The Queen's Bargain
"Why didn't you hold her accountable back then?"
"Curious, are you?"
"Yes."
Titania sliced her steak with elegant ease and brought a piece to her lips, looking far more composed than I felt. If she'd simply revealed that Livia had been the one responsible, she could have shifted the blame entirely. Had she been thinking something else?
"I knew not."
"I'm sorry—what?"
"Who could have known a wound of that degree would suddenly take a turn for the worse? Even had I wished to press the matter, the Hero Olivia Reinhardt had already left Elvenheim."
"..."
"I said not a word, and yet I later heard she'd been driven out under pressure from the younger elves. I nearly fainted on the spot."
I felt a little faint myself. In other words—Titania had known about the World Tree's wound, but an injury of that scale should have been nothing to it, and she'd treated it as nothing this time as well. Only it hadn't been nothing, and by the time she might have wanted to demand answers, Livia was already gone from Elvenheim.
"And even if I had known, I had little desire to make an issue of it."
"Why is that?"
"All the Hero Olivia Reinhardt did was hasten what was already coming. The World Tree's affliction was on the verge of bursting forth regardless."
"I see..."
"If anything, noticing it sooner allowed me to respond at all. The World Tree you see standing whole is my magic. In truth, not a leaf remains—only bare, withered branches."
"An illusion, then? That's extraordinary."
"I have not lived this long for nothing."
I looked toward the World Tree, but I couldn't detect even a hint of wrongness. And if even the elves standing guard over it hadn't noticed, then at a glance the illusion was seamless—no discordance whatsoever. I'd grown rather good at seeing through magical constructs since becoming one with my spirits, and even I felt nothing amiss. It was absurd. She hadn't been called the Hero of the Elves for nothing.
"But that still isn't a reason not to hold Livia responsible."
"True enough. It would have been convenient to demand accountability. Whether by intent or accident, she wounded the World Tree, and its condition worsened afterward. Shifting the blame onto her would have been easy."
"And yet you didn't. You didn't even speak of it to anyone."
"There are several reasons, but—"
Titania set down her utensils.
"...I didn't expect you to handle things so sentimentally."
"Perhaps one grows more sentimental with age. ...She was strong. A little dimmed, perhaps, but she shone with unmistakable light. Even when she first arrived in Elvenheim, she was already at a level capable of defeating a Demon King Army Cadre."
"..."
"Every battle she fought settled into her body without waste, and her tactical mind in combat was the finest of any swordsman I have ever seen."
Elves were known for their long lives. For Titania—who had outlived even the High Elves, themselves longer-lived than ordinary elves—to call someone the finest... Livia's combat ability wasn't a joke. It might well have been a power that trespassed on the realm of the gods. She was so strong it seemed less that she'd received the Goddess's power and more that she'd plundered every last scrap of it.
"She never hesitated in battle. Once she decided to cut something down, no appeal to sentiment would have stopped her."
"..."
That was exactly right. Lately, Livia had begun to hesitate before drawing her sword. The old, extreme logic of they've done wrong, so I'll cut them down had softened. Now, before she struck, she found herself wondering whether the life before her was truly one she had the right to take.
But once she'd decided—once she'd settled on I'll cut it down—she never hesitated. Especially when danger was unfolding in real time; then she moved even faster. You only had to look at how she'd dealt with the leader of the Death God Cult. Without a shred of hesitation, she'd cut the cult's leader in two. To Livia, combat carried an implicit question: You meant to take my life, and yet you thought I wouldn't take yours?
"I believed I must not hinder the one who would slay the Demon King."
"There's no Demon King now."
"Having slain the Demon King, she is a hero. I, of all people, cannot treat a hero poorly."
"..."
"What is it?"
"I thought you disliked Livia. Or rather—humans in general."
"..."
Titania's expression went rigid in an instant.
"I do."
"..."
"But that is that, and this is this. Objectively speaking, I am treating you with every courtesy. I have reserved the finest inn in its entirety, placed no restrictions on your movements, and waived every condition required to seek an audience with me."
Ordinarily, an audience with Titania required a labyrinth of formal procedures. Waiving all of it so that we could meet her at all was, in truth, an extraordinary privilege.
"The Hero, Olivia Reinhardt, is a pitiable soul. And yet her heart shines with a light like the sun."
"Is that so."
"I need not ask whose influence that is. People fall into despair because of other people—and they find hope again because of other people as well."
Titania smiled.
"Whew. You're so different from the image I had of you that, frankly, my head's spinning."
"That image is not wrong, either."
"..."
Titania put a piece of meat in her mouth and chewed. I followed suit, taking a bite of my own steak. It was genuinely delicious—tender, and above all, the sauce wasn't overly aggressive.
"I have made selfish choices more than once in the name of protecting the elves. But the elves, as they stand now, are part of humanity—and so I simply respect the Hero."
"I see."
"In any case—do you have any idea why I am telling you all of this?"
"The World Tree has many names—the congregation of nature, a gift from the Goddess, a sacred tree. What matters here, I take it, is that it is a congregation of nature."
"And?"
"So it would be fair to assume you have a request for me—someone who holds two high-ranking spirits, no less."
"Correct. ...In truth, I considered the possibility from the moment I first saw you. But I saw no reason to go that far for your sake."
"Then why have you decided to tell me now?"
Titania drank some water, then slowly turned her gaze toward the window.
"There are several reasons, but... you struck me as wiser than I expected. I thought we might understand each other."
"To receive such an assessment from Titania herself—I'm honored."
"And a skilled Spiritist is hard to come by. There are not many Spiritists to begin with."
There were probably few enough Spiritists that you could count them on one hand, myself included. If the vocation itself ever vanished, Spiritists would likely vanish with it. No matter how overflowing one's talent, without the fundamental ability to commune with spirits, even Livia couldn't learn it.
"And."
"And what?"
"A man, by nature, wishes to look impressive in front of the woman he loves."
"..."
I couldn't exactly deny that.
"I'm not sure yet whether this is that kind of feeling."
"You are young. But even that sense of being lost among one's own feelings is a privilege of youth. Grow older, and you come to find the collision of emotions more shameful than you ever did as a child."
"Is that so."
"If you cooperate, the sap is yours as a matter of course. Beyond that, I shall grant whatever you desire in the name of Titania."
"...Couldn't you just tell her to clean up her own mess?"
"Hold her responsible for an accident that occurred while she was slaying monsters? I have my pride, and I have my dignity. A transaction is one thing—but a plea would be rather more problematic."
"I see."
I was surprised, honestly—we were communicating far better than I'd expected. I'd pictured someone far more rigid, far more set in her ways. There was a faintly old-fashioned air about her, true, but considering how long she had lived, it was no exaggeration to say she possessed a remarkably open mind.
"Livia will probably want an Elixir."
"An Elixir? I see—to restore that body of hers. There is none in Elvenheim at present, but... I can at least put out inquiries. If one can be found, I shall spare no effort in obtaining it."
"What exactly do you need me to do?"
"Enter the World Tree. Go inside, awaken the Spirit of the World Tree, and form a contract with it."
"The Spirit of the World Tree?"
"One might call it the steward of the World Tree—or the World Tree itself."
Titania swallowed her steak and continued.
"...Ordinarily, I should be able to converse with that spirit. At present, I cannot. Something has clearly gone wrong—but unless one is a Spiritist, there is no way to locate a spirit that has fallen into distress."
Until now it had been fine—the spirit had reached out to Titania of its own accord. But once the spirit itself ran into trouble, Titania, not being a Spiritist, had no means of finding it. So she meant to ask me, who could find spirits. The choice of person wasn't a bad one, at least.
"May I name my wish?"
"Speak. If it is within reason, I shall grant it."
"Please talk with Sylphy."
Titania's eyes went wide with shock. The same as before. She'd been wearing the face of a calm, wise elder—and the moment Sylphy's name came up, that composure cracked into something raw and emotional.
"This is hardly a matter for you to involve yourself in."
"We traveled together, however briefly. We've entrusted our lives to each other and fought the same enemy. I think that's reason enough to care. And you should talk to him—for your own sake, if nothing else."
"What would you know, to speak like that?"
"I don't need to know everything to see what's in front of me. Someone who regrets her own choices, yet lacks the courage to take them back."
"..."
"In that case, I think it would be a fine thing to offer her a single step—one that might become the courage to turn back."
Titania's face was a tangle of conflicting emotion.
"If you simply reach out your hand, Sylphy will take it. Whether that's worth anything—you can decide after you've done it. It won't be too late."
"..."
"At the very least, while Sylphy still looks up to you—take his hand."
"...He said he had sullied the royal blood himself."
Wait. Ah. Come to think of it, Sylphy had said something like that during his conversation with Titania. I remembered him arguing that he himself was guilty of tainting the royal bloodline, but that the other half-elves were not.
"It was absurd. ...And yet I am the one who drove that child to say something so preposterous."
"...Titania."
Titania rose from her seat.
"Come to the audience chamber again tomorrow."
"Wait a moment."
"What is it?"
"What about Rayna? Did you check her neck?"
"...She stubbornly avoided it, for reasons I cannot fathom. It was the first time she had ever refused me so thoroughly. Even so, I placed a tracking spell on her. Whatever she does, she will remain within my sight."
"I see."
Titania let out a brief, quiet sigh.
"Then I shall see you tomorrow."
"..."
And with that, Titania slowly receded from my field of view. I put the remaining steak in my mouth and thought.
Tomorrow, then.
I had a feeling it was going to be an extraordinarily busy day.