In a slightly open area in the corner of the Spirits' Forest, I sat down on
the root of a large tree and opened the bento that Sieg-san gave me.
[Whoa…]
Inside was a simple sandwich and some light dishes, and while it looked
delicious, it was also kind of feminine and cute.
I guess that's to be expected of Sieg-san huh, the crusts of the bread are
neatly removed, and the sandwiches are arranged in sizes that seem to
be just right for eating.
The filling is… I wonder what this is? I can vaguely recognize eggs and
lettuce-like vegetables in it, and perhaps, she took into consideration
that I'm a man who doesn't eat vegetables that much, there are also
some sandwiches with some meat in between.
It kinda looks like chicken but… what kind of meat is this? It's kinda,
errr, because of that tyrant worm… What I'm trying to say is that since I
ate that huge caterpillar skewer without knowing it, I've become wary of
the meat in this world.
No, even if that huge worm meat was actually snake mean, I would still
have a hard time eating it just as I did back on Earth. However, to the
people of this world, it might just be a very common ingredient.
Yes, it's already cooked, and I don't know what kind of meat it is, so let's
just not think about it… And since I have a bad feeling about it, let's also
not ask what the other ingredients are.
Switching my mind, which seemed to be leaning towards a strange
direction, I took one of the sandwiches in hand and brought it to my
mouth.
[…Delish.]
That sandwich isn't that outrageous that it would strip all my clothes
while screaming "Delicious!", but every time I bite into it, the carefully
cooked meat will belt and become soft and tender, filling my mouth with
its gentle flavors.
It's not like the food you eat in fancy restaurants or anything like those, I
guess it was as if you could taste the gentleness of home… A flavor I
really like.
And then, I tried the other side dishes.
Perhaps, because they are eaten with bare hands, all of the side dishes
were made into bite-sized pieces and then stuck on wooden skewers, so
that they could be easily eaten with one hand.
While feeling my heart warmed by Sieg-san's typical meticulous
attention to detail, I was moving my gaze to see which side dish to eat
first when my attention was caught by something.
[Mini burger steaks…]
(T/N: He actually just calls them mini hamburgs, but I think he's just
referring to the patty-like dish shown in most anime.)
It seems that the burger steaks have been handed down in this world as
well, and when I saw the skewer with bite-sized burger steaks stuck on
it, I can feel myself getting excited.
Well, what can I say, I'm slightly embarrassed sounding like an excited
child but… It wouldn't be an exaggeration when I say that burger steak is
my favorite food to eat.
As I recall, Sieg-san asked me before what my favorite food was, and I
remembered telling her about burger steaks. It seems like she
remembered it huh.
Reaching for the mini burger steak skewer and putting it in my mouth, I
noticed that it was a simple one with no sauce or anything else on it.
For me, a simple salt-and-pepper seasoned burger steak is the best, and
I don't remember eating many burger steaks with demi-glace sauce
when I eat in restaurants.
That's why I can say that the burger steaks made by Sieg-san are my
favorite.
[...…]
Delicious… really delicious.
The soft crunchy texture, the juices seeping into my mouth, and the
simple seasoning of salt and pepper accentuated the flavor of the meat,
making the flavor so delicious it was like it was sinking into my body.
Ah, this is it… this is what I like the best.
As I slowly and frugally savor my burger steak, my eyes heat up a bit and
some nostalgic memories come flooding back in my mind.
——Kaito, what do you think? Mother's burger steak is delicious, right!?
——Rather than that, Mom. Aside from the burger steaks you make,
your cooking isn't very good.
——-Uggghhh… UUuhhh… I'm not really that good at cooking after all.
——–Speaking of which, Dad said the other day that "Other than her
cooking, Mom would have been the ideal woman…".
——–Wait right there, dear!? Tsk, he ran away!? Hey, stop right there!!!
Mom was a terrible cook, isn't she… She was so careless that she would
even carelessly burn herself, and she would even hold the knife
improperly, so I remembered being nervous as a child whenever she's in
the kitchen.
She couldn't make elaborate dishes at all, and she would often make
mistakes in the number of seasonings…
However, the food that she always served with a smile on her face while
she puffed out her small breasts… was really warm…
I was feeling a little pensive as I remembered the past… and before I
knew it, there was a spirit in front of me, staring at my lunchbox with
interest.
[…Do you want to eat?]
[...!]
When I asked him, thinking that he wanted to eat some of my bento
when I looked at him, the spirit… no, the spirits vigorously nodded their
heads.
H- Hmmm. What should I do? Even if each one of them could only eat a
small piece, when there are so many of them, I don't know if I will be
able to distribute it to everyone.
However, if I just give them to some of the children, the other children
would be quite pitiful… Hmmm.
[…Ah, that's right. If it's cookies, I have lots of them, but I wonder if they
will like it?]
[!!!]
Taking out a large number of jam cookies from my magic box and
showing them to the spirits, they looked at them with interest before all
of them looked towards me expectantly.
[All right, let's eat together. Everyone would get some, so properly get in
line.]
[!]
It seems that jam cookies are good too, as the spirits follow my words
and line up neatly in a row.
For me, they were bite-size cookies, but for the spirits, these jam cookies
are as big as their faces, and it seems like it would be hard for one of
them to eat one, so I break it in half and give it to them one by one.
It took a while to finish handing out the cookies when there were more
than a hundred of them, but I finally finished giving them to everyone,
and the spirits happily munch on the cookies little by little as I eat my
bento, swinging their faces in the air.
I've heard from people before how little things are cute, and it seems
that it is as they say, as the spirits eating jam cookies are very cute and
watching them eat is quite a comforting sight.
Thanks to the spirits, my mood is lifted, and I'm able to eat my lunch
with many of them.
The light shining through the trees illuminated our surroundings in a
magical way, and I felt as if I had wandered into a fairy tale.
After lunch, just as I was about to resume the harvest, the spirits
suddenly looked unusual.
They began to fly around in a restless manner.
At first, I was worried that the jam cookies I gave them earlier had
caused something wrong with their bodies, but my Sympathy Magic
conveyed not pain, but a mixture of joy and surprise instead.
[What's the matter with all of you?]
[ ! ? ! ? ]
[Eh? You want me to follow you?]
[!!!]
[A- Alright.]
I didn't understand the situation, but the spirits seemed to be trying to
lead me somewhere by pulling my hand and beckoning me to follow
them, and even though I was confused by their sudden change, I
compliantly followed them.
Unlike the time when they led me to the places where there were a lot of
berries, they seem to be in some kind of hurry… Yes, if I had to describe
it, it was like they're feeling as if "they won't make it in time" to
something.
I've been following the spirits… They seem to be advancing deeper into
the forest, and the wide, easy-to-walk path we were just traversing
before had become more and more like a rough animal trail.
However, the path I'm walking on isn't so much that I can't advance
because the spirits are clearing the weeds ahead of me.
However, I feel like I'm being led to an unexplored region, and I'm a little
anxious about where they're going to take me.
Well, if there are this many spirits, it's probably safe to a certain extent
but… Seriously, where in the world are we going?
It's probably about 10 minutes or so, and as I follow the spirits through
the animal trail, the scene in my eyes drastically changes.
No, the fact that it's a forest hasn't changed but… I can see a tremendous
number of spirits ahead of me.
It's a ridiculous number compared to the number that was following me
just a few minutes ago, as there are clearly more than a thousand spirits
gathered here.
While tilting my head at this unusual scene, I stepped my foot even
further… and there, I found a single tree.
"…It seems that it hasn't affected you all too much. That's a relief."
I can hear a voice resounding somewhere… but I can't see anyone at all.
I mean, if my ears aren't out of whack yet… I think I just heard the tree in
front of me sound like it was talking?
"Oya?"
As if to answer my question, I heard the voice of that tree again… and it
seems like the trunk of the tree was rotating before—— Eh?
[Wha!?]
The tree moved as if it were looking back, and my voice involuntarily
leaked out at the sight that met my eyes.
In the tree's trunk… just around the center, there was a woman wearing
an outfit that was reminiscent of a certain tribe somewhere "buried"…
N- No, that's wrong. Rather than being buried… It appears as if her
hands and lower body are fused with the tree.
By the way, the reason why I thought the entity fused with a tree is a
woman is because of those bountiful parts bulging that they can be
clearly seen even on top of her loose, ethnic dress-style clothing.
Well, I wonder to myself why I'm thinking like this in this kind of
situation, but if you're a man, you'll have to forgive me for not being able
to turn away my eyes from those atrocious bulges.
Anyway, that woman was, how should I say this… an existence with an
incredibly mysterious atmosphere.
Her eyes were a beautiful emerald green like jewels, and her long
vibrant green hair glitter with the sunlight… Eh? No, looking at them
closely, those aren't hairs. They're leaves!? Those small leaves are strung
together in layers to form a long hair-like shape.
A body united with a tree, and hair of leaves. If I were to base her with
the RPG I used to play, she looks like those "Dryad" monsters.
…Well, she at least doesn't seem to be a human.
"...…"
The woman quietly stared at me with her jewel-like eyes.
The woman's face is quite high up in the air, and perhaps because she's
fused to the tree, it kinda looks like she's looking down upon me, which
makes me uncomfortable.
Who could this woman be? If she's in the Spirits' Forest, does that mean
she's a spirit? No, but something is clearly different about her from the
spirits I've seen so far, yes, something status.
If I had to put it into words, would it be a sense of presence? The
tremendous atmosphere, as if a tree so large it pierces the heavens
exists in front of me, leaves me speechless.
The woman continued to stare at me for a while, before calmly speaking
to me.
"…Are you, by any chance, Miyama Kaito-san?"
[Eh?]
How should I say this… There's something strange in her voice, and the
woman's mouth didn't even move and it sounded as if the sound was
coming from her whole body, not from her mouth.
However, what was even more shocking was the fact that she said my
name when we were supposed to have never met before… Who was she
really?
[…Errr, I'm certainly Miyama Kaito but… who are you?]
"Forgive my discourtesy. It was quite impolite of me to ask your name
without introducing myself."
Hearing the question that spilled out of my mouth, the woman lightly
bows her head once, before she gently smiles.
"My name is Lillywood…"Lillywood Yggdrasil". In the Demon Realm, I'm
the one known as the "World King"."
[…Huh?]
As I heard the words that were calmly announced to me, I felt my
thoughts completely stopped this time.
Dear Mom, Dad—– In the depths of the Spirits' Forest, arriving in the
place where the spirits brought me—— I encountered the World King.