Chapter 88

Hestia, looking utterly worn out, sat in a chair at the shop, dazed.

"Hey, are you okay, Hestia?"

"Huh... Yeah, I'm fine."

"Then, let's talk, Hestia. Why did you leave without waking me up yesterday?"

If you had told me, I could have rushed over before you ended up in this state. I was curious why you didn't say anything.

"...Just so you know, I'm not angry. I just want to know."

After a few seconds of silence, Hestia finally spoke.

"...I thought it would be a bother to wake you up while you were sleeping."

Ah, I see.

Hearing those words, I understood.

That's right. This Hestia is the type who would sacrifice herself for the sake of the wyvern, always thinking of others.

However, she's a bit mistaken. I should correct her.

"Look, if there's a reason to wake me up, it's not a problem. Especially this time, since it was something I asked you to do."

"Hmm..."

If you wake me up unreasonably or in a bothersome way, I might be in a bad mood.

Especially if I'm still drunk, I might get grumpy.

But if you wake me up because I asked you to, I wouldn't mind at all.

"So, you know, I've said this before, but you can be more relaxed and casual with me."

"Okay..."

Hestia nodded slightly.

She's quick on the uptake. She probably won't do the same thing again.

"Alright, that's it for the talk. Before we do anything to this shop, we need to move the star dragon from above."

As I said this and looked up,

"Ha... Ha... It's you, Daichi-sama."

Dianeia teleported in front of my shop.

"Hey, Dianeia. Sorry about the damage to the town's scenery."

"No, it's fine. Rather, I want to thank you for saving the town. —Thank you so much, Daichi-sama!"

Dianeia bowed deeply.

"Don't worry about it. I was just protecting my shop."

"That's a relief to hear..."

Dianeia looked up at the sky.

"It was really a massive force. If Daichi-sama hadn't grown those trees, the town center would have been destroyed."

"Well, I think the roots are still causing a mess, even now."

I let them grow so much that the sidewalks are being dug up by the roots.

"N-no, that's a necessary sacrifice. ...Well, we'll need to have a meeting with the castle to decide what to do with these trees..."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Once I move that dragon, I'll shrink these trees too."

"Wh-What!? ...These trees will shrink!?"

I guess I never showed Dianeia the trees growing before.

"I can't turn them back into apples, but I can compress them as trees. They'll still be big, but they'll be useful for reinforcing the shop or something."

The shop will probably end up wrapped in the trees, but that could have its own charm.

"Ah, but this is so unexpected. Calm down, please. Such a use of magic is not normal..."

As I was explaining the expected design of the shop, Dianeia was holding her chest and taking deep breaths.

It's not that big of a deal, I thought.

"Thank you, thank you..."

"I can't believe I got to see a legendary spirit in my lifetime... I am truly fortunate..."

An elderly, well-dressed person was bowing to me.

They were looking at the grown trees and me.

"Hmm? Why are they bowing to me?"

"...Ah, this town has an old belief in spirits. There's a legend that when the town is in danger, a giant tree spirit—the World Tree—will protect it."

"Wow, a legend about the World Tree."

It seems this legend matched the current situation perfectly.

"It's just a fairy tale. ...I never thought it would actually come true."

I didn't think it would come true either, but since everything turned out fine, that's good.

"Alright, let's move the dragon lying up there to a wider area and have another talk."

"Ah... That's fine, but how do you plan to move it? It's too heavy for my teleportation."

"No, I'll just use my body. What do you think I'm wearing the Kongo for?"

After that, I used the trees to move the star dragon's body to the outskirts of the town, then lifted the star dragon with the power of Kongo and carried it to the plain.

The sight was seen by the town's elders, who started bowing to me, calling me an incarnation of a spirit. It was quite embarrassing.