Chapter 20

Chapter 20

I Installed a Dating App and Girls from Another World Became Obsessed with Me.

Episode 20: Underground Dungeon.

The ruins that appeared with the sudden earthquake resembled an ancient Greek temple.

Moreover, although it must have been left under the lake for quite a long time, the exterior was so clean that it could have been mistaken for a recently built structure.

Iris and I carefully stepped onto the stone platform and headed towards the ruins.

The ruins, upon arrival, were as well-preserved as they appeared from a distance, giving off an eerie atmosphere.

“The World Tree’s temple…”

Iris murmured in a small voice, looking at the ruins.

“World Tree?”

“Yes, I’ve only seen it in ancient murals, but from the architectural style to the golden tree symbolizing the World Tree engraved on the outer walls and pillars, it’s clear. This is a temple built thousands of years ago to serve the World Tree.”

Iris, stroking the outer wall of the temple and looking around, was, as expected, examining the surroundings with the eyes of a curious scholar.

‘Should I increase the output?’

Light, a basic spell learned by most wizards, simply illuminates the surroundings.

About the size of a small flashlight?

However, if you slightly adjusted the part of the magic circle that controlled the intensity of the light…

Flash-

You could brighten up the entire temple.

It wouldn’t last long, at most an hour? Except for the problem of low efficiency due to the modified magic circle, it was quite successful.

“Wow! Hyeon-u, that’s the modified magic I taught you last time!”

“It’s just the basics.”

After stroking Iris’s head, who was happy with her student’s growth, we carefully stepped into the temple.

Thanks to the enhanced Light magic, the inside of the temple was very bright.

‘Next time I come, I should bring a high-performance mana generator and some lights.’

We still had to live like humans until we escaped.

The inside of the temple was much more desolate than expected.

“Hyeon-u, there’s something over there.”

Iris’s fingertip pointed to a small altar and a gaunt tree.

Only a little dust was piled on the altar, and there were no offerings.

“Oh no…”

Iris’s worried voice was heard.

She was wiping away tears as she stroked the tree behind the altar.

Whether it was because she was an elf, or because Iris was too kind.

“It’s serious.”

The tree looked so lifeless that a tree in a forest fire would look healthier.

“If only I could summon a Dryad…”

While comforting the depressed Iris, I took a closer look at the tree.

It was slightly larger than the trees used for landscaping in apartments or parking lots. Other than that, there were no special features.

‘…Something’s strange.’

A sense of unease.

My instinct told me that the source of the unease that had been stabbing my whole body since I entered the temple was this tree.

However, even when I carefully poured mana into the tree, it showed no reaction.

‘Could it be.’

I turned my head with a hunch.

“Iris, can you try injecting mana into this tree?”

“Pardon? Mana…?”

“You never know? It’s a tree in the temple of the World Tree, the elf’s god. Maybe it’ll get healthier if it receives the elf queen’s mana?”

“Hmm…”

It was a vague guess, but it didn’t seem like there would be any problems.

Iris finished her short contemplation and placed her hand on the tree.

Her unique green mana shone, and the energy was transferred to the tree.

The tree seemed to shine for a moment, then became quiet as if nothing had happened.

‘…Wasn’t it this?’

Honestly, I thought this suddenly appeared temple might be the key to escape.

‘Should I offer something on the altar?’

Since it’s the World Tree, should I bring fertilizer or tree nutrients from Earth?

“Hyeo, Hyeon-u!”

“?”

When I turned my head at the urgent call, a change was happening to the gaunt tree.

The tree, which was clearly dying, was now full of life. No, overflowing with life, the tree was full of fresh shoots and shining gold.

It was truly the reincarnation of the golden tree.

“The effect is amazing.”

The change didn’t end there.

The tree, which had regained its vitality in an instant, spread its branches throughout the temple. The golden light, brighter than my Light magic’s light source, filled the inside of the temple.

The tree was at least three times larger than when I first saw it.

“Iris, you could get a job as a gardener.”

“Pardon? No, no! My mana doesn’t have the effect of growing trees!”

“Then what’s that?”

“I don’t know…?”

As the tree grew larger and larger, turning the inside of the temple into a botanical garden, I wondered if I had touched something wrong.

But then.

[My child.]

“?!”

“Eek?!”

Such concerns disappeared in an instant at the voice that seemed to directly hit my head without going through my eardrums.

I reflexively looked around, but only Iris and I were there.

“Could it be?”

“Wo, World Tree…??”

As if in response, the golden tree emitted light again.

[My child.]

“Ah, ah… mother…”

Iris, shedding large tears, approached the golden tree as if possessed.

I grabbed Iris.

“Hyeon-u…?”

“Wait.”

I drew mana from my circle.

If that tree was really the World Tree, there was something I had to ask.

“If you’re really the World Tree, there’s something I have to ask.”

Unfiltered anger rose up my throat, taking the form of words.

“Why did you lock her up? Why did you dethrone her? Is it your right to bring her down again since you appointed her?”

It had been a whole 200 years.

I would have to repeat my entire life ten times to reach 200 years.

Iris had spent 200 years alone in this dark, damp cave.

“Explain properly before I burn it down.”

Yet, Iris showed no resentment towards the World Tree.

Why?

Because that’s religion, and that’s the mindset of a believer towards the god they followed.

Of course, if Iris felt happiness meeting the World Tree, I’d be fine.

But I knew.

Knowing her personality, even if she had any complaints, she wouldn’t say a harsh word to the World Tree and keep it inside, so I had to step in.

How much had Iris wanted to ask why she was abandoned for the past 200 years?

[…]

“Are you, a god, trying to gloss over it by clinging to your believer’s heart without even apologizing?”

“Hyeon-u…!”

A huge fireball appeared on my palm.

“If you’re a real god, you should give as much sincerity, apology, and explanation as possible to the believer who had to endure alone in this shitty place for 200 years because of you.”

Or I’d burn every root and branch of this tree.

Iris was speechless at Kang Hyeon-u’s unfamiliar appearance.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand his feelings, but his words were too harsh for Iris, who had infinite affection for the god.

Yet, Iris didn’t resent or disappoint Kang Hyeon-u.

Even his fragments of intense anger were for her.

[My child.]

The World Tree broke the heavy silence and opened its mouth.

[Like he said, I have to apologize to you.]

“Mo, mother… you don’t have to say that…”

[Even if there were circumstances, the pain you received doesn’t disappear. I don’t have a way to make up for the 200 years of suffering you endured, but I swear I will repay you someday.]

The branches reached out to Iris like human arms and hugged her tightly.

[I’m sorry, and I love you.]

At those short words, Iris, hugged by the World Tree, quietly wiped away tears without saying a word.

In the holy land of the elven kingdom of Pelledia, the World Tree’s symbol was enshrined.

A symbol referred to a creature or object that had transformed into a symbol of the god itself, having been the object of believers’ faith for a very long time.

And the World Tree’s symbol was a giant tree that had lived for ten thousand years in the great forest enshrined in the holy land.

[200 years ago, I lost the connection path with the symbol.]

“Lost?”

[Unfortunately, I don’t know the details either. I’ve only wasted time for the past 200 years with the connection to the surface cut off.]

At the World Tree’s explanation, both Iris and I thought of the same thing.

“Does that mean… Iris’s dethronement wasn’t your doing?”

[Of course. There is no one more suitable for the throne than this child in present Pelledia. It must be the trick of those who tampered with the connection path between me and the symbol.]

‘…That’s a relief.’

I had half expected it since the World Tree spoke to us, but there’s a big difference between hearing it from the person themselves and not.

Iris could now be sure that she wasn’t abandoned by the god and mother she loved most.

“Heuk, heueuk…”

Seeing Iris quietly wiping away tears, my anger towards the culprits was piling up.

Revenge was Iris’s, but if she forgave them.

I would step in.

“By the way, is it even possible to cut off the connection between a god and a symbol…?”

Even though I knew the World Tree wasn’t involved in Iris’s dethronement and imprisonment, it didn’t seem right to keep using informal language.

Anyway, even breaking the cave’s barrier, which is maintained by the World Tree’s mana, required a holy relic.

How could a mere elf do something more than that to a god’s symbol?

Of course, this wasn’t a racist remark. Iris was also an elf.

But it seemed too big a scale for a mere prime minister to pull off.

[It’s true that it’s unprecedented, but I can’t say it’s impossible. Perhaps another god intervened.]

“Do you know who that god is?”

I should find them and kill them later.

I didn’t know if I could kill a god, but wouldn’t it be possible if I destroyed every god’s temple and killed their believers?

There was a reason why they said a forgotten god was a dead god.

[…Unfortunately, I don’t know at the moment.]

Was it my imagination that I felt resentment in the World Tree’s even voice?

[Since other children except the royal family can’t hear my voice, it was impossible to investigate the incident. Moreover, this cave is the only place in the great forest where my voice doesn’t reach the royal child.]

“Wait…? Then Resilia knew that and imprisoned Iris here?”

[It’s reasonable to assume so.]

I felt like I was starting to see the outline of the incident.

An elf who worshipped the World Tree as the only god joined hands with another god to usurp the throne, and even committed some kind of atrocity on the symbol of the race’s only god, cutting off the connection with the god.

And she knew the uniqueness of this cave, which even the royal Iris didn’t know?

‘…I wonder if the country of Pedelia will still exist when we get out?’

[You don’t have to worry about that.]

‘? You read my mind… oh, right.’

A god could do that much.

I quickly understood.

[Gods and believers are always connected. Prayers offered by believers to gods are bidirectional. Judging from the fact that the elves’ emotional state hasn’t changed much, the national affairs don’t seem to be in chaos.]

It was a blessing in disguise.

It would be embarrassing if it were a wasteland when we got out.

[My child, I’m sorry for being late.]

“No… it wasn’t what you wanted either, mother. I’m so happy just knowing that…”

After that, Iris talked with the World Tree for a long time, acting like a child complaining to her parents.

Seeing that, I entered meditation to understand the 2nd circle I had recently reached in more detail.

How much time had passed?

[Kang Hyeon-u.]

I opened my eyes at the World Tree’s call.

[It seems you want to get this child out of here.]

“Yes, since we’re on the subject, can you get us out of here?”

[That would be difficult. In my current state, I can’t interfere with the surface. Thanks to the existence of this temple and my fragment, we can have this conversation, but I can’t do anything more than that.]

I thought it would be easy, but there’s no way that would happen in my life.

I didn’t really expect it anyway.

I somehow thought it would be like that.

[Instead, there is a way to get out of here.]

When the World Tree’s branches pointed to the altar, the altar began to move to the side with a rumbling sound.

[There is a dungeon in the deeper underground of this cave.]

A circular staircase leading underground appeared where the altar had disappeared.

[Bring my holy relic, which is sealed on the lowest floor of the dungeon. With that, you can escape from here, and it will help you in the trials ahead.]