The Bewitching Forest

"You need my help...?"

"Yes. We need your help as a gold rank adventurer. The circumstances are

unusual."

Kohaku and I were sitting with Guildmaster Relisha, discussing a request.

"I understand your concerns about public and private concerns, and your

duties as a grand duke, but don't consider this as a request from the village.

Consider this a personal request from me, instead of a service to the elves."

Elves... They were forest-dwelling magically attuned creatures with long lives.

They had several racial attributes in common with fairies, but it seemed like

there were fewer fairies in the world.

In most countries in the world, you could see elves in the crowded streets

here and there, much like Relisha here.

The image I had of elves was that they were forest-dwellers who lived

separate from broader society, used bows to hunt, argued with dwarves, and

looked down on humans as inferior creatures... More of a haughty race than

anything else.

The fantasy elves that I knew about in my stories were kind of similar to the

elves in this world, but there were a few major differences. A lot of elves in this

world had come out of the forest and integrated into broader society. Those

that did tended to be extremely sociable and interested in traveling. Some of

them were surprisingly socially aggressive, too. Relisha was much like that. If

she didn't have a considerable drive, she would never have reached the status

of guildmaster.

"Alright, what's the request?"

"Elves originally came from the forests, and nowadays you can find them all

over the world. But all elves can trace their origins back to the original seven

elven villages. One of them is in the Kingdom of Ryle, and it has a major

problem." If I recalled correctly the Kingdom of Ryle was a country to the west

of Lestia. I wondered what the issue was with the elves there.

"Have you heard of a Treant?"

"Yep. That's a tree-based monster, right?" A Treant was a tree that had

become a monster, effectively. It had a face on its front and used branches as

limbs. It also used its roots to move around. It was similar to a Wood Golem,

but it was much smaller and more closely resembled a tree.

They were somewhat similar to the plant-based demi-humans that received

nutrients through photosynthesis. So even though they were monsters, they

were kind of in the same category as Alraunes and other green or bark-skinned

humanoids. Plant-based demi-humans were incidentally one of the seven major

races in Mismede.

"Even though Treants are monsters, they're not really hostile. They'll only

ever attack in retaliation. However, some days ago, a Treant attacked the elven

village in Ryle."

"Seriously? But you just said they're passive. What happened?"

"We don't know. It was a sudden attack with no warning or provocation. The

Treant had a different color to usual, and its leaves were ashen. The villagers

have started calling it a Dark Treant. We elves, much like the fairies, do not

employ much Fire magic due to our forest roots. That proved to be a downside

for us, as Fire magic is the only major effective way of repelling a creature like a

Treant. The battle ended up taking a while, and it escaped largely unharmed."

Relisha went on to explain that the villagers followed after the Dark Treant only

to discover several enormous Treants deep in the woods.

"Wait... are there Behemoths or something?"

"I don't really know, honestly. That place isn't a magic hotspot, so this is most

unusual." Behemoths were typically formed due to massive magical

concentration in the atmosphere, regular creatures would slowly absorb this

magic buildup and grow to an immense size.

Behemoths could cause unprecedented national disasters if left unchecked,

so it was important to kill them before they got out of control. I'd defeated a

Behemoth in Ryle before, using a Knight Baron. If I recalled correctly, it was an

enormous scorpion.

Either way, if it was Behemoths threatening the elven village, no wonder they

were scared. No ordinary adventurers could stand against them.

"Isn't the Kingdom of Ryle doing anything about this?"

"If we asked them for help, they'd send knights into the forest, but I'm sure

the collateral damage would be great. The knights of Ryle lack a certain level of

finesse..."

Relisha seemed concerned about the idea of them fighting. I wondered if they

were really that clumsy... I guess it didn't matter, though. Ryle was never at

threat of war. They'd maintained peace with Lestia for hundreds of years.

"Alright, fine. I'll check it out. If the Treants are Behemoths, will the guild buy

the excess materials?"

"Of course. Treants provide high-quality lumber, so it's a fairly popular market

resource. Thank you for entertaining my request."

I was an adventurer and a grand duke... What a troublesome double life. Still,

I had to earn money to pay my knights, and I had to earn money to continue

developing Frame Gears. I was covering all of that out of pocket, so I was fine

doing quests now and then to keep that money stable.

Rosetta and Monica often bought a stupid amount of resources, and Fam was

constantly importing new books... Flora kept on buying fancy medicines, and

Parshe ended up breaking a lot of stuff as well... Ever since Doc Babylon joined

the team, the costs just kept rising. Sometimes I wondered if inheriting her

legacy was less of a boon and more of a detriment... Well, at the end of the day,

I had to work to keep them in house and home. I kind of felt like a man

supporting his family, despite the fact that I wasn't even married yet...

There were many golden coins in Babylon's storehouse, but they were all

based on the ancient Partheno currency and were thus completely useless in

the modern era. We managed to break it down into gold, but found it was full

of impurities. I knew that golden currency coins weren't pure gold, they were

mixed in with other metals. That was standard... But the Partheno coins were

ridiculously poor quality.

Doc Babylon mentioned that Partheno was once a beautiful and magnificent

civilization, but by the time the Phrase came around it was rife with corruption.

I felt like it would've been destroyed eventually even without the Phrase.

It was a shame, but that was how it went. I needed to focus on making an

immediate profit. The elves were in trouble, and the reward was reasonably

handsome. I waved goodbye to Relisha and left the guild.

◇ ◇ ◇

"These are some big trees, these are..." Yae and I were walking around the

forests of Ryle. It was a fairly large forest to the south-west of the kingdom's

territory. And Yae was correct. The trees were quite big.

I looked around and all I noticed was green as far as the eye could see. Deeper

into the forest was even more dense shrubbery, dark and foreboding.

"Here we are. Watch your step." Relisha was guiding us both along. We were

on our way to the elven village in order to investigate the mysterious case of

the hostile Treant.

Relisha and Yae weren't the only ones here, though. There was Yumina, Elze,

Linze, Lu, Hilde, Leen, Sakura, and Sue. It was basically me and my merry band

of brides-to-be. Kohaku and Paula were tagging along as well.

Leen, Sakura, and Sue had not yet applied to be adventurers with the guild.

Leen had no initial interest, but upon hearing about the Dark Treant her interest

was piqued enough for her to come with. Then Sue and Sakura asked to tag

along, so I went with it.

Yumina and the other girls with guild cards couldn't really cash in on this

quest, either. It was a quest for a gold-ranked adventurer, after all. And they

were not quite at that level yet.

When accepting quests above one's rank, it was fine so long as you were in a

part where the majority of members were the right rank. Unfortunately, I was

one of only two gold ranks in the world, and my party was quite large. So they

didn't get anything out of this.

Really, the girls were big enough to form two parties, but that's just how it

was. Either way, they tagged along despite the lack of reward. I was kind of

pleased to have their company.

"My liege. Something is coming." Kohaku suddenly bloated into her full

Heavenly Beast form and began walking next to me. We stopped. If it was

approaching us despite the fact that Kohaku was here, that meant it was no

mere animal. There was a high chance of it being a monster or magical beast.

What we found was a tree, a moving one. To be more specific, a Treant. I

didn't expect to see one so soon.

"This is... most different from a standard Treant..." Leen murmured to herself

as she looked it up and down.

I'd never seen a Treant in person, but I looked it up in one of the guild's books

and seen a picture. What was shown there was a large, thin-limbed tree person.

This one looked kind of like that, except there was one key difference on top.

The leaves sprouting from this Treant were clearly dry, cracked, and dead. The

one in the book had a vibrant set of green foliage on its top... I wondered if this

was a mutated subspecies or something.

"Oooruuguuuhhh..." The Treant screamed out in a low, booming voice. All of

a sudden some of the dead leaves at its top sharpened like blades and aimed

toward us.

"Come forth, Ice! Eternal Frozen Ridge: [Ice Wall]!" Linze's magic caused a

huge wall of ice to appear in front of us, blocking the razor leaf projectiles with

ease.

Three figures used this chance to dart out from beneath cover. It was Lu, Yae,

and Hilde.

They perfectly timed it with the release of Linze's spell, darting out toward

the Treant just as the wall of ice melted.

"Regulus Blade Art: Scissorslice!"

"Kokonoe Secret Style: Lightning Flash!"

"Lestian Sacred Sword: Decapitation Blade!"

"Groooouuugugh!!" The three-pronged pincer attack dug crystal blades into

the Treant's body. Even a Treant's thick bark was nothing compared to a fully

charged phrasium blade.

The monster, now torn asunder, fell to the ground with a massive thud.

"I'd expect no less from those who personally accompany the grand duke...

Amazing."

The three girls bashfully grinned as Relisha lavished praise upon them. Still, I

wondered what was up with that Treant... Apparently Relisha did too, as she

plucked a leaf from it and began examining it.

"This is the same kind of Treant that attacked the elven village."

"So is this Dark Treant thing a subspecies or something?"

"I'm unsure. We elves have lived for a long, long time. This is the first time

we've encountered a Treant of this nature. It could be a new mutation,

though..."

"Are you sure it's a mutation? Have you not considered that it may be a

sickness? Its behavior and appearance are highly erratic..." Leen had a point.

Treants were mostly passive creatures and didn't harm unless harmed first. It

was unusual for them to strike unprovoked.

For the time being, I stored the Dark Treant's corpse in my [Storage].

Birds would occasionally flutter out of nowhere overhead, giving an ominous

feeling as we walked through the woodland. It kind of felt like the Sea of Trees,

but much denser and creepier. Honestly, I wasn't seeing much in the area to

reassure me. This forest felt like bad news to me...

As we continued on, Kohaku suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Something up?"

"Yes, there's an unusual smell..."

"Huh?" Suddenly, a sweet aroma entered my nostrils, and it was

overwhelmingly pleasant. I had no idea what it was, but it was all over the

place. It might have been a fruit or something. Along with the smell, a dense

mist began to descend around us. It happened before we could even tell what

was going on, just a thick fog out of nowhere. I could barely see in front of

myself anymore.

"Milord! Look out!"

"What?!"

As I wondered if it was an attack by a monster or magical beast... Elze

suddenly charged at me full-throttle and pulled me into an embrace. She was

squeezing me painfully hard.

"Wait, what are you doing?!"

"I got youuu... Nyuufufufu..." Elze let out an uncharacteristic giggle and simply

refused to let go.

Hey! This is real nice, but I need to focus here, so please let me go!

"Heeey, Touya... You've been so busy lately, you know? We're gonna have

some good quality time, got it?! Me and the grand duke!"

"O-Ow! P-Please, hey! That hurts!"

"Nyuufufufu..." Elze continued on with her bear hug until I could feel my

bones creaking.

Gaaah! You're gonna break my goddamn spine!

"Ga-Ga... Gather forth, Darkness! Tranquil Rest: [Sleep Cloud]!"

"Hngh?!" A thin purple smoke settled around Elze and she slumped forward

against me. She hadn't exactly fainted or anything. It was more like I'd put her

into forced naptime.

[Sleep Cloud] was an ancient spell I had uncovered while reading in Babylon's

library.

"A-Are you alright, my liege?!"

"Yeah... kinda... Just a little sore." I used [Cure Heal] on myself and erased the

pain. Just what in the world had gotten into Elze?

I couldn't see any of the other girls through the dense fog. It seemed like we'd

gotten separated.

"Touyaaa... Ufufufu..."

"Huh? Lu?"

Lu suddenly appeared from nowhere and hugged me from behind. She

pressed her body right up against my back. My nose was still filling up with that

strange, sweet scent...

"I'm really happy I met you, Touya... I could never find someone as amazing as

you, even if I scoured the entire world for them..."

"W-Well, thanks I guess... Are you okay?" Okay something weird is going on

here! What's the deal?! "Mmm... Heeey... How about we... smooch, and do

other things..."

"Ga... Gather forth, Darkness! Tranquil Rest: [Sleep Cloud]!"

"Uwaaah!" Lu fell to the ground.

What the hell is going on here?!

"My liege... I believe they might be intoxicated."

"What?! With booze or something?!"

Wait, come to think of it... that sweet smell is kind of like sake, isn't it? Don't

tell me this fog is laced! I suddenly heard a rustling sound from nearby, and

Relisha appeared from the undergrowth.

"Your Highness, are you okay?!"

Relisha seemed to have her sanity, at least. I was a little relieved she wasn't as

hug-happy as the other girls. Still, I wondered if the others were okay.

"Sorry, I noticed it far too late. Leen is watching the other girls right now."

"What'd you fail to notice, exactly?"

"This is the work of the drinker mushroom."

The what now?

"It's a species of mushroom. It detects nearby lifeforms and sprinkles out a

liquor-laced mist from its spores. Its tactic is taking down its foes by getting

them too drunk to function. The alcohol inside it isn't very potent, though, so

it's ineffective against people with decent tolerance." That made sense. Kohaku

and I were unaffected due to my status as a divine being and Kohaku's status as

a heavenly beast. Relisha and Leen had been alive for a while, so they'd

probably had a fair deal of alcohol tolerance.

I took my smartphone out from my breast pocket and looked it over. Relisha

had given me enough information to identify it... so all I had to do was search

for mushrooms. It didn't take long for the search to work. Sure enough, there

were three in the area.

"Come forth, Ice! Freezing Javelin: [Ice Spear]!"

Three spears of ice appeared in the sky. I used my smartphone to lock on to

the targets and the spears quickly found their marks. I could've cooked them

using Fire magic, but I didn't want the forest igniting and going wild. That was

why I just opted to freeze them out.

They'd stopped moving on the map, so I figured they were dead.

"Blow forth, Wind! Soaring, Spinning Gust: [Whirlwind]!" I used Wind magic

to disperse the fog. This made the airborne booze swirl around too, but it

wasn't like we could get any drunker.

Then, I used [Recovery] on Elze and Lu, and they gradually woke up. The two

of them stumbled to their feet, then nervously looked at the ground...

"...I think I did something stupid... Auugh... How embarrassing..."

"Uwah... I did something shameless..."

"Now now, you two. It's okay." They'd just spoken what they were feeling.

Still, it seemed they were both embarrassed by what they could remember...

I headed over to Leen and found that Linze, Yae, and Hilde were fast asleep

just like Elze and Lu were.

Sue, Sakura, and Yumina were standing with Leen. That confused me a little

bit. Sakura maybe, but I didn't take Yumina and Sue for people with alcohol

tolerance.

Apparently, Yumina was the one who had put the other three to sleep. She

had the Darkness aptitude, so she was capable of casting [Sleep Cloud] as well.

Either way, I was glad they were alright.

"Everything okay here?"

"Mhm. The Belfast royal bloodline is rather tolerant when it comes to alcohol,

especially its women."

Huh, the more you know... Kind of a shame, though. Drunk Yumina would

have been funny.

"I have the blood of the overlord within me. We resist poison well..." Sakura

spoke rather bluntly.

It's not really poison, though... is it? It was booze.

I had a feeling that if the Xenoahs' overlord had heard Sakura talking about

his blood being a benefit to her, he would've burst out into tears of joy. I

should've made a recording for him.

I cast [Recovery] on the fallen trio and brought them back to their senses.

Then, I went to investigate one of the drinker mushrooms. Lo and behold, I

found a one-meter tall mushroom with a gaping stab wound in its side. It kind

of resembled an eryngii, as far as shape went. It had little stubby arms and legs,

and a creepy face-like structure on its front.

Sure smelled good, though... I assumed it would taste even better after being

cooked, but I didn't quite have the guts. Kohaku, on the other hand, was

salivating... Honestly, I wouldn't have minded letting her eat it if she thought

she could stomach it.

"This is unusually large... Drinker mushrooms aren't normally this big, they're

usually about up to here..." Relisha brought her hand up to about half the size

of the mushroom I was looking at. That was definitely strange... I wondered if

there actually was an area of concentrated magic around here, after all.

Apparently, elves could brew a delicious booze from these mushrooms, so I

put the corpses in [Storage]. In the end, money was king and I was here to

rule... even if it felt a little weird... Still, I wondered if I should take payment in

booze form or just sell the raw ingredients and get cash... I was in two minds.

"My head feels a little light..." Linze closed her eyes slightly and rubbed her

palm against her forehead. I'd already cast [Recovery] on her, so that should've

healed any hangover she'd have. The spell was no good for motion sickness, but

it did wonders for being drunk. She was probably just feeling bad.

According to Yumina, Linze started muttering a lot when she got drunk and

said some embarrassing things. Yae just started laughing so hard she rolled

around on the floor... and Hilde started trying to lecture a tree. Seemed like I'd

missed quite the chaotic gathering.

"Drunk people are scary... Everyone changed all of a sudden and started

freaking me out... When my dad drinks, all he does is get happy and sing a lot!"

Sue grumbled quietly. I had no idea Duke Ortlinde was such a merry drunk... But

I wasn't exactly a fan of finding out what his singing voice was like.

"Hey Sis, were you okay?"

"M-Me?! I-I was completely fine! Really! Nothing happened!"

Linze turned to Elze and asked a question that caused her sister to spiral into

a panic. I got a little red in the face when I remembered what had happened. I

didn't say a thing, though.

It was pretty dark, even though it was daytime... But that was because

sometimes the dense canopy of the forest blocked the sunlight, and sometimes

it was just blocked out by thick tree trunks. It'd be really hard to navigate our

way around the place without my map. That being said, if we did get lost I'd be

able to use my magic to get us home without an issue.

"...Hm?"

"Something wrong, Kohaku?" Sue, riding on the white tiger's back, suddenly

perked up with a question.

"Be wary. I smell magical beasts in the area."

Everyone drew their weapons at Kohaku's words. Strangely enough, I couldn't

really sense anything.

"...Where abouts?"

"Could the enemy be above, could they?" Yae looked upward, and everyone

else followed her gaze. The scattered sunbeams kind of made it hard to make

anything out, and I couldn't really see anything that resembled a monster or

magical beast.

"There's a species in this region called the Whip Monkey. They attack by using

their long tails as whips, and often hang from overhead branches as they attack

people that pass by."

"Huh..." I carefully scanned the treeline as Relisha spoke. I didn't exactly have

good memories of monkeys in this world. From the King Ape to the monkey

warlord in Eashen, they were just bad news to me.

Nope, still too hard to see up there... Alright, I know.

"[Long Sense]."

I sent my vision up into the trees, which was way easier than looking from the

ground.

Monkeys, monkeys... Let's see here... Nope, no monkeys. I can see a couple

squirrels and birds, though.

"Kohaku, where'd you smell it?"

"That way... It's a faint smell on the wind nearby."

"Eeeeeek!" The sudden shriek made me drop my [Long Sense].

What happened?!

"Wh-What's wrong, Sakura?"

"S-Something touched me... I-It touched me...!" Sakura answered Lu and

moved her own hands toward her waist... before patting around her butt.

"E-Eeek!!!" Sakura let out another shriek as she flinched, hands retracting

from her behind. Her palms were both covered in a bright, sticky fluid. She

shook her hand and the bizarre mucous fell to the ground. At a glance it kind of

resembled corn syrup, but it had a glossy, rainbow-like color to it.

"I-It's all sticky... Th-This is horrible... Please help, Grand Duke... It's

horrible..."

Tears began to well in Sakura's eyes as she tried flicking more of the mucus

off her hands. She shambled toward me like a zombie.

"It's alright, just hold still. Okay? [Clean]."

A dim green light surrounded Sakura from head to toe and rotated itself

around her. All the sticky stuff on her hands and behind was cleaned up in an

instant.

"Better?"

"Better... Thank you..." Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief and patted herself

down just to confirm that it was all gone.

"What happened, exactly?"

"I don't know... Something touched my butt from below... I-It was creepy..."

Sakura shivered in response to Linze's question. It must have been pretty

unpleasant.

Hilde and Yae pointed their blades outward and took a guarded stance.

"Then there is an enemy around here..."

"You are correct, you are. I do not know where it is hiding, but it is here, it is...

Leen-dono! Crouch down, please!"

"Huh?"

Leen obeyed Yae's sudden command and squatted down. The next moment,

the ground beneath Leen was disturbed as if by an invisible force.

"Wh—?!"

"It is there, it is!" Yae suddenly charged forward, swinging her blade

dangerously close to Leen's butt. Alas, the blade swept through nothing at all

and came out clean.

"Gyuraughugh!"

"Oh?!" What I'd thought was nothing was actually something, and it made a

noise! Yae had hit something after all.

It was like a large lizard. It had stretched out a long tongue and wrapped it

around Leen's parasol, which was now on the ground. Luckily, that tongue had

been cleanly severed by Yae's blade.

It had large, strange eyes, a big mouth, and a twisted tail. It kind of looked like

a big chameleon. It disappeared suddenly, and I could only just make out its

silhouette against the backdrop. It was like a shimmering oil on water.

Wait, it can blend in!

"It's a Stealth Lizard! It folds up light with magic and uses it to disguise itself!"

Relisha yelled out, and then I understood what was going on. It was the same

principle as the [Invisible] spell that Leen and I used.

"You little jerk! Do you just vanish and lick girls' butts?! What the hell kind of

messed up monster are you?!" Elze growled as she brought her fist crashing

down in its approximate area. It had vanished, but we could track it now. After

all, blood was dripping from where its tongue once was.

"[Boost]!"

"Grahagah!"

Elze channeled all her power into her right fist and sent a mighty gauntlet

smashing into the lizard's body. It was blown away in less than a second and

slammed into a tree... Or at least, that was what I guessed. I couldn't see it. The

foliage was noticeably more bloody in a certain area, so I made the assumption.

Its camouflage finally dropped, and it began to twitch.

It was a massive creature given it was supposed to be a chameleon... It was

about three meters in size. If you unfurled its tail and tongue it would have

been even longer.

Once it stopped squirming, Relisha got a little closer to the bloodied area to

investigate it properly.

"This is definitely a Stealth Lizard, but it's much too large... Just like the Dark

Treant, and the drinker mushroom... Just what is going on in this forest?"

Apparently, Stealth Lizards were supposed to peak at about one meter. I

wondered if the forest was cursed or something.

"I wonder if there actually is a gathering of magic in this area after all... Good

grief... It got slimy stuff all over my favorite parasol, too... Don't touch, Paula.

It's dirty..." Leen sighed quietly as she held her parasol away from Paula. The

little bear probably wanted to grab it for her. That was cute.

"We'll sort it out soon, don't worry."

"Thank you, darling!" Leen smiled quietly. Still, I wondered if there was a

magical wellspring somewhere. I wondered if we had another situation like

Palerius on our hands in this forest. With so many oversized creatures roaming

around the place, it was hard to imagine any alternative.

I looked back toward Leen, when suddenly Yae and Hilde were standing by my

side.

"...What's wrong?"

"Something is watching us from ahead, something is."

"Yeah, there's something up ahead, I think."

"Ah, I see. I can sense someone in the trees, too... I thought maybe there was

something up there. Probably just a mushroom again." I wondered what the

deal was, though... I assumed it was just a couple of mushrooms since they

were just lying in wait, but how would they even climb up there with their

stubby little limbs?

"I'll take down the ones hiding in the trees. You two go on ahead and see if

there are any others."

"Understood."

"I shall be swift, I shall." The two of them rushed ahead into the bushes.

Hmm... There are definitely two on the tree... Around the left and around the

back... Using full-on magic might be a bit much, so I guess I should just use a

special bullet.

"Reload." The bullets in my waist pouch were swapped into Brunhild's

cylinder, and I lined up my shot.

I fired the bullet and it hit the tree trunk dead center, which caused a spiraling

whirlwind to burst out and spin around the tree. It was a weakened version of

the [Cyclone Storm] spell that I'd imbued into the bullet.

"Gwah!"

"Gaaah!"

Whoever was hiding up in the trees fell to the ground pretty fast. And then,

Kohaku immediately ran toward them.

"E-Eeep!"

"Wait... You..."

It was a couple of people, cowering in Kohaku's wake. It took a moment to

register, but I recognized their clothing. They wore strange masks that covered

the lower half of their face, and they had long nails. They were clad in ponchos

and had golden bracelets around their wrists and ankles.

"You guys are from the Rivet Tribe, right?" The two men both stared, eyes

wide, at my sudden exclamation.

The Rivet tribe. They were a tribe from the Sea of Trees that excelled in

poison-laced combat. We'd defeated them during the Pruning and secured the

victory of Pam's tribe.

They were also responsible for growing the massive Wood Golems that had

rampaged in Roadmare... I had no idea what those tribesmen were doing

around here.

"Hm... Let me guess, then. You guys are responsible for the irregularities in

the Treants, aren't you? What about the other forest creatures, huh? That your

doing as well?"

There was a precedent for them being related to creatures exceeding their

standard size, after all. I wondered if they'd been brainwashing Treants or

somehow making them more aggressive. I wondered if the oversized monsters

were their doing, too.

"Touya-dono, we have captured them, we have."

"We've brought them over..." Yae and Hilde had brought over a couple other

Rivet tribesmen.

"They're from the Sea of Trees, then?"

"Who are they?" Relisha and Leen were unfamiliar with them, so they piped

up curiously. Sakura didn't seem all that interested.

I briefly explained what had happened back during the Pruning. When I posed

that perhaps the oversized, hostile Treants could be their doing, Relisha

nodded.

"We'd heard about the incident in Roadmare, but I never expected those

responsible for cultivating such carnage would have made their way to elven

territory..." The Rivet Tribe was banished from the Sea of Trees after their foul

behavior during the Pruning.

It seemed like the remnants must have roamed around until they came to the

forest in the Ryle Kingdom and started a new life here... Pam's Rauli Tribe had

accepted a few remnants who had repented, but a good portion of the tribe

had refused and moved on. They were idiots.

They were probably still angry about what had happened to them. The elders

of the Rivet tribe were likely still planning their revenge. They'd still be sore

about their expulsion from the Sea of Trees, after all.

I'd learned from the captives that there were over a dozen Rivet tribesmen

hunting in this very forest.

"Hunting, you say? Hunting what?" Leen sighed. That much was clear. They

were probably trying to clear out the elves and claim this place as their own.

"I wonder if they're trying to create something stronger than the Wood

Golems with these animals and the Treants..." Linze was probably correct. They

likely intended to drive out the elves from the forest, then breed the Treants to

wage war on the Sea of Trees.

"I'm glad we came here, today... If we'd left this way longer, the Sea of Trees

might have been in some real trouble." In a way, we were lucky. The scattered

and lost elven villagers would be in trouble... They'd probably have had to take

refuge in the Kingdom of Ryle.

I didn't want to run any risk, so I used [Sleep Cloud] on the captured Rivet

tribesmen. That was after getting them to tell me where their tribe was located,

though.

We carried on deeper into the forest. I suddenly saw birds fly overhead,

cawing in a panic. Something was coming... The ground began to tremble, and

the sound of splintering branches rang out as it approached...

It had an enormous crooked mouth etched into its wooden face. Its gnarled

roots expanded out like legs, and a thick bed of dead leaves grew upon its top

branches. Its dead face was almost twisted into a grin.

It was enormous. It was comparable to the size of a Wood Golem that

attacked Roadmare. If this thing launched an attack, then there'd be no elves

left to flee.

"Touya! Look out!" Yumina yelled, and I noticed another Treant of similar size

coming out. There were... one, two... ten in total. Much more than I expected.

"Touya-dono, can you leave these Treants to us, can you?"

"Yeah, let's do it!" I opened up a [Gate] and called out a Chevalier. Then, I

looked over to Yae and Hilde. Oh crap, those things are getting closer!

I opened up another portal and dropped down Hilde's Siegrune and Yae's

Schwertleite.

The ground trembled as the two special Frame Gears crashed down into the

forest.

"Let us go, Hilde-dono!"

"Very well!" The samurai girl and the female knight leaped into action. I had a

feeling that the battle was going to go just fine.

"Hey, Touya! Don't let them both have all the fun! Bring out Gerhilde!"

"I got it, geez! Don't rush me!"

Elze ran up to me and grabbed me by the scruff of the neck. In response, I

flailed a little bit and called Gerhilde down. Elze let me go and gladly ran toward

her mech.

Geez... How rowdy...

"I wish I could go out with Grimgerde, but my Frame Gear isn't quite suited to

this environment..." Leen's Grimgerde was equipped with heavy weapons. If

she went all-out in that bulky thing, the forest would probably get messed up.

She'd beat the Treants, but the elves wouldn't be too happy.

"I want to pilot Ortlinde, too..." Regular Ortlinde would probably be fine, but

Ortlinde Overlord would be out of the question. The forest wouldn't even exist

anymore.

I kind of wondered if I'd be okay to accept the reward if it was these three

doing all the Treant-bashing... I asked Relisha, and she said it'd be fine. I was

glad to have the guildmaster's personal reassurance...

"Alright, while they do that let's go after the Rivet tribe."

"Alright! Shall we get a move on, Touya?" Yumina smiled and tilted her head.

That seemed fine to me. I pulled up my smartphone and employed [Search],

since I could identify the Rivet tribesmen easily based on their getup.

In the forest, there were a total of twenty-three tribesmen. Excluding the four

we'd already caught, that meant there were nineteen left.

"Locked on... [Paralyze]!"

I could hear a few faint groans of shock and a couple of pattering noises as

they fell to the ground. That was that. All we had to do was tie them up and

collect them. Although, I wondered if that was all there was to it. We still had

more to deal with... Like those Treants.

Hilde's Siegrune effortlessly blocked one of the monster's attacks with its

shield. The orange shield wasn't transparent, but it was still composed of

Phrasium. I'd developed a special paint that allowed coating of the material.

Siegrune used the opportunity to charge forward and bash the Treant with

the shield.

"Graugh!" The giant Treant was staggered, giving Siegrune a perfect

opportunity to bring its blade down upon the creature. It was sliced in half with

little effort at all, the Treant fell to the ground in two pieces.

The Treant's outer bark was tough, but that material was simply no match for

phrasium equipment.

"They're different from the Wood Golems! Do these Treants have magical

lifelines?"

"Yes! If you cut off the magical lifeline that runs up the middle of its body,

then it should die! It's like severing a human's spinal cord! That part of the body

is protected by the toughest bark, so be wary!" Relisha replied quickly and

concisely. She certainly had good casual knowledge of these things...

"Haaah!"

"Grauuugh!"

Gerhilde smashed its fist right into a Treant's face. There was a dent left in the

now-cracked wood, but it wasn't down for the count. It seemed like the Treant

wouldn't die unless the lifeline in the middle of its trunk was cut off. That meant

that non-bladed weapons were highly ineffective.

Gerhilde still had a small knife on its waist, so I figured she could use that to

make short work of it...

"Haaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Gerhilde's left fist came down upon the monster all of a sudden. Then the

right again! Left, right, left, right! A flurry of punches rained down upon the

tree. I almost felt bad for it.

It was being absolutely pummeled to pieces. With each successive strike,

more and more bark was chipped away.

"Eat this!" One of the pile bunkers on Gerhilde's wrists finally came out,

severing the lifeline. Then Treant fell, defeated. That was one hell of an attack...

She even surprised me.

"Who's next?!" Elze abandoned the Treant she had almost punched into

sawdust and ran after her next target.

"Man... she's really good at piloting that thing."

The Frame Gear reacted to its pilot, and thus actually riding it became easier

over time. In other words, the more you used it, the more it began to work as

an extension of yourself. That was the case for all Frame Gears, even the

Chevaliers, which was why I liked making sure that knights used the same one

each time.

Relisha stared at the scene, of giant robots fighting giant trees, and muttered

in amazement.

"This is truly something to behold... Even gigantic Treants can't do anything to

stop the Frame Gears..."

"We still struggle against the stronger Phrase types, though..."

"Without these giant warriors, I fear the world might have already ended. I

don't know who they are, but I really do owe a great thanks to the ancient

genius who invented these..."

Don't say that around her, you'll inflate her ego... I don't want her laughing

and gloating all over the place, thanks. Although, to be fair, she is kind of a

savior... Without Babylon's genius, the world would be in a lot of trouble.

Still, it wasn't her that repaired the boundary of the world... If whoever did

that hadn't done it, then the Frame Gears would've had to have been deployed

far sooner.

Two-thirds of the world had already been ruined at that point, though... so I

wasn't certain if the Frame Gears would've actually made all that much of a

difference.

"Kokonoe Secret Style: Lightning Flash!"

"Oh."

Schwertleite dashed forward, slicing a Treant cleanly down the middle in the

blink of an eye.

It fell down, making tremors run along the ground. Compared to the Frame

Gears, these things were completely harmless... To be honest, Treants weren't

inherently hostile to begin with anyway. I wondered if the Rivet Tribe couldn't

have picked a better creature to equip for battle...

Either way, the deed was done. All the Treants were down for the count.

"You have my gratitude. The elven village should be able to return to its

former prosperity now."

"Don't worry about it... We did a little bit of a rough job..." Relisha was

thankful, but I looked around at the wreckage and kind of felt a little bad. In the

end, it came down to monsters vs robots in the middle of a forest. Even though

we won easily, we'd ended up making a hell of a mess. The local animals also

caused us a bit of trouble.

"It's hard to use the Frame Gears in such an enclosed space..."

"Couldn't you have just used your teleportation magic to move the enemies

to an open space?" I stared blankly at Sue, who had just raised a great point.

Crap.

Relisha also stared at her, simply sighing and saying "Oh."

"...Sorry."

"It's okay."

I bowed my head slightly. Part of me wanted to get on all fours and prostrate.

After that was over we went back home. Yumina and the others were having

a cup of tea. I was talking on the phone with Relisha.

"Wait, what do you mean the Treant bark is worthless?!"

Yumina and the others suddenly stared in my direction.

"It's not exactly worthless, but... you're not going to get all that much."

According to Relisha, the giant Treant wood didn't have the same qualities as

standard Treant wood and wasn't nearly as valuable a material.

The outer shell was tough, but the insides were surprisingly squidgy...

Internally, they had the consistency of packing styrofoam.

I guess that made sense. The Treants weren't natural Behemoths or anything.

They were the product of Rivet experimentation. It was no wonder their wood

wasn't as good as the real deal.

"So that means we will not be making much profit, will we not?"

"Well, it won't be a total loss. We can still sell it as decent-grade firewood..." I

came up with the best response I could to Yae. Money was still money, I

supposed. It'd be less than a thousandth of what I was expecting, but... money

was money. It could probably be used as a substitute for corrugated cardboard

or something.

"Oh, well... On the bright side, the elven village managed to brew some

alcohol from the drinker mushroom. Shall we go get it later?"

Everyone at the table, with the exception of Yumina, Sue, Sakura, and Leen,

fell quiet and looked down at their cups. They'd all had a pretty bad experience

in that mist, after all.

In Brunhild, the legal drinking age was fifteen, just as it was in Belfast and

Regulus. That meant Yae, Hilde, Elze, Linze, and Leen would be completely fine

to have it. I didn't really drink much, though.

Leen suddenly opened her mouth on behalf of the silent table.

"I'm not especially interested in fruity liquor, so I'll be quite fine. I think

everyone else feels the same."

"...Seems so."

Well, that was to be expected. I picked up my phone and started texting

Relisha, telling her that the village could keep the booze.

All of a sudden, a hand appeared from beneath the table and grabbed my

wrist, stopping me from sending the message. Augh!

"Heeey... Don'tchu dare do somefing so, hic... stupid!" It was Suika... the god

of alcohol, and she had clearly been listening in. I had no idea where the hell

she'd come from, but she refused to let go. She was clawing at me like a zombie

while yelling about the booze.

"Okay, okay! I get it! Let go, I'll get the damn drink!"

"Hic, yahoo! We're gonna drink, hic, the besht stuff! Yippee!" The drunken

little rat immediately broke her hold on me and spun around on the spot before

bowing.

Hey now...

"Good work, best regards, you have, hic, my thanks! I'm gonna go see if

Karina wants some, too! Woohoo!"

We all watched her skip out of the room, bewildered and irritated expressions

on our faces.

"...Is drinking fun, Touya? It kind of looks troublesome."

"Ehhh..." I didn't have a good answer to Sue's question. On Earth, there was a

saying that went like "good wine makes good blood," but it was also said that

"beer is the nectar of the nitwit"... Drinking to relieve stress was probably fine,

so long as people never went overboard with it. Either way, drunkards would

continue to drink. It was a simple truth of the world.

I sighed quietly and picked up my smartphone once more, this time to

message Relisha about securing the booze.