One fine winter day.
It was discovered that tree-like monsters, treants, had taken up residence in the forest surrounding the Village Five’s shrine.
These treants were unrelated to the elder treants residing in Village One. In short, they were stray treants.
Since the forest around the shrine was a place where minimal harm to living beings was being observed, it became a safe haven for treants.
That’s likely why it chose to settle there.
Treants are monsters that typically attack any approaching animals, but if they can absorb sufficient nutrients from the soil, there’s no need for them to prey on animals.
The treants in Village One coexist peacefully without causing trouble.
In fact, they even help by lurking in the forest around the village, alerting nyunyudaphnes and the kuro’s
if dangerous demon beasts or monsters approach.
They also serve as a rest stop and supply depot for the harpies.So, from my perspective, treants are not dangerous creatures and we can coexist.
Of course, this assumes that the treants in the forest around the shrine aren’t attacking animals…
Before I could ponder further, one of the nyunyudaphnes of Village One, who had learned about the situation, went to the forest surrounding the shrine and captured a treant.
Ah, I mean, brought it here.
Yes, she brought it.
She had cradled it in her arms, which led me to assume she had merely brought it.
The treant she brought was apparently the boss of the settled treants, but since it couldn’t speak like the elder treants, the nyunyudaphne acted as an interpreter.
「Apologies for the delayed greeting. We will not cause any trouble so please, allow us to stay in the forest.」
The treant said this and waved its head…..no, branch toward the silver fox Kon, the representative of the shrine.
In response to that, Kon……started at me, asking what to do.
No, even if it looked at me…
Ehto, have you ever attacked any animals?
「The soil in this area is of high quality, so there’s no need for that.」
I see.
In that case, as long as Kon and the others have no objections, the treants are permitted to reside in the forest around the shrine.
「Village Chief. I apologize.」
Nyunyudaphne bowed apologetically. Were they acquainted?
「No, it’s not that… it’s because we never thought of the possibility of neighboring treats living there so we never took any measures.」
You never thought the treants would settle?
I guess so since we made it clear that no one must kill anyone there.
「That’s one reason, but also… When you built the shrine, you cleared the forest around it, didn’t you?」
Well, a dense thicket would have caused various problems.
Ah, so that’s how it is.
「Yes. The land that Village Chief himself cleared is a treasure for us and the treants. Yet, we neglected to take precautions.」
Hahaha, don’t mind it.
There are nyunyudaphnes in each village, but Village Five is beyond their range.
「Still, if only we had informed you beforehand…」
No, no. Even if you had reported it, there wouldn’t have been much we could do.
Our options are…
Should we cultivate the entire mountain and create a treant paradise?
「Village Chief, there’s something we should do before that.」
I know, I know.
The nyunyudaphnes work hard behind the scenes.
In spring, let’s create a nyunyudaphne field in each village.
「Thank you.」
-0-
When I returned to my mansion in Big Tree Village, I found Loo with a bitter look on her face.
Has something happened?
「It seems like there’s an ice-type monster near the northern side of the village.」
Is it dangerous?
「I haven’t seen it, so I can’t say. But we have cocytus wolves and fenrirs in this village, so we should be fine.」
Cocytus wolves are a variant of inferno wolves.
Fenrir is a puppy that a kuro once picked up.
She had become the partner of the kuro who brought her back and now they have a reasonably big family.
Both the cocytus wolves and fenrirs seem to have ice-related abilities.
So even if an ice-type monster appears, they would be able to take care of it.
「Well, even if they can’t, we have dragon Hakuren in this village.」
Certainly.
So, what about that monster?
Did you manage to defeat it?
「The fenrirs are pursuing it, so we’re waiting for the results. I’ve also alerted the neighboring villages, the hot springs area, the titans in the north dungeon, and the lamias in the south dungeon.」
That’s great but….. what if the messengers get attacked?
「It’s alright. We’ve entrusted it to the angels.」
The angels can fly, and they work together in groups, so they can handle unexpected situations.
Still, it’s best if no one gets hurt.
「As a precaution, I had them equipped with spears with kuro horns on them.」
Ah, those spears.
While it’s reassuring, it also raises some concerns.
「More importantly, we need to address the fact that the creature got quite close.」
How close did it get?
「Probably near the waterway on the northern side.」
…
Could it be responsible for freezing the waterway to the bottom earlier?
「Probably. Even Aegis’ flames had trouble melting it.」
Hmm.
Although during winter, the security network of the kuros and spiderlings weakens, it’s rare for something to get that close.
As I pondered countermeasures, the fenrirs returned.
Unfortunately, it seems to have escaped.
However, they did engage in combat once, dealing significant damage.
After escaping, they searched extensively, but there was no trace, suggesting it found a way out of the forest.
Is that good news?
For now, leaving the forest likely means it headed to the Demon King’s Kingdom.
Should we inform the Demon King?
-0-
Evening.
The angel messengers who went to each village returned.
They didn’t encounter the ice monster and managed to deliver their messages safely.
I’m glad they are safe.
But why do some of them lack spears even though they didn’t encounter anything?
Did they throw them into suspicious places?
Mostly Kuudel, I assume.
Right.
You didn’t start an avalanche or something, right?
You wouldn’t make such a rookie mistake?
Alright alright.
Thank you for the updates.
Dinner is ready.
Warm up.
-0-
The next day.
As a precaution, we organized a search party led by Hakuren and Rusuti to look for the ice monster.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t find it.
「We searched thoroughly, but there doesn’t seem to be anything resembling the monster.」
「Same here. It’s likely that it left the forest.」
Hmmm.
The search party included cocytus wolves and fenrirs.
They also reported no sightings.
Should we assume the threat has passed?
「Even if it comes, it won’t be a threat,」
While that might be true for Hakuren…
「No, that’s not what I meant.」
Hnn?
「Currently, Zabuton is sleeping right in this village, right? Well, not many creatures would pick a fight with Zabuton. The fact that it disappeared upon approaching the village might be because it sensed Zabuton’s presence.」
I see.
Anyway…
Since we couldn’t find it, let’s breathe a sigh of relief.
But we’ll remain vigilant just in case.
And remind the cocytus wolves and the fenrirs to be cautious when leaving the village.
-0-
A few days later.
Urza suddenly returned to the village.
With the ice monster in tow.
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