CH 256

“I’m home ……”

“Lars? Welcome home! Eh, why are you so tired?”

“!”

“Oh, mini-Tre-chan, welcome back too ……? Huh?”

It was afternoon when Tanji told me to go back to my house. Over the iron fence, Makina, who was talking to Fath-san in the garden, called out to me. Sephiro waved a branch from his cage to greet her, and Makina looked into the cage and smiled. But she seems to have noticed that there is someone else in the cage.

“Meow!”

“A Cat!? It’s so cute!”

“Oh, you can’t let him out here. We have to go inside the house.”

“Oh, a snow tiger. You brought home a rare monster. Is it for training to be a tamer?”

“Eh, it’s not a cat?”

“We’ll talk about it inside. How’s the training going?”

“I was just about to take a break, I’m sure you have other things to do, I’d like to hear about it too.”

I’m sure she’s referring to the bag we talked about this morning. I put the horse back in the garden, unloaded what I was carrying on my back, and went inside the house too, leaving Sephiro and the little snow tiger in the living room.

“Wow! Come, come!”

“Nya♪!”

“Nfufu, cute ……”

“We can’t have a cat over there, so the recoil is large …… Well, I have to give it back there, so you have to make sure you don’t fall in love with it, okay?”

“Uhhh …… No way ……”

“Ho-ho, setting aside the conversation before, but for now, it’s about now.”

“Yeah. I’ve only chosen a name for him and trained him to be a tamer, though–“

I told her what I had been doing over there, the biggest thing being that I had decided on a name for the mini-treant, and that I had brought him home because Tanji had told me to communicate with the little snow tiger and get to know him better.

“So you’re going to keep him for a while?”

“Yes, but I’ll have to leave him in a cold place so you can’t sleep with him.”

“Giku!? I, I won’t do that, so you’re a cat for cold places.”

Makina was blatantly flustered. I’m sure that’s what you were thinking, I chuckle and point to a corner of the living room.

“I’m going to make a room for him somewhere over there. When I’m done, put your magic power into this magic tool that emits cold air to cool the room.”

“Nyafuh.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of work ……”

“Since meat seems to be his favorite food, so I’ll prepare hamburgers for dinner. What about you? It looks like you haven’t finished remodeling the garden yet.”

I thought there was nothing unusual about it, but Makina opened her mouth with a grin.

“Actually, there are changes in the back from the cabin. Let’s go check it out later!”

“Ok. Now, that’s enough of the recent news. Well then–“

I put my bag on the table and reached into it. I took out the ball that was at the bottom of the swamp where I fought Treant and Qliphoth.

“I think this is what Sephiro is talking about.”

“Is this the beautiful stone that was at the bottom of the swamp?”

“This is ……!?”

The moment I put it on the table, Fath-san’s complexion changed. Fath-san, who is always calm and collected, seemed to be surprised, and I raised my eyebrows. 

“!!”

“Oh, Sephiro-chan.”

Then Sephiro approached the ball, gently lifted it with a branch, and bowed his head in disappointment. I noticed that he looked very disappointed, so I called out to him first.

“What’s the matter, you look so down? Do you know what this ball is?”

“……!”

“Oops ……”

“Sephiro-chan ……?”

He put the ball down and jumped into my chest. I hurriedly hugged him and he was shaking a little and looked like he was crying.

“He said it was a warm thing, but from the looks of it, he seems sad.”

Then Fath-san opened her mouth, looking at the ball with a sullen face.

“Perhaps there’s something about this ball that comes from the Treant. If what I know is correct.”

“You know about this, Master?”

“Umu …….”

When Makina asked, Fath-san, who still had a sullen look on her face, hesitated whether to say anything or not, but she answered us.

“This ball is probably a jewel called ‘Wiseman’s Soul’. It is said that this jewel, which contains a vast amount of magical power, can bring both benefits and disasters depending on who uses it.”

“Disasters …… Is this the reason why Fath-san is looking like that?”

When I asked her with a cold sweat on my face, she shook her head and told me a shocking truth.

“It’s not that. The problem is what it takes to create a Wiseman’s Soul, and it takes a lot of magic.”

“Do you mean by pouring it into the stone?”

“…… No, the life of the creature is converted into magic and condensed. From what you’ve told me, they must’ve created the Wiseman’s Soul by sacrificing the Treants’ life in order to control the Treants …… what a terrible thing. What Wiseman. Isn’t that evil itself.”

“I see, so you thought it was warm because it was filled with the lives of your friends. But what you saw was the ruined state of your friends ……”

“Sephiro-chan ……”

“As I mentioned earlier, the jewel is only as good as its owner’s intentions. I don’t know who created it, but for Sephiro’s sake, don’t let it be taken from you.”

“Ah. I’m sorry for your loss, Sephiro, but you’re with us now. If you see a Treant going crazy, let’s help him.”

I patted him on the back and he nodded his head, a white flower blooming on his head.

“Oh, by the way, when I held this, it gave off this amazing light, do you know what it means, Fath-san?”

“Hoh, something like that happened? No, no one knows that much about that jewel. This is the second time I have seen it in person. I never thought I would see it twice in my lifetime.”

After that, Fath-san said with a bit of disgust, “This is the work of a fiend, I can’t stand it being created too soon.” and went out into the garden.

I wanted to ask her how she felt the first time, but she didn’t seem to be in the mood, so I’ll have to ask her again …… Let’s do a little appraisal while we’re at it..

Name: Wiseman’s Soul – A jewel made by extracting magic from a hundred Treants. Owner: Lars Irving

Benefit: Skill manifestation for Sephiro.

“What!?”

“What’s wrong, Lars?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing …… but I’ll tell you later.”

He said he wasn’t a monster, but a Treant with a skill? Was it because Sephiro had just touched the Wiseman’s Soul?

With unanswered questions, I began to prepare dinner.　

Well, is it time for a weird story ……?

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“Next is Lux’s place.”

Probably. I wonder if we’ll find out what Basleigh is up to next time.

“Huh!?”