Chapter 231
Chapter 231
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Night of Deception
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Elves with longevity + mana stats + looks VS a human with Jeongpyeongtaek.
Which is superior?
"World Tree World Tree..." Sounds kinda sus huhu
That's what Pyeongtaek said lol
Salea, the Turquoise Star.
The great World Tree had conveyed its will to her.
Through it, the elf was granted a role and a sense of uniqueness.
The elf was faithful to it all.
"Great World Tree, please..."
It was one day.
The elf discovered she could no longer hear the World Tree's will.
It had started after the World Tree's roots began withering for some unknown reason.
"Please let me hear your will once more..."
The elf, who had been faithful to everything the World Tree granted, lost her way in an instant.
Not only her sense of uniqueness and pride, but even her very reason for being.
Following the World Tree's roots, the elf's own heart seemed to wither as well.
Before long, the elf became like parched grass, endlessly yearning for just a single drop of water.
-My child...
Desperate enough not to doubt the source of that droplet—
"Could you be..."
That voice reached only her ears.
That form appeared only in her eyes.
The elf never doubted that this unknown existence was the one she had been waiting for.
"Ah..."
Salea faced the World Tree, diseased and dead.
"Aah..."
She recalled those who had gladly sacrificed themselves, believing it was the path to serve the World Tree.
She recalled the corrupt voice that had orchestrated it all—
And her own figure, which had blinded their eyes under its sway.
"World Tree... World Tree..."
The prophet endlessly repeated its name.
She called to the World Tree's spirit that had spoken to her.
Even though she now knew it was not the being she had believed in.
Even though she knew it would never appear before her again.
"World Tree..."
Until the moment she hanged herself from an unnamed tree outside the forest—
'Master...!'
Rishir was feeling his master's boundless grace in a place he never expected.
-Can you see me, by any chance?
-...Was it my imagination?
Their first meeting with his master.
The incident involving 'perception impairment magic' from back then was proving immensely helpful in judging and responding to the current situation.
"No matter how I look, I can't figure it out. The wind spirit too, and Salea as well. Why pick a human like this over high elves? Is there something only their special senses can perceive?"
A purple short-haired woman nearby was gazing at him and naturally muttering to herself.
Rishir caught a glimpse of his previous master in her.
The image of her displaying absolute confidence in his perception impairment magic!
In other words.
That soliloquy was a manifestation of her absolute confidence in her own perception impairment magic—
Proof that she was currently using perception impairment magic.
'A habit... or ritual among those who mainly use perception impairment magic? If I react to the mutterings, she'll immediately know the magic has been disrupted.'
Once his thoughts aligned, they raced ahead.
'So, what the hell is this woman? How did she infiltrate this place—the Turquoise Pavilion, home to the World Tree and its descendants?'
Rishir had already pegged her as a dangerous figure.
There was no way a human brazenly using perception impairment magic in the high elves' sacred abode could be normal.
That's why he judged he had to gauge her identity, no matter what.
'First things first, figure out her connection to the prophet—'
Rishir turned to the prophet and uttered her name.
"Lady Salea."
"Yes. Lord Rishir. What is it?"
"You just said that the World Tree wishes for us to sprout this seed."
Rishir recalled the immediate prior situation.
-Whatever. No need to rush. We've got time. For now, let's use that seed to siphon this guy's energy first.
-In other words, the World Tree hopes you all will use that energy to sprout this seed.
The moment when the woman's soliloquy and the prophet's words had overlapped so perfectly.
"From what I've heard, you are the only one who can convey the World Tree's will, Lady Salea. Is that correct?"
Salea responded with an awkward smile.
That smile radiated her pride as the World Tree's prophet.
"Then, did the great World Tree know we would be given this seed?"
"Ah."
Pleased by the question, Salea broke into a bright smile.
"I couldn't identify the exact recipients, but I knew the World Tree's chosen would be selected. Thanks to hearing its pure will after so long."
"After so long...?"
"You may know this too, Lord Rishir, but the World Tree is currently afflicted with disease."
"..."
Rishir nodded.
It was a tale often mentioned even in the distant Gray Tower.
The elves had tried to hide it for their prestige,
but its scale made concealment impossible—a secret inevitably leaked to the outside.
"As such, various changes have occurred in my role of conveying its will."
"What kind of changes, if I may ask—"
"The World Tree's will that I could sense gradually faded, until at one point, I could no longer feel it at all."
"That... must have been dire."
"Hehe. As you say, my world crumbled for a moment. However, the World Tree's foresight, which had anticipated all this, saved me once more."
"Foresight..."
"A new World Tree spirit appeared, filling that void."
Rishir strained to maintain his composure.
Salea had suddenly gestured toward the 'woman'.
"You may not sense it, Lord Rishir, but the World Tree's spirit is with us even now. Unfortunately, only I can perceive it."
"..."
Rishir stared in the direction Salea indicated, as if nothing were there.
His unfocused eyes deliberately avoided the 'woman'.
"Indeed... I see nothing with my eyes."
"..."
Salea smiled shyly once more, revealing her pride.
Rishir sensed something off in that smile.
The prophet's pure smile simply didn't mesh with the woman's presence.
Rishir thought.
The prophet and the woman were not figures meant to be bound together.
Then—
'Could that woman be deceiving the prophet with perception impairment magic? Posing as the World Tree's spirit?'
Rishir recalled the woman's soliloquy again.
-Whatever. No need to rush. We've got time. For now, let's use that seed to siphon this guy's energy first.
Feeling the seed in his hand, Rishir spoke to Salea.
"If we sprout this seed..."
"The World Tree's spirit will use it to heal the diseased World Tree."
"Through the spirit, it reaches the World Tree...!"
Rishir feigned excitement at the idea of influencing the World Tree.
At the same time, he checked the woman's reaction with the most natural gaze possible.
Rishir didn't miss it.
"..."
The wicked, amused smile that crossed the woman's face.
'The seed will never reach the World Tree.'
At this point, Rishir was certain.
'Clear as day. That woman's impersonating the World Tree's spirit and deceiving the prophet.'
A dizzying sensation gripped Rishir.
A being with profound energy reminiscent of his grandmaster and elf elders was impersonating the World Tree's spirit to dupe the elves.
An utterly unforeseen dire situation.
'No way... Did she even orchestrate the World Tree's chosen?'
At that moment.
Rishir's thoughts shifted to what Salea had just said.
"Lady Salea. You mentioned hearing the World Tree's pure will after so long. And through it, you prophesied its chosen."
"Yes."
"Is that pure will separate from the spirit's context?"
"Yes. It was truly the World Tree's own voice, unmediated by the spirit. Before the disease, my communion with the World Tree was through that."
"Did that pure will come in the same form as before?"
"No."
Salea shook her head with a troubled expression.
"It was so faint, I had to strain with all my might just to barely hear it."
"Like... a final cry squeezed out with its last strength."
"Exactly."
Rishir nodded outwardly in understanding while inwardly sighing in relief.
'Thank goodness. She didn't fabricate even the World Tree's chosen.'
It meant there was still room to act.
If he could expose this fake 'World Tree spirit' now, the situation could be salvaged.
'The problem is, how the hell do I take down that monster—'
Rishir pondered.
What if he revealed the 'World Tree spirit's' true nature in this situation?
Would the elves listen?
No way.
'They'd grab their spears screaming the inferior race revealed its true colors.'
How to make the elves believe him over the 'World Tree spirit'?
"Rishir...?"
"Yes? Ah, sorry. I was lost in thought."
His agonized deliberations weren't fully concealed.
Before he knew it, all eyes in the room were on him.
Then.
"..."
Rishir's eyes flashed open.
He recalled the prophet's claim that only she could sense the 'World Tree spirit'.
And simultaneously.
He thought of a 'being' the elves would trust unconditionally.
"Lady Sylph."
Rishir addressed the great wind spirit.
-Speak.
Whoosh.
A gale swirled through the room.
The great wind spirit responded to the human's call as if it had been waiting.
"Can you—see the World Tree spirit Lady Prophet mentioned?"
-No. I cannot sense that existence either.
Rishir was appalled.
This monster's perception impairment magic was fooling even high spirits.
But it didn't matter.
That wasn't the crux of Rishir's plan.
"...Then, Lady Sylph. Can you—"
Rishir pointed to a corner of the room.
"See this existence?"
"...Lord Rishir?"
The elves, led by the prophet, looked there with puzzled expressions.
Nothing was visible there.
In fact.
Even Rishir saw nothing.
Yet, he declared.
"From just now, another being claiming to be the World Tree spirit—has been speaking to me."
Rishir thought.
A World Tree spirit visible only to specific targets?
He'd make a new one himself.
Of course.
He knew.
An outsider babbling about a World Tree spirit only he could see— no elf would buy it.
But—
"This spirit mentioned Lady Sylph, so I ask."
What if the great wind spirit, revered by all elves, vouched for it?
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Rishir poured all his effort into suppressing his wildly pounding heart.
'H-ha... Is this really gonna work...?'
It was a plan born of instinct, acted on first.
His reason knew how utterly absurd it was.
'Even if Sylph likes me, would she cooperate with this insanity?'
Whoosh.
In the silence, the swirling wind made Rishir feel his soul fraying with anxiety.
Then.
The high spirit finally spoke.
-Yes. I see it.
A cautious addendum followed.
-...Faintly.
The high wind spirit Sylph.
The great spirit that had dominated the elves' great forest for eons had just joined in impersonating the World Tree spirit.
"World Tree spirit? Ridiculous—"
The 'World Tree spirit's' face twisted savagely.
At the same time.
In Ilratten's temple where the World Tree resided, the Turquoise Heart.
One high elf, who had been laboring tirelessly to push forward the unprecedented matter of 'human inheritance of nature magic,' received a certain report.
"...Say that again. Who received the World Tree's chosen?"
The high elf's aloof expression crumbled upon hearing news of one human.