Chapter 166
Standing on top of the mountain is the 「World Tree」 which has become the symbol of the island. The surrounding area has been planted by hundreds aquatic trees which were releasing a dense air of water elements. That rich air was nurturing the World Tree. The excess elements overflowing from the top of the mountain were flowing into a lake that was formed on the hillside. Once it was filled, the water flowed down and become a river which is the precious water source for the village.
In the banks of the lake, a dark elf girl was showing a flat face that was hiding her happiness. In her hands, there were cakes and cookies.
“Master, please have a taste of the tea that I brewed.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Yu, upon receiving the tea from Marifa immediately tried to smell it and taste the tea. When Yu muttered delicious, Marifa lower her head as if she was afraid but her ears dyed bright red couldn’t hide her joy. By the way, the tea cup was ordered by renowned Royal Hawk which has a long established history in the making of first class tableware in the Houdon Kingdom. The table and chair were the product of the village craftsmen where the wood was produced from a large four hundred years old tree. The carpet that was laid on the ground is a product of Marukohan craftsman which is known as one of the three big producer of carpet which was braided by several people over three years using the finest silk.
Even though the tea leaves were common and the price wasn’t that expensive but these were all bought with Marifa own money. Her salary from Yu had been kept in her room and treated as memorabilia.
The beastman, magic dwarf and fallen dwarf children were wading happily on the shore. Despite all of the pleasing sight, Yu’s expression wasn’t good.
“Nina, it’s heavy.”
Nina at the moment was hunched from behind of Yu and clung onto him.
“Hehehe, what are you thinking about? There, Yu, feed me the biscuits.”
Even though Nina could get it on her own, Yu took a biscuit with one hand and feed it to Nina who opened her mouth like a chick. Nina ate the delicious biscuits but since it was kind of dry, she looked at the tea on his hand.
“Are you thirsty?”
“Yu is really understanding; you even know that.”
Since the tea was a little hot, Nina screamed “aw, hot” but it doesn’t burn her tongue.
“Nina, the tea tastes good right?”
“Hmm, it’s only because I received it from Yu.”
Hearing that Marifa can only grumble but Nina completely didn’t hear her as she asked for more tea from Yu.
“King, I caught some fish!”
A little beast girl with a fish in hands was rushing towards Yu. Even though they called beastman but actually they came from various beast race. Not just pure ‘beast’ race and as such, the girl that came towards Yu has her body covered with pure white fur and came from the ‘Inu’(dog) race. Her appearance was similar to Samoyed mixed with Yobawareru (a kind of dog species).
Yu looked at the incoming figure.
“Oh, that was a big catch.”
The little girl body was drenched because she dived into the lake and Yu wiped her with a cloth that he received from Marifa which caused the little girl eyes to narrow when she smiled.
“Can we eat the fish?”
“Yes, we can eat it but we need to wait till it is a little bigger because there’s a lot of us.”
The girl then muttered “Is that so?” and returned the fish to the lake and continued playing with the children.
“She is happy just because of a fish, they’re still childish.”
Namari said that with cold eyes while his whole body was drenched.
“Namari, you’re not convincing in that condition. Here, come.”
Marifa then used another cloth to wipe Namari’s head. That was a funny sight where Marifa dried him off. The children looked at him and at the next second, Namari ran towards them. The children were making fun of him and he ran after them while smiling.
“Namari wait, I haven’t wipe you completely.”
“Mari onee-chan, don’t worry, I have a strong body, I won’t get sick.”
Marifa then let out a low sigh, “There he goes.” Only after that, she noticed that Nina and Yu were staring at her.
“Master, is there something you need?”
“No, I’m just thinking that you’re like a caretaker.”
“So Mari-chan is your caretaker?”
“Nina, it’s different. I’m only doing something that will benefit my master.”
Marifa feeling shy then escaped from Yu’s line of sight with going to brew a new tea as an excuse.
“Ha ha, Mari-chan is shy. But Yu, this place is really wonderful. The lake, tree, flowers, is this all made by Hisui?”
“Yeah. This is because Hisui ability is amazing. The dryad takes control of the plants, I font it will be hard even to just plant normal plants here.”
Hearing the explanation, Nina was impressed, saying “Woah.” Marifa on the other hand pretending not to be interested but her ears were twitching every time Yu is praising Hisui.
“By the way where is Lena?”
“Lena is flying around the island while examining the perimeter.”
“The island is small; she should be back soon.”
.....
“At the 「Enrio of Kusakai」 was where I became a demon.”
Yu used his 【space time】 magic and currently in front of Stella’s grave. Nearby there was a house that almost collapsed and burnt tragically. This house that became charred contained precious memories. Sometimes Yu wonder alone and went back towards Stella’s house to remember about her.
However, this time when he went back, the tomb has been turned into ash and the house was on fire once again. The place that used to be Stella’s grave has been dug out and the body disappeared.
“What is happening here? The holy church? The order of the immortal? Alright... I don’t know they want to die that bad. I’m going to kill them all... I’ll make sure they regret this.”
“What are you doing here?”
A familiar voice came from behind him. It was a man that used to be the shopkeeper. Many times Yu pleaded him to sell him tools but was always rejected.
“I ask you once again, what are you doing here!”
The man looked at Yu and shouted out loud.
“There is a stranger here! His eyes are gold!”
“Don’t you recognize me?”
The shopkeeper looked at Yu and gave him a blank look.
“Your black hair, I won’t forget if I ever see you once. But I never saw you, even when I went to another village!”
Yu didn’t hear the rest of the man’s word. Astonishingly no villagers remember him. He tried to talk to a few people but they didn’t remember him and given his rare black hair, one will remember even if they only saw him once. As the sun was setting, Yu recalled all the events that happened at the Resser village.
........
“Yu, you’re back!”
Nina looked at Yu and sat next to him.
“Mari-chan has been looking for you and here you are.”
“Is something important happened?”
“Hmm. It’s because Namari-chan was saying something funny. He said that you never sleep. Is there a reason?”
“Namari?”
“Yes, so don’t lie to me. Why you didn’t sleep?”
“Why? It’s because I have a skill 【parallel thoughts】 so it is really alright if I don’t sleep.”
“really?”
“it’s true.”
Nina was messing around with a grass on her hand and fidgeting.
“Don’t you believe in what I said rather than others?”
“Of course. So Yu, is there a problem? You seemed to go somewhere alone but now, you have an island full of people. They are also friendly. I wonder if one day you don’t need my help anymore. Just thinking about it I become lonely.”
Nina stood up and looked at the sinking sunset.
“What was that? Why would I do that? Namari, Hisan, even Russ have came together to help me but I didn’t push you away, right?”
“Are you really saying that? Because at the moment it’s already growing bigger. The demi-humans, magic dwarves, fallen dwarves, beast men.”
“What is this? Are you lonely?”
“That’s not it. I’m lonely you know but there are a lot of spirits coming to the island.”
“Are you trying to amuse me by saying you can see spirits now? Isn’t it just you hearing voices?”
“That’s different, it’s like a 《spirit blessing》, it’s like holy spirits came. I’ve also seen people and spirits getting along because of another skill. Also Yu, they have came because they said you kept on saying to yourself that you’re lonely.”
“So, you’re saying that they came here because they’re attracted to me? Are they fools? I might be lonely because so many people have already sacrificed themselves for me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I am wondering if one day will I be able to sacrifice myself for someone.”
“Fufu, don’t think too much. No matter what I still love Yu.”
“Why suddenly talking about love? I don’t even know what is love.”
“I...I’m not sure either.”
At that point, Nina’s face can’t be seen and only her back facing him under the sunset.
“So, do we need to go find Marifa now?”
“Ehehehe, sure.”
......
The sun completely sunk and the light that dominated the sky turned into darkness. Only the moonlight was shining but it was kind of gloomy. One girl was flying through the dark night.
“Finally, I’m moving another one.”