Chapter 106:
Candied Sweet Potatoes
DEEP WITHIN THE WOODS of the Western Continent, Selena opened her eyes for the first time in a while, feeling her skin burn. The sensation reached down to her bones.
Hrm…something happened. Standing up, she rubbed her white, oddly unburned arm.
Selena had become one with this forest, sharing its life force and extending her own life for all eternity. To her, the forest was her life. As long as it existed, Selena would never die of old age. If the forest disappeared, however, she’d have no way to prolong her own life.
Thus, Selena had sent dozens of wood golems into the forest to preserve it, just in case. The golems felled and replaced rotting trees. They also pruned leaves blocking the sunlight, so the sun could hit flowers blooming on the ground. When cloudless weather persisted, they watered the flowers and pulled out dried grass, leaving only healthy patches.
As long as this forest existed, the magical power sustaining the golems would keep them alive forever—like Selena—tending the foliage eternally without complaint. However, there were things even the wood golems couldn’t handle—storms, fires, dragons, or monsters razing the area.
Selena felt any damage to the forest as physical pain, so when necessary, she stopped meditating and dealt with such problems herself. She’d turn the power she gained from the forest into strong ancient magic, which she used to protect it.
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When Selena arrived at the source of the problem, she found everything ablaze. The trees, grass, and flowers burned bright red. Racked with burning pain all over her body, Selena calmly deduced what had transpired. “This is a forest fire.”
Something like lightning had probably struck and ignited the woods. If I let my golems deal with this, I’ll lose about half of them, Selena thought. Upon further inspection, a few wood golems bringing spring water to stop the fire were already burned.
At this point, Selena had lived in the forest for three thousand years, and she’d only dealt with a fire this size five or six times. On the other hand, that meant she’d put out fires this size five or six times.
“Now, time to end this,” she said, deciding to fight the fire.
She tried to summon nearby rain clouds but soon realized there weren’t any. I see. Now that I think about it, it hasn’t rained around here lately.
“Well, fine. That means…” Instead of panicking, Selena cast a spell to extinguish the fire. Instantly, the air froze, and the fires nearby faded out of existence.
Hrmph. Problem solved.
She’d used a wide-range spell that changed the flow of the air, sucking it away from specific spots and suffocating them. That spell had initially been designed to annihilate powerful giants that couldn’t wield magic, as well as followers of the Ancient Six on the Southern Continent who couldn’t transform into dragons. Selena only realized years into her life in the forest that, apparently, fires required air to burn. Since then, she’d used that spell to put them out.
Selena cast defensive spells on herself, enabling herself to stand amid the flames without burning and breathe even as her magic suffocated the area.
Eventually, she reached the center of the forest fire and extinguished it. She looked sadly at the giant tree the fire had reduced to ashes. Another elder, gone.
Trees that had lived over a thousand years weren’t common in this forest. Most of the trees she’d cared for in her three millennia were young. They’d finish their lives, and wood golems would cut them down to build new wood golems or simply to make space for the next generation of young trees.
There’d only been a handful of old-growth trees from when Selena moved to the forest, and now one had burned to ashes.
Well, what’s done is done, I suppose. Selena pushed away her sorrow, turning to make her way home to a giant tree in the center of the woods—another tree that had lived for millennia. However, today she noticed something. Hm…?
Near the charred trees was another black object. Unlike the matte blackness of the burned wood, this smooth black surface bore an illustration of a cat.
“Ah. Today’s the Day of Satur, then.” The destruction from the fire had likely changed the flow of magic in the forest.
Selena placed her hand on the second door to appear in this forest—she’d been through the first before, of course. If I’m not mistaken, sweet red-bean soup is out of season now.
Fondly remembering the soup’s warm, sweet flavor, Selena found herself rather morose. There was still a whole month before the new year, and the master had told her he only offered that soup at the turning of the year; he probably wasn’t serving it now.
Well, that’s fine. He must have something. I know he serves some truly odd dishes.
With that thought, Selena opened the door. As she walked through it into the Restaurant to Another World, the sound of the bell ringing signaled her arrival.
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Looking toward the ringing bell, Fardania gasped. Huh? Um…she is an elf, right?
A ghostly female elf had quietly stepped through the door. She had straight, jet-black hair and white, cloud-like skin. She wore a Western Continent robe that was clean as a whistle, and she had long, pointy ears.
Alice followed Fardania’s gaze. Seeing the woman, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow, she’s so beautiful!”
Her magical power’s tremendous. That stunned Fardania. When it came to magic, elves were naturally gifted, but this was far beyond that. (Alice had only learned a little magic from Fardania, so she hadn’t noticed.) In fact, Fardania reflected, it was entirely possible that this woman had more magic than the most powerful monster, one Fardania had never encountered—a dragon.
As strong as the woman’s magic was, it was also so refined that even Fardania’s discerning eyes couldn’t guess at her age. I know this place gets some bizarre visitors, but…
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Fardania’s visit to Nekoya started when a human mage she’d recently befriended asked her to house-sit. The mage was leaving for about a month because a certain medicinal ingredient on the ocean floor was only available this time of the year. They wanted Fardania to hold down the fort while they were gone. As long as she entertained any potential guests and cleaned, she was free to use the house as she liked.
So, as far as Fardania was concerned, this was a great opportunity. She’d been wanting to research the blessings of the sea, and a long journey with Alice—who was still only a thirty-year-old girl—would prove difficult. So, Fardania agreed, and she and Alice settled in.
Alice wanted to visit the otherworldly restaurant once a week, so Fardania had begrudgingly agreed to take her.