Episode 290: Prime culprit

“Ohh ~ !! It’s withered!!”

 Nanami cries out sadly when she sees that it has reverted to the withered tree it was before.

“Uuh …”

“Kuh …”

 The chief and Sarion kneel painfully.

“Are you okay!?”

 The World Tree is important, but I run over to the, crouch down and call out to them.

“U … mu. Don’t worry. I just lost my strength a little.”

“I am … too. Don’t worry.”

 Forcing a smile, the two reply.

 The two are sweating profusely, and it is easy to imagine that they are just enduring it. I think their bodies can’t keep up with it, probably because they repeated the changes that happened over hundreds of years all at once.

 Even though the change in strength is still there, the pain of experiencing the sensation of slowly losing power over hundreds of years is unimaginable.

“But, why did it return to the state of a withered tree again?”

“Hmm, I don’t know.”

“I don’t know, either.”

 At my question, the two shake their heads with bitter expressions.

 It’s true that the World Tree must have been steadily absorbing magic until halfway through. However, it suddenly returned to a dead tree-like state.

 There is no change in appearance, and I don’t know the cause.

“Fuhito-kun, come here for a moment!!”

 While I am immersed in my thoughts, I hear Amane’s voice from quite a distance. When I life my head and turn my face to the direction of the voice, I see Amane standing several dozen meters ahead, looking up at the World Tree.

 While wondering about Amane’s actions, I follow her voice and approach the place where she is.

“Hey, look at that.”

“Nn?”

 As soon as I reach Amane, she points her finger at the point where she is looking. When I follow her instructions and turn my gaze upwards, I see a huge lump in a place that I couldn’t see from the front.

 The total length is likely to be around 20 meters.

“What is that!?”

“Nn!!”

“Strange.”

 I hear three familiar voices behind me.

 It seems that when Amane called me they followed me. I won’t be troubled if the others come along, so I leave it alone for now.

“No matter how you think about it, isn’t it strange?”

 Only after we notice the bump does Amane turn to us and ask.

“It’s true that such a big lump is strange.”

“Right. Isn’t that the reason why it withered even after giving it magical power?”

 At first glance, it looks like nothing more than a bump, but since it clearly protrudes beyond the scope of a bump, it doesn’t look like a bump.

 As Amane said, I think that’s likely the cause.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, chief and Sarion-san. Please look at that.”

 I point my finger as the chief and Sarion-san come over to us.

“What!?”

“What is that!?”

“Hasn’t that happened before?”

 They are surprised and speechless, and I ask the stunned duo for confirmation.

“U, umu. Until yesterday, there were no reports from those who were patrolling around here.”

“I was looking around the area yesterday, but I didn’t see a bump like this.”

 If it wasn’t there until yesterday, it just happened recently.

 In other words, isn’t the reason why the lump grew bigger because of the magic supply just now.

 And it’s highly likely that the reason why the absorbed magical power disappeared all at once and it returned to a dead tree-like state was because it was sucked up by that lump, and the reason why the lump grew bigger was because it absorbed our magical power.

“O, oh no!?”

 I sharpen my five senses, which I normally hold back, and look through the lump, and am amazed at what I see.

“What’s wrong, Onii-chan?”

“Oh … That’s not just a bump.”

“Eh? Then what exactly is it?”

“Try and see the magic.”

 When I reply to Nanami, who asks me, she asks me back, so I instruct her to look at the magic. Because I think it would be quicker to see it directly rather than say it in words.

“Eh!? That thing, no way?”

“That’s how it is.”

 Nanami looks at me with a surprised expression, so I nod my head in agreement.

“What exactly is that?”

“Nn.”

 Amane and Shia, who can’t see magic, ask me. Shia’s ahoge becomes a question mark.

“That thing. It’s not a lump. It’s a pupa of some kind of bug. It’s on the verge of emerging.”

“Well then, as expected …”

“Yeah. I think the creature inside that bump-like chrysalis was slowly stealing the power of the World Tree over time. And just now, it grew all at once by absorbing our enormous amount of magical power.”

 Amane makes an expression that it was as expected in response to my answer. I continue to speculate, but the story comes to an abrupt end before I can hear Amane’s reply.

-Piki pikii

 It is because the bump cracks with the sound of an egg reverberating.

“”~~ !?””

 All of us are enveloped in surprise.

 I said it was on the verge of being born, but that was because I thought it would be a little later.

-Gokuri

 We gulp involuntarily.

-Piki pikii piki pikii pakii

 The crack spreads in an instant, and the creature emerges from within. Its figure is enveloped in light, so we can’t see the whole thing yet, but the shape is similar to that of a butterfly or a moth.

“”Sacred Tree Eater …””(TN:Engrish)

 The chief and Sarion’s voices overlap.

 When I look at the two of them, they are stunned and fascinated by the appearance of the creature.