“Is this clothing? It feels so strange!”
“Yeah, everything must be new to you…”
I glanced at her dressed in elf clothing for a moment before looking at the empty shell that was Rue.
If Rue went into that body, what would happen to this magic book?
“Rue, what happens to your body?”
“Hmm… can I give it a try?”
I handed the body over to Rue. She held the book and pondered for a bit before biting into it.
Ugh… I can’t swallow it.
“…I don’t even know what to say about this.”
I never thought her lack of common sense as a human would reveal itself like this. I snatched the book from Rue’s slimy hands.
“Books aren’t for eating.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. Have we ever seen anyone eat a book?”
“Um… no?”
“Right.”
“So what do I do then?”
“It’s your body, right? Just attach it to yourself.”
“Like how a contractor hangs me from the waist?”
“Yeah, do it that way.”
“Hmm…”
Rue tilted her head while stretching her arm holding the body, then gently cradled the unconscious body. As she murmured something, the body’s tentacles began to extend and slowly absorbed into her own.
“Why didn’t I use that function earlier?”
“Hmm, I just remembered while thinking!”
What does that even mean? It must have been a random thought that came to mind after rummaging through her brain. I glanced at her hair gradually losing its color and contemplated.
“Looks like absorbing the body has an effect. Can you separate it while in that state?”
“Yep.”
Rue detached the book from her body again. It’s fascinating. She looks like a magical girl. When I stole a glance at the queen, she too observed Rue’s actions with an intrigued expression.
“I’d prefer if she stayed fused with her body. I really don’t want to see that face again.”
“Yeah!”
The body re-entered Rue, and her skin lost color. It became so pale it was almost white, and her hair turned grayish from the loss of color. As for the tentacles…
“Can you pull out the tentacles in that state?”
“Yep.”
Watching Rue pull out the tentacles from her back, I felt a strange sensation. With that look, she surely resembles an enemy. I wasn’t the only one feeling this; the queen and her aides looked at Rue with complicated expressions.
“Hehe. I can use them like hands!”
“Alright, let’s get going.”
“It’s hard to walk! Hold my hand!”
“Got it.”
I took hold of Rue’s outstretched hand and glanced at the queen. She looked at me and smirked, then turned her back and said.
“Then let’s depart.”
“Before that, please hold this.”
I pulled out all the goggles from my bag.
“What’s this…?”
“It’ll be much better than seeing with the naked eye.”
“How many do you have?”
“Right now, about ten, but we can mass-produce them if we have the materials.”
“Tell me what materials. If we have them, I’ll hand them over.”
“Thank you. The materials are…”
————-
“It’s so hard…”
“You’re not used to climbing stairs yet, are you?”
“It’s harder than I thought!”
It was understandable; she couldn’t manage a human body yet. I stopped, squatted down, and gestured backward.
“Climb on.”
“Isn’t it heavy?”
“It’s better than you getting hurt.”
“Thank you! Hehe, I wanted to be carried too!”
I felt a relatively light weight on my back. It seemed the host had been skinny from living in prison for so long. As I grabbed her thighs to carry her, the queen’s voice came from beside me.
“You two seem close.”
“Well, we’ve been together for almost a year.”
“Keep being close.”
“…Understood.”
The queen looked at me with a complicated expression. Maybe it had to do with our cousin relationship. A whiff of a backstory that wasn’t revealed in the original story piqued my curiosity, but I didn’t ask.
I’m not gonna be like, “Hey, what’s up with that?”
With that, we climbed the World Tree in a more relaxed atmosphere than before. Having Rue on my back made me feel a little heavy, but it was within the range I could manage thanks to the Phoenix’s Blessing.
It took us about two hours, I think. We arrived at an area heavily contaminated.
“This should be enough. Get down.”
“Yep.”
Rue carefully got down from my back and turned her gaze toward the contaminated branches. The tainted branches scattered a red hue. It was a sight that looked like it could contaminate your mind just by looking at it, but Rue didn’t seem to be affected.
“From here, we should start wearing the goggles.”
At my suggestion, everyone began pulling goggles from their pouches. They were designed hastily with no regard for aesthetics, so they looked somewhat ridiculous, but the quality matters more than looks in the end.
…It’s not like I said that because I have no talent in design.
Definitely not.
“Rue, you can go now.”
“Okay! I’ll be back after having a chat!”
We watched Rue’s back as she approached the contaminated branches while wearing the goggles.
…It makes me uneasy. Should I follow her?
Maybe it’s because she displayed such innocent behavior, but every time I saw her walking precariously, it felt like leaving a child by the water’s edge.
Millia at least managed somewhat well on her own.
But that one really worries me.
“We have to believe and wait, right?”
“…Let’s sit and rest.”
We sat in silence, watching Rue’s back. The goggles limited our view a bit, but at least we were able to see something.
Rue spread her arms and shouted something, then pulled out her tentacles from her back.
What’s she doing?
Since we were far away, I couldn’t understand the situation, so we had to observe Rue’s actions more closely. Rue walked into the contaminated area, holding out the tentacles she had pulled out.
Shouldn’t we stop that?
I jumped up and tried to dash toward the branches.
[It’s okay! You don’t have to come!]
…She can still use telepathy?
I sat back down and watched as Rue entered the contaminated area.
And then…
The contamination didn’t invade her body. Instead, it seemed to repel away.
Why?
Is it because they recognized her as one of their own?
Or perhaps, they lacked the ability to make Rue a ‘friend’?
My head swirled with countless possibilities. Is it odd for me to try to understand those creatures? As I pressed my fingertips against the aching side of my head, I awaited the end of Rue’s dialogue with those bizarre creatures.
[Contractor! They came to retrieve what belongs to them!]
“What do you mean ‘what belongs to them’?”
They… came to retrieve something?
What does that mean?
Saying they came to retrieve means it used to be theirs. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that in the original story. What the heck is going on?
…Actually, there are some unclear aspects in the original story.
Perhaps…
“Were there beings that protected the World Tree before the elves?”
“…I’ve never heard of such stories.”
Even a high elf, who lives for a thousand years, didn’t know. What kind of hidden truth lies behind the stories that seem to begin even before the appearance of elves?
[Yes, Contractor.]
At Rue’s call, I lifted my gaze from where I had been staring at the ground to look at my partner. Rue was turned away.
The sight of her standing unharmed on the red-stained branches appeared almost as if a new enemy had emerged, but I knew Rue wouldn’t do that, so I closely watched what she was trying to do as she turned her body.
[These kids are called !@*&!(#.]
I can’t hear it. Is it some language we can’t understand? Should I maybe collect points to upgrade my translation skill to S-rank? That useless thought flickered through my mind.
Anyway, it looked like Rue was trying to convey their message to me.
“Rue is conveying a message to me, but the language is distorted.”
“Distorted, you say?”
“The name she’s saying comes to me in an unintelligible language.”
“Could you pronounce it?”
“!@*&!(#.”
The queen, being the oldest among us, thought for a moment with her chin resting in her hand before shaking her head.
“I don’t know. It’s a word I cannot comprehend.”
Well, no surprise nothing gets resolved clearly. It was frustrating, but such was the approach. Should I start calling her back? There didn’t seem to be any further information for us to gather.
[Contractor! They want to talk to you!]
…What?
I couldn’t conceal my shock at Rue’s sudden message as I locked eyes with something staring at me from the contaminated area beyond Rue.
Something that no longer even pretends to mimic human form, with features twisted in all sorts of absurd ways.
I can’t understand it.
I don’t want to understand it.
That feeling clouded my mind, leaving me dizzy.
What on earth is that?
That’s…
That’s…
To my confusion, Rue’s voice reached my ears.
[Why is Quartz next to those despicable traitors?]
What the hell is this nonsense?
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