Chapter 102
Awkward.
Extremely awkward.
I look at the withered tree.
A massive tree, terrifyingly old.
I ended up making the stick insects' presumably precious tree wither.
...What should I do?
Hmm?
Is there something at the base of the withered tree?
As I approach, light suddenly pours out of the spot I was looking at.
"W-whoa!"
Ah... My eyes are seeing spots.
Please don't do that all of a sudden.
Once my eyes settle down, I look again, but there's nothing there.
...What was that?
I check my surroundings.
Core and the others seem to be fine.
The young spiders are fine, too.
The squirrels seem startled, but they're fine.
As for the stick insects... sorry, I can't tell how they're doing at all.
For now, they'll probably be fine.
Hmm? What is it?
Did my pants get caught on something?
...Um, it's a tree.
Yeah, it's a tree.
It has six roots and is a small tree. It's moving around on the ground, but it's definitely a tree.
...Could this be a tree monster? Is it an enemy?
Maybe not. An incredibly friendly aura is practically pouring out of it.
The stick insects have frozen solid at the sight of the tree monster.
I wave my hand in front of the stick insects, but...
I wonder if they're all right.
Still, I made a tree wither and lured out a tree monster. What's going on?
Is today an unlucky day?
Hmm?
Sorry, I wasn't ignoring you.
Oh, come to think of it, Core and the young spiders are quiet.
For some reason, when I look around, everyone seems to be staring wide-eyed in surprise.
At what?
I look around.
The only thing that's changed is the tree monster.
Huh? Is this the problem?
It doesn't seem particularly scary, though.
What should I do?
...
There was nothing I could do about the withered tree, so I apologized to the stick insects.
They were awfully jumpy, though. What's wrong?
So, as for the tree monster... I ended up taking it home.
...Because it wouldn't let go of my pants, so I had no choice.
When I tried to make it let go, it grew more branches to grab me.
A bizarre sight that defied the normal speed of growth.
I ended up staring for a while.
So it came home with me.
A new plaza... No, that won't do.
The underground is important.
Hmm... Will this little one put down roots?
It's walking around quite normally on its roots, though.
Well, it'll work out somehow. I'm sure it will.
Are the stick insects coming with us, too?
The stick insects were there on the way back, too.
Well, all right.
I get the feeling they won't cause any problems.
...
It seems to like the area near the lake beside the house.
Even so, why does everyone react the same way?
The moment they see the tree monster, they become completely motionless.
In other words, they freeze.
Maybe there's something special about this one.
...It's a tree, right?
I can't see anything strange about it apart from the fact that it moves.
I'm starting to feel a little uneasy.
I gesture to Core, asking whether everything is all right.
Core gives me a deep nod.
Apparently everything's fine. Core has been with me from the beginning, so I trust it most.
If Core says it's okay, then I tend to assume everything's okay.
Sorry to burden you so much.
Amazing. Its roots are burrowing into the soil.
Or rather, is it going to settle here permanently?
There don't seem to be any particular problems... The Marshmallows are fine.
Then there are no problems.
Could the trees around here have moved to new locations and taken root like this, too?
It's another world, so it's possible.
Could trees migrate en masse on their own, thinking, 'This place is nice!'?
Like wildebeests on Earth.
Tree monsters... moving around... Maybe they'd be cute even in large numbers?
From a distance, anyway.