My Disciples Think I’m Strong – Chapter 217

“Um, World Tree-sama. That look…?”

The Naiad’s eyes widened as she saw Yggdrasil transform back from Fraus’s mother into her original form. It’s quite rare for the Naiad to be surprised.

“Is this your true form? I bet the Spirit Kings are seeing this for the first time.”

The two Spirit Kings, lost for words as they gazed at the incredibly young-looking girl, quickly knelt down. Perhaps they sensed the aura emanating from her, as their submission to the World Tree remained consistent.

No matter how much younger and shorter she appeared compared to them, her essence was unchanged.

However, that rule only really applied to spirits. There were three beings here that didn’t adhere to such rules.

“Is this World Tree-sama? So adorable!”

Tina exclaimed, her eyes sparkling, as she rolled up Yggdrasil’s sleeves and grabbed her tiny hands.

“Wow! So small! Look, Iris, Maria!”

“Is she even smaller than me…?”

Maria placed her hand on her head to compare their heights.

“Are you two going to get scolded by Teacher?”

Iris admonished them, but her words fell on deaf ears.

“Iris, come here! So soft, isn’t it?”

Iris reluctantly touched Yggdrasil’s cheek under Tina’s insistence.

“Oh… oh wow…”

The serious expression on Iris’s face melted away. Was that level of softness even possible?

“Cute…”

“H-Hey! Even if you’re a Hero! Touching the World Tree’s precious body—”

“It’s fine.”

I interrupted Naiad just before his voice grew loud.

“What?!”

“This much is just part of the service. Isn’t that right?”

Yggdrasil stared at me and chuckled.

“…Fraus can be quite the troublemaker. Hehe. I suppose if Fraus wants to, I don’t mind.”

She extended her hand toward me. In that instant, the three Heroes reacted almost simultaneously, grabbing her slender arm.

“Wait a moment.”

“Teacher isn’t interested in any other girls besides us.”

“Teacher, I’ll let you touch my cheek. So don’t put your hands on World Tree-sama.”

“…I wasn’t planning to touch her at all.”

I said that just to imply that they shouldn’t get angry if they touched her body without permission. Normally, if I touched her, the Spirit Kings would have unleashed all sorts of magic in anger. They were just holding back because they were Heroes.

There was no hidden desire to touch her whatsoever.

“Are you not allowed to approach Teacher? Because Teacher belongs to me.”

“When did Teacher become Tina’s?!”

Tina crossed her arms defiantly in response to Iris’s remark.

“Of course! I get the most cuddles! I get petted by Teacher practically every day!”

“I get petted too!”

“How many times have you been petted?”

“Are you talking about the total times my hand went back and forth through your hair? Or how many times I ruffled it continuously?”

“…Either one!”

“Just yesterday, it was a whopping 32 times!”

“32 times?! That’s quite a lot… I only got 28 times. Teacher! Please pet me 4 more times! This is discrimination!”

“Hah, I got 33 times, so I win!”

Iris, who had been silent, suddenly beamed and wagged her tail vigorously. Her shy attitude while relishing the superiority felt strangely infuriating.

“What?! Don’t lie!”

“I’m not lying!”

Even though we had nothing to fight about, here they were squabbling over this.

What’s the big deal about how many heads got petted more or less?

How on earth do they remember how many times I petted their heads?

“Heroes sure do love Fraus.”

Yggdrasil, who had slipped into the fight among the three Heroes, now stood beside me.

“I never asked for that much affection.”

“Why do you seem so close? World Tree-sama is not a friend!”

“…We are friends.”

Yggdrasil confirmed with a smile, causing Orient to despair.

“No way.”

I firmly denied it. Orient snorted as if he expected that reaction. Such a busybody with just his reaction.

“Does it really ease your heart to be so blunt?”

I pressed the puffed-up cheeks of Yggdrasil, causing air to escape with a soft ‘pfft’.

“Enough chit-chat. I have a question.”

“Do you still have things you’re curious about? But just so you know, I won’t tell you my measurements.”

“I don’t care about a tree’s measurements.”

“You’re too much. This is my true form, you know?”

“But if that giant tree breaks, this form will disappear too, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Then the tree is the main body.”

“That does make it so…?”

Defeated in logic, she unconsciously accepted it.

“Anyway, that’s not important. So what are you curious about?”

What a way to redirect a verbal argument.

“…Is there a way for the Heroes to break through their limits a little more easily?”

“There’s a method.”

Oh, now that’s good news.

If there’s a way to break through limits easily, we might be able to deal with the Demon War coming in less than two years.

“What’s the method?”

“…Unfortunately, I can’t disclose that. It would disrupt the causality involved.”

“I see.”

Well, if I knew that method, I wouldn’t be worrying about anything, would I?

“But I can give you a hint.”

“A hint?”

“Let the Heroes live in the Spirit Realm for a while.”

“In the Spirit Realm?”

“The Spirit Realm is a place where my mana directly flows out. It’s of much better quality than the human world’s mana.”

Just as she said, the Spirit Realm was certainly a place where the power of the World Tree could be felt directly. In the game, simply being here significantly accelerated the mana recovery of the Heroes.

“This means it’s much easier to sense mana in a heightened state. For Heroes, who need to observe the essence, understand the gaps, and overlay magic, I think it’s the perfect place, don’t you think?”