After A Long Time

Not long after I showed Nadja the Element Fruits, I began to see her leading soldiers out regularly.

It seemed she intended to try out various things, and lately she had been pestering me for Element Fruits almost every day.

For some reason, she also asked if she could enter the orchard, so after getting Simurg-san’s permission, I gave her the okay. Apparently, Nadja had things she wanted to test beyond just the fruits.

I also felt that looking for uses for the Element Fruits might be about the only thing left for me to do.

I had already made everything possible through crossbreeding.

And it was still quite a long way until my next level-up.

So, I decided to use my spare points to mass-produce Element Fruits.

I worked hard so that Nadja and her soldiers could have enough to use daily without restrictions.

Thanks to that, Simurg-san’s living area had expanded considerably.

I planted ordinary trees for camouflage, but the place had started to look unnaturally strange.

Still, if things got out of hand, I could just rearrange them again with Tree Arrangement.

Now that I could plant trees recklessly without worrying about the consequences, I felt much more at ease.

“All right, shall we go?”

“Yes, everything is ready.”

We left the House Tree and headed toward the village entrance, the only place without trees.

Today was, in fact, my first outing in a while.

Feeling a little excited, I stepped out to find Nadja’s war band waiting for us.

—Yes, today’s purpose was to watch them fight.

I wanted to see firsthand what could be done by using Element Fruits in battle.

“Listen up, men! Lord Woody is here today!! Don’t let your guard down!”

“““Ooooooooohhhh!!”””

N-no need to get that fired up.

Just doing things as usual would be enough…

We followed the enthusiastic soldiers at the front and left the village.

It had been a long time since I last stepped into the desert.

Aira and I carried small World Trees in flowerpots, and advanced safely within the protection of the Tree Barrier.

Since the Tree Barrier had a monster-repelling effect, Aira and I traveled a bit apart from the others.

Nadja and her group occasionally tapped the sand with their swords.

They were probably trying to lure monsters that relied on hearing.

Not wanting to get in their way, I increased the distance a little more.

And within just a few minutes, a monster appeared.

“That’s… a Sand Boar.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen them hunt one before.”

If I recalled, Nadja had taken one down alone before.

She had also said that Dan and Meg couldn’t defeat one on their own yet.

“This time, I won’t intervene! Kadin squad, the three of you handle it!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

As I was thinking about that, three soldiers moved forward.

Kadin was the one who used to lead them… Wait, were they really going to fight with just the ex–sand bandits!?

…Would they be all right?