"Please hurry and repeat after me."
Termia urged me.
The play would be fun, but I feel my mind suddenly changing.
—I think language should contain sincerity. Even if this is acting, there's no need to decorate sincerity with falsehood.
After saying it, I felt a little pricked and added more.
—I'm not saying this because I'm embarrassed to do it.
Yes, it's not a lie.
Termia nodded.
"So you're embarrassed!"
Actually, that's true......
"I understand. If you say so, Tree, I'll follow you."
Termia put away the practice script regretfully.
"I thought I had written it fairly well."
I wonder whether she would give the same evaluation if I showed it to her future self. I should memorize the contents and ask her later.
"It's done."
Velesa, who had measured even my branch sizes, climbed down from my trunk.
"I can wrap cloth around you. However, because you already possess a splendid appearance, I think anything I add would actually be bad."
Velesa looked me over as a whole.
"From branches that are orderly like the landscaping tree of a noble mansion while still preserving the dynamism of nature, to leaves filling them neither too densely nor too sparsely. A scene has already been completed that should not be touched by a person's clumsy hands."
Ah, is it because of that?
【Geometric Branch Network Design】
Designs the sky domain with regularized branch and leaf arrangements. Reduces the resources and time required for branch growth and grants advantages in aesthetic beauty and structure utilization, but requires conscious design.
I didn't design it with aesthetic beauty in mind, but it seems there was an effect. No wonder people who approached often looked at me in admiration. There's an aesthetically well-ordered enormous tree in the middle of nature, after all.
"Big Sister, I agree too."
Termia agreed actively.
"In my eyes, Tree is already perfect. I thought you might be able to add something, Big Sister, but I guess not."
"Unfortunately, I am a seamstress, not a gardener."
Velesa gazed at me.
"If you want it, Tree, apart from our judgment, we can prepare it for you. Do you want that?"
—Does draping cloth play an important role in assimilating the migrants? If it's important, not matching my appearance is a minor problem.
Velesa thought for a moment.
"You might not feel this, Tree. The more high-class the fabric, the more labor and cost it takes. If the village truly respects a sacred tree at the village level, it is right to spend that much."
—I did already receive a lump of mana stone. Whenever I meet the village chief, he asks whether there is anything I need.
"What is not visible right now does not have great value. That is why fine clothes have value in themselves. At the moment someone sees you for the first time, only your outer appearance enters their eyes."
So although it's a worldly way of thinking, is there nothing as effective as an expensive appearance to show my value intuitively?
—If the intent is to make them intuitively understand my value, I don't think there's a need to decorate my appearance. Termia, do you wash every time you come here?
"What?"
The girl stared blankly as if wondering what she had heard, then jumped in alarm.
"Do I smell?!"
The front of her clothes hurriedly fluttered.
—It's not that. Rather, I asked because you're almost always neat.
The girl deeply sighed in relief.
"It'd be a lie to say every time. But I do try to wash before coming when possible."
—Why? In this cold winter, is there a need to bother with that? This is only the unpopulated back side of the village, and the one you meet is just a tree.
"Well, I've never thought deeply about it."
Termia grew flustered.
"What about you, Big Sister? Did you wash before coming?"
"I washed in the morning, so I only applied a little scented oil before coming."
"Right? It feels wrong to just come as you are, doesn't it?"
The girl looked back.
"Tree isn't just a tree you should come to in a dirty state, right? The village chief probably has never visited here in a dirty state after finishing chores either."
I laughed for a moment.
—My value isn't in my lush branches or deep roots. It's in that heart of yours. In the deep respect that makes you wash even in cold winter and come in clean attire even during busy lives.
Perhaps this too is a worldly heart. A worldly heart that decorates appearances, emphasizes cleanliness, and cares only for outward looks.
But if people are such beings, then one only needs to acknowledge them as they are. If this is the heart's best, then I can gladly accept that best.
—Make them do what you do.
The wind blew, spreading the scent of fragrant oil.
—Don't try to decorate me. Make them decorate themselves. My value will come not from me, but from their faith.
***
They wash every time they visit in this cold winter?
The male elf who had washed in icy river water trembled as he wiped himself with a cloth. Because of the cold, all his skin was red. Goosebumps rose all over him.
To think they do this insane thing every time.
Either the entire village was mad, or that tree was that incredible.
The male elf who had studied in the royal capital believed in the former.
Elves who gathered and lived in a forest in a remote place even among the kingdom's frontier regions could not possibly make rational judgments.
Some bad custom created by some chance trigger must have hardened over generations and remained until now, without anyone thinking to reform it or change it.
Fools. They're lowering the average of elves.
Because elves like this were everywhere, he, who had graduated at the top of the Royal Academy in administration and finance and was building a career while waiting to advance under the second prince, had ended up doing spy work merely because he was also an elf.
The spy clenched his teeth, which were chattering from the cold.
They told him to be glad because it was an important mission to protect his lord's child. It was obvious what the intent was when they said they were giving a short-lived elf the opportunity to grow close to the future power.
"Oof! It's cold! They said to wash your clothes clean too. Did you wash yours?"
An unfamiliar elf suddenly spoke to him.
The spy wanted to shout at him not to talk to me when I am already doing my best to restrain my temper, but he endured. If this had been his days attending the Royal Academy, he would have thrown curses at him.
"I had clothes stored in my luggage, so I brought those."
"No wonder I didn't see your face when everyone was doing laundry together. You must have come from a city? You look more like a prissy scholar than any elf I've ever seen."
What's he talking about? Is this an elf who can't even perform the basic reasoning that appearance and essence don't coincide?
"I did come from a city."
"As expected! I knew I could read faces. Your face is shiny with grease, and your expression is arrogant. A perfect prissy scholar!"
What did you say, you bastard?
Do you know how it feels to endure being stared at by human nobles while building a career and finally reaching a connection to royal power, only to feel demoted for the absurd reason that I am the only elf they can use as a spy?
"If everyone has washed, please change into neat clothes."
Village chief Eldrin clapped his hands to draw attention.
The spy almost cursed the elf who was acting familiar, then held back and focused on Eldrin as his mission required.
Even if a mage close to his lord had checked the village chief's personality once, one could not know what was inside a person. If the village grew and the kingdom fell into chaos, who could know whether he would wish to become a bandit leader?
What he had to do was verify this village, then make the final report that it was safe to come. Although he felt filthy because he had been demoted, it was true that this was an important mission concerning the safety of the future power.
If he had been born a human instead of a short-lived elf, he would have accepted it gladly......
Even though he tried to soothe his heart with temper, he could not help bitterly smiling.
He had resolved to rise in the world and lead the uneducated elves from the front, yet in the end he had fallen flat.
Suddenly, a girl came out as the representative. Her high-quality clothing, all pure white, drew attention.
"The sacred tree does not like commotion. Everyone, we will move quietly with reverent hearts."
The girl took the lead, and all the villagers followed. Over a hundred migrants followed behind them again.
The sight of everyone neatly dressed and silently following the girl in pure white clothing was a strange scene he had never experienced in his life.
Even the whispering migrants were pressed down by the weight of the atmosphere and gradually fell silent. Footprints piled up on the snowfield, and the long journey continued deep into the forest.
The spy sharply looked around.
The elf who had been talking to him until just before swallowed dryly in nervousness.
It was not only that elf.
The migrant elves, who had not adapted to the village atmosphere, could not withstand the reverent atmosphere at this moment and all silently followed the girl as if united. They glanced around, but no one could think of opening their mouth.
The spy's lip corner twisted.
So this is the trick. It's a good method for deluding the foolish.
One of the things done when a new royal government is established is to make rites and procedures related to the royal family heavy and complex.
People feel awe toward things they do not know, cannot understand, and yet everyone follows. By making something impossible to understand, royal authority is strengthened.
A mere tree may well delude people.
The principles of ruling a state are contained in this small village.
However, abolishing empty illusions and revealing true reality is the duty of one who possesses learning. He had not studied and learned in order to be swayed by mere appearances.
The journey arrived at the clearing.
Suddenly, a warm breeze blew.
Sunlight shone down on the wide clearing. An enormous tree supported the sky. A snowless grass field swayed, and fruit filled his sight.
Winter had gone, and spring had arrived.
At the end of the snowy journey, fruit that would fill hungry stomachs and an enormous tree that did not yield to the season welcomed them.
The girl in pure white clothing respectfully bowed her head.
"Sacred tree, I have brought everyone."
The green leaves shook.
A voice came from the sky.
—Thank you all for coming.
Dense will pressed down on his shoulders.
The sincere gratitude, slight embarrassment, and great enjoyment contained there were enough to sweep over the soul.
The spy's mind went white.
This is, this is......
The pale elves began to kneel one by one of their own accord. Awe became a wave and covered the earth. Faith became wind and covered the sky.
The swaying spy gritted his teeth and stood alone.
He must not be deluded.
He could not let go now of what he had learned until now, what he had practiced until now, and what he had endured until now.
As the representative of ignorant elves, he had a duty to face delusion and reveal reality. For that reason, the poor elves had gathered and gathered their small savings and sent him to the Royal Academy as their representative.
He gazed with difficulty at the enormous tree.
"What are you?"
The sky answered.
—I'm a tree living on the local hill. A tree that can speak together, laugh together, and cry together, and that will live together with you.
Sincerity rode on will and swept over his soul.
—I hope you won't think of me too difficultly. It's true that I'm a little mysterious, but that's only proof that this world is just as mysterious.
Strength left his legs.
That noble thing, without any pretense, any adornment, or any delusion.
He could not regard it as an equal existence.
His knees touched the earth.
He felt no doubt about it.
·
·
·
Waaah?
Why is everyone kneeling?
Since this was acting as a sacred tree, I did put strength into it and spread my will, but if they react like this, I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
[You have become an object of faith for intelligent life forms. Your existence touches deeper mystery.]
【Divinity Lv.2】
Waaah?