A human shadow inside the meat fruit? Strange. This isn't the Primate Layer. Nor is it above; there shouldn't be people on the branch where hoofed animals bloom.
Then what is it? Let's open it first. I took out a card and tore the fruit's skin. Since it was a meat fruit, the skin was as tough as leather, but I was also someone who made a name for myself as a master pickpocket in my prime. The card that slipped into the gap easily split the skin. Juice resembling amniotic fluid flowed out from inside.
It was a fruit where a cow should have been. But I felt a human presence from inside the fruit. I thrust my hand inside the torn skin. I grabbed someone's ankle.
"Heave-ho."
Instead of a cow, I dragged out a human who had been sleeping inside the fruit.
She was a woman wrapped up tightly from head to toe. Underneath a thick cloak, her shirt was buttoned up securely. A bit of purple hair spilled out from the gaps of a giant witch's hat large enough to fit her entire head. The witch, who gave off a small and fragile impression, was fast asleep, completely unaware of my existence even in her dreams.
This isn't a fruit bearing a human, right? A living human squeezed into the fruit, didn't she?
"Mmnya, mmnya."
The regressor, discovering the sleep-talking witch, asked.
"Who is it?"
"Uh, well."
As for who the person sleeping in this unfamiliar place is...
'Thanks for lending me your body, Pero. Now rest easy. Alright, shall we start the ecological survey of the Human King? Where... the Human King hasn't returned to the room yet? Where did they go when they have nowhere else to go?'
It's the Grand Witch.
The Grand Witch, who sees the world and communicates through her familiars, hides her main body and focuses entirely on controlling them. This is to protect her main body, which is left defenseless while she controls her familiars. It's hard to imagine that her main body would be inside a meat fruit, and even if one knew, how could they find her among these countless meat fruits?
"It's a witch. It seems she came looking for a place to sleep."
What a completely out-of-the-blue encounter. If I saw right through the Grand Witch's identity, it would be suspicious, so let's just say she's a witch for now. The regressor looked at the deeply sleeping witch, glanced around once, and suddenly said.
"Did you come to meet her?"
"Pardon?"
"You found this fruit right away out of all these countless fruits, didn't you? Don't you have business with that witch?"
"..."
"Why? Don't tell me you're going to say it was a coincidence?"
"No, that can't be."
Hmm, right. I came because I felt a strange thought while coming down. You've got good intuition, Regressor.
"No wonder. You said your arm suddenly hurt, so I wondered what it was."
"It does hurt, okay? Do you think you're really as light as a feather? Is it halberd sickness?"
"I don't mean I'm light! You have regeneration!"
While we were bickering, the witch, sensing the noise, mumbled and frowned.
'I hear the Human King's voice? Are they outside? No. The sound is close. As if they are right next to me. Huh?'
Sensing an unusual presence, the Grand Witch's eyes snapped open. My eyes met the Grand Witch's. Looking back and forth between me and the fruit she had been lying in, the Grand Witch moved her mouth as if terrified.
"A-ah, u-ah!"
The Grand Witch shrank back greatly upon discovering me. She looked as if she had seen a thug. The regressor scolded me.
"She's completely terrified."
"That's because Mr. Shay's face is scary."
"Nonsense! You can't see my face from that position!"
"So you admit your face is unpleasant."
"It's still better than you with your bad conduct!"
"Huh? What's wrong with my conduct?"
"If you think about it, you forcefully dragged a sleeping person out! So of course she'd be scared!"
Well? Someone like the Grand Witch wouldn't be afraid of getting hurt. Moreover, she is an Elder. Even if her body is crushed while sleeping, she regenerates perfectly, commands countless familiars, and uses terrifying black magic without any risk. She is a being who should be the object of fear, not one who should feel fear.
There is only one reason why she is afraid. It's simply because people are scary.
In short, the Grand Witch has anthropophobia.
"Hello?"
"...D-Don't come near. Disgusting. I'll kill you."
"Pardon?"
See? She doesn't really feel threatened by me. She's just scared of dealing with people.
The Grand Witch, who uttered abusive language while hesitating, pulled her collar tight and slowly backed away.
'Ugh, ugh. I was surprised. I went to a place no one could find, so how did they know about this place? Is it the Human King's ability?'
"I came because I felt a presence from afar. I'm a bit sensitive to human presence. I was curious whether the person in the fruit where a cow blooms was dead or trapped, so I came to check."
"T-That's... u-useless meddling..."
"Really? Then get back in."
"...Never mind."
'It's been proven that hiding is useless against the Human King... Huh? But does the Human King know who I am?'
Why wouldn't they know? Even though she's wrapped up tightly from head to toe, we've crossed paths once, haven't we? It's not like I have prosopagnosia, so what is there not to know...
'I'm wearing the treasure of all nations, the Mask of Agartha right now? Don't tell me the Human King can see through a face-changing mask too?'
You too with that?!
I glanced at the regressor. The regressor, who had directly confronted the Grand Witch riding an elephant, was completely unaware of the Grand Witch's true identity right now. She merely recognized her as a 'witch' based on her hat and attire.
If I recognized the Grand Witch's identity here, it would be the same as confessing that I had also seen through the regressor's cross-dressing from the beginning. Should I just expose it? But then...
"Anyway. Is it okay for a witch to be here alone? The other witches were busy working on the Primate Layer."
Whatever. Let's just pretend I don't know. That's much easier.
'They don't know! The Mask of Agartha, which possesses truth, goodness, and beauty, can even fool the Human King! With this, I can even go to the Elephant Graveyard!'
The Grand Witch became a little excited when I asked, pretending not to know. Normally, she would have turned away out of embarrassment and shyness, but feeling good, she played along moderately.
"Y-Y-Yes, u-um. I-I am the b-beloved disciple of the Grand Wit...ch..."
"If you're a beloved disciple, shouldn't you be working even more?"
"...Never mind. The Grand Witch and I... specialize in non-humans rather than humans. We leave the human-related parts to Walpurgis..."
"Walpurgis?"
"A legendary witch who was called the Witch of the Night... She creates pleasure and illusions, trapping them so they can't distinguish between dreams and reality."
So that's the person who attended to the Grand Witch. She was always running errands; was she a greater person than I thought? Well, to serve the Grand Witch, one would have to be at least that capable.
"By non-human, you mean beasts, right?"
"Y-Yes. Including beasts, grass, and trees."
"That works out perfectly. Please guide us."
"G-Guide us?"
"Anywhere, somewhere with something a bit important. All I see here are dreary beast fruits."
"To do that, we have to go to a lower tier... the Plant Tier, not the Animal Tier. The village is there..."
"A village? There's a village on the World Tree?"
The World Tree is as huge as a hill. But that doesn't mean the World Tree is as habitable as a hill.
No matter how large it is, the World Tree is essentially a tree. The branches are lashed by fierce winds, and the falling leaves are incomparably more threatening than raindrops. One must live with the risk of falling to their death every moment.
Above all, you can't farm on a tree. To receive a food supply, you must procure food from the fields in the shade of the World Tree, from sunny places.
Unless it's a druid in training or someone building a nest to live in, it wouldn't be on a scale to form a village.
"...Yes. The Tree of Origin, um, crops grow... no, they bear. That is, on the Tree of Origin, u-um..."
Trying to explain it in words, the Grand Witch struggled with its difficulty and scratched her head over her hat. Then, looking back and forth between me and the regressor several times, she began to ponder quite deeply.
'Just as I synchronize with wolves when doing an ecological survey of wolves, and synchronize with parrots when doing an ecological survey of parrots. To do an ecological survey of the Human King, I should synchronize with humans... Let's think of this body as a familiar too. Then it'll be less... disgusting.'
It's not anthropophobia, it's closer to misanthropy. It seemed like just walking with people was a huge decision for the Grand Witch.
"...I'll show you. Follow me."
"Yes. Please guide us."
The moment I followed her by one step, the Grand Witch covered her mouth and gagged.
"Ugh. Don't come close."
"What am I supposed to do then? You're just like Mr. Shay."
"It's not to that extent!"
Moving away from me, the Grand Witch broke off the small branches protruding from the meat fruit. There were six broken branches in total. Holding the branches tightly, which only had frames left without leaves, she took out parrot feathers from her bosom and inserted them into each branch. After completing the catalyst, the Grand Witch chanted a spell and thrust the small branches into the inside of the meat fruit.
"Leaves of the parrot. Wing bones of the World Tree. Fins in the air. With what is of the earth, the qualification to swim in the sky."
Finishing her murmuring of the witch's spell, the Grand Witch pulled the thrust branches.
"Ugh...!"
After pulling them out with force for a long time, the branches had somehow transformed into giant wings. The branches changed into solid frames, and instead of leaves, they were densely adorned with parrot feathers. The Grand Witch held out six pairs of wings to us.
"Put these... on your shoulders."
"Wings? It seems like they'll fall off quickly even if I put them on."
"If you put them against your flesh... roots will sprout..."
She spoke so well when she was in the parrot's body, but facing me directly, she acts like she's caught some disease. Trailing off her words while mumbling, the Grand Witch placed the root of the wing against her shoulder as if to show me directly.
The moment the cross-section of the branch touched her shoulder, roots grew from the cross-section and firmly wrapped around the Grand Witch's shoulder. The Grand Witch flapped her wings herself and glanced at me.
"...See?"
And then, without another word, she just jumped down. The Grand Witch flew toward the branch far below, holding onto her clothes and hat. It was a flight closer to gliding, but the wings flapped and moved on their own, finding their direction.
"It doesn't seem to just act as a glider."
I felt a vibrant life force from the wings. To transform the branches of the World Tree and parrot feathers into wings. The Grand Witch's magic also has a mysterious side to it.
The regressor approached me and said.
"Let's follow her. Witches you can converse with are rare. We'll probably get some good leads."
"She doesn't seem like the type who converses well."
"You get along well even with people with poor social skills, don't you? Try it. It's a chance to use your talent."
"I guess. I even became friends with Mr. Shay."
"Am I the epitome of a person with poor social skills?!"
'Still, she did think we were close... Thank goodness.'
Just pick one, getting mad or getting touched. Anyway, I inserted the wing into my shoulder. Roots grew instantly and wrapped around my shoulder. When I slightly raised my arm, the wing flapped. It wasn't completely arbitrary; it seemed to respond to the movement of my scapula.
"Now then, let's put this wing... huh."
I, who was about to stick it into the regressor's shoulder, frowned seeing her arms firmly fixed with bandages. If she can't even use her arms, attaching wings would just make her fall straight down.
The regressor noticed my troubled look and said.
"Umm. I wonder if this will work."
"If your arms were detached, I could just stick it there. What a shame."
"Don't say such terrible things. I wouldn't even be able to hold a sword with the wings."
"I don't think holding a sword is the important part here."
I tried this and that, but it wouldn't work. Again, there was no other choice. I stuck the wing meant for the regressor into my waist. Feeling the wing take root near my waist, I grabbed the regressor from behind.
"Ugh, uuuugh."
'I don't want to get used to this!'
The regressor didn't show much of a reaction now, perhaps because she was used to it. Though she did make a reluctant expression. Dangling the regressor, I spread my wings and jumped down.