Novel Catchup
Chapter 163.2: Greenman
Chapter 163.2: Greenman
I felt a wave of magic coming from Rino's body.
It was peaceful magic. This magic was a magic to calm one's mind, a suitable magic for table conversation.
This magic was ineffective against an enemy that came to kill us though. When it comes to that kind of enemy, charm works wonders.
And since Rino used peaceful magic, it meant that the other party wasn't our enemy.
When Rino used that magic, the trees around us suddenly moved.
They were moving as if they had their own will.
I shook my head immediately to shake off such an idea.
Alas, they really moved as if they had their own will.
Upon a closer look, I realized that the tree had a human shape. They stood on their two feet and had two arms.
The only difference from the human was the fact that their body was covered in foliage.Human-like faces formed on those folia—! 2, 3, their number keep increasing.
Their human-like eyes that were composed of leaves were looking at us.
It seems the ones who were spying on us were these one.
「No wonder I can't find them… They are right before me…」
Nao scratched her head as she lamented.
Well, I guess that was beyond her expectation. She thought they were normal trees, thus completely ignoring the trees ahead of her.
「Chiyuki-san. These people are…」
「No doubt about it, Shirone-san, they are Greenmen.」
The Greenmen were trees that could talk and had human-like faces.
Some were humanoid while others were barely humanoid and only had human-like faces.
The reason I said this was simply because this was my first time seeing Greenmen.
Maybe I met them some time ago in the past but they didn't usually move on their own.
That was the reason why I had never met them before. From the fact that they had beard-like leaves, they might be a male only species but, I might be wrong since they were trees.
Moreover, I read some information about Greenmen from a book.
According to that book, the Greenmen were gentle by nature.
They wouldn't become our enemy as long as we didn't destroy the forest.
The problem was, why were they raising their vigilance toward us and even surrounding us?
It's not like we were trying to burn the forest.
A Greenman then stepped forward.
He was huge, like a giant.
Branches were growing here and there on his limbs. He could be mistaken for a huge tree.
A Greenman's lifespan should be the same as that of a tree, they became really huge when they became an adult.
I heard that the Elder Greenman who lived the longest among them was the leader of the Greenman.
Then he might be the leader of the Greenmen who surrounded us.
「Plain dweller. What are you doing in this forest? You don't seems like the colleague of those guys who are killing this forest.」
The Elder Greenman stepped forward as he spoke to us.
「We come to take back the kid that got kidnapped by the elves. Those elves should've passed this place before, would you be so kind to lead us to their location?」
The Elder Greenman pondered for a while when I asked.
「They did pass this place. They're riding on a carriage pulled by golden horned Ceryneia. Is the kid you're talking about with them? If that case, no wonder you're worrying.」
It seems the Elder Greenman mistook Kouki as the child of “ONE OF US”.
Well, not that I had the intention to correct that misunderstanding.
「I see, thank you for telling us. Now we shall excuse ourselves..」
I was about to leave after I said so.
「Wait a minute, Chiyuki-san.」
Rino stopped me.
「Is something the matter, Rino-san?」
「Something that the elder said is weighing in my mind.」
After saying that, Rino faced the Elder Greenman.
「Who are the guys who are killing the forest you talked about before? Are they the reason behind the restless mood of the spirits in the forest?」
The Greenman stirred upon hearing Rino's remark.
It seems they were really surprised.
「So you can hear the scream of the forest huh, plain dweller. This is quite a surprise.Since you already know, I might as well tell you about it. An unusual phenomenon has been happening in the forest lately.」
The Elder Greenman started to explain the situation.
According to the elder, some people had come to the forest lately and killed many trees in the west side of the forest.
Even their kin who lived in the western side of the forest had become victims.
Since Greenmen who live in the same forest shared their consciousness with each other, they also felt the pain that killed their brethren.
That was the reason behind the Greenmen raising their vigilance toward the outsider who came from outside of the forest.
Hearing that, we were exchanging looks between us.
「It seems we came when something big is happening in this forest.」
「I see… So that's why they have been wary of us who came from the outside. I guess we have to thank Rino-chan for letting us avoid the worst situation.」
Shirone was right, had it not been for Rino's timely interference we might have ended up fighting the Greenmen.
We might be strong but fighting was the last thing we wanted when we were in this situation.
「The people who are killing the forest, what kind of people are they?」
The Elder Greenman shook his head when Rino asked that question.
「We don't know. But one thing we know for sure, they're terrifyingly powerful. We will be defeated if not for those people from the Heaven.」
The people from Heaven might be referring to the angels and Gods of Elios.
In that case, it means that those people were really powerful.
I'm curious about those people but the Elder Greenman didn't seem to know more than that. I guess we couldn't ask more questions.
「Thank you for telling us about them. We will try to drive them out if we meet them.」
The Greenmen seemed to be overjoyed upon hearing Rino's remark.
「I see, you have my gratitude. In that case, we shall tell you a secret route. Follow this path of the spirit of wind till the end and you shall arrive at the Kaytahof fortress where the elves live.」
The Elder Greenman pointed at the path from which I could feel dry wind blowing from.
It felt as if they just opened a wind passage.
「Thank you very much.」
I bowed to the Greenmen.
Thus, we moved at an extremely fast pace thanks to the secret route.
After Shirone, Nao, and Rino expressed their gratitude to the Greenmen too, we proceeded to leave.
「Farewell O plain dwellers, may the blessing of the spirit of the forest be with you.」
THe Elder Greenman waved his hand at us accompanied by the song of the Greenmen.
It was a song about wind and trees.
「The wind is blowing,
Blowing as it carries our voices,
The green wind is dancing happily,
The spirit of the forest is also laughing merrily.
And we are dancing along with them,
Shaking our branches and leaves,
The green wi~nd,
Its sound echoing in the forest♪」
We entered the secret route while hearing their song.
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