Chapter 177 - Growing Some Trees

These people... really were stubborn. It was almost like they couldn't understand the fact it might be possible for me to kill every single one of them. Perhaps they did understand that fact and just wanted to go down pridefully.

Nonetheless, I decided to show them that I could indeed cast magic by sticking my index finger up in the air and casting firebolt on top.

"Does anybody want to try getting hit by this?"

The five people sitting down immediately widened their eyes when they saw the fireball on top of my finger. In particular, the young man with his arms crossed furrowed his brows.

"I-It must be an illusion! Don't believe the monster!"

I turned to him and then smiled.

"Then would you like to get hit by it?"

The young man's lip twitched before he fell silent altogether.

Eventually, the man with the black wood armor spoke up.

"Then try and hit me. If the others can confirm it really isn't an illusion... then we can consider talking to you about the previous plans."

I raised an eyebrow as I wasn't expecting them to actually agree on being hit.

"Well. Alright then."

After letting the firebolt loose, it exploded onto the man's chest, sending him across the room and slamming against the wall. All of them looked on with astonishment.

The man with the twig crown narrowed his eyes.

"It really doesn't seem to be an illusion..."

I rolled my eyes.

"Of course not. Just look at him."

The man was heavily coughing and gasping for air. There was a big black scorch mark on his chest. While the firebolt did injure him slightly, the armor took on most of the impact, albeit being destroyed in the process.

Honestly, the toughness of the black wood scared me a little.

The woman in the black robes turned to the man that was struck earlier.

"Francis, do you feel like you were sent across the room and hit the wall?"

Francis nodded.

"Very much so. Very, very much so."

I blinked a few times.

"Why are you guys so paranoid over these kinds of things anyway?"

Galileo turned to me with a bit of surprise.

"You haven't seen them?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Can you be just a little more specific?"

Galileo pressed his lips together.

"The... The monsters. They appear in the form of shadows. While they do not appear often, it has been known that they do appear. Occasionally, there would be a mysterious disappearance because of them."

The man with a twig crown frowned.

"Because of them, we can no longer trust our eyes. But what we feel. It appears that you are not a monster, in which I apologize on behalf of me and my subjects. Please understand that trusting too easily is no different from death to us."

I nodded slightly.

"I guess that makes sense. From what I recall, there were some strange things that I saw here and there. Regardless, could I have that artifact now?"

The man with a twig crown coughed.

"Please understand our circumstances. We do not know if you will run away and leave, thus giving the artifact to you may leave us with no way out. However, if you perform the action first, you can always choose to come back and seek payment as we have nowhere to go."

I clicked my tongue.

"You really aren't going to make it easy for me?"

The man with the twig crown bowed slightly.

"I apologize, but you must understand our circumstances."

I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, alright. How many trees do you guys need?"

At this question, the man was stumped. However, Galileo spoke up.

"First off... a tree produces about one fruit of life for each day after full maturity. Each person needs at least one third of a fruit to survive per day, but some may need more due to their physique.

He shut his eyes.

"Then... there are two hundred and thirty two civilians and fifty-one soldiers that will need more. As for our current trees, there are only twenty."

Galileo began lifting up fingers and muttering numbers one after another.

"...Um I think it should be about forty trees."

I looked at him strangely.

"Are you sure?"

The man with the crown scoffed.

"Are you accusing him of setting too high a target? He is the best person with numbers in this entire village!"

I looked at him strangely, before looking back to Galileo.

"You may have done it a little incorrectly."

Galileo furrowed his brows.

"But I do believe that is correct. I didn't state too many, did I?"

He continued to flip his fingers up and down. The young man with his arms crossed narrowed his eyes.

"You said you could give us enough trees for us all to survive, but are not willing to create that many?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Assuming Galileo counted the people correctly, you need at least one hundred and three trees to support the village. Since you already have twenty, that means you need eighty-three trees."

The woman with a black robe looked offended at first, but then her expression stiffened up.

"...So we need more than double that?"

There was displeasure in the air, but after a while, it gradually calmed down. After all, I wasn't asking to make less trees, but telling them I was going to make more.

The man with a twig crown looked at Galileo.

"Did you... make an error?"

In response, Galileo furrowed his brows.

"What?... but that is around... is it thirty? Then it should be around thirty again..."

As I overheard his words, my eyebrow couldn't help but twitch.

"You are just guessing the answers?"

Galileo coughed awkwardly.

"...But I am fairly confident they are..."

He trailed off and froze in place, until eventually, he let out a gasp.

"Oh dear, it is indeed about eighty. I uh... made a mistake."

I rubbed my temple with the base of my palm.

"Yeah..."

The man with the twig crown coughed awkwardly.

"...Apologies. We seem to have misunderstood you again."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"At this point it's expected. You all don't seem to be the... brightest."

There was clearly some resistance against my comment, but they did not speak up. Galileo turned to me with genuine curiosity.

"How did you figure that out so easily?"

I scratched the side of my head.

"It was quite simple for me. Though I do find it a little harder than casting spells."

Galileo nodded hurriedly.

"Alright. Thank you for correcting me. Will you go about it now?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"What? Am I supposed to wait until next week?"

Galileo chuckled.

"Sorry, sorry."

He turned to the man with the twig crown.

"We should prepare the artifact."

In response, the man scoffed.

"There is no need to rush. I imagine planting so many trees will take several days."

I smirked.

"Do you want to watch?"

The man blinked a few times.

"...Well, I do wish to see more of this magic."

The man with black wooden armor coughed.

"C-Can I come too?"

He stood up on his shaky legs.

I sighed.

"Anybody can come, so long as they don't interfere."

After a few murmurings, everyone stood up, though I suppose that was reasonable given they had never seen magic before.

I led everyone back to the tree that I first grew. The man with the twig crown immediately exclaimed when he saw it.

"Oh my. You already have created a budding tree? How long have you spent on it?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"A few seconds?"

The five people looked at me with disbelief. The woman in a black robe clicked her tongue.

"Does few mean countless in your vocabulary?"

I shook my head.

"Nah, not really."

Galileo's eyebrow twitched.

"Um, you can just show them and they will believe."

I laughed.

"Oh come on, it's a little fun to tease."

The young man's eyelid twitched.

"...You can't be serious, righ-"

He cut himself off as the tree in front grew at a rate visible to the eye. Everybody here was speechless as they saw what was once a tiny sapling grow into a full blown tree. After a few moments, fruits of light blossomed one after another.

The man with the twig crown muttered.

"My word..."

After a few moments, I stopped and plucked out the fruits of light myself. I turned to see that even Galileo had his eyes widened considerably.

"It shouldn't take too long for me to make many more trees."

While the others were still rooted in place, I decided to continue, stuffing fruits of light into the ground and growing out trees.

As I continued to do so, a little boy ended up running out of a house.

He looked super excited.

"Wow you made food! Can I have one!"

I chuckled and plucked off one of the fruits.

"Sure, child."

But at that moment.

"Don't Timmy!"