The World Tree
The World Tree
Divinity wasn't something just anyone could receive.
Simply faintly sensing the presence of a god during prayer and directly hearing a god's voice as in receiving an oracle were on entirely different levels.
That was why saints and saintesses were special, and because even they struggled to fully withstand divinity, oracles were rare.
What I had experienced was exactly that kind.
When I told him what had happened in that moment I'd felt was brief, Hias, who had been listening with a serious face, explained that the reason my consciousness had been blasted away with a strong shock the moment I faintly heard the World Tree's voice lay exactly there.
"I doubt the words you couldn't hear properly held any important meaning. If there had been, the World Tree could have conveyed it through us easily enough. It's most likely a kind of test."
"A test?"
"Yes, a test of whether you were ready to face divinity. Thinking about it that way, I can roughly guess the reason you were given the seed."
It had no abilities, and planting it wouldn't grow a tree, but it was still a sacred artifact.
Hias speculated that simply possessing it would gradually acclimate you to divinity, and if that happened, you might even be able to hear a voice when specific conditions were met.
"Does this sort of thing happen often?"
"It's unprecedented."
Hias, who answered decisively without hesitation, seemed quite amused by the situation.
That was true for the other elves too, but it wasn't something I could understand.
Just witnessing something their god did was enough to make them happy... but if they were humans, wouldn't they be furious that a random stone that rolled in out of nowhere received grace instead of them, who had faithfully served? I would've been a bit dissatisfied myself.
"Anyway, there's nothing wrong with your health, and even if you can't understand it right now, you seem to have gained a clue to the mystery. It's a good thing."
Well, the parties involved were happy and I was happy too, so it was a win-win.
After that, with Hias's help, I gathered my gear again and left the temple, and Cellevian, who had heard the news and come running in a hurry from far away, greeted me.
"You really have a talent for surprising people in many ways."
"Tell me about it."
I didn't expect this either.
Even though Cellevian looked like he had a lot to say, he just nodded, saying it was a relief I was unharmed.
"Come to think of it, I don't see the others. Did they go back first?"
"That's right. They thought it was better to return to the village ahead of time and spread news about you to create a friendly atmosphere rather than just loitering here."
"Oh..."
That was a truly rational decision.
I'd taken down a malicious elf hunter, blown up his patron, prayed at the World Tree, and even received a sacred artifact. Hearing that news, even those who looked unfavorably upon my visit, as Cellevian said, wouldn't be able to openly show displeasure.
"Asilie's family has been waiting for days without sleeping properly. Is it alright if we go right now?"
"Yes, well, my business is finished. But... Asilie's family, you said?"
It was truly absurd.
I'd never heard a single word from Asilie about her family.
So I'd vaguely assumed both her parents had passed away or something, but 'family'? Plural?
What was even more absurd was that Cellevian, seeing my reaction, nodded as if it were nothing and had accurately caught my confusion.
"Judging by your expression, you haven't heard? Both parents are healthy and there are four siblings."
"...That's the first I'm hearing of it."
Five children? Among elves, where even having two children in one household was rare, that was an unusually large family.
"Hmm, how should I put this."
While I was troubled and flustered over Asilie's familial affection, Cellevian, looking uncomfortable but choosing his words carefully, explained that this peculiar family dynamic was closer to one of the elves' racial traits.
Whether for a greater cause or simply out of a desire to experience the world out of curiosity, from the moment an elf left their tribe's territory, they were treated almost like an outsider who had left home. The biggest reason was that there weren't towns and cities everywhere like humans had, nor was there an established infrastructure for smooth communication.
Sending messages by asking spirits? They said that was only possible because Asilie was a high elf. It was a privilege ordinary elves couldn't use. And they said she was the only high elf in Asilie's household, so that said it all.
"In that environment, even if they didn't dislike their family or lack interest, they tended not to obsess over staying in touch. From a Human Race perspective, it might seem like something's a bit off."
The characteristic of being a long-lived species also played a part.
Asilie was a case in point. Even after safely escaping the crisis of nearly becoming a slave, she hadn't contacted her family even once. She had gotten used to the Human Race concepts of time while living with me, but in the end, since her family were elves, there seemed to be an underlying assumption that contacting them after ten or twenty years was no big deal.
I hadn't thought much of this visit to the village, and now I was going to meet Asilie's family without Asilie. This was starting to feel a little burdensome.
"Don't feel too pressured. She could have lived her whole life as a slave, but you saved her."
While I was busy returning the greetings of the elves who spotted me, Cellevian chuckled softly and patted my shoulder, and as we entered the forest's outskirts together, the surrounding scenery began to whiz by at high speed.
And just as I realized it was different from when I headed to the World Tree and felt a slight sense of incongruity, I arrived in front of what I assumed was an elven village. The journey had ended so instantly it was bewildering, and I unconsciously looked around.
"It feels like... we came really fast?"
"You're right. The spirits dwelling in the World Tree's territory are powerful. And the World Tree's power is at work too. Can you believe we just covered half the distance we traveled to the World Tree?"
Crazy. Absolutely crazy. Even in a world without mysticism, I didn't know much, but a world with it was even worse.
While I was marveling at his explanation, two elves approached from the village and looked at me with slightly wary expressions, asking Cellevian.
"Is this one the...?"
"Eldmia Ega, Asilie's benefactor and the one who hunted the Ear Hunter."
The elves, who had looked back and forth between Cellevian, who spoke joyfully as if it were his own affair, and me, nodded somewhat stiffly and gave a light greeting.
"Welcome, Eldmia Ega. In the name of the Blue Vine tribe, we welcome you for crossing over through the World Tree to reach this place."
"We have heard the stories from the World Tree's territory. The village chief wishes to speak with you about it, but the preparations to welcome a guest are not yet fully complete, so we must ask for your understanding for a short while."
I had been prepared to brush it off if they suddenly spoke informally, but their response was far more courteous than expected, so I was a little surprised. Still, I couldn't openly show it, so I responded appropriately, and Cellevian stepped in to take the lead.
"Then let's go to the Enderinia residence until preparations are finished."
"Mr. Arwel will be delighted. Then I'll pass word not to rush the preparations too much. There must be many stories they want to hear..."
Looking away from the conversation between these people whose ages were impossible to guess from their appearance, the elven village I observed was fascinating in many ways. The buildings, neither extravagant nor plain, were built in a style I had never seen in all my time living in this other world, and some looked so exquisitely strange that I wondered if human hands had actually built them.
Should I call them nature-friendly artificial structures? There was something that particularly caught my eye.
My suspicion that they might have been built with the help of magic or spirits was resolved sooner than expected. As I entered the village with Cellevian, I happened to pass right by that particularly wondrous structure.
The structure, with clean wood that looked like it had been stripped of bark and the inner core melted and stretched, intertwined like the bars of an antique birdcage, encasing a wood fragment emitting a faint white light, was so beautiful that I didn't even notice the small commotion my presence had caused around me.
"You could think of it as a small temple enshrining a fragment of the World Tree. It's always located at the center of an elven village."
While I was staring in a daze, Cellevian explained with a slightly amused voice, and as we walked for about five more minutes, people gradually began to gather, just like what had happened in the World Tree's territory.
Most were friendly and curious, but as Cellevian had said, there were also gazes mixed with a strange distance and hostility. There was no way I had wronged them, so they must have been the type who couldn't look kindly on members of the Human Race, having suffered greatly at the hands of elf hunters.
Narrow-minded ear-lings.
As I clicked my tongue inwardly at the owners of those gazes, who'd clearly gotten old without learning a damn thing, we arrived at a house slightly larger than the other nearby homes. Cellevian casually walked into the garden of a house that made me wonder whether the tribe had gifted it to a couple with five children or whether it had simply been expanded as the family grew, and called out.
"Arwel! Are you inside!"
While I was occupied with random thoughts trying to feign composure, Cellevian knocked on the wooden door and called out the name Arwel, which I'd heard earlier. Then, from inside the house, there was an enormous crashing sound, and someone came running in a hurry, flinging the door open.
Ah, this person was clearly Asilie's father. The eyes were a dead match.
The handsome middle-aged man, whose stern impression held the exact same slightly drooping eyes as Asilie, had dark circles under his eyes, as if Cellevian's words about him frequently losing sleep were true. His gaze, which had initially been fixed on Cellevian who had knocked, quickly moved and shifted to me, who was standing slightly behind.
Then, after looking at my earring once, my face once, and then my earring once more, the middle-aged man strode up to me, grabbed me in a tight hug, and shouted.
"Call me Father-in-law!"
Thanks to that, I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut.