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Volume 9 Chapter 254

Mini World Tree

「Hmm, still no good, huh?」
In the courtyard of a certain mansion within Ifruss Magic Academy, a tomboyish girl was digging in the soil, burying something.
After covering it back up, she sighed heavily as she looked at the soil.
「What are you doing?」
A girl with beautiful blue hair and eyes approached the seated girl on the ground.
「N……Oh, Luna. Just trying something out」
The girl who called out to her was Luna. She was a human living in this mansion.
「Silph-sama, your face is dirty」
The one digging in the courtyard was Silph, the Spirit King of the Wind.
Luna gently wiped the dirt off Silph’s face with a towel she had.
「Thanks, Luna」
「You’re welcome. It’s been a while, Silph-sama」
「Yeah, it has been!」
「I haven’t seen you around much lately…… Did something happen?」
Silph used to spend a lot of time at Haruto’s mansion, but she hadn’t been coming around as much lately.
Luna, along with Haruto, Tina, and everyone else in the Elnor family, had been worried about Silph suddenly not coming to visit.
「……Yeah. Actually, because I spent too much time away from the World Tree and played around here too often, i got into a bit of trouble」
Silph is the embodiment of the World Tree, which towered at the center of the Alheim Elven Kingdom.
Because she had been away from the tree for so long, parts of it had begun to rot.
After receiving reports from the spirits living in the World Tree, Silph hurried back to Alheim.
Since then, she had been working tirelessly to heal the World Tree, which is why she couldn’t come to Haruto’s mansion for several weeks.
「I see…… Silph-sama, thank you for your hard work」
「Yeah, it was really tiring. Not being able to see everyone…… I felt lonely」
With teary eyes, Silph hugged Luna.
Luna gently stroked Silph’s head.
After calming down a bit, Silph let go of Luna.
「So, as I asked you earlier, what were you doing?」
「Um, well, I was thinking of trying to grow a World Tree here」
「 —-W-what?」
Luna couldn’t understand what Silph meant.
In this world, there was only one World Tree that had lived alongside the world for countless ages.
Its leaves were the main ingredient for healing elixirs that could cure any disease. Moreover, using its branches, anyone could create staffs capable of casting top-tier magic.
Silph, the embodiment of the World Tree, was trying to grow such a tree in Haruto’s mansion.
「I managed to get seeds from the World Tree, but no matter what I do……they won’t sprout」
A shadow crossed Silph’s face.
Even the fact that the World Tree had produced seeds was unprecedented since the creation of this world.
Despite being the embodiment of the World Tree, Silph had no idea how to make the seeds sprout.
「The World Tree is connected to this world. If a World Tree grows here, it will be connected to the World Tree in Alheim」
「I-I see…… What does that mean?」
「I’ll be able to stay here forever!」
Silph herself didn’t fully understand the principles behind it. However, she knew that if a World Tree grew in Haruto’s mansion, she wouldn’t have to return to Alheim regularly.
「I want to live here with Haruto and Luna. I want to eat the meals they make every day!」
「Silph-sama……」
Whenever she returned to the World Tree in Alheim, Silph always had a lonely look on her face.
She was the Spirit King, so she couldn’t help it.
She endured it, thinking that it couldn’t be helped, but when she realized that Mai and Mei, spirits who had become much more powerful than her, were always by Haruto’s side, she couldn’t bear it anymore.
She stopped enduring it.
「I’m going to live here! No matter what!!」
Silph declared to Luna.
Her eyes were serious.
「……I understand. If there’s anything I can do, I’ll help you!」
Luna decided to help Silph.
For her, Silph was already family.
「Thank you, Luna」
「You can thank me after the World Tree sprouts. First… …let’s see, should we give it some water?」
Saying so, Luna hurried into the mansion.
「Ah, even after I poured all my power into the water—- it still didn’t work… Luna, you’re not listening……」
The World Tree was filled with a massive amount of mana.
In other words, it was a huge clump of magical power.
Thinking that it might sprout if she gave it mana, Silph poured a large amount of mana into the seeds and even gave them water filled with as much magic power as possible.
But still, it didn’t work.
Maybe it wasn’t just about magic power.
Or maybe, even with her own magical power as the Spirit King, it still wasn’t enough—-
She doesn’t want to think too much about the latter.
If even sprouting requires the magical power of a Spirit King class, then how much magical power would it take to make it grow……
「Silph-sama, I’m sorry to keep you waiting」
Luna returned.
She had a watering can in her hand.
「I’ll water it now」
Luna began to water the spot where Silph had planted the World Tree seed.
「Grow big, grow big, grow big……」
「……」
As Luna hummed to herself while watering—
「What!?」
「Ah! Silph-sama, look. A sprout has appeared!」
The World Tree seed, which had never sprouted no matter what the Spirit King Silph did, began to sprout from the soil.
「Th-this—」
「Grow bigger and bigger!」
Ignoring Silph, who was too shocked to react, Luna continued to water the sprout.
With each drop of water that fell on the World Tree’s sprout, it grew bigger and bigger.
「Huh, no way…… Huh? Huuuuuh!?」
By the time the water from Luna’s watering can ran out, the World Tree had grown to about Silph’s waist height.
A mini World Tree had appeared in Haruto’s mansion.
「It’s gotten quite big」
「T-this can’t be true!」
While Luna smiled and admired the mini World Tree, Silph’s face was contorted in disbelief.
Silph has been reborn several times, so she is not the same age as the World Tree, but she is still an eternal spirit.
In front of Silph’s eyes, something unbelievable was happening.
「Luna, where did you get the water?」
「Um, where……?」
Luna seemed a little hesitant to answer.
「It’s just regular water, right?」
「…….Yes」
Since Luna seemed reluctant to answer, Silph decided not to press further.
What mattered was that the World Tree had sprouted.
Now, it was necessary to confirm whether this mini World Tree was truly connected to the World Tree in Alheim.
「Luna, I’m going to try to create a『path』from the World Tree in Alheim to this mini World Tree. Thanks for the water」
Saying so, Silph disappeared.
Presumably, she had gone to Alheim.
Left alone in the courtyard where Silph had disappeared, Luna muttered to herself.
「I really can’t say that I poured……leftover bathwater onto the World Tree seed, can I?」