episode_0014

“Fuck.”

The elf warrior let out a curse, but no one found fault with it.

No, it would be more accurate to say that there was no one with the presence of mind to do that. Because even Nia felt like cursing at that moment.

Clearly, the World Tree that had been so splendid just a few days ago was now drying up in an instant.

“Ah, world’s best poem…”

“Why is this happening…!”

Nia felt even more frustrated, because she thought she knew why.

‘Hero… It was definitely that hero who restored the World Tree… That narrow-minded piece of trash!’

It was clear that the warrior had thrown away the opportunity to heal the World Tree and contribute to the elven society, simply because he had abandoned himself for the World Tree!

“What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?”

No matter how much I racked my brain, there was no answer. As time passed, the World Tree gradually lost its vitality.

“Niaya.”

After biting her lips for a long time, Nia finally came to her senses when she heard the elder’s voice calling her and turned around to look behind her.

“Yes, Elder.”

“Can we go somewhere quiet and talk for a moment?”

A question mark briefly rose above my head at the elder’s words, but soon I nodded obediently, thinking that the elder must have had some meaning as well, and followed her into a leaf house.

The elder sighed deeply and brought out a cup of green tea as he spoke.

“…What do you think about immigration?”

“Huh? What are you talking about! Where are we going, leaving the World Tree behind…”

“But there is no way. The warrior will not be able to save the World Tree again, and there is no hope for the World Tree to survive, so the living should live.”

What about the traditions we’ve kept for so long? Nia tried to swallow the words that were about to spill out of her mouth.

Ijurani, at least for Nia, was a word that had never appeared in her dreams, and it was the worst of nightmares.

That’s understandable. This land is like a holy place to the elves, so if they were to voluntarily abandon it, Nia felt an inescapable gloom. This is what it means to wish everything were a dream.

Ironically, it was similar to the first feeling Leah had when she was abandoned.

“But since you are the youngest of the warriors in this village, I called you aside and spoke to you. Won’t you blend in with the village and change public opinion a little?”

“Ah… No. There must be a way. We don’t have the confidence to live in a land without the World Tree. Even if we have history and tradition, if we don’t have the World Tree’s protection right now, doesn’t that mean the love of the spirits, the vitality of the body, the long lifespan, and the innate talent for the bow will all disappear?”

“It’s going to happen anyway. In that case, it would be better to set foot on the land of humans early and save our lives. Our ancestors would have preferred that to extinction.”

-Bang!

Nia couldn’t stand it any longer and slammed the table. It was clearly disrespectful, but no one cared.

“I don’t understand, Elder. You want to live with the inferior humans? The blood of the inferior humans will mix with the blood of the noble elves!”

“Isn’t that the trend? We have to admit what we have to admit. They say that the mainstream of this era is humans.”

Blood flowed from Nia’s fist, soaking the desk as she clenched her hand so hard.

“Thousands of years ago, these were the things that crawled under the feet of elves…”

The elder who heard the muttering had no answer. The fact that Nia, who had never lived in the land before the flood, had such superiority ideology was ultimately the fault of his own generation who lived in that era and passed such ideology on to him.

I just felt a little weaker.

Nia’s thoughts, which had not noticed the elder’s reaction and continued to reminisce, eventually reached the past.

*****

“Ugh…”

As the meat continued to cook on the campfire, crackling, crackling, Nia began to gag slightly. No matter how hard she tried to hold it in, the disgusting smell of grilling meat kept irritating her nose. In the first place, she didn’t even know why she was eating meat.

Nia stood a little distance away from the group’s dining table. Her stomach kept growling and screaming, but the smell of meat was so strong that she couldn’t even put anything in her mouth.

“…I have no appetite.”

In the end, I skipped breakfast today and just laid down on the floor. Hunger took over my whole body.

“If I knew this would happen-”

“Nia?”

The voice of the warrior, Leon, was heard from behind.

“…Why.”

“I asked for this from the rooftop and got it for you. Once you put it on, you’ll feel a little better.”

Even though she thought that anything made by humans was useless anyway, Nia instinctively grabbed it.

A hairpin with a black leaf shape and gold rim, when I put it on my head, the smell of meat that had been disgusting until just a moment ago disappeared at all.

“!”

“I think it might be a little difficult because of the smell. What do you think?”

“It’s definitely better. It’s pretty good for something made by humans.”

“Haha… Is that so?”

Leon just smiled and took something out of the basket, despite Nia’s cold gaze that seemed to tell him to get out after seeing everything without even saying a word of thanks.

“And this. Since I’ll probably have to camp for a while, I bought this instead of vegetables.”

The basket Leon held out contained a few mushrooms. Leon had given up his time and searched the mountain, covered in dirt, to find a few mushrooms for Nia to eat.

“…Is that all? A fresh salad? A dressing made with kiwi? Almonds and raisins?”

Leon’s pupils shook slightly at those words. He was embarrassed because he had found something he had never tasted in his entire life.

“Okay, I can’t help it if you don’t have it. Call me when you practice archery.”

“Oh, I see…”

Leon walked out, covered in dirt and dust.

I could hear the sound of Enaga training Leon harshly under the pretext of training, but I simply ignored it by digging out my ears. It was a human matter anyway, so what did it matter to me?

Nia took a bite of the mushroom.

Of course, the mushrooms were delicious enough.

To begin with, a salad sprinkled with almonds and dressing was considered luxurious enough for an elf.

‘Gabriel’ told me that the warrior was made to love me… no, us, so I just use him to vent my anger by sniffing out the smell of meat.

Nia quickly erased the events of that day from her memory, and only now did she recall them again.

*****

“There was a way… There was a way!”

According to what Gabriel said, Leon… was it Leah now? Who cares. It was just going to be used once and thrown away anyway.

You can go back to Leon and tell him to save the World Tree. After all, Gabriel has already told you that the power is not the warrior’s power but your own.

I held the elder’s hand with joy and explained the plan, but for some reason, the elder had a nervous expression.

“Then is that former warrior okay…?”

“Of course, there was a bit of friction, but if you persuade them, they will listen. So just give me a little time.”

Even when they were together, she always did as she was told. That was the extent of Leah’s existence to Nia. If she sent a letter while being a little cute, she would come running and save the World Tree. Whether she died or not after that, that was none of her business.

No, rather, that lowly human should be grateful to me. That stupid human who threw away his chance to serve the elves was able to serve them again in exchange for a mere life!

While she was at it, Nia immediately wrote a letter to the low-level wind spirit and told him to follow Leah’s footsteps, deliver the letter, and bring her here by force. She planned to torture her by forcing her to use her powers if necessary.

*****

“So… This is the fourth time I’ve said this, but Abel and the leader of the succubus are completely in a business relationship. The husband calls all men that bitch… …Keuhe, hehehehehe… It’s no use explaining it anyway…”

“Ga… Galvein, have you lost your mind?”

When Leah saw Galvein, who was clearly insane, only then was she able to admit that the guy she had seen earlier (the title had already been set in stone) and Abel had no relationship.

“…As expected, the parasite brother is a playboy.”

“Leah said, mashing the pudding with her fork in annoyance.

“Even in a business relationship, there is such a thing as keeping a distance, right?”

‘The noble one is jealous…’

‘The leader of the succubus… that’s full-throttle, business-like attitude… hmm, I guess talking won’t help… ”

Leah puffed out her cheeks and groaned. She clearly looked like she was upset.

“ㄹ, does Lady Leah… like the Demon King…?”

“…”

When he finally mustered up the courage to say a word, he began to cry as he was met with a look of subtle wariness (mainly because he was of the same species as ‘that guy’).

“Don’t worry. Hira has someone else he likes, so the noble one doesn’t have to worry about-”

“Oh, really?”

“…?”

“Fucking Richie…”

Only then did Leah’s expression brighten and she resumed her explanation.

“Love… I don’t think it’s that yet. But what should I say… I feel suffocated when another woman is next to me, or should I say I don’t like it… It just seems that way… Am I being a little selfish…? After all, I was originally a man, so I’m a man anyway! ”

‘Ba, just now… you said ‘not yet’, but…’

“And… After all, since I’ve had that happen to 5 people in a row, I’m scared of loving.”

“Well, that’s definitely…”

‘Looking back now, I don’t even know why I loved them.’

“What were you talking about?”

When Abel opened the door and came in with a squeak, everyone’s eyes were focused on him. That was understandable, because in his hand he was holding the remains of a low-level wind spirit (that had been) that had been summoned back with its neck broken.

“Your Majesty, is that in your hand…”

“I thought about it after thinking about it since I had ill intentions towards Leah.”

“…No, I’m asking you to use the corpses that remain after the spirits are summoned as experimental materials?”

“Oh, really?”

Abel threw the body to Galvein, who was excited at the thought of doing a simple experiment.

“I, we… want to hear the situation together…”

“Then let’s listen together.”

“If Leah is okay… First of all, this spirit came from the base of the Kampf guys. Who sent it… I don’t even need to look to know.”

“…Nia?”

“Yeah.”

…His hands clenched in a fit of revenge, but when he saw Abel, Hira, and Mino looking at him with concern, the strength in his hands relaxed.

Yeah, ever since the day I faced the God of Libra and Abel saved me, my goal has been not to burn my body for revenge, but to completely throw them into the abyss and continue living after that. … It’s even better when I’m with Abel, you know.

Friend! It meant to be together as friends! There is no other meaning, so don’t misunderstand…!

Leah slapped her cheek after explaining herself without anyone hearing her. At least she seemed to have regained her sense of reason.

“Personally, I recommend not watching it, but it seems like your will is already set.”

After hesitating for a moment while looking at me, he soon unfolded the crumpled, cheap letter Abel had handed him and checked its contents.

“Leon, the World Tree is dying. So run here right now and use that power on the World Tree. If you dare release your power and think about the suffering the World Tree has caused, I shouldn’t hesitate to put you on trial with the elves and torture you, but I will give you special treatment. So, deep down in your heart, thank you for the kindness and use your little remaining worthless life for the great World Tree and the elf clan. Do you know that I love you?

“Nia.”

“…This, this… piece of trash…how dare you, Leah-sama…”

“There are no other scoundrels. It is very disgusting to look at.”

I could hear the two people who already knew my circumstances to some extent getting angry, but I was so angry that my eyes turned bright red and I couldn’t hear them well.

“…ha.”

“Le, Leah…”

“Ha, fucking shit… What a bitch. You didn’t even mention that I abandoned you as soon as I lost my warrior powers, and you’re telling me to save the World Tree and go after it like it’s a given? Don’t be a jerk. ”

I knew this would happen, but seeing it in person shattered any remaining expectations.

I crumple the paper with my hands until it can’t be crumple any further, then stomp on it with my feet. Over and over again, until the paper turns dark gray.

“…annoying… damned bitch. Me… my will is treated worse than trash on the street, and when I try to be a little bit sane, you stab me in the lungs like this…!”

After I completely burned the letter, my slightly calm face looked like a grim reaper, judging by the reactions of the three.

“Leah.”

“…Oh, yeah? I, I’m not that angry.”

“How about burning the world tree in revenge?”

“…?”

What does that mean, how can you burn the World Tree? It must be a goddess…

“Anyway, the goddess won’t care about touching an elf. If you’re going to get revenge, you should do it on a grand scale.”

“…Oh.”

So the first revenge was decided to be Nia.

If you betray someone, you should have thought there would be a price to pay. Don’t you?