I Became a Druid in Another World

Unfortunately, I had to skip breakfast. El who was still half-asleep went downstairs and ate my meal for me, while I tucked a slice of freshly baked bread with a piece of butter and returned to my room.

Louis seemed to have shed the arrogant attitude typical of nobles from the previous evening. He no longer called me "hey" or "druid" and treated me with a much more polite demeanor.

"Didn't you say you didn't need my help?"

"..."

"You clearly stated that Lloyd would be enough."

"After hearing Lloyd's sincere advice, I've changed my mind."

"Hmm."

"I want to apologize for my rude behavior last night. Theodore, I…."

"..."

"I need your help. Please, I hope you can forgive me."

Typically, nobles don't offer something like an apology. In this pseudo-medieval land, where birth and status equate to power, nobles have no reason to apologize. They don't even learn how to apologize in the first place. And yet, here was someone raised with that mindset, apologizing to a commoner….no, a druid of unknown origins?

"I'll accept it."

I would be a fool not to accept. Especially when it would give me the title of "the one who received an apology from the second son of the Corin family". I smiled softly as I looked at Louis.

"Well then, shall we hear the details?"

Louis was still anxious, but he had a glimmer of hope as he began to tell his story.

***

Louis's story was astonishing.

That something like this was happening in the Corin family, which could easily be said to oversee the eastern part of the Barak Empire, was unbelievable.

"So, the one gathering mercenaries right now isn't your father, but…"

"My brother, Dawood."

"..."

It was a name unfamiliar to me. In my memory, the lord of Corin was not Dawood Corin but Louis Corin. I had never even heard the "D" of Dawood before.

That means something's changed here as well.

It would be nice if everything was just a coincidence, but…

…it's not.

Because I took El in, Lloyd learned that the Reinhardt family hadn't fallen. He wanted to stay with El and didn't return to the Imperial Knights. As a result, Louis Corin left the Imperial Knights where Lloyd was no longer present and returned to the Corin territory. Then feeling threatened by Louis' return, Dawood Corin decided to betray his father and forcefully become the lord …

"The butterfly effect…"

Just like the theory that a small butterfly's wingbeat can cause a typhoon on the other side of the world, rescuing El from the cursed land… had returned as an event that shook the entire Corin territory.

It was entirely possible. However, if there was one thing that bothered me…

Dawood Corin is hastily trying to remove his father.

Right now, the one who most strongly supported Dawood Corin as the heir, despite his lack of accomplishments compared to Louis Corin, was none other than Lord Corin himself. It was Lord Corin's support that solidified Dawood's position as heir. But now, Dawood was trying to remove the very father who secured his succession?

This part felt strange. I sensed that something had "intervened". The same dark "conspiracy" I had felt in both Lysette and Dihid…

"Who is Dawood keeping closest to him these days?"

After a moment of thought, Louis answered in a voice that lacked confidence.

"…Fabio."

"Alright. Let me take a guess from here. That man, Fabio…"

"..."

"…is not from around here, is he? No, he's probably not even from the Empire. I bet he's been saying he's from the Echaits Union."

If he were from the Empire, it would have been easy enough to investigate his past, so he wouldn't have lied about that. People from the Barak Empire tend to look down on people from the West, so it's unlikely he would have claimed to be from Roshan. That leaves three options: Lysette, Solen, and the Echaits Union. If he's not an elf, he couldn't have said he was from Lysette, and if he's not a mage, he couldn't have lied about being from Solen. In the end, he would have had no choice but to say he's from the Echaits Union. Judging by the surprised look on Louis' face, it seems my guess was right.

"The two of them would only meet at night. They didn't keep any attendants nearby and always met alone. You found this suspicious and tried to follow them, but…"

"....!"

"You never once saw him meeting with anyone other than Dawood."

"How… how do you know all of this…?"

Louis looked at me and Lloyd in disbelief with his mouth agape. Lloyd just shrugged without saying a word, and I responded with a small smile. By now, it was easy to predict.

"The crows."

"C-Crows?"

"This time, they've chosen Dawood."

"Th-They?"

"Stay sharp, Louis."

"....!"

"Because from now on, what you're up against… are no ordinary enemies."

***

I had put on quite a show in front of Louis, but if the crows had truly reached out to Corin, it was a serious matter. Starting with Dihid, then the Dawson couple's mansion, and now Corin… It was as if the crows were stirring up trouble across nearly the entire Barak Empire.

"..."

Could I really resolve all of this?

I couldn't save everyone. That was the truth I had come to realize through my adventures so far. Unlike the reality where I could control the fate of the world with just a joystick, here…

There were so many things I couldn't save.

Even as I worried about Corin's fate, somewhere out there, a tragedy was likely unfolding with people losing their lives.

What was it that the one who brought me to this world truly wanted?

I can't save everyone…

I had spoken as if it were nothing in front of Louis, but I could vividly feel the heavy weight pressing down on my body, no, on my soul.

-Beep.

At that moment, Beepy who had been playfully squabbling with Legion on the bed flew over and perched on my fingertip, almost as if sensing my worries. He tilted his head and looked up at me with his round black eyes.

-Beep!

The two feathers on Beepy's tail shimmered—one purple, the other white. They had appeared after I drove off the crows and reclaimed the "fragment". I fiddled with the gleaming feathers and muttered to myself.

"If all goes well, I should be able to retrieve a fragment this time too."

-Beep!

Beepy flapped his wings enthusiastically as if agreeing with me.

"But if I can't get the fragment back…"

-Beep?

"What will happen to me?"

In reality, I could just turn off the game and try again. But here… there was no such thing as a "retry". No one knew what would happen if I failed.

Corin was a large city. It was far bigger than any of the places I had passed through before. Up until now, I had been lucky enough to resolve the incidents, but this time was different. In a city like Corin, a pillar of the empire, there were far more things to consider. Politics, military power, money…

If I were only thinking about my own safety, the right choice would be to avoid getting involved in Corin's affairs. But…

-Beep.

"..."

Considering how many people have been sacrificed in every place the crow has touched so far, I couldn't bring myself to do that.

I just couldn't.

At some point, all of this had stopped being just a "game".

So…

"…Even if it's hard, I have to keep going, right?"

-Beep!

Beepie gently pressed his head against the tip of my finger. I felt his warm presence.

I didn't know what the future would hold, and even though there was no save button, I had to keep moving forward.

You can do it. There was never a save button in my life anyway.

I might not always achieve the best results, but giving my all still held meaning.

Just because I couldn't save everyone didn't mean I should turn away from the person right in front of me.

So…

"First things first, let's try saving Corin."

***

-Caaaw!

"Yes, yes. I get it. Just hang in there a little longer."

After neatly trimming away the leaves that had grown from Blackie's leg—or rather, the branch that had taken its place—I let him go. This was to make sure that, in case Blackie ever got caught, it wouldn't raise suspicion.

Earlier this morning when Blackie had patrolled Corin there hadn't been any sign of the crows. But things would be different at night. After hearing what Louis had to say, I was even more certain.

They would send out crows every night. The "Crow's Path" where messenger birds traveled. I'd Blackie found that path…

I'll have him pretend to be one of their crows and steal their letters.

If everything went according to plan, that would be ideal. I used [Gift of the Forest] on a berry branch and fed Blackie the freshly ripened berries. Thanks to [Gift of the Forest], the berries were infused with concentrated magical power, so Blackie wouldn't tire even after flying all night.

"Be careful out there, Blackie."

-Caaw!

After gobbling up the berries with satisfaction, he pecked at his leg a few times, as if it felt strange, and then sat down by the window. When I opened it, he looked back at me once before taking off into the cold, windy night sky.

"Well then, let's start our preparations too. El, the carriage?"

"It's ready and waiting outside!"

We quietly slipped out of the inn. And then…

"Wow… So it's not just for people to use!"

I draped the Shadow Cloak over Storm's body, and when he turned invisible, El couldn't hide her amazement. I tightened the knot on the cloak to make sure it wouldn't come loose from Storm and answered with a smile.

"It's all about thinking outside the box. I played a lot of Pokemon when I was younger, so I've got a pretty creative mind."

"Huh?"

"It's nothing. Knowing too much could hurt you."

The Shadow Cloak had the ability to change its form to fit the user. I realized this when the length of the cloak adjusted each time El, Lloyd, and I used it, despite our height differences. The cloak that was now enlarged to fit Storm was even larger than most blankets.

With rumors of a "ghost carriage" already circulating, the invisible Storm pulling the carriage would indeed make it look like a "ghost carriage" that moved without a horse. Even if someone saw us, they'd probably just think they were seeing things. Could there be a better way to move in secret?

"Alright, let's head out."