The rest was short, but my mind was clear. Ever since Tir's demon god possessed my body, I had become something that couldn't even be called ordinary with empty words. Fatigue, spirit, flesh—all of it. Even with just a tiny bit of rest, I return to a perfect state.
This time was no different. It was my first proper rest since coming to the Tree of Origin, but I rose with a clear mind after only about thirty minutes.
"Ah. Now I won't even be able to sleep in properly."
Lamenting the lost sleep, I raised my body and discovered the returner surrounded by moss. When I pulled at the moss that had slipped out through the collar of the returner's clothes, they violently flinched. The moss that had moved across the returner's skin for about an hour, wiping away the dirt, had become lukewarm from their body heat.
"Puhah! Heup. Heuu. You..."
"Why? I did well as ordered. I didn't lift a finger, and Shei washed without moving a muscle either. How is it, refreshing right?"
'My body is refreshing... so I hate it even more!'
What am I supposed to do about that. Sigh, let's just stop caring now.
"What should we do with this moss? Want to use it again later?"
"No thanks... Just burn it. It feels unpleasant."
"These are the ones that sacrificed their bodies to wash you, Shei, so you're being too harsh. You should at least show some gratitude, let alone not doing so."
But no particular use came to mind, so I just threw it out the window. Indeed, irresponsible littering is the most freeing way to dispose of trash.
'Seeing it thrown away like that makes me feel a bit sorry...'
What am I really supposed to do. Even when I want to ignore it, I can't. I scratched my belly and lounged around the room.
"I'm feeling a bit hungry after waking up. Should I take out some food?"
"...There's Manhanjeonseok. Take it out of the pocket."
"Let's save that. There's food right here, so there's no need to use emergency rations, right? I think there was a food storage here."
Ah, found it. Near the brazier containing seed oil, I saw a tree branch bent like a fishing rod. It looked as if it was bearing heavy and tempting fruit compared to its slender branch.
Pumpkin bowl, bamboo faucet, moss towel, seed oil brazier. Just like those, the food storage was clearly made using plants as well. Originally, food usually meant crops. I pushed aside the branch, expecting fresh fruit.
"Since this is the Tree of Origin, there should be so much fruit and grain that you'd trip over..."
Saying that and looking at the fruit hanging from the branch, I flinched at a completely unexpected fruit.
What hung from the branch was not fruit, but... a beast covered in thin, soft skin.
Pigs, rabbits, chickens. Beasts good for eating were curled up and sleeping. Like a child before birth, in the amniotic fluid of fruit juice, with a branch as an umbilical cord.
A fruit with animals hanging from it. I had thought it would be nice if meat grew on trees, but I never imagined it would actually exist.
I plucked one large pig-fruit. Inside the fruit that required both arms to barely lift, the pig squirmed. I couldn't say it was alive, but it wouldn't have grown into a pig while dead. I frowned as I looked at the pig-fruit.
"This is..."
[It's an Origin Beast!]
A parrot's voice came from outside. When I, puzzled, opened the kitchen window, the green-feathered parrot flew in as if it had been waiting and perched on my shoulder.
"Origin Beast?"
[Beasts shaped from trees, Origin Beasts. They're the masterpieces of Neviada and Agartha.]
The parrot puffed out its chest as if boasting and squawked, then bit my ear and shouted.
[More importantly. Leave the window open! If you close it, I can't come in when I want to!]
"The whole point of windows is to prevent that sort of thing."
[It's better if I come in! That way, like now, when you're looking at the Origin Beast in fear, I can clear the fog with my knowledge!]
"I wasn't particularly scared... Huh? Wait a minute. The window was definitely closed until just now. How did you know I saw the Origin Beast?"
[Ack!]
The parrot flinched, hit at the core of the matter. It must have used mice or insects as familiars to peek, but unable to confess that fact, the parrot rolled its eyes and made an excuse.
[Squawk! I saw through the window gap!]
"I'm pretty sure I closed it..."
[There was a gap!]
"When the window is closed, not even a speck of sunlight gets through?"
[If I'm here, there is one!]
"How arbitrary. Well, if you say so."
Even if I pressed further, it wouldn't stop peeking. It would just think it was unlucky to get caught and hide its familiars more secretly. Let's pretend I don't know.
"Is this something we can eat?"
[Squawk! Of course! They were made for that purpose in the first place!]
"For that purpose? Then, Origin Beasts were edible from the start?"
[Yes! Killing precious livestock for something like meat is inefficient!]
That's true, but. I didn't know that Origin Beasts, Neviada's divine power, were edible. Origin Beasts even move and fight. I naturally thought they were a power for fighting.
The parrot, which had been blabbering continuously, covered its mouth with its wing.
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[Oops. Did I talk too much? Well, it doesn't matter. We have a lot to share! Let's finish the rest of the story at the exchange meeting!]
"Exchange meeting?"
[You're the one who suggested an exchange meeting! I'll at least wait for mealtime, so hurry up and eat, then come outside!]
Ah, right. I did say let's have an exchange meeting, didn't I? Since I can't read minds, I can't immediately understand what it's saying.
I tore open the pig-fruit and took out the pig. The pig inside the fruit opening its eyes and moving... did not happen. I took out a card and split open the pig-fruit's hide. Even though it grew from a branch, its structure was exactly like a real pig.
Even while grilling the meat on a pan, I couldn't shake off my doubts.
"An animal grown from a tree. Is it really okay to eat?"
It was an unfounded fear. Meat is meat. Feelings aside, I ate it deliciously. For some reason the meat tasted like beans, but for someone from the Military Nation, that didn't matter at all.
[Hurry up and eat! How long are you going to make me wait?]
"Where did the parrot who said they'd at least wait for mealtime go."
The parrot busily urged me on. Possessing a parrot had given it a petty patience like a parrot. Grumbling, I prepared to leave and asked.
"I'll go now, so please guide me."
[I sent Walpurgis! It'll be waiting at the door!]
"Huh? You made it wait this whole time? You should have sent it after I finished eating. That's mean."
[So what! It's fine!]
"I said that because I feel bad for Walpurgis, not for you."
[If I'm fine, then it's fine too!]
"How arbitrary, this person."
I guess at least they ask for opinions, which makes them better than Neviada. Either way, they're definitely quite an annoying person. I asked the parrot.
"Ah. Is it okay to bring Shei to the exchange meeting?"
[Squawk? Shei? Who's that?]
"The person whose arm fell off."
[Ah, them?]
The parrot glanced toward the returner, then stroked the underside of its beak with its wing and pondered.
[Is it okay? Not okay? Squawk. The saintess will know everything anyway, so it shouldn't matter, right?]
"If it's a story you can tell me anyway, it doesn't really matter if it gets known, right?"
[Squawk. But, I might inadvertently blurt out a secret!]
The attitude toward dealing with mistakes is quite good. But isn't there an option to just not inadvertently blurt out secrets?
[I might be able to shut your mouth, but it's hard to shut theirs. That's a saintess. Light looks down upon all things, so there are no secrets under the sun. If you want to hide something from the saintess, the only way is to not speak of it at all.]
It's already too late. The returner knows all your plans. They came from having seen the future, after all.
"Then how about listening to Shei's information as well?"
[I don't particularly have anything to ask...]
"There might be? That mask."
[Ah!]
Agartha's mask. I couldn't read how they obtained it or what its origins were, so this was a chance to hear the story from the returner's own mouth.
[Squawk! Alright! I'll permit it with a heavy heart.]
"Then I'll have to bring Shei. As you can see, Shei has become so weak that they can't even wash themselves."
[Ah, I saw! Right! You were pretty amazing? Using plants like animals to play with! It's an idea even I couldn't come up with!]
"Huh? Play with? What do you mean?"
That's not playing with, that's serving. I just slightly modified the towel moss here, what do you mean play with. The returner is satisfied with that service too!
No, more importantly, when did you see that? Are you constantly peeking without missing a single moment? Does the great witch have nothing better to do?
The parrot seemed to realize its slip of tongue anew and flinched.
[...Squawk! Just let it go!]
"Let go of what? Come here."
[I'll tell Walpurgis to prepare a cart! Walpurgiiis!]
The parrot avoided my hand and fled straight out the window. A wingless human couldn't follow. Clicking my tongue, I approached the returner.
"Did you hear, Shei? Your every move is probably being watched. Be careful with your words and actions from now on."
"...Ugh. I don't like being watched."
"Look who's talking. Who kept tailing and watching me in Tantalus?"
"Th-that's because you were so suspicious! And if we're being fair, my intuition was right! You lying King of Humans!"
What? Liar? Me, I've hidden, minimized, or exaggerated facts, but I've hardly ever lied! And if we're talking about liars, you're much worse than me!
"Is that something someone who insisted on cross-dressing while being misunderstood as a pederast should say?"
"Do you think I cross-dressed because I wanted to?! I couldn't help it! If I had been in a woman's appearance from the start, you or Tirkanjaka would have definitely been on guard! I wouldn't have been able to travel this comfortably...!"
"Is that so? Then, you don't have any facts you're hiding right now, do you?"
You're still hiding the fact that you're a returner. Aren't you?
Having been hit hard, the returner clamped their mouth shut and turned their head away. Stubbornly, as if they couldn't bring themselves to say that. Oh my, feelings are falling. This is why there's no motivation to take their side. The returner is the boss, the boss.
"Enough. Let's just go to that exchange meeting first."
"...Fine."
"They said they'd send a cart. We can just load Shei up like luggage."
"Don't treat a person like luggage!"
"Excuse me. Did a cargo cart arrive?"
I finished preparing and opened the door. A witch who seemed to have run from somewhere stood before the door, breathing heavily. The witch Walpurgis pushed forward the cart she had brought and said.
"I've brought the cart. Let's go."
"...Huh. This is."
I tilted my head at the somehow familiar handcart. The cart, which looked like a wheelchair, was made entirely of... gears, from the wheels to the body.