8 – Shizu
A warm breeze blows pleasantly. The soft bed smells fragrant.
Lying down with Pi and herbs all over my body, I felt like I was on a spa vacation.
Yeah. I killed the monster, so I deserve this kind of treatment.
As I smiled and enjoyed the rest, Pi spoke to me in a languid voice.
[Gaul~ How’s your body?]
I was curious too, so I lifted the herbs slightly on my shoulder.
Under the sticky herbs, I saw a wound that was almost healed.
The injury that was pierced by a fang as thick as my arm was healed to this extent in a day.
Even considering that I was treated by the elves, the recovery speed was insane.
I covered the herbs again and answered Pi.
“I’m totally fine.”
[hehehe. It’s all thanks to mana. You’ll recover faster once you get used to it, right?]
“If I recover faster here, wouldn’t I be a monster?”
[You are a monster, aren’t you?]
Pii laughed mischievously as he parried my joke.
As I watched him quietly, I started to remember the things that I was curious about.
I couldn’t ask him yesterday because I was out of it, but today I had to find out to ease my mind.
I pulled the basket of herbs where Pii was lying down and asked him.
“So, what exactly is a druid?”
I started with the question about druids.
I was also curious about mana, which enhanced the body and increased the healing power, but I thought I had to clear up the druid thing first.
That was because I had to pretend to be a druid from now on.
I needed detailed information about druids to properly cooperate with Pii’s plan.
[You don’t know what a druid is?]
“How would I know that?”
[You never saw it in a novel or a game?]
“I know roughly from that kind of information, but the druids in this world might be different from what I knew. And how do you know about novels and games? Didn’t you say you were a tree in your previous life?]
[hehehe. There’s a way to find out everything.]
What kind of way was that?
For a moment, I was more curious about that information than the druid, but I didn’t ask him to avoid the conversation going off track.
Pii crawled out of the herb basket and began to explain about druids.
[To put it simply, a druid is the strongest warrior of the great forest, chosen by the gods.]
“You mean the goddess of nature, right?”
[Yeah. It’s like being an apostle of the gods, involving the goddess of nature, Trias, and the god of wildness, Mahesar.]
“There was another god related to this. An apostle of nature and wildness… I think I get the gist of it.”
A friendly warrior of the great forest, to nature and animals.
That was what the world thought of a druid.
Then what exactly does a druid do?
I asked about the role of a druid.
“Then what do you have to do as a druid?”
[Well… actually, no one knows. Druids have only been passed down as legends. They never existed, so there’s no fixed code of conduct.]
“Then what do you want me to do? Are you saying I can do whatever I want?”
[No! There are still some stereotypes that are widely spread! Like treating trees with care or loving animals! Don’t you think you should act with those images in mind?]
An image of caring for trees and loving animals.
I drew the image of a druid in my head and let out a hollow laugh.
That was because I had nothing that matched the image.
“I’m a woodcutter and I don’t like animals either.”
I was a woodcutter who had almost cut down a whole forest. And I didn’t like animals much either, since I died by a half-moon bear.
Not to mention, I was hated by the goddess of nature, and I just learned of the existence of the god of wildness.
No matter how I looked at it, I was the worst candidate to claim to be a druid.
And I had to act like a druid?
I grabbed Pii and shook him back and forth as I shouted.
“How the hell did you push me into becoming a druid?!”
[Well, the elves were trying to kill you when you collapsed, so I had to act fast! I was out of my mind too!]
“Can’t you change your story now?”
[No, the damage is done. We have to pretend somehow….]
“I have a feeling we’ll be caught right away….”
It was too risky to act as a confident druid. There were too many things that could expose me. But if I gave up on acting, my life would be in danger.
Was this what they called a dilemma?
Pii and I realized the grim reality and started to tear our hair out.
Then, a sharp yell came from outside.
“You bastards, do you want to die so badly?!”
Pii and I flinched and shuddered.
The yell was not directed at us, but we felt guilty as if we were thieves who stepped on their own feet.
What was going on outside?
I got up with Pii and peeked out the window.
“Don’t stab the knife like that, you’ll blow up the fire pouch! Do you want to commit suicide by clone? Or do you want to set fire to the village?”
“I’m, I’m sorry!”
Outside, the monster that I had knocked down was being dismantled.
The sight of peeling off the huge scales and cutting off the bones and meat was like watching a demolition site of a large building.
I had fought such a gigantic monster yesterday. What kind of courage did I have to do that?
As I chuckled at my past self, who I couldn’t understand, a shrill scolding rang out from below again.
“Didn’t I tell you to distribute the meat as soon as you cut it? Why are you piling it up and lowering the freshness? Hurry up!”
“Yes, yes!”
The person who was scolding the elves below was the blonde high elf I saw yesterday.
Among the countless green hair, there was one blonde mixed in, and my eyes naturally went to that direction.
I leaned against the window and quietly observed her.
“….”
She was wearing light clothes and looked even more attractive than yesterday.
Her smooth blonde hair that reached her waist and her firm body without any fat also caught my eye, but above all, the red camellia tattoo on her back and shoulders gave her a strong image.
Her aggressive speech and behavior felt like they were wrapped in decadence thanks to the flashy tattoo.
She was not tall, but rather small and slender, but she did not look small because of her unique atmosphere. She was a strange woman.
“She’s a cool woman.”
I quietly muttered my honest impression of her.
Then, the bird that was sitting on the window sill smiled brightly and answered me.
[That girl is ‘Shiz Lanches Owl’. She’s the daughter of the high elf leader and also the hunting captain who has risen to a very strong position.]
“So she’s a famous elf.”
[Yeah. If you don’t know Shiz in the Great Forest, you’re a spy.]
Phew. I almost got caught as a spy.
By the way, what’s so special about high elves?
I asked a question about high elves.
“But what’s the difference between elves and high elves anyway? The atmosphere is definitely different.”
[The elf warriors who live in the World Tree are called high elves. Most of the high elves have a belligerent personality, so it’s not wrong to say that the atmosphere is different.]
“Aren’t ordinary elves belligerent enough?”
[High elves are belligerent to a different dimension. Combat is so commonplace that there hasn’t been a single high elf who died of natural causes.]
“……”
Isn’t that the same as saying they’re a bunch of lunatics?
I shook my head and turned my gaze back to the window.
Then, I met eyes with one of the leaders of those lunatics, ‘Shiz’.
“……”
Shiz, who met my eyes, scowled and started to walk towards me.
Anyone could see that he was coming this way, so I was startled and grabbed Pii and moved away from the window.
“Hey, hey, he’s coming up here! What do we do?”
[Just be confident! Don’t act awkwardly!]
That’s right.
If I showed a flustered look, I might arouse suspicion.
I followed Pii’s advice and waited for Shiz to come up confidently.
And a moment later, the curtain at the entrance was lifted and Shiz showed his face.
“Hey, human. How’s your body condition?”
Shiz, who entered the room, checked my body condition without any preamble.
His way of skipping unnecessary conversation was not cool, but rather chilly.
As I showed her my wound by lifting the herbs, she frowned as if disgusted.
“Your recovery speed is strange. Are you really human?”
My amazing healing ability was also surprising to the high elf.
From Noble mtl dot com
Am I really a monster?
As I was sniffing the mana in the air with that thought, Shiz opened her mouth after thinking deeply about something.
“If you’ve recovered that much, I’ll proceed with the extradition as soon as tomorrow.”
Both I and Pi reacted to the word extradition.
“Extradition?”
[Where are you taking Gaul!?]
Shiz tilted her head with a scowl at our question.
It was as if she was saying ‘Why are you asking something obvious?’
She pointed to the window and spoke softly.
“Where else? The city of the high elves.”
As I followed her finger, I saw the world tree that covered the sky.
A transcendent being that overlooks the great forest, the world tree.
Shiz, who had such a huge nature on her back, looked at me and said.
“You claimed to be a druid chosen by the goddess, right? Don’t you have to check if that’s a lie or not?”
“……”
“Ask for trust from the goddess of nature in the world tree. If you’re really a druid, Lady Trias will answer you personally.”
I’ll find out if I’m a druid or not.
The only way to confirm it was to ask the goddess of nature directly.
“Of course, if you’re not a druid, you won’t receive any trust from her.”
“……”
“If you’re nothing but a human who’s impersonating a druid, you’d better give up on the idea of dying peacefully right now.”
If the goddess didn’t grant me her trust, I would be brutally killed.
But there was no way the goddess of nature, who hated me, would grant me her trust.
Damn it.
It was practically a death sentence.
I was speechless, thinking that everything had gone wrong.
Then, the quiet beep uttered a word that sounded like a groan.
[Oh crap.]
It seemed like I was screwed.