"Yes. Since it's a land of monsters, the game we hunt can't really be helped…"
At Helione's apologetic answer, Eve was dealt the finishing blow. So shocked that she was, she pressed a hand to her forehead and staggered.
"Magical beast meat… I ate magical beast meat… I ate it… I ate chunks of magical beast flesh stuffed into magical beast intestines, and I ate it deliciously… Aaahhh…"
Was this punishment for bathing Rosenitte in troll blood and leaving her like that? All sorts of thoughts ran through her head.
Just then, Mikael worriedly supported her, catching her in his arms and comforting her.
"Your Highness, pull yourself together."
"M-Mikael…"
"Think of it as a nourishing tonic that's good for stamina."
"T-That's… right."
Mikael really was, without a doubt, Eve's mental stabilizer. When she remembered how cheerfully that fellow had even drunk the concentrated essence syrup of a hundred-year nepenthes, she started to feel quite a bit better.
"Right. If it was tasty, that's all that matters. How is it any different from an animal? It doesn't even have intelligence."
Eve recovered completely in an instant.
"It doesn't change the fact that it's a flavorful sausage. Let's add it to Dandelion's local specialties as planned. If the common folk seem like they'll feel some aversion, then instead of 'special sausage,' we'll name it 'Vigor Sausage.' In the capital, if you say something is good for stamina, everyone buys it at least once. Whew. Talking about food made me hungry."
With that, she wrapped up the controversy over the ingredients and returned to where the knight order was.
Now it was time for an operation meeting ahead of the real work of securing food.
"There seem to be well over five hundred magical beasts at the lake, at a rough estimate. More will gather here—will that be all right?"
"There's a limit to the manpower that can butcher the meat, so it would be better to hunt a reasonable amount."
Helione and Mikael were worried about different things. Then Eve stepped in.
"But I'm here, aren't I? We can cast Preservation Magic. Did you forget I specialize in everyday-life magic?"
"E-Everyday-life magic?"
Helione and the mid-level homunculi stared at Eve with horrified eyes.
Their expressions were plainly saying: After you singlehandedly wiped out a whole monster horde yesterday, what are you talking about?
Embarrassed, Eve cleared her throat to reset the mood and continued,
"We have enough combat power, and enough ways to preserve what we hunt. There's nothing to worry about, so make preparations. It's hunting, but think of it as a subjugation battle. We won't be able to investigate the water source unless we drive the magical beasts away."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Then prioritize safety above all and engage in battle!"
Mikael and the Punishment Knight Order saluted Eve and immediately swept down toward the lakeside. Soon, the dazzling clash of blades and the howls of magical beasts mingled together.
While the battle raged, the five mid-level homunculi stayed by Eve and Helione's side.
And whenever magical beasts fled and came running their way, they dealt with them.
The magical beasts that served as the main ingredients of Dandelion's Vigor Sausage were orcs, ogres, and centaurs.
Punishment focused on those three. Orcs in particular, thanks to their herd-like living, allowed them to secure large numbers.
With the lake turning into a massive slaughterhouse, the air in every direction filled with a fishy stench of blood.
Clean, unpolluted blood smelled like delicious food to magical beasts and monsters alike.
Not only the magical beasts that had been drinking nearby, but even the monsters deep in the forest came swarming in to enjoy the feast.
But the opponent they had to fight for the spoils against was the Punishment Knight Order.
Long after monster blood had begun to cover the magical beast blood—
At some point, the forest stopped sending more monsters.
At last, the hunt ended. While the game was being sorted by type, Eve and Helione considered how to transport it.
"It's too much. With just the people here, it's not even thinkable."
"We'll have to call people from the village and bring carts, I think."
"That sounds best."
They'd have to be prepared for monster attacks on the way back and forth, so they needed an escort. Eve left only five of Punishment behind and entrusted the rest to Helione.
While waiting for Helione to bring transport manpower, Eve stayed by the lake—because she still had something to do.
"Keep sorting. I'll investigate the lake."
Eve approached the lake. In her hand was a purple fir branch she had just snapped off.
She dipped the branch into the clear lake water and recited an incantation. Mikael, standing by as her escort, asked,
"What spell is that?"
"An aging spell. And since it's just us around, speak comfortably."
"My thanks for the permission."
An aging spell was also a spell that shortened the time it took for change to occur.
Not long after she cast it, visible results appeared.
The leaves, which had looked like obsidian fragments, regained their original color and returned to ordinary needles.
"As I thought—there's a purification effect."
"Astonishing. Not just suppressing the miasma, but purification."
Eve organized her thoughts.
"It was strange that magical beasts and plants are affected by miasma, yet only Dandelion's residents weren't affected.
But the lake's purifying power explains everything."
"If you consider the staple diet of Dandelion's residents, the answer becomes clear."
"Exactly. Thanks to eating purified magical beast meat, the residents were able to endure the miasma too."
As they spoke, Mikael formed a question.
"But to purify a Demonic Dragon's miasma, wouldn't you need something on the level of holy power? But holy power should have vanished."
"There's something else besides holy power that carries the power of purification."
Eve recalled the well in the Magic Ore Village, which had been contaminated by Thought Poison because of Hosen Sanchez.
Back then, there was something the master of potion alchemy, Raman Haviol, had said.
Eve relayed his words to Mikael exactly.
"A branch of the World Tree is enough."
A name that existed only in legend was spoken aloud. No one could hear the possibility of such a miraculous artifact—one comparable to the Philosopher's Stone—and not be shocked.
"The World Tree is at the bottom of this lake? Is that true?"
"I think the possibility is more than enough."
Eve peered down into the emerald-shimmering lake water.
It was so clear it could be used as a mirror, yet she couldn't gauge its depth.
"I think we need to investigate the bottom. Want to come with me?"
"As if there's any question."
Mikael narrowed his eyes as if to say, Were you planning to leave me behind? Eve let out a small laugh.
Since they were going into the water, they needed to be light. Eve removed her robe, and Mikael took off his uniform coat and handed them to a Punishment knight.
Using levitation magic, the two of them stepped onto the lake's surface. When they reached the center of the lake, Eve cast a spell on both herself and Mikael.
It was a breathing spell.
Mikael laughed low in his throat.
"Why are you laughing, Mikael?"
"It reminded me of old times."
"Hm? Ah…"
He was clearly talking about what happened when they defeated the hundred-year nepenthes at Lake Mellude.
And hadn't a lake also been the place of their survival's first kiss?
Eve's face flushed slightly, and she tightly took Mikael's hand.
"Let's go in."
They entered the water from their toes up. Their bodies sank slowly into the deep lake as if anchored.
Above their heads, beautiful water-shadows swayed.
As the light from the surface grew distant, the water gradually darkened. Eve quickly recited a spell and formed a magical orb in her hand, bright enough to serve as a lantern.
"There aren't any magical beasts."
With the breathing spell keeping air at their mouths and noses, they could speak even underwater.
"Eve."
"Yeah?"
"There's something over there."
Mikael's sharp eyesight found what they were looking for. Where his finger pointed, there was a place where countless ivory-colored branches—beautiful like coral—were tangled together in a dense cluster.
It looked like a driftwood forest, but of course it wasn't a forest.
All the branches extended from a single, enormous trunk.
"My goodness…"
Would the beanstalk from a fairy tale—the one said to reach the heavens—have been this huge?
Staring at this overwhelming tree, it was stranger not to guess what it was.
"The World Tree… It really existed."
Mikael's admiration soon became a sigh.
Even without a single leaf, it was so beautiful one could mistake it for a white coral forest.
But tragically, the trunk had snapped midsection, as if it had been struck by lightning.
"So even dead, it was still influencing the lake."
"There's a chance it's still alive."
The World Tree was a symbol of healing, growth, and purification.
Eve pinned her hope on its stubborn vitality.
From then on, Eve searched for leaves—the trace of life—and examined the World Tree thoroughly.
Rather than the branches that formed the bare "forest," she circled the enormous trunk, focusing on smaller offshoots.
As they searched, curious fish swam chaotically around Eve.
With fins like chiffon lace and scales like gemstones, the fish were mysterious and incredibly beautiful.
"Wow… they're pretty."
"I'd believe it if you told me they were spirits guarding the World Tree."
Eve and Mikael forgot what they were doing and spent a long while with their eyes stolen by the fish.
But as time passed, the way the two looked at the fish began to change in a way that wasn't normal.
Their eyes sharpened, cool and keen, and Mikael and Eve each said a line.
"They're substantial. Nice and plump."
"I'm excited. If this goes well, we might be able to add fish to Dandelion's ingredients."
When fish stew was floated as a candidate for dinner, the spirit-like fish seemed to grow angry.
All at once, they stretched their mouths wide and surged toward Eve as if to ram her.
"Huh?"
Ssshhhk!
As expected, fish living in the Demonic Dragon's land couldn't be taken lightly.
With mouths opened wider than their bodies, sharp shark-like teeth were revealed.
It proved they weren't spirits at all, but predators.
"Kyaaah!"
"Eve!"
In a sudden situation, the most reliable shield for Eve wasn't Silver Thread Arachne.
It was Mikael himself.
Mikael quickly activated Aegis in a half-dome shape and overlaid it with sword aura.
With a flash of white light, the shark-fish all became grilled fish and floated up toward the surface.
Powerful attacks naturally came with physical backlash.
A massive current formed in the opposite direction of the strike, and Eve and Mikael's bodies began to be pushed away.
Right nearby, the huge trunk of the World Tree stood like a bulwark.
Mikael wrapped Eve in his arms so she wouldn't collide.
Soon, Mikael's back touched down against the World Tree's trunk as if settling into place.
With Eve held tightly in his embrace, Mikael stroked her back as if soothing her.
"It's fine now. I took care of everything."
"I-It suddenly rushed me, so I was startled."
"Now that I look, there's blood on your fingertips. It must have smelled the blood and gathered."
"Ah, I must've scratched myself while checking the branches. I thought it stung a little."
Having calmed down, Eve expressed her thanks and tried to slip out of Mikael's arms.
But for some reason, Mikael didn't loosen the arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"Mikael?"
She lifted her gaze, puzzled. In her view was Mikael's smiling face.
"Eve."
"Yeah?"
"For once, you even pushed me up against a wall—are we really ending it here?"