"That's..."
"Fufu. That's the World Tree, where the Great Dryas — the spirit of
giant trees — resides. It is said to have existed here long before we ever came
to this land. It's huge, isn't it?" Orphelia explained proudly to a wide-eyed
Rio.
"Yes. I made it here by heading towards that tree."
"...Amazing. A barrier of advanced illusion sorcery stretches around the
World Tree, so it cannot be seen without extensive training in spirit arts."
Rio's casual comment made Orphia's eyes grow rounder.
"Is that... so?"
Rio didn't seem entirely convinced, and tilted his head. Since he had
never met other users of spirit arts up until now, he had nothing to compare
his own degree of spirit arts with. However, he did recognize that his ability
to freely imitate most sorcery spells just by breaking down the flow of
essence in the formula was unfairly advantageous, even to himself.
"Hm. Lord Rio, you said you didn't learn spirit arts from anyone. Is that
right?" Ursula suddenly asked as they walked.
"...Yes. I had a little push in the right direction... but I mostly studied it
by myself." Rio hesitated in answering at first, but eventually agreed.
"I see. That's some incredible talent you have there. Perhaps..." Ursula
said with a pensive look on her face, trailing off before finishing her
sentence.
Before long, they arrived at the top floor.
"Here we are, Lord Rio. You come in too, Orphia."
Ursula opened the door and gestured for them to go inside. Rio went in
first, followed by Orphia behind him. Inside, various elderly figures sat on
their chairs as they waited.
"Lord Rio, please take a seat over here. Orphia, sit next to Her Greatness
and attend to her needs."
Ursula directed Rio towards a chair near the doorway and Orphia to a
corner of the room. There stood a young woman.
"...Huh?"
For a moment, Orphia doubted her own eyes. That young woman was an
existence far superior even to her own as a blood relative of the council
members in the village: the spirit of the giant tree, Dryas, who Orphia was
just telling Rio about. Under normal circumstances, she would never be
found in a place like this, but— "What's wrong? Get moving already." Ursula showed no sign of being
fazed as she nonchalantly ordered Orphia along.
"A-Ah, of course!" Orphia nodded awkwardly and headed towards
Dryas. When Dryas caught sight of Orphia, she hugged her happily. But
Orphia was nervous, making a single point of agitation in the peaceful room.
The other elders in the council remained still and smiled contentedly at them.
After taking his seat first, Rio was looking over at Dryas and Orphia
curiously, but redirected his gaze to the front. Before him were three seats for
the three head elders: the high elf Syldora, dwarf leader Dominic, and the
werefox Ursula.
"Now that all the preparations have been completed, I would like to start
the elder council meeting. As we have invited a human boy as our guest on
this occasion, we will progress in the language of humans," Syldora said,
declaring the start of the meeting. Just for this meeting, they would hold the
proceedings in the common tongue of the Strahl region of humans out of
consideration for Rio.
"Now, human boy. I would like to extend my apologies for calling you
out here today. And I thank you sincerely for attending."
"I should be the one saying that. It is an honor to be invited here." Rio
bowed lightly from where he sat.
"I am Syldora, one of the head elders of this spirit folk village. Beside me
are the other head elders. I am sure you are acquainted with Ursula already.
This dwarf man here is—" Syldora stood and began to introduce Dominic.
"It's Dominic. Nice to meet you, human kid." Dominic interrupted first,
introducing himself.
"...As you can see, he is rather blunt. I apologize if he offends you in any
way. I will introduce the other elders to you on another occasion." Syldora let
out a bitter smile with a small smile.
"Thank you for your consideration. It's nice to meet everyone — my
name is Rio." Rio stood up and bowed deeply with a simple self-introduction.
"There is no need to humble yourself, Lord Rio. You are a guest and
benefactor of ours. For the trouble my brethren have caused from their
misunderstanding, as well as for releasing one of our kind from slavery, I
offer you my deepest gratitude and apologies," Syldora said, prompting all
the elders of the room to stand up and bow their heads toward Rio.
From their sincere postures, Rio judged that their words of gratitude and
apology were genuine. However, having those with clearly more life experience than him all bowing to him at once made him uncomfortable, and
he smiled bitterly.
"I accept your words of apology and gratitude. In regards to the apology,
I was also at fault for stepping foot into your territory unbidden. I did not
receive any permanent or long-lasting damage, so as long as the
misunderstanding has been cleared up, I do not believe it to be an issue. Let
us forgive and forget it as an unfortunate mishap. Please, raise your heads,"
Rio said with a calm and polite demeanor.
The elders swallowed an awestruck breath at how mature Rio acted,
contrary to his undoubtedly young and innocent appearance.
"We are sincerely thankful for your selflessness," Syldora began with a
bow of his head, "but it is a fact that we returned the favor we received from
you with ill-treatment. Thus, we would like to do something for you in return
to express our remorse. Is there anything you desire, Lord Rio?" he
continued, finding it somewhat difficult to voice his words. The gazes of the
elders gathered on Rio.
"A desire... you say?" A confused look came across Rio's face at the
sudden topic.
Ursula added to the explanation with a sigh.
"You can name anything. Because of our difference in species, we
weren't sure how to best express our gratitude to you. Though there were
some who feared what you would ask for," Ursula said with a strained smile.
A slightly guilty expression appeared on the faces of the elders as Rio nodded
in understanding.
"I see... Then, could I request that you accept Latifa into your care? My
original objective was to head towards the Yagumo region east of here."
A serious look came over Rio's face as he bowed his head towards
Syldora, who was seated before him. The elders seemed rather taken aback.
"Hmm... But Lord Rio, that is one of our desires. If anything, it is
something we should be requesting from you, not the other way around. You
could ask for something more..." Ursula sighed, letting a wry chuckle escape.
Rio shook his head slowly.
"You may say that, but I was the irresponsible one when I tried to take
another's life into my care."
"Lord Rio..."
"That is why, if it is possible... If it's not just my own wishful thinking,
but right now, Latifa is... She is attached to me, I believe. That is why—""I beg you, Lord Rio. Say no more. At least let us be the one to make the
request. How about it? Would you like to stay in this village alongside Latifa
for a while?" Rio was struggling to find his words, so Ursula took over.