I was a bit disheartened to see the three girls leaving so quickly after I created the second house, wondering if there was anything else that I could have done. However, no matter how I thought about it, my options were too limited. All that I could actively do at the moment was create either a tree or a house.

  If I had chosen to do nothing at the time, perhaps they would have stayed a little longer to investigate, but they would have probably come to the same conclusion and left soon enough anyways. Were ‘spiritually awakened’ items really seen as that much of a hazard in this world? I had imagined them to be revered as heroic armaments or legendary tools, but those three acted as if they were afraid just standing on my territory would put them in danger.

  As I thought about that, I felt another presence entering my territory. However, this one didn’t come from the road. Instead, it came from one of the further corners, slithering its way through the grass. This was a large snake, its body just over a meter long, and with a small horn on its forehead. On its side was a long gash, still bleeding purple ichor.

  Great… now I had attracted some strange animal? Or maybe this was a monster? I honestly didn’t know anymore. There wasn’t exactly anything that I could do to stop it as it slithered up my lone tree and made a feast of the small nest of birds that had lived there…

  Two weeks had passed since Lydia and her party left the awakened land. Now, they stood within a camp a few kilometers away, where the guild’s investigative unit was waiting to hear back from their scout. Two dozen people had come this time, including Lydia’s own team, so she felt more secure about their safety this time.

  Of course, they were merely here to show the investigative unit the way, and were not a part of the investigation itself. They had already submitted their full testimony to the guild before ever departing from the city.

  Just then, the flap of the large tent opened up, and a lithe man with feline ears entered. “Sir! It’s as the White Flash party indicated. Just down the road, there are two houses and a lone tree, with no signs of any inhabitants.”

  The lead investigator nodded his head in understanding, adjusting his glasses. “Understood. Pull up camp, and let’s get to work.” After he said this, he turned towards Lydia with a friendly smile. “Thank you for your assistance leading us here. You can return to the city now and receive your reward.”

  Lydia let out a sigh of relief, bowing towards the investigator. “Thank you, sir!” she said, before leaving to meet up with her two teammates that were already waiting for her outside.

  Meanwhile, the man himself left the tent, which was already being taken down by skilled hands. In under five minutes, the tent had been neatly folded and packed away in a small storage satchel, carried by the group’s porter.

  The team then marched in an orderly formation down the road, ready to see this new awakened land for themselves. It took roughly twenty minutes at their marching speed to reach the edge of the territory, which had been marked by the earlier scout by drawing a line in the dirt road.

  The leader of the investigative unit looked back at the porter, holding his hand out. “The spiritual board, please,” he spoke kindly, and the dwarven porter quickly retrieved the requested item from his bag, handing it over.

  The ‘spiritual board’ looked similar to a handheld whiteboard, and the leader of the unit held it in front of himself, clearing his throat. “Ahem. Can you hear me?” he asked, watching the board. “This item will allow us to communicate, so long as you send your thoughts into it.”

  The man waited for several moments, seeing no change in the board. However, he was not discouraged, and took a step forward. “It seems that this is likely the type that can only perceive what is in contact with itself.”

  After saying that, he knelt down and placed the whiteboard on the ground. He then repeated himself, and black markings began to appear on the board, gradually spelling out a message. Each character took several seconds to complete, making this a rather… inefficient means of communication.

  The man smiled at the response. “Yes, that’s right,” he said, before signalling his men to begin investigating the area while he began the preliminary introduction. “My name is Nathan Invar, and I was sent here from the nearby city of Leonin to--”

  His words were cut off as he saw the words on the whiteboard fading, new markings forming. Immediately, he shouted out for the others, “Stop!” His eyes focused on the message appearing, already able to tell its severity just from the first four letters.

  Nathan looked over, and saw that one of his men had begun to approach the tree prior to his shout. “Julius, get away from the tree!” he ordered, the man slowly backing up. Afterwards, he turned towards the whiteboard again, his expression severe. “Can you explain more about this monster?”

  Nathan’s eyes darkened as he turned to face the tree. “All ranged forces, watch that tree. According to the spirit, there’s a C-Class Horned Viper hiding in the branches.”

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  Immediately, the investigative unit took defensive positions. Four of their number readied bows, while one held a staff, preparing to unleash his magic.

  Nathan, meanwhile, turned back to the whiteboard. “Pardon me, but is it a problem if the tree is damaged? It would be hard to kill the serpent if it hid in the grass again.”

  Nathan was rather pleased, seeing how succinct the spirit was being. Clearly, it understood the drawback of this method of communication, and wanted to expedite the process. “Jacobs, you can burn the treetop. We have the spirit’s consent, so there should be no backlash.”

  The staff-wielding member nodded his head, lifting the staff high. Arcane circles appeared over his staff, one after another as they swirled in a spiraling pattern. When he pointed the staff forward, these circles all rushed together, merging into one. “Firestorm!”

  I braced myself, half expecting to feel an intense, searing pain when the tree was burned. It was a part of me, after all. However, as the fire enveloped it, I felt… nothing? Well, it was warm, sure. But, that was it. Was I even able to still feel pain?

  With the upper half of the tree reduced to charcoal, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had gained a C point when the snake was killed. Because of that, I almost didn’t notice Nathan speaking to me again. Really, it was good just to be able to talk to someone, even if the ‘latency’ was high.

  “Apologies. As I was saying, I was sent here from Leonin to confirm various aspects of your being, whether your abilities, your personality, or anything else that we can uncover. First, though, I must ask, are you able to remember who you were before becoming the Land?”

  I hesitated at that question, unsure how to answer. I mean, I wanted to be honest, since the truth would surely come to light sooner or later. Do items usually remember a past life?

  However, it appeared that my words were misinterpreted, with Nathan furrowing his brow. “I see. If you can’t recall, then it’s not a problem.”

  To avoid perpetuating the misunderstanding, I quickly corrected his assumption. No, I do, I was just curious. I don’t come from this world, so I don’t know the common sense here.

  “Not… from this world?” he hesitated, stroking his chin. “I’ve heard that there have been a few cases in recent months. Could your world be known as ‘Earth’?”

  I wanted to sigh in relief, glad that someone else who had been sent here had shared the information as well. Well, if they were willing to do so, that meant that they were probably not a villain, so people shouldn’t have a bad impression of Earth. That’s right. My past life is from Earth.

  Nathan nodded his head in understanding. “That will move things along, then. Can you explain your abilities to me? I would like to make an accurate report to my superior, and it would save us time that we would need to spend analyzing every little detail. Cooperation will also reflect positively on your record.”

  I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that, but I knew he wasn’t wrong. I gain points when people stay on my territory, and I can use those points to buy things. Right now, I can use the points I gain from people to buy trees and houses, but I only have enough for one.

  Nathan read through my message, considering it. “Would you be willing for us to experiment with the items created within your houses?” he asked patiently.

  Feel free. I’d like to know the extent of what I can do, too. Honestly, it’d be a relief to know if there were any drawbacks to the things that I made. Though, as I thought about that, I remembered something else. Also, I can gain a different type of points from monsters living on my territory, too.

  Nathan tensed up when he read that. “A different type of points? And can you ‘purchase’ anything with these?”

  I checked my interface, confirming that the lone option was still there. I hadn’t bought it yet, because I didn’t want to come across as a wicked entity. That was the same reason why I rushed to warn him about the serpent earlier.

  Right now, I could purchase a monster nest. It won’t have monsters in it, but it would be like a house for the monster. I think that I can use the M points to buy trees, too? I haven’t tried, since I didn’t know if buying a tree with monster points would make a monster tree or something.

  Nathan carefully read these words, visibly pondering it. “Julius, get ready for another spell,” he called out, before looking at the whiteboard again. “For the sake of experimentation, please purchase a tree using that monster point. We have a skilled fire mage in our unit, so it should not pose a problem even if it turns into a monster.”

  I was naturally apprehensive. If I did spawn a monster, would that get me marked as an evil item? Granted, the worst that they could probably do was seal off this patch of land, but at that point my only option would be to use monsters for growth.

  Steeling my resolve, I opted to purchase a tree with one of my ten M points. I had checked, but the M points could not be used for purchasing houses. My only options for them were either a tree or a nest.

  Just as before, a tree sprouted not far away from the first one, its leaves immediately growing lush. I passed my senses through it multiple times, not sensing anything that felt like a monster. It’s safe, I think?

  Nathan glanced over at his feline scout. “Go check the new tree.”

  The scout did so without question, dropping into a low stance and moving forward. From his posture, he was ready to dodge to either side at a moment’s notice. When he reached the tree, he inspected the fruits hanging from it, reaching up to pluck one before running back. “It looks like a barna tree,” he said, handing the fruit over.

  This fruit looked like a brown tangerine with several bulging strips running from top to bottom. Nathan accepted the fruit and adjusted his glasses. “Indeed, it’s good quality. And I don’t see any malicious elements to it.”

  After saying that, he turned to the whiteboard again. “How hard is it for you to construct additional housing?”

  From what I can tell, I get one point for each person staying in my territory when the sun rises, with a maximum of ten. I don’t know how to increase the maximum amount. I unlocked the house option with ten points when a caravan came through, and bought the second house when the bunny girl stayed the night in my first one.

  Nathan stroked his chin thoughtfully as he read the response. “But you said you had another point available? Has someone else stayed on your land since they left?”

  I just gained another C point when you killed the snake. I think killing monsters gives me the same type of point as having people live here.

  “Interesting. My men and I will be staying here for three days to conduct our investigation. If you could provide another house for us, that would both lessen our housing burden and also increase how many experiments we can conduct. I can also send some of my people to fetch monsters from nearby areas to kill on your territory. It’s important to know as much about what you can do as possible.”

  I wholeheartedly agreed with this assessment. I had no desire to hide what I could do for some ridiculous reason like being unsure how trustworthy the other party was. In my situation, what did it matter if they were trustworthy or not? If they weren’t, no amount of cooperation would lead to a good result. And if they were, I’d only be damning myself by holding back information. Without any way to move beyond the confines of my own territory, it was ridiculous to even think about not cooperating.