When I chewed it, the sour juice spread and made me wide awake.
I should express my appreciation.
I took out paper and a pen from my subspace.
“You can stay here for a while. I’ll find a way for you to get out… Oh.”
Dunkel froze.
And for good reason.
Suddenly a piece of paper floated up, and the pen started moving on its own, writing.
‘It’s a beautiful garden, dwarf.’
Dunkel looked back and forth between the writing on the paper and me.
“Did you write this?”
‘Indeed.’
And soon Dunkel’s face turned red.
“Damn, this is embarrassing.”
He seemed to remember muttering various things to me, saying we’re both bald.
Well, he probably didn’t think I would understand properly.
Maybe it felt like talking to himself.
He looks like he doesn’t have any friends.
‘There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, dwarf. I am grateful for the kindness you have shown.’
“…But.”
Dunkel frowned those innocent eyes.
“Why are you speaking in such a cringeworthy manner?”
‘…’
This time I was embarrassed.
Pelerian giggled mockingly.
Surely Amain would have admired it if I spoke like this…
Even when Nanaluk interpreted like this, it seemed to work well.
‘Anyway, thanks.’
I just changed to a more comfortable way of speaking.
It’s definitely more comfortable this way.
“Well, it’s not a big deal. But, I guess you’re some kind of high-level monster. You can write and use magic.”
‘You could say that.’
Unlike humans who make a fuss at the sight of monsters,
Dunkel was friendly towards me as well.
‘Do you know a dwarf called Bluebeard?’
“…Of course I know. He’s the master of our forge.”
‘I came to meet that dwarf.’
“Why him?”
‘There’s a contract from the past. I need to talk to him about it.’
Fortunately, it seemed that the dwarf called Bluebeard hadn’t died of old age.
But Dunkel’s reaction wasn’t very positive.
“He’s in the deep level, but it’ll be hard to meet him.”
Is it because he can’t bring an unidentified monster to the king?
But somehow, it didn’t seem like that was the case.
‘Why?’
“Well…”
That’s when it happened.
There was a fluttering sound from the ceiling.
“Oh no! Snake, hide!”
Hide what?
Dunkel, who said that, actually picked up a shovel.
“These bastards, not again!”
The fluttering sound was coming from the vertical cave above.
Bats came pouring down from there.
Flutterflutter!
Oh, familiar creatures.
──────────────
[Sawtooth Bat lv18]
──────────────
Bats with claws like saw blades.
The enemies of my older siblings!
Dunkel swung his shovel vigorously.
But there was no way he could catch the agile bats with such sluggish movements.
The shovel only cut through empty air.
Bats could enter caves, why was he overreacting like that?
But there was a reason for Dunkel’s behavior.
Flutterflutter!
Unlike the Sawtooth Bats that were only as big as mice,
Cat-sized bats came rushing in.
──────────────
[King Sawtooth Thief Bat lv12]
These ones look bigger and stronger.
Thanks to that, Dunkel could hit them with his shovel, but the problem was that there wasn’t just one.
The bats rummaged through the bushes and dug into the ground with their blade-like claws.
“No! Do you know how hard I worked to grow these!”
One bat finally managed to pull out something buried in the ground.
──────────────
It was a root plant that looked like ginseng.
Mysteriously, the root glowed blue.
“That’s a mana herb, did this dwarf actually manage to grow mana herbs underground!”
I didn’t know what it was, but it was clearly valuable.
I decided to repay the cost of the honey water.
「Using Heart-eating Leap lv3.」
No matter how swift the bats were, they couldn’t be faster than me.
A bat with a hole punched through its chest fell.
As it dropped the mana herb, other bats lunged at me.
“Uh… uh…!”
Dunkel was flustered.
He tried to help me, thinking I was in danger, but stopped.
And for good reason.
Flutterflutter!
They were no threat to me at all.
「You have killed King Sawtooth Thief Bat lv12.」
「You have killed Sawtooth Bat lv14.」
「You have killed Sawtooth Bat lv13.」
As their friends died in an instant, the bats realized they were scared and started to flee.
Dunkel swung his shovel at the fleeing bats, but not a single one was hit.
This weak dwarf, really.
「Using Beam lv2.」
The beam spewed from my mouth pierced through the flying bats’ bodies.
It’s not a destruction beam, but it can easily catch bats.
They fell like insects, twitching.
In an instant, the bats were cleanly dealt with.
“Wow, wow!”
Dunkel applauded in admiration.
“Thank you, really! Ever since the mana herbs sprouted, bats like that started coming. It was a headache.”
Dunkel came closer to offer a handshake, then flinched as he realized I didn’t have hands.
I grabbed his hand hovering in the air with my tail and shook it.
“Not a fairy, but a dwarf grew mana herbs! And even made them bloom!”
‘Is it very difficult?’
“Difficult indeed. Even among fairies, you’d need to be at least a gardener to grow that Bletiful. Get a bit closer and look.”
I approached the so-called mana herb.
Looking closely, I could clearly feel the mana.
‘Ah, it’s the thing used to make mana potions!’
It’s a plant I’ve seen in the Great Forest.
But to think it could be grown in this distant mountain range.
There was a nature-loving dwarf in front of me.
And next to him was an elf whose hobby was building dungeons and creating golems…
‘Ah!’
Something struck me like lightning.
“Thank you so much, how can I repay this debt?”
As it happens, I have something to ask of you.
‘Can you take a look at this?’
“Hmm?”
I took out the stew bowl where I had planted the seed of the chimera snake from my subspace.
Still, there was no sign of it sprouting.
‘This is a seed I got from deep in the Great Forest…’
Where should I start and where should I end the story?
Oh well, never mind.
I told him quite a lot.
That a chimera was created from the roots of the World Tree, and this was the seed that the chimera had in its body instead of a magic stone.
That I planted it recently, but there’s no sign of it sprouting.
“W-World Tree… Did you perhaps come from the Great Forest?”
Dunkel’s expression became ecstatic at the mention of the World Tree.
‘Yes, that’s right.’
“My wish before I die is to visit the Great Forest. To go to the Great Forest and see the World Tree in person…!”
He’s really not dwarf-like at all.
‘Alright, I get it, so please look at it quickly.’
Remembering the chimera snake crying “Muaaa” as it looked at me made me feel depressed.
Dunkel carefully removed the soil.
And found the seed of the chimera snake.
“Oh, this was close. The seed almost rotted.”
The seed looked a bit dark, probably because it was wet.
There was no sign of it trying to sprout at all.
‘What should we do, is it going to die?’
“Die… probably not.”
Dunkel, who had looked somewhat frail before, now looks as dignified and cool as Professor X.
He actually brought a small knife similar to a surgical scalpel.
“Maybe it’s because it was harvested before the seed was fully ripe. The outer shell should be cracking, but it’s too tough to open.”
Then he carefully split the brown outer shell.
I asked urgently.
‘Can you save our baby?’
“Of course.”
Dunkel answered confidently.
As he cut away the outer shell, a green embryo was revealed.
“I’ll take responsibility and make it sprout.”
That’s right.
From today on, the true friend of nature is not an elf, but a dwarf.