rare and have been over-harvested by humans before.”
So that’s why they were so afraid. It was terrible that humans could be so cruel.
“Hey, look at that—rare creatures, huh? Those are definitely Dryads.”
Apparently Miranda knew about them too.
“There’s a legendary liquor made by soaking those flowers. I’ve always wanted to try it at least once,” she said, eyes gleaming.
“Wait, no! If you pick those flowers, they’ll die!”
“Relax. You use petals that naturally fall off. No one dies that way,” she explained calmly.
“I see…”
“Still, they’ll be used for liquor forever after that.”
“That’s still awful!”
Apparently, some people had once raised Dryads to use them for liquor-making. They cared for them well, because if the Dryads died, the liquor couldn’t be made.
“In short, it’s like livestock. Whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know. Livestock live much easier and longer than in the wild. Either way, it’s definitely human selfishness,” Miranda said, surprisingly serious.
She could actually be mature sometimes.
“Honestly, I wish I’d been born livestock. Actually… maybe I am, right now. So, master, I’ll be relying on you to raise me properly from now on.”
…And that was when I realized I had been foolish to think she was just joking.