Same, But Different

After spending a full day at the summit of the World Tree, I returned straight to Modiste. Once I realized I had lost something, I felt like my actions gained momentum. Perhaps it was because I realized that I would lose more as time passed.

I sat in a chair and placed the World Tree Spear, which I had taken out of my spatial storage, on the table. My instincts had already perfectly adapted to the spear, but I also needed time to contemplate how to fully utilize this weapon.

The World Tree Spear is literally a wooden spear. It’s a spear made using the branches or roots of the World Tree… but it felt like this was a branch that the World Tree had grown from the start for the purpose of being a [spear].

So, if you only look at the spear’s destructive power, it’s similar to the wooden training spears lying around in the Academy. The end isn’t sharp, and it feels a bit blunt. It’s more accurate to say that it pushes rather than pierces the skin.

Just because its inherent destructive power doesn’t exceed that of a wooden spear doesn’t mean it’s called the World Tree Spear for no reason. The real ability of this spear was similar to the Spear of Destruction that Ailly had broken. The World Tree Spear can also use the power of [Destruction].

The [Destruction] of the Spear of Destruction doesn’t work on the Cardinal, but the [Destruction] of the World Tree Spear does. They have the same name, but they are fundamentally different powers.

[Destruction] derived from Chaos and [Destruction] derived from the World Tree look similar but are completely different. The Cardinal’s destruction is the power of destruction that turns everything into nothingness within chaos, leaving nothing to exist. But the World Tree’s destruction was different.

The World Tree turns everything around it into nothingness in order to take root. Paradoxically, the World Tree, which grows in that way, becomes an existence for countless lives simply by existing. Destruction for the sake of birth. That is the essence of the [Destruction] that the World Tree Spear possesses.

I could already perfectly use the World Tree Spear. Drawing out the power of destruction is not difficult either. It’s a spear for a different purpose than the Spear of Destruction, which has the ability to kill with a single blow, but it’s my sharpest dagger and the only way I can defeat the Cardinal.

Just because I obtained the World Tree Spear doesn’t mean that the goal of strengthening the Shadow Spear has disappeared. Rather, the World Tree Spear is closer to a sealed weapon with a limited number of uses. The Shadow Spear will still be the weapon I mainly use.

As I was thinking that, I heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs at just the right time. It was Ailly, who I hadn’t heard from in a while. The moment I saw her face as she got closer, I felt a sense of bewilderment, as if I had been hit in the face with a snowball.

“Long time no see, Ross!”

The friendliness that reminded me of when we first met at the Academy. That was what Ailly had today. It was enough to instantly overcome the distance that we had tacitly agreed upon. No, the sense of distance had already disappeared.

“Did you miss me?”

Ailly nestled into my arms as if it were natural. It was so natural that it felt like she always did this. Even her face was filled with the pure emotion that had tormented me for so long, along with a smile.

“…”

To me, who couldn’t say anything, Ailly raised her head from my arms, crinkled her nose adorably, and added.

“I missed you!”

I couldn’t help but roughly wipe my face unconsciously.

***

Like the saying “no news is good news,” Ailly, who I hadn’t heard from in a while, had achieved the accomplishment of finding the place where the Mammon of the South was sealed. Thanks to that, I gained momentum and immediately headed to Mammon’s sealed location with Ailly.

While borrowing a carriage and heading to an old ruin in the South, I had to feel intense emotional changes that I hadn’t felt recently.

“Try this too!”

The dessert that entered my mouth was quite sweet. It was so full of strawberry jam that it would feel too sweet without coffee.

“How is it? Is it good?”

“…Yeah, but move away a bit.”

“No~! Delicious food like this tastes better when we eat it together. Here, try this too!”

The interior was quite spacious due to spatial expansion magic, but Ailly stubbornly sat next to me. I even kept feeling her shoulder touching mine on purpose. Ailly, who hadn’t approached me when I subtly moved away, suddenly changed her attitude like this, so I couldn’t do anything about it.

“…Did something happen?”

Ailly’s reaction to my subtle probing was exaggerated.

“Huh? No, it’s just that the various problems that had been bothering me have disappeared, so I should say I’m overflowing with energy? Could it be… that your childhood friend is already annoying you? I worked hard to find Mammon’s sealed location for you! That’s too much!”

She pretended to be angry, emitting an aura that she would bother me even more if I didn’t quickly appease her, so I rubbed my forehead.

“…I’ll eat this too.”

“Okay! I ate it earlier, and the texture was so sticky that it stuck to the roof of my mouth! If you don’t melt it with coffee, you’ll definitely get cavities!”

During the week that I hadn’t seen her, Ailly seemed like a different person. No, she had completely forgotten the way she had been keeping her distance, knowing that we were attracting each other like magnets… It felt like she had returned to her old self.

The recent sickly appearance had also disappeared. Rather, Ailly’s brightness that I knew had returned, and it was dazzling. She was doing cute things filled with irresistible loveliness to me without any hesitation.

I don’t know. It’s not awkward, but we understood that we were hedgehogs through painful repeated mistakes. Could she have forgotten that we were maintaining distance because we knew that getting closer would cause each other’s skin to be pierced by thorns?

Could Ailly, who is smarter than me, forget the lesson she had learned so painstakingly?

Ailly, who had crumbs on her lips like a child, sparkled her obsidian-like eyes and chattered incessantly. I wasn’t annoyed or bothered by that at all… I hated that even more. Ailly’s friendliness, which was fearlessly approaching again, would pierce my skin and make me bleed.

“Here, try this too. This one has a slightly bitter aftertaste, but the middle flavor is unique, so it’s amazing!”

I had to sigh again at the plump sensation touching my arm and move to the end of the chair. Of course, Ailly naturally moved closer as much as I had moved away and leaned on me.

*

The place where the carriage arrived was a village that used to be famous as a resort in the South but had completely declined due to the invention of portals, and people rarely visited it. Now, there were no people living there, and only abandoned houses and old ruins remained desolate.

“I will be waiting here.”

After thanking the Modiste guild member who was the coachman, I headed straight into the ruins with Ailly. The ruins, which had collapsed and become ruins, had not been managed at all for a long time, so it was not very good for sightseeing. It didn’t really matter since we didn’t come for tourism.

“According to the records, Mammon was a giant demon who could increase his size dozens of times. There was even an incident where he destroyed an entire village by swinging his fist. Numerous knights, soldiers, and priests joined forces to defeat Mammon and built a huge seal on his corpse to put Mammon to sleep forever.”

At Ailly’s explanation, I tapped the floor with my foot and asked.

“Do we have to dig the ground?”

“Pfft, of course not! Do you think I’m stupid enough to interpret it that way?”

Her reaction is excessive… Ailly, not caring at all that I was scratching my head at her exaggerated reaction, waved her arms around and explained.

“The structure of this ruin itself is a giant sealing formation. It’s simple but very effective. The walls have collapsed and some parts have been buried in the soil due to the passage of time, but there are more things buried deep underground than what is visible on the surface, so it wouldn’t have affected the seal. The seal would have become stronger over time.”

Ailly elaborated that the ancient magic that used nature to make the seal stronger over time was more beautiful, elaborate, and well-designed than current magic. I scratched my head and waited for the explanation to end, seeing the passionate desire for magic revealed in her eyes.

“…So, I’m thinking of checking the overall appearance of the ruins from the sky to destroy the structure of the sealing formation. I’ve roughly grasped the basics of the formation through the data, but I’m sure they’ve installed additional safety devices.”

“Okay, what should I do? Just tell me what to do.”

When I showed a reaction that I was happy that the boring explanation was finally over, Ailly pouted her lips, feeling slightly disappointed by my reaction, and said.

“Lift me up to a high place. You can do it, right?”

At those words, I held Ailly in my arms and immediately used spatial magic to move to a high place in the sky. After moving to a moderately high place, I used the Shadow Spear, which I had fixed in the air through spatial occupation, as a foothold.

“Is this enough?”

“…Yeah, for now.”

I inadvertently turned my head to look at Ailly and… realized that she was looking at me, not at the ruins.