Chapter 79
[Would you like to meet them now? (YES/NO)]
“Of course I’d meet them!”
A being that wasn’t human.
The only such beings I had ever seen were monsters living in Gates and dungeons.
You had no idea how long I’d been curious about these creatures.
Were they elves? Dwarves?
No. They might be some other race I hadn’t even imagined.
Beastkin, maybe. Or centaurs.
[YES]
I clicked YES without hesitation.
A white light burst out from my smartphone at once.
Particles of light wrapped around my body, and in an instant, the space around me changed.
The place I was moved to wasn’t the event dungeon.
Because the transfer worked the same way as before, I’d assumed I was being sent there again, but this was a place I’d never seen in my life.
I had been sitting in the driver’s seat, and somehow I’d been moved into a green forest.
Something hard was still pressing against my back.
It couldn’t have been the backrest of a chair.
When I lifted my head, I saw Saessak, now a young tree, behind me.
Maybe because I’d looked up at it?
The little tree, now covered in lush leaves, shook its body.
A greeting directed at me.
“Hey.”
When I greeted it, it waved its branches again.
Even as a young tree, it was still cute. That hadn’t changed.
I tore my gaze away from Saessak and looked around.
The forest seemed to have grown anew.
Grass and trees alike were all small and friendly with one another.
Not a single mature tree taller than I was in sight.
Only one thing stood out.
Saessak was taller than me.
As I’d expected, the forest had probably grown up around Saessak as its center.
“Saessak, where exactly is this place?”
As soon as I asked, a bluish message window appeared.
Reading it, I realized the message hadn’t been sent by Saessak.
Baek Do-woon, the Manager of the World Tree, has moved into another dimension.
The place where the Manager is currently located is a sanctuary created by the previous World Tree Manager with magic.
The barrier zone exists between Earth and Yggdrasil.
You may rest assured, as neither the Demon Race nor the followers of the Demon Race can find it.
“Holy….”
So that’s how it is.
That damn guy really was on a whole different level than I’d thought.
Creating a sanctuary that enemies couldn’t find was impressive enough.
But apparently it existed somewhere between Earth and Yggdrasil.
I didn’t know exactly where Yggdrasil was, but if I thought about it as a place in another dimension, it had to be something like Earth in a different world.
A sanctuary between one dimension and another.
That meant the sanctuary itself was also another dimension.
In other words, he had created an entire dimension.
What the hell did this guy even do for a living?
Manager Baek Do-woon has achieved the first dimensional transfer feat in human history on Earth.
As a reward, he obtains the title Dimension Traveler.
Title - Dimension Traveler.
Owned effect - You can move between dimensions. When Baek Do-woon and the young World Tree’s wills align, you can travel from Earth to Yggdrasil or vice versa.
“Oh?”
Dimension Traveler.
I liked the sound of that. It had a cool ring to it.
The young World Tree sensed an expectant gaze from the front.
Just as I was reading the title’s effect, Saessak sent me a message.
I looked straight ahead.
About twelve people were walking toward me quickly.
No. I should correct that.
To be precise, they weren’t human.
Neatly arranged golden hair.
Skin so pale it looked even whiter than white jade.
Ears that, unlike mine, were long, narrow, and pointed to the side.
“Right, when it comes to the World Tree, it’s elves!”
With that, I put my smartphone back in my pocket.
I wasn’t about to keep tapping on the screen while greeting elves I’d never seen before in my life.
No matter how shameless I was, I still had some manners.
Elves, huh. My heart was really pounding.
When Gates first appeared, people even debated the existence of other races.
When items used by elves and dwarven-made items were discovered, hundreds of papers were published on the subject.
But no one had ever seen the real thing.
Until now.
Honestly, even if they’d turned out to be dwarves or beastkin or centaurs, that would’ve been fine too.
I’d still have been surprised and delighted by the novelty of meeting a new race.
Still, if you thought of the World Tree, elves were the right image, weren’t they?
“A human?”
“There’s a human in this place…?”
The elves who had been walking briskly stopped in their tracks.
On their faces and in their voices, I could hear clear confusion at having found me.
After discovering the sanctuary where the young World Tree lived, they had apparently made their way here with great diligence.
It was only natural for them to be startled when they arrived after all that effort and found a human waiting for them.
And come to think of it, the elves spoke Korean just fine.
Or maybe the proper way to think of it was that this place was specially translating language for us.
Either way, we could communicate, so I might as well greet them.
But how should I do it without making them uncomfortable?
While I was still thinking it over, the elf standing at the very front of the twelve stepped forward.
Maybe because he’d been in front? Or because he looked older than the others?
For some reason, he felt like the leader of the group.
“Ah, Elder!”
“Elder, please be careful…!”
Looks like I’d been right.
The elf who stepped forward was being called Elder by the others.
Among them, one female elf with long hair grabbed the Elder’s arm, looking worried.
The Elder tapped her hand gently.
“Do not worry, Regina. This is a sanctuary, isn’t it?”
“...Yes.”
The elf who’d been holding onto his arm stepped back.
Then the others also took a step away.
The elf called Elder walked toward me again.
I, who had been watching him, also rose, peeling my back away from Saessak.
I was going to welcome the elf Elder properly.
“…….”
It was the first time in my life I had ever encountered a race like this.
And yet, for some reason, there was something familiar about the elf Elder.
It was like a sensation that I had known him from long ago.
It even felt like I’d caught the scent of an acquaintance I hadn’t seen in ages.
“Could it be, you are…!”
I wasn’t the only one who felt that familiarity.
The elf Elder’s expression changed by the second as he approached me.
When he finally stopped right in front of me, he lifted his right hand, which was trembling uncontrollably.
“Could you be, could you be the one who—”
“The Manager?”
“Y-yes?!”
“Yes, that’s right. I’m the current Manager of the World Tree.”
“O-ohhh!”
The elf Elder clenched the trembling hand into a fist.
The right hand he had balled up turned white from the force.
Joy. Rapture.
That was what I could feel from him.
Just when I was wondering if I should maybe cover his fist with my hand or something, the elf Elder raised his head and looked at me again.
There was a fierce will in his eyes as he stared straight at me.
“You who claim to be the World Tree’s Manager.”
“……?”
“I, Patria, Elder of the Reditus Forest, sincerely request this of you. Would you show me proof that you are the World Tree’s Manager?”
“Proof… you mean?”
Oh, this was awkward.
I didn’t have anything like a credential that proved I was the Manager.
“That’s right. If you are truly the World Tree’s Manager, then you must surely have proof.”
“…….”
Even if you say that…
I don’t have anything like that.
All I got when I became the World Tree’s Manager was the Fruit of the Previous World Tree.
And I ate that immediately after receiving it.
Thanks to that, it cured my body, which had been unable to circulate mana because of Heart Break.
The sap, branches, and leaves I received after that were all used to make weapons or potions or things like that.
The only thing left in my inventory was a pine cone I was planning to sell for a high price.
But I didn’t think handing that over would count as proof.
Even someone who wasn’t the Manager could have the previous World Tree’s materials.
Proof, proof…
“Ah.”
One thought flashed through my mind.
There was exactly one thing.
The only object I had carried with me from the moment I became the World Tree’s Manager until now.
And “carried” was putting it mildly.
Ever since I downloaded the game a year ago, I had barely let it out of my hand.
It was even on me at this very moment.
I took out the smartphone I’d put in my pocket and held it out with some doubt.
“Do you mean this?”
The elf Elder’s eyes widened.
His golden irises shone like gemstones.
“Ooh! Yes, that’s it!”
“...This is really the one?”
Even after hearing that it was right, I asked again because I couldn’t believe it.
I couldn’t wrap my head around this situation, where an elf was looking at a smartphone and saying that was the proof.
The elf Elder nodded with complete certainty and answered my question.
“Yes. I can feel the aura of the previous World Tree Lord from it!”
“Oh, really?”
“I never thought I would feel his aura again in this place….”
As he said that, the elf Elder extended both hands.
There was reverence in his slightly wrinkled palms.
“May I perhaps confirm it more closely?”
“Ah, yes. Go ahead.”
I handed him the smartphone.
He received it with both hands still held in respectful form.
It looked, more or less, as though a priest were being handed a holy relic.
I felt as if I were some kind of pope in the Vatican.
It almost felt like I was experiencing a religious rite firsthand.
“Ooh…!”
The elf Elder, having received the smartphone, was overcome with emotion.
He’d said just a moment ago that he never expected to feel that aura again, so naturally he was moved.
Maybe because I was watching the elf Elder like that?
There were even people, no, elves, who were smiling faintly or wiping away tears.
“…….”
But I was different from them.
I bit my lower lip and held back with all my might, because I felt like I was about to burst out laughing.
The scene before me was solemn enough to inspire reverence, but if you stripped away the atmosphere, it was just an elderly elf standing there, carefully holding a smartphone.
And the other elves were watching him, rubbing at their eyes.
Could any modern person look at this with a straight face?
Without question, no.
“It’s been confirmed here. Please take it back. Manager.”
“Ah, yes.”
The elf Elder reached out to return the smartphone.
Just as I was reaching out to take it back,
growl.
A familiar sound came from a stomach.
Only, it wasn’t my stomach. It was the elf Elder’s.
Was he hungry?
The elf Elder lowered his face in embarrassment and averted his eyes.
“S-sorry… I’ve shown you such a shameful side of me, Manager.”
“It’s fine. You were probably just very happy to see the World Tree.”
“...Yes, that’s right. We hurried here so quickly that we didn’t even get a meal.”
“Ah, then—”
D-Grade World Tree Quest
📍 Location: The elves of the forest are hungry.
🎁 Reward: Elven goodwill.
Food to solve their hunger?
I didn’t really understand what that meant.
Looking around, there were all kinds of grass growing everywhere.
The trees were still young and hadn’t borne fruit yet, but as for grass, it looked like I could dig some up and eat it if I really wanted.
I wasn’t sure why I’d need to go out of my way to get something for them.
Was it not that?
“Excuse me, Elder.”
“I am Patria of Reditus. Please, call me Patria.”
“Ah, yes. Patria-nim. May I ask you something?”
“Yes. Ask me anything.”
“What do you all usually eat?”
“Pardon?”
The elf Elder tilted his head.
His expression seemed to say, What sort of question is that?
Still, the elf Elder answered my question obediently.
“Naturally, we mainly eat meat.”
“Ah, I see.”
So that was it….
Elves, mainly eating meat.
Damn it. Give me back my childhood, you long-eared bastard!