Ch.214The NPC Approaching the Truth (2)

“Are you the Spirit Tree that the elves worship as a god?”

“Yes, human guardian of the mountain. I am the Spirit Tree.”

I thought the sun-like, fiery orange eyes, seemingly filled with anger, might burn me with just a glance after hearing my answer.

“I have a question. Do you know anything about the Seven Deadly Sins or the Main God?”

“The Main God planted me for the spirits. However, I have never seen him, and even after gaining consciousness, I have never met any of the Seven Deadly Sins.”

I thought the clear night sky-like purple eyes might crush me down to my roots.

“Why do you pretend to be a god?”

“I have never claimed to be a god. I merely oversee the birth of spirits and do what is necessary to protect this forest. In the process, the elves gave meaning to my actions, settled in this forest, and worshipped me as a god.”

“Why didn’t you correct them and speak with them?”

“Although it wasn’t what I wanted, I had no reason to reject the small amount of faith that gave me this consciousness to converse like this.”

They were humans, unrelated to this forest or the spirits.

The gray male human was destined to guard the mountain, and the red-haired female was bound to the cycle of serving gods. They had no reason to meet me or “interrogate” me like this.

“I’ll ask one last question.”

“Do you know of any way to find the gods, or how to reach where they are?”

“…As far as I know, there is a race that considers itself closest to the gods. Surely, they are the descendants of spirits and beast-folk who call themselves celestials.”

“Why are they considered closest to the gods?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps they received such a revelation, or they came to believe so because of how they lived. I can only speculate.”

What they claimed would be their final question was no longer final once they heard an answer resembling what they wanted. I answered all their questions. After I explained to them my speculation about how to reach the celestial realm…

“Good. Your words better be true.”

“If even one thing is a lie, I will crush each of your branches with this hammer. In the end, I’ll return every last root to the soil.”

“…Let me just say, these are merely speculations based on stories brought to me by other spirits during my long life. I haven’t lied, but it would be troublesome for me if you put too much trust in them…”

A hammer as large as its wielder, and a red-haired human female emanating demonic magical energy. Beside her, a human male who had beaten the “Sloth of the Seven Deadly Sins” to death with his fists right before me. I now remember that what I added to their words and actions was my first excuse.

“Don’t worry. We don’t particularly have any grudge against you.”

“We’re just disgusted by those so-called ‘gods’ and demons who took our precious ones. So, after we leave, make sure you properly explain to the elves that you’re not a god.”

“…I may be clinging to one aspect of faith, but it has taken root deeply. As soon as I establish enough strength to maintain reason and conversation, I will do so.”

“Is that a promise?”

For the first time, the female smiled happily as she spoke to me. However, the movement of her hammer that accompanied her smile was not amusing at all. There was nothing funny about hammer strikes that brought colder gusts than the north wind with each swing.

If I had a human body, I think I would have nodded vigorously in response, even now I think…

“STOOOP!!!”

“Hmm, what’s wrong?”

“…Um, do you remember the names of that mountain-guarding human and the red-haired female with the hammer…?”

“I don’t know. They killed the Sloth of the Seven Deadly Sins who suddenly came to use his power on me, and then immediately began interrogating me as if they were about to cut me down too. There was no leisure or time to hear their names.”

“What about the Spirit King? Didn’t he come back to protect you…?”

“I told him not to come. I thought that if he came, we would both die.”

“Then after that…”

“Years after that day of crisis, I heard from stories brought by other spirits. I learned that the ‘celestial realm’ had crumbled and fallen into a vast lake, called the sea, far beyond the sight of this forest. I can only speculate…”

Holy shit!! My ancestors turned black!!

The mountain guardian of Ponia. My ancestor Jack, who looked exactly like me and had the same name. And the hammer warrior who looked exactly like his wife Ira, who had died and come back with demonic energy, no, just a hammer warrior with demonic energy.

No matter how I think about it, these two people went up to the continent, no, all the way to the sky to cause havoc for revenge for Luxuria! What the hell?! Could it be that because I received the trial…!!

“I don’t know the circumstances, but it seems you met them during your trial.”

“Ugh… I met them briefly before they came to coop… interrogate you.”

“Yes, but you should know that the trial and the events of that day are unrelated.”

“…What?”

“I mean that such events didn’t occur because your ancestors met you.”

The Spirit Tree explained it like this. The power of Naiad’s trial was one of the abilities she possessed through faith. Before giving up all her faith, she divided that power among four highest-level spirits. And just because someone went back to the past through the trial doesn’t mean the past changed. It’s just that our small history was slightly inserted into events that were already going to happen.

“For instance, even if you went to the past and killed someone’s ancestor, those who already exist wouldn’t disappear. It’s just that a strange, incomprehensible history would be fitted in despite the absence of such history. For example, even if you killed your own ancestor, your lower generations of ancestors wouldn’t disappear. If you killed your twenty-year-old ancestor, history would change so that ancestor had the next ancestor at nineteen, and if you killed your one-year-old ancestor, another being would fill that place instead.”

“…Isn’t that strange? Then, if I were to exterminate all humans on the continent in the past…”

“Then the humans who escaped your hand would remain in history as the progenitor who gave birth to all humans of the next generation.”

“No, if I really killed every single one without exception…?”

“…You’re surprisingly persistent. In that case, another life form would conceive humans, and that would become the progenitor, that’s all.”

History that has already happened, time that has already flowed. Even if you try to twist the cycle, you absolutely cannot twist it. That’s what the Spirit Tree said.

No, then what about time paradoxes? As I started to hold my head in pain, the Spirit Tree, despite having no neck, cleared its throat and continued.

“So, is that the end of your questions? Or do you want to know where the celestial realm fell?”

“…What would I do there? It’s not like I’m going to apologize for my ancestors destroying everything.”

“Indeed, even if you went to apologize, the beast-folk who survived there would only be confused.”

“…Wait, they survived?”

“I told you, didn’t I? The present doesn’t change just because the past changes. Just because the celestial realm of the past collapsed doesn’t mean that race was exterminated.”

So, Rey’s ancestors survived our ancestors’ rampage and left behind Rey.

I should visit Rey’s parents sometime. I had only been thinking about beating up Rey’s parents from the game, but maybe the real Rey is living on the continent with his real family or past from that land, unlike in the game.

…Thinking about it now, I was really stupid. I often told them about myself, but I rarely listened to or asked about Rey and Ragni’s stories. I thought what I knew from the game was everything.

Somehow, it made me feel guilty that Miho was the one I shared the most stories with, and I resolved to tell my past life story to those two before Miho and Chikuyo next time we meet. And then.

“…Sigh. Damn, where am I supposed to run to now?”

“You, do you not think about breaking the cycle?”

“…Right. There was that too. What exactly does breaking the cycle mean? Destruction and regeneration? Was it about breaking that chain?”

As I muttered to myself about having nowhere to escape to on this continent, the Spirit Tree began to speak.

“Yes, I know that you too were originally a human who guarded the mountain.”

“…Is that also information from your spirit network?”

“That’s part of it, but I too am a being who can ‘see’ like you.”

“…You mean visions.”

“Yes.”

“But if you can see that… can you also see my, um, stats? Class? Things like that?”

“Yes, it says ‘Oppa’.”

“…Oh.”

It seems it really can see. Perhaps because it’s truly on a divine level, or at least has one branch there, the Spirit Tree continued speaking after mentioning my status, class, and even the classes of Miho and Chikuyo behind me.

“Originally, in this world’s cycle, there is no way to escape one’s place.”

“…No, my ancestors escaped…”

“No. He didn’t escape. His ‘priority of purpose’ changed, but because he still identified himself as a guardian of the mountain, he was still a ‘mountain guardian’ when he returned to this Siltra Forest.”

“Wait. If just identifying oneself as something else is enough to escape, then anyone could…”

“No, it’s not that simple. Simply put, haven’t you seen beings who have already escaped their place?”

“…Who are you talking about…”

“As far as I know, two people near you have escaped their places. One is your blue-haired female.”

“…Ah.”

This spirit information network is truly miraculous. I was slightly surprised but understood the Spirit Tree’s words, which even knew about Ragni in my party. Despite becoming a “slave” from a princess, the text “Raid Boss” was never erased. Indeed, that’s someone whose position changed more drastically than mine but didn’t change. However, I have no idea who the other one is…

“The other is an adventurer who originally lived in Ponia but moved to Aigram because of you.”

“…Not Enj, but Uncle Devil…?”

“Yes, I believe that was his name.”

…Wait. At this point, it’s not just miraculous, it’s creepy. Are you a stalker?