The Leaf Is Still Alive
The Leaf Is Still Alive
Winter in the Forbidden Forest was exceedingly short.
A month and a half at most.
Considering winter on Earth lasted close to three months, that meant it was barely half as long.
Because of that, you could witness a rather peculiar natural phenomenon here...
Namely, the leaves didn't fall even in the dead of winter.
Originally, leaves fell in winter to conserve energy.
In winter, when sunlight was scarcer than in summer, the energy needed to maintain the leaves exceeded the energy gained from photosynthesis.
Because of that, trees usually shed their clothes in winter. That was the trend, so to speak.
If they didn't, they'd take a loss during winter, which put them at a survival disadvantage.
But there was something the trees didn't know.
Nature was a society governed by the law of the jungle, and it took time to grow new leaves.
So when most trees were like, "Hinggyu T_T it's so cold... I should save up a little T_T" and making these pathetic gay-ass choices.
When a real-man tree showed up going, "Fuck it, shit, I walk my own path," you got to see something pretty interesting.
Namely, when that real-man tree safely endured winter, it would absorb all the sunlight for a while afterward.
As if being compensated for the bitter winter, the real-man tree grew like a weed.
As a result, the leaves the real-man tree put out ended up covering the leaves of the spineless-gay-ass trees from above.
Then the outcome was obvious.
The spineless-gay-ass trees even got the sunlight they already had NTR'd away by the real-man tree.
The choice meant to offset winter losses ended up costing them even more.
Lifeforms that lost in competition could only dwindle in number.
As a result, the population of spineless-gay-ass trees decreased, and the real-man trees walking their own goddamn-my-way path came to dominate most of the Forbidden Forest...
Of course, if winter had been three months long, the real man would've withered and died before then, but the moderate period of a month and a half allowed them to hold out.
Anyway, for that reason, the lush forest leaves here hardly ever fell, through all four seasons.
Natural selection had taken a liking to the real-man trees.
Honestly, at first I thought, what kind of ridiculous environment is this.
Trees that never shed their leaves all year and grew endlessly. It made me think, no wonder people don't come in here.
But for the first time in a while, I could feel grateful toward this environment.
The reason I'm suddenly telling this story is that I was right then reaping the benefits of those very leaves.
"Haa... Where the hell is he?"
"I came all the way to see him in person, and I can't even spot the cave he lives in."
Looking down, I saw two female adventurers glancing around the area.
Fortunately, they didn't seem to think of looking up.
Not that it mattered much even if they did. After all, my figure was mostly covered by the leaves.
It had already been five weeks since the attempted rape incident.
In that time, I'd seen a surprising number of uninvited guests. No idea how many people watched that broadcast, but they kept coming into this dangerous place just to see me in person.
"Hey, this isn't working. Let's just go."
"Why not look around a little more?"
"I said no, I didn't unequip my gear. I can't afford to die."
"Ugh."
Luckily, this batch of uninvited guests left quickly. That made five intruder repels already.
Once I confirmed they had completely gone, I climbed down from the tree and let out a sigh.
"Fwoo..."
Still, if there was one upside, none of them showed up with ill intent like that first bastard.
Most of them really seemed like tourists coming to sightsee and chat up a local.
Not that I had any reason to meet them, of course.
The second upside was that, just as that woman had said, the route to my cave hadn't been properly mapped. Because of that, even when they did come to the forest, most couldn't find my dwelling.
On top of that, the fact that it was the Forbidden Forest played a role too.
Every single one who came here was a stealth-heavy Rogue class. People didn't swarm in like it was some tourist attraction.
Thanks to those reasons, so far I'd been living without much trouble.
Of course, I had to stay more on guard than before, which did make things more cumbersome.
'Damn it, if only it weren't for that stream.'
Every time this happened, I blamed that streamer called Yoo Chae-rin.
If not for that stream, I'd still be living peacefully right now. My life had gotten a bit more colorful thanks to it, but I hadn't wanted this kind of color.
If I ever run into her again, I ought to at least flick her in the forehead.
'How long am I gonna have to live like this?'
After my peace and quiet had returned, I had that thought on the way back to the cave.
Life was harsh to begin with; I couldn't go on like this forever.
Sometimes, urges crept up.
'Damn it, should I just meet them and get it over with?'
What they wanted was simply conversation. It did feel a bit like being a monkey at the zoo, but their intentions themselves were harmless.
And I wanted conversation just the same.
To me, perpetually accompanied by loneliness, people were creatures I yearned for deeply.
'...No, can't do it.'
But such impulses were fleeting; I quickly pulled myself together.
Like I've said before, I was a person with limits on my relationships.
And honestly, I still couldn't fully trust the Otherworlders.
Not what reaction they'd show toward Demon's Blood, nor how they'd act from now on.
To me, this place was reality, but to them, it was merely a game.
As long as it was a game, there was no telling when they might flip. Who knew, maybe they'd actually try to kill me for a lark.
In the end, no clear answer came today either. Well, if I really got uneasy, I could disguise the cave or something...
"...Fwoo."
Having wrapped up my hide-and-seek with the Otherworlders like that, I trudged back to the cave.
There was still some time left until sunset, but that didn't mean I had anything to do.
I had enough to eat, and I had to keep some of the monsters alive, if only because of the Otherworlders.
My daily necessities were starting to run a bit low, but I needed some preparation to head into the city.
For those reasons, today was a rest day.
I returned to the cave like that, and the moment I arrived, I spotted a somewhat surprising scene.
Some uninvited guest had made herself at home inside the cave.
"Hehe... Ah, h-hello?"
And that uninvited guest was someone who looked somehow familiar.
A woman with short silver hair and violet eyes. Yoo Chae-rin sat there waiting for me, all prim and proper.
In front of her lay a few pieces of fruit, whether as a bribe or a housewarming gift, I couldn't tell.
A posture clearly meant to show goodwill.
Her effort was commendable, but she was the root cause of all my uninvited guests.
The instant I saw her, I had no choice but to spit out a curse.
"You motherf-"
*
The brisk temperature of spring had settled in, but inside the cave, it was still chilly, the warmth not yet fully risen.
Inside that cave, which would normally have been silent, a woman's weeping was echoing for some reason.
"Hic hic... Euuuhic..."
Strangely, on that woman's smooth forehead was a single bright red bruise.
She hadn't been hit by a fist... She had just gotten flicked in the forehead, that was all. Just, a little extra hard.
Even with her Assimilation Rate set to forty percent, the pain was still quite sharp.
What more need be said? The woman shedding pitiful tears was, of course, Yoo Chae-rin.
And across from her sat Yor, watching her with an expression full of irritation.
Her heart ached. As much as her reddened forehead did.
It felt just like meeting delinquents in a back alley during her school days...
"Hic..."
Having been enormously nervous, she had run through meeting Yor countless times in mental simulations.
She had roughly predicted how he would react. After he'd told her to fuck off last time, she hadn't expected a particularly good reaction.
Even so, it was fine.
She'd come up with ways to handle it, more or less. What topics to bring up if conversation stalled, too—she had those roughly decided.
Goodness, to think she, who still hadn't even been on a blind date, would pour this much effort into a single male NPC.
It was a little funny, but she'd thought her preparations were sufficient.
...But she never imagined he'd flick her in the forehead right off the bat without warning.
Regrettably, that hadn't been in her predictions. And unsurprisingly, she now had no clue what was going through his mind.
So she cautiously asked the other party.
"Hic, why in the world..."
Yor said nothing. Instead, he went further inside and brought something back.
Ting!
Along with the clear ring of metal striking metal, something was tossed in front of her.
It was a pair of leather greaves and a dagger. Expensive goods made from quite high-quality materials.
Why was he suddenly showing her these...? Just as she was wondering, Yor opened his mouth.
"Are all you Otherworlders nothing but bastards like this?"
It didn't take long for Chae-rin to hear the whole story from Yor.