CH 136

136.1 Sanctuary

I started charging the World Tree seed with magic power first. The World Tree seed was like a dry sponge absorbing water as it continuously sucked up my magic power.

「………… this is quite tough.」

Although I’ve thankfully recovered magic power thanks to drinking mana potions after the fight, it seems even after absorbing almost all of the magic power that I, someone confident in the amount of magic power I possess, have.

「Then I’m next. I leveled up considerably, so my magic power increased by a lot.」

Akane took the World Tree seed from my hand, and started to pour magic power into it just like I did.

「…… uu, it’s still not enough?」

「Then it’s my turn next.」

Even when Akane loaded it up to her limit, the World Tree seed still wanted more magic power. Laeva then started her turn.

「Ah! The magic power is overflowing, Any more than this and it wouldn’t absorb it.」

A short time had passed since Laeva began charging it with magic power, the World Tree seed stopped absorbing.

「It seems that was enough. Next, it says it wants to be sown near the spring.」

Afterwards, we planted the World Tree seed into the spot Sophia had indicated.

「It would be better to water it, right?」

Magically conjured water loaded with magic power gently watered the soil covering it. For some reason, my intuition tells me that it would be better to do that.

「This water isn’t foul, but it’s not clean either, is it?」

With the defeat of the Skeleton King and its underlings, as well as the Zombies and Ghouls, and the purifying abilities of Sanctuary Field and the Purification spell, this land had become pure, which was unthinkable in the savage lands dotted with monster nests.

I drank mana potion and rested a little bit, then invoked Sanctuary Field to encompass the spring. And so, the spring turned perfectly clear and pure.

「As I thought, it looks like it was polluted by miasma. The World Tree seed will likely bud easily now.」

「Then while practicing our Light attribute magic, we’ll purify this surrounding area, won’t we?」

Having seen me purify the spring water, Akane accompanied Laeva and began purifying the faint remains of miasma.

Now then, the retrieval of magic stones and drop items seems to have finished, so I was thinking we’d go back to Volton once Akane and Laeva purification finishes, but at that time, there were signs of something moving, and I looked around.

「Wha?!」

The World Tree seed that I planted just a while ago had already sprouted. Furthermore, it had grown 1 meter in height right before my very eyes, and it even had 20 lush green leaves.

「The World Tree grows this fast?」

「N-no, I have heard that it grows fast in land abundant in magic power, but growing this much is unheard of.」

After that, by way of Sophia, the Spirit Tree née World Tree seed (the tree grown from Yggrdasil’s seed, apparently called the Spirit Tree) had a request. It wants to enclose the surroundings in a Holy Barrier with the Spirit Tree and the spring at the center.

And so, Laeva and I split up, creating 100 pieces of disposable 1 meter stone piles using Earth magic. Then with the heaps of magic stones from the Skeleton Knights, we engraved the piles with Holy Barrier magic. We hammered them down in a circular formation with the Spirit Tree in the center.

「For a tree to push us around…………」

「The Spirit Tree has arms for pushing?[1]」

At the few words I grumbled, Lulu-chan asked curiously.

Having finished hammering in all 100 stakes, we immediately went back and made camp, then departed for Volton early morning the next day.

Incidentally, the Spirit Tree that was 1m yesterday has now grown to 2m.

3 days after returning to Volton, we went back to the Spirit Tree once more.

This time, instead of the disposable Holy Barrier, we created a continuously operating Barrier MD that automatically absorbs magic power from the surroundings. The stone stakes embedded with magic stones previously installed are designed simply, and we had promised to make that land uninvadable from here on.

( A promise with a tree. If other people heard that, they’d suspect I’m wrong in the head. )

That place was originally one of the monster nests that dotted the savage lands. Even though the dense mana (magic source) had been purified with the Holy Barrier and Sanctuary Field, time will pass and miasma will begin to seep again. Should the Spirit Tree grow large, the land and its surroundings will be purified, so magic devices that would continuously purify that place are necessary until then.

Before we reached the spring where the Spirit Tree was, I, with my mouth agape, had to ask about the scenery.

「…………huh, this was the place from the other day, right?」

「…………yes, I am quite certain that this is the location of the tree and spring.」

The reason I inadvertently asked for Sophia’s confirmation was because the Spirit Tree had grown close to 10m in height and its trunk had grown so thick I couldn’t put my arms around it.

The Spirit Tree wasn’t the only thing surprising. The ground that couldn’t grow weeds now had lush grass sprouting over its entire surface.

The carriage stopped and we approached the Spirit Tree.

「Hey, it feels cleaner, but I’m not imagining that, am I?」

「Yes, it’s as if we’re in a sanctuary.」

That land centered around the Spirit Tree had become full of pure magic power that seems like it could annihilate weak Ghosts and Zombies in an instant.

「I have a feeling that the atmosphere here is purer than the church in Volton.」

「Akane, you think so too? It’s just one tree, but the Spirit Tree is such an important thing.」

「No Takumi-sama, I believe the Spirit Tree alone could not turn it into a sanctuary-like place in such a short time. I dare say that the effects of the Sanctuary Field during the fight with the undead and the disposable Holy Barrier MD afterwards were enormous.」

The significance of a monster nest becoming a sanctuary is something I don’t know, nor do I need to understand. At the start, I had decided to install Holy Barrier MDs in this land.

This time it will be one set of 6 magic devices. With Laeva’s cooperation, we installed the magic devices In the shape of a hexagram.

「Oooii~! Is your set up okaaay!?」

「Yeees! Preparations are okaaay!」

Laeva and I proceeded with starting up the magic devices, and when the last magic device was activated, a hexagram of light stood out from the ground with the Spirit Tree in the middle. The light soon vanished, and I checked if the barrier had activated. The Holy Barrier stretched across the land in a circular form with a 200m radius from the Spirit Tree that was at its center.

This barrier would not directly prevent the invasion of monsters aside from the undead.

It’s a magic device that makes an environment that monsters would avoid by purifying the land that had been a monster nest filled with mana and miasma, consequently changing the land to become one that monsters would find hard to approach.

「Alright! With this, the chances of it being invaded would probably decrease.」

「It feels like sacred space, but even though the miasma is gone, it’s still a monster nest with dense mana, isn’t it?」

With the work of installing the magic devices over, Laeva came over and asked the question that was on her mind.

「That’s right, it’s definitely a monster nest. That’s why it wouldn’t be a barrier to monsters that don’t avoid the Light attribute.」

Only, there are also cases of monsters who don’t need miasma that can coexist with people. Representatives of those are Demon Horses and Ryuumas like Tsubaki. Kaede, a unique species of Arachne, is a monster that prefers miasma, but the moment she was connected to me by a path of magic power as my familiar, that disposition changed.

「Ｍａｓｔｅｒ，　ｈｏｗ　ａｂｏｕｔ　ｐｒｅｐａｒｉｎｇ　ａ　ｎｕｍｂｅｒ　ｏｆ　ｓｔｏｎｅ　ｇｏｌｅｍｓ？」

「…… You’re right, I don’t want monsters to damage the precious Spirit Tree. Can I leave it to you?」

「Ｐｌｅａｓｅ　ｌｅａｖｅ　ｉｔ　ｔｏ　ｍｅ。」

Since Titan had come to recommend stone golems to protect this place, I decided to entrust Titan with it, including the creation of the golems.

The golems that Titan make can only act on simple orders and work, but assigning them to protect this place is enough.

Titan created 4 stone golems and deployed them in the 4 cardinal directions with the Spirit Tree in the center. With this, if everything is normal then the Spirit Tree won’t be damaged.

And so, we discovered the World Tree seed from the chance encounter with the Skeleton King and purified the land that the Spirit Tree would grow in afterwards. However, we hadn’t imagined at this time that this land would give rise to discord among a portion of the elves.

Paradise of the Spirits

We regularly visit the location of the Spirit Tree, which grew from the World Tree seed.

Sophia listens to the requests of the Spirit Tree and we continue to help do those requests.

On one occasion, it wanted soil from Volton, and we planted a large amount of that soil around the Spirit Tree. On another occasion, it wanted the fallen leaves of a forest and told us to mix those leaves with the soil. It felt like we’ve become farmers.

We travel from Volton to the site by teleportation. It seems that there are elves that wouldn’t find it funny that a Spirit Tree growing outside Yggurle Kingdom. As much as possible., Sophia wanted us to travel by teleportation so we don’t show our movements.

Tsubaki runs around freely to reduce her stress once we arrive.

「………… Still, not even 10 days has passed and yet, it’s amazing.」

「Indeed. I suppose you could say it’s as expected of the Spirit Tree. That aside, Takumi-sama, the Spirit Tree requests magic power today as well.」

Having become a den of the undead, with its acrid spring water, withered trees, and barren soil where even weeds did not grow, that land now has clear spring water, a green carpet spanning the interior of the barrier, and young trees that had grown before we knew it.

Above all, the Spirit Tree has grown to adapt to this world, much to my delight.

Spirit Tree is already over 20m tall and its trunk is likely 1m in diameter.

I approached the Spirit Tree and placed my hand on it, and pouring my magic power into it. This has already become a daily routine.

Sophia said this was also the request of the Spirit Tree, and it continues to request things from Sophia. For it to grow quickly in this harsh environment, you could say it’s necessary and we couldn’t refuse.

While taking turns with Sophia, we poured in loads of magic power.

When I poured in the magic power, multicolored flowers began blooming in the carpet of greens surrounding the Spirit Tree.

「Wha!?」

My surprise continues.

It was like I could see faint lights of a variety of colors fluttering around like they were dancing.

「………… are those Spirits?」

「Yes, Spirits of various attributes have gathered. Majority are lower class spirits with no will, but spirits that possess wills are likely to increase as time passes.」

My unintentional mumbles were confirmed by Sophia.

There were apparently no Spirits in the corrupted land that was encroached by miasma and turned into a den of the undead. Even the Wind Spirits that fly freely around Mildgard do not approach lands overflowing with miasma.

I had purified that land, clean water surged from the purified spring, and lastly, the Spirit Tree that grew from the World Tree seed purified the ley lines.

Thanks to that, it had become a place where spirits such as Water Spirits, Wind Spirits, Earth Spirits, Plant Spirits, Light Spirits, and Dark Spirits gather.

「I can feel a lot of presences, but Sophia, since you can see Spirits, you can probably see them bustling about.」

「……Yes, the Spirits are flying about, seemingly very happy.」

Contrary to those words, Sophia’s countenance wasn’t bright.

「What’s wrong?」

「…… It might genuinely be unfavorable if Yggurle Kingdom sees this.」

「Hm?」

Setting aside the fact that Skeleton King took the World Tree seed to this land, Sophia says that there are many elves that could not permit a Spirit Tree to be outside of Yggurle Kingdom. As to why, it’s because the World Tree seeds seldom sprout within Yggurle.

「Increasing the Spirit Trees encourages the growth of Spirits in Yggurle Kingdom. The said growth of spirits would lead to the increasing the national power of the country. That’s why Yggurle Kingdom’s royal family even performs a ceremony every year and sows the World Tree seed, but those mostly do not sprout.」

「Considering all that, this World Tree seed sprouted easily. Moreover, it’s already a huge tree.」

That’s how it is. It had been weak since we took it out of the Skeleton King so it needed to absorb magic power, but it’s getting bigger day by day at an abnormal speed.

As I was thinking so, I gazed at my surroundings and a mysterious spectacle unfolded.

Rain-like water sprinkled the entire surface of bloomed flowers and grass. Lulu-chan ran around happily, but Akane was slack-jawed in surprise.

「Hey, is that also the work of spirits?」

「Yes, an intermediate Water Spirit provides the plants with water.」

Spirits of the wind carry the seeds; Spirits of the water and of the earth raise them. This land can become the paradise of Spirits…………or rather, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it already is.

「Is it bad for Spirit Tree to be in a location unrelated to Yggurle Kingdom?」

「About that, even by the World Tree, there’s no water, land, and air as clean as what is in this land.」

「………… It would be bad if this is found.」

It seems the environment surrounding the World Tree has been deteriorating for several hundred years. If the flower could no longer bloom, the flower that can’t bloom loses its ability to make fruits. In recent years, even if a ceremony is performed, the harvested World Tree seeds have been running low.

「I wonder if a Concealment Barrier MD is necessary.」

「It would be better to prepare it.」

Since this day, I got stuck with producing a magic device that would hide this place. That’s not all, the requests from the Spirit Tree weren’t stopping.

Such things as “Purify a wider scope of land” or “collect seeds”, and of course, there are requests to plant various trees too.

Since I can’t refuse when Sophia asks, I do everything the Spirit Tree says in the end.

And by the time two months pass, in the land at the western edge of the continent, a paradise for Spirits that no one knows about was completed.