"I'm going to start, so don't disturb me."

I nodded my head repeatedly in agreement and Mr Knight continued to draw something on the ground. It was not clearly visible what he was drawing. I remained silent, waiting for his explanation.

But as my curiosity grew about what he was doing, I quietly leaned over, but I fell on my knees. I broke the fall by supporting myself with both my hands. While I was in the same position, I looked at his drawings.

It looked like he was drawing something that looked like ghosts. He drew four figures, one was thin and wiggling like a cloud, two were smaller than the first one but still wriggling, and the fourth drawing was bigger and fatter than the first. The fourth drawing was not wriggling, but was stout and had a scary face.

And without hesitation I shouted at him, pointing my finger at the drawings.

"What are you doing?! Did you not understand when I said no ghost stories?!"

Although I was yelling, his answers were calm, as if he didn't know what I was talking about.

"Who said anything about this being a ghost story?"

"I can tell a lot just by looking at these drawings!"

"What do you mean? These are humans."

As I hit the floor with my right hand so hard that there was a loud thud, I shouted.

"Bullshit! There is no way that people who look like that could possibly exist, idiot!"

"Idiot?"

At what I said, I held my breath so hard that it felt like my stomach was closing in on my throat. I slightly shrugged the eeriness off my face as I pointed out my concern again.

"O-Oh... If they are human, then what is this?"

"Oh this! It's Mr Tree."

I smiled irritably, as my right eye twitched at his nonchalant response.

"Ehe… Is that so? But I can't understand if you say Mr Tree. Is it a name or is it just a tree?"

"No, it's just a tree."

He replied with a chuckle, but I swear, even in his irritating chuckle, I heard my vein pop in my head. No matter how hard I try to stop myself, this man finds a way to make me yell.

"That's what I'm saying, I've never seen such a scary tree before! If it is just a tree, why does it have a name?! But be real, is there any point in a tree having a face?!"

"I haven't even started explaining yet, so why am I getting so many questions?"

I took a breath, controlled my anger and asked sharply.

"Fine. They are humans and this is a tree. Then why are they wiggling? Can you draw them normally?"

"Ah, that… It's their clothes moving because of the air. Isn't that the obvious thing?"

"Yes, it is. It is the obvious thing. If there is air, then the clothes should be wiggling."

Because the drawings were not as good as I expected I made a suggestion to change the way they look.

-The child made a suggestion because he was just scared of them-

"How about we change them a bit? Like just giving them a full body cloak that doesn't wiggle in the air."

"Like how?"

"Mmm... Ah, like those dolls, like teru teru bozu."

"Oh, that's nice! Let's do that!"

Mr Knight erases the drawings of the humans and draws what was asked for.

I slam both my hands on the ground, as I yell, "Aren't we back to square one?!"

-The knight drew the three people with fully covered cloaks hanging from the tree-

"Why are you doing this?! What is your ultimate goal?! Is it to scare me?! Is it to see me end up like one of these drawings?!"

"I just did what you told me to do"

"It is, but it isn't, is it?! And their clothes are still wiggling the same! You... you are doing this on purpose, aren't you?!"

At my question he turns his head to the side and has no answer. So I erased his drawing and drew what was in my mind. I drew the three humans as the teru teru bozu, but standing on the ground without ropes. And I also erased Mr Tree's face.

"Let's take these drawings and use them as the characters that you wanted to show"

"Huh? But what about Mr Tree's face?"

"There really was a point in a tree having a face?!"

With a simple nod and an emotionless face, he made it clear that he really needed a face for Mr Tree, so I drew a simple, good-looking smiling face. As I waited for him to start, his face was still uninterested and his tone was similarly uninterested.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"You see... you have drawn them all similarly. If it is like that, it is hard to differentiate them. Do you want me to give them some interesting features?"

"No need for that. Just give them names. I think that would be enough to narrate."

"Tch!"

Hey, you just said tch, didn't you?! You just said tch! You were trying to scare me again, weren't you?!

"Ahh... Got it. I'll start again."

"But be sure to make it interesting!"

"Interesting… You sure?"

"What kind of question is that? As if this choice will be a matter of life and death for me."

"Heh," he let out a breath that clearly showed his voice had changed to that of someone who was about to make a rash decision, who was about to make me rethink about the previous remark.

"I was going to end this with three simple steps, but it looks like my creativity is at stake here. Remember, Kiddo, it was you who asked me to make this interesting..."

My throat was forced to swallow hard at his intense gaze and just wait in silence for what I requested for.

"I have nothing to do with what's about to happen, so don't bother me. Got it?"

I hastily raise my right hand and salute at his question, displaying agreeance.

Before starting the story, he made it clear that he wasn't going to draw everything, that he was going to let my imagination run wild, and that if I had any questions, he was going to save them for the end.

As I kept nodding my head in agreement, he began to tell the fantasy-like story.

As soon as he started telling the story, I closed my eyes and began to imagine the story he was going to tell me. With the teru teru bozu as the clothes for humans and Mr Tree as a normal tree.

◇◇◇

In a distant land, towering mountains piercing the skies, thick forests shrouded the earth in shadow, blocking the sunlight from touching the ground. This wild terrain was also home to fierce creatures that roamed the wilderness. It was an area where living conditions for humans were utterly unfeasible.

High atop a majestic mountain, three individuals lived in a home. One of them was an elderly man who was taller than most people you can imagine, and the other two were as small as children. The elderly man was nearing the end of his life, and the children were just five and six years old.

"Old man Mount! We returned! We have brought what you asked for!" shouted two children enthusiastically as they ran up to an elderly man sitting idly on a rock, enjoying nature.

'His name is old man Mound because he lives on a mountain? You're not very creative, huh, Mr Knight'

"Ah, Main character and Secondary character. Welcome back," the old man responds calmly as he turns to the children.

'No, give them some names, dammit!'

One of the two children who came running was a boy, his name was Aleph, and the other was a girl, her name was Beth.

'If they had a name, call them by it!'

The two children, filled with curiosity, asked the elderly man about the reason for their amusing names. The old man gazed thoughtfully into the distant sky and replied, "It is because I do not want both of you to forget about the important task that this selfish old man has given you"

The children seemed to grasp the elderly man's words, their faces falling into expressions of sorrow.

A few months prior to their arrival in these mountains, the children had been wandering the streets of a bustling city, begging for survival. One day, as fate would have it, the elderly man walked down that very street and noticed two helpless children who sat motionless, lost in their despair.

With compassion in his heart, the elderly man brought the children to his home in the mountains. However, even in this new environment, the children remained hesitant to eat, either due to their mistrust of others or their sheer exhaustion. It took a full two days before they finally accepted food.

This act of kindness was a first for the children, who had never experienced such warmth before. Eager to repay the elderly man’s generosity, they insisted on helping him in any way they could. Despite his repeated claims that they owed him nothing, the children could see through him.

Moved by their determination, the elderly man eventually revealed a personal request, one that was more for his own benefit than theirs.

'Oh!'

"There is one thing that really bothers me to this day. If you really want to help me, you will have to go through a lot of trouble," the old man said with a hint of concern in his voice.

'Ohhhh!'

Hearing no refusal from the children, he continued, "You see, there is a certain man who must be stopped. He is trying to bring an end to this world. He is the Demon Lord of this world."

'Ohh! A Demon Lord! So, at last we are getting to the fantasy part!'

Ever since that day, the children have obeyed the elderly man's every wish in their quest to defeat the demon lord. And in that moment, they were reminded of their fate once again.

To lighten the heavy mood set by the elderly man, Beth asked the elderly man a bizarre question.

"But why is he called Main character and I'm called Secondary character?"

At this question, both the elderly man and Aleph looked at each other for a second and laughed at Beth. The blowing wind around them stopped and the laughing of the elderly man and Aleph was heard louder. Frustrated, Beth slowly hits Aleph with both hands while pouting.

'No, you explain it too! Tell me why you gave them these nicknames! At least tell me that these nicknames will define their responsibilities!'

But just as the wind eventually comes to a stop, so does their time with the elderly man.