In the end, Ruger did not break his agreement.
That agreement was his decision to treat this place only as a treehouse for recreation, no longer as somewhere to rest. Miss Hair-Shedding became a minor exception that sat awkwardly outside those rules. Naturally, she was not allowed into the Bedroom Space, but Ruger had promised to let her recuperate until she returned to normal, and to give her that long to consider her decision.
So Ruger ultimately chose to stay outside, occasionally taking out something for her to eat. Before going to sleep, Aisijin had even expressed concern about Miss Hair-Shedding.
He had given her his assurance, but he certainly would not provide carefully prepared meals on a fixed schedule. Sometimes, when he came back to himself after pondering a question, most of the day had already passed.
On the platform formed by the cut surface of the enormous tree stump.
Ruger had placed a recliner in the center. Within reach was one corner of the long dining table carved directly out of the tree, with chilled Sour Mushroom Wine close at hand.
He remained in demon form, lying on the Old Recliner as he sensed the incomplete world rune.
Surrounded by giant trees, drinking icy Sour Mushroom Wine and sensing the world rune born of this world-it was a distinctive sort of pleasure.
With gratitude in his heart, Ruger thanked this world. Had the world rune not been incomplete, he would not yet have been qualified to touch it.
Over these days of sensing it, he had learned something else. World runes, or at least the one in his possession, seemed to be fragments shed by this growing Small World as it developed under malformed conditions. Some of those fragments dissolved into the air, some vanished into the trees,