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“Huh!? Now father and the others are affected as well!? Baris! You must do something quick!”

“Calm down, Fule. It is very clear that this great tree is the reason they are acting this way. If we go, we will become just like them.”

“Th-then…what should we do…?”
“Hmm… It seems that it’s not so much the tree, but the gold dust that is coming from the spot that Mappa is. Shiel, could you call the Golems?”

 

Baris asked. Shiel stretched its body as if in a salute. Then it headed towards the cave.

 

“Wh-what are you going to do?”

“That the Golems are not living creatures…is not something I can say with confidence…but they do not breathe at least. They should be able to save Mappa and plug that hole. Fule, we must bring spider webs in order to cover it.”

“Ye-yes!”

 

And like that, Baris’s plan to save the others was put into action.

 

First, the Mithril Golem headed towards Mappa. Then the other Golems climbed onto its shoulders and they tore away the bark in order to save him.

 

When they did, Mappa’s eyes were still rolled back and he was drooping with his tongue sticking out.

The Golem quickly passed him down to another Golem and then used the spider webs to plug up the hole.

 

Still, the people below remained in their state of ecstasy for some time after that. And so the dance of happiness continued.

 

However, after a while, Erevan looked like he had suddenly returned to his senses.

 

He looked over to Ashton and Haines.

 

Why was he with them…? And why was everyone laughing?

As he looked at them in shock, Ashton and Haines also returned to normal.

 

Erevan moved away from the circle immediately.

 

“Wh-why would I be with the likes of you!? What did you do to me!?”

“W-we didn’t do… Uh, what were we doing…”

“Brother… It must have been that golden dust. We breathed it in, and it did something to our minds…”

 

Haines said to Ashton.

 

By then, most of the monsters had returned to normal.

 

～～～～～

 

I realized that the monsters around me had stopped dancing.

 

However, Rienna was still laughing happily in front of me and holding my hand.

When she saw that I had stopped, she smiled as she tilted her head to the side.

 

While I felt a little sadness over it, I talked to Rienna in my usual voice.

 

“Ri-Rienna…”

“Yes! What is it, my darling Lord Heal! …Oh!”

 

Just then, her face returned to normal.

And then her face flushed as the memories seemed to return.

 

“Oh, uh, I…! I’ve been terribly rude!”

 

She was likely embarrassed as what she had said was practically a confession of love.

However, I had said something similar to her and even Erevan, so I understood how she felt.

 

As for the kobold baby, he was looking at us as if he couldn’t understand why we had stopped dancing.

 

“Uh, no, I’m sorry too… I think it was probably that golden dust that caused it.”

“Ye-yes, it must be so…”

 

Rienna said awkwardly. Just then, Baris and Fule approached us with white cloths covering their mouths.

 

Considering that Mappa was being carried by a Golem, they must have thought of a way to save us.

 

“It seems that you are fine…”

 

Baris said as he lowered the cloth.

 

“Baris, thank you… I was too careless.”

 

From now on, whether it be seed or stone, I would think harder when using it.

Though, I had known it would be big, and had made the reclaimed ground extra large…

But I hadn’t expected it to be this big…

As for the golden dust, I would never have guessed that there would be such a thing.

 

“No, no. It’s not like anyone was hurt. I’m just relieved. …However, what is this tree?”

“The World Tree…I suppose. It grew to this size with just one Sun Stone. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before.”

“In our old homeland, there was a great tree that was said to be tens of thousands of years old… However, it was not nearly as large as this one…”

“I’m not an expert when it comes to plants, but I do know that this wasn’t in any of the books I read about. Furthermore, when I breathed in the dust, it was like I was under a very pleasant spell…”

 

Without thinking about, I had inched my way closer to the plugged up hole.

If only I could breathe it in again…

But I held back the urge.

 

However, the bark of the tree was rapidly repairing itself, and the hole was soon covered entirely.

 

“It-it healed!?”

“Hmm… I think we will have to study it for a while. There is the dust of course, but also the leaves and trunk… I have some bark that was collected during Mappa’s rescue.”

“That’s true… Oh, so Mappa is…”

 

I looked around and found Mappa sleeping on top of Shiel the slime.

 

Then he sat up and blinked.

So, he was fine after all.

He was curiously looking at a piece of the bark that the Golem had torn off.

 

It seemed like everyone else had returned to normal and were fine.

Erevan turned his back to Ashton and the kobolds and walked back to the cave with Fule.

 

At least they were safe.

I sighed with relief.

 

“Good… However, even without that dust, this is such a pleasant place…”

“…Yes. The cool breeze and scent remind me of the forest from back home… If the ground wasn’t so rough here, I would like to take a nap.”

“I don’t know how useful this will be, but I suppose it will be a nice resting spot.”

 

I looked up and saw the leaves of the tree swaying in the wind.

I truly did not expect to ever see such a sight on this island…

 

And so this was the day that the mostly gray-colored Sheorl island underwent a great change.

 

And while the World Tree did give us its blessing, it also lured in a most unwanted guest…

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