Mother of the Earth - 6
"Urgh!"
"Oh, finally awake."
The infirmary inside the colosseum. I had carried the unconscious Daimus all the way here and had been waiting for him to come around — burning a full two hours of precious time in the process.
"Where… is this?"
"The infirmary. There are still matches left. I couldn't exactly leave you sprawled out in the middle of the arena."
"…My apologies. So my complete defeat at your hands wasn't a dream."
"Don't believe it? Want to go another round?"
"No. The Champion was right. Compared to your skill, I really am pathetically weak. I lost to you when you weren't even fighting seriously, didn't I?"
As he spoke, Daimus glanced at the sword at my hip. He wasn't wrong. Not that I had any intention of getting cocky about it — I hadn't gone all out either.
"No need to butter me up. You weren't at full strength either."
"That's true, but… huh? Come to think of it, your way of speaking seems a little different now?"
"Got a problem with it?"
"No. I was simply curious."
"There's no more need to stand on ceremony. Talking casually to a knight commander in front of a huge crowd would've been rude, wouldn't it? I wasn't looking for a warm welcome, but I at least didn't want to get chewed out."
"I see."
Judging by the easy smile on his face, he didn't seem particularly offended. Then again, in the distant future Daimus would end up calling Kang Junhyuk "brother." Anyone who could stay friendly with the man who stole Princess Charlotte from him had to be pretty easygoing underneath it all.
"So. You said there was something you wanted to ask of me."
"Ah, yes! With strength like yours…!"
"Hold on a second."
I shoved Daimus back as he bolted upright from the bed and came rushing toward me.
"I'm willing to hear you out. That doesn't mean I've agreed to help."
"If it's about compensation…!"
"It's not about compensation. I don't particularly want anything. And even if I did, I doubt you could provide it."
"I understand. With your strength, wealth and fame would come easily enough."
"Exactly. So there's only one reason I'm listening to your story. I've got a score to settle with those bastards from the Magic Tower."
The moment the words left my mouth, Daimus's lips twitched. His whole face screamed that he was itching to spill every last one of the Tower's crimes right then and there.
So the Magic Tower really is cooking up something filthy. Confirmed.
"Go on, then. What's the Tower plotting, and what do you want from me?"
"Yes, sir! First, regarding what's currently happening inside the Magic Tower…"
A week ago, Daimus had captured a Magic Tower operative who had slipped into the castle while fleeing the Tower's own pursuit. Unauthorized intruders were subject to summary execution on the spot — but the captured mage had begged desperately for his life. He'd been under threat of death himself, he claimed, and had no choice but to run into the castle if he wanted to survive. Daimus had stayed his blade for the moment and decided to hear the man out.
"Every word of it was horrific. The more I listened, the more I wondered whether we were even the same species."
"Magic Tower mages have always been that kind of scum. For the sake of their research, there's no inhumane act they won't commit without a second thought. They're not people you can deal with."
"Just as you say. How anyone could even conceive of artificially fusing spirits…"
"Fusing spirits? What are you talking about?"
"It seems you're unfamiliar with the project. Simply put, they're trying to force even opposing spirits — fire and water, for instance — to merge through magical power."
"Why bother? What do they get out of it?"
"I don't fully understand it myself. According to the whistleblower, it's for… personal desires. I couldn't grasp what that was supposed to mean…"
The word desires snagged on something immediately. Back when I'd received Prihart's blessing, Frach had told me about humanity's uglier side — how people had used spirits like portable tools. And if that had been a long-standing tradition created and driven by the Magic Tower?
Then these were parasites that needed to be wiped off the face of this world.
[So those bastards have finally gone so far that they want to taste fire and water at the same time, and they're forcing spirits to fuse for it.]
These people are genuinely insane.
My brow furrowed at the repulsive scheme. The Magic Tower felt like a greater evil than even the Demon King's army. No wonder the spirits kept their distance from humans.
"Is that everything?"
"No. Beyond that, they've been kidnapping children from villages near the Tower to use as experimental material. Recently they've even drawn up plans to abduct dragonkin in order to research Dragon Word Magic."
"Hey. Honestly, if the Magic Tower has been pulling crap that dirty, shouldn't you be reporting it to the king?"
"The problem is that the chancellor has some kind of connection with the Tower, so as far as I'm concerned…"
"Ah."
Come to think of it, that setting had existed. The reason the kingdom never really cracked down no matter how wild the Magic Tower ran was that the chancellor — the second most powerful man after the king — had been covering for them as a personal privilege. So the Holden Kingdom was surprisingly rotten on the inside too. Looking at it that way, maybe the Demon King had been something of a necessary evil.
"All I had was martial strength and zero political power. I needed someone else's help. That's why I came to the colosseum in Lebron."
"Which is why you tried to recruit Marianne the moment she won."
"Correct. But with your assistance, I believe it would be more than enough."
"Hmm…"
I had a rough sense of where my strength stood on the world stage. I was at a level where I could hold my own against the Tower Master. And if I completed Frach and reached Grand Sword Master on top of that, I could probably thrash even the Tower Master without breaking a sweat. But that was still a long way off.
"Is there any way you could help?"
"All right. I'll help you."
The Magic Tower was a tumor that had to be cut out if I wanted any kind of happy future. I had my justification. Cleaning them out and erasing them from history while I was at it didn't sound half bad.
"But I can't help you right this second. I've got my own backlog of work."
"I see…"
Breaking Hesha's curse, hunting down information on that unknown entity, collecting the magic swords — my to-do list was a mountain. I couldn't pour everything into the Magic Tower right now. Try to juggle it all at once and the whole thing would collapse. One problem at a time, steadily.
Daimus understood my situation, but his expression still looked grim. That meant the Tower's atrocities were urgent enough that every moment counted. Fortunately, I'd already prepared an answer for that.
"Don't worry too much. I've got a plan."
"Pardon?"
"While I'm handling my personal business, I'll make sure the Magic Tower can't run wild. Sit tight and get ready in the meantime."
"Y-yes…"
I clapped Daimus on the shoulder a couple of times and stood up. The first foothold for tearing down the Magic Tower — I left the infirmary to go build it.
[So it ended up exactly as I feared.]
What can you do? Bad news has a way of going exactly where it wants.
[And you truly intend to use that plan?]
I made up my mind to do it, so I'm doing it. Backing out now and saying it won't work would just look pathetic.
I ran my tongue over my lips, wetting them lightly. From here on, the part of me I'd be using most wasn't my hands or my feet — it was my mouth.
"Let's go."
I stepped into the Temple of the World Tree within the elven village. Inside the grand and sacred building, Marianne sat perched on the altar. It was a posture the Saintess — that symbol of nobility — would never have taken. But the one currently occupying Marianne's body was not the Saintess, which meant her behavior was impossible to predict.
"So you've come. Filthy, unclean human. I hear you summoned me."
"I did, Earth Mother."
"Drop the honorifics. I have no desire to be fawned over by the likes of you."
"Fine. If that's what you want, I'll play along."
"Insolent little thing. You dare steal a portion of my power for yourself and then have the gall to demand an audience? Do you wish to die?"
"Kh…!"
A crushing pressure settled over my entire body — the authority of a god, a mighty force no mortal could resist. But somewhere along the way, I had acquired a body that could endure even a deity's weight.
"I-I have no such intention. I simply have a request for the Earth Mother, so I asked Marianne to arrange this."
"Ha! And now you're shameless enough to make requests on top of everything? You truly are a madman! I'd love nothing more than to tell you to get lost this instant, but in my boundless generosity, I'll at least hear what you have to say."
"Could you encourage the elves to declare war on the Magic Tower?"
"I wondered what nonsense you'd spout, and it turns out it wasn't even worth listening to."
"It wouldn't be a bad deal for the elves or the World Tree, you know."
"Not a bad deal? You're telling elves who love the forest and peace to go fight and die!"
Grit—!
The Earth Mother clenched her teeth in fury. The crushing pressure intensified another notch. If my body had been even slightly weaker, I might have burst apart on the spot.
"Not long ago, a human sent by the Magic Tower kidnapped the older twin sister and nearly put the younger one in danger too, didn't they?"
"Yes. I hate to admit it, but thanks to you, things worked out somehow. Are you telling me to repay that favor by going to war with humanity?"
"No. That's not what I mean. The point I'm trying to make is that the Magic Tower is that interested in the elves and the World Tree."
"And what of it?"
The Earth Mother had no grasp of how serious the problem was. How was I supposed to explain it so the danger would land and she'd take it seriously? After turning it over in my mind, a perfect example came to me.
"Did you know? For human men, virility is a very important factor."
"If you want to trade jokes with me, get out of my sight right now!"
"Just hear me out a little longer. I promise you won't regret it."
"Hmph! And what exactly is so important about human virility?!"
"Eel, oysters, asparagus, softshell turtle — if something's said to be good for stamina, they'll eat it without a second thought, no matter what it is."
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
"Apply that same logic from a mage's perspective and it becomes very simple. Vast amounts of mana flow through the World Tree, and Magic Tower mages are creatures who go crazy for that kind of mana."
The Earth Mother waved a hand dismissively, as if letting my words go in one ear and out the other. Fine by me. She wouldn't be able to ignore me forever.
"According to information extracted from the Magic Tower recently, sunbathing beneath the World Tree lets you absorb fresh mana. Did you know that?"
The Earth Mother flinched — a fleeting reaction. This was about the World Tree, practically her own daughter. She could pretend all she wanted; she was listening.
"And that's not all. If you make contact with the World Tree while naked, the effect doubles, apparently!"
"Such ridiculous nonsense…!"
"But you know what? I've been examining the World Tree carefully, and there are an awful lot of holes in its trunk."
"…Y-you don't mean—!"
"They'll sunbathe, they'll press themselves right up against the tree — do you really think they'll just ignore the knotholes?"
"Enough!"
"There were little birds nesting cozily inside those holes. Imagine how lovely it'd look if milky white fluid got sprayed in there. And if it happened to get on the eggs by accident, who knows — maybe you'd get some external fertilization going."
"No matter how little I think of humans, there is no human alive who would do something that deranged…!"
"For reference, these are the same people who treated spirits like portable onaholes."
"This means war!"