The very Nature Soul of Arcadia greeted us with a rather jovial smile, her golden eyes piercing through our souls with each word she uttered.
We were barely to stand up, but I decided to quickly knee, it was better to go by the druid's customs to not offend their culture.
However, she quickly stopped us from kneeling, her powerful pressure slowly fading away.
"Please, there is no need to kneel before me." She said with a gentle voice. "Although I have ascended to become the ruler of the Fey Wilds, I am by no means a Goddess."
"But Lady Verdant, you're even more than a Goddess, to treat you without respect would be an insult to everything we believe." Augustus said.
"It's alright, Augustus, calm down." She said. "I've already learned you were very doubtful of my decision. What makes you think I was in the wrong here? Even though I've lived through many eras instead of your two hundred years of age? To me, you were only doing a little tantrum, you need to grow a bit more mature."
"M-My Lady…" Augustus apologized. "I am deeply sorry for my arrogance; I had forgotten your endless wisdom for a second. I am in fault of this… Please, punish me for this."
"Why would I punish you?" She giggled. "As I said, I am no God, I am merely what I am. You're forgiven, I just hope you can understand things better, and learn to become a better person. There is always some room to improve."
"Such mercy… I will." Augustus nodded understanding, a few tears flowing from his eyes. "Now, Austucia, Johanna, thank you so much for escorting them here. It has been a while since they appeared in Arcadia, but since then that I've been watching over them as they protected one of the continent's greatest hearts, the Forest of Beginnings."
"T-The Forest of Beginnings?!" Johanna asked. "Wait, are you guys from there?!" Johanna lacked all manners, even before The Verdant Lady.
"Johanna! Act with more respect while talking." Austucia sighed. "And yes, milady, at least I was aware of their origins. The Spirits spoke to me, telling me they came from there.
Planta in specific, has many bodies, and her main one is the Yggdrasil Tree resting there, at long last, a Physical Yggdrasil Tree has been born, one that could finally connect with the Spiritual Yggdrasil Tree within the Fey Wilds."
"And that Yggdrasil Tree is… me?" I asked in slight confusion. "I am not really understanding well what's going on in here though…"
"You're an Yggdrasil Tree?! No, an Yggdryad?!" Augustus started coughing after screaming.
"Ah, yes… No, well, I've evolved into an Yggdragon now." I said.
The Druids were even more shocked, Lady Verdant wasn't so much, she knew everything about me already the moment she touched my soul.
I could sense her eyes peeking through it all… I was completely vulnerable to her powers, higher beings like her are really scary.
However, I'm relieved she's a very good entity, so I don't have anything to fear.
"I was well aware of that." She spoke. "Since you appeared with your friends and stopped the Demon King of Miasma from contaminating the entire world that I've been looking forward to this meeting. Even more after you became an Yggdryad, and then an Yggdragon. Your friends are too, very special, as they've been blessed by you.
I've never had anything against Players, so I hope that can clear a misunderstanding that my Druids seem to have with me."
"Y-Yes, I understand…" Nodded Augustus.
"I-I apologize…" Johanna apologized once more.
"Now, to the more important matters, please, everyone, take a seat." The Lady Verdant waved her hands, threads of green and golden energies surged from her fingers, reaching the floor.
Suddenly, several seats made of wood surged one after another, helping us sit down and relax while she was about to go on explanations and whatnot.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Lady Verdant." I thanked her from the depths of my heart, as we sat down.
It didn't end there, as she snapped her fingers and several fairies appeared around us, bringing us fruits, fruit juice, and cookies with fruit jam on top.
"Oh, free snacks!" Acorn happily received them.
"This fruit is so sweet…" Nieve swallowed a big strawberry she just took a bite from.
"I feel my Mana recovering quickly after taking just a bite!" Brisingra said.
"These are little snacks I brought for you." Lady Verdant waved her hand, as her huge throne moved closer to us.
She quickly took a few cookies herself and started happily eating them… At this point we were just chilling.
Which made the three Druids rather surprised, even Austucia had not seen this "chill" side of their Goddess.
They ended accepting the offerings, and shared a meal with us.
"Now, let's begin." She said. "First of all, I want to thank you for what you've done, Planta. Due to my inability to act in the Material World, I was unable to prevent what happened to the Forest of Beginnings… Yet you and all your friends saved it, and even helped the forest be completely reborn. For that feat, you have my eternal gratitude."
"W-Well, we did what we did to protect our home too." Titan smiled.
"No need to thank us~" Rita said. "The food's good!"
"I'm happy we were of any help." Acorn said very humbly.
"I did everything to protect my home, and I would have done it again…" Nieve smiled.
"…I wasn't there." Brisingra sighed.
"It's nothing, really." I said. "Don't worry about that."
"You're all way too humble. Other people would be immediately asking me for a reward of some sort." Lady Verdant giggled.
"Though, with all the strength you have, how is it possible that you weren't able to help at all?" Asked Lily with a plain and clueless tone of voice.
"Oi, you Brownie girl, how come you talk in that tone to-"
"Augustus, it's fine." Lady Verdant stopped his tantrum. "Lily, right? Well, I was unable to help because I lost my connection with the Material World."
"Wait, connection?" I asked. "Then…"
"Indeed, the connection were the Yggdrasil Trees, the last one was infected and killed by the Demon King before I could act in time…" She lamented. "But now, with Planta here, the connection between my Domain and the Material World can be rekindled."