Angel Little Sister 362

 

Chapter 362 : Dryad

 

「A dryad?」(Mark)

「Yes, a tree spirit, dryad. I’ve never seen them before, but I’m sure that’s a dryad. Her appearance matches what I have heard from my village’s elders, but… this one’s weird… Dryads don’t normally visit human settlements.」(Celine)

「I see.」(Mark)

『Nicola, you know something, don’t you?』(Mark)

Nicola has knowledge about this world, so I think she can explain more to me.

『Celine’s right. It’s a dryad. What do you want to know?』(Nicola)

『She said dryads are tree spirits. What are spirits exactly?』(Mark)

『It’s hard to explain, but they are something like supernatural incarnations born from the combination of mana and the power of nature. Spirits are extremely rare, even rarer than mithril. We are lucky to be able to see one here.』(Nicola)

『Fascinating…』(Mark)

I kept looking at the dryad while Nicola was explaining.

The moving tree branches that sprouted out from the ground started taking the form of a person, and after a while, they completely transformed into a young girl with leaves and ivy wrapping around her body as an outfit. To put it bluntly… she’s nearly naked…

『Uhyuuuuu~! She’s so cute~!』(Nicola)

『…..』(Mark)

Yup. I knew she would react like that.

She was explaining to me with a serious tone just a second ago, but now she sounds like a perverted old man.

Well, it’s not that I don’t understand her at all. She’s right. The girl looks beautiful.

She has pale white skin and a pretty face. Her long green hair that blended well with her leaf outfit enhanced her beauty even more.

「Whoa… those branches turn into a girl. That’s so weird!」(Nei)

「Hee~ So this is what a dryad’s true form looks like.」(Celine)

A mysterious beautiful girl standing in the middle of my vegetable field under the moonlight. I was charmed by her for a few seconds until Nei’s question brought me back to my senses.

「So that girl is the culprit? Mark, what should we do? Should we catch her?」(Nei)

「…Eh? Hmm… She indeed looks suspicious, but I think it’s too soon to decide whether she’s the culprit or not.」(Mark)

「Ara, Mark, are you sure about that? Look around.」(Celine)

Celine pointed to the field.

The ground where the girl was standing was completely ruined. I didn’t notice it because my eyes were fixed on her.

It seemed that she wrecked the surrounding soil when she emerged from the ground. As a result, more than half of my vegetable field was in a mess.

Without a doubt, this dryad is the culprit who has been ruining my vegetable field lately.

「Ugh… You’re right. But, I don’t think she has ill intentions.」(Mark)

「Yeah, I don’t think so either. Dryads are not evil spirits. So, what are you gonna do?」(Celine)

「Umm… I think I will approach her and see what will happen.」(Mark)

「Alright then.」(Celine)

「I don’t know if spirits are punchable, but my fists are always ready!」(Nei)

「Uhh, Nei, I will try to talk to her first, okay? You can save your fists for now.」(Mark)

「If you say so.」(Nei)

「Thanks. Alright, are you guys ready? Please don’t take your hands off my shoulders. I will maintain my stealth ability.」(Mark)

After the three of them nodded at me, we got out of the small earthen igloo house and slowly approached the vegetable field.

For now, we decided to see what the dryad was doing.

Thanks to the powerful stealth ability I stole from Lumon, the girl was completely unaware that we were watching her closely.

「*Munch munch* Mmmm~… It’s much more delicious than before…」(Dryad)

She’s eating a tomato.

Her beautiful face melted as she ate the fresh ripe tomato. I can tell that she likes it so much.

After she finished eating the tomato, she picked a cabbage and ate it. After that, she picked a cucumber and then a tomato again.

She’s really enjoying the vegetables I grew. I don’t know if I should be happy about that or not.

Anyway, I don’t feel malicious intent from her. I think I should talk to her.

I turned my face and glanced at Nicola, Nei, and Celine, giving them a signal that I would talk to the girl. They then nodded.

After that, they took their hands off my shoulders and then I disabled my stealth ability.

「ー!!?」(Dryad)

Noticing our presence, the girl quickly turned her face toward us.

「Umm… Hello?」(Mark)

「…Who?」(Dryad)

「Ah, my name is Maー」(Mark)

「ーNo… You are a human… I’m not interested in human’s name…」(Dryad)

「Well, you asked, so…」(Mark)

「Where did you come from…? I didn’t feel your presence…」(Dryad)

「We were hiding.」(Mark)

「Hiding…? I didn’t know humans were good at hiding… Doesn’t matter… What do you want?」(Dryad)

「I should be the one asking here. This is my vegetable field. What are you doing here?」(Mark)

「Hm…? I’m eating…」(Dryad)

「Yeah, eating my vegetables without my permission. That’s what you’re doing.」(Mark)

「Your vegetables…?」(Dryad)

I made it clear that she was guilty of stealing, but instead of making an apologetic face, she squinted and looked at me with a doubtful expression.

「Liar…」(Dryad)

「Wh, what?」(Mark)

「There’s no way a human child can grow vegetables this delicious… These vegetables are a blessing from the Spirit King… there’s no doubt about it…」(Dryad)

「Huh? Spirit King?」(Mark)

「Yes… He must have been angry because I ate all the vegetables here a while ago… That’s why he didn’t grow more vegetables for a while… I reflected on my greediness… Then he grew vegetables again… I was so happy, so I came to eat… Spirit King’s blessings should be shared with everyone regardless of race… I won’t be greedy this time… I can give you some of these vegetables if you want…」(Dryad)

「Umm…」(Mark)

The reason why the vegetables were not growing for a while was because I was on a trip, not because the Spirit King or whatever was angry, and the reason why the vegetables were growing again was because I grew them after I fixed the mess, not because she reflected on her actions.

What a misunderstanding…

Anyway, I should try explaining it to her.

「I don’t know anything about Spirit King, but I’m not lying. I grew these vegetables.」(Mark)

「That’s right! Mark worked really hard growing these vegetables! I know because I was helping him all the time!」(Nei)

Nei shouted at the dryad. She looked frustrated.

I understand her feelings. After all, she came to help me fix my field every day since I returned to this town.

The dryad shifted her gaze to Nei and glared at her.

「You are… a dwarf…」(Dryad)

「Y, yeah, so what? Y, you wanna taste my fist, huh!?」(Nei)

Saying that, Nei clenched a fist, but she glared back at the dryad while hiding behind my back.

She acted brave, but she was actually kind of scared. She can be cute sometimes.

「A, ahaha… Sorry about her…」(Mark)

「…If you’re not lying… Prove it…」(Dryad)

「…Alright. I’ll prove it to you.」(Mark)

So it comes to this, huh?

Well, the fastest way to make someone believe you is to prove that you’re telling the truth.

「Guys, can you move away a little bit?」(Mark)

「Oh? I wonder what Mark’s gonna do.」(Nei)

「Fufu. This is getting interesting~」(Celine)

「You can do it, Onii-chan!」(Nicola)

As the three took a few steps backward, I stepped into the field.

「So… How are you going to prove it…?」(Dryad)

「First of all, let me tell you how I grew these vegetables.」(Mark)

「You didn’t grow them… Spirit King did… But go on… I’m listening…」(Dryad)

「Uhh… These vegetables taste extraordinarily delicious because of the soil. The soil in this field contains mana.」(Mark)

「True… I sense a rich amount of earth-attributed mana here… So you say… You were the one infusing mana into this soil…?」(Dryad)

「Yup. The earth-attributed mana you sense is mine.」(Mark)

「…Nonsense… There’s no human has this level of mana… let alone a human child like you…」(Dryad)

Saying that, the dryad looked away and continued eating vegetables as if she had lost interest in me.

Meanwhile, I stretched my arms forward and started producing earth-attributed mana.

To prove it to this doubtful, stubborn dryad, I think I need to inject the field a much larger amount of mana than usual.

Usually, I imagine water flowing out from a faucet when I inject my mana into my field, but this time, I’m imagining rainー No, a waterfall. Not just a small waterfall you find in a forest. I’m imagining a tall raging waterfall with an enormous amount of water.

Soon after, bright golden mana started flowing out from my hands onto the ground and started spreading. After a while, the entire field looked like it was covered in a large half-translucent golden blanket.

「Wow~ That’s Mark for you!」(Celine)

「Whoaaa! It looks so pretty!」(Nei)

Even Nei, who can’t use magic, can see my earth-attributed mana clearly with bare eyes.

I’m confident with the amount of mana I have, but I feel my mana is drained so quickly at a high pace.

「So, what do you think? You still think I’m a liar?」(Mark)

「……..」(Dryad)

The dryad was just standing still when I asked her.

I can’t see her face since she’s facing away from me, but I bet she is so surprised that she can’t even talk now.

「Hello~? Do you hear me~?」(Mark)

Feeling confident, I asked her with a smug tone.

Howeverー

「…Pwaaaahhh~~~……..」(Dryad)

ーDROP!

「…Eh?」(Mark)

「Aa, she fainted.」(Nei)

「Oya~?」(Celine)

「Wawa!」(Nicola)

After standing still like a statue for a few seconds, she collapsed on her back all of a sudden.

 

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