84 – World Tree – 15

“What… happened?”

Confused, Celia tilted her head. However, I believed in Farsi.

I don’t know if it’s her personality, but if it’s her skill, there’s no reason to doubt it.

“Why are you so late?”

“I didn’t even think the battlefield was a place like this. There was no way to connect to the spells deployed outside… Well, I’ve solved it now.”

Some elves breathed a sigh of relief, but the expression on the white branches did not straighten.

Magic is not created without a price, but it also does not disappear without a price.

Even if there was no immediate visible change, there was no way she would have failed.

“It’s a big deal! Above the sky, huge…”

One of the elves, not observing the commotion, approached urgently.

“As expected, there seems to be a means to observe the outside even inside here.”

The face of the white branch frowned even more at Farseer’s confident smile.

“What are you doing…”

“Did you live in the tree so long you forgot? You’re old enough… Let me explain. It’s a ball of fire. It burns wood.”

As if it was embarrassing to be treated as a child, Farseer smirked and smiled triumphantly.

“The World Tree cannot be consumed by such low fire!”

“Yes. The place where the fireball is, is up there.”

The magic was working normally. It was just that there was no way to check inside because it was made outside the World Tree.

“The moment I open my fist, flames will rain down on this gigantic forest. Where can I test the heat resistance of the proud World Tree? How long this forest can withstand fire… I wonder. Where do you not get on?”

“Many elves will die!”

“So, can we not do that? Send Enerel. I don’t think we’re asking too much, right?”

I believed in this from the beginning. I didn’t expect the strength of the elves to be this strong, but I didn’t intend to escape by killing everyone in front of me when things went wrong.

“Don’t think you’re the first to threaten the elves with fire!”

“Of course it is. Among them, was there any magic that a wizard like me entered the village and cast?”

It was us who were now in charge of the situation.

It must have been her mercy or arrogance for White Branch to fight alone, but now even if all the elves here attack, our negotiating power won’t disappear.

“The preparation seems to be pretty good… but it’s an attack from the inside. It won’t be perfect.”

It’s harder to contain it to fall when you need it than to just pour out fire.

It’s even harder to keep it in control while revealing it.

It was a huge magic that could not even be thought of unless it was a Farsi language.

“Even if you kill me now, the fire will fall. If you let us go, we’ll put this magic aside.”

“Do you think the elf will succumb to threats…”

And it wasn’t just Farseer that needed time.

Thanks to her taking quite a bit of time, I was able to catch my breath too.

“Yes. I was doing something completely pointless from the beginning.”

It’s not a matter of choice. Reality is not a trolley dilemma.

“I didn’t expect from the beginning that a human being would be able to understand our anguish!”

“There is nothing to do but understand your agony. We are the party of the warriors, and we are the ones who know the power well.”

difference in information.

A gap in information that would not have arisen if those elves had tried to talk even a little more.

“To the end… how many warriors do you think our researchers have seen?”

“How could you be wrong with data like that?”

“It can’t be!”

It’s not a matter of value, it’s a matter of fact. The elves, locked inside the world tree, hadn’t heard one very important fact.

“You guys said you wanted to investigate the… capacity of the hero’s body.”

“It is.”

“In the first place, is that a concept that exists? Is it true that the hero has some special power, so he can receive the power from the gods more easily?”

“I’m not a researcher, so I can’t give you a definitive answer. However, I know that the hypothesis is being accepted very strongly.”

“Then you think you should investigate that friend instead of me?”

I pointed to Eleanor.

“what are you talking about?”

“I’ve never used the warrior’s power properly. As soon as I was summoned, I gave all my power to her.”

I didn’t think the elves knew this one hundred percent.

It seems that Nerwen talked about it to some extent, but he probably didn’t take it deeply.

“She worked hard like a hero until she caught the Demon King. She was many times stronger than I am now. Then, wouldn’t it be right to investigate Eleanor instead of me, the hero?”

Eirin sat down with a contemplative face.

“Yo, if it’s part of the hero’s power…”

“No, that was all. If you guys are really working on the ability to take in the power of a god, then maybe that’s nothing special.”

You wouldn’t have thought that she drew all of the hero’s power. Or, he may have been buried in the fact that Nerwen had bullied the hero and failed to see the truth.

If it wasn’t that, I might have thought it was right because this ‘Hero factor acquisition project’ had been going on for too long.

“I don’t know why. It could be that it doesn’t matter if it’s just a human, and since Eleanor is also a descendant of the royal family… Maybe she has that kind of power because she’s a distant descendant of a hero.”

But whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. The important thing was that the elves were fundamentally wrong.

The intervening will of the goddess might be important, and there was a possibility that the conditions were necessary but not so difficult or rare.

“Anyway, I think I was approaching it the wrong way from the beginning.”

I don’t know how successful they have been that way in the past. The elf’s method of obtaining information and creating a new life was certainly surprising.

However, the elf way now is not the right approach.

“…You mean you handed over the hero’s power from the beginning? Why?”

“…Because I didn’t want to fight.”

The white branch bowed its head and asked me in a low voice.

“Why? It must be the power given to you. Why did you give up on it? You don’t seem to be afraid… And while participating in the hero’s journey.”

“There was someone who could fight better than me.”

At least at the time, I thought that was the best decision.

It was taken for granted that the more prepared, the stronger, and the more upright would take the might of a hero.

“You mean you gave up your power to kill the Demon King?”

“…that’s how it is.”

It wasn’t even important. It wasn’t something I wanted to think about again.

“After that… there were complications in the party.”

The expressions of the other party members slowly darkened. Perhaps noticing the atmosphere, the white branch nodded.

“I see. You are a person who sacrificed for the world…”

“I don’t know if you can call it a sacrifice, but for now it is.”

The harassment that the warrior party inflicted on me was beyond my imagination. My endurance was shattered from the moment the return failed, and now not even a trace remains.

“Anyway, no matter what end of the world comes, think again from the beginning. There must be another way.”

He seemed to have lost his will to fight. The elves around them were whispering to each other and exchanging opinions, but they didn’t feel any hostility.

“let’s go.”

The tree trunks blocking the retreat gradually shrunk to create a space.

“I understand that means that I acknowledged it.”

“…for a moment.”

Hearing the voice of the white branch, tension returned to his body, which had been relaxed for a moment.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“No. I don’t intend to be hostile to you. Looking at those eyes, I don’t think he’s telling lies. I will respect you.”

“Then what?”

“I’ve come this far, but there’s no need to go empty-handed. Follow me.”

Forcibly pulling out the arrow stuck in her body, she stumbled over here.

“The remains of the phoenix, weren’t they what you were looking for?”

“…Are you going to give me information?”

“Surely, I know where the Phoenix is buried.”

Her hazy eyes quivered. As if reminiscing about something in the distant past.

“To the grave, let’s go.”

//////

The white branch forcibly dragged my fading consciousness and walked out of the world tree.

On the way, I was able to hear a detailed story from Nerwen.

Until the end of the journey, they did not know that the man was a warrior, and that he had endured in silence amidst bullying and disagreement.

“Phoenixes don’t die as long as they want to. There are times when they fall or fall into a deep sleep, but they don’t die.”

“Then how the hell are you going to get the remains of the phoenix?”

“There is a phoenix that chooses death. There is a phoenix that longs for this moment to be the end of its life. There is a bird that refuses to acknowledge separation and refuses to be left behind in the world.”

The white branch, recalling the distant past, walked to the grave of a close friend not far from the World Tree.

“blue.”

Enerel’s face distorted for a moment, but with the shovel she had prepared, she slowly began digging down the spot she pointed out.

“I don’t think this is a bird’s grave…”

“That’s right. That phoenix wasn’t buried alone. This is my friend’s grave.”

“Is it going to wave like this?”

“He was the noblest elf I’ve ever seen, sacrificing himself.”

He was an elf who died for those who would be born in the future, for the people behind him.

“If it’s sacrificing for someone like you, I won’t regret it.”

A terrible curse leaked out every time the land was sold. The same kind of curse that was in the eyes and arms of the white twig.

A small tear flowed from one eye hidden behind an eyepatch.