Ch.175Chapter 175

As the atmosphere around Messina grew tense, the elves’ attention focused on her.

Messina was a woman with a strong gentle side, though she could be tiresome due to her strict adherence to principles.

What could have made such a woman crush her helmet in uncontrollable anger?

An elf cautiously approached Messina and asked.

“Um, are you alright? What did the King of Manheimr say… Ah, no. I’m sorry.”

The questioning elf lowered his eyes in terror after meeting Messina’s gaze. Her narrowed eyes were as deadly as a venomous snake.

She tried to calm herself while flattening the dented part of her helmet with her strength.

Meanwhile, Dario Kaffustin carefully approached Wendigo and asked.

“What on earth happened down there to cause this?”

“I could tell you, but…”

Flinch.

Wendigo trailed off, pointing behind Dario. He wasn’t the only one curious about why Messina had reacted so violently.

Elves who had been tiptoeing like cats hunting mice pretended to discuss nonexistent lovers when Dario looked at them.

However, Dario, skilled in social maneuvering, immediately understood why the elves had approached and waved them away.

“I understand your curiosity, but let’s separate public and private matters. Seeing Priestess Messina’s anger, this seems like no ordinary issue.”

“Ahem, that’s not it. I was just talking about my lover and got distracted.”

“……”

Should he mention that the elf had referred to their lover as male?

Normally, Dario would have immediately made a sarcastic remark, but the timing wasn’t right. He didn’t want to look foolish in front of Elhemina.

Though knowing it was a flaw in himself, he had no intention of fixing it, which made it even worse…

“Excuse me…”

“Yes?”

Just as Dario was about to turn away, he reflexively turned his head at the lovely voice from behind.

Elhemina, watching the retreating elves, blushed and asked Dario.

“Could I… listen too?”

Her gesture of holding up a finger as if asking for just one exception was quite lovely. Being an elf who would be called beautiful anywhere, her prettiness went without saying.

Thumping his awkwardly pounding heart, Dario answered while acting like a dignified handsome man.

“Of course you have the right to listen, Elhemina. You’re a priestess too. Don’t worry and come along…!?”

People tend to make mistakes when not acting naturally.

Dario bit his tongue and covered his mouth, silently screaming.

Elhemina panicked when she saw Dario in pain…

“Tsk, tsk. Trying to look cool in front of someone you’re infatuated with.”

Wendigo clicked his tongue, looking at Dario with disdain. He thought the war had made Dario more mature, but apparently, people don’t change easily.

Fortunately, watching their banter had calmed Messina’s anger somewhat.

After crudely repairing her helmet and placing it on a table, Messina looked at Elhemina with a warm expression.

She defended Dario for the sake of her beloved sister.

“Still, it’s nice to see he seems to genuinely love Elhemina. Both of you, come over here.”

“Yes, just a moment!”

When Messina called, Elhemina quickly took medicine from her pocket and applied it to Dario’s tongue.

Dario felt the pain in his tongue subside with the peculiar sweetness of honey mixed with herbs.

The two hurried to Wendigo’s side without time for embarrassment. Wendigo flicked Dario’s forehead.

Flick!

A surprisingly clear and crisp sound rang out.

“Don’t ask why I hit you. I was embarrassed because of you.”

“Yes, sir!”

Perhaps the saying that love makes people stupid was true, as Dario didn’t seem to mind the flick much.

Wendigo considered giving him another flick but gave up. He had managed to hit lightly earlier because Dario had been running toward him, but it was troublesome to control his strength.

“What I saw underground were dwarves. Those dwarves…”

Wendigo explained objectively what he had seen. If he had included his personal views, he might have described the dwarves as addicts enjoying tree roots like drugs.

Honestly, considering how crazed they became after eating the roots, that description wouldn’t be far off…

‘Still, it’s problematic to take sides as a third party.’

Even without such characterization, the story was enough to enrage the elves. Messina, who had heard it once already, frowned upon hearing it again.

Surprisingly, Elhemina controlled her anger more easily. She merely showed discomfort without emanating killing intent like Messina.

Impressed by this, Wendigo praised Elhemina.

“You’re more composed than I expected.”

“Well, I’ve made similar mistakes myself, so…”

Glance.

Elhemina gave an awkward smile as she glanced at Wendigo. She recalled their first meeting and broke into a cold sweat.

She remembered nearly being killed by Wendigo when she had carelessly spoken without considering their different nationalities.

Would those underground dwarves really have done such a thing if they knew about elves and the World Tree?

Thinking about it that way, her anger wasn’t uncontrollable.

“Still, it wouldn’t be good to tell others about this.”

“They might gather all available armed men and dig up the ground…”

The two elf priestesses whispered while looking at their people. Wendigo wondered if that was possible, but upon reflection, it didn’t seem impossible.

With several hundred military-trained elves, they could probably open a path to the underground, though it would take time.

“I’d rather not have two races start a war on my land. I’d like to resolve this peacefully if possible.”

“I feel the same way.”

“?”

When the World Tree’s voice was heard, Wendigo naturally turned toward the chair where she was resting.

The World Tree was receiving care from the elves with an expressionless face…

“Do you actually enjoy being waited on?”

Seeing her receiving a massage with oils and being fanned, Wendigo suspected she might be enjoying it.

However, the World Tree answered firmly without changing her expression.

“As long as they don’t harm me, I have no reason to stop—”

“I see. Let’s get back to the main topic then.”

“……”

When Wendigo quickly agreed and changed the subject, the World Tree stared at him blankly. Something unknown kept stirring in her heart.

The World Tree didn’t recognize that emotion as anger.

“Ah, World Tree, your massage is still—”

“I cannot allow it as I have matters to attend to. Withdraw now.”

Perhaps she knew but couldn’t admit it.

The World Tree dismissed the elves in an even drier voice than usual and approached Wendigo.

With a slight gesture from her, trees grew around them forming walls, completely isolating them from the outside so no sound could be heard.

Finally, after creating suitable seats for everyone, the World Tree sat down and spoke.

“No one outside can hear our conversation, so let’s discuss solutions candidly.”

“Where’s my seat?”

Wendigo asked the World Tree curiously when he found no seat matching his size. The World Tree answered without even looking at him.

“I didn’t make one because your size makes it inefficient.”

Wendigo nodded with a hollow laugh at the World Tree’s petty revenge. Though she usually acted emotionless, perhaps she wasn’t entirely without feelings.

“First… according to what Your Majesty said, the dwarves don’t seem to have touched the World Tree with hostile intentions.”

Dario, the least involved person here, opened the discussion. In his view, this was nothing more than a common mistake.

Like hunters crossing into neighboring territory while pursuing prey—a frequent occurrence.

After all, if they had known about the World Tree’s existence, wouldn’t they have fled in fear rather than touching it?

Unlike Dario, however, the elves found it difficult to consider such points.

Especially elves like Elhemina and Messina, whose mission was to serve the World Tree.

With her smile gone, Messina continued Dario’s words with a cold expression.

“But this isn’t something we can overlook. The fact that they tore out and consumed the World Tree’s roots means they might do it again. No, they definitely will.”

The elf priestesses knew the value of the World Tree better than anyone.

The power of priestesses in Elvenheim was strong precisely because they monopolized the various resources obtainable from the World Tree—how could they deny its value?

Though it might have been a mistake initially, it seemed only a matter of time before the dwarves would deliberately uproot the World Tree!

“I won’t deny that this is a situation where elves would be angry. But there’s a more immediate problem we need to solve.”

“What problem do you mean?”

Wendigo pointed downward as he spoke.

“They live deep underground. Do we have a way to communicate with them?”

Wendigo did have a method. He could send down another rat, possess it, and attempt communication.

However, he had no intention of going to such trouble for a conflict between elves and dwarves.

Though they lived on this land, the elves’ loyalty was still directed toward their homeland—why should he help them?

Messina and Elhemina knew this and fell into contemplation, unable to answer readily…

“I will solve that.”

“World Tree!”

The World Tree, who usually refrained from direct action, raised her hand and promised to help. Elhemina and Messina looked at her with bright faces at this unusual move.

However, the World Tree’s intention wasn’t to support the elves as they thought.

“But swear that you will negotiate peacefully with the dwarves.”

The World Tree stared at Messina, demanding an answer.

Messina, who had wanted to take a hard line against the dwarves, couldn’t answer easily, but her resistance didn’t last long.

After all, her anger was for the World Tree’s sake, and if the World Tree didn’t want that anger, it was nothing but meaningless fire.

“I will follow the World Tree’s will.”

Messina finally suppressed her personal anger and bowed her head in submission to the World Tree’s wishes. Elhemina, whose anger had been minimal from the start, needed no convincing.

With the World Tree choosing a peaceful approach, the possible solutions were significantly reduced.

Wendigo suggested to the World Tree.

“This discussion will be pointless if the dwarves respond aggressively regardless of the elves’ intentions. Why not bring the dwarves here for a conversation?”

“That’s true. But for me to bring them, they must not resist.”

The World Tree planned to bring the dwarves up just as she had sent rats down. Thanks to their relatively smaller size compared to elves or humans, it wouldn’t be impossible to bring them.

The question was whether the dwarves could endure the process…

“Don’t worry about that. I have a good solution.”

Wendigo assured her confidently, as if such a problem were trivial.

* * *

The dwarves, unable to act due to Quick’s warning, were going half-mad at the reality of not being able to touch the tree right in front of them.

One dwarf, forgetting his dignity, grabbed Trom’s leg and pleaded.

“Elder, they might not be as formidable as we think. What if we just now…”

But Trom firmly shook his head. His instinct warned him that this situation was not ordinary.

“No, these are no ordinary rats. Why give cause to those who control such creatures? Be patient a little longer.”

“But…”

“Squeak squeak!”

“!”

The dwarves who had been grumbling to Trom quickly turned their heads at the familiar sound.

The rats reappeared from the tree they had been avoiding looking at for fear of giving in to temptation.

The rats began gnawing at the roots again to deliver a message.

[We want to meet you to determine whether what you did was a mistake or not. However, we plan to bring you up for this purpose.]

The dwarves frowned with displeasure at the first line.

The roots weren’t labeled with names—how could they have known the tree had an owner?

Of course it was a mistake, and being treated like thieves was quite offensive. A relatively large dwarf named Bolba spat and suggested to Trom.

“Let’s just tear out all the roots and run. How could these rats stop us?”

“Quiet. The other party hasn’t finished speaking yet.”

Trom calmly focused on the message the rats were gnawing out. The dwarves widened their eyes when they saw the completed message.

[We promise not to harm you if you are innocent, and if you quietly follow us upward, we will provide you with trees the size of your bodies immediately upon your arrival.]

Trom was dumbfounded by this extraordinary offer but tried to make a rational judgment while resisting temptation.

He had been lecturing others to resist temptation, and to make a decision based on such a small enticement would be—

“Elder, aren’t you coming up?”

“?”

Trom looked at the dwarves who had already climbed onto the roots with astonishment.

But the dwarves had already succumbed to temptation and were casually touching the roots. It was their first time seeing a living, moving tree.

“How fascinating. They say it’s the tree’s owner, so can they even adjust its size?”

“Hmmm… Ahh! My hands were trembling with desire to feel this scent again.”

“Squeak squeak!”

“Alright, I won’t chew it. I won’t…”

As the dwarves made carefree remarks, Trom frowned as if about to scold them.

However…

“Oh, Elder! Hurry up and climb on! Are you planning to stay behind alone?”

When one dwarf urged him impatiently, Trom wondered what the point of resistance was.

If he had enough patience to resist this temptation, wouldn’t he have succeeded in life long ago in his youth?

“You rascals… Fine! I’m coming!”

Consoling himself that he had resisted as much as he could, Trom gave in to desire and pretended reluctance as he ran to join them.

Desire was not easily mastered with age.