Omission

Estelle’s contacts had all gathered in Modest’s basement. Yunis and Raellan, spotting Luna and Ellie next to me, quickly realized they’d received the memories and joined as comrades without needing much explanation.

Everyone except Bella sat down and focused their attention on me. I cleared my throat, *kheuhm*, and opened my mouth.

“I think you all have a rough idea of the situation, having been contacted by Estelle.”

I looked around to confirm, and everyone nodded in agreement. I nodded too and continued.

“I’ve been thinking. Even knowing that Bella would naturally ascend to the throne in time, why did Roel speed up the process?”

Several guesses came to mind, but the most likely was singular. Roel’s purpose was solely blind salvation. Thinking backward from that purpose, we could reach the starting point of this whole affair.

“Now that Bella is Empress, Roel intends to take over the Great Forest plan that the previous Emperor was plotting. We have to stop it.”

Yunis, who had been quietly listening to my explanation, added to my words.

“The Emperor’s death will be made public, and a grand funeral will be held. Nobles and family heads scattered across the continent will all gather at the Imperial Palace to pay their respects. If we calculate everything up to the Emperor’s enthronement ceremony… I think we have ten days.”

As Yunis finished explaining, Raellan raised one corner of his mouth and said.

“In other words, we have ten days to ruin the Great Forest plan by killing Roman the Undying, the ruler of Ludwig.”

While everyone sank into their own thoughts with dark faces, Lamine, attending in Bella’s stead, raised her hand.

“…What is the Great Forest plan?”

Taken aback by the sudden question, I looked around. Ellie was also looking at me with a curious expression.

I belatedly realized that because I had used Memorize magic to transmit memories differently to each person, Lamine and Ellie hadn’t received the memories about the Great Forest.

Since I was planning to go over the Great Forest in detail anyway, I slowly explained what the Great Forest plan was.

“Elves live in the Great Forest. Unlike other races who were driven beyond the Northern Wall or perished, they were able to protect the Great Forest by kneeling to the Emperor first.”

Elves didn’t consider kneeling to humans a humiliation. Elves also had a blind purpose that was more important than anything else.

“The Elf’s sole purpose is to protect the World Tree. But right now, there is no World Tree. So, if they can plant the World Tree in this world, they’ll join hands with anyone, be it human or demon.”

In fact, when the Demon King invaded the human realm, the Elves betrayed humanity and knelt to the demons in order to protect the World Tree. But the Demon King broke his promise and killed all the Elves, and the World Tree disappeared once again.

“Once the World Tree takes root, it can affect every place in the world from that spot. The Elder of the Elves used that to make a deal with the Emperor. If he helps the World Tree grow, in exchange for a one-time use… they would help him fully utilize the power of the World Tree using the Elves’ power.”

Unlike Lamine, who nodded and roughly grasped the situation after listening to my explanation, Ellie was biting her lip with a serious expression. It seemed that Ellie, who had more magical knowledge than anyone else, immediately understood the gravity of the situation.

I continued my explanation in a low voice.

“Roman the Undying’s ability is to parasitize on opponents with magical power, and when he dies, he immediately revives in the parasitized target. With that ability, Roman is holding the citizens of Ludwig hostage.”

No villain can’t be defeated by a Mary Sue protagonist. But a villain who reappears somewhere even after being defeated countless times can give the protagonist a sense of crisis. That’s how Roman the Undying was born.

“The Emperor happened to find out what kind of ability Roman the Undying had, and he made a plan to use that ability.”

“…Because the World Tree can affect every place in the world.”

I nodded at Ellie’s words. She had pinpointed the key point.

“Roman is only the ruler of Ludwig, but the Emperor is the ruler of the continent. The Emperor planned to negotiate with Roman the Undying at the top of the World Tree to make all the living things on the continent his spare lives.”

“…But isn’t it possible for Roman the Undying to betray the Emperor?”

Raellan answered Lamine’s question instead of me.

“That’s right. Roman the Undying obviously didn’t want to miss the chance to live forever. He pretended to cooperate with the Emperor on the surface, but behind the scenes, he negotiated with the Elves and plotted to betray the Emperor.”

Lamine nodded with a, ‘I knew it,’ expression. When Ellie urged him with a look to continue, Raellan raised the corner of his mouth and said.

“The Emperor also anticipated the Undying’s betrayal and secretly made a sinister plan, pretending not to know. The Undying’s ability is essential to proceed with the plan. It’s an unavoidable choice.”

In the novel, Roel, who belatedly learns of the Emperor’s crazy plan, rushes to the Great Forest to try to stop the plan, but the power of the World Tree has already awakened.

Then, a Saintess appears from somewhere and, while Roel stops the Emperor and the Undying, the Saintess uses her ability to bestow blessings on every place in the world, ruining the Emperor’s immortality plan.

But the Saintess overuses her abilities and is swept away by the energy of the Great Forest, unable to overcome the influence of the World Tree and goes berserk. In the end, Roel has no choice but to kill the Saintess for everyone’s sake, and thanks to that, the seal of the Holy Sword is also released, which was the ending of the [Great Forest Episode].

After that, the plan fails, and the Emperor dies of a long-term illness not long after, and Roman the Undying, enraged by the fact that his plan was ruined, fights Roel and dies.

The Undying endlessly revives and torments Roel, but Bella, who becomes Empress, ends the Undying by killing all the living things in Ludwig.

But the story was twisted. From the moment Roel was convinced that he couldn’t defeat the God of the Chaos Church.

“Roel plans to use Bella, who has become Empress, to quickly execute the Great Forest plan and absorb all the living things on the continent into himself.”

That’s why Roel didn’t wait for Bella to become Empress. He was planning to absorb everyone before more people died.

Raellan said with a bitter smile.

“That’s why we’re trying to kill the Undying. If the essential condition disappears, no one’s plan will be executed.”

“But how can we kill the Undying who revives even after death?”

At Luna’s question, Raellan twisted the corners of his mouth in a sneering manner.

“I think the Bella of another world has already shown us the way.”

Silence fell at Raellan’s words. Estelle, who hadn’t said a word all day, took out a folded piece of paper from her bosom. Then, using magic, she threw the paper at me. As I caught it, Estelle said quietly.

“It’s data about Ludwig that Modest investigated. I thought it might be necessary.”

I unfolded the paper and read the contents aloud so that everyone could hear.

“The official number of citizens in Ludwig is 1.03 million, but including the lower class living in the underground sewers, it’s about 1.2 million. Including travelers in Ludwig, it is estimated that about 1.4 million people will be in the city of pleasure.”

Thanks to the space expansion magic, the number of people living in the city has exploded. One of the reasons was that the continent’s food problem was solved through the magic amplification created by Rotten, causing the continent’s population to overflow excessively.

The information about Ludwig continued. I read the last line and put the paper down with a heavy heart.

“…It is judged that it is impossible to distinguish the citizens parasitized by Roman the Undying.”

“It turns out Bella’s choice was right.”

As Raellan said, letting out a cynical laugh, everyone closed their mouths without saying anything.

“We don’t need Bella’s help either. The power of the North alone is enough to surround Ludwig and kill all the living things in the city. If we even use magic stone bombs, we can minimize our damage even more. Keu keu.”

Raellan was serious. He thought that was the only way to solve the current problem. Yunis, who was biting her lip, opposed Raellan’s opinion.

“We can’t kill 1.4 million people who have done nothing wrong… just because they’re citizens of Ludwig.”

“No, we can kill them. We have to kill them. We don’t have time to spare anymore.”

Yunis distorted her face at Raellan’s firm answer.

“Why?”

As if answering that question, Raellan turned his head to me and twisted one corner of his mouth.

“Our liege should know the reason, right?”

At those words, everyone’s gaze turned to me. I ran a hand over my face and muttered with a sigh.

“Bella was originally supposed to become Empress in two years. But Roel’s actions have accelerated the flow of the story.”

At my words, Yunis muttered to herself with wide eyes.

“Then does that mean we’re ignoring all the previous stories and skipping over them? So, if this incident means the story has entered the second half of the novel, then when the Great Forest incident is over….”

Meeting Yunis’s anxious gaze, who trailed off at the end of her sentence, I said to everyone in a low voice.

“The Order will move.”