Would That Even Work?
Would that even work?
Merni slowly opened her eyes, her skull threatening to split apart from the pounding headache.
The first thing that met her gaze was an interior that could only belong to the Elfosis Kingdom. Security here seemed quite thorough — tree roots woven from life mana tangled across every corner of the space, and her own hands were bound tight as shackles. Even her strength had been suppressed; no amount of struggling would break these restraints.
Voices drifted in intermittently.
—...your sister...
—...all these years, you've suffered...
—Lady Merni... how could she...
There were several people. Most of them she couldn't place — but two, she was almost certain of.
One was Oboni Ersosa, teacher of the elves and the Primordial Elder.
And the other was...
"You're awake."
"...Ah."
Her own younger sister.
Asuka Elfosis.
Not the small, young Asuka she had watched for hundreds of years — this Asuka, now taller than her own sister, glared down at her.
"Sister."
"......"
"Sister."
"......"
"Say something. Anything."
Pressed by Asuka's urging, Merni held her silence.
What excuse could there possibly be?
She had been pushed out of her position by Asuka, and to reclaim that seat she had stooped to every scheme imaginable. She had made a pact with a demon known as the Dungeon, lured Asuka in, and used the Dungeon's power to trap her. Then, unable to accept her own defeat, she had reached for yet another demon — and nearly killed everyone.
'Including the World Tree itself — the very god she claimed to serve.'
"......"
She deserved to die a hundred times over.
She had coveted that wretched seat, abandoned her humanity, and betrayed the World Tree. Desperate to flee her sins, she had begged another god for salvation — but the god refused to absolve her.
'As if to say: settle your own debts.'
And so it had sent her here.
"Nothing to say, then."
Asuka nodded and held out a hand to her side. The young high elf beside her drew a sword and respectfully placed it in her grip.
That child showed promise as well. Not enough to surpass Asuka — but with time, talent enough to surpass her.
...Was a new generation already emerging?
"Merni Elfosis."
Merni's gaze snapped back. Asuka's blade pressed against her throat.
As the sharp tip kissed her skin, a single bead of blood welled up and traced a line down her neck.
Still, she said nothing.
"Right now, I am your younger sister. But—"
Shhk...
"—if you keep your mouth shut like this, I won't be. Not anymore."
Asuka Elfosis was the Child of the World Tree, a genius sent down from the heavens, the most likely heir to become the next Elf Queen. Merni, who had ruined all of it, deserved far worse than execution under the kingdom's law. They could lay a curse upon her very soul and ensure her next life would be no easier than this one.
The only reason they hadn't done so immediately was her standing — Asuka's sister, and the eldest daughter of the former Queen.
Merni finally opened her mouth.
"...Mother?"
"She has fallen into a deep sleep. The affair between the two of you dealt her a terrible shock."
"......"
"Someone else is acting as regent for now... though I must say, they're hardly fit for the role..."
With those words, Elder Oboni clicked his tongue. At his reaction, Merni shrank even further — but Oboni used magic to straighten her bowed head, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"Child. Do not run from this. Your sins are very heavy."
"...What would you have me do?"
There was nowhere left to run. Even her god had abandoned her, and here she was, surrounded by people brimming with resentment, awaiting judgment.
Forgiveness... even if she begged for it, it could not be hers.
"I will... await my judgment."
Oboni, who had been studying Merni's closed eyes, let out a long sigh and turned to Asuka. Eyes heavy with some unspoken decision, Asuka gave a small nod.
"Judgment? There's nothing to judge. She's going to work. Hard."
"...?"
"Merni Elfosis. I hereby strip you of every title and qualification you possess — and appoint you as Guardian Knight of the World Tree."
"...I beg your pardon?"
"Your term of service is your entire life. Until the day they lay you in the ground, you will stand watch at the World Tree's side."
"That's— that doesn't make any—"
Life mana seeped into her heart.
At first she thought it was simply another component of her bindings — but it was nothing of the sort. The life mana wrapped around Merni, soft and warm.
"And — congratulations."
The moment her restraints fell away, the flustered Merni crumpled to the floor. A pale white hand reached out before her.
"On your rebirth."
Asuka.
"We are sisters again. 'Little sister.'"
"Sis... ter?"
"You, too, are now a Child of the World Tree."
The Child of the World Tree was no longer one alone.
Oboni turned his gaze upward, toward that place above.
'...She really does have far too much love to give, that one.'
Lily Elbrit.
'You can overcome this. You can start over.'
'Never, ever give up on yourself.'
She simply loved too much.
"...Fine. I accept."
The very summit of the World Tree.
Having arrived at the heart of the great tree — the space where one could speak with it directly — the first thing I did was make the World Tree a proposal.
The proposal was simple.
'Have more children.'
A Child of the World Tree was, in the end, a knight who protected the World Tree. A contingency the tree had created to defend itself — a loyal bodyguard that moved in exchange for power.
The problem was that the position was far too limited. So limited, in fact, that sisters had been driven to kill one another for it.
Granted, from the World Tree's perspective — as the one granting the power — it only made sense to want the strongest, most talented survivor to remain. Whether they fought or not was no concern of the tree's.
The real problem was that this arrangement had nearly brought the World Tree itself crashing down.
"A Child of the World Tree is a guardian knight who protects an enormous body — but that power is far too much. It granted nearly ten percent of its total strength, you know?"
Ten percent.
You could call it a mere ten percent, but measured against the World Tree's vast power, it was an enormous amount. An overwhelming magnitude of force for a single elven life to wield.
Only because it was Asuka had any portion of that power been manageable at all — and then her body was stolen, and stolen once more by Berd, and that ten percent passed entirely into a demon's hands.
The demon used that ten percent to wreck the World Tree completely.
"In other words: diversify your holdings. That's the pitch, right?"
"Exactly. Going all-in is convenient and the single payoff is big, but the risk scales right along with it."
I nodded at Yena's words.
Gambling was fun in its own way — but that was purely for entertainment. I never wagered fights, never wagered lives.
'A life is never a light thing.'
"But isn't Merni a little risky, nyaa? She's basically the culprit of this whole mess..."
That came from Leo, standing beside me. She had joined up with me after the dungeon ended, and we'd agreed she'd guide me to the location of the user holding the Multicolored Successor and the path up to the World Tree — so she'd been traveling with me ever since.
"...Hmm."
Yena's expression soured slightly, but —
"It's fine."
"...But still."
"What Merni needs is a position. As long as that one need is satisfied, she'll carry out her duty without a hitch."
Merni had orchestrated all of this to obtain that position. In the process, people had died — and she had imprisoned her own sister in a dungeon for three hundred years.
In the old days, there would have been no need to deliberate; she'd have simply been 'executed.' But things were different now.
The people Merni killed were figures within a dungeon that had repeated itself hundreds of times — and above all, Asuka had chosen to forgive her.
At first, I hadn't quite understood.
Asuka's personality was one thing, but her future had been paved in gold — and Merni had slammed the door on all of it. In the process, their mother had collapsed, and because of Merni, everything had nearly come to an end. From Asuka's standpoint, Merni deserved to die a hundred times over.
But that was only true while Asuka could not remember those three hundred years.
Merni hadn't been the only one to become one with the Dungeon.
Asuka had been one with it too. She couldn't move, couldn't act — but she had watched everything Merni did. She had watched her sister struggle through hundreds of iterations of that dungeon. She had watched her agonize night after sleepless night, despair heaped upon despair, all to claw back a single position.
And in the end, she had watched her be devoured by a demon and fall to corruption. All of it, every last moment.
Having witnessed all of that, what must Asuka have felt?
'......'
"Besides, she asked for forgiveness. So it's fine."
"......Mmm. Well. If Lily says so, then I guess that's that."
Leo nodded, satisfied.
"So where is she, then? This user of ours?"
"She's..."
"Are you searching for Minoa?"
The World Tree hummed, a low resonant thrum through the chamber. When I nodded, it twisted a portion of its own body to form an enormous door — twice my height, with a hole beside the handle that looked like it was meant for something to be inserted.
A keyhole I had a funny feeling I could guess the key for.
"Insert my sword."
"Sword? What sword?"
"You pulled the holy sword out, didn't you, Lily?"
"Sorry, what? I can't pull that thing."
"You pulled it though. With brute force."
"???"
Leaving Leo's brain frozen mid-boot behind me, I slotted the sacred sword — a blade only a Child of the World Tree could draw — into the hole.
Something about this felt off, but I had the power of a Child of the World Tree now, so I'd just roll with it.
Grrrrind...!
The massive door ground open, and there in its center sat a lone figure.
A man with long brown hair.
The gauzy silk garments below his shoulders were a wild, disheveled mess — one look told you it was the curse's doing.
Fsssssh...
A gray energy was bleeding out from the multicolored necklace around his neck.
"...I didn't expect to receive visitors again."
Swish.
The man's eyes opened, quiet and still. Brown on the right, gray on the left.
The left eye, swirling with gray, fixed on me — and flinched, just slightly.
"......"
But he quickly recovered his composure and studied me in silence.
"It seems the World Tree has grown rather generous of late."
"Minoa, was it? That's you, right?"
"Go back."
"Sorry?"
Minoa barred our approach, his voice grave and deliberate. As if responding to him, the necklace pulsed with gray light.
"My curse is a curse of the Mythic Era. Merely standing near me erodes whoever approaches."
"A curse..."
"Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to unseal it. A half-measure attempt could bring calamity down upon you."
If there were a way, it would mean using a nullification ability of equivalent grade — but...
"Impossible, right. Because this necklace isn't your ordinary Mythic Grade."
"Hmm..."
Would that even work?