As soon as I broke the world tree in front of the elves’ eyes, a harsh reaction with swearing immediately came out.

Expressions filled with high voices, accusations, and anger flew toward me without hesitation.

Even if an armed conflict occurs at any moment, it has become a situation that is not strange at all.

I began to calm the excited elves while quietly building tension between them.

“Everyone, calm down. Didn’t I tell you a story about why I destroyed the World Tree?”

“What is true!”

“An inferior child dares to take the mother tree!”

“Kill! Rip it limb from limb and kill it!”

yea, really

Even if I spoke normally among angry people, no one listened to me, so not a word of what I said was conveyed.

It seemed like I needed a little more time to make my story properly heard.

The anger of the gathered crowd caused a rising reaction with the people on the left and right, and gradually began to spread into greater anger.

A few were glaring at me with excitement, as if they were about to jump onto the podium at any moment.

It would have been more difficult to rectify if it was secretly destroyed in the middle of the night, so it was handled during the day when the situation could be explained at once in a gathering.

It seemed that there would be many difficulties to sort out the situation as easily as this.

“… … .”

Xian sunbaenim’s gaze as he quietly flew towards me was strangely painful.

Because I, the first outsider I trusted and invited, committed a major accident of destroying the world tree ten days after I visited.

It was difficult to imagine the magnitude of the betrayal she was experiencing.

Even so, it was something that had to be done.

If the World Tree was left to rot like this, it would undoubtedly return to a bigger disaster in the future.

Lost trust can be regained someday, but the completely rotten World Tree could not be revived.

It was an act that someone had to do for all elves and all mankind.

I was the only one who knew about it, so in the end, I was the only one who took over.

“You son of a bitch!”

“Die, inferior bastard!”

“As expected, I didn’t believe those guys with short ears!”

Along with one-dimensional curses, rubbish such as eggs and stones began to fly onto the podium.

While waiting for the situation to cool down, he beats flying objects with wind magic.

Behind the crowd, I saw an arrow flying toward me.

Will these elves really calm down by the end of today?

He let out a shallow sigh and held the broadsword in his cloak with his left hand.

The moment I was about to hit the arrow that was definitely aiming at me with my sword.

An elf with green ponytails, whom he had already grown accustomed to, suddenly came into view.

She swung the bow she was holding once and immediately struck the body of the arrow.

The malice that had been aiming for my neck fell straight down the podium.

“Senior Xian?”

Senior Xian, who was sitting at the front of the audience, suddenly came up to the podium where I was.

I blocked the arrows that flew towards me with obvious hostility.

“Comrade Konrad, you always act unexpectedly.”

“What are you doing, Xian-senpai? Is it because you don’t know what will happen if you get involved with me right now?”

“Is a junior who cares about my situation like that, destroying my mother’s World Tree?”

“I did it because I had an idea!”

“I do it because I have an idea.”

Senior Xian’s bow split the air a couple of times, and a couple of arrows hit by her bow fell to the floor again.

It was a clean movement with no superfluity at all times.

“Wait, isn’t that the daughter of the supreme elder?”

“Looking at the color of her hair, I think it’s Elder Aldor’s daughter… .”

Even in the crowd, people who figured out Xian’s true identity began to appear one by one.

As Xian-senpai has the status of being the daughter of the highest elder, it would be nice if the uplifted atmosphere would subside even a little with her appearance.

“traitor!”

“Traitor bitch!”

Well, usually it will be like this.

“Traitor of the elves! Come to think of it, you brought that man too!”

“You were planning to betray your own people from the beginning!”

“Aren’t you ashamed as an elf to betray your comrades and take the side of something short-lived!”

Unlike me, an outsider who had only been in for a few days, Xian was originally an elf resident who was born and raised in this forest.

Of course, the sense of betrayal felt by the residents would be felt more by senior Xian than by me.

As a result, senior Xian stood on the podium to block the attack on me, and the criticism that would normally have been directed at me was transferred intact.

For some reason, I didn’t tell Xian-senpai on purpose because I thought it would end like this.

I never thought you would trust me and stand by my side instead of the public opinion of your own people even in this situation.

I felt a little thrilled by her unexpected trust.

“Noisy.”

When senior Xian uttered a word in a low voice, the clamor subsided once and for all.

“Did you not hear what Conrad said until now? I told you that the inside of the World Tree is rotten and needs to be regrown.”

“lie!”

“Can’t the words of an outsider who has only seen the world tree for a few days be true! Of course it’s a lie!”

“It must be that he coveted the material of the World Tree and came to cut it down!”

He was a well-known figure in the village in his own way, so he succeeded in temporarily attracting attention.

It seemed that her charisma was still not enough to calm the impact of destroying the World Tree.

Seeing the occasional arrows that flew by stopped, it seemed that the atmosphere had softened a little.

“What kind of commotion is this, Xian?”

The atmosphere, which had been tumultuous due to the arrival of Elder Aldor shortly thereafter, finally began to calm down.

As expected of a longevity servant, the seniority of the elders was clearly captured.

“I gave permission after much consideration to your story of inviting outside guests, and look at the results you brought in because of that action.”

“… … .”

“You dare, you dare break the mother tree… ? A mere external inferior… ? How are you going to take responsibility for this situation, Xian?”

“… … .”

“If you have a mouth, you must answer!”

With Aldor’s single shout, the whole area fell into complete silence, and Xian-senpai was unable to say anything to his father because of what I had done.

Since Xian-senpai had stood up to defend me in a situation where he knew nothing, of course there was no way he could give a proper answer to Aldor’s question.

In order to mediate the situation, I squeezed between Xian-senpai and Aldor and met his furious eyes.

“Let me explain, Elder Aldor.”

Maybe I didn’t like the fact that I cut off the conversation with senior Xian and intervened.

Aldor showed his feelings to me without even a hint of displeasure.

“I don’t think I’ve ever allowed an inferior species to speak.”

“Is that so? I’m not a member of this forest, so I don’t know the rules you made.”

“Then I will make you a member of it. If I tear your body apart and turn it into manure for the forest, it will bring no small comfort to the spirit of the fallen mother tree.”

The attendants behind Aldor seemed to be approaching to capture me.

It was a situation where I couldn’t even start a proper explanation if I was quietly arrested.

That’s why I prepared a magic chant as a warning by deliberately pouring out my magic power excessively.

“… … .”

“… … .”

The two attendants who were approaching me showed a hesitant look while looking at me a little.

As a test, he created a small explosion magic under his feet, and the steps of the two elves who were approaching moved back.

“Either arrest or punishment is fine, but first figure out the situation before you decide what to do.”

“What do you mean you need to understand the situation other than that you, an inferior wizard, killed the World Tree!”

“Look at that. You don’t even know if you killed or saved the world tree right now.”

Pointing at the base of the fallen World Tree tree with his staff, he continued his explanation to Aldor.

“Doesn’t the root still remain?

Although the top of the tree trunk is broken, it will grow back soon enough as the strong roots extend all over the forest.”

“Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that you cut off our spirit of over a thousand years!”

“Since when has your spirit been to serve a rotten tree that has been engulfed by dark magic?”

“… touchwood? Did you just call the mother tree a rotten tree?”

“If you don’t believe it, have you checked it out? The top part of that world tree, excluding the roots, is tainted with dark magic.

You can hang my head if you want, so check the dark magic flowing from the destroyed cross-section first.”

As for the fact that the inside was rotten, it was after the investigation had already been completed.

Aldor read my expression showing the fallen stem of the world tree, and then pointed at the fallen world tree with his staff.

“Do your research.”

“”Yeah!””

The attendants standing next to Aldor immediately approached the trunk of the fallen World Tree.

Xian-senpai and I stood in front of Aldor and quietly waited for the results to come out.

“You should be able to take responsibility for your foolish remarks about the world tree being rotten.”

“If the World Tree is not rotten, of course I will take responsibility, but if the World Tree is really rotten, someone other than me will have to take responsibility.”

“… Tsk.”

I am quietly waiting for the investigation of the fallen world tree to end. Before long, one of the attendants hurried to Aldor’s side.

Then, as if telling an important story that shouldn’t be revealed, he started whispering something in Aldor’s ear.

I was able to figure out roughly what the story was about by looking at the situation and facial expression.

“… There are too many listeners around here, so let’s move to a quieter place.”

Now we can start talking a little more properly.

* * *

The second, no, now the first tall wooden Elven Presbyterian building in the Elven Forest.

Following Aldor, senior Xian and I moved towards it.

After entering the administrative space of the highest elf organization and following Aldor to the largest conference room.

I sat down in one of the conference rooms and participated in the emergency meeting as a guest.

The theme of the meeting is, of course, the broken world tree.

And it was a meeting about my disposition for breaking the world tree.

“Then, from now on, we will start an emergency elders meeting regarding the terrorism of the world tree by outsiders.”

At least the oldest elf elder announced the start of the meeting.

The five Elder Elves, excluding me, immediately started talking among themselves.

It seemed like it would take a little longer for me to explain, so I quietly expressed my apology to senior Xian during the remaining time.

“I’m sorry, senior Xian. You got me involved in trouble because of me.”

“It’s related to our World Tree, so how bothersome is it? It’s okay, so raise your face, junior Konrad.”

“Still, what if even senior Xian is treated as a traitor because of me? When the work is over, I will somehow restore Xian’s reputation.”

“You said you were really okay. It was my choice to trust you.”

“… … .”

“still… If, thanks to junior Konrad, I can’t live in this forest in the future, then I’ll think twice about having junior Konrad take care of me… .”

“quiet. Now that the internal meeting is over, I will immediately conduct a Q&A with Konrad Perdalos. The defendant must answer the following questions in sincerity.”

An elder male elf opened his mouth, pointing at me, holding a document.

“Sorry, talk to you later.”

“… yes.”

After hastily cutting off the conversation with senior Xian, I prepared to answer the young elf elder’s question.

“Tell me, Elder.”

“I will ask the most important question first. Why did you break the World Tree by your own judgment without consulting or telling any of the elders?”

“We already knew that the World Tree was contaminated by dark magic, so it was something we had to do before the infection spreads to the roots.”

“The Forest of the World Tree has its own rules! Don’t you know that any act of destroying nature in this forest must go through a council of elders!

What you have done is an obvious crime! A horrific terrorist crime that has thrown hundreds of residents into chaos!”

Is it enough to say that cutting down some rotten trees is terrorism?

“Then why didn’t you just leave it alone? Even if it was just a year or two later, the dark magic would have spread to the roots of the World Tree.

The elders of the elves who have lived for more than two quarters would not have known about the impact that this village would have if the World Tree, deeply rooted throughout the forest, was infected.”

“Yeah, but there is a procedure for everything! Had he had gone through a meeting with the Council of Elders before recklessly destroying the World Tree… !”

“Those who go through meetings for nearly a month to cut down a tree will well pass the agenda to cut down the world tree and make it grow again.”

“That, that… .”

At my resolute point, the elf elder showed a slightly troubled expression as if he was speechless and backed away slightly.

“If I were to even mention it, they would have put up guards near the World Tree so I wouldn’t break it. Am I wrong?”

“… … .”

The elder elf, who was the first to raise a question, couldn’t refute my story and sat down quietly.

Even after that, the other elders each asked me questions that seemed to scold me.

I had already prepared answers to all the questions, so there was no difficulty in answering them.

“To destroy a world tree that is over tens of meters tall without any consideration! No matter how you think about it, it wasn’t too risky!

What would you have thought if you accidentally fell under the world tree and caused casualties!”

“Isn’t that why he deliberately called the village elves to the plaza and destroyed them? Coincidentally, today was the weekend, so there were no elves working in the forest.

The direction of the fall was also made to fall toward the forest, not the village. Besides, there were no actual casualties, so why pay for a crime I didn’t commit?”

“… Hmm.”

“I think that destroying the World Tree with your own judgment was right in the end. I am a person of the generation who went through the days of Cardia, the demon, so I am well aware of how dangerous magic is in darkness.

But what if the fact that the inside of the World Tree was eroded by dark magic was your own leap? If the World Tree hadn’t actually rotted, how were you going to deal with the broken World Tree?”

“I’ve been monitoring and investigating the flow of magical energy by the World Tree for several days already. It was confirmed with certainty that a certain amount of dark magic was flowing within the World Tree.

And if the World Tree hadn’t been polluted, I wouldn’t be able to defeat it with just one or two of my spells.

It’s a living demigod that emits protection even when you’re still, but my simple explosion magic would have bounced off or, at best, made some scratches. However, looking at the results, it seems that most of the body was rotten.”

“… … .”

“Even if it weren’t for you anyway, it was something we would find out first and take action. As an outsider, do not meddle unnecessarily with what is happening inside the forest of the World Tree!”

“The world community entrusted the management of the world tree to the elves because it considered your race to be the most suitable for management. Originally, it was the Beasts who owned the World Tree in the first place.

Which race claimed to have a long lifespan and live in harmony with nature, and robbed the world tree 2,000 years ago by force?

You should feel ashamed if you have enjoyed all the benefits of the world tree that was robbed like that, but have not properly managed it. At least, managing the World Tree is not the job of only you elves.”

“Such cheeky… .”

“Stop, let’s go there.”

I am refuting the words of the elven elders who are asking me useless questions one by one.

Finally, Aldor Rudflika came forward and stopped talking.

“Yeah, I admit it. You are all right.”

“… … .”

“The fact that the rotten part of the World Tree had to be cut off before it was too late, and the fact that you created the stage to do it with minimal damage.

And I will also accept your argument that we are responsible for not properly managing the World Tree until now.”

“Thank you, Elder Aldor.”

“But since you destroyed the world tree so confidently, there is no guarantee that it will grow again, right?”

I thought Elder Aldor was on my side for some reason.

It seems that this side also doesn’t like what I did, so it’s the same.

To Elder Aldor’s question, of course, he delivered a prepared answer.

“Isn’t there a case in the past where the world tree was broken once and then regrown from the root?”

“What happened once is not necessarily going to happen twice.”

“The World Tree is a living demigod. Only dark magic can kill such a demigod. I’ve removed the only way, but it’s only a matter of time before they play.”

“That is also your own opinion. If you destroy too much of the World Tree and can’t regenerate it, then how will you be responsible?”

“This is not certain, that is not certain either. If you say so, how can I prove it?”

As if Aldor was waiting for my answer, he immediately spit out his original purpose.

“I will temporarily detain you in the elven village. At least until we are convinced that the World Tree will grow again.”

Coming out ugly again.

Guess who isn’t an elf.