Divine Beasts

The place we arrived at was a forest I had never seen before.

The surrounding trees were extremely tall, and wherever I looked my view was blocked by massive trunks.

The sunlight only reached the upper canopy, leaving everything dim.

“Woody-dono, it has been a while.”

“Akabane-san, I look forward to working with you for a wh—…?”

Akabane-san stood before me holding a World Tree, but something about her seemed strange.

She looked apologetic, shrinking her shoulders.

Behind her, Mego and Mago also seemed awkward.

“Woody-dono, the truth is…”

The place I had teleported to was a forest slightly away from Bibi Village where the elves lived.

There was a very simple reason we were outside the monster-repelling barrier.

The elves had not permitted humans into the village.

“After boasting so much, this failure… I deeply apologize!”

“It’s alright. I anticipated this possibility beforehand.”

“—What!?”

Elves had a history of suffering human slave hunts.

To them, who lived more than twice as long as humans, the memory had not faded.

So I expected rejection and had prepared a countermeasure.

I used tree teleportation to return once alone, then came back to the forest again.

In my hands was—

“Desu wa…”

Rebecca, the ribboned Divine Rat, trembling nervously.

Even proper persuasion wouldn’t solve this.

So, as usual, I relied on the authority of a Divine Beast.

The plan succeeded perfectly.

By presenting ourselves as attendants of a Divine Beast, we were easily granted entry.

“I still cannot accept being called her attendant… hmph.”

“Don’t puff your cheeks. We got permission — that’s enough.”

What appeared first was a faintly glowing orange barrier.

It resembled the one around Tree Village and Guinea Village, but differed in details.

The barrier created by Simurg-san and Wheel-san as guardians of the Sanctuary could freely change size.

Considering future population and farmland expansion, they made flexible shapes.

Because it had been altered several times, its shape was somewhat irregular.

But the elf village barrier was perfectly dome-shaped.

Since mana flowed uniformly, it was likely a perfect hemisphere.

Their population changed slowly, so they had no need to alter the Sanctuary.

“But… even for elves, is that really possible?”

I didn’t know their thinking well.

They viewed things long-term, but wouldn’t they clear forest or expand territory?

Living hundreds of years in one place, surely they would need expansion eventually.

My question was resolved after speaking with the elf elders.

In this elf village—there was no longer a Divine Beast capable of moving the Sanctuary.