The Druid Who Swallowed Mother Nature - Chapter 22



Only Noblemtl

Episode 22. Grit your teeth

“Hey, look at this kid.”

The man’s thin eyebrows twitched.

What was clearly in those glaring eyes was murderous intent.

‘Isn’t it just a mess?’

Threatening people is also a skill.

In particular, momentum was a phenomenon that emerged from the experience accumulated so far.

He’s a guy who’s killed a lot of people.

It was worth observing whether it was a massacre of innocent civilians or a bloody fight with a rival.

“I don’t know where that little bird came from, but don’t hold onto its weight and throw it around. I might kill it.”

“Calm down. This person doesn’t know the situation yet… … .”

“shut up!”

The man who got up from the table kicked and spoke coldly.

“Kneel down. If you apologize, I will forgive you with one eye.”

I raised the corners of my lips in a crooked manner.

“Your tongue is long. Are you going to fight by playing with your tongue?”

“This kid will do it till the end!”

“You think that kind of crude threat has worked so far? Well, if you were to talk to them through that dented table, the kids would tremble.”

“Excuse me! You calm down too!”

The woman screamed, trembling.

But in a situation that had become so bloody, there was no way that empty words could work.

Her already inconspicuous behavior was just another fuel for the fire.

“… … .”

Meanwhile, Robnam remained silent.

I decided not to pay any attention to that guy.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll really kill you!”

“Don’t just talk.”

“asleep!!”

Eventually, the man’s patience ran out.

I kicked the table and it fell on me, spilling glasses and cutlery.

“Ha, I told you not to do that!”

But nothing could touch my body.

I had the whip cord ready, but I didn’t touch it.

I turned my head.

The woman holding out her hand toward me was holding a lightweight staff.

“……magic?”

Clear waves of magical power transmitted to sensitive skin.

A transparent barrier blocked my path, blocking all physical impact.

‘Not bad skill.’

Stable drinking structure and fast construction.

It was a skill that was faithful to the basics, as if he had studied it somewhere rather than being self-studied.

‘Usually, wizards aren’t cheap enough to get involved with the Brotherhood.’

This is especially true for talents who have built a solid foundation.

“If you don’t want to fall behind, release the spell!”

“Put it away.”

But I will hear your reasoning later.

The man and I agreed.

The woman’s expression became blank, as if she didn’t know that even I would reject her.

“Then, you’ll die! We have to get along well!”

“You want people who don’t know each other to come together like this and cooperate with each other?”

Do you boast that your head is a flower garden?

Looking back on the mission with Hela, the atmosphere wasn’t very good when we joined.

Even though I approached you with good intentions, it turned out like this.

Any clash between figures operating in the shadows was like a predicted event.

“And it is necessary.”

“yes?”

“If we’re going to work together, we need to organize traffic. Don’t you know that an organization can only run smoothly when it has a leader?”

Who takes the lead?

Fighting was a rite of passage, if only to determine the hierarchy.

“I, I don’t know.”

In the end, she raised both hands and feet in protest.

He looked at Robnam’s expression as he fled earlier, then quietly took refuge in a corner.

“Ha, you damn bastard, you’re so confident. Are you organizing the hierarchy?”

The man’s eyes were bloodshot, as if the list of plain facts he had told the woman had offended him.

“I’m warning you for the last time. Kneel down, and I’ll cut off your head without any torture.”

“Are you scared?”

“… … I’ll rip that insolent mouth off!”

In an instant, the man’s sleeve was torn in a fit of rage.

A suspicious mechanical sound that tickles and irritates the ears.

The man’s forearm, thrown back sharply, glowed like cool metal.

‘Chainsaw?’

What was sticking out, tearing through the skin, was a sharp saw blade.

The vibrating, rotating blade tore through the air with a loud noise.

‘So that’s what I believed.’

A human whose body has been replaced by a machine.

In this world where magical engineering is advanced, it is not uncommon to see prosthetic limbs and even modifications of this type.

“It seems like they haven’t assessed the situation yet.”

While the woman watching covered her mouth and let out a silent scream, my heartbeat remained calm.

Wheeing─!

“What, what is this! Why on earth is this… … !”

The blade spun in midair, unable to even close the distance between me by half.

The man’s expression as he looked back at my motionless arm was one of shock.

“You didn’t even know it was over?”

The trunk of the world tree that grew through the gap in his clothes at the ankle had already reached the guy’s reach.

This would have been a quick fight even if the woman hadn’t protected me with magic.

The limit of a man’s ability was that he rushed in without even noticing the hint.

“Hey, profit!”

The red-faced man screamed and thrashed around.

It wasn’t the trunk of the world tree that would move that much.

The increased affinity for nature gave the trunk of the World Tree great elasticity and strength.

The man, who seemed to have become quiet soon after realizing that his efforts were in vain, shouted.

“Rain, cowardly!”

“……cowardice?”

“Yeah, you son of a bitch! Don’t use your powers and fight fair and square!”

I held back the laughter that was about to burst out.

‘Is he crazy?’

Is it right for me to pull the saw blade out of my body, but cowardly for the trunk of the world tree?

There was absolutely no shame in the face that kept complaining as if it was normal.

“Okay, let’s do as you say.”

“That’s manly. Excellent.”

There was joy in the man’s voice.

Aren’t you laughing at yourself and calling yourself an idiot?

In the midst of all this, the guy was just wasting his time.

As I approached him and his restraints did not come off, the guy’s expression changed as if he realized something was wrong.

“What, what are you doing? Hurry up and let go of my body!”

“Why me?”

I asked back with pure curiosity.

Why would I do that to someone who threatened to kill me?

“It has been said since ancient times that a whip is the best medicine for a madman.”

The guy who said he’d kill me wasn’t just trying to scare me.

If you do something half-heartedly and then end it, he’ll end up harboring a grudge.

If we were to work together, we had to start from the road.

I intended to thoroughly instill the hierarchical relationship.

“Grit your teeth.”

“Okay, let’s go to sleep… …!”

A clean fist landed on the pale man’s face.

***

From then on, it was a scene of one-sided beatings.

I stopped punching only when the woman who couldn’t stand it anymore told me to stop.

“Ugh.”

The man collapsed on the floor as he released his hold on the rope.

Although he looked like he was covered in wounds, judging from his wheezing breathing, he didn’t seem to have fainted.

There was absolutely no hand contact, but it was quite a tough case.

“… … ?”

I tried to retrieve the stem.

But before that, the stem moved on its own and swayed in front of my arm.

It was exactly in front of the world tree.

“what’s the matter?”

“The world tree is crying.”

Now that I look at it, it looks gloomy and the leaves are drooping.

I observed the unrecovered stem, wondering what was going on.

‘The stem was sharpened by a saw blade.’

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there were fine grooves.

Looking at the rough cross-section, it was a trace of a rusty saw blade caught in the middle.

‘It wasn’t all bragging.’

A wound on the trunk of the world tree.

It wasn’t a threatening move, but it was a good skill to subdue it early.

‘Is it because it’s still a sapling? Even though it’s more affinity for nature, it’s not completely solid.’

The grass leaves are delicate and the stems are thin.

Even if it had only become a nomad, it would have taken the form of a tree, but in reality, its abilities were similar to that of a flower or grass.

‘I need to grow.’

Not necessarily because of the growth of the World Tree, but for my own sake.

‘After all, if we had faced a better machine, the branches of the World Tree would have been cut down.’

It is the power of capitalism that surpasses ability.

It was the so-called temptation.

Wouldn’t there be one such guy in the underworld of a city where huge amounts of capital of unknown origin flow?

It was something to be careful about.

“Ugh… … .”

Suddenly the man stirred.

The eyes looking up at me were filled with fear.

But I found a fighting spirit in it that had not yet disappeared.

‘Even to this extent?’

He was a rebellious man by nature.

“Ugh!”

I kicked the man with the resentment of the grieving world tree.

“I will punish you for not having enough World Tree.”

You must have been in a lot of pain.

The World Tree hit the back of the fallen guy.

That was the deciding factor.

The guy who had been forcibly holding on to consciousness rolled his eyes.

“Sir, isn’t he dead?”

“Just kidding.”

The woman asked nervously, but he dismissed her and sat down in a normal chair.

Since I avoided the vital spot, it was simply a faint due to accumulated shock.

“Is there anyone else who feels like they need to control traffic besides that guy?”

The woman averted her eyes, and Robnam thought it was a waste of time to bother her.

After cleaning up the mess, I finally got to the meeting.

“Let’s start with an introduction. I can’t work without knowing your name, right? I’m Allen. I’m a contractor.”

“La, it’s Laila. I’m a wizard.”

“Yes, wizard.”

When I looked straight at her, Layla flinched and shrugged her shoulders.

“Are you from the Magic Tower?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Hey, self-study? I did something similar.”

If it’s self-study, then it’s self-study. What’s similar?

When I gestured for her to tell me more, Layla added.

“At first, I studied alone at home by reading books. Then, by chance, I met a magician and received teachings from him.”

“Have you developed your skills to this point based on what you learned as a child?”

“No, he came once a month.”

“Hmm, then what about the school?”

“I don’t know. Every time, he just teaches me magic and leaves… … .”

Layla looked at me.

He wasn’t clever enough to hide anything from the start.

‘How peculiar.’

A wizard spends time educating others instead of taking on his own disciples.

He was a rare type among rational and calculating wizards.

“What magic do you know how to use?”

“So, barrier, pressure, holding hands… … .”

“That’s enough.”

I raised my hand and interrupted him.

‘Is that the Juggernaut school?’

The Juggernaut school, which pursues practicality rather than flashiness, could be said to be the home of public magic.

The achievements were mainly in the area of ​​magic engineering, and the practicality was also decent.

If he was a member of the Juggernaut school, then the described antics would make sense.

Because of the nature of the school, it was often associated with businesses, so the atmosphere was free.

It wouldn’t have been strange if some weirdo had popped up.

“The guy who fell over there was called Collard. He’s washed his hands of it now, but he was a gang member… … .”

The fallen man’s explanation was given by Layla.

Although he is timid and has a small voice, he is good at speaking.

I then looked at Robnam.

“you?”

Surely even the name won’t remain silent.

After a not-so-short wait, a voice came out from within the robe.

“… … RW─21E0.”

“what?”

“Please call me number 21.”

It sounded like it was made using a cheap voice modulation system.

The name was as unique as the voice.

It feels more like a product serial number than a name.

I also had doubts about the intention of calling it number 21.

“What can you do?”

“It is designed with the lowest combat capability. It is a type specialized for gathering information.”

“okay.”

I organized the information I found out.

When I looked into it this way, it turned out to be a surprisingly well-balanced combination.

If they were just a bunch of idiots, I would have really thought of carrying out the mission alone, but it was worth moving together.

‘You don’t have to ask why I’m doing this.’

I was curious, but it was an afterthought.

Wouldn’t it be difficult for me to explain if asked?

‘We weren’t meant to be that deeply entangled in the first place.’

It’s different from Hela.

They were people who would part ways as soon as they finished their mission cleanly.

“As you know, the goal is to capture the Brotherhood 85 branch leader. I heard there was a plan in place.”

These are the people who were hired before me.

Considering the timing of the execution, it couldn’t have been a heading to bare ground.

If the plan was feasible, we would hire them, and if not, we would reconsider.

Layla tilted her head.

“There was something like that… … ?”

“So you were just going to storm into the branch?”

“… … .”

The fact that he was looking away furtively suggested that he was thinking that way.

He is a typical desk-bound wizard who only knows how to use magic and doesn’t know the ways of the world.

‘Even Collard wouldn’t be able to explain it properly.’

Then the one who made the plan is the remaining one.

Number 21, said to be specialized in information gathering.

Red eyes flashed within the dark robes.

“I have information.”

“information?”

“The main business of Branch 85 is drug distribution. The branch manager is planning a deal next week.”

At those words, a picture immediately formed in my head.