Tree Guardian Beasts

When I focused my thoughts on Tree Guardian Beast, letters floated up in my mind.

Starting from the top, I decided to try summoning the Fire Cat.

There was a quick flash of light—and then a single cat appeared right in front of me!

“Myaaaow…”

“Wah, it’s so cute!”

Aira, who had been quietly staying in my shadow until now, couldn’t help but cry out.

And honestly, I understood exactly how she felt.

Because it was a cat—plain and simple, undeniably cute.

As for its size… it was a bit larger than the fully grown cats I knew.

Its fur was a yellowish brown, with tiger-like stripes running across its body.

Watching it lick its paw and then rub its face with the damp paw was pure, unmistakable cat behavior.

This was… a Tree Guardian Beast?

Well, it was definitely a beast, at least…

When I checked, the Smile Points used were ten.

I cautiously stepped closer.

Some cats hated having their personal space invaded, but this one didn’t seem to mind at all.

I reached out and tried petting it.

When I stroked its body, my fingers sank into its thick, luxurious fur.

“Oh… so fluffy.”

“Very fluffy indeed.”

“Purrrnyaa~”

As Aira and I both petted it, the cat began rumbling with a deep purr.

It didn’t seem displeased in the slightest.

For now, it looked friendly enough, which was a relief.

But at this rate, it was basically just a pet.

Sure, it might heal everyone’s hearts—but with such a grand name like Tree Guardian Beast, there had to be more to it, right?

So, I tried planting a single World Tree.

The cat then toddled over toward the World Tree.

With its slightly hunched, four-legged gait, it reached the tree and gently pressed its soft paw pads against the trunk.

A paw-print-like mark appeared on the World Tree.

It darkened slightly, as if it had been branded with a hot iron.

A panel of light appeared, explaining what had just happened.

I see—so this was how a Tree Guardian Beast got registered.

Was it like linking a tree to a guardian beast…?

Fortunately, I still had plenty of Smile Points, so I experimented further while using Tree Planting.

It seemed that a Tree Guardian Beast could register up to ten trees.

But… what did registering them actually do?

I tried all sorts of things, but the cat didn’t suddenly awaken as a protector or anything like that.

All that happened was that paw-print marks appeared on the trees.

What that meant, exactly, remained unclear.

“Oh, right. Since it’s called a Fire Cat… can you use fire?”

“Nyah!”

Whoosh—the Fire Cat’s entire body was instantly engulfed in flames.

Even from a short distance away, I could feel the heat, so it was clearly extremely hot.

It also seemed capable of breathing flames and launching balls of fire.

At the very least, it looked like it could fight to protect the village, just like the Wood Golems.

Letting the Element Golems handle close combat, and having the guardian beasts fight in coordination according to their elements, seemed like the best approach.

“Alright, then let’s check out the other guardian beasts too.”

“Woof!”

“Oink!”

“Kyu!”

“Wow, they’re all adorable!”

A dog that could produce water, a pig with wind swirling around its body, and a mole that dug energetically into the ground.

When I tried registering these three new guardian beasts as Tree Guardian Beasts, a new fact came to light.

Each tree could only have one guardian beast registered to it.

Well, that didn’t really cause any problems.

For now, I had the four of them each register the maximum of ten trees.

Their respective marks were dog ears for the dog, a pig’s snout for the pig, and sharp claws for the mole.

Either way, this meant we had gained yet another new force.

We were getting stronger and stronger—to the point where you’d wonder just who we were planning to go to war with…

But honestly, worrying about the details felt like a losing battle.

I wondered if the villagers would take a liking to them.

—Oh, right.

If I registered them as guardians of the House Trees, wouldn’t it be like giving each household their own pet guardian beast?

Determined to put this idea into action, I decided to gather everyone in the village and hold a guardian beast unveiling event—.