There's Something Here
There was something here, all right.
I had agreed to Oboni's request to find the whereabouts of the Child of the World Tree. Part of it was simply that I'd taken the quest, sure — but I had a personal connection to the matter as well. There was no reason not to lend a hand.
'It's on the way, anyway.'
If there had been zero hints about the Child of the World Tree, it might have been worth deliberating. But my goal, in the end, was to find the user 'sealed' at the very center of the World Tree — the one cursed and imprisoned by the Multicolor Heirloom, one of the Masterpieces of Talikal. I had no idea what kind of curse could trap someone inside the World Tree, but I could always ask about that while I was at it.
Besides that, I had asked him through telepathy about the state of the world after the war. Unlike Sgaredo or the Spirit King, he had not slept for thousands of years before waking. He was a being who had lived through the millennia since the war ended — practically a walking chronicle — so I asked what had become of everything. And yet…
'…It grieves me to say their whereabouts are beyond me. I did not regain consciousness until more than a hundred years had passed since that day.'
'They vanished from this world without a trace. And the shattered land slowly began to reclaim its vitality. The same was true of me — and of the World Tree itself.'
Oboni spoke those words with a deep frown. In the end, he had never found the beings who took everything from him. From the illustrious existences of the highest order down to the lowliest, newly sprouted angels and demons — every last one had disappeared, leaving behind nothing but the 'byproducts' they'd made. And as the ages wore on, most of those byproducts faded into nothing as well.
'…In time, the World Tree began to grow once more. It took an immense span of years to recover its true form, but eventually the World Tree reclaimed its past glory.'
And to protect that glory, it created the 'Child of the World Tree.' So that never again would a single idle gesture turn it all to ash.
'I beg of you, elder sister. At the very least, find where that child has gone…'
"Before we go anywhere, let's confirm a few things first."
Once I stepped outside the garden, I examined the information on the Child of the World Tree that Oboni had handed over — a small bundle of paper, sealed shut with life mana. Gently loosening the binding, I read the first line.
Her name was Asuka Elfosis.
Second daughter of the Elf Queen, born of the purest blood of House Elfosis, one of the two great branches of the High Elves. She displayed extraordinary talent from an early age, swiftly overwhelming her peers, then full adults, then the High Elves themselves — and upon being appointed Child of the World Tree, by the age of twenty she stood above every elf alive.
'Including her own older sister. Her mother. Even Oboni himself.'
A flicker of doubt stirred in me at that. Talented as she was, surely she couldn't surpass Oboni, whose potential had been truly exceptional…
But Oboni's reaction — anxious, almost fretful — told me the conclusion wasn't that simple. Come to think of it, a child challenging an elder as old as the World Tree itself would make for a rather absurd picture. It simply must mean her talent was that extraordinary.
"Appointed Child of the World Tree three hundred years ago. Served the role for three years. Then, one day, she left her sword behind and vanished."
When the Child of the World Tree dies or becomes incapable of her duties, her power and her sword are reclaimed — yet the sword remained perfectly intact, even now, three hundred years later. Nor had any successor been appointed in her place.
"…Hmm."
I unfolded the next page. It concerned the bloodline of House Elfosis. The Queen of that era, Elena Elfosis, had borne exactly two children. The elder was Merni Elfosis. The second was the Child of the World Tree, Asuka Elfosis. The two sisters were close in age, both brimming with remarkable talent — and at one point…
"…There's something here."
A passage masked beneath a veil of life mana. Oboni had apparently obscured it out of concern that someone else might read it — but nearly everything I see, my viewers see too. And the contents… honestly, I doubted showing them would cause any real problem.
I revealed the obscured sentence.
A single blunt sentence — and yet it told the whole story.
Merni Elfosis had been the one slated to become the Child of the World Tree.
Asuka Elfosis became the Child of the World Tree. The races living beneath the World Tree blessed the decision, and arranged their lives around it accordingly. Her mother rejoiced. The ancient elder rejoiced. The nymph who was his dear friend rejoiced. The humans would surely rejoice as well. The dwarves… might feel a touch sour about it, but they would carry on without any real trouble. Better that, at least, than a kobold or one of the hot-tempered beastfolk.
"Damn it. Damn it!"
Crash!
An expensive glass goblet shattered against the wall. Having hurled it away in a fit of temper, she raked her platinum-blonde hair into disarray and ground her lip between her teeth.
'It should have been my seat!'
A seat decided long, long ago. Gifted with prodigious talent from an early age, she had grown with astonishing speed, and at the young age of one hundred she was to be appointed Child of the World Tree. Officially it was only a matter of being slated for appointment — but that was as good as half-confirmed.
The Child of the World Tree was chosen from among all the races dwelling beneath the World Tree — the child with the most outstanding talent of them all. And since the choice tended to fall on talent of comparatively 'young' years, there was simply no one among the younger races who could rival Merni. More than anything, her mother had no intention of bearing another child. The weight of the crown was never light, and the long-lived races like the High Elves in particular favored 'slow' childbirth. If the Queen bore another at all, it would be after several hundred years at minimum — more likely a full millennium — and by then the Child of the World Tree would already be Merni.
And besides, the High Elves were a long-lived people; even at one hundred years of age, Merni possessed the body and mind of a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old of any other race. Everything, quite literally everything, was perfect…
'Wh… Mother… gave birth?'
Another child, born after a mere hundred years — and Merni's life overturned, one hundred and eighty degrees.
At first, she refused to believe it. But watching her mother cradle the newborn with an expression of pure happiness, she understood that it was true.
The next stage was hope. Whatever her mother's child might be, her own sister, surely she could not carry talent surpassing her own. A prodigy born after a mere century, one who would surpass High Elves who lived five hundred, a thousand years — such talent existed in her and her alone. It had to.
'Sis! I'm sorry!!'
That hope collapsed, wretchedly and completely, the moment she lost to a fifteen-year-old Asuka.
Asuka was a monster. How had such a monster come from her mother? No — from her father, then? Identical blood, identical upbringing, identical support — and yet Asuka had grown twice, ten times, dozens of times faster than Merni. By seventeen, she had defeated most of the High Elves. As she neared maturity, she even claimed victory against one of the elders. She never, of course, challenged the elders who had lived for thousands of years — and Merni, though a chill ran down her spine, quietly counted that as a mercy.
'If she had thrown herself at them without a thought for the hierarchy of things.'
If she had done exactly that, and won — how, in the name of everything, was Merni supposed to have accepted it?
"Heh… heheh…"
And so, the next step: she begged. She went to Asuka and asked her sister to stand behind her. Sweet-natured Asuka had always adored her older sister, and she agreed without a moment's hesitation. Somehow, that made it all the more infuriating.
Asuka was young, but her mind turned quickly. She had to have known. The Child of the World Tree is decided by the World Tree alone, and the one who best fit the criteria was Asuka herself. And knowing all of it — knowing full well — she had agreed anyway.
And so the Child of the World Tree became Asuka. Without once denying Merni's claim, without refusing her anything.
"Asuka…"
If only she had coldly brushed her aside. If she had sneered — I'm here because I'm simply better, and you were born without talent — then Merni could have hated her with an easy heart, could have loathed her freely and been done with it.
But.
'Big sister. I'm the Child of the World Tree now. …You know how it works, don't you? The World Tree alone chooses. I can't change that, no matter what I want.'
'A deception? That's impossible. I'm always on your side!'
'Then why… why did you say you'd support me, back then?'
BANG!
'Because… you were crying, that's why.'
CRASH!!!
'It felt like I had to say something — anything. I'm sorry, sis.'
BANG!!!!!!!
"Hah… hah…"
Blood dripped, drop by drop, from her bruised and split knuckles. Even in this very moment, Asuka was no doubt laughing bright and easy, trading greetings and idle pleasantries with the assembled races. Her mother's seat, too, would surely pass to Asuka in the end. Her mother had been the Child of the World Tree before her, and in time she had handed down that role to become Queen of the elves. If Asuka simply retraced that same path, nothing about it would be the least bit strange.
Asuka believed she was hiding it well. But in the end, she was still just a child. Her appetite for the throne was every bit as large as Merni's own.
"……"
Cold wind came pouring in through the open window. Treating her wounded hand with life mana, Merni stared out at the far distance.
"If she dies… or becomes unable to serve… or if it 'judges' that the time has come to pass the torch to the next generation."
The long-lived races owned vast stretches of time. She couldn't know how long Asuka would last, but it would be centuries at the very least. After all, even Elena had waited a full thousand years before yielding to the next generation. And Asuka, who had surpassed their mother, might hold the seat longer still.
"…Forgive me. But this — this much, I won't yield."
She would not hand over everything.
And so…