When I turned around, there were three people with stunned looks on their faces.
They were all glancing between me and the Sacred Tree.
「How are the three of you here? I thought you couldn’t get through the barrier.」
「The monuments suddenly started glowing and we are able to pass through again.」
Things must have returned back to normal after I defeated the Parasitic Tree and renewed the Sacred Tree with my magical energy. That was the only reason I could think of.
「Young lady, could you explain what happened here?」
Mumuroot-san asked while gazing at the now flourishing Sacred Tree.
Although he asked me to explain, it should be pretty obvious, right?
「Um, I defeated the Parasitic Tree, and the Sacred Tree revitalized itself?」
I explained to him while I tilted my head. I couldn’t think of a better answer.
「Then, that tornado was your doing?」
「That tornado was simply amazing.」
I looked at the Sacred Tree. That tornado was indeed rather big.
It was large enough to surround the whole tree, so it must have been quite tall too.
Tall enough to be seen over the mountains, apparently.
「I used the tornado to cut up the Parasitic Tree.」
「Using a tornado to fight against the Parasitic Tree… is something like that really possible?」
「Well, a lot of leaves and branches were broken off the Sacred Tree as a result, but yeah, it did work.」
When I looked around, the three of them followed suit.
The surrounding area looked as if a large storm had passed by. There were leaves and branches scattered all over, practically covering the ground. All the leaves were still fresh, which was an unusual sight to see.
「But, the Sacred Tree’s leaves are still….」
After observing the ground, they looked back at the Sacred Tree and noticed how lush and vibrant the leaves remained.
「Sorry, but I do not understand how this could happen.」
「I don’t understand either, Father.」
Mumuroot-san and Arthur-san were both confused.
Well, given the amount of leaves scattered around, it was a miracle that there were still leaves remaining on the tree.
It made sense for them to have doubts.
「Um, Yuna-san, what exactly happened here? Looking through my summoned bird’s eyes, I was able to see that you created a tornado, but the wind created by your tornado was too strong, so my bird wasn’t able to get any closer. I wasn’t able to see what happened after that at all.」
「…!」
Sorry, but what did she just say?
She said that she had been watching through her summoned bird’s eyes.
She had seen everything up until I had created the tornado… did that mean what I thought it meant?
I decided to confirm with Sanya-san.
「By the way, when did you start watching?」
「I was worried, so I started watching you when you came out of the cave. I must admit, I was surprised when you began to strip.」
This Elf just said something unbelievable outright.
That meant she had indeed seen me changing.
She had seen me changing…
I fell on my hands and knees in despair, with my head hanging down.
Thank god Sanya-san was a girl, at least.
It was partially my fault for forgetting about the summoned bird, but it was still embarrassing to know that someone saw me changing.
Had it been Mumuroot-san or Arthur-san, I would have been so embarrassed that I would have immediately run away and hide.
I somehow convinced myself to stand back up.
However, what Sanya-san said next brought me back down again.
「Ummm! D-d-don’t worry, I was the only one who saw it, and the bird was still far away.
But I didn’t think that even your underwear would have a bear… 」
Sanya-san’s words were a crushing blow to my sense of modesty.
Ugh, I wanted to go home right now.
Hugging Bear tried to comfort me by rubbing his face against mine.
Thank you, Hugging Bear.
「Ah, geez! You don’t have to be that embarrassed just because I saw you changing. We’ve seen each other naked in the bath before, remember? So, we should be equals there.」
Sanya-san said, seeing I was still depressed. Yes, we saw each other changing whenever we bathed together, but it was still entirely different when I was unknowingly watched while changing by myself.
I should have made a changing room for myself.
Who was it? Who was the one who said this was the safest place to change besides the Bear House…oh wait, it was me. Teehee.
If only I could tell my past self to change in a changing room.
「By the way, why did you change, Yuna-chan?」
When Sanya-san pointed out my White Bear Suit, Mumuroot-san and Arthur-san turned to study my clothing.
Sanya-san had already seen me wearing my White Bear Suit on our journey to the Elf Village, but I had never explained its use, Sanya-san must have thought that they were my pajamas.
「Wearing the White Bear Suit raises my magical power. It was necessary in the fight with the Parasitic Tree.」
「Is that so? So it wasn’t just because you liked bears?」
I wasn’t wearing this because I liked it!
This was all God’s fault: he was the one who dragged me into this world and gave me this outfit.
I then somehow collected myself and proceeded to explain how I took down the Parasitic Tree.
「I thought that if I could destroy the parasite before it regenerated, that would be better.」
「What a rash move…」
They looked at me with shocked expressions.
「I got your permission to cut down the Sacred Tree if necessary, didn’t I? Anyway, the Sacred Tree was a lot tougher than the Parasitic Tree, so I was able to get rid of the Parasite without harming the Sacred Tree too much.」
Well, except for its crazy regenerative power, the Parasitic Tree was not that amazing at all.
I could easily cut its vines with a wind blade, and it essentially had no good attacks.
I was able to convince the three of them with such an explanation.
They had seen the tornado from a distance, and the Parasitic Tree was now nowhere to be seen.
Even if they doubted my magic, they had to accept the evidence.
「I see. If you were able to use magic of that level, it’s no wonder you’ve defeated the Cockatrice.」
Yes, I had also defeated the Cockatrice. That should take care of any doubts about whether I defeated the Parasitic Tree or not.
「You haven’t told us what exactly happened after, Yuna-chan. I can understand your magic scattering the leaves, but how does the Sacred Tree still have so many leaves remaining?」
Sanya-san gazed at the leaves on the ground and the radiant Sacred Tree.
「Also, the leaves look much more lush and vibrant than before. It shouldn’t have that much vitality left after all that.」
「Um, did you not see what happened after the tornado, Sanya-san?」
「As I said earlier, the winds caused by the tornado were too strong. My summoned bird might get caught up in it, so I didn’t see anything.」
So, the only things that she saw were the embarrassing sight of me changing clothes and the tornado.
It seemed like Sanya-san hadn’t been able to see me when I destroyed the Parasitic Tree’s magic stone nor when I restored the Sacred Tree using my magic.
「After using the tornado to destroy the Parasitic Tree, I noticed that the Sacred Tree did not have much magical energy remaining, so I provided it with some of mine.」
「You gave your magical energy to the Sacred Tree?」
「Yes. The tree then started to glow and its leaves grew back.」
It may not have been the whole truth, but it was nothing but the truth.
「Then that light from before was the Sacred Tree glowing?」
While the leaves had most likely regrown due to my recovery magic, I had no idea why the tree had glowed. But there was no other explanation for the glow.
「That was a bold move, giving the Sacred Tree your own magical energy.」
I had to agree with that. My magical energy was nearly empty even now.
Even with my White Bear Suit, it would take quite some time to recover.
My body felt very sluggish too, so I just wanted to go home and sleep.
「Were we possibly able to get through the barrier because she gave her magical energy to the Sacred Tree?」
It seemed to me that the reason that the three of them were able to pass through again was all due to that light the Sacred Tree had released.
Once my interrogation was finished, the three of them thanked me again, with Mumuroot-san’s eyes even watering slightly.
This was probably due to all the tension that had been built up over the last couple of days.
He had discovered that the Sacred Tree was invaded by a Parasitic Tree, got attacked by a Cockatrice, and was even prevented from passing through the barrier. That must have caused a lot of stress for him, the chief.
Whether someone was a chief, a feudal lord, or a king, there would always be a lot of mental strain coming with the job.
I thought it best to let others take care of the annoying things, and only did things that interested me.
Yep, it’s a typical thought by a useless human.
「We should examine the Sacred Tree before returning to the village.」
Mumuroot-san led the other two straight to the tree.
I also had to pick up my Mythril Knife before I forgot.
Since the leaves have regrown, I couldn’t spot the knife from afar, so I approached the tree as well.
「My knife is lodged up in the tree. Is it okay for me to grab it?」
I asked Mumuroot-san, who was standing by the trunk.
I sure hoped that he wouldn’t say that I wasn’t allowed to climb the tree.
「Don’t worry, I can get it for you. Where is it?」
Arthur-san asked me from the other side of the trunk.
「No need, I can get it myself.」
「You’ve been staggering for a while now; I think you should rest and let us take care of it.」
I decided to listen to his advice and pointed in the general direction of where my knife should be.
Arthur-san nodded and began climbing the Sacred Tree. A few minutes later, he returned with my knife.
「Thank you.」
「You’re welcome. This is trivial, compared to what you’ve done for us. I found this cracked magic stone up there as well, so I’ll give it to you.」
He said and handed me the stone.
It had been split into four pieces. As it had originally been quite a large stone, each piece was still about the size of a thumb.
I might be able to use it for something, so I gladly accepted it.
Mumuroot-san continued to examine the trunk, Sanya-san examined the leaves on the ground, and Arthur-san climbed back up onto the top of the tree.
Realizing this would still take a while, I decided to use the chance to rest and leaned against Hugging Bear, while leisurely watching the three of them do their jobs.
Author’s Note:
As promised, I should say. w
