Side Story: The Flesh Tree
Side Story: The Flesh Tree
DURING the days when Mynoghra was still at peace, right around the time Isla was summoned, and several days before Atou deployed to Dragontan, Mynoghra was constantly running into and fixing empire-management problems. Issues were bound to occur once they integrated Dark Elves as real live citizens into their empire and started forming a system of government that wasn’t depicted in the actual game.
It goes without saying that the Dark Elves were far from incompetent. They had already established a system where they’d voluntarily resolve any issues within their ability. But they naturally still ran into problems outside their authority to solve alone. It was solely Atou’s responsibility to be consulted on such small yet important matters.
Yet another such problem seemed to have sprung up again today.
Someone called out to Atou as she inspected the city and took in its growing prosperity.
“Excuse me, Lady Atou. May I have a moment of your time?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“I would like to consult you about the Flesh Trees…” Emle said.
Emle was the council member who’d single-handedly undertaken all matters related to Domestic Affairs. Her scope of work was as broad and varied as they come, and she was even taking on problems that shouldn’t normally fall to her. She was bound to surpass her limits soon, but so far, she was putting her all into her work without a single complaint, which said a lot about how skilled she was and how much Mynoghra was still in its infancy.
With a satisfied smile on her face, Atou happily made time to listen to such a hard worker, hoping she could offer whatever assistance she could.
“It’s King Takuto’s wish to make our empire even bigger and better and to lead his people to happiness, so I am more than happy to avail myself to you,” she said.
“Thank you very much. Then…I hate to ask this of you so soon, but I think it will be faster if you see the problem for yourself…”
“Oh? What in the world could possibly require me to see it to understand the problem?”
A problem that was faster explained by showing than telling had to have something to do with the terrain or buildings. If Emle just wanted normal management advice, explaining the statistics and details would be faster, and entreaties from the citizens would also come across better with words alone.
Seeing the disconcerted look on Emle’s face had Atou tilting her head and wondering if that big of an issue had crept into the current construction projects since she’d last checked…
Emle led her to the food silo and production facility unique to Mynoghra that took the place of a Granary, known as the Flesh Tree Nursery area.
“So…how big is this supposed to get?”
Emle started things right off by asking about what had been concerning her.
At her question, Atou craned her neck way back to look up and up at the Flesh Trees towering over her. The corners of her lips started to twitch.
I-It’s already too big…!
Indeed, the Flesh Trees were far too big. They had massively mutated and outgrown the size she knew them to be. They’d already grown to twice the size of a normal fruit tree and flaunted an even more overwhelming presence than before. As far as Atou knew, the Flesh Tree wasn’t supposed to grow so big. At the very least, the visuals from the game never depicted it as anywhere near this size.
“Er, since when did it end up like this?” she asked.
“From the beginning, I think? I also thought it wouldn’t grow any bigger once it reached the size of a typical fruit tree, but it hasn’t stopped growing…”
Emle gave Atou a pleading, confused look. Atou wanted to shout that she felt the exact same way.
Just how big is it going to grow?
Atou clearly saw new growth and branches extending out of the top of the trees with her superhuman vision. Apparently, they were going to grow bigger yet. At this point, only the Flesh Tree itself knew how big it’d end up.
I honestly don’t know the answer… But showing any concern about the matter will only harm the Heroes’ reputation!!
“Hehe,” Atou chuckled in a desperate attempt to show she knew all. “How big do you think it will get?”
Internally, she was sweating bullets because her bluff would crumble if Emle insisted on an answer. Fortunately, luck was on her side. Emle looked impressed by her seemingly thoughtful response and started acting like she was yet again awed by one of Mynoghra’s great Heroes.
“I-I couldn’t possibly guess! It would be imprudent of a puny Dark Elf such as I to dare assume I could possibly know anything about a plant from the Land of the Gods!!”
Victory is mine! Atou did a little celebratory dance on the inside as she became convinced of her success. All that was left was for her to put the final touches on it.
“There’s no need to demean yourself so. Every single Dark Elf is one of our precious citizens after all…”
Emle was further moved by such an obvious line. Atou felt a little guilty for deceiving the awfully innocent Dark Elf woman, but she couldn’t stop now that she’d come this far.
“Hehehe. Let’s just say the answer to this question is a secret. It will be quite the treat for you to see how truly amazing His Majesty’s plants are with your own eyes.”
“Of course! That makes perfect sense! Thank you so much for going out of your way to tell me, Lady Atou!”
“You’re very welcome. Please let me know if you need anything else. Oh, and please continue to monitor the situation.”
And that was how Atou succeeded in perfectly deflecting the situation. Still, the issue at hand was an incredibly troubling one. Once Atou parted ways with Emle and was confident she was out of sight, she made a mad dash for the Palace.
◇◇◇
“KING TAKUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
There was only one way for Atou to handle problems that she felt were too much for her: go and whine about it to Takuto, her king and the person she trusted most.
Atou burst into the Palace like a child in the middle of a tantrum and threw herself at Takuto with tears glistening in her crimson eyes.
“King Takuto! Something is making the Flesh Trees grow like skyscrapers! Just how big are they going to get?!” she whined at him.
She looked like she was in a real pickle this time. Even Takuto, who usually felt a little exasperated by her antics, sympathized with her completely on this occasion.
“Yeah, I saw it too… Wonder how it’ll turn out?”
Takuto Ira could see all the same things his vassals did. Atou, his Hero, was no exception, and he’d witnessed her conversation with Emle through their shared vision. In all honesty, Takuto was as in the dark about it as Atou was. This was a first for him, and he’d just assumed the trees would grow to be the same size as any other fruit tree.
Takuto racked his brain. The Flesh Trees didn’t have any flavor text that mentioned them growing to insane sizes. The Eterpedia only explained how it grew a Mystery Meat-like fruit that tasted like human flesh and said nothing about its ecology as a plant. So it was just as much of a mystery to him.
It didn’t help that Eternal Nations could get pretty vague when it came to its flavor text, and this world seemed to be taking its own liberties with the details too. He’d spotted plenty of changes thus far, none quite as amusing as the jovial personalities given to the Brain Eaters. If his theory was right, then the giant Flesh Tree problem could have stemmed from this world filling in more of the vaguer details again.
“Maybe it took to the soil?” he ventured.
It wasn’t the most educated guess, but it still fit the situation. After all, they did put down roots in the curious terrain of the Accursed Lands. The land was unproductive and swamped with abnormally huge trees. Perhaps some sort of synergy with that particular environment led to the Flesh Tree’s monstrous growth.
Maybe the Flesh Tree is all pumped-up trying to meet the demand for Food and wants to put the rival trees around it to shame…? I’m not sure if something that crazy is actually possible, but I’m not willing to dismiss the idea when it’s already a freakish tree that produces oddly shaped fruit and beautifully green leaves within Cursed Terrain…
Takuto looked down at Atou, burying her face in his chest, her mood a thousand times better than when she’d entered the room, and their eyes met.
“Why don’t we call for the others?” Takuto said to deflect from his bashfulness as he gently removed her from his chest.
◇◇◇
“I’LL be honest with you: the Flesh Trees have grown bigger than expected.”
Takuto’s strategy was to bluntly tell them the truth. Rather than making things more difficult to solve by dancing around the matter, he thought it was smarter to tackle the problem with everyone’s collective knowledge.
Mynoghra had a mountain of problems to deal with as it was. Now was an especially critical time to strengthen their ties with Phon’kaven and acquire whatever benefits they could from the relationship. Takuto didn’t want to waste time on such a trivial matter.
His decision directly resulted in Atou being drilled by Emle’s incredulous gaze, but Atou herself had already let the whole incident go. To her, Takuto came first in every way, so she didn’t care if her reputation suffered a blow due to one of his decisions.
At any rate, the more pressing matter was the Flesh Tree.
After answering the king’s summons to come to the Flesh Tree Nursery, everyone who’d gathered before the freakish trees in question pulled a face at Takuto’s confession.
“Could it be…you all noticed the problem before now?”
The Dark Elves each jerked back at his question. They couldn’t ignore a query put forth by their king. Elder Moltar, the wisest of the Dark Elves, answered him with diffidence.
“I must admit I thought they were mighty impressive trees…”
The towering Flesh Trees almost seemed to be flaunting themselves in a way that suggested they were saying, “Eat me! Eat me!” Takuto wasn’t sure if it was okay to humanize them so much, but they seemed motivated enough to outgrow the trees around them. Ultimately, that meant Mynoghra would soon be home to a strange tree that produced Mystery Meat Fruit that tasted like human flesh and would be large enough to build a house into. And not just one, but a nursery’s worth of them…
Everyone there had vaguely considered the possibility of that happening. Major problems in big organizations are often caused by such situations. Multiple people notice a small issue but leave it in favor of their daily workload and higher priority concerns, letting it grow into an unmanageable problem. Not only were the Dark Elves guilty of that, but even Mynoghra’s illustrious Heroes ignored it until it was too late.
“Th-That’s a valid question. I may or may not have wondered if it was always supposed to be so big…”
Mynoghra’s second highly regarded Hero, Isla, Queen of Bugs, answered Takuto’s question next. It was hard to guess what she was thinking from her buggy compound eyes, but she clearly felt guilty when she turned her face away from him as she answered with an unusually shifty voice.
Takuto wanted to shout “Et tu, Brute?!” but he didn’t think the reference to Julius Caesar would mean anything to anyone there, and he also didn’t have the courage to try, so he quietly muttered “I see” instead.
When it came down to it, everyone in the council had turned a blind eye to the issue. Mynoghra’s council members were busy enough as it was. Even Takuto had only just given it attention because of the report he’d received from Emle through Atou. If not for that, he most likely would’ve left it be even if he’d noticed the odd changes himself.
The trees were left to sprout up like overly eager skyscrapers because everyone had chosen not to deal with them. They were equally responsible.
“Practically speaking, what will the food production rate become if it grows as big as the other giant trees in this forest?” Takuto glanced at Elder Moltar and asked him to speculate about the future output.
Now wasn’t the time to be looking for who they could shift the blame onto. Of course, in order to prevent such a thing from happening again, Takuto would need to implement the Japanese business practice of HORENSO, which stands for report, communicate, and consult. But before he could start creating the backbone to keeping a healthy flow of information going within his empire’s infrastructure, he needed to do something about these incorrigibly motivated trees.
The current yield was already more than sufficient for the Dark Elves to survive. They were actually suffering from a surplus of Food, which had already led to talks of implementing a new process to dry the Mystery Meat into knock-off jerky.
It’s better to have too much Food than to have too little. But having too much still comes with its own share of problems.
Elder Moltar immediately understood what Takuto was concerned about.
“I’m afraid the news isn’t good,” he said. “If we go by my rough estimate, I imagine the supply will be so great that our storehouses will be bursting at the seams even after every citizen has eaten their full three times a day. Speaking conservatively, we can expect at least several times the current output…but I fear it may be more like ten times the amount…”
Things are worse than I imagined, Takuto thought, his hands getting clammy with the thought of having to deal with such excess. Even if they built more food Silos, they would be back to square one when those filled up. It would be highly unproductive to get into an endless game of chicken trying to construct a Silo every time one filled up.
They couldn’t just discard the excess supply either. The fruit produced by the Flesh Tree—known commonly as Mystery Meat—replicated human flesh to an eerily realistic degree. The fleshy fruit undeniably had muscle tissue, blood vessels, and even fat. Moreover, the fruit’s juices were blood. Real blood. An outbreak of the plague was unavoidable if they haphazardly discarded it.
The citizens of Mynoghra were evil-aligned, so they were relatively resistant to plagues and poisons, but they weren’t immune. A decrease in public hygiene would increase the spread of disease and reduce the number of healthy workers.
If that wasn’t bad enough, there was no limit to the Mystery Meat produced by the Flesh Trees. Spoiled meat would eventually overflow from their landfills and bury all of Mynoghra under its rot. Heck, they might even be responsible for drowning the world in Mystery Meat.
Takuto had experienced almost every kind of Game Over possible, but this would go down in history as the most humiliating and absurd. That settled it. This problem needed to be nipped in the bud before it was too late…
Isla raised one of her raptorial forearms and asked, “Won’t soil exhaustion and nutrient depletion happen long before that? We don’t want the whole ecosystem to collapse on us…”
The law of conservation of energy and the law of conservation of mass are always at play in the natural world. Plants absorb nutrients from the earth and through photosynthesis to grow and bear fruit. Planting the same type of crop repeatedly in the same area will drain the land of the nutrients needed for its growth, making the land less fertile over time.
Even the most common crops are susceptible to this, so it wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen with a nursery of Flesh Trees eagerly outgrowing the ginormous trees native to the Accursed Lands.
As one of Mynoghra’s Heroes, Isla had access to some of Takuto’s knowledge from modern Earth, just as Atou did. That, coupled with her own common sense, made her worry about Mynoghra’s land becoming tired and infertile. Except she was forgetting one thing…their common sense didn’t align with the common sense of this world and the system that governed it.
“This land never had any nutrients to deplete from the start.”
“It’s certainly easy to forget the difficulties we had trying to grow anything before the Flesh Trees…”
Takuto and Elder Moltar’s remarks instantly assuaged Isla’s concerns.
The Flesh Trees were pumping out Mystery Meat without abiding by the laws of conservation. At this point, their production was more within the realm of alchemy than the laws of nature. The problem was becoming more difficult to control by the minute.
“Does that mean there’s no need to consider soil exhaustion?” Atou asked. “Then that leaves us with the more pressing concern of how to deal with the excess food—or rather, the Mystery Meat Surplus…”
“Exactly, Lady Atou. We’ll have a real problem on our hands if we don’t do something soon…” Elder Moltar said.
Everyone thought that soil exhaustion would’ve been easier to deal with but felt it was a tad problematic to voice that opinion aloud. So they racked their brains to find a solution to the bizarre problem that was now threatening Mynoghra’s future.
“How about thinning them out in moderation, master?” Isla was the first to offer a suggestion, perhaps to make up for her earlier comment being off the mark. “Pruning the trees and properly handling fruit crop load management is just as important as anything else.”
Under any other circumstance, her solution would’ve been right on the mark as it drew from common knowledge of how to manage fruit trees. But common sense ran into yet another roadblock here.
“No, that won’t— Actually, Isla, try cutting off that branch.”
“As you command, my master…”
This was a case where showing would be faster than telling. With that in mind, Takuto gave Isla the order, and she swung one of her giant sickle arms at the branch as he commanded. The branch of the nearest unfortunate Flesh Tree was instantly severed by the overwhelming force and sharp cutting edge of her forearm.
“GYAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
A deafening scream promptly echoed throughout the city from the pruned Flesh Tree. After informing all the panicking Dark Elves that there was no need for concern through his Commander skill, Takuto forced an indescribably tired smile. Not even he had expected its scream to be so…brain-rattling and grisly.
“See, the Flesh Trees…cry out bloody murder when you try to uproot or prune them like this.”
“Are they related to mandrakes or something…?”
Sadly, the Flesh Trees let out a shriek capable of bursting eardrums whenever anyone tried to cut them down or pull them out of the ground. Takuto had literally just learned this fact when he looked them up in the Eterpedia for any hint on how to dispose of them. He cradled his head in his hand after realizing the entry had additional flavor text added since he’d last checked it.
He was willing to overlook the Flesh Tree’s idiosyncrasies since it made for an interesting plant creature, but he was concerned Eternal Nations’ flavor text could be added to. All of Takuto’s strategies were formed based on his experience playing Eternal Nations and from the information he gleaned from its Eterpedia entries. It’d be unbearable if his carefully calculated strategies were rendered useless by newly added random details.
There should be a limit to even the most nightmarish of Nightmare Modes.
It wouldn’t be as simple as just revising his strategies when the time came, because he’d never know when it’d introduce an empire-toppling problem. At least it didn’t seem as dire as it could be when his first real problem of that sort revolved around overly motivated Flesh Trees…
Then again, it shouldn’t have really come as that big of a shock when this seemed to be the trend. This world didn’t seem to be applying Eternal Nations’ settings exactly how they were in the game as much as altering and adapting them in one way or another to fit. A perfect example of this was the goods he could produce with Emergency Production. A lot of those items couldn’t be found within Eternal Nations, so that was a case of the world adapting things in their favor.
Viewing everything as the same as the game will only come back to bite me. Takuto was starting to vaguely realize that fact, and yet there was still this optimistic side of him that thought everything would work out in the end.
“So, to summarize, our only option here is to figure out what to do with this Mystery Meat that tastes like human flesh rather than how to dispose of the eager tree that pumps it out like there’s no tomorrow…?” Atou muttered, exhausted.
This was where the council identified the list of problems they had to contend with:
First, the Flesh Trees were hell-bent on growing as big and tall as possible. At a minimum, they were bound to grow as large as the native towering trees of the Accursed Land. There was even a chance they would outgrow their neighbors.
Second, pruning and cutting down the trees was out of the question. The Flesh Trees would torment Mynoghra’s citizens with their wailing shrieks with every snip or cut of their limbs.
Third, they needed to properly consume the Mystery Meat. Not just dispose of it but consume it. With its production rates, it’d eventually outdo whatever disposal method.
“Is this some kind of punishment?”
Takuto felt it was hopeless after he reread the list. He tasted the despair of someone who had to waste their precious time on something so trivial yet unignorable when they already had a mountain of more important things to do.
If worse came to worst, he could always use Eternal Nations’ strategy game mechanics to forcefully deconstruct the Flesh Trees, which counted as a facility, but doing so would give him the opposite problem of having no Food and causing Mynoghra’s citizens to starve to death.
“Anyone have any suggestions?”
Takuto was open to any ideas at this point. They say that three heads are better than one—the chances of a surprisingly useful plan being suggested would increase with more people brainstorming. He was desperate for a solution if possible, but he’d even settle for an ingenious idea to help them maintain the status quo.
“How about using it for trade with Phon’kaven, master?” Isla proposed.
“That would be perfect if we could make it work, Isla…” Atou answered on Takuto’s behalf.
That was a great idea. A marvelous one, in fact.
The only GLARING drawback was that the Mystery Meat had this annoying trait that made you think you were consuming human flesh when you ate it. And in this instance, the people of Phon’kaven rather unfortunately didn’t have a habit of eating human flesh…
So that idea was out. Way out.
“How about moving up the production of Mynoghra’s unique race, the Homunculus?” Elder Moltar suggested. “We could encourage them to reproduce like rabbits…”
“Unfortunately, the Flesh Tree’s productivity increases with the size of the city,” Atou answered. “In other words, it’s highly likely they will ramp up their output to match our growing population…”
The Flesh Tree’s bonuses worked in conjunction with the city’s size. This was what made it such an effective facility until the end of the game, but that only added to their real-life plight now.
“Master, why don’t you try increasing the number of Larva I spawn?” Isla suggested, then continued the second half of her proposal in a private telepathic message. “I also believe it should be possible to exchange unnecessary Food once you build a Market.”
Why didn’t I think of that?! Takuto inwardly gave his knee a good slap at that epiphany.
“I completely overlooked that option.”
Isla’s proposal was the first light to illuminate what seemed like impossible darkness for them. They would only be postponing the inevitable, but there were plenty of uses for Isla’s Larva, which could serve as labor units. Once they filled enough labor slots, they could then be swapped over to combat units, making them a mighty force to contend with indeed. And, of course, Food would be consumed in proportion to their numbers.
Bringing up the Market was about as inspired of an idea as they came.
Among the buildings that can be built within Eternal Nations is one called a Market. It mainly boosts the productivity of Mana, which is equivalent to Currency in the game, and gives trade bonuses, while also unlocking the Trade system.
Trade allows the player to buy and sell Materials, Food, Strategic Resources, and the like based on Mana. Moreover, the Trade system is unique because the value doesn’t fluctuate based on the buying and selling of goods, and there’s no upper limit to the trading volume.
If this unrealistic limitlessness could be used in this world the same way it worked in the game, then the range of strategies available to him would be expanded at once with the various supplies and Mana he could buy with his Food surplus. Then the incorrigible Mystery Meat production machines would instantly turn into his golden goose.
Of course, it was nothing more than wishful thinking until he could verify if it worked, so he’d keep it just between him and Isla for now. But their potential would explode if it did work. It was definitely a plan worth adopting.
“Why don’t we go with Isla’s plan for now?”
Everyone nodded firmly along with Takuto’s suggestion. They all had a feeling they wouldn’t be able to come up with anything better even if they wasted more time on it.
“Discussion about what measures we need to take in the future are on hold until further notice.”
“A wise decision, Your Majesty,” Elder Moltar said. “New ideas might spring up with time.”
There are several ways to find a solution to a problem. One such way is to temporarily shelve the problem and reconsider it at a later point once the situation becomes clearer and the organization is more capable of handling it. At first glance, that might seem like neglecting the problem or procrastinating, but it’s the most effective method when there are no measures to be taken at the current stage or a stopgap measure to apply.
Continued monitoring and management would be necessary, but this wasn’t the wrong decision for Mynoghra at this point.
“I agree. We don’t know how big they will actually grow until we see it for ourselves.”
Atou was absolutely right about that. Their concerns might’ve been for naught if the trees didn’t grow that big…or they could shoot up to ten times bigger than expected. Either way, they needed to closely scrutinize the data before taking concrete measures.
“Plus, aren’t the Flesh Trees strictly grown and managed within the nursery? Then they shouldn’t spread as long as we don’t artificially plant their seeds elsewhere.”
“Then that means we just need to properly manage the trees within this controlled area,” Elder Moltar summarized.
“And if we do that, the problem shouldn’t grow out of control. As for handling the Mystery Meat, we might have a surplus right now, but demand will catch up if the number of cities under Mynoghra’s control increases.”
“Oh yeah! I didn’t think about that.”
Takuto slapped his hands together. The Flesh Trees may have a fast growth rate, but they only grew vertically. There was a limit to how thick they could grow, and their numbers wouldn’t increase without Mynoghra planting more. The situation would only improve if they could withstand the current problems it presented.
“It looks like we’ll be spared from the worst-case scenario.”
The whole council sighed in unison with relief over there being a solution. As much as Mynoghra was an empire full of supernatural phenomena, it was ridiculous for a mere building—a plant, in fact—to bring about a national crisis that threatened its future existence.
Takuto shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, then walked up to a Flesh Tree and said “Don’t cause me too much trouble, you hear?” as he patted its trunk.
His comment was met with a downpour of Mystery Meat.
“…E-Even if it’s just a plant, it’s still a member of Mynoghra! There’s no way it’d intentionally try to cause trouble for King Takuto!!”
“L-Little Atou is absolutely right! I’m sure even this sapling will put its heart and soul into serving our master’s wishes!!”
The two Heroes tried their best to appease their king, but Takuto only felt like things were going to get worse from here. He was only just getting started bringing elements from Mynoghra into this world. There were plenty more crazy loyal creatures like the Long-Legged Bugs and the Brain Eaters and even more wacky buildings than the Flesh Trees for him to put into play. And then there were the rest of the Heroes, each missing a few more screws than the last.
That jack-in-the-box filled with gunpowder and live coals was just waiting for him to let it pop open. In any event, stimulating days were ahead of him.
Unsure of how he felt about that, Takuto finished off that awfully exhausting day’s worth of work.
