Spring of the Imperial Capital - 4
The Hero climbed the long tree roots toward the top of the walls.
And he repeated his vow to himself again and again: this time, he would not make the same mistake.
Recalling the first time he had come to this place, he spoke to himself that it would not turn out that way again.
Spring had lowered the tree roots to make approaching the tree easy—literally a lure.
She had swallowed the Saintess who approached to purify the tree whole, then scattered pink mist toward Jerome and himself.
The cherry tree had been on the brink of death, and to erase the wickedness from the world through purification, the Saintess had slowly walked toward it.
And that had been the fatal mistake.
He himself had been unsightly, captivated by a dream, losing his mind over an illusion of his dead parents still alive.
When he came to, the cherry tree was gone. There was only the Saintess, bloodied yet smiling as if nothing were wrong, and Jerome, standing on two feet despite a tree root piercing his belly and blood pouring out.
He had done nothing.
One of the Four Seasons had freely toyed with the Empire’s capital like a plaything and wrecked it without taking any damage. The Saintess was injured. The Hero had lost consciousness and done nothing. And one high-ranking Holy Knight with the potential to reach a Star had lost his life.
When they reunited on the front lines, Daydream had not controlled ordinary citizens. She had turned long-time comrades into her soldiers and made them turn their blades on their allies.
Controlling a person’s mind was that vicious.
But this time was different.
His mental strength had grown firm. His skill had reached the extreme.
His body had not yet caught up, so he had not reached a Star—but it was only a matter of time.
At this level, he could kill Spring right now and prevent the catastrophe on the front lines.
The Hero looked at the hand gripping the Holy Sword.
With my own hands, I will change the future.
That was his resolve.
Thud— Thud—
They had only exchanged names so far, and the time they had spent together was short. The party maintained an awkward silence as they simply climbed the roots.
One to change things, one to protect, one simply to live—three humans gathered solely for their own selfish desires, with utterly different natures, yet heading to the same place.
Climbing the roots, they finally reached the edge of the walls. The cherry tree that had stretched upward without fear of the sky simply existed there.
He gripped the Holy Sword tightly.
Not the navy-blue light that had held the night sky’s glow when it cut the Saintess’s arm on a dark night, but the Holy Sword that shone bright as the sun and sparkled like the stars.
Pure white light flowed down the blade.
And at the same time, the cherry tree began to move.
To fell a tree that stretched without fear of the sky would take a star that existed in the heavens.
The battle began.
Those disgusting things writhing like tentacles still haven’t changed, huh.
In the game community, the boss design of the “Cherry Tree” had split exactly half praise and half criticism.
Thinking such trivial thoughts, I paid attention to the movements of the cherry tree’s tentacles.
Roots that writhed like living creatures despite being a tree were more than enough to evoke dissonance and disgust.
Since the battle had started, I naturally took position in the rear.
The Saintess was not supposed to engage in combat, after all.
That was the standard party composition.
If the Saintess in the previous loop was the one I knew, she definitely never engaged in combat directly.
Even until she died.
So even if I could use Body Enhancement to join the fight and kill it quickly, I shouldn’t step forward myself.
There was a way to push party members to the extreme like a speedrun and reach the Demon King, but having to act as the Saintess was full of nothing but disadvantages.
Honestly, it was a bit frustrating. I couldn’t help it.
The maxed-out tier-1 characters had literally torn through the front lines and could face one of the Seasons alone.
Being early game, watching the fight just wasn’t very satisfying.
I still seemed to think of this world as a game. I didn’t feel any particularly strong emotions.
Have I become more emotional lately?
Maybe.
The fact that I was changing without even realizing it was both creepy and terrifying.
But there was no way to stop it—only workarounds and ways to delay it.
Having Self-Harm Impulse fixed as a trait was a painful blunder.
Of all times, for it to activate at that moment.
The Hero and Jerome were both skillfully dodging the cherry tree’s roots.
Well, essentially the Imperial Capital itself had been the boss fight. Having safely reached the cherry tree meant all the gimmicks had already been solved.
Casually fleeing from the citizens was extremely easy for an over-specced priest using Body Enhancement, a Hero somehow on the verge of becoming a Superhuman, and Jerome who was just barely high-ranking.
In fact, it being this easy was normal.
What I had to do now was just be a totem in the back, sprinkling heals and buffs.
Body Enhancement
Body Enhancement
Blessing
Tears
Tears
Protection
Hmm, is this the right order?
It had been so long since I played a priest-focused build that the buff order was getting mixed up.
Some buffs would cancel each other out if you didn’t apply them in sequence, and memorizing those was a pain.
Body Enhancement for the body, Blessing for the weapon, Tears for life, Protection for armor.
Okay. Confirmed.
Anyway, that should roughly cover it.
The cherry tree was almost in its finishing stage.
If I’d brought a mage companion, I could just burn it and be done.
First eliminate the cherry tree, then the guaranteed-loss event—the first Season boss fight against Spring—begins.
Naturally, a Hero and party around levels 1–10 lose.
If you failed to dodge the attacks properly, a companion could die, so extreme caution was required.
And right now the cherry tree was almost finished.
On top of the walls, the only tree roots left were the ones the Hero, Jerome, and I were standing on—the boss stage itself. Nothing else remained.
…Wait. What?
Why am I this slow?
Has my head gone completely stiff?
Even though the game becoming reality had changed countless things, I was still thinking while bound by the idea that this place was a game.
What we were fighting was the “Cherry Tree.”
All of it was “tree roots.”
I should have kept that in mind the whole time.
That every single root we were standing on had come from the cherry tree.
I can’t make a sound.
Why did I have to enter in a body like this? Why couldn’t I have been put into the Hero’s body?
What do I do?
I moved my feet and charged toward the place where the Hero and Jerome were cutting through the roots and fighting.
I had to get those two out of here.
Jerome dying wouldn’t matter much, but if the Hero died it would be a serious problem.
Body Enhancement
And the Hero, whose eyes met mine as I ran toward him, had pupils that shook violently.
It wasn’t particularly worrying, but it was strange.
Why was he trembling that hard?
It was a question.
For now I had to focus on something else.
I approached the Hero and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
The situation was turning urgent.
We had to get out of the cherry tree.
Damn it, why is this guy so heavy?
I had to warn Jerome too.
There had never been a time when the fact that I couldn’t speak felt this miserable.
Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it—
I spat curses inwardly and prayed the Hero would understand my intention.
The Hero finally seemed to get it.
With an expression as if he had realized something, the Hero shouted toward Jerome with all his strength.
While being dragged by me, no less.
Dragging with a scraping sound, the Hero changed the direction of his body and hurriedly scooped me up into his arms.
Again?
Even after being put in this position twice, I still couldn’t get used to it.
A princess carry? At my age, a princess carry?
Then the Hero shouted toward Jerome.
“The roots on the ground are a trap!”
“Get away from the tree roots!”
Jerome looked briefly startled at those words, but with extremely practiced movements he began running at high speed even while wearing heavy armor.
And right then, a single sentence stabbed through my head like a needle.
“Too late.”
A captivating woman’s voice. And I knew exactly whose voice it was.
Spring. Daydream.
Damn it. We hadn’t even purified the cherry tree yet.
Why did she appear this fast?
We still hadn’t completely escaped the tree roots.
Ha. Great.
We got played.
Beneath the Hero’s feet, the tree roots opened and swallowed us whole.
“What unfolds is Daydream—a long, long dream.”
“The most terrible thing. The most desired thing. Swim in your dreams.”