“U-Ugh, Ooohhhhhh!?”

Slammed into the arm of Treant’s giant tree, Croix didn’t slow down his momentum and was blowing away like a piece of paper as he hits the trees. It continued like that for a while, but then it hit the big tree and slyly lay on the ground.

“Gaha ……! Ha …… Ha …… I finally stopped ……! I thought this would happen because I let it go all out, but, …… Ugh …… several complex fractures in the bones of the chest and arms, internal organ damage, some other malfunctions can be seen …… I also can’t see in my other eye.”

When Croix managed to remove the bandage from his face with his right arm, what came out from underneath was not a face …… with poisoned skin, but the fake doctor, Retzel. He groaned as he crawled into a daze of consciousness.

“T-The pain is normal, which is annoying …… but–“

The wound heals quickly as Retzel takes a deep breath. The blood goes back into his body through the wound and the wound disappears. Eventually, Retzel stands up and puts his hand on his chest to feel.

“…… “Now that I seem to be all healed up, I should go back to Irumi and Reiss …… At any rate, Lars-kun’s getting stronger by the minute. When he was a kid I could get away with not using all my strength, but now he’s a tough opponent to fight with just a dagger.”

He muttered this with a laugh, the corners of his mouth hanging up, and walked off in the direction of the town.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how much stronger you are when I see you again …… I hope he gets to the point where he can do “Kamiyado” soon …… God gave me this skill, so I’m sure only a god can kill me …… Haha, Hahahahahaha! I’m looking forward to it, I really am! …… Oops, they’ll find me if I smile this much, won’t they? I’ll meet again, Lars-kun–“

(T/N: Kamiyado is the one he also mentioned from “Kamiyado Kamiyadori” that I said can be translated to “The person that the god will dwell in”, from what I understood.)

With a smile on his face, Retzel laughs and disappeared into the forest.

◆ 　 ◇ 　 ◆

–ah-ha-ha-ha ……

“Did you just hear that laughing sound?”

“Yeah, I heard it too! Maybe it’s this way!”

I quickly met up with Borzov and the others, and I spoke to them from the sky, and it seemed that Borzov and the others below could hear it, and they started running in the direction of the voice. 

…… With that kind of force, a direct hit to the tree would have been enough to kill him. But the laughing voice I just heard was much more cheerful. He didn’t seem like he could use recovery magic, so it’s a different person …… That’s not possible, I guess …… If he’s fine, that’s just as bad. as I thought of that, we proceeded cautiously, and after walking for another ten minutes, we found a terrible pool of blood.

“…… There’s blood all over the tree, too, which means he was smashed to a stop here ……”

“It’s no good, Lars, there’s no blood trail anywhere.”

“How did he escape with these injuries ……?”

I flew a little higher into the sky and checked my surroundings, but there were no shadows to be seen. It’s hard to be optimistic about being him being killed by monsters with that strong. It’s also possible that he escaped by some means …… such as teleportation or summoning.

I thought about exploring on my own, but I’m consuming a lot of magic, so I think it’s best to retreat here. At least there won’t be a large number of Treants anymore.

“Borzov! We’re the ones who’re going to be lost, so let’s go back to the others.”

“Are you sure? We don’t have anything to question Kelbrem with, do we?”

“I think I can handle that. The witnesses are all of us, so if we make it back alive, Hugel-san can inquire about the guild master. I’ve got a trump card.”

“Trump card ……? Well, I guess it’s a good thing we’re able to defeat that weird Treant. The town and village will be at peace.”

“That’s right …… Er, it’s this way.”

We walked away from the bloody mess with our hair on our backs. As soon as we got back to the place where the mud pond was, Makina came running up to us.

“Welcome back! …… By the looks of it, he got away?”

“Yes. There was a puddle of blood, but no body. I don’t how he can get away with those injuries, but we’re going home carefully in case he retaliates. In the meantime, I’m going to treat everyone, so wait for me.”

“Yeah. I want to talk to you after you’re done.”

I nodded at Makina’s words and went to treat each adventurer.

“Thank you, we would have been wiped out if it weren’t for Lars-sama. I didn’t expect something like that to be here ……”

“Even a seasoned veteran had a hard time with it, so it must have been quite an opponent. If you have a few more wizards and people who can use recovery magic properly, it won’t be an unbeatable opponent, will it?”

“Haha, I guess! We need more training …… That sword was amazing.”

The adventurers tighten their spirits as they say this. They’ll need to eat some rice to recover from the loss of blood, but now that everyone is healed, I return to Makina. 

“Good work! Come over here.”

“?”

I was pulled by Makina to the place where there the pond was, and there was Conrad looking at the bottom.

“Lars-kun, I’m sorry, and thanks for the chase.”

“No, it’s fine. So, what’s here–.”

“What do you think that is?”

Makina pointed to a blue ball that had fallen to the ground. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s a jewel, because it shines so beautifully. Speaking of which, he was saying that there was a high-quality magical power at the bottom, but maybe that’s it ……?

“…… Hup.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll pick it up. I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave it there.”

“Isn’t it dangerous? I-I’m coming with you.”

As I used the levitation to reach the bottom, Makina grabbed the edge and began to slowly descend. I got to the bottom first and bent down to observe the blue ball.

“…… It’s so beautiful. Is this the source of the Treants?”

“If I could make an accessory out of this, it would be amazing. Maybe Arjan-san can process it for us.”

“For now, I’ll use [Appraisal] to it.”

Makina is excited in front of the beautiful jewel. Her cheeks relax at the girlish idea. I thought it would be wise to look at it before touching it, so I tried the [appraisal].

“Name: ??? A ball with a high concentration of magic power. Not the same as a gem.”

“That’s it ……”

It seems that a simple appraisal can’t tell us much more than that.

It’s not a jewel, it seems, so should we assume that it’s purely a clump of magic in some form? It is said that it caused the monsters to mutate and create anomalies.

“……”

“Gulp ……”

When I reach for the jewel, Makina clings to my back and throbs in my ear, and I grab the jewel with a little nervousness.

“Whoa!?”

“Kyah ……!?”

As soon as I grabbed it, it lit up with a flash of light. But the glow soon subsided and we opened our eyes to see the jewel.

“I-I guess it looks okay ……?”

“Yes. It doesn’t look like a problem, so let’s go home .”

The jewel glow quietly again, and as I walk back to the surface with Makina, Conrad speaks to me.

“Are you okay? It was a great light, but ……”

“Oh, this is the culprit …… I guess?”

When I said that, Cave and Sifol-san, who were waiting at a distance, raised their voices.

“Uooooooh!? T-This is all Treant!?”

“S-So they’ve been camouflaging as a tree? I mean, that’s a lot!?”

I looked around and saw that some of the trees around us had fallen, and the Treant’s face appeared on them. I could hear the sound of falling trees everywhere, and I knew that the Treant fiasco was really over.

Was it something that would lose its effect if I moved the treasure from there? Even so, the fact that the Treants are dying is strange in itself …… But at least the Treants won’t keep increasing.

But even if Kelbrem is the culprit, his true purpose is still unknown. However, I think this can be solved by making Kelbraem talk.

But even though Kelbrem was a hindrance, it’s still a shame that Croix’s purpose for destroying such a large scale plan remains a mystery.

In the end, it was the result of a common evil that ruined everything by pulling each other’s legs, so for today, let’s be happy that we were able to get rid of the Treants.

But–

“What’s the matter, Lars? You’re making a troubled-looking face.”

“No, it’s nothing, let’s go.”

–Somehow, I thought, as I held Makina’s hand, that this might be the beginning.

Now, they’ll meet up with Basleigh-sensei ……!

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“Come on, let’s fight!”

No, it’s over already, okay!?