As soon as they speak, the doll raises its right arm, shaking the roots of the trees that make up the body.
　Watching closely, Ray didn't know what it meant.
　But I could still predict that there would be something else now that they have acted in this way, so I'll watch the movement.
　In front of Ray's eyes, who is ready to counterattack any attack, the doll stretches its raised right arm toward Ray.
　If this had been an aggressive attack, Ray would have fought back.
　But I don't feel any aggressive will in Ray's stretched arms.
　Well, I felt as if I was looking for something... even that kind of atmosphere.
　It seems like an arm made of a tree root, and it is possible to stretch the arm by rearranging the roots of the tree that make up the right arm without moving the body.
　When the arm stretched out toward him almost touches his body... Ray is at a loss what to do for a moment.
　I can't feel any malice. That's a fact.
　But at the same time, it is true that the forest of Trent is a dangerous place where many people are killed.
　a tree-roots doll in the heart of the forest of Trent
　It is quite inconceivable that it has nothing to do with the forest of Trent.
　The forest of Trento reveals hostility to people and does not feel hostility from the dolls in front of him.
　In this contradiction, Ray is at a loss as to what to do... and while he is at a loss, his hands made of wood roots touch Ray's body.

"Ray!"
"Gruly!"

　Vichela and Seto thought that Ray would not touch the other person, but the point was that Ray touched the doll without any particular sign of action.
　One of them screamed at the thought, but Ray was far from touched by the doll.
　I'm not under attack.
　But the doll's thoughts are conveyed from where it touches.
　No, this is not what we should call an idea. If anything, it's right to describe it as something close to instinct.

'Bring, spread, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch. Spread out your existence, and feed yourself on those who interfere with it. Spread it out, spread it out, until you have covered everything with yourself.'

　It wasn't clearly a word, but a half-image was hammered into Ray, but if I were to translate it into a language, it would be like this.

"What!"

　I felt, saw, heard something called an image language... Anyway, Ray leaps from the spot to the back.
　Vichela and Seto, watching Ray's appearance, were nervous when they saw him jumping back suddenly when they thought the tree-roots doll had touched them.

"Ray, are you all right?"
"It's all right, don't worry. I didn't do anything special."

　Ray screamed, but questioned for a moment, but understood it was not the case that he had actually done anything.
　Putting down the spear of Death Size and twilight on his hands, he turned his eyes to the doll at the root of the tree.
　There was a doll with a root of a tree, which had been hardened with its hands outstretched.
　I'm not particularly hostile.

"That's..."

　In words, Ray again approaches the doll sitting on a wooden root throne.
　Then the doll reaches out again, as if waiting for it.
　Ray gently touches the stretched hand.

'Bring, spread, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch. until I cover everything with my own existence and take it in.'

　It was a slightly different language... an image language, but Ray knew exactly what he had received.

"... I see,"

　mutter, gently take your hand off the doll at the root of the tree.
　Vichela and Sett, watching Ray's condition, approach him, watching what's going on around them.
　Unfortunately, there was no fight against what Vichela wanted to call Trent's elite, but now Ray was more concerned.
　If this had been a battle with the roots of the trees, it would have been nothing for Vichela to worry about.
　But what happened this time was not a battle.
　On the contrary, it's just a touch.
　That was the highlight of the anomaly.

"Are you all right?"

　It was just a few words, but it was the same words as Vihela uttered the same word.
　Next to Vihela, Seto is also staring anxiously at Ray.
　Ray opens his mouth in the face of one of them.

"You told me not to worry, didn't you? I didn't get hurt. but... this root doll isn't a clear enemy... but the root doll of this tree doesn't look like a main body in the first place."

　When the imagery language burst into Ray, some of the information over there flowed in.
　Of course, most of them were too much for Ray to understand, but there were still times when Ray could understand them.
　In other words, the doll at the root of the tree in front of us is equivalent to the terminal of this forest of Trent.
　On the contrary, all monsters in the forest of Trent are equally equivalent to devices like dolls at the root of this tree.

(It's only natural that there are no magic stones.) Well, this forest of Trent is one monster, and everything that comes out of it is a terminal... so to speak, a limb.)

　If you kill a goblin, you'll get the magic stone in its body.
　But the limbs of the goblin... or, given the size of the Trent forest, the destruction of the hair and claws of the goblin does not yield the magic stone.
　That's exactly what other adventurers, including Ray, were doing.
　Therefore, defeating monsters, including Trent, has never produced a magical stone.

"Isn't it the main body?"

　Vihela asks Ray, staring at a tree-root doll.
　By exchanging words in this way, it is understandable that Ray is under no particular attack by the dolls at the root of the tree... that he is not under any mental interference.
　That's why I was able to ask him a little more calmly now, unlike when he said what he was worried about.

"You're right," This forest of Trent... No, it's not. The forest of Trent itself is a distinct entity. The roots of this tree, including Trent, which has come out many times, are all hair and nails for the Trent forest."
"What's that... I've never heard of such a thing."
"I suppose so, too. ...but this guillem is a frontier. Don't you think it's strange to have such an exceptional presence?"
"That's..."

　Given that this is a remote area, I think it's natural to be there.
　Vichela must have been convinced by Ray's words.
　He seemed a little dissatisfied, but he nodded before he spoke.

"And what else did you know when you touched the tree-roots doll?"
"Well, there was no clear malice towards us,"
"...what?"

　It must have been a completely unexpected remark. Vichela's mouth gives a stupid voice to Rey's.
　for, in view of what Trent's forest had done, he could only assume that he had a malice towards man... and Gillum.

"Malicious... or rather, it's a case of half instinct. Anyway, the information I get from the roots of this tree is that my main goal is to widen the forest of Trent, and I don't care much about anything else."
"...I don't care, my dear," Well, I think it's right to mean the instinct to leave a tribe."

　I don't specifically mention whether it's surprising for Vihela to be able to communicate with monsters.
　In the first place, it doesn't seem unusual to be able to communicate with monsters if you watch Ray and Sett.
　When Ray explained what could be called an image language, Vihela had a slightly interesting look on her face."But why is this monster heading for Gilmoo? That's what I think if you just want to spread the forest, you can go to a place where there's no street."

　It was a legitimate question that came out of Vihela's mouth.
　In the first place, the forest of Trento was regarded as dangerous in Gilm because Slaisha's party was attacked in the forest of Trento, but most importantly, the direction spreading was Gilm.
　...as a result, Trent's forest has attracted attention for a variety of reasons, such as recognizing it as a promising building material for Gillum's extension and finding monsters without magical stones, but it is still spreading toward Gillum's toward Gillum.
　That is to say, it would not have caused such a big stir if the forest had been spread to the side that is not the closest abuero to Gilm.
　It would certainly have been a great place to work for the woodcutters, if it were to be thought of as an increasing number of wood.

"Oh... I don't know. I haven't heard of that yet. You don't have to ask me?"

　It's a conversation that should be called an image language, so it's better to feel the story and accept the story rather than to listen.
　With a little doubt about it, Ray looks at the doll at the root of the tree.
　If you ask me, I'm sure they'll answer me.
　At the same time, however, some people think it's better to communicate in a way that doesn't make sense like that image language.
　I know it's not dangerous to use the language of imagery twice, but it was also true that there was a feeling somewhere in Ray that it wasn't dangerous.
　I know it's contradictory myself, but I can't help feeling it.
　At any rate, he is an incarnation of the forest of Trent, where he was able to come into contact just because he felt dangerous.
　It's only natural that we'd like to get through to the adventurers so that they won't continue to suffer.

"I can't help it. I'll try again, so I'll ask the people around me to be vigilant. Well, I don't think you need to be that cautious from what you've been doing. But it's just in case."
"You don't mind? ... I understand." Be careful."
"Grull!"

　After Vihela's words, Seto chants, "Leave it to me!"
　If you want to do anything with Ray, attack him immediately and take a quick look at the trees around him.
　After nodding softly to each of them, Ray approaches the doll with the roots of the tree again.
　Then reach out... this time, instead of unilaterally accepting the will of the other party, I send an image with a strong will.
　However, Ray is not sure if this is the right way to respond to the image language they use.
　However, there was still a prediction that this was probably the right answer.
　The image that comes out of Gillum... the question is why they spread the forest towards people.

"Magical power, existence, provisions"

　Unlike what I initially felt, I get an image of just a few words arranged side by side.
　However, I could understand from the words that the manipulator of this tree root doll was thinking a lot of bad things.
　Magic and existence. This is all right, but the word "last provisions" is far from acceptable to Ray.

(Are you trying to feed on guillem?)

　It was surprising and convincing to Ray.
　Gillum has many skilled adventurers.
　Some of them will naturally possess a great deal of magic.
　In the first place, Ray himself has enormous magical powers, even though he now hides his magical powers with the ring of the new moon.
　People are not food.
　I tried desperately to make myself understood, but...

'No, no, no,'

　The only thing that comes back is absolute denial.
　No, I don't think they were going to listen to Ray from the beginning.
　an absolute refusal that makes one think so
　We communicate with each other several times in the image language.

"Boosting, feeding, feeding"

　With a stronger will than ever before, the image language exchange ends.
　Then I found a tree-roots doll in front of Ray standing up.

"…Oh, I'm sorry." I think I failed to persuade him."

　He told Vichela and Sett that Ray looked at the doll at the root of the tree before him, holding the spear of death and twilight.