“Hana, stick out your foot.”
At Bora’s words, I stuck out my right leg, which was in a cast. Sitting on the bed, it wobbled every time I moved.
“Hmm…”
Bora looked at my leg and then touched the cast wrapped in bandages. She slowly began to unwind the bandages.
As her hands moved, the bandages started to come off. I was happy to see the skin of my right leg again after so long.
After a few more movements, the bandages were gone, leaving only the plaster on my foot. Bora gently removed the plaster and set it on the floor.
“Wow!”
I wiggled my right toes. The feeling of air on them was strange. How tightly had they been wrapped?
“Hana, does it hurt when you move?”
At Bora’s question, I moved my right leg around. No pain. The doctor who ordered the shot must not have been a quack after all. Still, I planned to give him a piece of my mind next time I saw him.
“Yeah!”
After days in a cast, being free felt great. But moving my joints after so long left a bit of stiffness. I carefully moved my leg some more.
“Want to try standing up, Hana?”
Bora said this while grabbing my hand, as if to support me if needed. Scared, I held her hand and got off the bed. Since I’d been hopping on my left leg, the feeling of my right foot touching the ground was unfamiliar.
“Oof!”
It had been so long since I walked on both legs, I almost lost my balance. Luckily, holding Bora’s hand kept me from falling flat on the floor.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, no pain.”
I nodded at Bora’s question and tapped my right foot on the floor a few times. Normally, I’d feel a tingling sensation, but now there was nothing.
No pain, no discomfort when moving my leg.
“That’s a relief.”
I was healed. Despite everything, I had overcome it all.
Feeling like a free bird, I wandered around the room. Spreading my arms wide like an airplane, nothing could feel better.
—————————————————–
Swish, swish, swish.
To celebrate my healed leg, I explored the building. There were still so many places I hadn’t seen. Like an adventurer in a dungeon, I roamed every corner of the building. Of course, I greeted everyone I met politely. Bowing at the waist got good reactions.
Especially from the women. They wanted to pat my head or even pinch my cheeks. I took the elevator down to the first floor. I had something to do here.
With light steps, I made my way to the convenience store. Finally, my one-month ban was over. I could have gone secretly before, but it felt awkward. Good kids should listen.
Wait, I’m not a kid, I’m an adult, so I should keep my promises even more. Anyway, thinking that, I opened the convenience store door and went in.
“Welcome…? Ah! Hana, you rascal!”
The part-time worker organizing the shelves saw me and angrily approached. I froze like a mouse before a snake. I had done wrong.
She crouched in front of me, grabbed both my cheeks, and started squishing them as she spoke.
“Hana! Do you know how much trouble Bora gave me?”
“Sorry…”
With my cheeks being squished, my words came out muffled as I admitted my fault. I had secretly bought beer and got scolded.
“So what are you here to buy, Hana?”
“Snacks… I came to buy snacks!”
“Really…? If you sneak beer like last time, I’ll give you a good scolding!”
“Okay…”
With that, she went back to organizing the store. I sneakily grabbed a shopping basket. I planned to buy so many snacks that I couldn’t carry them in my hands.
While raiding the pantry was fun when snacks were scarce, the variety was limited, so I had to rely on the convenience store. It had a much wider selection of snacks and drinks.
Carrying the basket, I swept up snacks. Snacks and I were one, so the more, the merrier. Then, I found a special snack.
‘Wow!’
It was a snack with Lumi’s illustration on it. I lit up my eyes and put the snack with Lumi’s illustration into the basket. I planned to keep the packaging separately without throwing it away. The illustration was just too good.
After filling the basket with snacks, I placed it on the convenience store counter. The convenience store lady squinted her eyes and said, “You didn’t put anything weird in there, did you?”
“Nope! Just snacks,” I replied confidently. I didn’t feel guilty because, unlike last time, I didn’t sneak in any beer.
*Beep beep beep*
The sound of the barcode scanner was music to my ears. With each beep, my mood lifted. After finishing the payment, I grabbed a couple of large bags and walked out of the store. Today’s shopping felt satisfying.
—
“World Tree…”
One day, the World Tree suddenly disappeared. For Linea, the elf priestess who served the World Tree, it was like a bolt from the blue.
Even from afar, the World Tree stood out, towering over the other trees. Linea gently touched the World Tree, longing for its presence. The physical form of the World Tree remained, but its spirit had vanished. Ancient texts mentioned that the World Tree’s spirit could sometimes cross into other dimensions, but it would eventually return. However, no one knew when that would be.
The World Tree, now just a shell, continued to provide endless support to the elves, but for Linea, who could directly communicate with it, it felt empty.
Linea was a young elf priestess, still lacking in many ways. She was short, and unlike the wise and experienced priestesses before her, she felt inadequate. Now, with the World Tree’s spirit gone, she couldn’t help but feel guilty.
Though it wasn’t her fault, the guilt was unavoidable. Linea desperately wished for the World Tree’s spirit to return. She even thought about chasing after it, no matter where it had gone—even if it meant going to hell. Not that the World Tree had gone to hell, of course. Shaking her head, Linea snapped out of her thoughts and got back to work. She wanted everything to be perfect when the World Tree returned.
“Linea! You’re up early again!”
“Yep! Gotta wake up early to serve the World Tree!”
Luna, her childhood friend, appeared from behind a tree and greeted her.
“I brought some food today!”
As the priestess couldn’t stray far from the World Tree, the elves from a nearby village regularly brought food.
“Wild boar meat!”
“Wow…”
What Luna brought was a hefty piece of wild boar meat. Just the sight of it made Linea’s mouth water. It was neatly butchered and looked delicious.
Luna placed the container of wild boar meat on the table and looked around.
“Nothing’s changed here, huh?”
“Nope. This is where we serve the World Tree, so we take extra care to maintain it,” Linea replied, stroking the bark of the World Tree. Its trunk was thicker than most buildings, and its height was beyond sight.
Linea had lived for over a century, but she wasn’t satisfied with her slow growth. It might take another hundred years for her to fully mature. Elves had long lifespans, but their growth was painfully slow compared to humans.
Having trained as a priestess for fifty years, Linea was well-versed in theory but lacked experience. That’s why the disappearance of the World Tree’s spirit hit her hard. Fortunately, her theoretical knowledge helped her regain her composure over time.
As Linea chatted with Luna, she continued to pass the time. She was gathering stories to share with the World Tree when it returned. Hearing about the outside world was always a joy.
