Ch.122World Tree, Truth, and Possession (1)

Evan quietly caught his breath as he surveyed his surroundings to assess the battle situation.

Mana began flowing through his heart, and his dragon blood awakened once more.

The light spirit he had received from Count Kasim and implanted within his body also bloomed, beginning to mix with his mana.

In a Master versus Master battle, he might face equals, but against dark mages, perhaps no one in this world was stronger than him.

Added to this was Ascalon, which responded intensely to the dragon blood within Evan.

Against the Bone Dragon—Maloric, who hadn’t fully revived before—he had struggled.

But back then, he was merely an Expert, not yet a Master.

Even if the Bone Dragon he now faced was not only intact but enhanced by dark magic,

Evan felt not even the slightest threat from the dragon.

‘…Can I finish this within a day?’

He didn’t want to spend too much time on the Hatan subjugation.

After all, the elven delegation would soon arrive in Yuris.

When the elves came, he needed to see the World Tree. With his memories now fully recovered,

Evan slightly furrowed his brow at the sense of dissonance those memories evoked.

Whoosh! White flames blossomed. The dark mages’ attention focused on the flames burning like flowers,

and the Bone Dragon, feeling instinctive fear, spread its wings toward the sky.

The mana that constricted the space so intensely that even fellow Masters felt their bodies tingle,

and the pressure that grew as his green eyes turned golden was powerful enough to make the standing dark mages faint.

Crack! The ground beneath Evan’s feet began to shatter.

With the momentum gained in an instant, Evan leaped toward the sky and pierced through the Bone Dragon’s chest,

causing a burst of light from its core that enveloped the world.

Eventually, Evan opened his eyes as he fell among the swarm of ghouls gathered like a pack.

Before him was a horde of ghouls, and surrounding him on all sides were the Annihilation forces with their ominous purple eyes.

Boom! A moment of silence fell as the Bone Dragon’s corpse hit the ground.

Faced with the reality that the Bone Dragon, which had dominated the sky and pressured the imperial army, had fallen so easily,

some dark mages believed what they were seeing must be an illusion.

With each step Evan took, dozens of ghouls dissolved into light and disappeared.

Even magic melted away in the white flames sweeping the area, completely nullifying it.

How could the appearance of just one knight—just one man—change everything?

They had been winning. Although the imperial army’s momentum was formidable, the Annihilation forces had the advantage in numbers and would eventually prevail.

How different things had been just after the Bone Dragon appeared.

They had believed they could corner and eliminate the two Masters, but the reality they now witnessed was far removed from that belief.

A golden wave surged forward. Like a tide, it engulfed the ghouls,

and with each stroke of the sword that turned the Bone Dragon’s corpse to dust, dark mages were knocked down.

Such overwhelming power that made their numerical advantage completely irrelevant—it was enough to make the face of Hatan’s head, watching from the top of the tower, turn completely pale.

#

“Miss, what are you doing?”

“Preparing.”

Airine answered Rofena’s question briefly.

Winter had now fully deepened, and the forest where the World Tree stood had become completely covered in winter’s embrace, turning desolate.

Where would the elves living in the forest go? They would eventually flow into human territories,

and when that happened, conflict would surely arise.

The most effective way to prevent conflict was probably to make contact with them first.

“Soon, an elven delegation will come here. You should prepare too.”

“Won’t it be dangerous? They’re still a different race.”

“It’s fine. Elves don’t harm life.”

Elves do not harm life.

Even if it’s just a single blade of grass, elves never treat it as trivial.

They consider even a single ant worthy of living its life, and at the same time, they regard all life as precious.

That’s why elves could maintain friendly relations with humans,

and unlike many other races that were subjugated by humans, they have maintained their lineage for thousands of years.

And originally, this delegation was only coming to discuss where to hold negotiations,

not bringing many people here.

At most, perhaps one or two elves coming on behalf of the World Tree.

Even without Evan, she could meet with them,

so Airine decided to immerse herself in work to wash away her anxious feelings.

“There’s no need to prepare food. Elves only need the forest’s energy. While staying here during winter, they might lack energy… but around Seiren should be fine.”

Seiren was a place imbued with magic planted by a dragon long ago.

Since elves occasionally consumed magic instead of forest energy,

staying there during winter would be fine. A significant portion of Yuris’s forces had left to help the Crown Prince.

With 1,000 elite knights—not just regular soldiers—gone, some were concerned about the elven delegation’s arrival, but

Airine decided to welcome the elves.

She had also successfully negotiated with the Duke, so anyone opposing this would have to speak with her father first.

Airine chuckled at the thought that had escaped her and took a sip of warm water.

Her conversation with the Duke had given her a somewhat different feeling.

It had been quite some time since she had faced the man she once feared and resented, alone.

The father she met again after several years was merely diminished, almost pathetically withdrawn.

He watched her reactions and apologized with his head bowed. The memories that remained as scars in one corner of her heart,

and memories that were gradually disappearing, becoming difficult to recall.

Having heard apologies until her ears were worn out, Airine harbored quite ambivalent feelings toward the Duke.

It had been five years since her father’s hand had last reached out to her.

Since meeting Evan, her father had not said anything to her even once,

so wasn’t that enough time for even those feelings of resentment to fade?

-I’m sorry.

The sight of her father, who never bowed his head to others, not even to the Emperor, bowing and apologizing to her—

it came as quite a shocking impact to Airine.

A chilling sensation rose from her spine, making her shoulders twitch, enough to make her doubt her eyes and consider the situation an illusion.

“Father.”

While she referred to the Duke as “father” when speaking to others,

she had rarely addressed her father directly as such since childhood.

The last time was when she spoke to her father about Evan.

Recalling the expression the Duke had worn then, Airine smiled slightly as her gaze swept across the empty space.

Even Rofena had left, leaving a strange silence in the empty room.

That single word made his face break into a grin—he was completely different from the father who had tormented her so much in her childhood.

Now Airine knew too. That not all of what she experienced as a child was entirely her father’s fault.

She couldn’t keep resenting him forever. One day, she would break free from past memories and reconcile with her father…

“Will that day ever come?”

Perhaps it never would in her lifetime.

Her mother’s death still brought piercing emotions to her heart even after ten years.

She had blamed her father, saying it was his fault, and accused him of being an incompetent father who took no responsibility.

If she had been destined to remain alone for life, she would not have shown even a hint of compassion for her father.

But what came to mind was her father’s death she had seen in a dream.

Her father dying alone and desolately in a room where not a single ray of light entered.

Airine felt a small compassion for that image. And she questioned herself.

Was this the ending she wanted? To resent him forever and wish for him to die miserably?

…That wouldn’t be a pleasant sight for a child either. Airine stroked her swollen belly and tilted her head back.

Her belly had grown enough to be visibly rounded now.

The two children inside would probably wonder how to treat their grandfather later.

A grandfather who didn’t get along well with their mother, and a father caught awkwardly in between…

Perhaps it was because she was pregnant. Airine felt she was becoming somewhat more emotional, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Isn’t it about time to forgive him? To resolve the years of resentment,

and to call the man she had called “Duke” as “father”?

Airine carefully picked up a frame that had been lying face down in a corner of the table and slowly wiped off the dust.

The picture contained a little girl and a couple.

When she completely wiped away the dust that was especially thick on the man’s side, the familiar face of her father was revealed.

With far fewer wrinkles than when she had last seen him, and quite a robust appearance, she found herself thinking the taste was somewhat bitter.

Airine turned her gaze away and looked at the woman standing next to him.

The woman with the same snow-white hair as herself, flowing long, and blue eyes, was smiling gently.

A smile quite similar to the one she made when looking at Evan, a resemblance that was inevitable.

“…Mom.”

The picture couldn’t perfectly capture the image she remembered.

The warmth of always offering her knee while drinking Darjeeling at the table, the trivial moments of sitting on her lap while complaining that daddy was strange.

What emotions did her mother feel when she gave birth to her? Though it was a distant feeling,

Airine now thought she might understand a little of that emotion as she quietly rested her chin on her hand and stared blankly at the picture.

“I guess I’m about to become a mother too. I’m getting… emotional for no reason.”

It would have been a frame she couldn’t bear to look at before.

For fear of becoming depressed by recalling memories of someone she had forgotten, someone she missed.

But the sentiment she felt now was surprisingly indifferent.

If she had to put this feeling into words, it was just a slight warmth in her heart.

Airine quietly smiled.

The tiny girl in the picture was now becoming a mother of two children—how much would her mother laugh if she heard this?

It would be nice if she were here beside her, laughing heartily.

But the person who would laugh was no longer by her side.

The one by her side now was Evan, and the person who remained was her father.

“…I don’t know what to say.”

Always, her childhood self would say anything to her mother.

So talkative that she would be scolded—if Evan heard such stories, he wouldn’t believe it, but

she was quite a bright and talkative child when she was young.

Sitting on her mother’s lap, munching cookies, doodling on documents on one side,

wandering around the Duke’s mansion and bothering the maids.

Whether with pure intentions or because she didn’t like a particular maid.

Like in the old days, Airine covered her face with both hands and sighed.

How could she be like she was in the old days? Too much time had passed,

and she… was too different from the Airine her mother remembered.

The talkative child from before no longer existed.

She preferred to be a little cold, and somewhat dark places suited her better.

The child who used to wear only bright and colorful dresses now preferred black and blue dresses.

The child who complained about being short had now grown tall enough to be of age to carry new life.

“You’re not saying anything.”

What could the woman in the picture say to her?

She knew this, but the emotion that suddenly welled up made Airine’s lips twist.

The mother in the picture was quite different from the last image she remembered.

Her skin wasn’t pale, there were no arms that were thin to the point of being bony, and no hair that had lost its luster and become dry.

She wished she could at least hear hallucinations,

but in the room where no sound could be heard, Airine hugged her knees and stared at the picture.

“…I have a lover. You probably don’t know him. He came after you died.”

“He’s handsome. Honestly, even I think he’s a bit dangerous. I always warn him, but Evan doesn’t seem to realize how handsome he is. It’s not like he smiles at other women… I guess I’m just jealous.”

Sometimes twisting her hair, Airine’s cheeks turned slightly red as she talked about Evan.

“The confession… Evan did it first. I was going to do it first, but Rofena said that if a woman confesses first, men tend to get bored easily. You know Rofena, right? The girl I brought in—she’s almost an adult now too.”

A ring sparkled on her outstretched finger. Airine brought the ring with its still-sparkling green emerald toward the picture and spoke.

“It’s a ring Evan gave me. Maybe… an engagement ring? We haven’t talked about marriage yet, but I think he’ll properly propose later. Next time, I want to try it myself. I’m also looking for a necklace. The first birthday gift I received from Evan was a necklace, and nothing else has been as memorable.”

“Too much time has passed.”

Airine said those words and smiled bitterly at the same time.

Too much had passed. Even if her mother were to return, too many things had changed beyond the point of no return.

She couldn’t restore the relationship between herself and her father as it was before, nor could she turn back time to before she met Evan.

Sometimes she imagined her mother coming back to life, but it was just imagination after all.

Nothing changed. Her mother’s death wasn’t anyone’s fault to blame,

and now it was time to accept that fact, Airine thought.

“…I’m scared. I feel like we’ve reached the end, but I’m afraid everything will fall apart at that end.”

The Annihilation organization had always been a threat.

No matter how much they were trampled, they would revive and threaten the Empire again.

If Evan failed this time, the end would surely be the downfall of the Empire.

She had been trying to appear calm and unaffected, but in truth, she was afraid.

“Will everything end well?”

The picture offered no answer. It just kept looking at Airine with an unchanging,

painted smile. But even that was comforting, so Airine quietly closed the frame and looked at its back.

With her eyes stinging, she wiped away the tears that had slightly flowed and closed her eyes tightly.

If this frame continued to show the picture, she would probably be immersed in sentiment every time she looked at it.

Now was not the time to be lost in such sentiments.

Wasn’t it strange? She had only been talking to the air, but it felt exactly like having a conversation with her mother.

After looking out the window for a moment, Airine slowly rose from her seat.

The snow piled high outside the window, and above it, a green flag was visible.

That flag, announcing the herald of the World Tree, clearly indicated the delegation she would have to meet today.

As she was about to leave the room, she paused and stared at the covered frame.

Winter, the tenth winter since her mother ascended to heaven.

Recalling the last words her mother had spoken, Airine quietly began to murmur while looking beyond the window.

“…I hope it’s a little warmer there.”

This winter was too cold to recall her mother again.

Airine’s eyes, looking at the snow piled on the trees, snow that might have been piled up on this day 10 years ago, contained a little warmth unlike before.

When everything was over and spring came, perhaps then she could look at the frame with a more relieved heart.

Hope carries wishes forward.

Hoping that someday, those feelings would return with the warm breeze blowing from the south.

Airine moved her steps to meet the delegation.