Chapter 234
Chapter 234
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Mother of the World Tree
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This nightmare of a thing.
It makes you pay your debts with ruthless thoroughness.
That was Caroer's first impression when she took Rishir under her wing.
It had nothing to do with her tedious entanglement with the Forest's Night—
Nor with her pride as a high elf and elder, in her mastery of nature magic.
By the time that nightmare of a girl (term of endearment) had called her out, she'd already resigned herself to such trivialities.
—To provide convenience for a human to acquire the seed of nature magic? What nonsense is this?—
The sheer hopelessness Caroer felt stemmed entirely from the countless headaches involved in fulfilling that request.
In the past.
After a certain unfortunate incident (the infamous Forest's Night) made nature magic taboo.
The elves' attitude toward it naturally became closed off.
—No more! Our great elven secrets must not be sullied like this ever again!!!
Now we'll only take the blame for reasons we can accept!
Under that ideology, they came to strictly manage and control nature magic.
As a result, it became a secret art that only a tiny, verified handful of elves could wield—
And now they were to pass it on to a human, no less.
To one of the perpetrators of the Forest's Night, at that!
As a member of the elder council—
Caroer knew all too well how difficult it would be to convince the other elders regarding this matter.
She thought to herself.
—In the end, the only answer is to just charge ahead blindly.
—This is as far as my reputation gets me.
Even mobilizing all the knowledge and wisdom she'd accumulated through her long life as a high elf, she couldn't come up with that miraculous one-liner to sway them.
But then.
This upheaval happened.
"Caroer, is what you just said true!?"
Caroer saw a path to convincing them.
This was after the situation had ended.
When she explained the full story to those who had regained their senses.
Right now.
If she revealed that Rishir was one of the Forest's Night perpetrators, wouldn't they accept it?
Caroer pushed that dangerous thought aside and continued her tale.
You had to time your momentum carefully.
The fact that a single human had saved not just their lives, but elven society as a whole—
There was no way the elven elders would readily accept that.
"I know it's confusing, but it's the truth. Rishir here—if not for his help, we would have suffered unacceptable losses here today. We might even have lost the great World Tree spirit."
"No! That's not the important part right now!"
"...!"
Caroer faltered at the elders' more vehement reaction than expected.
Was the idea of being saved by a human really that hard to swallow?
By now, even Caroer felt a twinge of irritation.
Her characteristically aloof expression twisted slightly as she spoke.
"Our lives aside, this involved the World Tree's well-being. And yet you speak like that... Now I'm curious too. Let's hear it, then. What truly matters, exactly."
"Where is the World Tree spirit right now!?"
"...Ah."
The elders weren't being stubborn.
Just as they said, there was something far more pressing at the moment.
Caroer closed her eyes tightly and rubbed her temples.
The issue she'd been desperately ignoring resurfaced.
Given the circumstances, she could no longer pretend it didn't exist.
Caroer uttered the words amid throbbing pain.
"The World Tree spirit... is currently isolated inside Rishir's inner world."
"So, you formed a contract and transferred it to the spirit realm?"
"No. Isolated inside Rishir's inner world."
"So, you transferred it to a specific location?"
"Yes. His inner world."
"What does 'inner world' even mean? It seems like among humans, it has a different connotation—"
"It's the same as for us."
"Is the human mind structured differently from us elves'?"
"It's the same as for us."
"Ah! I see! Humans link their minds together to manage one massive collective consciousness!"
"No."
"Is that so? Then Caroer, one last question?"
"Ask away."
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Your phrasing—"
"Eek. Sorry. I panicked. What I mean is, from overexerting in that battle with the intruder—... How do I put this? Right. You've lost your mind?"
"..."
Sigh.
Caroer squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath.
At this moment.
What frustrated her most was how perfectly reasonable their pitiful gazes toward her were.
In truth.
If she'd only heard about 'that phenomenon' instead of witnessing it herself, she'd have reacted the same way.
"Rishir."
"Ah, yes. Lady Caroer. What is it?"
"..."
"Lady Caroer?"
"Will you... prove it to them yourself?"
Caroer finally spat out the words, as if unloading a heavy burden.
"Prove it...?"
Thud thud thud—
The elves' gazes poured down like a hail of arrows.
Rishir gave an awkward smile but did what needed doing.
"Uh, Dingding?"
He called out to the girl spirit, who had by now been formally named by a professional namer.
—Mommy!!!
"H-Huh...!?"
Some elders recoiled in shock.
The turquoise girl had appeared without any warning.
"N-No precursor at all...!?"
As elves who handled spirit arts as basic knowledge, they instantly knew it wasn't ordinary spirit summoning.
Elder Caroer's words were true.
The World Tree spirit.
It had dwelled briefly in one individual's inner world.
—Mommy, Mommy!
Whatever had happened inside that inner world.
The turquoise girl bounced in place, urging Rishir on.
As if inviting him to play.
It was a sight that naturally brought a warm smile to any onlooker—
But the elves had no time to care.
With every movement of the turquoise girl, her abundant energy—
The World Tree's energy surged.
'That... inside an inner world...?'
The World Tree had created the current great forest with that energy.
The elves equated it with their forest homeland.
They believed the World Tree's psyche vast enough to encompass all elven psyches.
And so confusion descended.
If the World Tree's psyche was vast enough to hold all elven psyches—
Then what of the human psyche containing it?
"Urgh—"
The elves began clutching their heads in agony.
Only the princess and her guard knight, already immune from prior exposure, let out weary chuckles while keeping their sanity.
"Everyone?"
Rishir spoke cautiously for their sake.
"This child is just the World Tree spirit, after all. The World Tree's main body is separate, isn't it?"
Rishir presented the World Tree seed in his hand.
"R-Right...! That's it...!"
"Makes sense! Yes! Perfect sense!!!"
With Rishir paving the way, the elves eagerly agreed, as if catching their breath.
However.
That state didn't last long.
—Mommy~ Mommy~
The World Tree spirit grabbed Rishir's sleeve and wriggled.
It was a sight that naturally brought a warm smile to any onlooker—
But the elves had no time to care this time either.
"M-M-Mommy...!?"
The great being all elves revered as a parent, the World Tree.
Its spirit was calling a human "Mommy."
"...Ah!"
In the end, one elven elder succumbed to dizziness and fainted.
Whether from the mental interference aftermath—
Or another reason—
They had no way to know.
Someone blurted out in panic.
"W-What do we do now...?"
No one, not even Caroer, could answer.
—Mommy~ Mommy~
Only an innocent voice echoed through the hall.
The Turquoise Hall was thrown into uproar.
The heart of the elves had been assaulted by a single human, nearly shaking elven society to its core—a grave matter, so the reaction was only natural.
"Rishir, if it's alright with you, may we handle this one's interrogation?"
"Ah. Of course."
The high elves decided to thoroughly cover up the incident to prevent unnecessary chaos in elven society.
Of course.
Those in the know were already aware.
"...And, if possible, could we keep the matter of that—spirit under strict secrecy for now?"
"...Of course."
The biggest issue agitating the Turquoise Hall was that it lay not with the intruder, but elsewhere.
—Mommy!
The turquoise girl bared fierce hostility with a resolute face whenever they tried to separate her from the human.
The high elves were racking their brains over how to handle her.
—Th-The World Tree spirit taking a human as its father... What in the world do we do!?
—Wait!
—Oh! Do you have a solution!?
—I need to correct something. Strictly speaking, it's not father, but mother.
—Right. You're starting to lose it too. I understand.
Elves who took absolute pride in their symbiotic bonds with spirits.
The mere fact that a high spirit sylph had chosen a human over a high elf had already upended society—
Now the World Tree spirit calling one human "mother" was beyond comprehension.
The elder council obsessed day and night for an acceptable resolution.
When their heads hurt too much, they'd interrogate the intruder for a change of pace—more or less like that.
"I have no face to show you. To get dragged into this mess just for helping the elves out of goodwill..."
"No, Lady Caroer. As you said, I chose to step in of my own will."
"...No matter how I think about it, you're too good for a guy like that."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. You must want to hear something specific from me now."
"Something I want to hear...?"
"About the nature magic seed."
"Oh, you remembered!?"
"...This incident must have badly damaged our elven prestige."
"Ah, n-no, that's not what I—! With the intruder messing everything up, things are so chaotic right now!? While we're on the topic, has anything been uncovered about the intruder's identity?"
The World Tree spirit calling her "Mommy" was shocking, but—
What truly shocked Rishir most in this incident was the intruder's existence.
"I still can't believe it. That I fought a monster like that with my life on the line... Just to be sure, Lady Caroer. Using mental magic to wield that level of influence—"
"Absolutely not commonplace. Not just uncommon—across continental history, those who reached that level can be counted on one hand."
"...I figured as much."
Rishir was certain.
Back then.
If Caroer hadn't been there, he would have met the worst possible end.
For Rishir, who had gotten his demon swordsmanship on track and gained some confidence in his power, it was disorienting.
'Elven city—the safest place inside it, and I run into a monster like that. This world is too harsh. It's not some dark fantasy—'
The crisis he felt this time mingled with the powerlessness from meeting his grandmaster, planting doubts in Rishir.
Am I...
A frog in a well?
But fortunately—
Caroer's next words cleanly dispelled those doubts.
"Night of Deceit."
"Pardon?"
"The intruder's identity. Revealed through interrogation."
"...!"
Rishir debated whether to feel relieved or horrified that the foe who made him feel so powerless bore the name of a "Night" heavyweight.
"So, Rishir. Have a bit more confidence in your own achievements."
"...Understood!"
Rishir nodded.
'Yeah. If monsters like that were everywhere, the world wouldn't function. It's not some dark fantasy.'
Caroer continued.
"We've strayed off topic again. Back to the point, Rishir. Regarding the transmission of nature magic, there's something I must convey to you."
"I'm all ears."
Rishir's blue eyes gleamed intensely.
The powerlessness from his first grandmaster encounter.
The crisis from battling this intruder.
Meeting two transcendent powerhouses had ignited his drive for improvement.
"Regrettable as it is for you, it will take considerable time to reach a conclusion on this incident encompassing the intruder and the World Tree spirit."
"Unfortunately, my stay in Ilraden will be extended."
"Indeed. But don't worry about that. We've ensured your time won't be wasted."
"Ensured how—?"
"The elder council has unanimously approved your succession of nature magic."
"...!"
Rishir was so shocked he could barely speak.
"The elven elders approved a human like me inheriting your secret art!? That makes sense!?"
"Then, does the World Tree spirit calling you 'Mommy' make sense?"
"Ah."
Rishir was convinced.
"Take this."
Caroer handed Rishir a document stamped with her seal.
"Go to the Green Magic Tower. I've informed them in advance, so their head will support your nature magic succession in every way."
"Green Magic Tower..."
Rishir recalled a conversation he'd once had with Master Meltas.
—...My god. Does our magic tower have no roots at all?
—Hey! Roots? Watch your words! Well, true, but. Among all magic towers, ours has the shallowest history and foundation, factually.
—Haha. Then, Master Meltas. Among the magic towers—which has the deepest roots?
—Tough question. Comparisons don't mean much there. But you didn't ask seriously anyway.
—Right. Just curiosity.
—In that case—shall we judge by the current magic tower master's tenure?
—The tower master?
—Yes. If we go by how long the current master has ruled— the Green Magic Tower takes the top spot.
—Green Magic Tower... You mean the elves' magic tower?
—Exactly. As you know, elves are long-lived, so their current Green Tower Master has reigned for eons. You know this? The one who subjugated the worst villain of the past—that Forest's Night—was none other than the current Green Tower Master.
"..."
Rishir couldn't suppress the odd feeling welling up.
"Lady Caroer. Just to confirm—the head of that Green Magic Tower is—"
A confident smile graced Caroer's aloof features.
"Do you think I'd neglect my benefactor? The tower's master, that great mage, will be your new guide. Look forward to it."
"Ah...!"
"A sigh? Why?"
Rishir's sigh had a simple reason.
'The mage who subjugated my master's master is my nature magic teacher?'
It was getting deeper.
Rishir grew fearful of where this lineage would end.
The mage who subjugated the Forest's Night.
For various reasons, Rishir dreaded meeting this (new?) teacher.
So he said.
"Uh, Lady Caroer. Just wondering—is there no substitute for that nature magic seed?"
"You think it's something that can be substituted? At this point, it's beyond exasperating; I'm curious. Tell me. What do you plan to substitute it with?"
"How about the World Tree spirit?"
"What are you—"
Huh? Wait.
Eh? No.
Wait.
The high elf's expression twisted wildly.