Early the next morning, the day after Elena and Vihera had directed skeptical gazes toward Marina, Rei rose in the house assigned to him. He went through his usual routine of spending about half an hour getting ready while still half-asleep, then stepped outside.
The house Rei was borrowing had a stable, and when he headed toward it...
"Kyu?"
For some reason, Ielo was lying on Set's back.
"Why are you here?"
Even as he asked, Rei already understood why Ielo was there.
Ielo was close friends with Set. In other words, it had probably come to play.
There was a stable of sorts at the house where Elena and the others were staying too, but it housed the carriage and the two horses that pulled it. Ielo must have felt a stronger desire to be with Set, even if it meant being a little farther away, rather than staying with those two horses.
(Though staying inside the house with Elena and the others was probably an option too... it just wanted to be with Set, huh.)
Looking down at Ielo lying on Set's back, Rei reached out and gently picked it up.
When he touched the hard scales, he felt a faint coolness. Even as a child, it was still a dragon's child — its scales had a certain moist smoothness to them. Even though they were both scales, they were completely different from the snake and lizard scales Rei had touched back in Japan. It would be fitting to call them similar yet fundamentally different things.
"Kyu? Kyukyukyu!"
Perhaps it felt good to have its scales petted; Ielo let out a happy cry.
"Guruuu..."
Set, who had been watching Ielo's reaction, got up from its lying position and nuzzled its head against Rei, wanting to be petted too.
"Alright, alright. Set, you're as spoiled as ever. ......Here."
After placing Ielo back on Set's back, Rei reached his hand toward Set's head.
The way Rei looked right now, completely relaxed while petting Set — anyone who only knew him by the alias Crimson would likely not recognize him for a moment.
Rei had been petting Set's head for a few minutes when his stomach growled in protest, and he pulled his hand away.
"It'd be nice to keep playing with Set here, but if I do, I'll miss breakfast. Especially today, since we're treating the World Tree — I need to eat properly while I can."
"Guruu? ......Guruuu!"
Set tilted its head with a disappointed look, as if asking if they were already done — but being told it would miss breakfast, it couldn't throw any more of a tantrum. Like Rei, Set was hungry before breakfast too.
And so, with Ielo still riding on Set's back, Rei headed toward the house Elena and the others were borrowing.
"Hm? Ielo, so you went to see Set. I was wondering where you were — I was about to go looking for you."
Rei was greeted by Elena in front of the house. She said she had been about to look for Ielo, but in truth, she had probably expected this. Then again, Ielo was surprisingly curious. It was possible it had been wandering around the Dark Elf settlement as it pleased.
"When I went to the stable, it was sleeping on Set's back like it was a bed."
"......Did it go to Set's place last night rather than this morning?"
"I wonder. It wouldn't surprise me either way, though."
That Ielo adored Set was something anyone could understand just by looking at its behavior. Elena was surely no different. A small smile formed on her lips as she caught Ielo, which leaped from Set's back toward her.
"Honestly, what a helpless creature. ......More importantly, breakfast will be ready soon. Today's the day we treat the World Tree, after all. We need to eat well and build up our strength."
"Eat well, huh. Well, I'm certainly happy about that. And for Set—"
"That's been taken care of as well. Marina had the settlement members prepare something. Orc roast, apparently. They looked quite happy to be cooking it."
"......Figured."
Recalling Jusura's demeanor when Set fought the Orc on the way to the settlement, there was no need to even think about what kind of feelings the Dark Elves harbored toward Orcs. Rei understood that Jusura's emotions weren't necessarily representative of all Dark Elves, but their hatred toward Orcs was likely shared to a greater or lesser degree.
Learning that the only Orcs the Dark Elves liked were dead ones turned into ingredients, Rei suddenly recalled a line from a novel or something he had read back in Japan.
("The only good [X] is a dead [X]"... something like that, right?)
Various words could fill in the blank, but in this case, it would be Orc. In truth, Orc meat was quite tasty despite the creature not being that high-ranked a monster. It wasn't strange that the Dark Elves would favor it.
"Gururu!"
Set, apparently happy about being able to eat Orc meat first thing in the morning, purred in good spirits.
"Well then, let's eat."
Seeing Rei announce that and start to head inside, Elena offered a small smile.
The nature of that smile became immediately clear to Rei the moment he stepped inside the house. Among those gathered around the dining table, there was one person who was unmistakably out of place.
Someone who, under normal circumstances, would be opposed to him — or perhaps not strictly opposed, but given what happened yesterday, someone who definitely shouldn't be here.
Rei spoke that person's name.
"Ragdo, right? What are you doing here?"
As if displeased by those words, Ragdo opened his mouth with an ill-tempered expression.
"I was told by the Elder to witness your treatment of the World Tree. No doubt arranged by someone or other."
Ragdo's gaze was directed at Marina, who sat directly across from him. Even though it was morning, she radiated her usual alluring atmosphere — if it were nighttime, even Ragdo, who was politically opposed to her, might lose his composure.
But Marina simply glanced at Ragdo's words and spoke with a smile.
"My, but if someone favorable to me were to act as witness, who knows what you might say later, no? In that case, it's much faster to have you present from the start, isn't it?"
That was an undeniable fact. At the same time, it was also an action born of her certainty that Rei could heal the World Tree.
Well aware of Marina's scheme, Ragdo averted his gaze from her and let out a bitter sigh. That sigh carried not only frustration at himself for being captivated by Marina despite being her political opponent, but also the effort of resisting the urge to let his eyes wander toward Vihera sitting beside Marina, or Elena who had entered the room with Rei — two women whose beauty rivaled Marina's own.
Rei looked at Ragdo with a puzzled expression.
"No, I understand you're here as a witness, but why are you here? There's no need for you to eat breakfast with us, is there?"
"......Ask Marina-sama."
Ragdo's response sounded like he had simply voiced his dissatisfaction outright, so Rei turned his gaze to Marina.
But Marina showed no particular concern and simply spoke.
"Since he's here anyway, it's better to eat together, isn't it?"
"Is it? Well, I don't mind either way."
Even as he said that, Rei's gaze remained on Ragdo. Given what happened yesterday, there was no denying that Rei didn't exactly want to welcome him. The reason he didn't complain was that Marina had made this decision, and he judged that following Marina's instructions was the optimal course for the World Tree matter.
After that, the atmosphere remained somewhat awkward, but they still packed plenty of Marina and Byune's cooking into their stomachs.
......Naturally, Ragdo's face twisted in astonishment at seeing Rei and Byune's appetites up close.
And so, breakfast ended, and after a post-meal rest, it was time to head to the World Tree.
"Normally, this is the kind of thing where you'd need to psyche yourself up before going."
"Guruu?"
Set turned its gaze toward Rei, who had finished preparing outside the house, with a purr that seemed to ask what was wrong.
Rei shook his head as if to say it was nothing while petting Set's head, but Elena, who had been petting Ielo nearby, smiled and spoke.
"Normally that might be the case, but this time we're not charging into a place where enemies are, are we? The World Tree is within this settlement...... no, slightly apart from it, and with the barrier deployed to prevent monsters from entering, asking you to be tense would be unreasonable."
Optimism might be going too far, Elena seemed to say, and Rei nodded in agreement.
"Still, based on my experience so far, there's usually something or someone there. If not monsters, then people."
Since coming to Elgin, Rei had been caught up in many incidents. ......No, "caught up in" wasn't quite right — it would be more accurate to say he had been continuously caught up in them.
Thinking about it that way, it was only natural to suspect that maybe, just maybe......
"I'd rather you not say such ominous things. If something were to actually happen to the World Tree, it would be no laughing matter."
Muttering with a hint of exasperation, Marina emerged from the house. Behind her was Ragdo, who wore a plainly displeased expression.
"Honestly, those who don't live in this settlement are so carefree."
"Even if you say that, it's the truth, so......"
Ragdo's eyes flared at Rei's words and he was about to say something, but before he could, Marina spoke again.
"Well, there's no point standing around forever...... shall we go?"
"The World Tree, huh. I'd heard rumors about it before, but this is the first time I'm seeing it with my own eyes. ......Well, from a distance like this, I've seen it plenty of times since yesterday."
Vihera murmured, directing her gaze toward the giant tree that was visible even from where they stood. Everyone followed Vihera's gaze and nodded in understanding. Ragdo in particular, having been born and raised in this settlement, felt no sense of incongruity with the view of the World Tree in the landscape.
As they set off toward the World Tree, the group naturally stood out. Three beauties — Elena, Vihera, and Marina — were gathered together, not to mention the presence of Set and Ielo. Furthermore, many had witnessed Ragdo opposing Marina yesterday, so there was no way the two of them acting together wouldn't draw attention.
"Marina-sama, where are you going with such a group?"
"To the World Tree."
"Oh my, does that mean......"
"Yes, you could say it's exactly as you'd expect."
Marina exchanged such conversations with the Dark Elves who spoke to her as they proceeded down the path, and before long, the number of Dark Elves approaching them dwindled.
And then...... eventually, Rei and the others arrived beneath the World Tree.
"This is...... the World Tree?"
The one who muttered in blank amazement was Ara. Faced with the sheer scale of the World Tree spreading before her, she could do nothing but stare in dumbfounded astonishment.
She had heard it was sick and weakened, but from Ara's perspective, it didn't look weakened at all. Lush green leaves covered its branches, and from any angle, it appeared full of vitality.
Beside Ara, Marina, who had only arrived yesterday, sensed that the World Tree's life force had recovered slightly even in just one day.
"......It has indeed weakened."
Ragdo murmured as he looked at the World Tree. Noticing that unmistakable sadness was mixed into those words, Rei's expression shifted to one of mild surprise.
Given what happened yesterday, he didn't have good feelings toward Ragdo, but it was probably true, just as Marina had said, that Ragdo genuinely cared about this settlement.
(That said, whether that makes me able to forgive what happened yesterday is another matter entirely.)
Tearing his gaze away from Ragdo, who was captivated by the World Tree, Rei once again looked up at the tree himself. Even looking up, the branches and leaves were so dense that the top of the World Tree was impossible to see.
"Well then, shall we begin? Rei, if you would?"
Rei, who had been mesmerized by the World Tree, snapped back to reality at Marina's voice.
"Understood. ......I'm not really used to this kind of work, though......"
Muttering that, he touched the trunk of the World Tree — or rather, at this close range, it would be more accurate to call it a wall than a trunk.
"Alright? Since it's the first time, don't pour in too much mana at once. Please do it little by little."
Rei nodded at Marina's instruction and gently — just as he would when using a Magic Item — let his mana flow.
A pulse.
Just like when Rei had entered the barrier, the pulsation occurred again. Startled by the pulsation, Rei instinctively tried to pull his hand away, but Marina gently placed her hand over his.
"Don't let go. It's alright. ......It's alright. This pulsation is proof that the World Tree is joyfully absorbing your mana. Slowly...... slowly pour your mana into the World Tree."
Following Marina's words, Rei continued flowing his mana into the World Tree.
Several minutes passed, and the entire World Tree began to emit a faint glow. Several more minutes passed. Eventually, the World Tree flashed brightly for just an instant...... and then the light gradually faded to a dim shimmer.
Gazing at the World Tree, Rei murmured.
"Did it work?"