Chapter 14: Little Dory’s Wish

Chapter 14:
Little Dory’s Wish

 

I FELT A STRANGE SENSE of nostalgia when I looked at the young girl. I could tell that she’d grow up to be a real beauty, and even at her young age she had the elegance of high nobility. Her beautiful, straight hair looked like it was made of spun gold. She had clear skin, long eyelashes, and a lovely face. She looked like a human, and her name was Dryade. But she wasn’t human at all. When I used Discerning Eye on humans or other humanoids, it gave me their age, species, and occupation, but I got none of those for her.

 

Name: Dryade

Level: 55

Skills: Forest Sensitivity

 

I was a little relieved to see she didn’t have any horrific skills. Also, her level was pretty low compared to the pillbugs and those silver wolves.

“Given your great strength, I have a request to make of you,” she repeated.

She seemed to be growing impatient with me. I still didn’t sense any enmity, but I took a few steps back just to be safe. “That’s a pretty big ask out of the blue.”

“Please, at this rate, I’ll die.”

“Oh, come on, you can’t just pop up and put something like that on me.”

“Please, I’m desperate. I’ll do anything you ask.” The little girl fell flat on her face and spread out her arms and legs. She really was a strange one.

“Wh-what’s that supposed to be?”

“It’s the physical expression of complete surrender, to demonstrate that one bears no ill will.”

How was I supposed to respond to that? She really did seem to be in trouble, so I figured I should at least hear her out. “Okay, I’ll listen, but look, I’m not making any promises.”

“Ahhh, thank you so much!”

“Hold on! Stay away from me!”

“Oh, I’m sorry…”

Okay, yeah, I was probably being a little paranoid after my run-in with that killer tree. “Just talk. I’ll attack if you pull any funny business.”

“Understood, but I really don’t intend you any harm. May I speak?”

“Go ahead.”

“My name is Dryade, and I am a great tree of this forest.”

A tree? I cocked my head to the side, puzzled, and she spun around in place.

“This body is merely a projection. I have taken this form to better match your own.”

“We’ve never met before, have we…?”

“Indeed, we have not. But I know of your strength, and you seem like someone I could negotiate with.”

“Where exactly did you see my ‘strength’?”

“I know this forest well. I see all that happens within it.”

That must’ve been an effect of her Forest Sensitivity skill. Things were starting to make more sense. She’d probably been observing me since I set foot on the seventh floor, and when she saw that I had more power of reason than the monsters, she decided to come to me for help with whatever it was she needed. I was curious, to be honest, but I had some other things I needed to confirm.

“Can you read my mind?”

“No?”

“So you just randomly picked that form?”

“I did. But you do appear to be rather fond of it.”

Hey! I’m no pervert! my heart wanted to shout, but it wasn’t the time or the place. I was genuinely impressed, when I thought about it. Dryade looked exactly like Emma had when she was a kid. That explained that weird feeling of nostalgia.

“Get to the point. What’s bothering you?”

“I’m being sucked dry.”

“Uh, come again?”

“I’m being drained to the bone.”

Dryade wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed tight. Why that pose all of a sudden? I had to wonder. She glanced up at me, seeing that she had me properly rattled.

“Filthy, awful creatures…are gobbling me up! Eek!”

“You’re just messing with me now, aren’t you!”

“I was just accurately describing the dire reality of my situation.”

I was positive she was exaggerating, although she didn’t seem to be lying about being attacked.

“I live by extracting nutrients from the earth. Trees may not be able to walk, but we are abundant in magic. And those nasty monsters assault me day in and day out to try to get it for themselves!”

“Dryade, this sounds like an extreme nonproblem.”

“It’s a very real problem-problem!”

“Really?”

“Anyway, please help me.”

“Would you quit it with that pose?”

Her lying flat on her face on the ground thing was getting old. I helped her up and wiped the dirt off her clothes and face.

“Hm. You seem to be a genuinely kind person,” said Dryade. “So listen, I’m not asking you to do this for free. If you help me, I will tell you the location of a treasure chest.”

“A treasure chest, you say…”

“Also, I’ll tell you where the stairs are! You want to go further down, don’t you?”

Ah, right, her skill let her know everything about the forest. Of course she knew where the stairs were. And she was right, I did want treasure. She might not have been human, but she read me like a book. I pushed down the suspicion that I was being manipulated and tried to be more optimistic.

“I need to see what I’m dealing with before I agree.”

“How prudent.”

“Naw, I’m just a coward at heart.”

“Hm, I think we’re going to be good friends. Do you have a name?”

“Noir.”

“Then that is what I shall call you. You may call me Dory.” She picked up the hem of her skirt and spun around. She seemed to have taken a liking to this new form of hers. I had to admit it was a comforting one for me. If that was what she was going for, she was winning on grounds of psychological warfare.

The two of us hurried to the great tree in question. It wasn’t very far. On the way, Dory explained that her projected form was delicate, so we needed to avoid combat at all costs.

“Can you see it, Noir? It’s right over there.”

We were deep in the forest when Dory pointed ahead. There, a massive tree was rooted to the ground. It was overwhelmingly abundant with emerald green leaves. You could tell at a glance that it was something special. This was Dory’s real form.

“I can see what a fine tree you are even from a distance.”

“I appreciate the praise, but look carefully. Enemies abound.”

I got a little closer and squinted. It appeared that Dory could move her branches to some extent, and she was using them to try to fight off an enemy, specifically, a bee—a big one. Its whole body was gold and it was about two feet long. But no matter how many branches Dory threw at it, the bee kept coming, largely unconcerned.

“There are monsters called bronze bees that live in this forest but, as you might guess, they’re bronze. I think that one must be a variation.”

I knew monsters could mutate. Most mutants were stronger than their typical variants, so some people called them “evolutions.”

“It seems to be alone, but it’s very persistent about sucking up my magic.”

“Let’s get a little closer.” I got near enough to use my Discerning Eye.

 

Name: Golden Bee

Level: 254

Skills: High-Speed Flight; Intense Stinger; Slash Resistance (Grade C); Blunt Force Resistance (Grade C); Magic Absorption

 

Whoooooah! That thing was strong! Far stronger than I could have imagined. Emotionally speaking, I was instantly defeated.

“Noir, why is your face so pale?”

“Because all the blood drained from it…”

“Why are you trying to leave?”

“My feet just started moving on their own…”

“A-are you going?”

Dory looked like she was about to cry. Augh, I couldn’t stand looking at her like that! It was such a human expression that I started to doubt whether she really was just a tree. I took a deep breath and confessed what I’d seen when I assessed the golden bee.

“Hmm… Would you rather I be gentle or exciting?” Dory asked.

“Gentle, please.”

“You’re definitely going to lose.”

“That’s what you call gentle?! Then what was the exciting version?”

“In that creature, you shall meet your death.”

“Ughhh!”

Honestly, I was more impressed that Dory was so impassive. The golden bee was small, relatively speaking, and it might not have been able to do anything aggressive while it was busy absorbing her magic, but it did have some other dangerous skills, so I wasn’t sure what to do.

“My life is almost over, though,” Dory murmured. She looked off into the distance with a calm expression on her face. It was the face of someone who had resigned herself to grim fate.

Ugh—no! I wanted to know where to find the stairs to the eighth floor, I wanted the treasure, and I wanted to save Dory. But reality wasn’t going to make that any kind of easy.

Please! Give me some heavenly inspiration to get out of this bind!