In a small, open clearing within a corner of the Spirit Forest, I sat down on the root of a massive tree and opened the bento Sieg-san had given me.
"Oh..."
Inside were simple sandwiches and several light side dishes. It looked delicious, but beyond that, the bento had a certain feminine charm to it.
As expected of Sieg-san, the crusts had been neatly trimmed from the bread, and the sandwiches were cut into perfectly manageable sizes.
As for the fillings... I wondered what they were. I could identify the eggs and the lettuce-like vegetables, but perhaps because she had considered the appetite of a young man, there were also several sandwiches with meat.
It looked a bit like poultry, but... I wondered what kind of animal it actually was. Ever since I had unwittingly downed a skewer of Tyrant Worm—which, for the record, was just a giant caterpillar—I had developed a healthy suspicion regarding this world’s various meats.
Well, even if it were some kind of giant insect or snake, while someone raised on Earth like me would feel some resistance, it might be a perfectly common ingredient for the people here.
It was already cooked, and thinking about it wouldn't give me an answer, so I decided to put it out of my mind. Besides, I had a lingering bad feeling, so I resolved not to ask about the ingredients later.
Shaking off those unsettling thoughts, I picked up a sandwich and took a bite.
"...It’s good."
The sandwich didn't have the kind of explosive flavor that would make me shout the moment it hit my tongue, but with every chew, the carefully prepared meat tenderly fell apart, and a gentle, savory richness spread throughout my mouth.
Rather than the fare of a high-end restaurant, it had a comforting, home-cooked quality... It was exactly the kind of taste I liked.
Next, I reached for the side dishes.
Perhaps because they were meant to be eaten by hand, every side dish was bite-sized and served on a wooden skewer, making them easy to eat with one hand.
Feeling my heart warm at Sieg-san’s characteristically meticulous thoughtfulness, I scanned the selection to decide which to try next when I noticed something.
"Mini hamburg steaks..."
Apparently, the concept of hamburg steak existed in this world as well. Seeing the skewers of bite-sized patties, I felt my excitement genuinely rise.
It was a bit embarrassing and childish, but I couldn't help it. Hamburg steak was my absolute favorite food.
I remembered Sieg-san asking me about my preferences before and telling her how much I loved them; it seemed she had actually remembered.
I reached for a skewer of the mini hamburgs and brought one to my mouth. It was a simple version, served without any sauce.
In my opinion, a hamburg steak seasoned simply with salt and pepper was the supreme version of the dish. I didn't have many fond memories of the demi-glace versions served in restaurants.
In that sense, the hamburgs Sieg-san made were exactly to my taste.
"..."
They were delicious... really, truly delicious.
With a soft texture, juices that seeped into my mouth, and simple salt and pepper seasoning that accentuated the meat's natural flavor, they were so good that the taste seemed to soak into my very soul.
Ah, this was it... This was the flavor I loved most.
As I savored the hamburg steak slowly, as if reluctant to finish, my eyes grew a bit hot, and a nostalgic memory resurfaced.
—Kaito, how is it? Mom’s hamburg steaks are delicious, aren't they!
—I mean, Mom, your cooking... nothing except the hamburg steaks is good at all.
—Ugh... Ooh, I really am bad at cooking, aren't I?
—Come to think of it, Dad said the other day, "Your mother would be the ideal woman if it weren't for her cooking..."
—Hey, you?! Wait, did he just run away?! Hey, wait right there!!
Mom really was a terrible cook... She was such a klutz that she’d burn things instantly, and her knife skills were so shaky that even as a child, I remembered feeling nervous just watching her.
She couldn't make anything elaborate, and she frequently got the seasoning and measurements wrong...
But, always with a beaming smile, she would puff out her small chest as she served her food... and it was so warm...
While I was lost in a bit of a sentimental mood, a spirit appeared in front of me before I even noticed, staring curiously at my bento.
"...Do you want to eat some?"
"...!"
When I asked, suspecting she wanted a taste, the spirit—or rather, the spirits—nodded their heads vigorously.
U-Umm. What should I do? Even if each individual was tiny, with this many of them, there was no way I could share this bento with everyone.
On the other hand, giving it to only a few would be unfair to the rest... Hmm.
"...Ah, I know. I have plenty of cookies. Would these be okay instead?"
"!!"
I pulled a bag of jam cookies I had bought in bulk from my Magic Box and showed them. The spirits stared with intense interest, and all at once, they turned their expectant gazes toward me.
"Okay then, let's all eat together. I'll hand them out in order, so line up properly."
"!"
Apparently, jam cookies were perfectly acceptable. The spirits followed my instructions and formed a neat line.
They were bite-sized for me, but for the spirits, these cookies were about as big as their faces. Since it looked like they would be hard to eat whole, I broke them in half and gave a piece to each spirit.
With over a hundred of them, it took a bit of time to finish, but they were successfully distributed to everyone. Matching the pace of my meal, the spirits nibbled on their cookies, swaying their heads happily.
People often said that small things were cute, and watching the spirits eat their jam cookies was truly healing. It was an incredibly adorable sight.
The sentimental mood from earlier cleared up thanks to them, and I finished my lunch in the company of the many spirits.
The light filtering through the gaps in the trees illuminated the area in a dreamlike way, making me feel as if I had wandered into a fairy tale.
I finished my lunch and was just about to resume the harvest when the spirits' behavior suddenly shifted.
They began to fly around restlessly, as if they couldn't stay still.
At first, I worried that the jam cookies had made them sick, but through Sympathy Magic, I felt emotions that were a mix of joy and surprise, rather than distress.
"What's the matter?"
"！？！？"
"Eh? You want me to follow you?"
"！！"
"O-Okay, I understand."
I didn't quite grasp the situation, but the spirits were pulling at my hand and beckoning me, trying to guide me somewhere. Though bewildered by the sudden change, I followed them.
Unlike when they had led me to fruit-heavy areas, they seemed to be in a rush... If I had to put it into words, they acted as if they wouldn't "make it in time" for something.
As I followed them, we headed deeper and deeper into the forest. The wide, easy-to-walk path from before gradually turned into a rough, overgrown trail.
However, the spirits went ahead of me to push aside weeds and branches, so the way wasn't impassable.
Still, it felt like I was being led into some unexplored sanctuary, and I started to feel a little anxious about where they were taking me.
Well, with this many spirits around, it should be safe enough... but seriously, where were we going?
After walking straight along the animal trail for about ten minutes, the scenery before me changed drastically.
It was still a forest, of course, but ahead of me, I saw a staggering number of spirits.
It was foolish to even compare it to the group that had been following me; there were clearly over a thousand spirits gathered in one spot.
While tilting my head at the strange sight, I stepped further in... and found a single, massive tree.
『...It seems there hasn't been much of an effect on you all. I am relieved.』
A resonant voice reached my ears, but I couldn't see a person anywhere.
In fact, unless my ears were playing tricks on me, it sounded like the tree right in front of me had just spoken.
『Oh?』
As if responding to my doubt, the voice came from the tree again, and its trunk rotated toward me—Wait, what?
"Wha—!?"
The tree moved as if it were turning around, and I gasped at the sight.
In the trunk of the tree... right around the middle, a woman wearing clothes reminiscent of some ethnic costume was "buried" inside. No, that wasn't it. Rather than being buried, it looked as if her hands and lower body were fused with the wood.
By the way, the reason I immediately knew it was a woman was because of the voluptuous swells that were clearly visible even through her loose, ethnic-style clothing.
I knew it was a strange thing to think in a situation like this, but if you’re a man, please forgive me—those menacing proportions were simply impossible to ignore.
At any rate, the woman exuded an incredibly mystical aura.
Her eyes were a beautiful emerald green, like polished gems, and her long, fresh-green hair that shimmered in the sunlight was... Wait, looking closer, that wasn't hair. Those were leaves! Countless small leaves were layered together to form the shape of long hair.
A body integrated with a tree, hair made of leaves. She looked exactly like a "Dryad" from an RPG.
At the very least, she didn't seem human.
『...』
The woman stared at me quietly with those jewel-like eyes.
Perhaps because she was fused with the tree, her face was at a fairly high elevation. The composition of her looking down at me was quite unsettling.
Who was she? Since she was in the Spirit Forest, was she a spirit? No, she was clearly different from any spirit I had seen so far; her very existence felt as though it were on a different level.
If I had to describe it, it was her overwhelming presence. It felt as if a giant tree piercing the heavens itself were standing before me, and the sheer weight of her atmosphere left me speechless.
After a long silence, the woman spoke to me in a gentle voice.
『...Are you, perhaps, Kaito Miyama?』
"Eh?"
Her voice was equally mysterious; her mouth didn't move at all. Instead, the sound seemed to resonate from her entire body.
But more shocking than that was the fact that she knew my name, despite this being our first meeting. Who was she, really?
"...Umm, I am indeed Kaito Miyama, but... who are you?"
『My apologies. How rude of me to fail to introduce myself.』
Hearing my question, the woman bowed her head slightly and offered a gentle smile.
『My name is Liliwood... I am Liliwood Yggdrasil. In the Demon Realm, I am known as the "World King."』
"...Hah?"
As those words were spoken with a calm elegance, my thoughts came to a complete and total halt.
Dear Mother, Father—deep in the Spirit Forest, at the place where the spirits led me—I encountered the World King.