Ch.171The Stairway Cliff. Maximus Canyon (6)

“Trees grow on cliffs too?”

I muttered as I gazed at the bizarre trees sprouting from the cliff, growing at a 90-degree angle.

Well, I’d read about extraordinary things in newspapers like trees sprouting in gums or seeds germinating in lungs, so I intellectually understood that plants have remarkable adaptability. Still, I couldn’t describe these trees as anything but strange—growing from completely vertical cliff faces, bent at 90 degrees like chairs.

“How do those trees manage to grow like that?”

As I mumbled this question inside the airship floating between cliffs, someone approached and began explaining.

“Actually, even though the cliff appears completely vertical, there are irregularities here and there. Seeds or pine cones carried by the wind fall onto protruding areas… and they grow like that by absorbing soil that naturally erodes and falls, along with occasional rainfall.”

“Hmm. So it’s all about luck, in a word.”

“Luck indeed. But isn’t it something special to see trees growing on cliffs like this? Some people believe these trees have spiritual power and brew tea from their leaves.”

“Spiritual power… Druids would love that.”

I’d never actually seen a druid, but I’d heard they lived in forests and practiced magic using bones and entrails.

For such people, trees like these would certainly be nothing short of treasure.

“By the way, who are you?”

“I’m a guide. These cliffs have many strange features that ordinary people could never understand. My role is to explain such things.”

“I see…”

Deciding he was basically a downgraded version of Simon, I lost interest in him.

When I gestured that I needed to go, he gave a slight bow and approached other people.

“Trees…”

In truth, trees weren’t particularly familiar entities to me.

The same goes for firewood. In Parsifal, we mainly used coal briquettes or oil for heating, and if there was wood, it was used for building or repairing ships or houses. The only trees I ever saw were already in someone’s possession or were planks and boards destined to be.

Besides, I hadn’t really seen many wooden ships either.

Since Parsifal was located at the extreme west of the Faerun continent, most vessels were those traveling between continents. Such ships were typically made of metal rather than wood to maximize survival chances and efficiency for intercontinental voyages.

Still, for some unknown reason, when anyone, including myself, thinks of a “ship,” we naturally picture an old-fashioned wooden sailing vessel.

Yes, that sailboat thing.

As I was swimming in the sea of consciousness that had taken me from trees to ships, I began to hear the servants’ bells announcing that lunch was ready.

*

“Between the Crusis Mountains and Maximus Canyon, which do you think has the better scenery?”

“Hmm. That’s quite a difficult question.”

Lunch was buffet-style.

I asked Simon while ladling mushroom soup into my bowl, and he replied while placing smoked salmon atop noodles covered in steam, dipping the salmon into anchovy broth with his chopsticks.

We soon sat down, and I began moistening my lips with soup.

My wife was still bedridden with a slipped disc, so I had to spend the entire morning alone.

“Honestly, I prefer Maximus Canyon.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Because you can see it up close. No matter how beautiful the scenery, it’s meaningless if you can’t see it directly. The view from the top of the Crusis Mountains was picturesque but hazy.”

I roughly understood what he meant.

Even the finest beads must be strung to become treasure. No matter how beautiful the scenery, you need to experience it to truly appreciate it.

“I prefer the Crusis Mountains.”

“Why’s that?”

“Simple. I enjoy looking down from high places.”

“Enjoying looking down… That’s a knightly statement.”

“I’ve been that way since childhood. When I look down from a high place… how should I put it? I feel a sense of conquest.”

“Conquest?”

Simon smiled faintly as he slurped his noodles.

“From construction sites of tall buildings, I could look down at the city. At those times, I felt like I was the master of countless people.”

“Ha. That’s why tall buildings are constructed and spires reach higher. If you felt that way, you fell right into the designers’ intentions.”

“Perhaps. But it still felt good.”

For someone like me who had struggled at the bottom all my life, high places were always objects of envy.

What did it matter if things below appeared hazy? Those insignificant creatures down there couldn’t even look up at me.

Thinking this, I watched the elf sisters in the distance breathing fire from their mouths.

How much alcohol must those damned women have consumed to reach the point of breathing fire? If one were to examine their livers, they’d probably be half fat and half inflammation.

“Elves have it good.”

“Why?”

“From atop the World Tree, they can look down on everything, can’t they?”

“Ha. An interesting thought.”

I’ve never actually seen the World Tree in person. Only in pictures or photographs.

I just know it’s an absurdly thick and tall tree.

“Have you seen the World Tree?”

“Just once. I had an opportunity to enter the elves’ Great Forest.”

“How big was it?”

“Hmm… how should I explain this… Would you understand if I said the Great Forest would be 10 times larger without the World Tree?”

“Hmm… roughly.”

Just how enormous is it?

I’ve never seen either the World Tree or the Great Forest, so I don’t fully grasp how significant it is that a single World Tree consumes 10% of the nutrients of not just any forest but the “Great” Forest. But clearly, it must be incredibly impressive.

Despite awakening my aura, becoming a knight who serves the Sun’s Message, and reaching Gold rank—the highest power among mortals—the world remained vast, and I remained small.

And I… didn’t particularly like that.

“Simon.”

“Yes?”

“I mentioned before… that I didn’t think I could govern a city or country.”

“…Has your mind changed?”

“Perhaps a little. What do you think it would be like if I became king?”

“…”

Simon chewed on his smoked salmon for a long while, thinking.

It wasn’t clear whether he couldn’t imagine me as a king or couldn’t imagine me becoming one.

“At least you wouldn’t be a tyrant in the shadows.”

“Not a shadow tyrant… that’s a good way to put it.”

A shadow tyrant and a violent tyrant aren’t the same thing.

And since violence was so familiar to me, I might become a violent tyrant but never a shadow tyrant.

“If I became king, what would you do, Simon?”

“Well. What would you want me to do?”

“Chancellor.”

“Chancellor of a nation!”

Simon laughed heartily at my words.

“Hehehe… You shouldn’t say such things carelessly to a wizard. Do you know what wizards crave most?”

“What?”

“Status. Whether tower master or advisor… all wizards dream of attaching themselves to those in power. They’d bow down and accept even the ambiguous position of court wizard, and you’re offering the chancellorship!”

Simon guffawed as he downed his drink.

Apparently, my proposal wasn’t so bad.

“With the money I already have, building a small castle in uncharted territory would be nothing. If money is short, I can always earn more. I’m young and capable.”

“Hahahaha… Whew. True enough. Building a castle or palace isn’t as difficult as people think. Maintaining it is the real challenge.”

Simon rinsed his mouth with the now-cold broth.

“So, after your pilgrimage, you’ll become a lord?”

“I suppose I must. I’m a man with ambitions too. I won’t be satisfied unless I acquire at least a small village. A knight should rightfully have a fief. I don’t want my son or daughter to survive by collecting waste paper.”

“Hmm… Yes… You’ve earned the right to say that.”

Having grown up poor, I had trauma about saving money.

It’s hard to earn money but easy to spend it—isn’t that unfair?

So I wanted to make earning money easier.

If I could collect taxes, I could literally earn money while eating and playing!

“And when that time comes, I can also bring Raisha’s mother from Faerus Vale to live with us. Being the lady of a lord’s manor would be better than living as a city dweller.”

“If you put it that way, I have nothing more to say. If you wish to become a lord or ruler, I’ll gladly serve as your advisor. Provided I’m still alive by then, of course.”

“Indeed. Finding an elixir seems more urgent than securing land.”

Simon and I laughed as we raised our glasses to each other.

In this Iron Worker party dominated by women, the only two men confirmed their camaraderie beneath balloons filled with helium and hydrogen.