"Well, it's a good thing I have the axe that the Iron Knight used. I'm glad we have the axe the Iron Knight used.
Instead of going to our original destination of the lumberyard in Gurgaria, we changed course.
The middle of the Gulu River is quite large.
If it were a normal river, there would only be a small strip of land in the middle of the river, but the Gulu River is much wider than that.
The other side of the river is far away.
And the middle of such a large and wide river is so large that it could be called an island.
We landed our boat at a remote point, separate from the lumberyard where the Gurugarians were cutting down and storing the soft magic trees.
The tree was growing there.
It was a strange shaped tree.
Normally, a tree growing on the ground would have its roots in the ground and a thick trunk extending upward from the ground.
However, the tree was different.
The part of the tree that looked like a root also rose above the ground.
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the river in the small state group often overflowed.
I wondered if the trunk of the tree was shifted upward so that it would not be completely submerged in the water when the volume of water rose.
Some of these strangely shaped juju trees grow strong not on the ground, but in the water.
I guessed that the roots of the tree, with their many branches, were strong enough to withstand the flow of the river.
I approached such a soft tree and poured magic power into it.
When I hit the tree with nothing, it was as hard as metal, but when the magic power flowed through it, it somehow became softer.
I wondered why it had such unusual properties, but now was not the time to talk about it.
With the magic power softened, I slammed the great axe among the weapons the armored soldier was using.
There was a thumping sound, and a cut was made in the soft magic wood.
Yes, it seems that the blade goes through properly.
I'm sure it won't be hard to cut at all.
How about you, Elvis?
"It's fine. If you press this magical stone made by Ai-dono against the soft magic wood, it will indeed soften it. I think I can chop it with my axe.
"Good. All right, let's get started. Ian should carry the cut soft wood to the river. Leave them with the convoy that comes with you and get them ready to be floated down the river.
"Yes, sir. However, the people of Grugaria will eventually notice our movements. What are you going to do about it?
Hmmm. Well, I'll keep an eye on them. I'll keep an eye on that one. Anyway, I want you and Elvis to cut down the juju tree as soon as possible.
"Okay, sir.
I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm not the only one.
Seeing this, Oliva and the rest of the Orientals also started to move.
At first, some of them tried to complain about the Barca mercenaries for not heading to the lumberyard that they thought was their destination, but now they were quiet.
But now they were quiet. Seeing Ian grow to a huge size in front of them and wielding a free sword that had been transformed to fit his body, it seemed that they could not press him any further.
And more than that, he had no choice but to make a move when he saw that the soft magic trees, which he thought could not be easily cut down with the common sense of the Orient, were being cut down one after another and carried to the river.
But it seems that the only place where these trees grow is in the middle of the river. The Gulu River is so big that it should be able to grow in other places as well.
It's probably endemic to this area. If we cut it down too much, the tree might disappear from the world.
Do you think so? I don't think so. This chushu is pretty big, and I think it will be okay even if we cut it down a little. You're exaggerating, Ai.
It's not true, Master Alphonse. If people get greedy and take too much, whether it's plants or animals, they can disappear from this world. Master Ars is also concerned about this, and is working to preserve the forests north of the Barka Line as a forest management area.
Oh, that reminds me, I think he said something about managing the forest to the north.
That forest must be even bigger than this middle state, and I was wondering if there was any point in doing that, but Brother Ars was thinking about that.
I thought it was because the spirit that Brother Kyle had contracted with was deep in that forest.
Now that I think about it, if the people of Grugaria saw this scene, they might be angry.
They are cutting down the juju trees by pushing the magic stones from the edge that they can see.
I'm sure that the people of Gurugaria were very careful not to let the tree disappear from the middle of the road.
I'm sure they would never allow that to happen.
Oh, here they come. The Gurugarian soldiers are coming, Ai.
"We have confirmation here as well, Master Alphonse. They are approaching this point by ship. We believe they will be within range soon.
It seems that the other party was not so sleepy as to have missed it.
After a good amount of time had passed since we started cutting down the trees, we saw the archers of Grugaria coming towards us.
Maybe they were guarding the lumberyard because they thought the soldiers from the Orient were going to attack it, but they went in another direction, so they were too late to respond.
Or maybe they thought there was no way they could cut through the hard, soft wood and were just watching the situation.
But they were wrong, and they came out in a hurry when they discovered that the Orient soldiers were cutting down the soft magic trees one after another and laying them out in the river.
The Gurugarian soldiers seemed to have traveled by boat on the river, not on land in the middle of the river.
They must have decided that they would arrive faster on the water than moving through the thick growth of soft magic trees around here.
The Grugaria soldier on the boat was looking at us and shouting.
I knew he was angry.
They were moving towards us in a straight line.
We're still in the process of logging.
Even if we start preparing to retreat right away, we won't be able to move quickly enough.
"We'll buy ourselves some time, Ai.
With that, I decided to stall for time against the oncoming archers.