"You are telling me that I will have to solve the problem by myself ? Alice couldn't believe what she has heard.
"Exactly. Thank you for offering to do that for this city" The clerk bowed to show her gratitude and sent her on her merry way.
[Also this forest is very dense in mana so i won't be able to contact you when you enter it]
"Great, just what i needed. A solo mission in a forest where i can't even rely on my master" She thought to herself, forgetting that Monika is still in her head.
[Pfft it seems you rely on me a lot]
"I guess. And it seems you like to abuse that trust" Alice pouted
[oh dont be so sad. I will pat you if you do good enough job]
"Like i want to be pet by you" Alice instantly ran to the forest. It was a long way from Redacre but because of her training she is now faster with her air magic than if she took a carriage. Also the wind going through her hair felt amazing, she felt so free running.
...
It took her around two days with breaks to get to the forest. It was a sight to behold. The trees reached the clouds and it looked like no one dared to get close in the past a hundred years. When she set her foot inside she could feel the shift in mana around. It felt like a complete different place. She explored the forest trying to find the ents. Looking for tall creatures made out of wood like she imagined the ents. As she was walking and looking up she bumped into someone.
"Ouch im sorry for that, i was too invested in looking for ents" Alice said while offering the person a helping hand. Then she looked at the person she knocked over. It was a girl covered in moss with wooden horns.
"I'm so sorry please don't eat me" She cried her eyes out.
"Don't worry i won't eat you. Did you get lost in the forest ? Why are you naked and covered in moss ?" Alice had so many questions about what the girl was doing in such a place.
"I live here" The girl kept crying.
"Really ? What's your name and how old are you ?" Alice tried calming down the crying girl. Showing that she isn't hostile.
The girl calmed down a bit "I'm Tania... and im 190 years old" She said.
"Nice to meet you Tania, I'm Alice, and adventurer and im 16 years old right now. Did you perhaps mean 19 ?" She helped Tania up.
"Why is an adventurer here ? And no i meant 190." Tania didn't fully trust Alice yet.
"I was sent to get rid of the ents in the forest and keep you safe" In her head, Tania was just in shock. "What do you mean 190?"
When Tania heard that Alice was sent here to get rid of the ents she cried even harder and started controling the trees around them. The roots expanded and locked Alice in place. "I knew you were a bad person!" She was shaking from fear.
"Wait what ? Don't tell me ..."
"Yes, I am a dryad. Or how you people refer to me. An ent" She tightened the grip of the roots against Alice, Making her scream in pain.
"Please let's talk it out ! It's a misunderstanding !" Alice expected tall creatures made out of wood, not this !
"What would you even tell me ! I bet you would only hurt us if I let you go !" Tania said angry, still tightening the grip on Alice.
"If that was all I wanted to do I would have killed you the moment I saw you ! Please let me explain." She begged the dryad to losen her grip. Those words made the dryad losen her grip around her, but not enough to let her move.
"I'm listening..." She still had her guard up just in case.
"I was sent here to get rid of the problem with ents. I thought I would run into creatures made out of trees. Not inteligent species of dryads !" Alice hoped that Tania will believe it.
"What problem are we causing ?" She asked.
"Apparently the forest expansion is making the mana beasts run rampant in the cities around the forest" Alice answered.
"So now that you know we aren't some people made out of trees how are you planning to solve this problem ?" She had to make sure the adventurer won't hurt her or her tribe.
"I don't know yet but I will for sure find a way, jsut give me time. I really don't want to hurt you Tania, believe me" She could feel as the roots grip got weaker and weaker until she could move again. "Thank you" She hugged the dryad.
Tania took her to her tribe. It was massive. Treehouses everywhere connected by bridges, tons of dryads walking around making Alice avert her eyes because of their skimpy clothing.
"Why don't dryads wear clothes ? Don't you feel embarassed having your body seen by others ?" Alice asked Tania.
"Not at all. Our culture is way different than you humans and we don't really pay attention to things like that.
"I guess you are right" She just had to power through this.
Tania took her towards the biggest tree house. It seemed to be the tribe leader's house. On their way all the dryads looked with curiosity at Alice, poking her body and staring at her clothes.
"This is pretty embarassing..." She said.
"Well you can't blame them. It's been years since we had a human visit us. They usually don't dare to enter the inside of the forest.
They finally entered the tribe leader's house. It was a tall woman that looked similiar to Tania on a throne. She looked with fierce eyes through Alice and signaled her guards to not attack her.
"Mom the guest from human kingdom came to solve the problem with mana beasts leaving the forest and causing problems to humans" She bowed to show respect.