“We've Been Waiting? For Me?”
“We've been waiting? For me?”
“…….”
I frowned at the child's strange words. These were kids I'd never met before in my life.
Yet the child spoke as if they knew me.
“We're the last Dryads remaining in the north.”
“……!”
“We believed we'd meet you again.”
Dryads? The tree nymphs from Greek and Roman mythology?
As I stood there bewildered, the children drew a little closer.
“Stop.”
“…….”
Ian blocked my path with a menacing tone. The children's gazes shifted to him.
The boy stared at Ian for a moment before speaking.
“We think you're pitiful.”
“...What?”
A note of absurdity crept into Ian's voice. I couldn't see his face from behind, but that impassive expression of his must have cracked. These little ones had some nerve.
To unsettle Ian—who was hard even for me to faze—with a single sentence.
I looked at the children with growing interest.
“We think that body of yours won't hold out much longer.”
“…….”
“We can't guarantee what'll happen when you meet the true body.”
“Hah, well now.”
I let out a hearty laugh at the boy's cryptic words. I patted Ian's rigid shoulder.
“Ian, step aside.”
“But……”
“They're just kids.”
They might not look it, but the aura they gave off felt friendly toward me. Ian reluctantly shifted aside, and I approached the children.
I bent down to meet the eyes of the kids looking up at me.
“You said you're Dryads?”
“…….”
The children nodded without a word. Only the boy spoke; the girl stood behind him, lips pressed tight, clutching his hand.
They really just seemed like ordinary kids. I couldn't even sense any mana from them.
I turned back to Sian.
“Hey, Sian?”
“…….”
“Sian?”
Sian, who had been glaring into empty space, slowly turned at my call. I felt puzzled by his furrowed brows—he looked displeased.
“What's wrong?”
“Ah, it's nothing.”
Sian was probably still communicating with the spirits. I'd hoped he'd pick up on something I couldn't, but he didn't seem reliable right now.
With no help there, I turned back to the children.
“Dryads—like, tree spirits? Is that it?”
“…….”
The boy gazed at me intently and reached out his hand. Ian twitched, but I raised a hand to stop him.
The boy extended his tiny, twig-like hand and grasped my sleeve. Feeling the gentle tug, I stood.
Follow us, it seemed to say. I bent low and trailed after the small children.
Then something wondrous happened. It was as if the forest parted to make way for us. The thick underbrush vanished, revealing a vast, open meadow.
I looked around the meadow in astonishment.
“This is……”
“…….”
The whole group stood there, stunned. As I took in the green field scattered with fluttering petals, I felt another faint tug on my clothes.
The children walked on silently. Then, as I followed, my eyes widened at what I saw.
“……!”
In the heart of the meadow stood a massive tree, radiating presence. The pale petals drifting in the air came from its blooming flowers.
I gaped at the tree—it had to be centuries old. The children led me right up to it before stopping.
“We can't stray far from the true body.”
“The true body? You mean this tree?”
“…….”
The children nodded again without speaking. I looked up at the tree in admiration.
To think such a tree existed in a monster-infested habitat. Sky-blue and soft purple flowers—matching the children's eye colors—swayed in the breeze like dancers.
“Oh……”
Lost in the sight for a moment, I felt the children tug at my clothes again. I knelt on one knee to match their eye level.
“We can no longer seal the gate.”
“The gate…?”
The boy raised his small hand as he spoke.
“Our power has grown too weak.”
“…….”
“Still, we're grateful to you. We know many trees grow elsewhere because of you.”
“…….”
Tree spirits—Dryads. Since I'd never heard of them after possessing this world, they must be an extinct race here. But in the myths of my old world, Dryads took trees as their bodies and dedicated their lives to spreading their offspring.
“We're glad we could meet you at the end.”
“…….”
This was probably the first time these Dryads had met me—it must have been one of Abigail's ancestors. Sharing the same dragon's mana, they must have mistaken that ancestor for me.
The Carpoem progenitor who brought enough greenery to satisfy the northern Dryads. Who could it be? The founding duke? Or the woman the dragon fell for?
As I pondered, I recalled the Dryad's words.
“Is the gate the door monsters come through?”
“…….”
The boy nodded without answering. That's when I realized it.
This boy kept speaking in that weird style for what he wanted to say, but he only nodded to my questions—he couldn't reply directly.
I didn't know why, but I figured I should stick to yes-or-no questions.
“So, more monsters will come from that gate? More than before?”
“…….”
The child nodded again. Anxiety rising, I pressed on.
“Are the ones controlling that gate nearby?”
“…….”
The child hesitated, then looked across with wide, startled eyes.
“Yeah…?”
I whipped around too. The air in the distance rippled, a black shadow beginning to form.
“Ah, wait—!”
“Lady Abigail!”
The boy dashed forward at the sight of the pitch-black shadow, releasing the girl's hand.
“Mir……!”
“……!”
For the first time, I heard the girl's voice—thin and trembling with tears, piercing my ears.
The boy called Mir approached the shadow and spread his arms wide. Countless vines erupted from his hands.
“Ugh…!”
But Mir's power alone couldn't contain the expanding shadow. He groaned, his hands shaking.
I turned to the mages, Ren and Sian.
“Ren, Sian! Help him!”
“But……”
“Don't worry about me!”
Ren nodded and raised his staff—but stayed frozen in that pose. As I wondered why, he muttered in confusion.
“I can't feel any mana……”
“What?”
I instinctively drew on my dragon's mana. Fortunately, as an innate power, it responded clearly.
I turned to Sian.
“Sian, what about you?”
“…….”
“Sian?”
Sian bit his lip anxiously at my call. As I approached his odd state, he muttered a curse under his breath.
“Damn it……”
“Sian?”
Finally turning to me, Sian's face was stiff.
“Same here.”
“...I see.”
A bad feeling stirred, but there was no time to worry about him. I glared at the shadow Mir was holding back and reached for my sword.
Someone was faster. I couldn't stop Ian as he shot past me.
“Ian!”
“…….”
Ian charged the shadow. Soon, his sword laced with sword aura slashed through it.
That was the moment.
Clang!
Boom!
“Ugh!”
“Lady Abigail!”
Darkness swallowed my vision. Ren grabbed me and pulled back.
I reached blindly toward where Ian should be.
“Ian…!”
“It's dangerous, Lady Abigail.”
Ian and Mir had vanished into the dark. I turned to the girl, now collapsed and sobbing.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Sob……”
The girl just wept without answering. As frustration mounted and I moved closer, a eerie voice echoed from the darkness.
“Kekeke, so the little rats were hiding here.”
The voice sent chills down my spine just from hearing it. A man slowly emerged from the shadows.
“Who are you?”
I demanded in a low voice from the clearly hostile man. Even with my sword aimed at him, he didn't flinch.
“Shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking for names?”
“…….”
The gall of this man, half his face hidden behind a mask.
This was a situation where I could just shove my sword in his face, but my body felt strangely rigid.
Gritting my teeth, I answered.
“Abigail Carpoem.”
“Heh, so proper.”
He sneered mockingly at me.
“Reveal yourself. Or else……”
“Or else?”
Amusement colored his voice. He wagged a finger at me tauntingly, savoring my wariness.
“I'll have to make you talk with a show of force.”
“Haha, intriguing.”
I calmed my mind steadily. Getting riled by his cheap provocations would be a mistake.
I needed to subdue him quickly and rescue Mir and Ian from the darkness.
At my call, dragon's mana enveloped me. Aura armor—activating it was as easy as breathing now.
Just as my body lunged forward—
“Stop.”
“……!”
The girl had snuck up and grabbed me. Her small hand clutched my collar through the aura.
“You…!”
“You mustn't face that man yet.”
“What do you……”
The girl looked up at me, her face streaked with tears. In that moment, my chest tightened painfully for some reason.
I wanted to drop my sword and hug her tiny frame right then.
She smiled through her sobs.
“I'm Niv. Algenib. The last Dryad of the north.”
Algenib. The name felt strangely familiar as I repeated it inwardly.
Niv backed away from me, still smiling brightly.
“I'm glad I could keep the promise now, at least.”
“…….”
Niv spread her arms wide. Like a mirage, her body faded away.
“Niv…!”
I cried out in shock as the massive tree—the one the children called their true body—burst into brilliant light.