"As your Terrifying and Taboo Lordship can see, we are all just trees. We only keep our distance and avoid humans, so we do not have a very clear understanding of their civilization."
The old tree spirit said in a deep voice, "If that message caused a misunderstanding, we would like to apologize first."
"Instead of an apology, I'd rather know what exactly is going on with you guys."
Asakura let out a sigh and said.
"The matter must be told starting from five hundred years ago."
"How the f*ck did we circle back to this again?"
"Apologies, but if I am to elaborate on our birth, it is a topic that cannot be bypassed." The old tree spirit lowered its eyes and dropped its gaze, a movement that made the wrinkles on its face look even more pronounced, while its canopy rustled once again due to the swaying.
"Alright, so what exactly is the deal?" Asakura stared at it, as if trying to gauge the content of truth in whatever words it was about to say next.
"Five hundred years ago... a 'Miracle' plunged into the earth."
The tree spirit said slowly, "It brought a thriving, vibrant vitality where all things competed to burst forth... It was roughly from that time onward that our earliest consciousness awakened."
"...A miracle?" Asakura frowned. "I'm not a tree spirit so I find it a bit hard to understand. Can you speak in more human terms? What exactly is this so-called miracle?"
"It is not that we wish to conceal things or mislead Your Lordship," the old tree spirit said sincerely, "it is just that we ourselves do not know the true nature of the Miracle. But in that era, as long as one felt His presence, one would, in an inexplicable way, generally feel that it was 'Miracle' itself."
"Miracle itself..." Asakura fell into deep thought.
Is it some kind of conceptual power? Or is it simply a powerful energy, similar to magic but much more gentle?
No, if he thought about it carefully, the old tree spirit's words weren't 100% credible. Even though it didn't dare deceive him, the 'Terrifying Taboo', it was still just a countryside monster nestled in a backwater nook like this. It didn't possess much information to begin with. In terms of horizons and knowledge alone, it might not even match a modern human child who has a smartphone in this information-explosion era.
"In other words, five hundred years ago, a massive wave of monsters was suddenly born all at once?"
Since he couldn't figure it out, Asakura simply switched to a different question. "But if that were truly the case, there should be some clues left behind in actual human history, right?"
Yet in reality, the Heian period—when Japanese monster legends were most popular—was a thousand years ago. During the Warring States period five hundred years ago, legends about ghosts and wandering souls born from war were more prevalent. Even across the sea, Todai was right in the middle of the Jiajing era, and there were no particularly special monster rumors there either.
In short, it didn't add up. It completely clashed with what the old tree spirit was saying.
"Although we gained consciousness because of the Miracle, we did not become monsters. Our initial consciousness was merely ignorant, a sense of self that was only slightly superior to instinct." The old tree spirit said softly, "And what truly elevated us to monsters, aside from the baptism and self-sculpting over long years, was a power that plunged into the earth once again several years ago."
"A Miracle Reappears?" Asakura was taken aback. "Is that thing Tiga?"
The old tree spirit said, "Ah?"
No, that wasn't the main point.
"How many years ago exactly is 'several years ago'? Is there no precise date?"
Asakura hurriedly pressed.
"Ignorant as we were, it is difficult for us to record precise dates. We can only say roughly that it was more than three years ago, but within ten years."
The old tree spirit explained, "Roughly ten years ago, human cubs began to play in that campsite within the forest. However, they stopped coming three years ago, and that grand power plunged into the earth once again during this period of time..."
So the school's study trips stopped being held here three years ago. No wonder the wooden cabins are ruined to that extent.
"Wait a minute. Why is it that you can't remember the date that thing fell again, yet you know that people started gathering at the campsite ten years ago?" Asakura spotted another contradiction in the tree spirit's words.
No matter how you looked at it, that thing plunging into the earth a second time should be far more important than some trivial matter like 'humans started playing in the woods, yay~', right?
"I heard it this morning from that older human female in the camp," the old tree spirit answered honestly. "While she was chatting idly with her human companions, she mentioned that the camp was built ten years ago. In our memory, she had been here before as well."
"..."
So that's how it turned out.
It seems Hiratsuka-sensei really isn't young anymore. Asakura silently nodded to himself.
"Furthermore, what plunged into the earth the second time was not a 'Miracle', but 'Mystery'."
The old tree spirit followed up.
"Ah?" Asakura scratched his head.
So it wasn't A Miracle Reappears after all? Then it looks like there are no Ultramen in this world. What a pity.
"Is there any difference between Mystery and Miracle?" he asked.
"The Miracle granted us sentience, whereas the Mystery drew the boundary between the real and the surreal, allowing our existence to become independent of reality itself." The old tree spirit said in a deep voice, "If we after the Miracle merely possessed an ignorant self that simply existed in this world, then it was only after the Mystery that we truly obtained the power to interfere with reality—'Miracle' yields selfhood and existence, while 'Mystery' brings wisdom and power. Only when the two combine can a majestic living being be born."
"...So that's how it is."
Asakura rubbed his chin.
He roughly understood what the old tree spirit meant.
To put it simply, although creatures like monsters and deities originally existed in this world after the Miracle, they had almost exclusively developed sentience without being able to interfere with reality—as if they were existences in another dimension. It was only after the descent of the Mystery that they gained the power to manifest and stir up trouble in this world, right?
However, the Mystery that appeared somewhere between three and ten years ago... He had come to this world two and a half years ago. In other words, it wasn't his transmigration that brought the Mystery; rather, it seemed to be the other way around—the aftermath following the descent of the Mystery had triggered his transmigration?
It was no wonder that even though supernatural forces definitely existed in this world—such as the Yamanokemono on Mount Kumatori and the cultists in the Ginza Hotel—before his transmigration, these guys whose style screamed 'chaotic evil' hadn't caused massive chaos in the world. Ordinary people didn't even know about it, and the human higher-ups hadn't put even a shred of control on rumors or speech that could easily manifest supernatural existences.
As it turned out, the starting point of everything was after the 'Mystery' appeared, which at most amounted to less than ten years. Counting the incubation period, the time these things had actually been cropping up might be even shorter. It was only normal that the human higher-ups hadn't managed to realize these things existed at all...
"Um..." At this time, Tsurumi Rumi, who had barely spoken the entire time, suddenly said: "Didn't you say that you snatched two people? Aside from that person named Tobe, may I ask who the other person is?"
Clearly, the little girl did not feel much of a resonance with a topic that was far too grand; instead, she was still dwelling on what Asakura had said to the old tree spirit earlier.
"It is a human female. Do not worry, we likewise did not do anything to her, but merely had her sleep temporarily for the time being. After all, we do not wish to make an enemy of the Terrifying Taboo Lord." The old tree spirit said gently to the little partner.
Its tone was as kind as an elder doting on their offspring, a completely different art style from its highly respectful and submissive attitude toward Asakura.
"Sounds nice, but wasn't my snake killed by you?"
Asakura let out a cold snort and said: "Doesn't this count as a declaration of war?"
"Snakes?" The little one took a cautious glance at Asakura, and then immediately lowered her head the moment Asakura looked back at her, staring at the tips of her own feet, wondering what she was thinking.
"If Your Lordship's familiar were truly a living thing, then that would indeed be a declaration of war."
Facing Asakura's aggressive accountability, the old tree spirit's voice sounded quite calm instead: "But that was not a living creature, but rather a tree branch that Your Lordship picked up at random, right? Although it is not a limb of ours, if classified according to human generational relationships, it would be the younger brother of the child of the younger brother of the child of the younger brother of the child of the child of the child of the younger brother of the younger brother of ours (this 'younger brother' is a non-personal reference)."
"Are you guys only male?" Asakura complained: "And even if it's a younger brother, it would still count as a child to the previous generation, right? It feels completely like you're padding the word count..."
"We bear fruit regardless of male or female. To us, gender has no meaning. In addition, 'younger brother' refers to an offshoot branch; although in essence it is still 'oneself', from the perspective of human ethical concepts, it feels better to describe it using 'younger brother'." The old tree spirit said.
Asakura felt that something wasn't quite right, but considering that the old tree spirit was illiterate, there was no point in tangling over such trivial nonsense, so he merely said dryly: "Well, that is just way too politically correct."
"In any case, as an apology, we have prepared a small banquet. We invite Your Lordship and this child who has helped us to rest for a short while."
The old tree spirit said, and though the colossal banyan tree serving as its main body did not move, it gave people an illusion of "standing up to welcome them."
The old man's face embedded in the tree trunk slowly smoothed out, its expression gentle and composed. Probably the most difficult part—which was obtaining Asakura's forgiveness (even though Asakura had not actually said he would forgive them)—had been completed, and the air in the forest relaxed accordingly.
As if it were some kind of silent invitation, the surroundings of the clearing began to grow lively.
The first to show themselves were a group of squirrels; they slid down along the aerial roots, rolled around on the ground for a turn, and then nimbly stood up, cradling nuts and berries found from god-knows-where in their arms. A portion of them were even out-of-season items, making Asakura unable to help but suspect whether these fellows had dug up the provisions they stored for last winter.
They formed a crooked, single-file line, placed the fruits neatly beneath the tree, and even patted their chests in a decent imitation of manners, as if they had completed an important mission.
Immediately following that, the sound of fluttering wings came from the shadows within the forest.
A few nightingales? Turtledoves? Well, Asakura didn't actually understand birds very well; in short, they landed neatly on the low-hanging twigs, weaving a rhythm with crisp and intricate chirps, like an improvised accompaniment.
Amusingly, their singing voices were not noisy; instead, it reminded Asakura of the festival from a few days ago, adding a bit of a lighthearted atmosphere to this clearing.
"There are even little deer?"
Tsurumi Rumi, whose eyes could barely take it all in, said in a quiet, surprised voice: "It's not like this is Nara..."
They saw a deer of no small size walk slowly out from the forest not far away, and surprisingly, several macaques were actually standing on its back.
The deer gently lowered its head, letting the monkeys jump down without a single shred of elegance to perform a monkey show, clustering into a noisy mess of chattering and squawking. However, they were very quickly chased away by foxes and raccoon dogs that popped out from nowhere, followed immediately by raccoon dogs with leaves resting on their heads performing a belly-drum show. Their charmingly naive appearance made Tsurumi Rumi unable to help but clap her hands lightly.
Within the nearby grass, several wild rabbits also poked their heads out, running in circles around the clearing, occasionally making exaggerated leaping motions that drew bursts of joyful commotion.
Naturally, serving as banquet food was also very important; they were quickly brought forward slyly by those monkeys who had been chased away earlier, consisting primarily of fruits—though it was unknown whether the monkeys had embezzled any of it themselves.
The most eye-catching were the fruits piled upon the broad tree roots—apples that were not particularly plump but looked quite beautiful, gleaming with a rosy luster, which spilled sweet juices the moment they were bitten open; clusters of grapes placed inside wide banana leaves that served as platters, glowing faintly like gemstones under the illumination of the fireflies; in addition, there were fragrant pears and some fruits that Asakura could not recognize, piled heavily and fully right in front of him and Tsurumi Rumi.
Aside from that, there was also a beverage contained within a certain type of fruit; its surface reflected an amber-like pale yellow, emitting a sweet fragrance like honey.
Asakura lightly caught a scent of it, drank it down in one gulp, and then smoothly took away the cup in the little girl's hand.
Finding her hand suddenly empty, the girl, who hadn't even had time to take a single sip, looked at him with an expression of utter disbelief.
"This is alcohol." Asakura said: "You are still a minor, you cannot drink this."
"You aren't an adult either, are you!"
The little one complained in a small voice, and resentfully took two more bites of her apple.
The old tree spirit continually watched all of this in silence.
Its aerial roots swayed gently, as if nodding in approval of this hospitality.
The animals came and went, each attending to their duties, without fighting over food and without fear. Even existences that should originally reside at opposite ends of the food chain maintained a miraculous tacit understanding at this moment—Tsurumi Rumi even saw a bear not far away, even though Hiratsuka had explicitly said before bringing them to the campsite that there were no bears in these woods!
Yet at this moment, that bear also sat there obediently, merely shaking its head and swaying its brain in harmony with the singing of the nightingales (?), its eyes staring longingly at the cup in Asakura's hand from time to time.
The entire clearing seemed to be enveloped by an invisible rule, permitting only carousing and sharing.
Within this space blessed by the forest, the wondrous sights did not appear out of place at all; instead, it became a matter-of-course daily routine. Asakura didn't really mind it much either; after all, in a certain sense, this space was somewhat similar to the 'Divine Kingdom' where the Invisible Shrine was located, being essentially the old tree spirit's home turf.
"Alright, eating a little bit is close enough."
Because the curry from dinner hadn't tasted very good, Asakura, who had actually eaten quite a lot of fruit, spoke to the old tree spirit after having his fill of food and drink: "We should just about be leaving. Where are those two people?"
"They can be handed over to Your Lordship at any time."
The old tree spirit said slowly: "However, before that, we have an uncalled-for request that we hope Your Lordship might grant..."
"I understand, I won't disclose your existence to others."
Asakura gave a swift, unconstrained smile, nodding in agreement without taking it to heart.
"Uh, it is not that matter."
"...Huh?"