Sacred, Blessed, and an Apostle - 4
I stared blankly down at the dining table before turning my gaze to Grandmother’s back as she worked in the kitchen.
Something was odd. I was certain I’d already eaten enough for one meal—no, two meals—yet no matter how much I ate, the food never stopped appearing.
Is this magic?
The thought crossed my mind for a moment. A spell that made food never diminish no matter how much you ate—that would be a miracle capable of erasing the very concept of starvation from this continent. As expected of Trixie’s grandmother; she had to be an incredible archmage.
I watched her for a long while before turning my eyes back to the food. Elves carried the image of extreme vegetarians, yet the dishes Grandmother had prepared showed no such bias—meat, fish, vegetables, everything in abundance. Living on greens alone certainly wouldn’t be good for the body.
Perhaps that was why my head was spinning. It felt as if I’d rented an entire buffet for a private meal—well, a meal for two.
“What’s wrong? Is it not to your taste?”
“No, it’s delicious. Truly.”
The rising fullness had slowed my eating considerably, but Grandmother had already returned with the next dish, so I forced my fork to move again.
“Hehe, I’m glad. There’s still plenty, so eat as much as you like.”
“…Yes. Thank you.”
I offered my thanks to the grandmother smiling so contentedly and stuffed a salad—hopefully the least filling option—into my mouth.
This was torture. Who would have thought someone of my rank would suffer food torture? And because it was filled with nothing but pure goodwill and affection, it was even more maddening.
Is Trixie holding up?
I managed to swallow the salad and glanced at Trixie’s complexion. From the moment Claris had guided us to Grandmother’s home until now, Grandmother had been conducting this food torture without a single break for nearly an hour.
I could force myself to pack more in if I had to, so I was managing. But for Trixie to keep eating at this pace was impossib—wait…?
What?
Watching Trixie, I noticed something strange. She was definitely bringing food to her mouth, yet she never seemed to chew or swallow.
Feeling my common sense begin to collapse, I looked closer and finally understood the cause of that miraculous situation.
…Magic?
This time it really was magic. The faint flow of mana every time she moved her fork made it certain.
Trixie wasn’t consuming Grandmother’s love on the spot; she was postponing it for the future. Full and unable to eat another bite, she was using a storage spell to sneak the food away.
Insane.
I felt both envy and bewilderment. It wasn’t something I, currently stuffing myself, had any right to say, but couldn’t she just admit she was full and couldn’t eat more? Did she really need to go this far and keep up the pretense of eating?
Sensing my gaze, Trixie—still deep in her method acting—quietly turned her head and looked away.
Even she seemed aware that her behavior was odd.
Only after roughly two hours of dining were we finally able to receive all of Grandmother’s boundless love. It was so excessive that it nearly choked me.
“This is plum tea. It’s good for digestion, perfect after a meal.”
“Ah, thank you.”
When she thoughtfully prepared even post-meal tea time, I nearly teared up. And the delicate consideration of choosing a tea that aided digestion on top of it all.
If she had realized her love was heavy enough to require digestive aid, perhaps she could have lightened it just a little. Too much love can become poison, after all.
Of course I didn’t say any of that out loud. I couldn’t become the unfilial brat who spoiled an elder’s enjoyment.
“I’m sorry this is all I could prepare. The older I get, the less I eat, so I’ve lost track of how much young people manage these days.”
While carefully sipping the plum tea, I flinched at Grandmother’s embarrassed words. The nuance sounded as if she regretted not being able to feed us even more.
We overdid it.
Only then did I realize the fatal mistake. Unable to refuse Grandmother’s sincerity, we had gritted our teeth and eaten—and that had backfired.
Yes. Just as we wanted to make Grandmother happy, she must have wanted to treat her granddaughter and grandson-in-law with grandeur. The more we emptied our plates, the more her sense of duty must have flared, driving her to cook on the spot.
Thinking back, when we first arrived at her home there had been a reasonable amount of food prepared. The meal should have ended there, but mutual consideration had turned it into a chicken game.
Food torture born from a harmonious family… I’d never heard of anything so novel in my life…
“It’s fine. We usually eat less than this, but it was so delicious we pushed ourselves a little.”
“Is that so? Then I’m relieved.”
While I was still speechless from the cultural shock, Trixie quickly spoke up.
Fortunately Grandmother seemed reassured by Trixie’s words, yet when Trixie mentioned pushing herself I felt a faint sense of resentment. Out of all of us, the only one who had actually overdone it was me. She had gotten through it alone with magic.
This was why living as a lowly swordsman was so miserable. If I had walked the noble path of a mage, I never would have felt this kind of sorrow.
Maybe I should raise my children as mages.
Of course I wouldn’t force them down that road, but if any of them hoped to become mages rather than swordsmen, I would gladly support them.
Wanting one’s children to be happier than oneself—that was a parent’s heart.
Looking at Karl sipping his tea with a dark expression stirred a tangle of emotions in me.
Pity that he had eaten that enormous quantity all by himself. Gratitude that he had pushed himself so far out of consideration for Grandmother.
He didn’t have to finish everything.
I knew full well that Karl had far exceeded his usual meal size this time. Not knowing the appetite of the person you lived under the same roof with as a lover was only possible if you lacked intelligence or common sense.
Some might call a noble who abandoned refined dining for overeating—who failed to firmly declare he was finished—foolish. But I didn’t see it that way. Karl was normally a sharp, sensible boy. If a child like that chose to look foolish for the sake of my blood relative, it was something to rejoice over instead.
…I did feel guilty for using the underhanded trick of magic while leaving him to face it alone, but unlike Karl the warrior, there was a hard limit to how much I could eat no matter how hard I tried. I was certain he would understand.
“Benefactor, Benefactor.”
“All done eating? All done eating?”
While I was silently apologizing to Karl in my heart, the door opened and fairies came flying in.
A soft smile rose to my lips at the sight. These little ones had shown thick affection toward us from the moment we arrived—clinging to Karl’s hair, perching on his shoulders, fluttering around him. They were just like animals greeting a master they hadn’t seen in a long time.
Regrettably Grandmother had shooed them away, telling them not to bother the guests, yet they must have been watching through the window; the instant the meal ended they appeared.
“Yeah, we finished.”
“Yay!”
“He said they’re done! They’re done!”
The moment he answered, Karl was besieged by the fairies.
No matter how many times I saw it, the sight remained wondrous. A human who was not an elf, an ordinary person who was not a priest, receiving the love of fairies—such a thing had been rare even in the days when the World Tree still stood whole.
Of course, considering the northern heretical power that had taken root in him, it was hard to call Karl an ordinary person. Something midway between priest and layman, perhaps?
“Can you save the World Tree now?”
“World Tree! World Tree!”
“Our home! We want to live in our home!”
“I get it, so stop pulling my hair…”
Karl muttered wearily, then quietly rose from his seat and retrieved the sword he had set on the floor.
A sacred relic.
My gaze drifted unbidden toward that blade. Even relics of the Dawn Church were rare sights; a sacred relic imbued with the power of the nomad faith was rarer still. As a mage I would have loved to research it thoroughly.
But I held back. Half-elf blood still ran through my veins, and I had no desire to delay the elves’ long-cherished wish of my own free will.
“Won’t you rest a little first? There’s no rush.”
“I’m fine. It’s only a matter of transferring the power, so it won’t be difficult, and we don’t know how long it will take. Better to do it as quickly as possible.”
Grandmother asked with open concern as the fairies tugged Karl along, but he simply shook his head with a faint smile.
Even in her restraining voice there had been a quiet undercurrent of expectation. Grandmother had personally witnessed the World Tree burn and carried that grief for centuries; her longing for it must have been as fierce as the fairies’. She was simply restraining herself.
That Karl willingly moved for her sake filled me with gratitude and pride.
The moment the fairies grabbed my hair and collar I was on my feet. I had been blessed with a body free of baldness genes; to lose my hair to some acquired shock after all that would be the most unjust thing imaginable.
Besides, a quick glance had shown the kitchen table loaded with desserts. If I didn’t escape now it would be food torture all over again.
— You’re here…?
Standing before the provisional World Tree, I was greeted by the still-dying voice of the Eternal Blue Sky.
Are you still tired?
— I’m fine. Once I receive the power I’ll be better…
Those words only made her seem more pitiful. It felt exactly like watching a critically ill patient claim they would be fine once they took their medicine.
— Just the power, just the power. Once I get the power… everything will work out.
No—looking at it now she sounded less like a patient and more like a gambling addict chasing one big score.
Anyway, what do I do now? Just stick it into the tree?
For the sake of what little dignity the Eternal Blue Sky had left, I changed the subject. She herself had said she only needed the power, so better to hand it over quickly and be done.
— Just plant it nearby. Be careful not to hurt the roots.
Yes, ma’am.
The instruction was simple enough. I drove the sacred relic into the earth without delay.
A distance and depth that wouldn’t damage the roots… this should be abou—
— Thank you, one who receives the favor of sun and sky.
Suddenly a voice I had never heard before rang through my head.
— The nobility of willingly offering what is yours for the sake of my children, for the poor children who have lost their way. That nobility has compelled even me—diminished and fading as I am—to take notice of you.
— Huh…?
After the unfamiliar voice came the dazed tones of the Eternal Blue Sky.
— Of course, all that is permitted to me is to watch. My return to this world still lies in the future. Yet your devotion has brought that future closer, and I have gained just enough strength to express my gratitude.
As the gentle voice continued, my confusion slowly gave way to reason, and I realized who the speaker was.
Mother of the elves, the being who had bestowed the World Tree upon the continent.
The divinity known as the God of Vegetation.
Constantina?
— Yes. That is the name by which I am called.
I was stunned. I had steeled myself for contact with Constantina once the World Tree revived, but I never expected her to appear at this stage, before the revival was even complete.
— I am mother to every elf and fairy, friend to the spirits, the God of Vegetation who embraces every corner of this continent.
After a brief silence, Constantina continued with a smile in her voice.
— And as one who has received your grace, I wish to offer a small token of repayment.
— Wait—hey!
Accompanied by the Eternal Blue Sky’s urgent cry, a faint heat bloomed near my shoulder.
— For now my power is so meager that leaving a mark is the most I can manage. Yet when we meet again in that future, a magnificent divinity will blossom. I look forward to that day.
With those final words the one-sided voice vanished.
— Why… why is everyone always after what’s mine…!
Leaving behind only the wail of a certain god.