Chapter 46
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: For the Day We Meet Again
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Cheon Doun's lips curved into a smile as he received the fruit.
It seemed this little root was determined to feed him something.
‘Looking at its condition, producing fruit can't be an easy task.’
The two thick roots that served as its legs were trembling finely.
It tried to stand tall, but it couldn't hide its quivering rootlets.
Cheon Doun secretly released his mana. The root's leaves twitched as the dense mana spread through the air.
-Huuung?
The root looked around. Where had such a sudden feast come from?
It didn't know, but it decided to eat first. The root puffed out its belly and absorbed the mana.
Ooh, delicious. Its light green leaves trembled.
The mana it had expended to create the fruit was replenished in an instant. The trembling in its roots subsided.
-Huuung!
I am reborn. I can make as much fruit as I want. The root was overflowing with motivation.
Seeing this, Cheon Doun paused just as he was about to pop the fruit into his mouth.
‘If I eat all of this, it'll probably just make more.’
If that repeated, the little root might collapse from exhaustion.
Cheon Doun hesitated for a moment, then picked up the fruits one by one and ate them. They were too small to really chew.
He ended up just popping them in his mouth and chewing on air.
The time it took to chew on air along with the seven fruits was twenty minutes.
After finishing, he dusted off his hands. A sign that he had eaten well.
He also patted his stomach. A sign that he was full.
[That's enough now. I can't eat any more.]
Words might not get through, but gestures did. When Cheon Doun patted his stomach, the root swayed its body from side to side. It was a dance of joy.
Cheon Doun chuckled at the completely non-threatening gesture.
‘It doesn't seem like a species strong enough to survive on its own. If it's a social species... was it injured and abandoned?’
It wasn't abandoned; it left on its own.
A Mandragora bears fruit after consuming a certain amount of mana.
It refines the mana stored in its body, expels it in the form of fruit, and then eats it again to reabsorb the mana in a more purified state.
It was a plant that grew by repeating this process.
The fruit was a crystallization of mana. In other words, a special treat for Monsters.
For that reason, a Mandragora in this stage would secretly leave its group. This was to prevent Monsters from flocking to their habitat, drawn by the scent of the fruit.
It was an instinct to avoid harming its own kind.
The creation and reabsorption of the fruit. And the growth that came from it.
Only when that entire process was complete could it return to the group.
The root Cheon Doun had met was a Mandragora in its fruiting stage.
A Mandragora that had left its group to live in hiding.
‘The wound seems almost healed. But its overall condition looks pretty bad.’
Cheon Doun examined the root.
A rough surface, a shriveled body, and a few rootlets so dry they were about to fall off. The leaves were also brown in places, as if scorched.
‘Dehydration?’
The Mandragora was fundamentally a root plant. While its main diet was mana, water was essential.
There had been a drought recently, and unable to bear the thirst, the root had emerged from the cliff crevice in search of a stream.
While wandering the mountain, it was snatched by a bird. That bird was then attacked by another Monster, causing it to drop the root.
The fallen root burrowed under the fallen leaves to hide, and that was how it met Cheon Doun.
Cheon Doun couldn't have known all that, but he did notice that the root needed water.
He opened the bag he’d been given at the institute. It contained essentials for a few days.
When he found a water bottle and opened the cap, the root's leaves stirred.
That moist scent. It was the smell of water. Was there water nearby? The root looked around. Cheon Doun tilted the water bottle over it.
As water poured down, the root snapped its head up.
-Hu, huuung?
Rain, it's raining. The drought is finally over. The root spread its two leaves wide. It lifted its head and gently closed its eyes.
*Drip, drip, drip.* A heavy downpour began. The root swayed from side to side in joy.
[Hey. Stop shaking. It's hard to pour the water.]
The dance of joy only grew more intense. Accordingly, Cheon Doun's hand, holding the water bottle, moved just as intensely.
After he had poured out the entire bottle, the root went limp and lay down on the ground, completely relaxed.
I have waited for a downpour such as this. The root fell asleep with that expression on its face.
Its cracked surface had already absorbed the moisture and become damp.
[What an interesting creature.]
It won't be boring while I'm staying here, Cheon Doun thought as he took out his sleeping bag and settled in.
***
Cheon Doun's time in the Demon World was short.
Due to the detonation spell carved into his body, he had to return on the tenth day.
He had about five days left with the root.
It was a meeting destined for farewell from the start. Unaware of this, the root trotted along behind its giant helper.
The root had taken a liking to the creature that had saved its life.
[I told you to stay in the cliff crevice. Why did you come out again?]
Cheon Doun said, drawing water from a small stream. Behind him stood the small root, panting.
-Hu, huuung…!
[Alright. Now let's go back… oh, crap.]
When Cheon Doun turned around, the root was stuck to a long tongue, being dragged up into the sky.
On a tree branch above was a chameleon the size of a human head.
This root sure was a handful. With a flick of Cheon Doun’s finger, a white thread sliced through the chameleon's tongue.
A severed tongue would regenerate easily, but it was enough of a threat to make it abandon its prey and flee.
Cheon Doun caught the root as it fell along with the severed tongue.
[See? I told you to stay hidden in the crevice.]
He tried to pull the tongue off, but it wouldn't come loose due to the sticky mucus.
[Stay still. You're just making it stick more.]
Cheon Doun took the root to the stream. As he put the struggling root in the water and gently swished it around, bubbles rose to the surface.
After pulling off the chameleon's tongue and rinsing the root, he placed it on his shoulder, where it hung limply like laundry.
[I heard that Monsters don't follow people. What a strange one.]
The fourteen-year-old Cheon Doun had not yet been implanted with Mandragora cells.
The reason the root followed him so readily was simple.
Loneliness. The period of living alone to bear fruit was a time filled with loneliness.
For Mandragoras, which naturally lived in groups, it was a mentally taxing period.
Find a small cave, make fruit, eat, and sleep. Make more, eat, and sleep again.
It was a time of repeating only those actions, lying on the cave floor until its growth was complete.
-Huuung….
A time when it would sometimes whimper like that out of loneliness.
Formation A with its kin. It couldn't do it. Nor could it do Formation B.
It couldn't build towers together, or hold each other's rootlets and spin round and round.
And then, it met Cheon Doun. A giant helper of a different species, but one who helped it time and again.
-Huuung!
A helper who would nibble away at the fruit it offered out of gratitude.
Its own growth would be delayed by the amount of fruit it gave away, but it had no regrets.
Without Cheon Doun, it would have died. It couldn't perform complex thoughts like a human, but it understood that much.
[Again. I told you to stop giving me fruit.]
Strangely, whenever it made fruit and handed it over, a high-density, pure demonic energy would ripple through the surroundings. All it had to do was absorb that, so the root wasn't really losing out.
That routine repeated during Cheon Doun's time in the Demon World.
But today, that too came to an end.
[I have to go now.]
The promised tenth day had arrived.
[You can manage on your own, right?]
He couldn't take the root with him. If he did, he knew the researchers would use it as an experimental subject.
Even in a harsh environment, it was better for it to live in its original home.
[Ah, right. I should set up some safety measures before I go.]
Cheon Doun sprayed his cocooning thread around the cliff where the root lived. He also left traces of the Silk Thread Caterpillar throughout the area.
This should keep dangerous Monsters from approaching.
[This is all I can do for you. Your energy should be mostly recovered by now. From now on, you're on your own.]
There was really no time left. Cheon Doun crushed the return stone.
As a blue Gate formed, the root's eyes went wide.
What is that? What is that light? Why does it make me so anxious?
It couldn't understand the situation. But it recognized that its giant helper was packing his things.
-Hu, huuung!
The root ran to Cheon Doun. It circled him again and again, studying his expression.
Does he hate me now? Is our alliance broken?
No, that can't be. I must be mistaken. Haven't we had a good time? We got along well. Surely he's not planning to leave me behind.
-Huung?
It asked, but there was no answer. Cheon Doun looked at the root, then picked it up.
He pushed it into the crevice in the cliff.
[Get in. A bird might snatch you.]
He was about to step into the Gate, but he stopped, feeling a gaze on him.
When he turned, the root was standing at the entrance of the crevice, watching him. Its leaves were drooping.
‘After I leave, it'll probably wander around looking for me.’
An image of it being defenselessly snatched up by a Monster flashed through his mind.
Cheon Doun pulled a white thread from his fingertip. He twisted it over and over, like making a rope.
After making a string of suitable thickness, he tied it into a loop.
He went to the root and placed the white string he had made over its leaf.
[Wear this. As long as my aura is imbued in it, you won't be attacked by other Monsters.]
By then, its torn leaf would have fully grown back, and it would have completely recovered its strength.
After putting the thread on it like a necklace, Cheon Doun pushed the root back into the cliff crevice.
[Take care.]
Cheon Doun offered a final farewell and stepped into the Gate.
As he disappeared, the Mandragora rushed out of the crevice.
-Huung!
The root ran. It ran as hard as it could.
Just a little further, and it too could enter that blue light. It didn't know what it was, but it would go and bring him back.
That was the thought, but its clumsy body couldn't keep up.
Mandragoras were Monsters that lived underground. They were bound to be poor runners.
The root tripped on a pebble and fell. It struggled for a moment due to its chubby belly before managing to get up.
By the time it lifted its head, the Gate had already closed and vanished.
It looked to the right. Nothing.
It looked to the left. Nothing.
-Huuung!
It called for its helper, but there was no reply.
It can't be. My eyesight must be bad, that's why I can't see him.
The root went to where the Gate had been and circled the spot. It tapped the ground with its roots.
Still nothing.
The root's leaves drooped. It plopped down on the spot.
-Huuu….
Has he really gone? Where did that giant helper disappear to?
The root, which had been sitting dazedly, trudged back toward the cliff crevice.
Before going inside, it looked back at the spot where Cheon Doun had vanished.
It moved a leaf to touch the white string around its stalk.
This has my helper's aura in it.
Then I'll keep this string. If I have this, he might detect the aura and come find me.
The root clamped its mouth shut.
A mouth set in firm resolve.
Roots planted firmly on the ground.
A strong gaze looking forward.
It dusted off the dirt from its fall with its rootlets.
It also straightened its leaves. The neatened root shouted out toward the empty space.
-Huuung!
Even apart, we are helpers to one another. If fate allows, let's meet again.
The root entered the dark cave of the cliff crevice.
Its retreating figure was filled with the dignified resolve to survive on its own.