My back gave out.
As a result, Arta had to carry me to Rezaira on his back.
"Ugh..."
"Who else in the world would be such a fool..."
Luna sighed deeply as she applied a hot towel to my aching back.
She must have heard Arta's story about how I ended up in this state trying to uproot a tree with my bare hands.
"Mother... If I use Tiamata... I can heal..."
Although anger is necessary to use Tiamata, I've become quite accustomed to it.
Can't I draw out Tiamata's divine power by being angry at myself for my foolish actions?
-Ugh
-Slap!
"Ouch!"
As I summoned Tiamata while lying down, Luna slapped the back of my hand.
"Did you forget what I said about not using the divine artifact?"
"But this is an injury..."
Isn't it okay to use it since it's an unavoidable injury?
As I slightly turned my head to object, Luna shook her head with a stern expression.
"No. Reflect on your foolishness and rest for a few days. What would you have done if your back had broken?"
"Well... It's not a big deal since I could recover quickly..."
Just moving my body slightly made my back scream in pain, making me feel like I was losing my mind.
In response to my objection, Luna gently pressed down on my back, where the hot towel was placed.
"Ouch! Stop, stop, stop!"
"You might think it's easy to recover, but it leads to thinking it's okay to get hurt easily. Isn't this proof?"
"Ouch! Please, save me!"
She said so while removing her hand from my back, and then looked at me.
"No matter how easily one can recover from injuries, there is no one who should get hurt easily."
"..."
"Don't take it for granted that you'll get hurt in order to achieve something. That's your weakness."
Somehow.
It seemed like she was more concerned about my heart than my body.
Whether my attitude of enduring pain too easily was pitiful, worrying, or perhaps pathetic.
In the end.
I followed Luna's instructions and didn't use Tiamata, resting for a few days while lying down.
I also thought about what it meant to take pain for granted just because it's too easy to escape from it.
Somehow.
I kept remembering the day Ellen stabbed me in the heart.
I lay there for about three days.
It was an unexpected rest, even if it was due to an injury.
Although it was an injury that could be healed immediately with Tiamata, I pondered Luna's words during those three days, that just because I could recover easily didn't mean it was okay to get hurt easily.
Luna, of course, and Ronan also checked on my back.
They gave me something similar to physical therapy, which felt like intense pain followed by relief.
To be honest.
I almost passed out.
Perhaps due to Ronan's treatment and my basic physical strength, my injury was fully healed in just three days.
"Honey, go with Reinhardt this time."
"Ah, I should."
Perhaps they thought my back would give out again, so they sent Ronan with me.
From being incapable of cutting down trees to recklessly trying to uproot tree roots and injuring my back - was I now seen as a reckless fool?
Somehow, I didn't mind that treatment.
As we arrived at the forest where the logging was completed, Ronan stood at the base of the tree that had caused my back injury.
"It's not about uprooting the entire tree."
Ronan silently began digging around the tree stump with a shovel, scraping away the parts where the roots were not entangled.
As he dug up a fairly wide area, soon the deeply embedded tree trunks revealed themselves. By inserting a pickaxe and repeatedly digging up the ground, the entire form of the roots, which were terrifyingly deep compared to what was exposed on the surface, became visible.
"Do you see how absurd this task you were trying to accomplish is?"
"…Indeed."
Ronan started cutting the even deeper embedded stems one by one with an axe.
How much time had passed?
Soon, Ronan lifted the bottom part with a pickaxe several times and pulled out the enormous tree stump.
"This is how it's done."
"Hmm... I'm not sure if I can do it properly, but let's give it a try."
While logging required some level of skill, this seemed to demand even more.
From logging to uprooting tree roots.
Having demonstrated once, Ronan tossed the uprooted tree stump aside and dusted off his hands, as if there was nothing more to teach.
Honestly, having seen it once, there was no need to see it again.
But curiosity arose.
"Um... Father?"
"Do you want me to show you again?"
"No, it's not that. I'm just curious about something."
I pointed to another tree stump of a similar size to the one we had just uprooted.
"Can you show me how to uproot it without doing this, just using your strength?"
"…?"
I was genuinely curious. Wasn't it possible for Ronan?
It was clear that he was much more skilled than me.
"Hmm… Even if I do it like that, I'm not sure you'll be able to follow…"
"Have you never tried?"
"…"
Ronan looked at me blankly in response to my question.
Oh, did I cross the line?
What he thought of my words, I do not know, but suddenly, Ronan rolled up the sleeves of both arms.
Ronan Artorius.
Perhaps a simpler man than I thought?
Until now, he seemed to have not used any power, including Magic Body Strengthening, and it was impossible to pull out those tree roots with the strength of an ordinary human.
It was almost the same as what I had done a few days ago.
He dug around the tree with a shovel and grabbed the roots.
Like Arta and like the recent power I started using, no blue light was felt around Ronan.
However, just looking at him, it was clear that Ronan Artorius was about to use an immense amount of power.
Just watching made my skin tingle.
"Inhale!"
-Grrrr!
In my case, my waist would have snapped, but it was different for Ronan.
As if the entire ground was being pulled up, Ronan's feet began to dig into the ground, and the sound of something breaking and snapping echoed in succession.
-Whoosh!
He pulled out the massive tree from the ground with his bare hands.
I could only stare blankly at the huge tree roots with the broken and snapped roots dangling.
-Thud!
Ronan threw the tree roots he pulled out with his bare hands at me.
"Can you do it?"
"No, not at all."
The human excavator was right here.
After showing me twice, Ronan left, and I was alone.
I tried it out, wondering if I could do it.
To cut to the chase, I was able to do something similar to what Ronan did.
Unleashing maximum output by pouring in all the magical power I had.
-Thud!
"Phew."
I tossed the uprooted tree stump and released the Magic Body Strengthening.
It was clear that my strength was on par with Ronan's.
However, I couldn't be satisfied with this level of power.
If I could unleash this kind of strength even in this state, how much more could I achieve in an extremely stable state of Magic Body Strengthening, with maximum output?
I would possess a power on a whole different level than what I have now.
So, I began by uprooting the trees.
After logging, came tree uprooting.
Then, overturning the ground.
Quite a bit of time had already passed.
But, once again, I had to melt time away and take the next step.
Focusing my mind, maintaining a stable state for Magic Body Strengthening.
More stable, more precise.
For a more perfect power.
Thwack!
I drove the shovel into the ground.
Uprooting the tree roots took even more time than logging.
Due to the nature of the work, requiring deep digging into the soil, and my inexperience, I had to go through a lot of trial and error.
But, without a doubt, progress was made as time was invested.
And as time was invested, my concentration only improved.
At some point, I was able to maintain a refined state of Magic Body Strengthening throughout the entire process, from starting to finishing the work.
"Would it be better not to disturb him?"
Lena, who had been watching Reinhardt digging from afar, asked Arta.
"I'm not even sure I could disturb him if I tried."
Lena and Arta, who had come to talk, were watching Reinhardt digging the ground and cutting the tree roots with an ax from a distance.
"At first, I wondered what he was doing, but the more I see him, the more relentless he is."
Arta shuddered as if he was fed up.
As if under a powerful hypnosis, Reinhardt, focused on his work, acted like a blind and deaf person.
He couldn't hear anyone calling him, and he only concentrated on his tasks, regardless of what was happening around him.
A terrifying level of concentration and immersion.
Arta could no longer keep up with Reinhardt's focused state.
Lena glanced back at the place where Reinhardt was.
"What could have made him like that?"
Although he had succeeded in focusing his mind, Reinhardt's actions could not hide his desperation.
Both Lena and Arta knew this.
In cutting trees and uprooting tree roots, there was no choice but to read a desperation bordering on madness in Reinhardt's pursuit of the next stage while focusing on his tasks.
What story could there be?
What kind of event was ahead of him?
That made him so desperate.
"I don't know."
Arta said quietly.
"It's probably better for us not to know. Definitely."
"..."
Reinhardt's desperate madness.
Arta believed that it was related to something outside, and if so, it was better for them not to know.
Arta shivered as he turned back to Rezaira.
"It's getting cold."
"It is."
Autumn was approaching.
