The Central Dryad's Invitation

A report from Alex had reached the Elf Coalition’s main headquarters.

It was concise. The words themselves were brief, yet the weight they carried was anything but.

A tower had appeared near the newly formed elf village.

Judging by the number of floors, it was estimated to be mid-to-low difficulty.

The fewer floors a tower had, the lower its rank. The conquest difficulty dropped accordingly. Even so, a low-rank tower was never something to dismiss lightly. The lower the floor count, the shorter the time until a break occurred.

This one sat in that awkward middle ground—neither high nor low. The conquest would be demanding, yet the tower granted no generous margin of time. A troublesome, ambiguous threat.

The elves gathered in the conference hall immediately began discussing the dispatch of a raid team. The problem surfaced at once: no raid teams remained at headquarters. Every major unit had already been sent to handle towers appearing in other regions.

A handful of personnel were on standby, but sending only them against a mid-to-low difficulty tower offered no guarantee of success. Still, they could not simply do nothing.

The elves sent a reply first.

It was a reluctant decision. They knew a Dryad could not easily leave the place to which she was bound. Even so, they had to prevent unnecessary casualties from the monsters that would spill out during a break. Protecting the Dryad with the knights and spirit mages already stationed at the village seemed feasible. Evacuating the rest of the villagers was the most realistic step headquarters could take.

The answer that came back not long after sank the conference hall into heavy silence.

The elves in the hall understood the feeling. Every elf knew the instinctive reluctance to abandon a Dryad. Yet understanding and the reality of the danger were two different things.

One elf clutched his head. “I understand how they feel.” Exhaustion thickened his voice. “Of course I do. But the situation is what it is.”

Another elf suddenly spoke. “Wait, there’s more below.”

Defensive measures. A Dryad who had only just been born, preparing defenses? The claim made no sense.

“Defensive measures? How exactly is safety secured?”

Amid the confusion, Elysia—the Dryad of headquarters—quietly closed her eyes. She could not blame them for their choice. The thought of being separated from her own children was equally unimaginable to her. Even so, when she considered the reality, the urge to persuade them only grew stronger.

Safety secured? The report seemed far too unreliable to trust with the lives of elves who would remain in the village. Yet their decision appeared firm.

If so, the elves at headquarters had only one course of action: pray that the claim of secured safety was true, and prepare to dispatch a team the moment any raid party returned.

Mages from the Magic Tower calculated the tower’s expected break time. Spirit mages prepared spirit carriages so they could transport supplies and personnel at a moment’s notice. Medical staff gathered herbs and healing tools in case of casualties.

Even after issuing every order, the elves in the conference hall kept estimating how long it would take for a raid team to return. If the team ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was late, the village would be in danger, but until they arrived there was nothing sharper they could do.

Time stretched like eternity. Finally, the raid team that had left to conquer another tower returned to headquarters.

They were already exhausted. After days of brutal travel they had barely finished their conquest and come home. Their armor bore countless scars that proved just how fierce the journey had been. Some members returned bearing injuries that required proper treatment.

Normally, they would have been given sufficient rest, healing, and time to file a report. Instead, they were met with an urgent summons.

The raid captain looked at the officer with a tired face. His voice was closer to protest than question. “We have only just returned.”

He let out a long breath. “Leaving again in this state is impossible. You understand that, don’t you?”

The officer who had called them wore a rigid expression. “The tower appeared… near the newly established village.”

The captain’s face hardened. “…A village currently being settled?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about the Dryad?”

“She was born only recently.”

Silence lingered between them for a moment. The officer added one final piece of information.

“And all the village members have refused to evacuate.”

At those words, the fatigue vanished from the captain’s and his team’s faces. Gravity settled in its place.

“Understood.” The captain asked nothing more. “We will prepare immediately.”

That single sentence was enough to move the entire raid team. The short, insufficient rest only made them wearier, yet they could not stop.

The spirit carriage was loaded not only with supplies and rations for conquest but also with barrier stones and purification stones—tools to protect the village. Their goal was no longer simply to conquer the tower. If they were already too late, they would at least shield the village from the aftermath of a break.

Just as the raid team was about to depart, a follow-up report from Alex ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠arrived at the conference hall.

The officer who received it froze with an odd expression, as though he had seen something strange. The other elves asked urgently.

“Has the break already begun?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Then has the village or the Dryad suffered harm?”

“That is not it, either.”

“Then why are you making that face?”

The officer remained silent for a moment. Then he enlarged the report with magic so everyone could see.

A collective sigh of relief spread through the hall. Perhaps some unknown powerhouse had passed by and offered help out of kindness. Everyone was thinking something similar when the next line caught their eyes.

The hall fell into absolute silence.

After a moment, someone asked very carefully, “The Dryad—someone who was born only recently—cleared the tower?”

Another elf stammered, “Even if she possessed the ability… how did she climb the tower’s floors?”

A tower was tall. That did not simply mean physically tall. Because each floor was spatially isolated, the tower was also topologically distant. In truth, it was far taller than it appeared to the eye.

Therefore, even if the companion tree and the tower stood close together, the moment a Dryad climbed to another floor she would be pulled back to her tree. That was common sense.

Yet the report did not end there.

The elves could not even ask a follow-up question.

The raid captain, who had just entered the conference room after hearing of the report’s arrival, noticed the other elves standing frozen in shock. He looked at the enlarged text, rubbed his eyes, looked again, and rubbed them once more.

“Am I so tired I’m seeing things?”

But the report was not merely Alex’s personal opinion. Below the second line were the Magic Tower personnel’s observation logs, Seris’s testimony, and detailed records of the tower’s disappearance reaction. At the very end, there was even a photograph.

Luiana stood awkwardly, staring straight ahead. Beside her, Lianel beamed and held up a V sign. Alex had practically begged to obtain the picture; he knew no one would believe a written report alone.

The two looked as if they had been cast from the same mold. Yet their elf-like appearance and the heterochromatic eyes that marked them as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dryads proved beyond doubt that a new Dryad had been born.

With evidence this clear, the contents could no longer be dismissed as falsehood or mistake.

One elf muttered, “This reads less like a factual report and more like the scattered contents of a dream written down without order.”

Another answered, “But the evidence is undeniable.”

All their gazes were fixed on the clearest proof of all—the photograph containing the two Dryads.

Meanwhile, Elysia wore a gentle smile of relief as she quietly reread the report. While the others focused on the picture, her eyes lingered on the name Lianel.

A being who had taken sword form from a sacred tree. A being who had received a name and finally manifested as a Dryad. The name given to that being was Lianel.

“The one who walks beside…”

The affection contained in those words alone warmed the heart. Elysia sensed this was no mere curiosity. It was an unprecedented event that had opened a new relationship between Dryad and companion tree.

She felt a strong urge to meet the new Dryads. No—it was more than curiosity. An instinct told her she must meet them.

“I do not believe this matter can be judged by report alone,” Elysia said. Every eye in the hall turned toward her. “Since they are no longer beings bound to a single location, why don’t we invite the two of them here on this occasion?”

Everyone expressed agreement. An invitation to a Dryad. Because Dryads could not normally travel far, such an invitation had never been issued before. Yet no one showed any opposition or concern. A Dryad was an existence that must be welcomed and respected by all elves.

Seeing their reaction, Elysia smiled with satisfaction.

After that, events moved swiftly. The raid team was no longer a raid team. They became both a protective force to be dispatched to the village and an envoy bearing an invitation.

Some of the conquest equipment was set aside, while supplies the village might need were left loaded in the spirit carriage. Additional personnel were added to purify any possible contamination from the tower’s aftermath. A formal invitation to headquarters, written by Elysia herself, was added to the now-ambassador captain’s luggage.

She had written it with great care, letter by letter, brimming with anticipation. For long years, across countless generations of elves, Elysia had always shown only a calm and benevolent face. Seeing her excited like a child for the first time, the elves felt both awkward and strangely uplifted.

The letter itself was formal and courteous—gratitude for the tower conquest, a promise to dispatch protective personnel to the new village, congratulations on the birth of new Dryads, and a sincere wish to invite the two to the Elf Coalition’s main headquarters. Yet the true heart behind the polished sentences was simple.

I want to meet you.

I must see you with my own eyes.

Only the faint impressions pressed into the paper spoke for that earnest desire.

Turned soil was smoothed, and spirits mended the disordered flow of the forest. The work was arduous and tedious, but with every elf ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lending strength, the woods around the village soon returned to a tidy state.

During that time, Lianel quickly blended in with the village elves. If Luiana was a mother who did not know how to express herself yet tried hard to look after everyone from behind, Lianel was an active mother who wanted to embrace each person directly.

Thanks to Lianel’s constant gentle smile as she took Luiana by the arm and led her around the village to care for the elves, laughter never ceased.

Luiana, however, found herself somewhat tired because of her lively companion. Not that she disliked it.

That day, as always, Lianel had linked arms with Luiana and was leading her here and there when the envoy—who had announced their departure in advance—arrived at the village.

By coincidence, the envoy encountered the two Dryads strolling near the village the moment they arrived. The members of the envoy party rubbed their eyes hard, as if to confirm that what they were seeing was real. A few kept rubbing them repeatedly.

Two Dryads standing together. The phrase itself was a contradiction. A Dryad could not leave a single location; therefore two Dryads gathering in one place should have been impossible.

They had already heard the full story through reports and understood it intellectually. Facing it in person, however, they could not hide their astonishment.

After a brief commotion, the envoy regained their composure. They approached at once and offered polite greetings to Luiana and Lianel. The two Dryads guided them into the village. It was a curious procession—the guides calm, the guided ones following with nervous politeness, unsure what to do with themselves.

Once inside the village hall, the envoy captain presented the prepared invitation.

Elf Coalition Main Headquarters.

Luiana fell into thought upon hearing the name. The people who had come seemed quite strong even to her eyes. If such individuals were offering to protect the village, accepting the invitation once seemed worthwhile. Above all, the headquarters might hold more information and a greater variety of swords.

“Shall we go?” Luiana said.

Lianel answered with a warm smile. “If it’s what you want, I’m in favor.”

Lianel’s joy came simply from the fact that she would be doing it together with Luiana.

The elves listening to the conversation, however, looked anxious for a moment, like children left alone at home at the thought that they might be separated from both mothers.

“It’s only a short trip, so there’s no need to worry,” Luiana told them. It was an awkward attempt at reassurance, but it was her own way.

The elves did not try to stop them. They were a little worried, yet they did not wish to hinder what their mothers wanted to do.

Besides, the village would not be left completely empty. Where the sacred tree had stood, a trace of magical afterglow remained in place of the roots. Lianel explained that part of their essence lingered in that glow, so a portion of them would always be with the village.

Only then did the elves’ expressions ease, as if they had found some comfort.

Before leaving, Luiana spoke to the children who had come to see her off. “If you skip training while I’m gone, it’ll be doubled when I return.”

She had meant it as a joke in her own fashion. Delivered in a flat, expressionless voice, however, it sounded far closer to a threat.

The children’s faces stiffened at once. Lianel gave Luiana a light, scolding glance, then smiled and stroked each child’s head one by one.

“Make sure you eat well while we’re away, everyone.”

Only then did the children’s expressions brighten and their heads nod.

After exchanging farewells with the elves who had come to see them off, they turned to find the spirit carriage and the personnel who would escort the two Dryads waiting. It was time to depart.

The carriage door opened. A spirit mage extended his hand as though escorting a precious lady. Lianel smiled and naturally took it, stepping inside.

Luiana, finding such treatment awkward, considered simply climbing in. But fearing the spirit mage would feel embarrassed, she took his hand after all.

It was something she often felt since reincarnating: this Dryad race seemed to have changed her personality quite a lot.

Alex and Seris accompanied them on the road to headquarters. Their duties no longer required them to remain in the village, so they were returning together.

Lianel kept letting out exclamations of wonder at the rapidly passing scenery. Seris kept bringing up swordsmanship under the guise of casual conversation. Alex looked completely drained, as though he had used up every last ounce of stamina on everything he had experienced.

What will the Elf Coalition’s main headquarters be like? Luiana wondered.

The first new city of this world she would encounter. It would be a lie to say she was not excited. Her mind was already half there.

Because of that, her answers to Seris’s questions were obviously half-hearted.

“How did you sever the sword path at that moment?”

“Roughly.”

“Roughly… meaning you chose an end point so the flow would not surge too far ahead?”

“Probably.”

“I see. As expected.”

Seris nodded earnestly, assigning deep meaning to every curt reply.

Alex watched her and quietly closed his eyes. He no longer had the energy to distinguish what was strange and what was normal.

The spirit carriage glided over the forest as if sliding on ice. Rough terrain posed no obstacle. Wind spirits supported the carriage instead of wheels, and tree spirits opened the path ahead.

Lianel gazed beyond the window, then suddenly touched the glass with her fingertips.

“It’s so wide.”

The words were very soft. Yet Luiana could feel the emotion inside them. A being who had spent long years rooted in one place, embracing the world, was now seeing that world from the road with her own feet for the first time.

Luiana gently placed her hand over Lianel’s. Lianel turned and smiled.

“Do you like it?” Luiana asked.

Lianel nodded without hesitation. “Yes.” Then, as if it were the most natural thing, she added, “Because I’m seeing it with you.”

Instead of answering, Luiana turned her gaze out the window. Seris wore an expression that suggested she was trying to relate even that short exchange to some sword realm. Alex ultimately chose to pretend he had fallen asleep.

How long had they traveled? The air of the forest changed. The density of mana grew softly richer, and the paths flowing between the trees became far more intricately maintained.

The spirit carriage passed through something like a thin membrane. In that instant the scenery opened, revealing a majestic panorama.

The Elf Coalition’s main headquarters. It looked less like a constructed city and more like a forest that had shaped itself into urban form over countless years. Wooden bridges linked the colossal trees that blocked out the sky. Vine-wrapped railings, corridors built upon branches, and halls hollowed from living trunks layered upon one another.

Magic lamps holding warm light hung among the leaves, and below, spirits flowed like waves.

Lianel stared at the sight, forgetting even to exclaim. Luiana remained silent for a moment as well. It was completely different from the city she had imagined. Yet it was not bad.

As the spirit carriage drew closer to the center of headquarters, gazes gathered from all around. A carriage carrying two Dryads. The fact alone caused the entire main base to stir quietly.

At last the carriage stopped. The door opened and Lianel stepped down first. Luiana followed.

At that moment, a low pulse rang from deep within headquarters.

Thump.

It was so low it was felt in the body rather than heard by the ear. Lianel froze. Luiana closed her eyes briefly. The pulse felt both unfamiliar and intimately familiar. It resembled the pulse of the sacred tree that Lianel had sent before she had even taken sword form or the tower had appeared.

When the pulse subsided, the elves of headquarters who had turned their eyes in one direction all bowed at once.

At the end of the path they had opened stood a woman.

Golden hair close to the color of sunlight. Heterochromatic eyes—one golden, one red. A mature and beautiful Dryad who held her hands together modestly and smiled with warmth. It was Elysia.

She looked at Luiana. Then at Lianel. For a long while, Elysia said nothing. At last she spoke in a gentle voice.

“I am Elysia, the Dryad of this main sanctuary.”

Lianel’s hand lightly grasped Luiana’s arm. Elysia’s smile deepened by a fraction.

Elysia took one step to the side. The path through headquarters opened. Warm magic lamps began to glow one by one between the wooden corridors, and spirits scattered leaf-shaped lights.

Along with them, the elves of the main base slowly lifted their heads. Gazes filled with reverence, curiosity, and pure delight turned toward the two Dryads.

Following Elysia’s kind guidance, Luiana and Lianel proceeded deeper into the heart of the main sanctuary.