A day begins with a dew face-wash.
Dew rolled across the surface of my leaves.
Dust washed away, and moist green received the sunlight.
On the leaf beside it, the droplet girl lay sprawled out and watched. Her tiny legs swung.
—Did you have fun while wandering around with Termia?
The droplet nodded.
It did look like you had a lot of fun teasing your friend, who had to dig pits by hand with a shovel. I even wondered if you made friends just to do that.
Seeing how much she liked it gave me a lot to think about.
As expected, I think I need to make her a younger sibling.
The droplet spent most of her time going out. She hadn't shown it until now, but perhaps she had been lonely.
Separate from liking to talk with me, maybe she wanted someone she could be more relaxed with. She liked playing pranks, but she didn't play them on me.
I had long since exceeded the mana needed to make a younger sibling.
·MP
10,050 → 24,960
Woohoo. I have accumulated more than one lightning strike.
Since I now capture 200 a day, it was building up just by breathing. Ten thousand mana was the droplet spirit herself, so in reality I had around fifteen thousand, but I had more than enough mana to make a sibling.
—How do you think you would feel if you had a younger sibling?
The droplet girl tilted her head.
After thinking for a while, she tilted it again.
Did she not know what a younger sibling was?
—A younger sibling means an existence smaller than you. One you have to care about and look after.
The droplet, who only blinked, moved her small hands. Moisture gathered, and a droplet formed. She placed it on both hands and lifted it up as if showing me.
—That's not a younger sibling, it's, how should I put it.
It's hard to explain what a younger sibling is......
Should I just show her?
I gathered ten thousand mana in a branch. The mana rippled, compressed, grew firm, and before long became a large cube.
Since I had tried liquid mana, this time with solid mana.
—This cube is your younger sibling.
The droplet stared at the cube.
Then she stared at me.
Yes, I know it sounds absurd......
But honestly, I don't know specifically how to make one.
After thinking, the droplet moved her small hands. She poured the droplet still resting on her palm over the cube. The cube grew wet.
The droplet girl spread both arms. Like hugging my branch, she hugged the cube tightly. Her gaze turned to me, and the girl giggled.
Waaah, are you recognizing it as your younger sibling?
Her reaction seemed like she was being generous, but I'll repay her with results.
I buried the cube in the place where Termia had dug and covered practice pits. I stretched out roots and hugged the cube tightly.
—Now, if we wait while giving it love, it'll become your younger sibling.
Just like you became a spirit.
The droplet girl giggled, but she didn't affirm it.
So cold......
***
A new gravestone was being made in the communal cemetery mixed with autumn leaves. Elves in quarantine clothing dug a pit and laid down a corpse.
I wonder if Termia is doing well. There was no problem with the plan itself. Several days have passed, so she should be coming soon.
A male elf who had finished the gravestone dusted off his hands. He seemed to be older, and unlike an elf, he looked to be in his thirties. Or did he simply look old for his age?
The elf directed the others and entrusted the cleanup to them, then said he had something to do and moved into the forest. More precisely, in my direction.
I wondered if it was a coincidence, but he pushed through the thicket and approached directly. When he reached the wide space, his steps drew closer, and his gaze looked up at me.
The elf's brow narrowed slightly.
"Are you Lord Tree?"
Waaah?
The droplet, who had been floating idly, saw him, startled, and hid on a leaf. A piece of mana dew pretending to be dew appeared.
The elf, after confirming the horned-helmet droplet, slowly examined the surroundings. He looked around at the fruit-covered scenery, then stared at me again.
"Are you Lord Tree?"
He must have heard from Termia.
—I'm not a tree but a sapling, but yes.
Will formed into language pressed against the surrounding space.
The elf took one step back and wiped a hand over his face.
"I have not heard many stories in my life about trees speaking, but you truly do speak."
There was a little self-reproach in his voice.
—The world is wide. There are talking trees too.
The elf readily nodded. His thumb pointed behind him.
"I am Eldrin, the chief of that village."
Waaah, so this is the person who turned the impression "the mysterious droplet secretly helped me" into "the village chief secretly helped me."
Eldrin bowed deeply. A human shadow fell.
"Thank you for taking care of Termia. As the village chief, I was agonizing because I could not treat her preferentially in a situation where everyone is experiencing the same thing."
I see.
—That can happen. You're the village chief.
"Thanks to you taking care of her, Termia has brightened a great deal. She is eating well too."
—I'm glad she's eating well even after returning.
She's such a smart and brave child that I trusted she'd do well even where I couldn't see her, but still.
I watched his bowed head for a moment.
—Chief, raise your head. There's no need for you to blame yourself. I only provided shade as a tree, and you only provided a village as the village chief.
Eldrin slowly straightened. A bitter smile hung on his lips.
"The world is wide. Truly wide."
—It's that beautiful too, so doesn't it seem like a very good world?
"I am not sure about that."
Eldrin rummaged in his pocket. A neatly folded piece of paper was taken out.
"This is the proposal Termia submitted to the village meeting. Though its credibility is not high, we plan to try changing the eating habits of several urgent cases."
Waaah, I hope it goes well.
"Do you have any advice related to it?"
Advice.
—If you choose urgent cases, it'll be easy to select people, but some will think they're going to die anyway, so they might as well eat plenty of meat before they die. They may do so secretly from the village once they get tired of it. For reliable verification, it'd be better to choose elves whose tastes suit raw food.
Eldrin sank into thought.
"I will keep that in mind."
The paper went back into his pocket.
"Separately from this, I would like to personally repay you for taking care of Termia. Is there anything you need?"
I had never thought about it.
—If I had to receive something, perhaps a vocabulary dictionary?
Reading the paper in his pocket, I had seen several words I couldn't read. Was it because it was an official document?
"A vocabulary dictionary?"
—I'm studying writing. I've finished the basic vocabulary dictionary Termia carries around.
Woohoo, I'm a sma-art sapling.
Eldrin stared at me.
His gaze said, A tree......?
"Understood. Anything else?"
Something else too?
There was nothing lacking in this place of warm sunlight.
Suddenly, my thoughts reached the droplet hiding on a leaf. The droplet disguised as dew watched the chief while reading the mood.
Ah, I see.
—I'm shy around strangers, you see. I'd prefer this place not become too crowded with people. Just as usual?
"I will tell everyone."
—Yes, thank you. Nothing else.
The village chief gave his greetings and left.
Before noon, I received several vocabulary dictionaries. Their heavy weight reassured my heart.
Woohoo. I can become an even sma-arter sapling.
***
Waaah, this is a word referring to someone who died after eating a poisonous mushroom. To think it's an idiom meaning foolish, yet can still be used in official documents.
The dictionaries differed in vocabulary and difficulty by type. There was even a practical language dictionary that seemed to have been made by the village chief himself. So mercenaries use these implied terms.
There was nothing like court vocabulary that only nobles would know, but with this, couldn't I speak most of the world?
While I was absorbed in looking through the dictionaries, I heard a familiar voice.
"They're doing it!"
The blond girl ran over, breathing hard. The autumn leaf stuck carelessly to her hair bobbed, and her flushed cheeks caught the sunlight.
"The village chief declared that they'll verify it!"
One arm waved frantically.
"And with more than the number of people I proposed! Around a dozen! The village has around two hundred people, so ten is a lot, isn't it? They said they'd check evenly, from sick people to healthy people!"
—Waaah, really? You did it. Incredible.
"It's all thanks to you, Lord Tree!"
—What could I have done? You did it.
After that, words poured out so quickly it was difficult to react. It meant she felt that good, so I quietly listened and waited for her excitement to calm.
"That's how the proposal passed! No one opposed it either! Though there was someone who quietly said they needed to eat grilled meat to feel full."
—Changing eating habits is difficult.
"Right! That's why I was going to bring delicious fruit, huh?"
Termia patted at both hands. Realizing they were empty, she grew flustered.
"Huh? I didn't bring the basket. I'll go and come back!"
The girl turned and ran. Her blond hair fluttered as she moved away.
She came in an instant and left in an instant.
A while later, Termia returned holding a wooden basket. She had calmed down considerably.
The girl smiled sheepishly.
"I forgot the basket. If I wanted to take fruit, I should have brought it."
The droplet girl giggled.
"Ah, really, don't laaugh."
—It only means you wanted to tell me the good news quickly.
"That's true."
Termia picked fruit and put it in the basket. The droplet watched, then picked fruit beside her too.
"Thank you. It was my first time entering a village meeting, and besides what I proposed, they discussed many things."
—They did?
Losing her mother was too great a tragedy for the girl, but in the village, it'd only be one small incident.
"There were some unsettling matters too. I haven't met him, but they say a suspicious human is wandering around nearby. Not here, but on the other side."
Waaah?
"His movements are so suspicious that they even discussed repairing the fence and preparing arrows."
A human wandering around an elf village. That's too suspicious. I had never seen the wide world, but I could imagine several possible goals.
"Someone who encountered him questioned him, and he said he was some sort of investigator. Something about hearing that there was a mana stone mine here and investigating it. And telling them not to interfere for no reason."
Waaah?
"It's an absurd excuse. What mana stone mine would be here?"
Termia snorted.
"His goal is obvious."
That's true, but.
It really is true, but.
Is that suspicious person actually right......?
The basket filled halfway. Termia turned it in her arms.
"There was also a funny story besides that."
Termia looked at me.
"Lord Tree, have you ever seen a rabbit?"
A rabbit?
—I have.
I had even fought one with my life on the line.
"Well, apparently there are people in our village who tried to catch a rabbit and lost. Two of them, no less! They are injured and recuperating."
Waaah?
I feel like I know that rabbit.
Did it perhaps have fluffy white fur?
Termia chuckled. The droplet giggled along.
"There's no way it was really a rabbit. It must be some kind of excuse. Since this was my first village meeting, I don't know the hidden context yet, but maybe there is a custom where, if people get hurt for an embarrassing reason, they say they were hurt by a rabbit?"
It was a smart and reasonable interpretation.
—That could be. I think that's probably right.
A little later, the fruit basket was full.
"Then I'll go now."
Termia placed the basket on her head and left. The droplet flew after her. It seemed they'd talk on the way. It was nice to see them close.
I leisurely began looking through the dictionaries again. The paper quality isn't very good. When the droplet returns, I should waterproof all the dictionaries.
Or perhaps not? Maybe it'd be right to copy them and return them. Vocabulary dictionaries must be very precious.
Suddenly, while returning, the droplet discovered something and hid in the grass. What is it?
Someone was entering the clearing.
It was a sturdy man lightly wearing a robe. His round ears stood out.
Waaah, a human.
Is that the suspicious human?
Seeing how he had hidden a dagger inside his robe and wore thin leather armor under ordinary clothes, he really was suspicious.
The human approached and looked up blankly.
"What's this huge tree?"
His gaze went down, then up, over and over.
"What species is it?"
I don't know that either.
Just a mysterious local hill sapling, perhaps?
The human touched my trunk.
"If there was a convenient tree like this, they should have told me when they made the request. Honestly, coming all the way to this nothing village, what kind of suffering is this?"
He tested it with his foot too, then climbed up my trunk.
Wa, waaah.
His body settled on a thick branch, and he took position. His gaze examined the area beyond.
"Hm? Because of the trees, the height is more awkward than I thought. If more leaves had fallen, I think I could have looked down at the village."
Thaat's what you want?
I examined inside his robe in detail.
A paper in the inner pocket caught my eye.
I examined the scribbled contents on the paper. There were words I didn't know, but I could immediately find and confirm them in the dictionaries.
Let's see.
Village population, armament level, guard personnel......
Woohoo. I think he's a bad person.