Chapter 13: The Cursed Duke

Moma burned with determination, resolving to go out to the garden and grow trees as soon as possible. Only then could he give Leupen something even better. At the thought of Leupen being pleased, Moma let out an excited sniff through his small nostrils.

One thing he regretted was that he couldn’t find any trace of the tree horns he’d broken off after descending to the human world. He’d broken his tree horns the moment he arrived in the human world, and immediately after, he’d lost consciousness and been captured by the s*ave traders—so pinpointing their location was next to impossible.

‘It would have been nice to have my tree horns.‘

Still, it was fine. There were other methods besides that.

That dawn, an oddly excited, padding sound of footsteps echoed through the quiet mansion’s hallway. With every step, a very subtly protruding tree horn appeared and disappeared between the fluffy, fluttering strands of hair.

“Busy, Moma.”

From morning to night, he had to follow Eden around and learn the work, so there was no time. Because of that, today he’d woken before Leupen for the first time and left the bedroom.

He was worried about leaving the loneliness-prone Leupen alone, but since now was his only chance, he quickened his pace and hurried down to the first floor.

“There were trees in the pig-human’s domain.”

No matter how buried in winter snow it was, a landscape without even a trace of trees looked strange even to Moma, who didn’t understand the concept of a garden.

It was the polar opposite of the pig-human’s domain, where somewhat dried but neatly arranged plants had stood in rows. Even in the Demon Realm, a barren plain of this scale would have been hard to find.

Tending a garden in the domain was partly to see Leupen happy, but it was also good for Moma. If he prepared thoroughly in advance, when spring came, he could take root in a better environment.

Other things aside, caring for trees wouldn’t be too difficult for Moma. Though his broken tree horns meant he no longer possessed the life force he once had, he was still at a level incomparable to humans who didn’t know how to handle life force at all.

With just water and sunlight, Moma recovered quickly, and his lifeline was tenacious. However, precisely because of his high life force, he was sensitively affected by the surrounding energy, more so than other spirits. But Moma firmly believed in himself—that he had boundless potential to match.

“Moma can do it.”

Having come down to the first floor with a solemn expression, Moma immediately hit a wall of reality.

“……Can’t go outside.”

He needed to go outside to see the garden’s soil, but Moma didn’t know how to leave this mansion. He’d been carried in while unconscious, and it had been the same when he left the pig-human’s mansion.

He’d somehow made it down to the first floor, but the mansion was so vast he couldn’t find a way out. Glancing around, Moma spotted a window in the hallway and placed his hand on the hinge.

He fumbled for a moment but quickly unlocked the window. Just yesterday, he’d caught a sidelong glimpse of the servants opening the office window—that helped.

“Moma is amazing.”

Looking at the window with a proud expression, Moma pushed his head through the open gap. If anyone had seen him, they’d have been horrified—but not a single guard was visible, and even less likely was anyone walking the first-floor hallway at this hour.

When he pushed his head through the window gap, a wind more bitter than he’d imagined lashed against Moma’s skin.

“C-Cold.”

Instantly on the verge of tears, Moma turned to look for the cozy blanket he’d left in the room, but there was no way a blanket would be lying in the hallway.

“I can do it…….”

Encouraging himself, he stretched his thoroughly stiffened body outside again, and a wind that seemed even fiercer than before wrapped strongly around his skin. Fortunately, the clothes he was wearing were fairly thick, so he could avoid the disaster of freezing solid in an instant.

Whoooosh—.

The wind rushing through the window gap made a noisy sound, but Moma couldn’t hesitate any longer. If he stayed like this, the sun might rise.

Hurriedly pushing his body out the window, Moma pitched straight toward the ground.

“Keuk……!”

Fortunately or unfortunately, thanks to the snow piled thicker than expected, the mishap of cracking his head on bare ground didn’t happen. Moma, instantly swallowed into the snow as if sucked in, blinked blankly.

‘It’s soft.‘

The thickly piled snow had a texture similar to the cozy blanket Moma loved most. He knew this wasn’t the time, but feeling a little better, Moma wiggled his limbs and rolled on the soft snow.

But that too was brief—soon, at the cold snow worming its way between his clothes, he sprang up and shook off his whole body.

“C-Cold!”

In that brief moment, clumps of snow had frozen solid in his hair. He desperately wanted to go back inside, but he couldn’t give up like this, so he steeled himself.

“I’m going to grow lots of trees in Leupen’s domain.”

Nodding vigorously, Moma pushed through the snow that clung heavily to his ankles and began exploring around the mansion this way and that.

Anywhere would do, but without his tree horns, tending the entire vast domain immediately was difficult. So he decided to first find the spot with the best energy. He could start small.

The sun hadn’t risen yet, so he couldn’t see anything, but good and bad energy wasn’t discerned with the eyes, so the dim visibility wasn’t much of a problem.

‘Moma is going to take root too, so I have to find it well.‘

His indoor shoes, which had provided some warmth, were already completely soaked with snow and were instead freezing his feet solid. Even so, Moma walked around the mansion without rest, pushing through the snow. Thinking this was the place where he’d take root, everything looked good.

In the dark night, Moma’s excited footsteps left a profusion of traces on the white snowfield.

He’d gone about halfway around the mansion. Moma, crouching in one spot that looked the best, patted the snow with a pat, pat.

It was still a white snowfield, but the snow was piled relatively lower there—perhaps a spot that got good sunlight during the day. And above all.

“It feels good!”

It was hard to put into words, but he had a feeling this place held the potential for trees to grow lush. But to see that potential-filled soil, the thickly piled snow had to disappear first.

“Just need to clear the snow.”

It was a daunting task, but he was confident he could do it step by step. Sharing life force with the earth was something he could do even in the depths of winter. The ground was still frozen, so the effect would be minimal, but it would help grow lusher trees when spring came.

Moma plunged his hands deep into the thickly piled snow. At the sensation that went beyond cold into pain, his body trembled, but Moma’s hands didn’t come out of the snow.

Pushing his hands planted deep to either side, he began earnestly clearing the snow. Even as his hands froze solid and turned red as if about to burst, Moma didn’t stop.

“Hoo, hooooo.”

He brought his hands—swollen red and beginning to tremble—to his mouth and blew meaningless breaths onto them.

Having barely cleared the snow, Moma placed his hands on the frozen ground, and tiny green lights began to bubble out, squeezing through the gaps in his hair.

“Moma is doing well.”

Even with his hands and face freezing solid, an increasingly bright smile played on Moma’s face. The sensation of his life force squeezing into the earth, even a little, brought a satisfaction he’d never felt before.

The sky, pitch black, was beginning to take on a bluish hue—the sun would rise soon. That meant Moma’s free time was coming to an end.

“Have to get the towel.”

Having crouched for a long while, Moma straightened his stiffened back and suddenly felt as if someone was watching him. At that, he jerked his head up like a herbivore and looked around, but all around was still nothing but an endless snowfield.

Only Moma’s footprints were profusely left there.

“……Not scared.”

Contrary to his words, Moma quickly retraced the path he’d come. Thanks to having circled the mansion, the central entrance was nearby—but Moma, who had no way of knowing that, retraced his steps and pushed his body into the window. Perhaps because his body had stiffened from the cold, squeezing through the window was much harder than before.

The one who grabbed Moma, who was grunting and pushing his body in with heavy clothes, was the hand of an unknown human. Since Moma had just been on edge, feeling as if someone was watching him, he couldn’t help but be even more startled.

“Keuk, ugh……!”

“What’s this? A thief?”

Moma, who already struggled to speak, couldn’t manage a proper excuse through his hiccups. Above all, the strong hand gripping the nape of his neck was throwing Moma into a panic.

Before the human could strangle him, he wanted to say, Moma is the domain master’s friend—but his hiccups wouldn’t easily stop.

“M-Mo, keuk……!”

At that moment, a voice he found quite familiar reached Moma’s ears as he trembled, caught by the scruff of his neck.

“Well, well, who’s this?”

“D-Dale……!”

“Dale. Did you forget already?”

Smiling brightly, Dale, as if he couldn’t see Moma frozen stiff from shock, swept his eyes over Moma’s body.

“But why do you look like that, and why are you climbing through a window? At this hour of dawn, no less?”

“L-Let go of me.”

Glancing at Dale while caught by the scruff of his neck, Moma squirmed and broke free of his hand. Fortunately, Dale didn’t seem to intend to hold him—his hand fell away easily.

“Did the duke give you some errand at this hour?”

“No. Moma had something to do.”

“What could that be, that you’d sneak through the mansion’s windows at this hour? You must be freezing.”

Dale’s gaze swept over Moma’s limbs, soaked and trembling. Whether from the cold or something else, goosebumps suddenly rose all over Moma’s body.

“……There’s such a thing.”

Moma, who had wanted to surprise Leupen, didn’t want to tell Dale the truth. He couldn’t tell the whole truth anyway. If he said he was pouring life force into the frozen ground, he might be found out as a tree spirit.

His heart grew anxious in the gradually brightening hallway.

“Moma is busy.”

“Busy again today. Where are you going?”

Dale was persistent. At Dale’s manner, which seemed as if he wouldn’t let Moma go until he got an answer, Moma eventually answered honestly.

“Going to get Leupen’s towel. Also tidy the cozy blanket.”

“Leupen……? Don’t tell me you’re on a first-name basis with the duke too?”

Having finished his answer, Moma headed toward the adjoining room, watching Dale’s reactions. Dale, who had been trotting along after Moma, muttered and raised his eyebrows as if amazed. Then, as if intrigued, he unleashed a barrage of questions.

“Did you say Moma? Where are you from?”

He was grateful that Dale was curious about him, but somehow Moma found him uncomfortable. Perhaps because the first humans he’d grown close to were Leupen and Eden. Dale’s attitude, completely different from theirs, was a little bewildering.

“Moma came from far away. You won’t know where.”

“Hmm. So that’s why you don’t know anything about the duke?”

“Moma knows well.”

There was still much he didn’t know about Leupen, but he knew that Leupen furrowed his brow in his sleep, and that he liked leaves.

“Or is it that you don’t believe the rumors about the curse?”

“Curse……?”

It was something he’d already heard twice from the servants here. But at Moma’s reaction, which showed he had no idea what it meant at all, interest began to spread across Dale’s face.

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