After getting through that space, I find myself still in the forest.
However, it does feel different than the place where we were on the island.
The trees are bigger than what I’m used to seeing. The flowers growing on the ground are different too, and are overflowing with vitality, with little fairies dancing around them.
I see spirits playing in the river with sunlight filtering through the trees and reflecting off it, giving it a very fairy-tale feel. There’s even a bird and wolf drinking water nearby without fighting.
It’s like paradise.
“Uwah…”
“This is incredible…”
I’ve seen a lot on this island, and I’m surprised every time, but…
“It’s like nature left alone…”
The divine beast people’s village, alfar village, demon gods’ village…
They all coexist with nature, but they’re still constructed in a way to make it easy for those races to live there.
But this is different. It’s like it really is just nature without anything added or changed.
The animals aren’t surprised about the intruders either, and carry on like normal.
It’s all so natural, that it actually feels off to me.
“Yay! Daddy! Over here!”
“Ah, Snow is over there!”
Says Ceres.
Snow is waving her hand a bit far away, with Edinburgh behind her holding her collar so she doesn’t run off. It’s kind of funny.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
We walk forward, being careful about the big tree roots.
And when I reach Snow, I put my hands under her arms and pick her up.
“Caught you.”
“Caught Snow!”
She laughs and holds me, and then I notice that Ceres looks surprised.
Edinburgh is also looking on silently.
What’s going on…
“Uoah!?”
There’s one tree that sticks out among the giant trees.
It’s far away, but it has such an incredible presence, that it makes me vocalize my surprise.
“Is that the Yggdrasil that is mentioned in church folklore?”
“I see. It does seem fitting of the name…”
These two are also impressed by the giant tree.
At the very least, it’s the largest tree I’ve seen on this island.
Despite the distance, the moment I see it, I feel incredible power from it.
“It’s big.”
“Yes Snow… How did we not notice it until now?”
“I told you, this is like a space in a dimensional gap. Of course you wouldn’t notice.”
Yes, this forest is definitely large enough to not be the place we know.
I don’t know how big it is, but it’s clearly big enough that it would overlap with where our house is located.
“So, what now?”
“Well…”
Asks Edinburgh, and I think for a bit.
Our goal here is to see if those two wandered into the southern land.
I didn’t expect it to be this vast, so it looks like it’s not going to be easy to search it.
“Thankfully, I don’t feel any monster presences here…”
“Yes. I’ve never seen a place so clear.”
The animals around here are regular animals, not monsters. That means they won’t go after Ceres or the seven great mages.
“That settles it. Let’s look for the high elves first.”
“But where…”
“Let’s start by going that way.”
Edinburgh says while pointing at the giant Yggdrasil.
Come to think of it, the great spirits are supposed to be its guardians. Surely the high elves are there too.
“Hn…”
But just as we’re about to start walking, Snow lets out a strange sound in my arms.
“What is it?”
“Hum.. Snow… Doesn’t really want to go there…”
“Ehh…”
Don’t tell me that after coming this far, Snow.
Then again, she’s a great spirit. Maybe it’s not a childish whim, and there’s an actual reason why she doesn’t want to go.
“Hm… But we don’t have any other clues.”
“Yes. Snow, can you bear with it a bit?”
“Hn… If you say so daddy…”
She doesn’t look too sure, but says yes while holding me tightly.
“What’s the matter, Snow?”
“She probably doesn’t know herself.”
I say while patting her back gently, and she holds onto me tighter.
That means she wants more.
“Maybe it’s because great spirits and Yggdrasil have a close relationship. But let’s finish this as quickly as possible.”
“Yes. Sorry Snow.”
“…Hn…”
She isn’t usually the type of kid that has to have things her way, so there has to be something going on.
And so, we walk through the forest, using Yggdrasil as a landmark.
The trees are really big, but that also means there’s plenty of space between them. We just have to watch out for the roots.
But then I feel eyes on me, and look around.
“Spirits?”
“Ah, is that what this is?”
“Eh? Ah, this…?”
Edinburgh noticed it too, and responds to me.
Ceres sounds confused, but then looks surprised after focusing, so I assume she feels their presence too.
“You two are incredible. You picked up on such a faint presence.”
“It feels like we’ve been watched for a while.”
“In my case, the presence feels familiar to me somehow.”
Is Edinburgh actually an elf?
Her ears lead me to think she is, but it’s hard to ask because she doesn’t remember anything.
Then again, Wil has similar ears too, and so do the alfar, so she might even be a race I don’t know.
Reina and the others said something like that too…
The topic has come up that she’s lived too long even for an elf, and that even the other seven great mages wonder what Edinburgh is.
“Could it be that this is where I’m from?”
“Eh?”
“Hn? What?”
“No, you just said something I was having trouble asking so casually…”
“Ah. Well, I don’t know myself, so it makes sense to be curious.”
I guess I don’t have to worry, if she’s so casual about it.
“I have heard rumors that you were an elven king, or a legendary high elf.”
“Legendary? Legends are all over the place here. Didn’t we come here to meet high elves in the first place?”
“Ha, haha. I guess you have a point.”
She’s right, it’s too late to be thinking of legends.
In fact, Snow here in my arms is above even that. And Yggdrasil in front of us is like something from a mystical sort of world.
“More importantly, do you sense that? Apparently they’re here.”
“Eh?”
It doesn’t sound like she’s talking about spirits.
What then? But then Edinburgh stops and focuses on a certain point.
Space fluctuates there, and a girl appears.
“Welcome to the elven village. However, we are too busy to accept guests now, so please leave.”
I’m assuming this is a high elf.
She has blonde hair that stretches until her waist, and she looks beautiful in her one-piece dress that shows off the contours of her body, but her voice has no emotion to it.
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Bet hero boy is there being a nuisance