A World Tree for the Cat (1)
"......"
A enormous tree leaf hung overhead, vast as a canopy. I had never seen a leaf so large in my life — this one had been brought back for me by Lilrune, and it was easily wide and sturdy enough to shelter a full-grown person without breaking a sweat.
From what I'd heard, the elves used leaves like this as umbrellas whenever it rained. The leaf was thick as well as broad, and it was doing an excellent job of blocking out the sun.
"Wow…!! So this is the World Tree Lilrune talked about!"
"It's really giving something off…."
"It's amazing."
That was how I had come to be sightseeing at the World Tree with the children. Thanks to the enormous leaf Lilrune had brought, we'd made it here without running into any real danger — but the intense sunlight hadn't been the only thing I was worried about.
"What do you think, Lady Levinia? The World Tree really is something, isn't it?"
"……."
All I could offer in response to Lilrune's question was a quiet, noncommittal nod. The faint smile I wore stayed remarkably ordinary on the surface, but the beads of cold sweat gathering around it laid my anxiety bare for anyone to see.
"That mist-like stuff smoldering around the World Tree — that's the sacred aura, right?"
"Yes, that's right. That's the holy power that's been protecting our village from evil energies."
"Whoa…."
"A long, long time ago, the World Tree is said to have granted all kinds of powers, not just sacred energy. Though I don't know exactly what those powers were."
Lilrune answered Eisen's question with a face full of pride, chest puffed out. While all the children marveled at the sacred aura the World Tree gave off, I alone was quietly waging a desperate and lonely battle against it.
It was as if the World Tree's holy power were determined to prove that no matter how human my heart might be, the fact that my race was demonkind would never change. The aura pressed down on me like an immense, invisible weight.
"Lady Levinia? Why are you sweating so much?"
"…It's nothing. Don't worry about me — please go on telling the children about the World Tree."
In short, the moment I'd gotten anywhere near the World Tree, I'd started taking constant damage-over-time from some unknown attack. So Lilrune's claim that it protected the elf village from evil energy hadn't just been empty words after all.
"C-could it be…? Is the World Tree's sacred energy hurting you?"
I'd thought I was hiding my condition fairly well, but Lilrune's eyes, sharper than her meek appearance suggested, had proven impossible to fool. Her worried whisper cut straight through to the heart of the matter.
"I don't think I can stay here very long…."
"Oh — you moved around the village so easily that I assumed the World Tree would be fine too…."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Normally, just getting near the village makes monsters — and even most demons — writhe in agony under the sacred energy."
"I-is that so…?"
"Yes. But you didn't seem bothered at all, Lady Levinia, so I thought you simply couldn't feel the sacred energy."
If living comfortably at the church hadn't been enough, and I was now feeling this much discomfort and pain, that could only mean the World Tree's holy power was on an entirely different scale.
Still, as long as I didn't get too close, it was bearable. It would probably be best to wrap up the World Tree sightseeing quickly and head back.
"As long as we don't go any closer, I'm fine. It's not that painful, so please don't worry about it."
"Really?"
"Yes, really, I'm perfectly—"
I was doing my best to answer in the calmest voice possible, trying to reassure Lilrune, who was genuinely worried about my condition, when the damage-over-time that had been tormenting me without pause suddenly began to weaken. Before long, it vanished entirely.
I waited to see if it was only temporary, even stepped closer to the World Tree to test it — but far from any pain, nothing happened to me at all.
"…Huh?"
The very moment I tilted my head at that, a voice I knew quite well called out from behind me, urgent to the point of desperation.
"Wh-what do you think you're doing?!"
The owner of that voice was the village elder I'd briefly met at dawn. Pale and ashen, drenched in cold sweat as he struggled to catch his breath, the elder looked as though some terrible catastrophe had just occurred.
Behind him stood a dense formation of elven soldiers. Every one of them was armed with a drawn bow in menacing full battle gear, and I could tell at a glance that these were no mere guardsmen — they were specialized troops prepared to respond to a serious situation.
"What's this, all of a sudden?"
"All that talk about not seeking us out unless it was urgent — was it because you planned to destroy the World Tree?!"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I went to the trouble of sending Lilrune to build a good relationship with you… and this is how you stab us in the back?"
The elder's words made absolutely no sense. I hadn't done anything at all, and yet here I was being hit with a bizarre accusation out of nowhere.
"What is wrong with you?! Why would we destroy the World Tree?!"
"What a weird old man?! Apologize to the nun, right now!"
"Slander is bad."
At the sudden turn of events, the children hastily crowded around me, abandoning their sightseeing. But the elven soldiers only kept drawing their bows tighter, taking aim in my direction — and in response, the children began drawing their own weapons without a moment's hesitation, falling into stances of their own.
"What is the meaning of this?! What did we even do?!"
"We've defeated a demon before, you know!! If you take us lightly, you'll regret it!!"
"We're really strong."
Far from being intimidated by the children's fierce posturing, the elder only frowned in open exasperation.
"What exactly were you trying to accomplish by approaching the World Tree…?"
"As you can see, we were on a field trip."
"…A field trip?"
"Yes. The children wanted to see it."
"And you expect us to swallow a ridiculous story like that?"
"Why wouldn't it make sense?"
"You don't keep those children around for something like that."
There was nothing the elder wouldn't say in front of the children, but even so, I kept my composure. Because—
"That old geezer is still slandering Levinia!!"
"What do you even take our nun for?! Unforgivable!!"
"Bad elder."
Watching their reactions, I realized I had absolutely nothing to worry about anymore — these were not children who could be so easily swayed or shaken by a few words.
For someone like me, hiding my true identity, it was a deeply satisfying state of affairs.
"What in the world are those kids saying…."
"Th-that's enough!!"
Just as the atmosphere between the elder and me was building toward its absolute worst, Lilrune — who had been trembling like an aspen leaf, at a complete loss — suddenly squeezed her eyes shut and shouted at the top of her lungs into the air.
"They were just looking at the World Tree…. It's not what you think it is, Elder…."
"And how would you know that?"
"If that had been the plan from the start, they would have done it long ago. But they haven't, have they…?"
"Hmph, that's only because it isn't night yet. Vampires can't use their powers at all unless it's nighttime."
But the elder didn't so much as blink at Lilrune's earnest plea. Part of it was surely because Lilrune was still young — but more than that, the stubbornness written all over his face seemed to be playing its full part.
"Tch, I sent Lilrune because you seemed fond of children…."
"…I'm sorry, what?"
"Was Lilrune alone not nearly enough to satisfy you?!"
At the sight of the elder, now fully worked up and spewing whatever came to mind, I fell silent for a moment, my expression hardening into stone. It seemed the elder had no intention whatsoever of hiding the fact that he'd tried to use Lilrune as an offering.
"The children are listening, so I'd appreciate it if you watched your tongue."
"What is it you even want…? Do you want more of the children, besides Lilrune?"
"I did ask you to refrain from saying anything crude."
"Fine, I understand. We were wrong. It was my fault — begging you for your power without knowing our place."
"……"
"If you want them, I'll prepare as many as you like! I'll hand over the children until you're satisfied!! So just leave this village alr—"
"That's enough."
The moment I let those words slip out in a low voice, frowning without mercy at the elder who had lost all reason and was spouting whatever nonsense came to mind, something strange happened — the voice itself carried an amplification to it, ringing out with immense solemnity across the entire forest, spreading outward from where I stood.
Before long, the elder, who had been witnessing the whole thing up close — and even the children — began staring at me with dazed eyes. The mood shifted in an instant, and a suffocating heaviness settled over us all.
At last, the status window appeared. And there, quite inexplicably, beside my name — the word Guardian. It was far too little time to understand what any of it meant. But one thing was absolutely certain: something extraordinary was happening.
"If you're going to rush me like that, then I have no choice. I'll simply have to move up my plans, as you so desire."
My voice, no longer a fleeting effect but swelling ever onward in a mighty, unending resonance—
"In accordance with the will of Goddess Paelia, I shall purify this place."