I Didn’t Even Want to Live, But God Forced Me to Reincarnate!

Just shortly after we went on an adventurous mission in Vittae village, here we are, embarking to yet another far away place in Cielle for the continuing quest. Who would have guessed we’d be going to another place?
Though this actually went a little bit out of line from our original mission, I sincerely hoped we’d come to find something useful from our side quest.
And I guess I’ve ventured a great distance in such a short time. I have stepped foot in Cielle for a short time, compare it with my long time in Riviera… Yeah, my adventure rate in Cielle is high compared to Riviera with this rate, but I guess circumstances are different…
We traveled with the convenience of technology and mostly magic–Eventually, we arrived at a small town located in the suburbs.
I turned to look around the tranquil town.
“Does the divine doctor live here?” I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to reside here.
“No, we’re only passing through this town. The doctor lives in the forest just beyond this town–Verdantylle Forest,” Maiara explained.
“Forest…”
We continued to walk all the way until the civilizations grew scarcer and the trees started to get denser.
“Uwaa… The forest is so thick that we can barely see the sky now,” I commented.
“Yeah, it’s quite peculiar,” Clavis said as he turned to the right and left, looking at the surroundings.
True. There were forests in Riviera as well, but I had never seen one as dense as this one, to the extent that the sky was fully covered by the trees.
“Eh? Isn’t this pretty standar–”
“Isn’t it strange how there are no monsters even when the forest is so thick that it’s getting dark?” Ein quickly shifted the topic with a loud voice that completely overshadowed Carbuncle’s words.
We had talked about it to Carbuncle before, but she kept forgetting and just said the stuff that was in her head directly.
I sighed as I tried to look at the sky–nope, I was looking at the tall trees above me.
After walking for another while, we found ourselves gasping in surprise as the forest suddenly started to change.
“Huh? It was just very thick and quite a gloomy forest until just now, but suddenly the atmosphere changed?” Clavis’ ears twitched.
“And did we really walk quite a long while? I mean, the sun is setting, right? The color of the sky and the state of the weather pointed it out, but… I definitely remember that it should still be the afternoon, so why…,” Ein pondered.
“It’s… the twilight, right?” I blinked my eyes several times, making sure that I wasn’t hallucinating.
“Oh, oh! I’ll tell you why!” Manasye excitedly said as he jumped a little several times.
Him doing that just reminded me of Freyr and Freyja, as well as Leti…
“Have you noticed these?” Manasye asked as he pointed at the tree and the ground.
I focused my line of sight towards where he was pointing at, and found small crystals embedded within the forest’s soil and trees.
“Crystals?” I voiced.
“Yeah! You know, there is a high concentration of enchanted crystals like these embedded in the forest’s soil and trees. These crystals absorb and reflect the light, then there’s this process called diffusion, turning the light somehow into a soft and ambient glow that becomes the forest’s blanket, making the part of the forest in a constant state of twilight! It’s always dawn or dusk here!” Manasye said with sparkling eyes–it was apparent that he adored this forest.
“Oh… I have read about similar phenomena in books. Reading about something and seeing it with your own two eyes are different, indeed,” Ein said as he took in the whole scenery, as if wanting to record it inside his perfect memory.
“That is awesome… It created this dreamy and tranquil atmosphere,” I said as I saw the scenery becoming even more beautiful and the atmosphere even more serene the further we walked.
“Why won’t more people come to live here, then?” Carbuncle asked the question that I also was curious about.
“Well, for one, it’s inconvenient to reach and there’s no civilization around here,” Maiara started explaining.
“Then they can just start building a civilization here,” Carbuncle answered quickly.
“Believe me when I say that people have tried in the past,” Maiara said.
“But…?” Carbuncle tilted her head, not sure what the problem was.
“When someone tried to modify the area to build civilization, it was said that everyone would be struck with divine punishment. Once or twice might be a coincidence, but there were many cases of it with no identifiable culprit even after investigating it. So, people decided to leave this place alone. And although this place is beautiful, this history with the rumor of divine punishment caused people to fear this place, going as far as feeling that this place was scary. That’s how they tend to stay clear of the area,” Maiara explained an unbelievable reason behind the lack of civilization in such a beautiful place.
“I guess the gods live here and they don’t want us to destroy their masterpiece,” Carbuncle suddenly said something that I wouldn’t have expected.
“What?” Feeling my stare at her, Carbuncle asked.
“Nothing. I just didn’t think you’re the type to say such words,” I quickly answered.
“Isn’t it also what the people are saying about the Dragon’s Heritage? The condition there is harsh and not supportive towards people’s livelihood, yet dragons who are given special power by the gods could turn it into a place of living. But it’s suspected that the dragons are given such privilege because they know not to destroy the gods’ masterpiece, and can turn it into another masterpiece,” Carbuncle explained.
“That is an interesting point. I have never heard of such narration before,” Maiara was intrigued and urged Carbuncle to continue.
“Yeah, I mean, the races aside from dragons tend to destroy stuff to build civilization. While it’s true that civilization and nature can go hand-in-hand, there's bound to be part of nature that’s destroyed in order to create that civilization. The dragons tend to preserve the stuff as it is and make improvements that won’t necessarily destroy the area,” Carbuncle explained.
“...or so we heard,” I added.
Maiara turned to look at me and said, “I see. The narration is good, but I wonder if we'll ever be able to verify all the rumors circulating about the Dragon’s Heritage? At this point, there’s just too many rumors and imagination about it.”
“Anyway, if what you said about Verdantylle Forest is true… How come the divine doctor managed to live here?” Ein suddenly came up with a good question.
“Ah yeah! Doctor Eltharion somehow managed to make this forest accept his being to dwell inside…,” Manasye said with a tone full of wonder.
“That in itself is the testament of his power as the divine doctor,” Maiara just nodded.
My anticipation for the divine doctor just soared.
In my mind, a figure of an old man with a long beard and long robe could be seen. That was how I imagined the divine doctor to be like. And I expected him to look similar to my imagination.
And I imagined that the great divine doctor was living in a humble wooden house that was next to a waterfall, so that it’d be convenient for him to go under the waterfall to meditate and ascend–
“We have arrived!”
My imagination was quickly broken as Manasye announced while presenting… a colossal tree with gigantic roots and trunk, and under the group of trees with merged roots and trunk, there was a wooden door…
My lips twitched.
Maiara knocked on the door.
“Ruuuff…!”
A low voice that was akin to a bark, but not quite a bark, resounded.
“Minny, a guest?” A man’s voice could be heard, followed by another bark.
Then, the door slowly opened and…
A tall and slender elf man appeared from beyond the door. His white garment was a bit blinding, his black pants weren’t exactly that stylish, and the black belt fastened on his waist…
Then, contrary to my expectation, it wasn’t an old man with a long beard that he would stroke when thinking. Rather, his silvery-white hair was neatly tied in a low ponytail and his face was clean-shaven without a single beard on it. He looked rather young, as his face was considered smooth–at least not as wrinkly as I imagined it’d be.
But when I looked closer, I found hints of aging in his appearance, such as soft creases in his face. Compared to other youthful elves, there were subtle lines around his eyes and mouth as well. All in all, I could easily see that he was older than most elves.I found it peculiar how his pointed ears were slightly longer than the elves I had seen previously.
His golden eyes widened in surprise when he saw us.
“My, my. What an odd group. And…,” Eltharion shifted his gaze to Manasye and Maiara.
“This doctor welcomes the prince and the royal family’s trusted right hand to his humble abode.”
Eltharion said as he slightly knelt.
“Doctor, please. You’re flattering me,” Maiara quickly helped the doctor to stand again.
“Ruff!”
“Ah!”
“Minny! Don’t!”
Suddenly, the big fluffy creature that was akin to a dog and a bear, rushed off towards Manasye. Manasye gasped in surprise as Minny lunged at him. The doctor was so flustered as he called out to the creature.
As for Minny–the bear dog actually charged Manasye until he fell to the ground and then… licked Manasye’s face!
“That tickles!” Manasye giggled.
“Phew…,” Divine Doctor Eltharion was so relieved, and he quickly helped Manasye stand and separated the face-cleaning machine from the little prince.
“Doctor, long time no see!” Manasye greeted the doctor.
“My prince, you’ve grown up,” Eltharion said with delight.
“I didn’t know you had a dog!” Manasye quickly shifted his line of sight excitedly at Minny, who seemed happy too.
“This Bear Dog is my loyal companion, your Highness. I usually leave her at home to protect it when I am away, for example when I am visiting the royal castle,” Eltharion explained.
“Her name is Minny?” Manasye asked as he slowly reached out to Minny’s head and patted it. Minny welcomed the touch and looked ecstatic. It was hard to tell, though, since Minny’s fur was long and there was even fur that covered her eyes. The only indicator was her tongue that was sticking in and out in what seemed to convey that she was happy.
“Yes. Please meet Minny the Pooch,” Eltharion introduced Minny with her full name.
“Hey, Minny the Pooch! Pleased to meet you. I’m Manasye,” Manasye also introduced himself to Minny.
“Are they with you, Prince Manasye, Maiara-sama?” Eltharion then shifted his line of sight to the four of us–me, Clavis, Carbuncle, and Ein.
“Yes! Doctor, they are my friends! Let me introduce you to Escha, Kuu, Ralph, and Reynald!” Manasye finally remembered that he hadn’t introduced us to Eltharion and he quickly stopped playing with Minny to introduce us one by one.
“Prince’s friends… I am glad that you’ve made so many friends, Manasye-sama,” Eltharion’s gaze was gentle as he uttered it to Manasye, it looked like he was about to weep in happiness.
“Me too!” Manasye innocently responded…
The little prince was so innocent that it tickled the ‘big sister Lyra’ in my heart.
“Ah, let’s come inside. We can continue our conversation inside. It will be noon soon…,” Eltharion said.
Maiara’s face shifted at Eltharion’s words as she asked, “How do you know it will be noon soon when it’s constantly twilight here?”
“Oh… Well, I guess after spending my days here, my instinct is able to give me more clues about what time of the day it is. And that’s right... It won’t get darker than now even when noon comes, so there shouldn’t be any concern regarding the time, hohoho!” Eltharion suddenly laughed as if he found something really amusing.
“Then, let me correct my wordings. It isn’t good to converse while standing. Please come in, Prince Manasye, Maiara-sama, Ralph, Reynald, Kuu, and Escha,” Eltharion said as he urged us towards the door.
“.........”
The elven divine doctor’s appearance, vibe, and behavior might not be like what I had initially expected, but still, there was an air of wisdom that was hard to conceal, as if it was rooted deep in his bones.