Chapter 185
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Ferda recalled how Erika had hated the elves.
He wondered why Erika had shown such hostility toward the elves and subtly engaged the Grand Chieftain in a battle of wills.
They had once been close.
Close enough to have been engaged.
“That High Elf must have coveted Iorga’s magic. Seeing someone like you, I suppose that’s hardly surprising.”
“You fool! It was the other way around!”
Cypress shouted, driven by rage.
“Do you know what atrocities that thing called knowledge and reason committed? She lured her fiancé into a trap and killed him! That woman…… even though he gave her everything! Iorga treated him no differently from a mere mortal!”
Cypress was an enemy.
Nothing was more foolish than believing the words of an enemy.
Yet precisely because Ferda hated Cypress, he could sense that truth all the more clearly.
This man was speaking nothing but the truth.
Since Ferda was unable to say anything, Cypress smiled unpleasantly.
“Do you think your woman will be any different? In the end, she’ll throw you away like a worn-out rag. She’ll grow fickle, suspect you, and search for an excuse to cut your throat!”
The moment he heard those words, Ferda was swept away by something.
It crept toward him like a demon, worming its way into the gaps in his heart.
The only difference was that this demon had already taken up residence inside Ferda’s body.
-He’s mocking your fiancée. Are you going to stand there?
Ferda raised his hand in answer.
With no ability to even chant a spell, all that remained was his pitiful body.
If he drove a Mana Bolt into Cypress’s brow, the other man would become nothing more than a piece of meat.
That was all he had to do.
“Mr. Ferda!”
Ferda’s breath stopped.
That was a voice he must not hear right now.
And its owner must not see him like this.
When he came to, he turned his head toward the sound.
Faintly visible red hair.
Two pairs of horns and golden eyes.
It was Valdrova.
But when he blinked, the figure scattered like a mirage.
Standing where Valdrova had been moments ago was the High Elf, Lize.
“Regent Ferda……”
She warned him anxiously.
“If you kill the Elder, there will truly be no turning back.”
He had already crossed the line far enough, even with one arm gone. What difference would killing him make?
Even so, death and injury were clearly different.
‘If I kill him, will I be able to go back feeling relieved?’
His body answered the question he had asked himself.
The Shadow Circle continued to spin.
One thing was certain: if he did this, he would regret it.
Ferda withdrew his hand.
“Get a grip, Elder. If you make one wrong move, everyone will die because of your mistake.”
“You wretched short-lived species……”
Ferda passed behind him.
Lize timidly followed after him.
“If you follow me…… give up any thought of coming back here.”
Lize’s body hesitated.
Though no one had ever truly liked her, this was the home where she had lived her entire life.
Leaving that home could not be easy.
Lize squeezed her eyes shut.
Then she threw herself over his shoulder.
Soon, the rough roar of the waterfall reached them along with a wave of magical power.
A moment later, the figure of a woman Cypress knew appeared before his eyes.
“Oh my?”
Erika covered her mouth with one hand.
Despite the gesture, the corners of her eyes curved like crescent moons.
“It seems the Elder was defeated by an idiotic short-lived species?”
“……”
Without giving him any time to make an excuse, Erika leisurely disappeared, leaving only those words behind.
Cypress fought down the urge to blow a fuse.
Elven soldiers entered after her.
“Elder!”
The elven soldiers stopped their pursuit and examined the condition of Elder Cypress.
When they saw that a Frenzy spell had been placed in his mind, they hurriedly drew a Rune of Dispelling.
As it was a low-ranking spell, it was easily dispelled.
“You need to restore your body. Please remain still—.”
“Out of my way!”
Cypress armed himself with various Runes of Protection and shouted with his face flushed bright red.
“Do not let the intruders leave this place under any circumstances! If they try to leave, you may kill them!”
The Elder rushed off with the elven soldiers.
The soldiers who had begun the pursuit were milling about there, unable even to get outside.
“What are you doing!? Why are you standing around here like idiots!?”
Cypress finally shouted in exasperation.
“Th-that’s……”
The elite pursuit squad answered in dazed voices, like newly enlisted recruits.
The moment Cypress saw what they were looking at, he realized they could not be blamed.
Three spirit entities stood blocking their path.
-We no go past here!
-You’ll have to get past us!
-Yeah, yeah!
Their tiny bodies and babyish voices made them seem utterly harmless.
That childish behavior should have been utterly laughable.
But the elves saw them differently.
Though they were far too small to fill the long corridor, no one dared take a step.
Even the High Elf Elder could not treat them carelessly.
“You would do well to move aside, spirits.”
-We no move!
-Don’t be mean to Lize.
-What did Lize ever do to you?
“That man is trying to help the World Tree’s enemy escape.”
-Are you saying Lize is a bad elf?
“That is so.”
The three spirit entities looked at one another.
Then they grabbed their bellies and began to laugh.
-No way.
-Nope!
-Lize is nice.
-She says hello to us every day.
-You’re the bad elves.
“Are you saying we are evil?”
-That’s right, that’s right!
-You left Lize all alone.
-She put up with things she hated every day.
-But nobody became her friend.
-She never had any fwiends, ever!
-That’s why!
The three spirit entities twined around one another.
At that moment, something astonishing happened.
Wind rose, and the World Tree’s outer shell began gathering toward the center of the storm.
Their bodies swelled larger and larger, eventually becoming the shape of a massive giant.
A body glowing green, with two threatening eyes.
The elven elite soldiers stopped in their tracks and retreated.
An overpowering presence that not even soldiers trained to suppress their survival instincts and march toward death could resist.
It could not be helped.
That form was the elves’ nightmare.
The adorable voices were gone; a monster dwelling in the abyss spoke in a damp voice.
-Lize is going to make new friends.
* * *
Lize and Ferda climbed aboard, and the sky carriage began moving.
It flew smoothly skyward, but Erika kept looking down at the World Tree without relaxing her guard.
“You’re letting us go rather easily, considering how fiercely they resisted.”
“They had no choice.”
At Lize’s words, Erika turned her gaze toward her.
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because the spirits stopped them.”
“The spirits?”
“Yes, children like my friends who lived inside the World Tree.”
There were not many creatures capable of entering and leaving the World Tree.
Even spirits that crossed dimensions were no exception.
Elves were naturally gifted at forming bonds, so many spirits lingered around the World Tree, but the inside was different.
‘Could it be……?’
-Lize, Lize!
Three spirit entities burst into the sky carriage.
“You guys……!”
Lize looked at the spirits with a startled expression and spoke.
“Why are you here?”
-Because Lize went out!
-That’s right, that’s right!
-And we had something you left behind!
“Something I left behind?”
The adorable spirit opened a small dimensional portal and took something out.
It was a beautifully arranged bouquet.
“Ah!”
Lize had asked the spirits long ago to make her a bouquet.
They had run all the way here to keep that promise.
Lize said with a faint smile,
“You can go back now.”
-We’re not going back?
“Huh? Why?”
The spirits nestled into Lize’s arms.
-We’d be bored if Lize weren’t here!
-And we’re friends!
-Lize’s fwends!
-Lize’s friends, because Lize has no friends!
Their innocent cries made her face turn red once again.
The innocence radiating from those adorable little bodies made people smile, but Erika was different.
“Um…… Secretary Lize?”
“Yes?”
“Those spirits surrounding you right now…… Aren’t they the children called the Nightmare of the World Tree?”
The Nightmare of the World Tree.
Spirits that lived inside the World Tree and harbored its mana, whom the elves had repeatedly tried to subjugate but could never drive out.
They had grown by feeding on the World Tree, becoming beings of such immense size and power that they could no longer be separated from it.
“They do have that nickname. They’re a bit too mischievous, but they’re not bad children.”
“……Mischievous?”
At night, they tormented the elves without end, and whenever anyone touched them, they returned the pain several dozenfold. And she was calling those little rascals mischievous.
They were among the few troublesome pests that even the High Elves, who strictly excluded all outsiders for the sake of purity, had declared must be allowed to coexist with them.
-We never bothered them first.
-The elves were the ones who kept hurting us while telling us to leave!
-Their room is huuuge, but they say all of it’s theirs!
-And they didn’t talk to us kindly like Lize.
-I guess that’s why they had no friends!
“Ugh, that has nothing to do with that story, so please……”
Lize’s face turned bright red, and the spirits giggled.
Compared to their notorious reputation, they were certainly doing nothing but cute and adorable things.
Lize tapped her face and handed the bouquet to Ferda.
“A-anyway, this is the bouquet I meant to give you, Mr. Ferda!”
Plants naturally withered when plucked, but the fresh flowers still seemed alive and breathing.
The faint floral fragrance carried the spirits’ mana as well, and a refreshing feeling seeped into him as he held it.
Lize soon began rummaging through her bag.
“And these are the things Father is giving you, but…… Just a moment. I sorted them because I’m not giving you all of them…….”
Lize had sorted the pages according to their folded marks and handed four sheets of paper to Ferda.
“He told me to show these to you first, Regent Ferda.”
“To me?”
“Yes. He left word asking you to listen to what he hadn’t been able to say.”
Erika glanced at the pile of papers and said,
“Mr. Ferda, read that, and I’ll receive what I’m supposed to get.”
“I, um…….”
“Why? Did he tell you to show it to me only after you read it first?”
“……Yeees……”
Erika glared at Lize.
As a dragonspawn who had just swept the elves away with water, the pressure she exuded was entirely different from before.
-Don’t glare at Lize!
-Bad dragon!
The spirits blocked Lize’s front.
Since she knew they had someone to back them, Erika could not treat them carelessly.
In the end, Erika threw herself against the backrest, and Ferda slowly read the letter.
-To Regent Ferda.
First, I would like to apologize in advance for what will happen from this point on.
You will surely be pursued by the elves, and things will happen that complicate our relationship.
This has happened solely because of my fault, not Regent Ferda’s.
But please understand that I cannot explain this matter.
It was something I had to do for the continent of Serdes and for our elves.
-Our High Elves have one long-cherished wish.
It is what we call the ‘Mother’s Seed.’
In human terms, it is called something different, but you probably know what this means.
The Mother’s Seed.
Though today was his first time hearing the term, Ferda could infer what it was.
Magic differs in form and name, but the higher its tier, the closer it draws to its origin.
The Mother’s Seed was that origin itself.
It was the ninth-tier magic known as Wish.
‘The Grand Chieftain knows I reached Wish.’
‘Is that why he was so surprised?’
Ferda turned to the next page.
-For hundreds of years, we elves have pursued joy for the sake of that seed.
Because joy enriches this land and enables us to become better beings.
But for the past few hundred years, our progress toward obtaining the Mother’s Seed has slowed.
That was only natural.
We sought to reach the realm of a god who stood above Mother.
But I could not accept our stagnation as inevitable.
That was why, Regent Ferda, I coveted the path you had walked and the knowledge you possessed.
In the end, greed was what we could not let go of.
Greed was the original sin that even long-lived elves could not cast off.
-Though it stemmed from my foolishness, I had no regrets because I was able to see its end.
Regent Ferda, you know what that end led to.
Ferda’s own end, after living solely for rage and hatred, had led to emptiness.
-Though our motives were different, our nature was the same, and I realized that the path we were taking was, by coincidence, exactly the same as yours.
We forgot why we needed to endure, and why we needed to mourn the dead, and focused solely on joy.
Impatience ultimately blurred even what we had once known clearly, and only the pleasure gained through misguided methods continued to eat away at us.
Only then did I realize it.
Someone’s machinations had already seized control of the inside of the World Tree.
“The World Tree has been seized…… by someone?”
“Seized? What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. It only says that someone has already taken control of it.”
“That can’t be…… No one should be able to peer into Mother’s Heart without the Grand Chieftain’s authority…….”
Erika and Lize reacted the same way.
Ferda continued reading the letter.
-Someone is trying to take everything that belongs to the land and Mother as their own without permission.
Though I have realized this, my condition is already too poor for me to root them out.
If I told you both about this, escaping this place would become difficult.
Your safety is my first priority.
When you escaped without knowing the reason, the Tower Master must have protested vehemently. Please apologize to him for this on my behalf.
“He asks us to tell you he’s sorry he couldn’t warn you in advance.”
“That old man…… If he’d told us beforehand, there might have been more we could have done to help…….”
Erika looked genuinely hurt.
Was this what they called love-hate?
Ferda turned to the next page.
-I have rambled on long enough. From this point on, I will offer advice that may serve as a signpost to the path you, Regent Ferda, must take.
The cause of that whole incident was finally mentioned.
The next passage read as follows.
-To state the conclusion first, the answer you seek lies in the east.
The place now called the Land of Demons.
There, you will find the answer the Demon King was unable to obtain.