The immortal hero who thinks of the heroines as his daughters vs. heroines who want to make the hero understand them - Chap 2

“By the way, what’s your name?”

As the boy struggled with a dish he had never made before, the spirit, who had been observing him with interest from behind, muttered. Two weeks had passed since he had come to this great tree—called the Spirit Tree by the villagers—and she hadn’t even thought to ask until now. The difference in perception between her and humans was indeed remarkable.

“I don’t have one.”

“No name?”

“Yes. In all my life, I’ve only been called ‘Hey,’ ‘You there,’ and things like that.”

“Is that… do humans not name each other?”

“No, the other villagers called each other by individual names.”

“Wow…”

The spirit closed her eyes gently, seemingly understanding the situation.

The boy, who had responded without looking back, was completely unconcerned with her reaction, engrossed in the fire in front of him. Cooking with fire was a first for him.

“Hmm, but it’s inconvenient without a name, isn’t it?”

“No, is that really a problem? I’ve been able to communicate without a name up till now.”

“True. But once you notice it, it’s something that bothers you. You know, like bugs or something.”

“We’re in an open forest, so I don’t really care about bugs anymore.”

“It’s just an example, an example.”

The spirit had tried to use an analogy suited for a human, but it didn’t work on the boy who had been living the same lifestyle as her for two weeks. And all the while, he hadn’t looked back once. Even if the wood wasn’t dry, handling fire on a tree was terrifying. There was no telling when a mistake could lead to a fire.

“…Alright, then I’ll give you a name!”

“Ah, I messed up.”

“What?”

“Ah, a fire that’s too big to be called a spark is falling.”

“What, what, what, what!? I’m a tree spirit, so this is kind of a life-or-death issue!?”

“Sorry, I’m not used to this.”

“Shall we get used to it from now on? You’ve been cooking for two weeks straight without success, right?”

The spirit sighed and snapped her fingers, and a thick branch grew out from the bark. It wrapped around the falling ember and extinguished it in no time. Then it retracted into the tree at a surprisingly quick speed.

“Thank you. If I had been cremated, I wouldn’t have been able to rest in peace even in death.”

“It somehow feels like you’d come back with a grudge.”

“I wouldn’t do something as spiteful as repaying kindness with malice…”

“Really?”

She didn’t seem to trust him at all. The boy looked a bit downcast and offered a big leaf piled with fruit, looking a bit dejected. It had been his main food source since coming to the spirit.

“This again today… Wasn’t one of the conditions for picking you up that you’d cook every meal?”

“I am cooking, you know.”

“You certainly ‘are’ cooking. It’s strange, isn’t it?”

“Eh?”

The spirit glared at the boy with narrowed eyes. However, he was unfazed. His gaze was fixated on the beautifully arranged fruit. It seemed that he was simply happy with something to eat.

“…Well, it’s fine. Among humans, there’s a saying, ‘Failure is the mother of success,’ right? It’ll be fine as long as you can do it eventually.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

She smiled shyly, saying, “Come on, let’s eat?” and offered the fruit. The boy, slightly caught in her amusement, accepted it with a smile.

Chewing contentedly, she looked up at the sky.

“Your name… How about Rex?”

“Rex, you say?”

“Yeah. Rex.”

“I’ve never been called by a name, so I might not respond right away.”

“You’ll get used to it. We have plenty of time.”

Biting into a red fruit, she made a smug face. Having said something that fit the flow of the conversation, she seemed quite pleased. The boy gave a wry smile, his cheeks slightly reddening as he muttered, “Rex, huh…”

It was as if he had been recognized as a “human” for the first time…

“Rex. Whether or not you’ll become a human worthy of that name, I’m looking forward to it.”

The spirit’s voice was so soft as she muttered these words that the wind sweeping through the trees snatched them away, and they reached no one’s ears.

“By the way, what’s your name, O Spirit?”

“Me? I don’t have a name.”

“No name?”

“No name.”

◇

“What kind of spirit is this…!”

This was a village situated slightly closer to the mountains than the basin. Although it was so small that one could walk from one end to the other in about five minutes, it was essentially the largest settlement in the area since there were no other human habitations nearby.

In the center of the village stood a house larger than the others. While it was referred to as “the village chief’s house” since the chief lived there, at present, it was filled with numerous people besides the chief himself.

“Chief, we really shouldn’t anger the spirit…”

“So you’re saying that we should keep obeying that monster forever!?”

“That’s not what I mean, but…”

The village chief shouted back at the villager who had offered a calm opinion, his face turning bright red with anger. The villager lowered his eyebrows, looking troubled, and glanced sideways.

“…Chief, upon careful consideration, isn’t our life the same whether the spirit is here or not?”

The man speaking was well-tanned and had the air of a typical farmer. Swallowing nervously as he proposed his idea to someone with far more power than himself, he finally spoke the words. The village chief closed his eyes tightly and crossed his arms.

“Certainly, there is no record in our history of the spirit ever doing anything to humans.”

“Then…”

“But it’s a monster. Moreover, it’s settled right in the heart of this basin, the most fertile land. It’s in our way if we want to prosper further. So far, we have sent human-like beings as sacrifices to keep from angering it… But as expected of imitations, they always came back. Naturally, there’s no place for them, so we’ve buried them, pretending they were killed by the spirit.”

A murmur.

The villagers were shaken by the truth that had slipped from the village chief’s mouth. The ones sent as sacrifices had actually run back, and they were killed?

“Even if they’re human-like, they can be used as labor. We don’t even have to feed them properly, so wouldn’t it be better to work them until they die if they come back?”

The farmer-like man who spoke earlier voiced his opinion. As if in agreement, the people gathered in the village chief’s house nodded emphatically.

“…I would like to do that too, but the results of divination must not be altered. Who knows what could happen?”

As the village chief said this, sighing, the eyes of those present were involuntarily drawn to the old woman standing next to him.

Her hair was a creepy shade of white and unkempt, her face deeply wrinkled. Unfamiliar bird feathers were sewn into her clothes, and what appeared to be the fangs of magical beasts dangled from her neck. Her appearance was that of a true sorcerer. She was so old that her gender was difficult to determine.

“…If we truly anger him, there will be no future for us humans.”

“!”

“But, … just once. If we can take him down with just one act of irreverence… If we can kill that creature who looks down on us as mere humans first, it will bring us even greater prosperity.”

Oh…!

At the words of the trusted sorcerer, the villagers quietly but passionately cheer. The village chief smiles in satisfaction and uncrosses his arms.

“I declare it here. We will accomplish a feat unparalleled since the dawn of humanity. For the sake of future generations… We will succeed in killing the spirit.”

Everyone’s faces are heated, but somewhere, they seem anxious. They are likely terrified of opposing the spirit with its overpoweringly strong power. Whether they can really win or not…

“Don’t worry. Unlike the filthy spirit, we have a ‘God’ on our side. This battle is ours.”