Our conversation had naturally shifted toward the spirit race, so I decided to take the opportunity to ask about something I hadn't quite grasped—or perhaps just forgot to mention—back when I was talking to Jutia-san.
"By the way, spirits have a separate main body, right? How do you manage that?"
"Most spirits, myself included, draw it into our physical forms... or more accurately, we merge with it. Look, this is my main body."
As Rosmiel-san spoke, she rested a hand against her chest. Her body began to glow, and a single rose emerged from within her. At a glance, it looked like an ordinary flower, but it radiated such a staggering amount of magic power that there was no mistaking it—this was her true self.
"The actual size of the body doesn't really matter for the fusion. Even though Jutia’s main body is far larger than her spirit form, she still draws it inside herself. Generally speaking, a spirit is at their strongest when their main body is nearby, so keeping it inside the spirit body is the standard practice."
"I see... Wait, then why—?"
"Yes, I think you've caught on, Kaito-kun. Lilliwood-sama is the outlier. She keeps her main body, the World Tree, completely separate from her spirit form."
Right. Lilliwood-san’s main body, the literal World Tree, stood in the center of Yugfressia. Nebula did something similar... though in her case, it seemed she just couldn't move very far from the tree yet. She might grow into that ability later, but for now, her spirit and main body remained distinct.
"Lilliwood-sama does that simply because her power is far too overwhelming. Under normal circumstances, she has to keep herself suppressed."
"Is that right?"
"Yes. Raw power of that magnitude would wreak havoc on the local environment, so she deliberately keeps her spirit body separate. She even distributes a fraction of the World Tree’s immense strength to the Seven Princesses, myself included. We call it the World Tree’s Protection. Thanks to that blessing, we’re constantly supplied with mana directly from the tree. We practically never run out, and minor wounds heal automatically without us even trying."
"That’s incredible. I mean, if she can grant that kind of power to seven different people at once, her original strength must be off the charts."
Essentially, the Seven Princesses were walking around with a permanent auto-regen buff for both their health and their magic power. It made sense now. Perhaps because she shared her own power with them like this, Lilliwood-san referred to the Seven Princesses as her "kin" rather than just subordinates.
"By merging back with the seven of us, Lilliwood-sama can temporarily reclaim and wield her full original power. We call that state the God Tree Form... but unless something truly catastrophic happens, she never uses it."
"I see. Thanks for explaining all of this."
"Oh, please, don't worry about it. I’m just happy you’re interested in spirits, Kaito-kun."
Rosmiel-san gave me a gentle smile, mirroring the sentiment Jutia-san had shared earlier. She was such a kind soul and incredibly easy to talk to. In fact, most of the Seven Princesses were lovely people. Blossom-san was a bit high-energy, but that was about it. They were a far cry from the Ten Demons, who were so defined by their eccentricities that quirks were their entire vocabulary.
As those thoughts crossed my mind, I noticed Rosmiel-san watching me with a quiet, pleasant smile.
"...Rosmiel-san?"
"Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about how much I enjoy talking to you, Kaito-kun... It’s very rare for me to speak this much with anyone other than the Seven Princesses or people I've known for a long time. Maybe your kind, warm aura just makes it feel natural?"
"Maybe it’s Shiro-san’s Blessing?"
"No, I don't think so. It’s not just the feel of the magic power from the Blessing of the World. It’s who you are as a person. My extreme shyness gives me a bit of an intuition for these things. Even if people look the same on the surface, some are just easier to talk to than others. I think it comes down to the atmosphere a person carries."
"I suppose that makes sense."
It was a hard thing to define logically, but I understood what she meant. Some people were just naturally approachable. It wasn't just personality; sometimes it was just an intangible sense of compatibility.
"That’s why I’m so happy to be your friend, Kaito-kun... Ah, wait... we are... friends, aren't we?"
"Of course we are. Honestly, I’m the one who’s lucky to be friends with you, Rosmiel-san."
"Ehehe... It’s a little embarrassing to hear, but it makes me happy. Thank you."
She had sounded a little worried, but when I smiled and gave her my answer, she beamed back at me. With the tension gone, our conversation flowed even more comfortably than before.
???: "The thing is, because her power is divided, going into the God Tree Form requires merging with the Seven Princesses. You’re basically pulling seven top-tier Count-class fighters off the front lines at once. It’s a logistical nightmare to find the right time for it."
Serious-senpai: "Wait, could she use it if she just dragged the main tree along?"
???: "In theory, sure. But the World Tree is absolutely enormous, and since half of it is literally part of the city's foundation, moving it would turn Yugfressia into a pile of rubble."