Chapter 27 – 28

Chapter 27 – I became very happy!

"Mappaaaaaa!!"

I shouted in vain. Mappa's eyes had rolled back until you could only see the white of his eyes. His mouth was opened lazily as he ascended towards the heavens.

…Or so I thought. But he stopped when he was near the height of a two-story building.

The tree itself had suddenly stopped growing.

Mappa looked quite red and was breathing heavily, but it seemed like his life wasn't in danger.

If anything…he seemed happy?

…In any case, it was necessary to rescue him at once.

"Mappa! I'm going to get you out of there!! Still, what a big tree…"

I said as I looked up at it.

At a height that was double…no, more than double of Sheorl Island, there was a roof of green.

It was maybe just a little taller than the highest tower of the royal castle that I used to live in…

The width of the trunk already took up about half of the reclaimed ground.

Who would have thought that it would grow this much with just one Sun Stone?

What if we had used more… I couldn't imagine what the result would be.

Rienna and I headed towards Mappa.

However, he was so high that I wasn't sure how we could rescue him immediately.

Besides, he still had an expression that made me want to look away.

Around him, I could see what looked like glimmering gold dust.

The powder surrounded Mappa and rained down on us.

Some of it probably went in our mouths and noses, but it didn't smell bad.

If anything, there was something sweet and comforting about it.

"…In any case, this will be hard if it's just us. We'll have to bring the Golems and have Erevan rescue him with an axe… Rienna, I'll go and call them."

Just as I was about to leave, Rienna grabbed my arm with a firm grip.

"Ri-Rienna…?"

"Lord Heal… I…I…"

When I turned to look at her, I saw that she was shaking.

Was she under the weather?

As for me…I felt a little dizzy myself.

But then she smiled and said,

"…I'm! I'm just so happy!!"

"Huh?"

"Happy to be here with you. …Oh! Sometimes I wonder if I deserve to be so happy!"

As I looked at her with a puzzled expression, she grabbed both of my hands.

This was no time for such nonsense.

Where was the usual, serious Rienna?

I tried to pull my hands away.

However, my body completely ignored my head.

…Yes, I felt quite happy right now as well.

It was like there was a field of flowers in my head and there, people with white wings were laughing and dancing.

Yes, we were happy now.

What was the rush? We could take our time.

I nodded and squeezed her hand back.

"Rienna… I'm also happy to be here with you."

"Ohh, Lord Heal…"

We stared into each others' eyes for a while and then started to move in a circle while our hands were joined.

Rienna was on the right and I was on the left… We hummed and danced.

Her long hair flowed in the wind and her cheerful smile beamed.

"Hehe! Lord Heal!!"

"Hahaha! What is it, Rienna!?"

"I'm very fond of you, Lord Heal!"

I almost said, 'Huh?'

However, she quickly continued.

"I'm very fond of you! I adore you, Lord Heal! More than anyone in this world!"

I could have cried from happiness then, but I answered with a laugh instead.

"I feel the same, Rienna!!"

"Hehe. Yes! Lord Heal, promise me! Promise me that we'll always be together!"

"Of course! Hahaha!"

As I laughed, the kobold baby stuck his head out of my shirt.

Then he climbed onto my shoulder and seemed to be dancing too.

…Huh? Oh, well…

And like that, we danced for a while as if in a dream.

～～～～～

At the same time, the others looked at the new tree in astonishment from the cave.

Erevan couldn't help but stare up at it.

"Wh-what is that!? What happened to the Chief and the Princess!?"

Fule replied.

"Father! I'll go and call Baris!"

"Ye-yes!"

As Fule went running off, the other goblins, kobolds, and Cave Spiders came to see what was happening.

Taran, who had been mining, and Ashton and Haines, who had been digging the new rooms, were among them.

Ashton looked at this tree he had never seen before and then questioned Erevan.

"Ere…van… What is happening!? What is that tree!?"

"How should I know!! …In any case, something is wrong. I don't care about that naked old man… But the Chief and the Princess! We have to help them!"

"…Ce-certainly!"

Erevan took the lead as the group of monsters headed towards Heal and the others.

When they were close, Erevan shouted.

"Chief!! What happened? Chief!"

"Ah, Erevan! Listen! I'm very fond of you!!"

"Chi-chief!? Whi-while it is an honor, I don't intend on ever…after my wife died… I mean, in the first place…"

"Just come over here! You will be happy too! Taran, Ashton, Haines! All of you! Come quick!!"

Erevan looked confused by Heal's words.

Heal had had a creepy smile when they first met him. But now he truly looked happy from the bottom of his heart.

And that was something Erevan had never seen before. And so he was cautious.

I can't deal with this… That's what he thought.

But when the golden dust entered his vision, it was too late.

"Chi-chief…"

Erevan's hard face immediately grew slack.

His head was also a flower field now.

Taran and the other monsters were no different. Eventually, everyone joined hands or moved shoulder to shoulder in a circle.

"Gahahahaha!! This is good! Right? Don't you think so!?"

Erevan laughed. He was right between Ashton and Haines as they joined the circle.

"Yes, Erevan!! I feel great!!"

Ashton replied with a laugh as he danced with Erevan.

When the others saw Heal and the group laughing and dancing, they ran from the cave in order to join them.

And they too breathed in the golden dust and joined hands in the circle.

It was then that Fule finally arrived with Baris.

However, Fule saw that the situation had worsened.

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"Huh!? Now father and the others are affected as well!? Baris! You must do something quick!"

"Calm down, Fule. It is very clear that this great tree is the reason they are acting this way. If we go, we will become just like them."

"Th-then…what should we do…?"

"Hmm… It seems that it's not so much the tree, but the gold dust that is coming from the spot that Mappa is. Shiel, could you call the Golems?"

Baris asked. Shiel stretched its body as if in a salute. Then it headed towards the cave.

"Wh-what are you going to do?"

"That the Golems are not living creatures…is not something I can say with confidence…but they do not breathe at least. They should be able to save Mappa and plug that hole. Fule, we must bring spider webs in order to cover it."

"Ye-yes!"

And like that, Baris's plan to save the others was put into action.

First, the Mithril Golem headed towards Mappa. Then the other Golems climbed onto its shoulders and they tore away the bark in order to save him.

When they did, Mappa's eyes were still rolled back and he was drooping with his tongue sticking out.

The Golem quickly passed him down to another Golem and then used the spider webs to plug up the hole.

Still, the people below remained in their state of ecstasy for some time after that. And so the dance of happiness continued.

However, after a while, Erevan looked like he had suddenly returned to his senses.

He looked over to Ashton and Haines.

Why was he with them…? And why was everyone laughing?

As he looked at them in shock, Ashton and Haines also returned to normal.

Erevan moved away from the circle immediately.

"Wh-why would I be with the likes of you!? What did you do to me!?"

"W-we didn't do… Uh, what were we doing…"

"Brother… It must have been that golden dust. We breathed it in, and it did something to our minds…"

Haines said to Ashton.

By then, most of the monsters had returned to normal.

～～～～～

I realized that the monsters around me had stopped dancing.

However, Rienna was still laughing happily in front of me and holding my hand.

When she saw that I had stopped, she smiled as she tilted her head to the side.

While I felt a little sadness over it, I talked to Rienna in my usual voice.

"Ri-Rienna…"

"Yes! What is it, my darling Lord Heal! …Oh!"

Just then, her face returned to normal.

And then her face flushed as the memories seemed to return.

"Oh, uh, I…! I've been terribly rude!"

She was likely embarrassed as what she had said was practically a confession of love.

However, I had said something similar to her and even Erevan, so I understood how she felt.

As for the kobold baby, he was looking at us as if he couldn't understand why we had stopped dancing.

"Uh, no, I'm sorry too… I think it was probably that golden dust that caused it."

"Ye-yes, it must be so…"

Rienna said awkwardly. Just then, Baris and Fule approached us with white cloths covering their mouths.

Considering that Mappa was being carried by a Golem, they must have thought of a way to save us.

"It seems that you are fine…"

Baris said as he lowered the cloth.

"Baris, thank you… I was too careless."

From now on, whether it be seed or stone, I would think harder when using it.

Though, I had known it would be big, and had made the reclaimed ground extra large…

But I hadn't expected it to be this big…

As for the golden dust, I would never have guessed that there would be such a thing.

"No, no. It's not like anyone was hurt. I'm just relieved. …However, what is this tree?"

"The World Tree…I suppose. It grew to this size with just one Sun Stone. I've never seen or heard of anything like this before."

"In our old homeland, there was a great tree that was said to be tens of thousands of years old… However, it was not nearly as large as this one…"

"I'm not an expert when it comes to plants, but I do know that this wasn't in any of the books I read about. Furthermore, when I breathed in the dust, it was like I was under a very pleasant spell…"

Without thinking about, I had inched my way closer to the plugged up hole.

If only I could breathe it in again…

But I held back the urge.

However, the bark of the tree was rapidly repairing itself, and the hole was soon covered entirely.

"It-it healed!?"

"Hmm… I think we will have to study it for a while. There is the dust of course, but also the leaves and trunk… I have some bark that was collected during Mappa's rescue."

"That's true… Oh, so Mappa is…"

I looked around and found Mappa sleeping on top of Shiel the slime.

Then he sat up and blinked.

So, he was fine after all.

He was curiously looking at a piece of the bark that the Golem had torn off.

It seemed like everyone else had returned to normal and were fine.

Erevan turned his back to Ashton and the kobolds and walked back to the cave with Fule.

At least they were safe.

I sighed with relief.

"Good… However, even without that dust, this is such a pleasant place…"

"…Yes. The cool breeze and scent remind me of the forest from back home… If the ground wasn't so rough here, I would like to take a nap."

"I don't know how useful this will be, but I suppose it will be a nice resting spot."

I looked up and saw the leaves of the tree swaying in the wind.

I truly did not expect to ever see such a sight on this island…

And so this was the day that the mostly gray-colored Sheorl island underwent a great change.

And while the World Tree did give us its blessing, it also lured in a most unwanted guest…

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Chapter 28 – I dug up a hot spring!

"…Hmm?"

Fule muttered as she dug next to me.

I also stopped and turned to look. She was staring as her new pickaxe.

Mappa had made it. The head was pure Mithril and the handle was a branch from the World Tree.

The World Tree that we planted yesterday… We'd been inspecting the leaves and branches that fell from it.

Baris tried crushing the leaves and seeing if he could make medicine out of it.

As for the branches, they were astonishingly light.

And yet, they wouldn't break when you hit the rocks… If anything, there were rocks that iron axes couldn't cut, and so we had to use Mithril axes or knives instead.

There was still a lot about the World Tree that we didn't know. But Baris knew more than anyone, and so I left the investigation to him.

On the other hand, we had to do a lot of mining now in order to make up for all of the rock materials that I recently used up. But it also acted as a test for the new pickaxes.

"What is it, Fule? Did something happen with the new pickaxe?"

"No…It's just… You really don't get tired when using it. It's been an hour since we started digging, but I don't get tired like I used to…"

"Huh… Now that you mention it…"

Like Fule, I was also using a pickaxe that was made from Mithril and a branch from the World Tree.

My previous pickaxe had also been made entirely of Mithril and was very light. But this wooden handle was more comfortable to hold.

However, I didn't really feel a difference in terms of getting tired.

That was because I didn't even get tired with the last pickaxe.

Another thing we discovered about the branches of the World Tree, was that they were enveloped in magic.

And so we thought it was possible that they emanated some kind of recovery effect.

Even that gold powder that made us go mad the other day… It wasn't hard to imagine that it too had some kind of healing property.

I wanted to hear some other opinions, and so I called out to Erevan, who was swinging his pickaxe next to Fule.

"Erevan. How about you?"

"Now that I think about it, it might be the case… Well, the conditions are the same."

Erevan said as if he were considering something. Then he swung his pickaxe again.

I tilted my head to the side. What conditions? Then Fule tugged at my sleeve and seemed to be telling me something with her gaze.

She was looking at Ashton and Haines.

The two brothers were also swinging their pickaxes.

"I see…"

I had said that I wanted to dig up a lot of rock materials. And now Erevan was burning with the spirit of rivalry. He would not lose to those two.

As for Ashton and Haines, while they were doing their best. It did not look like they cared to beat Erevan.

Well, it's not like anyone was getting hurt. So I didn't mind…

This kind of competition was more than welcome.

"In any case, don't overwork yourself just because you think that you won't get tired. Okay, Fule?"

"Yes!"

And so we returned to digging.

But after a while, I heard a most terrible sound echo from below my waist.

The sound of cloth being torn apart…

At the same time, my lower half felt quite cold.

Apparently, the bottom part of my pants had ripped…

Well, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, seeing as how much I had been moving.

"…Fule. I'm going to return to the surface for a bit."

"Huh? What happened?"

"Uh, I'm just a little hungry. Let me know if something happens down here."

"Okay, got it."

And so I headed back to the entrance while doing a very strange walk.

I saw then that Rienna and the kobolds were working right outside.

She immediately noticed me and walked over.

"Lord Heal. You must be tired. Would you like to eat?"

"Uh, no… Um, this is a little difficult to say…"

Rienna listened with a puzzled expression.

That being said, there wasn't anyone else I could discuss this intimate problem with.

"My pants ripped… I hate to ask you, but I was wondering if you could patch it up…"

"I see! This is perfect timing!"

"Perfect?"

"Yes! In fact, the kobolds were just teaching me how to tan Killer Bird skin! We Berdans were not very skilled in treating beast leather… But I managed to make something very good!"

"Is that so…"

I looked at the clothes that the kobolds were wearing.

Yes, they were wearing clothes that looked no different from leather items made by humans.

In fact, upon further reflection, I realized that the leather armor worn by Ashton and Haines had actually been very impressive.

It showed that they had great skill in dyeing it as well.

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"I made a few pieces as a test. So, what part of your pants was ripped?"

Rienna leaned forward and stared at my pants…

I suddenly very embarrassed and covered the spot.

She looked at me quizically.

"I-I'll take it off and hand them to you."

"Certainly!"

She said as she waited right in front of me.

Uh…that wasn't making things any easier…

Well, it was just my pants. So I guess it was no big deal…

In fact, Rienna had seen me in my underwear plenty of times.

And so I slid out of my pants.

But for some reason, Rienna's face turned bright red at this.

Huh…?

I looked down.

Apparently, there was a tear in my underwear as well…

Something I had not wanted to show had become exposed.

"Oh… Sorry!!"

I quickly covered myself and tried to pull my pants back up.

I don't think I was ever more frantic in my life.

And so I fumbled and took longer than I should have.

Thankfully, Shiel seemed to detect what was happening and stretched out like a wall in front of me.

Rienna looked embarrassed as she shook her head.

"It-it's nothing to apologize for! …In-in-in any case, it seems like a good time to get you new underwear as well as pants!!"

Rienna said as she rushed back to the workshop where the kobolds were.

Apparently, they were using the Cave Spider webs as well, which was easy to work with.

But…damn it.

Now people would think I was just like Mappa…

And I had so wanted to preserve a degree of respect as the lord of this island…

As my shoulders drooped, someone patted me on the back from behind.

When I turned around, I saw Mappa standing there.

Don't be discouraged? Is that what he was saying?

Um, I didn't need to hear that from a half-naked old man…

"…Hmm? What…"

I noticed that something was showing between the cracks in Mappa's waistcloth.

Mappa saw that I was looking and raised the cloth so that I could see.

…What I then saw, were glossy, brown leather underpants.

Mappa seemed very proud of them, but I couldn't help wanting to look away.

In any case, it seemed like the kobolds had made it for him.

So, even Mappa was wearing underpants now…

Somehow, I felt even more defeated and embarrassed. I picked up a random cloth and wrapped it around my waist and then returned to the cave.

When I arrived, Fule called to me.

"Oh, Lord Heal! Did you finish eating?"

"Uh, ah, yeah…"

"…? Okay…"

Fule had a puzzled expression but did not ask any more questions.

Swinging your pickaxe was the best thing to do when you wanted to forget something.

And so I returned to mining.

While I worked, Fule made an observation.

"You sure seem to be working faster today, Lord Heal."

"Really?"

"Yes…but I'm going to try and keep up."

And so Fule started to swing faster as well.

That's when it happened.

I saw a small hole in the spot that I was digging.

And there was steam and some kind of liquid was spraying out from it.

This…

"Is that…a hot spring!?"

Fule shouted.

Apparently, we had dug up a hot spring.