The New World Tree

“Wh…? Whaaa?? W-who is that child?”

I hear Riel’s very confused voice from beside me.

On the other hand, perhaps because I was experiencing this situation closer than anyone else, my mind was clear.

A baby that looks to be about 1 month old rather than a newborn.

With long lime-green hair spread out, she was curled up with her small hands and feet, making soft breathing sounds.

…This is definitely not an ordinary baby.

Her hair is so long it covers her entire body—what baby this age has such long hair?

I carefully raised my arms to hold the baby’s body.

Gently and carefully, as I tried to lift her up…

“Mmm…”

“Huh?!”

What the heck.

Why is she so strong?

The moment she was about to separate from my body, she firmly grabbed my hand that was holding her with her tiny hands, and it really hurt.

“Wuh?”

“Gasp.”

Then her eyes suddenly opened.

Bright red, alert eyes reminiscent of Riel’s looked at me blankly.

“……”

“Uh… well… umm…”

What should I do?

This is my first time dealing with a baby.

I do have siblings, but when they were babies, I was also just 1 year old.

I was possessed at around age 4 after that, so I don’t even have memories of it.

“H-hello?”

“……”

First, I tried greeting her with the best smile I could manage.

I don’t expect a greeting to work with such a young baby, but I have to try something.

“Mmmmm…”

Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to be crying.

Though she wasn’t crying, she looked around with an expression of great dissatisfaction.

“Wuh?”

That tiny head moved around, then looked straight at Riel who had been quietly observing the situation.

At that moment, the baby smiled.

“Wuu!! Wuwu!!”

“Huh? Yes? W-what is this?!”

The baby smiled and stretched her arms toward Riel.

Though I’ve never dealt with babies before, at this point I think I can guess what she wants.

“…Riel, I think she wants to go to you.”

“Huh? To me? Why??”

“Well… I have a guess, though.”

I’m not that oblivious.

A room with no signs of intrusion.

A baby that suddenly appeared.

And the World Tree seed that Riel had been carrying without removing from her body, now missing.

I just lack enough evidence to be certain.

I wondered what to do for a moment, but the answer came quickly.

Isn’t Lilu, the guardian of the World Tree, in this mansion?

“Riel, could you hold her for a moment?”

“Huh… whaaa?!”

When I held out the baby, Riel took her in confusion.

The baby also left me without any resistance and went into Riel’s arms.

“Wuwu! Kyaa!!”

“What?! What’s with this child?! She’s incredibly strong!”

The baby in Riel’s arms smiled happily and snuggled closer to her.

“I’ll go call Lilu, if my guess is correct, we need to call Lilu…”

“Excuse me. Young Master, Miss.”

Just as I was putting on my outer clothes to leave the room, the door opened and someone entered.

It was none other than Phyllis. Behind her stood Luca, Riel’s personal attendant.

Right, it’s about time they would come to wake us up.

“Before breakfast begins, I came to help you prepare…”

“Kyaa!! Kya!!”

“……”

Phyllis, who had been speaking, looked at me standing by the door and Riel holding the young baby behind me.

Then she stopped talking and froze in place.

“Huh? Huuuh?”

Luca, who was standing behind her, also trembled in apparent confusion while standing in place.

No, let’s not panic.

This isn’t just anyone, it’s Phyllis. Phyllis who always observes situations calmly and responds accordingly.

I believe she will somehow understand the situation and respond calmly.

“…H-how suddenly…? No… I thought it was a matter of time… but to think that while I’ve been watching over you two, such an oversight…”

“Phyllis?”

No, this isn’t working.

Even Phyllis is confused.

I somehow managed to calm Phyllis down on the spot and explained the situation.

Now that Phyllis and Luca had arrived, there was no need for me to go call Lilu myself, and Luca voluntarily ran off to call her.

“……”

“Uh… mmm…”

Perhaps because she was in Riel’s arms, the baby fell asleep again with a peaceful expression, lightly snoring.

Riel, while confused by the baby, naturally patted the baby’s back while holding her firmly in her arms.

Hmm… it somehow makes a nice picture.

“…So, what exactly is this baby?”

“I have a guess, but I don’t have enough evidence to be certain… but why did you misunderstand like that, Phyllis?”

“I am deeply sorry. To be honest, the baby looks very much like Miss Riel when she was young.”

Is that so?

Looking at it that way, the eyes are exactly the same color as Riel’s, and though still a young baby, the facial structure seems vaguely similar here and there…

“I brought her!”

“Excuse me for a moment, what’s going on?”

Lilu arrived quickly.

Luca must have run hard, as she was catching her breath a little.

“Lilu, could you look over there for a moment?”

“What on earth… hm?”

Lilu, following my pointing finger with her gaze, stopped right at the baby in Riel’s arms.

With a blank expression, she moved slowly toward Riel.

She brought her face close to the baby, looked directly at her, and lightly touched her head.

“Mmm?”

“Hmm.”

Perhaps sensing an unfamiliar presence, the baby that had been sleeping opened her eyes again.

Those red eyes looked straight at Lilu.

“Kyaaa!!”

“…Hmm.”

The baby, seeing Lilu, reached out her hands trying to touch her face.

After pulling Lilu’s cheeks a few times, she smiled brightly with joy.

…She had a dissatisfied expression when she saw me, what is this inexplicable sense of defeat?

After letting the baby do as she pleased for a while, when the baby lost interest and returned to Riel’s arms, Lilu came back to us.

“What do you think?”

“…There’s no doubt.”

Lilu nodded.

“It’s a bit different from what I remember, but there’s no doubt. This is certainly the new World Tree.”

“…Hmm, when you said the World Tree’s seed, I was thinking of something like a sapling.”

“When she grows a bit more, she’ll likely plant a sapling herself in a place of her choosing.”

Is that so?

Well anyway, as expected, it seems that baby was born from the World Tree seed that Riel had been carrying.

Having heard our conversation, Riel also looked at the baby in her arms with a surprised expression.

“Are you really the World Tree?”

“Wuuh?”

She directly asked the baby in her arms, but only received a normal baby-like response.

Instead, the baby reached out and pulled Riel’s hair.

“Ow ow ow! This child is really strong!!”

“Kyaaa! Kyaa!!”

Fortunately, as arranged by the World Tree Yggdrasil, the new World Tree was born.

Although its form is different from what I had imagined, somehow the depletion of magic in the world can probably be prevented.

“Ow! Stop it!! It really hurts!”

“Kyaa!! Kyaa!”

“……”

Well, at least one of the problems I was worried about has been half-solved.

Thinking that, I ran toward Riel to help her.

“……”

The World Tree Forest.

There, Saint Bellia was sleeping as if dead.

The power of the World Tree within her was being depleted day by day.

No matter how vast the power she had stolen was, it was bound to be exhausted after being used little by little over many years.

In the end, Bellia had to spend most of her time sleeping to conserve that power.

Then suddenly, she opened her eyes wide.

“Lord World Tree…?”

She definitely felt the power of the World Tree Yggdrasil.

No, it felt a bit different, but it was certainly the power of the World Tree, the same in essence.

“Where exactly…? Why can’t I find it?”

Although she felt an explosive power for a very brief moment, it was as if it was blocked by something, making it impossible to detect.

“…Is it the jewel that woman has? But there’s no way such vast power could be felt from that jewel…”

The World Tree’s Jewel held by that priestess named Alicia Melrot.

The power of the World Tree contained in that jewel is an extremely small amount.

Even so, since it was power left by Lord World Tree Yggdrasil, Bellia was determined to take it back, but…

However, that matter was also facing difficulties.

As Alicia Melrot received protection from a duke family of the kingdom, the church side couldn’t touch her carelessly.

So she had church officials hire a capable elf mercenary group from the empire for an assassination request, but even that ended in failure.

And the elf mercenary group that failed refused subsequent requests, citing the reason that they couldn’t take on a job they had already failed once.

Furthermore, for some reason during that process, the empire, which could be called a major power among the surrounding countries, suddenly began to distance itself from the church.

Even if she tried to use fairies, lately the fairies wouldn’t listen to her at all.

This was because more than half of the fairies deployed in the kingdom had been attacked and destroyed.

The surviving fairies said that arrows had flown from somewhere and shot them dead.

Because of this, other fairies were also frightened and wouldn’t listen to her words at all.

The culprit could be easily guessed without speculation. It must be that elf woman who had interfered with her in this forest.

‘I feel like I’ve met her somewhere before… but since I can’t remember, she probably wasn’t important.’

For now, Bellia was in a situation where it was difficult to touch either Alicia Melrot or Riel Ignis.

In a situation where her power was almost depleted and needed to be conserved, those she could command weren’t being helpful either.

If there was any useful card left, it would be that clown guy recovered by the church.

She had infused him with considerable power.

Surprisingly, another power different from the World Tree’s blessing she had given him had adapted to him very well.

He was also stupid, which made him good to control.

The only problem was that his actual skill wasn’t very good.

So, she needed time.

Time for her power given to this clown to blossom and for him to become stronger.

Once that happens, she could use this strengthened fool to destroy everything head-on.

The kingdom that interferes with her, the empire, everything.