Chapter 89

The day after Woodbaum came to the fort, I sat on the ground under the shade of a tree and had a leisurely conversation with him.

"Woodbaum"

When I, in the form of a fox cub, pronounced his name, Woodbaum, in the form of a deer, gently shook his head to correct my pronunciation.

"Woodbaum"

"Woodbaum?"

"No, Woodbaum"

"Woodba... Woodbaam"

"Close. Woodba, u, m"

"Ba, u, m!"

"Yes, Baum"

"Baum!"

"Woodbaum"

"Woodbaum!"

No good, I’m back to where I started. In frustration, I rolled over and wriggled on the grass. The weather was nice today, but it was a bit chilly, which was a comfortable temperature for me.

Woodbaum watched my odd movements with a smile for a while, then said with a slight frown.

"You're so cute."

As if he couldn't help himself, he licked my forehead. I wonder if deer do grooming too.

"Kugaru was cute yesterday too. I'm a tree and a deer, so he's a bit scary when he grows up, but he's still small."

Kugaru is a fire-starting leopard.

"I might make a child too. But maybe it's too early. I don't know many spirits. If I ask, will Snowlea help me make a child?"

"Eh! No, that's not okay."

I sat up abruptly and said.

"Mother is my mother. And Mother has a father."

"Father?"

"Yes, the water spirit father."

When I explained about Father and told him that I think of him like a real father, Woodbaum was surprised, just like the other spirits.

"It's an odd way of thinking, but it's interesting."

But it seemed he had given up on Mother, so I lay back down on the ground, relieved. Right in front of my nose, a weed with many long, thin leaves was growing.

When the wind blew, the leaves tickled my nose, making it itchy. Lying down, I sneezed, "Achoo!"

With the momentum, a small white ball of light, my fairy, flew out of my mouth.

The fairy seemed delighted to be able to move freely, flying in the air, sliding on the ground, and circling around me.

"That's good..."

I was already used to my fairy's energy and knew I couldn't calm it down, so I let it be. Do as you please.

"Wow, did you just produce a fairy from your mouth?"

Woodbaum was looking at me with wide eyes.

"Yeah, it comes out when I sneeze. Not always, though..."

It's not the most impressive way to produce a fairy, but Woodbaum seemed impressed.

"Wow, I've only ever produced them from my hands."

He then transformed into human form, lifted his right hand, and looked at his palm.

From there, a larger, deep green ball of light slowly emerged. It was murky and dark, probably because Woodbaum was sick.

"Woodbaum, you shouldn't produce fairies when you're weak."

Fairies are created by sharing a spirit's power, and the more you create, the more your power diminishes.

"No, I didn't intend to—uh!?"

Confused, more murky balls of light flew out of Woodbaum's palm, one after another.

"Woodbaum!"

"What do I do...?"

In the end, twelve fairies were created before Woodbaum clenched his fist to stop the release. While creating ten or twenty fairies wouldn't significantly affect an adult spirit, Woodbaum was sick. Even if it was involuntary, creating so many fairies would definitely tire him out.

Sure enough, Woodbaum turned pale and collapsed on the ground, saying, "Ugh..."

"Woodbaum, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I think I'll recover if I rest for a while..."

I understood and said, "Okay, just stay still—huh?"

A green light, like a marimo, softly attached itself to my cheek while I was talking to Woodbaum.

"Woodbaum's fairy? What is it?"

When I turned to see if it had a purpose, the other eleven fairies also attached themselves to my body, making me look like I was covered in glowing marimos.

The fairies didn't speak, but I could tell they were fond of me. It felt like they were petting me, saying, "Cute, cute."

Woodbaum, still lying down and looking tired, smiled faintly.

"My fairies are similar to me. They seem to like Mifuria too."

That was nice, but being surrounded by so many fairies was a bit troublesome. It made it hard to move.

Moreover, my fairy joined in, saying, "What are you doing? Include me!" and started clinging to me. I found myself dealing with thirteen fairies alone.

But no matter how I tried to run away, they quickly chased after me and clung to my body, and even when I patted them with my front paws, they didn't back off.

I was wondering what to do when suddenly, Woodbaum's fairies detached from me and flew away at incredible speed.

My fairy also hurriedly followed them.

You don't need to follow them!

"What's going on?"

Woodbaum also looked puzzled.

However, the fairies' target soon became clear. Two knights were walking in the direction they were flying.

Woodbaum's fairies were bumping into the knights, attacking them.

"Whoa, what is this!?"

"Light balls? Fairies? But they don't seem to be Mifuria's... Hey, your face!"

One of the knights was being attacked mainly on his face. It didn't seem to hurt, but it was definitely annoying.

"Oh, come on! What are you doing? Don't attack!"

Woodbaum wobbled to his feet and headed over.

"Woodbaum. Can you do something about this?"

Despite being hit on the face, the knight seemed calm, probably because it didn't hurt.

"Wait, I'll bring them back now."

Woodbaum held out his palm toward the fairies.

One by one, they were absorbed back into his hand, and the twelve marimos disappeared. It seemed to work.

I also tackled my fairy, which was buzzing around alone, and caught it in my mouth, swallowing it. A cold light passed through my throat and spread throughout my body.

Regaining his strength, Woodbaum sighed in relief.

"Good, they're back. Sorry, knights."

"It was interesting, so it's fine."

"See you."

The two knights waved and left.

"Why did they attack? I shouldn't produce fairies until I'm fully recovered."

As Woodbaum sighed, I noticed something. The roots of a tree nearby were shallowly dug up.

When I went closer and sniffed the soil, I could smell Woodbaum and acorns.

This was the spot where I had buried acorns for the squirrels.

"Woodbaum, what happened to the acorns here?"

"Huh? Oh... um..."

Woodbaum's eyes darted around.

"Did you eat them?"

"...Yeah."

When I said I had buried them for the squirrels, Woodbaum, now in deer form, looked guilty and explained.

"Sorry, I was hungry."

"Hungry? That's unusual for a spirit."

Maybe it's because I still have human instincts, but I get hungry every day.

"Maybe it's because of the illness?"

"Probably. Maybe I'm trying to regain my strength by eating. I was trying to keep the forest rich, but eating acorns because I'm hungry is counterproductive. Acorns are like the children of trees."

"It's okay. Even if Woodbaum eats the fallen acorns every day, there will be plenty left to grow into trees."

Right now, it's more important to get nutrients, even if it's from acorns.

"Right, there aren't as many acorns in the fort as in the forest, so I'll ask if they can prepare a meal for Woodbaum. I always get lunch here."

"Really? I feel bad causing so much trouble, but I'll go with you."

"Okay!"

We started walking together. At first, we walked slowly side by side, but I soon started running on my own.

After running about ten meters and getting out of breath, I turned around to wait for Woodbaum, who was walking behind me. When Woodbaum caught up, I ran ahead again and waited.

We repeated this as we headed to the kitchen to find the head chef. As we were running, the red leaves on a corner bush fluttered and fell due to the vibration.

"Eh, whoa!"

However, just as we were happily running to the back of the fort, the iron door in front of us suddenly opened.

I stopped in surprise, and Woodbaum, who was a bit behind, also stopped.

Rekka came out of the door with a hurried pace. The back door was made smaller for defense, so it was just tall enough for Rekka's height.

Rekka looked a bit pale, as if he had encountered a ghost inside and was rushing out.

Without noticing us, Rekka started doing squats at high speed as soon as he was outside.

What's going on?