Chapter 81

#81 Episode: The Tin Knight and the Land of Deep Green (11)

Clang! The Tin Knight jumped down from the tree and landed near his companions.

[‘Tin Knight’ declares the end of the hunt!]

“…Yeah. It definitely seems over.”

Dorothea stared at the tree.

From the split tree, a powerful magical energy continued to surge, but there was no will or intelligence to wield it whatsoever.

Adel, covered in the blood of monsters, voiced her confusion.

“Um, what exactly was that? Why did it attack? What in the world was this tree?”

Sophia replied.

“Well, we can’t confirm anything now that it’s been taken down—huh?”

Sophia trailed off.

Narrowing her pink eyes, she revised her statement.

“No, it seems there’s still something left.”

Guided by Sophia, the group moved forward.

A tree split in half.

Seeing the roots embedded in the underworld and the trunk extending toward the ground, Adel blinked in surprise.

“…A house?”

Indeed, it was a house.

Though only remnants of it remained after many years, a structure clearly made by human hands stood there.

Broken walls. A collapsed roof.

In the center lay two corpses, stacked together.

No one alive was there.

There was no sign of the monster that had threatened the group anywhere.

This place was already finished, a home for the dead.

While everyone was at a loss for words at the unexpected sight, Sophia grabbed the hands of her companions.

Channeling wine-colored magical power to the group, she said,

“—Let’s see what happened here. What did the father and daughter, who barely reached their own paradise, go through?”

One, two, three.

Red magical energy filled the eyes of the group.

They reached out toward the cracks that appeared above the two corpses.

***

Once upon a time, long ago.

In a deep forest untouched by human feet, a kind father and his cute daughter lived.

Though they had to lose many things before arriving here, it was okay now.

In this place, there were no people to scorn them. There were no people who glared at them.

Their small but cozy cabin was a serene paradise they had barely attained.

Feeling the warmth they had gained, the daughter was happy.

And, equally, the daughter felt sorrow.

The daughter knew she was a monster.

The father had repeatedly told her she was just an ordinary person, different from others, but everyone except for her father called her a monster.

To protect herself, the father had to give up everything.

Overwhelmed with guilt, the daughter cried silently.

Though she was still weak and incapable of repaying him, she vowed that someday, when she grew up, she would surely make her father happy.

To such a daughter, the trees of the forest spoke.

– Little one, little one. Child born in the shade.

– Born from a tree, living together with the forest, a dryad.

– Unlike your kindred who have been tainted by evil, there is no malice in your heart.

– Unlike those who were chased away long ago, your heart is full of kindness.

– It would be nice if more children like you grew up. It would be wonderful if more children like you stayed with us.

– Please accept our gifts.

Around the cabin where the father and daughter lived, there were always abundant fruits, and no creatures living in the forest ever tried to harm them.

It was indeed a strange phenomenon, but the father simply thought the tools he had received from witches worked surprisingly well, never considering it was the forest showing kindness to his daughter.

Time passed, and happy days flowed by.

But as if to say that such happiness was too much, misfortune arrived.

The father fell ill.

The daughter diligently cared for him, but her father did not get better.

Though the non-human daughter grew healthy just by being in the forest, her human father did not possess such abilities.

To save her father, human medicine was needed.

Determined, the daughter left the forest.

The trees tried to dissuade her, saying it was dangerous, but she felt she had no choice to save her father.

Wrapping her green skin tightly in cloth, the daughter infiltrated the human streets.

In exchange for rare herbs and fruits harvested from the forest, she was able to procure medicine for her father.

Some sometimes doubted her, but once they caught a whiff of the sweet fragrance emanating from her, they became dazed and treated her kindly.

Having successfully obtained the medicine, the daughter headed back toward the forest.

Thinking she could save her father, her steps quickened.

Unbeknownst to her, someone was chasing behind.

When the daughter arrived at the cabin, the first thing she noticed was her father, trembling as he prepared to go out.

Having learned that his daughter had ventured out of the forest, he was forcing himself to move on his ailing body.

Seeing her return, the father hugged his daughter with joy.

Though the daughter felt troubled by her father’s recklessness, she was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness he had for her.

The two embraced each other, silently shedding tears.

It was then that the trees of the forest screamed.

They shouted that they needed to run away.

Only then did the daughter realize something was wrong, but it was too late.

Thwonk!

A sharp sword pierced through the hearts of the father and daughter.

Red blood and green blood flowed together.

The father’s eyes widened in horror.

He tried to convey something to his daughter in his last moments, but the blood that gushed forth obstructed his final words.

Embracing her father’s slowly cooling body, the daughter collapsed to her knees.

The sudden intruder left no words behind, swiftly beheading the daughter.

As her head floated into the air, her wide-open eyes met the visage of the intruder.

The intruder was draped in white light, wearing a pure priest’s robe.

The beautiful emerald blade was stained with the blood of the father and daughter.

Disgusted by the fact, the priest made a displeased expression.

That realization darkened the daughter’s heart completely.

Unable to even meet death, tears of blood flowed from the head that had lost its body as the intruder approached.

He raised the emerald-made sword and struck down at the daughter’s head.

Again and again. As if to eliminate the slightest chance of survival, thoroughly.

Only after the daughter’s head was reduced to an unrecognizable mush did the priest withdraw his sword.

Once the intruder departed, only the corpses of the father and daughter remained in the cabin.

The forest howled in lament at the sight.

The intellectually commanding force to give reasonable orders was no longer present in the daughter, who had lost her head.

The pure heart and goodness of the tree spirit, brutally murdered and robbed of her father, was no longer there.

Hatred, resentment, and venom.

Fury, revenge, and lamentation.

All those emotions, all that despair seeped into the ground through their blood and brains.

So that no one would approach.

So that no one could harm them.

For the emerald-colored sky, for the humans who took her father away, a brutal revenge.

The plants accepted the will left in that blood.

They intertwined their bodies, wrapping the cabin where the father and daughter slept with their own forms.

In time, they transformed into a single massive tree.

The king that ruled the forest was born.

***

“…That’s too much.”

Adel murmured with her mouth covered.

Dorothea wore an uncomfortable expression, and Sophia closed her eyes in mourning.

Even the Tin Knight, usually unfazed, scratched his head and made squeaky noises.

After a short sigh, Dorothea spoke.

“So, the ‘Ruler of the Garden.’ So, the foes we just fought and defeated were not the father who built this house, nor the daughter who was called a monster, but rather the plants that absorbed residual thoughts and went berserk?”

Sophia nodded.

“Seems like it. The animals affected by the forest moved according to a very simple command of ‘repel outsiders,’ without any clear hierarchy. After all, the existence called king cannot think complex thoughts.”

Adel cautiously asked.

“So, um, we didn’t disturb their rest or anything, did we?”

“Not really, for now.”

“Eh?”

Adel reflexively repeated Dorothea’s tone, which seemed to imply something more.

Dorothea shrugged.

“Well, I mean, ‘It turned out not to be true after we hit first,’ but there was a possibility it really might have been the father or daughter’s will just now.”

“Ah, uh-oh.”

Adel’s face turned pale.

Being a sensitive soul, the mere thought that she almost became an accomplice to the perpetrator who appeared in the memory hit her hard.

Seeing Adel like that, Dorothea smirked.

“Do you finally realize that you’re not part of some heroic party but rather a witch and her goons?”

“W, urk.”

The Tin Knight, watching Dorothea and Adel, subtly turned his head towards Sophia.

[‘Tin Knight’ is asking if that was meant to comfort them!]

“Um, sort of. If I had to put it that way, it would be something like ‘I’m responsible, so don’t worry about it.’ How cute.”

[‘Tin Knight’ is impressed, thinking he only thought the fashion sense was old-fashioned, but the personality is just as traditional!]

“Hey, outfield! Before you bury them both in the ground, shut it! Don’t misinterpret things recklessly!”

Dorothea snapped.

While her face didn’t turn beet red, her hands were trembling with irritation.

Even Adel looked up at Dorothea with a strangely touched expression while murmuring, “That kind of meaning…!” but when Dorothea glared at her with a foreboding look, she flinched back.

[‘Tin Knight’ is asking what about the perpetrator who appeared in that memory!]

“Um, I’m not sure. Do you two know?”

As if trying to evade Dorothea’s glare, Adel quickly responded to the Tin Knight’s question.

Dorothea and Sophia exchanged glances before answering.

“Since they used Holy Magic, it’s probably someone from the Holy Kingdom? Maybe. I can’t guarantee it, considering there are oddballs like Sophia.”

“They might have come down on a mission from the heavens, or they’ve been busy building up merit to be sent up. Either one seems likely.”

Adel had question marks floating above her head.

The Tin Knight spoke.

[‘Tin Knight’ is requesting a simple and clear three-line summary!]

“I can’t clarify too well. All I know is it has to do with high-ranking folks from various countries, has some connection to the land in the sky, and sometimes they come down to scoop up exceptional users of Holy Magic from the ground.”

“Beyond that… they wield tremendous power and authority. They impose all sorts of ‘rules’ and seem to punish anyone who breaks them. Figuring out details about the ‘heavens’ is one of the taboos, so little information exists.”

[‘Tin Knight’ responds that all that is sufficient as long as you’re not pretending to not know!]

[‘Tin Knight’ suggests that since they seem like a shadowy figure, they can just fight them later!]

“No, I don’t really want to fight those kinds of monsters.”

Dorothea cut off the Tin Knight’s words coldly, but her tone had a strangely indifferent air.

With a flick of her left wrist, she summoned a cage.

As waves rippled from the cage, various souls floated into view.

Rather than proposing a contract as usual, Dorothea waved her wrist clockwise twice and returned the cage to a ring.

The souls hovered around Dorothea in confusion for a moment, then vanished in a flurry of white light.

Among them was a green soul of a slightly different hue. And there was another soul stuck close to it.

As the souls turned to light and attained peace, Dorothea murmured softly.

“—Well, there will be cases where fighting is unavoidable if need be.”

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