Piece: If You Need Brotherhood
Even back when Arcana was just a game, rumors about it were rampant. Its very existence was unclear, yet there were even explorers who chose the Explorer class solely to find it.
The reason was simple. Piece. Just the name alone screamed massive rewards, didn't it?
But after the cataclysm, once the AAU shared Arcana's information with players, Piece became nothing more than an absurd joke.
Before the cataclysm, Piece wasn't content meant to appear back then. In simple terms, it was unimplemented content meant for later.
That's why even the AAU didn't know about any rewards or its existence.
'Of course.'
Having gone through more grueling ordeals than any other player—skipping the middling steps for the heavy-hitting experiences—I still hadn't encountered a Piece until now.
[Piece, Frost Dragon's Snowy Mountain]
[Piece, Dragon's Temple]
Just looking at the names tacked on the end made it all click into place. Piece lived up to its name in every way.
For starters, the entry difficulty was beyond imagination.
'Even Frost Dragon's Snowy Mountain.'
You had to meet the frost dragon, Proznax, through a dimensional rift for that one. And Dragon's Temple? That was even worse. No dragon, no entry.
'As much as I hate to admit it...'
...I was the exception because of my black dark dragon status.
Anyway, Piece referred to places of that magnitude.
Yet to think the humble Yusra Kingdom vegetable patch for growing elixir herbs had earned the moniker of Piece...!
There was only one possible explanation.
Something had happened to the vegetable patch during the fortnight I was away.
Elcidoir. Blessing Hierarchy activated.
"!"
Just from Elcidoir's flinch and step back, I could tell. He looked guilty as sin.
I wanted to grab him and demand answers, clear as day. With the hierarchy in place, he couldn't hide anything from me anyway.
But who was Grandfell? Possessor of excessively noble pride. Owner of a tiresome personality that saw even failing to visit the garden for a fortnight due to unforeseen circumstances as a weight he alone must bear.
'No way I could interrogate Elcidoir.'
So I had no choice but to see for myself and judge.
First off, what Elcidoir had been hiding was elixir herbs.
But wait a second... Something was off about their appearance?
The petals were unusually broad and lushly blooming. And most strikingly, those massive fruits.
I said calmly,
"Has it passed the harvest time?"
It was truly just an offhand remark.
"Gasp...!"
Yet Elcidoir flinched hard. What was with the overreaction? Anyone would think I was working him like a slave.
Missing the harvest? If you traced it back, it was my fault for not visiting the garden.
The mighty Grandfell wouldn't blame others for that.
I wanted to reassure him generously—no need to worry—but I couldn't.
"It has grown most strangely indeed."
Yes. The fruit before my eyes was truly 'strange'.
Strange enough that even I couldn't identify it.
Demon king's spoils of war, [Pentagram of Pure Knowledge].
Thanks to its effects, I knew every plant and mineral in Arcana.
Yet there was no record of this fruit in that knowledge.
What that meant was simple.
This fruit wasn't just strangely shaped. It was truly [Strange].
Once I thought of it that way...?
It made sense why the elixir herb patch had earned such a grandiose label as Piece.
A patch where something strange had grown? It might just qualify.
'But the important thing is.'
How had something strange grown in the vegetable patch?
I examined the fruit and asked Elcidoir,
"Was there anyone else who visited the garden besides you?"
"......No."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. I never left my post for a moment."
Well, it was a pointless question anyway.
Elcidoir's temperament had been infamous since his debut.
He was only holding his tongue now because of the hierarchy.
He looked down on humans and everything else but himself.
I wasn't expecting that attitude to have changed.
'With Elcidoir standing guard like a hawk.'
Who would dare approach the patch?
So there was only one possibility.
Just as Elcidoir said, because he never left and tended the elixir herbs diligently...
They had grown [Strange].
Strange. A fusion of two entirely different concepts.
I didn't know what influence Elcidoir had added to the elixir herbs' nature to make it happen.
But one thing was clear.
For now, just looking wouldn't reveal its effects.
To learn those...
'I'd have to eat it.'
Of course, I wasn't insane enough to swallow it in reality.
Even known spirit elixirs had knocked me out cold, dropping my teacup in the backlash...!
'On the Arcana continent.'
Sure, it'd hurt. But you couldn't die there anyway.
Well done regardless, Elcidoir. Thanks to you, we've got our hands on some extraordinary fruit, whatever it is.
I opened my mouth.
"Your pride has borne fruit."
Pride bearing fruit—what a phrase. Even I, speaking it, barely understood Grandfell-speak.
But somehow the meaning got through.
"Is that so. Haha...!"
Elcidoir's face suddenly lit up.
Had he grown genuinely invested in growing elixir herbs? Was farming a fit for an elf?
As I pondered that.
Oh right, almost forgot. There was something I needed to ask.
Enter the Elves' Land, Sisli
📍 Status: In Progress
A class quest in ages. World Tree, Fruit of Good and Evil. And what happened between the demons?
To chase those clues, enter Sisli...
"!"
Wait a minute. A jolt like an electric shock.
Fruit of Good and Evil.
The fruit right in front of me.
Elves' homeland, Sisli.
Elf, Elcidoir tending the dignified garden.
Good and evil coexisting in the Fruit of Good and Evil.
Two entirely different natures in the strange fruit.
...These weren't coincidences to brush off lightly.
*
Golden Palace.
But not his annex.
Elcidoir felt extreme unease at this moment.
'What is it?'
How could he not?
—"Your pride has borne fruit."
Setting aside the process, those were his final words.
So he'd relaxed. He hadn't expected his mother's blessing back so soon, but at least he avoided rebuke for neglecting the garden.
But what was this bolt from the blue?
"Follow me."
Clack—
Before he knew it, he was trailing behind Hoyeol like a puppy.
Elcidoir retraced his actions. No matter how he thought, nothing that would offend...
'...No way?'
He'd been caught after all? From trying to uproot it at the root?
Looking back, he had plenty of guilty spots. Hiding the flowers and fruits with his body, backing off after a scolding...
Thus, Elcidoir slunk into Hoyeol's office.
Thud—
'Ugh.'
The door closing brought back a horrific memory.
The time he'd been meek before Hoyeol due to the hierarchy, unable to speak.
Experience taught him not to bother with useless schemes.
'Rebelling is pointless.'
If he could defy the hierarchy, he wouldn't be in this mess.
So he spoke first, volunteering.
"I'll answer your questions obediently."
A calm reply came.
"Then we'll make quick work of it."
Elcidoir bit his lip.
'Do I really have to confess everything...!'
The fortnight Hoyeol was away. Elcidoir reflected on his mistakes.
As expected, the biggest issue was his nonstop mutterings.
—"Behold. Isn't the water I give superior?"
—"Haha, at this rate, who even owns the garden?"
—"This is dignity. The garden of dignity."
...All of that?
Elcidoir fell into agony.
Then Hoyeol continued.
It was a completely unexpected question.
"Elcidoir."
"......I'm listening."
"How did you live in Sisli?"
......Sisli?
He hadn't even imagined it.
Asking about the past out of nowhere.
Wasn't this supposed to be an interrogation?
As Elcidoir remained suspicious to the end.
A merciful invitation followed.
"It would be best to sit and talk."
"......!"
"The story may grow long."
Was he truly curious about how I'd lived?
"......"
A question he'd never heard in his life.
And not the one he'd feared.
Elcidoir could answer nonchalantly.
Life in Sisli was truly uneventful.
"My kin and I communed with nature in Sisli, enjoying eternity. If I must compare... it was much like now. Of course, in Sisli, things grew on their own without effort. No need for the tedious labor here."
"Did that include the World Tree?"
"Naturally."
Beyond natural—it was their mission to protect it.
The object of communion naturally included Mother.
"......May I drink?"
"Of course."
"......Thank you."
Elcidoir took the teacup Hoyeol offered and tilted it.
'Green water?'
The bitter taste didn't matter.
Warmth was enough for sharing old tales.
As Elcidoir spoke of his flawless life in Sisli without a hint of regret.
Another question followed.
"Then the World Tree could bear fruit as well."
"It would have."
"With your care."
Truly, a possessor of inhuman aesthetics.
Recognizing our greatness at once.
Elcidoir's nose rose proudly before he knew it.
"Even if lizards handle seeding, without our care for Mother, she couldn't bear fruit with seeds. Thus, the blame for this lies with the lizards, not us."
The dragons—lizards—had offended first.
So his kin hadn't fulfilled their duty either.
Mother failing to bear proper fruit and dying? The dragons seeding unaware? Not their fault.
As he thought that.
Clink—
The sound of a teacup set down.
"As I thought."
The ever-certain voice continued.
Just like before.
Another unexpected statement.
"It was all due to a lack of brotherly pride."
.
.
For one thing, it's clear.
Grandfell, you definitely have a green tea addiction.
The caffeine must be fueling it.
'My mind's spinning without a hitch.'
That's why, the moment Elcidoir spoke, the tangled thread unraveled.
I realized where the misunderstanding began.
'Dragons and elves each had their missions.'
Dragons to sow seeds.
Elves to make her bear seeded fruit.
But Elcidoir clearly said his kin hadn't fulfilled their duty.
Thus, the World Tree's fruit—the Fruit of Good and Evil—never properly grew from the start.
Dragons too.
Their duty was merely sowing seeds, not sacrificing lives to sprout them.
They'd been played by 'someone' from the beginning.
"It was all due to a lack of brotherly pride."
Brotherly pride. In Grandfell terms, brotherhood.
If there'd been sufficient brotherhood as the word implied.
If they'd talked.
Cleared the misunderstanding.
Found the culprit.
This wouldn't have happened.
'That's why families need harmony.'
Regret was pointless.
No such word in Grandfell's dictionary.
Just advance instead of dwelling.
"Yet that can be set right."
"......?"
In that sense.
I now had one more task in Sisli.
Beyond the class quest.
"Through proper education."
"?!"
Dragons and elves.
Restoring brotherly bonds.
How did it turn out this way in this damn family...?
The youngest handling everything solo—drums, gong, the works!
.
.
Tap tap tap.
Fingers danced over the keyboard.
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