Hana's Advent
Rinea did not miss the wavering in her master's eyes. She pressed in harder.
"It would be such a waste to send the World Tree away like this, Master!"
"Th-that is..."
"Are you truly all right just letting the World Tree go?"
Amelia could not answer with any real conviction. She, too, was one of the elves who worshipped the World Tree and longed to stay at her side, and letting her leave like this was, without question, a loss.
She hesitated, then asked Rinea once more.
"The World Tree truly wished to remain for a month?"
Rinea's wish had been half coercion, but Hana had agreed to it all the same. She had nailed down one condition—that she could go home again after a month—and only then had she said yes with an easy heart. A month was nothing. She could live here as if she had come on a trip, and then leave.
This was no army. She could pass the time as comfortably as someone on a vacation abroad, and that only sharpened her desire to stay. She could sightsee this world at her leisure and, when the time came, follow Rinea's guidance back home. A month was just about right for another reason, too: it was roughly as long as her dwindling stockpile of hair would last.
Starlight Foods could not be allowed to go under. She could not remain any longer than a month.
"Yes! And because of her Amusement trait, the World Tree doesn't even have those memories, so to her it would simply feel like sightseeing a whole new world..."
Rinea was still talking when Amelia lifted a hand and stopped her. Amelia sank into thought for a long moment, then spoke as if she had made up her mind.
"Then we will tell the people that the World Tree's incarnate body has come."
"What?"
Rinea's plan to monopolize the World Tree—just herself and her master—collapsed on the spot. Amelia had no intention of hoarding her alone the way Rinea did. She meant to show the World Tree's form to as many elves as possible. Nothing like this had ever happened before. It would be an enormous shock.
Hana did not know it, but the elves here had only one faith: the World Tree Church. Humans kept many religions and many gods, but for the elves there existed only a single god—the World Tree.
In a way, it was only natural. Human faith rested on sayings left behind by a god no living eye had ever seen. Elven faith had a form that stood plain before you. Live in this city, and a short walk brought the enormous body of the World Tree into view. Gaze on that vast majesty, and awe rose of its own accord. What the eyes could see left no room for disbelief.
Ninety-nine point nine percent of elves worshipped the World Tree. The remaining sliver were only children still too young to tell right from wrong.
And because the elves received their affinity with spirits, and with nature, from the World Tree, simply remaining near her caused that affinity to rise on its own. Drift away, and it slowly dwindled—but a visit to the holy ground would fill it again. That was one of the reasons the elves made a steady pilgrimage to the sanctuary.
The elves who ran the church were hard at work today as well. Faith and politics were separate in the elven kingdom, yet when one considered how deeply faith shaped daily life, they could hardly be called unrelated. Religion, after all, sat about as close to people as anything could.
Hana could not tell where she was. Inside a building blazing with every color, she found herself surrounded by female elves.
The cause was simple. Her master, Amelia, had spoken to her almost pleadingly.
"If it would not be an imposition... might we reveal the World Tree's form to the public? Should you dislike the idea, you are free to refuse!"
Behind her, Rinea shook her head hard. The message was plain: refuse. But a contrary streak flared up in Hana, and she nodded at Amelia's words. Besides, it felt wrong to turn down a request made like that. Looking at the elves stirred something strange in her, a warmth welling up from deep inside. She was sorry to put it this way to them, but it was a little like the feeling of looking after a pet. They had told her she was the World Tree, and perhaps that was why—when she looked at the elves, she felt fond of them.
Watching Amelia light up with emotion, Hana realized there was no taking it back now.
The female elven devotees dressed her in ceremonial robes of staggering splendor, painted her face, and hung her with every kind of ornament. Left to put the clothes on alone, she would have been sweating buckets.
And so Hana ended up in an outfit that, if Jiyu and Yumi ever saw it, would have had them pointing and teasing her for cosplaying.
The World Tree Church announced that the incarnate body of the World Tree—idol and god of the elves—would appear at the next regular service. The shock slammed through elven society.
"You mean we can actually see the World Tree with our own eyes?"
An elderly elf spoke. In all his long life he had heard the stories, yet not a single elf had ever laid eyes on the World Tree's incarnate body.
"This isn't a lie, is it?"
"Why would the World Tree Church lie?"
"Well... that's true."
Among the young as well, plenty burned to see the World Tree for themselves.
Even elves living far off, in the lands of humans, heard the news.
"We can see the World Tree with our own eyes! There's no way I'm missing this!"
Through the elves' peculiar method of sending word by means of plants, even those living a thousand leagues away began to gather. The whole nation roared with fervor at the World Tree's coming. The most famous superstar on Earth could have appeared and still not caused a scene like this.
The World Tree Church had no reason to lie, so seeing her in person was as good as certain. The fact set elven society boiling.
"Eh..."
I realized things had gotten enormously out of hand. There was no turning back. I had no idea how many elves had gathered just to see me. By the World Tree Church's estimate, the crowd might top a hundred thousand.
Wearing a crown woven of living plants, I followed Amelia and Rinea's guidance and slowly boarded a flower carriage. They told me the two of them held high rank within the World Tree Church. Well, of course. No one would send low-ranking elves to tend the World Tree herself.
It was an awkward thing to name—half carriage, half palanquin. Horses drew it like a carriage, yet the top gaped open like a palanquin. Probably because if I sat inside a closed coach, no one would be able to see me. This was meant to put me on display.
Elven guards paced alongside, matching the carriage's slow speed.
And so the carriage rolled down a path cut through a sea of elves.
"World Tree!!!"
"Kyaaaaa!"
"What an honor!!!!"
"Hana-nim!!! Look this way!!!"
I had no idea how they even knew my name. Cries of World Tree and shouts of Hana washed over me in equal measure—and the way they cried Hana-nim, it was the very word these people used for God. Hearing tens of thousands of people scream my name in a frenzy left me with a strange, unsettled feeling.
The elves flung petals and pretty blossoms into the street and cheered. It felt a great deal like the entrance procession at a wedding. Back then I had been one of the spectators. Now I was the one receiving the cheers. That was the only difference.
Passing through elves who kept calling my name, I arrived at an enormous altar. It was obvious the World Tree Church really was the faith of every elf. I had heard they received offerings; those offerings must have been poured into raising this altar.
A design that would not have looked out of place beside anything on Earth, and a scale that was frankly majestic, rose up to greet me. I could not help gaping in awe. An altar like this...
Before the altar I transferred to a palanquin. I could have walked on my own two feet just fine, but the elves did not seem to think much of the idea of me walking. I waved to the cheering crowd and put on a proper performance.
They say the seat makes the person, and they were right. Looking out at elves who revered me as a god, I decided I ought to answer in kind. When I reached the summit of the altar, an orchestra of several hundred struck up as one. The grand swell of instruments rolled solemnly across the place.
I stood at the highest point of the altar and looked down. Countless elves gazed up at me and cheered. For some reason, I had the feeling that coming here had been the right choice.