The old man's grumbling came to an abrupt stop.
The old man froze.
He couldn't help rubbing his eyes.
Had he really seen that right?
"Hey, old woman."
The old man nudged the old woman beside him on the arm.
"Tell me..."
"Did I see that right?"
"The Maple Leaf Crisps..."
"They're gone..."
"No..."
The old woman's eyes shone with excitement.
She had seen it clearly.
The Maple Leaf Crisps they had placed on the stone table earlier... were gone.
There were only the two of them in this house.
Since they hadn't eaten them...
Then...
"...It really ate them..."
The old woman murmured.
Her hands clasped tightly together of their own accord.
"It really..."
"It's true..."
All those things the children had told them about the Maple Tree... had finally come to pass.
It wasn't that they didn't believe what the children had said.
After all, they had seen some of the Maple Tree's magic for themselves.
It was just that so much had happened in such a short time...
Qingzhu's story, the Maple Tree's story... and the monster called Spirit Maple...
They were old.
They couldn't take in so much all at once, especially when it overturned everything they thought they knew.
Although quite some time had passed since they first learned about these things...
Nothing had changed since then...
If anything, that had only made them more uncertain.
The old woman had made Maple Leaf Crisps for the Maple Tree on a whim.
She had been excited while making them.
She'd been especially enthusiastic.
But once they were finished, she'd hesitated.
It was as if she'd suddenly come to her senses.
It was the old man who couldn't stand to see her fretting and made the final decision, and that was how they