Chapter 187
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Meanwhile, at the World Tree.
Within just a few hours, major incidents erupted one after another, and they eventually postponed preparations for the festival.
The High Elves began seriously discussing the current situation.
“The Blue-Eyed Tower Master caused quite a commotion before she left. What should we do about this?”
“It’s difficult to determine who was right and who was wrong…… She did act violently, but there are many injured and no fatalities.”
If even one Wood Elf had died, they would have gained the authority to seal her away inside the World Tree.
Erika had rampaged with that fact in mind, so the strength of the Wood Elves and a few High Elves had been insufficient to stop her.
“Rather, since we were prepared to inflict serious injuries in our response, determining who was right or wrong would require us to give up our repose.”
Repose was as essential to them as water and salt.
At last, someone let out a sigh.
“It’s a mess. Everything has become such a mess……”
“Do not give in to sorrow.”
High Elf Elder Cypress spoke up.
He had put on new clothes and groomed himself neatly, but his left arm was missing.
“Our task is to obtain the Mother’s Seed through joy.”
“But how can we do that in a situation like this……”
“Are you planning to destroy everything our ancestors built over a petty personal emotion?”
The High Elves fell silent.
“Stop worrying about the Grand Chieftain. If there is sorrow, you must believe that even greater joy will come. If everything is destined to circulate, as is only natural, then what difference does it make if we discard a few things?”
“We understand what you mean.”
“Everything is for Mother……”
The High Elves’ meeting ended that way.
Cypress did not return to his room.
Instead, he headed toward Mother’s Heart.
When he entered, he saw Threads flying through the sky that served as a lake.
The only difference from the usual sight was the Grand Chieftain.
Instead of sitting, he was lying down.
His consciousness had already returned.
He did not even acknowledge Cypress, showing him only his back.
“Grand Chieftain, your blood relative has left.”
“Is that so?”
The Grand Chieftain answered as if the news tasted bitter.
He remained lying down with his head turned away, while the Elder stood in place.
“This is the second High Elf to flee. You said Linne would be the last, but your blood relative has gone and created a second case after all.”
“What can I do? Though the child is my own, they cannot connect to the collective consciousness and are no different from a long-lived human……”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“……”
“……”
“When did you realize?”
“……”
“The other members of our kind pass by without suspicion, but you are perceptive, so I watched you closely. From what I observed, it is certain that you did not know. Or am I being too conceited?”
“……As you said, I did not know. If today had never come, things would probably have continued according to your intentions forever.”
“What did you sense from that human?”
The Grand Chieftain answered.
“I realized that I had forgotten something very important: that every meeting is followed by a farewell, and that when joy arrives, sorrow will eventually take its place.”
“We wasted more than a thousand years because of that old-fashioned way of thinking.”
Cypress pointed outside.
“Look. Magic is meant for superior beings like us, yet at some point, monkeys began using magic, did they not?”
“……”
“They are corrupting pure mana. They do not understand the essence of a crystal formed from a unified mind.”
Cypress’s expression grew even more vicious.
“It does not matter if they use magic and pretend to be saviors. But we must obtain the Mother’s Seed before those inferior short-lived races.”
“……”
“Do you know what they call the Mother’s Seed? They call it ‘Wish.’ They divide it into nine Circle levels and presumptuously try to obtain it without understanding its roots.”
“So you decided to trample purity?”
The Grand Chieftain carefully raised himself from his reclining position and sat up.
His weak face looked even more haggard.
“Do you think you can obtain the Mother’s Seed that way?”
“Of course.”
“Think carefully. What you are doing will lead us to oblivion. What we do is swell without knowing when it must stop, only to burst in the end.”
The Grand Chieftain recalled what he had seen inside Ferda’s mind.
Behavior and experience far beyond his age.
Emotions from before love had taken root.
The anger and hatred forged over thirty-two years.
And the sheer volume of emotion accumulated over several thousand years, enough to overwhelm even the High Elves.
“That is something no human—or rather, no one who sets foot on this continent—should possess. We are no exception.”
It was practically a declaration that he would give up.
“Is that so?”
His face looked resigned.
Unlike his expression, however, his hand moved swiftly as he drew a rune.
Whoosh!
A sharp gust of wind shot toward the Grand Chieftain’s head.
But a Thread that moved even faster crossed in front of its path, scattering the sharp wind.
“But what else can I do?”
“……”
“We are already approaching the origin. To tell us to stop now…… would not be for everyone’s sake.”
“Do you think you can stop me?”
At the Grand Chieftain’s will, the Threads took shape as white hands.
A hand so enormous that its pinky was nearly as tall as an adult man.
The hand vanished in the blink of an eye.
When it appeared again, it had seized the spot where Cypress had been standing.
“Hmph……!”
The hand that had tried to seize him withdrew.
Half the white Threads making up its palm had been blown away.
It was a thoroughly ominous power.
“I know I cannot do this alone.”
His right hand held something black and viscous.
It was a black grimoire.
Ominous, viscous mana rose from the grimoire in amplified waves.
“A demon?”
“Would I sell myself to a race like the demons?”
If it was something resembling a demon, only one possibility remained.
“The demonkin. Have they lent you their power……”
“You seem unable to believe it.”
Cypress smiled unpleasantly.
The Grand Chieftain shook his head.
“No. In your current state, it would not be strange for you to do even that.”
A power Cypress wanted badly enough to return everything to oblivion.
To Cypress, that was what the Mother’s Seed represented.
“Do not be complacent, Grand Chieftain. I can defeat you easily enough in your current state.”
Cypress raised a finger.
Mana radiated from its tip as he drew a rune.
However, unlike the runes he had used before, the rune’s shape and color gradually darkened to black.
“I will cast you into the depths of the void and take the position of Grand Chieftain.”
He was not the same as before.
The Grand Chieftain steeled himself.
Even if it cost him his life, he would stop Cypress here.
All the Threads in the room gathered together and formed several dozen hands.
“As with everything in this world, it will not be easy.”
* * *
East of the Serdes Continent, Valdrova Castle.
Lize, who had fled the World Tree, was to stay at Valdrova Castle.
Lize’s first task was to introduce themself.
“Hello, my name is Lize. From today onward, I will be in your care.”
“Yes? Ah, yes. It’s nice to meet you……?”
When a beautiful woman suddenly approached them and greeted them warmly, everyone, men and women alike, could not help but be flustered.
Unaware of how they felt, Lize continued meeting everyone one by one and greeting them politely.
Eventually, Ferda approached Lize and spoke.
“Former Secretary Lize.”
“Yes?”
“You do not need to greet every single person.”
“But according to human etiquette, I may be an uninvited guest, so shouldn’t I greet each person individually to ensure that no one is offended……”
An uninvited guest……
Who would treat Lize as an uninvited guest?
With Lize’s innocent appearance, along with that friendliness and courtesy, anyone would find Lize likable after only a few words.
Ferda still wondered whether Lize was truly a man.
“If you want to offer greetings, it is enough to greet the master of this castle.”
“Y-you mean Valdrova.”
Lize swallowed nervously.
“There is no need to be nervous.”
“Ah, I’m sorry! I wasn’t nervous in a bad way.”
“Is that so?”
Most people reacted that way because of Valdrova’s infamous reputation.
Lize did not.
“Yes, as you can tell from my behavior, I am not very old among the High Elves. So this is my first time seeing a dragon in person……”
Lize’s eyes sparkled, as though insisting this wasn’t a lie.
“Would you say I’m extremely excited?”
One thing was certain: Lize was intensely curious by nature.
Seeing that reaction, Ferda answered.
“It will be the same.”
“Pardon? What will be the same?”
What you feel will be the same as what Valdrova feels.
Ferda found himself wondering whether this child might get along well with Valdrova.
Lize seemed even more like a young lady than Penelope or Lyudmila.
‘If only Lize weren’t a man……’
Ferda found himself blaming the heavens for no reason.
“Former Secretary Lize.”
The one who called Lize’s name was the maid, Luri.
“Y-yes!”
Though Lize was a little taller than Luri, the pressure she exuded made Lize look much smaller.
“It is fine to go around greeting people, but perhaps you should manage the spirits you brought with you?”
“Uh…… D-did they cause an accident?”
“Yes. They are causing trouble ‘again.’”
Luri pointed somewhere.
There was a garden, where three spirits were playing.
-Ha-ha-ha! It’s shaped like poop!!
-Mine’s an ugly poopy one!
-It looks exactly the same!
They were freely changing the shapes of the ornamental trees.
“They are doing that right now, too.”
A vein bulged ominously on Luri’s baby-like face.
“Eeee! I’m sorry!”
Lize turned pale and ran toward the garden, beginning to scold the spirits.
“How did you even find something like that?”
“You tell me.”
Ferda gave a vague answer and asked Luri,
“Where is Valdrova?”
“She’s locked herself away. The sounds of a female creature have been pouring out nonstop.”
Luri glared at Ferda.
It was as if she were saying that everything was his fault.
All Ferda had done was utter the name ‘Elinore.’
After that, Valdrova had staggered away from Ferda like a drunk.
‘Was the name really that bad?’
He would have to ask later whether Valdrova wanted to change it.
“Regent!”
Just as he was thinking that, a man approached with an exceptionally bright voice.
It was Zed, with his brown ponytail.
“I’ve heard.”
“Heard what?”
“I heard you brought back an incredibly pretty girl. And she’s an elf, too……!”
His instincts certainly never failed him.
Ferda gestured toward the garden with his chin.
When Zed saw Lize, his eyes sparkled.
“Wow, she’s not just a woman who looks like an elf—she’s a real elf. The real thing is on a whole different level, huh?”
“Have you contracted some disease that prevents you from controlling your rut?”
“I don’t know what you mean, but although I do hit on people, I’m a gentleman who stops if they dislike it.”
“I hope a witch makes that crotch of yours rot and fester.”
Leaving Luri to continue hurling insults, Zed asked Ferda,
“So, can I try seducing her just once?”
Ferda stared at him as though he were pathetic before answering.
“Go ahead.”
“Huh? I’m really allowed to?”
“Why would I joke about something like this?”
“What? Do you think I can’t seduce her? I should show you what I can do.”
Zed ran a hand through his hair, flashing a greasy smile.
Ferda quietly watched him.
Luri, who had been silent, asked in a low voice,
“Does that womanizer like men too?”
“Of course not.”
“Then this should be entertaining.”
Luri crossed her arms and watched as well.
Zed approached Lize warmly and greeted Lize.
Lize smiled and greeted Zed in return.
They exchanged a few trivial words, creating a friendly atmosphere.
Ten minutes later, Zed waved goodbye to Lize after talking without a hitch.
When he turned around and came back to Ferda, his face was truly worth seeing.
Ferda had never seen Zed’s face turn that red before.
Zed came to Ferda’s side and asked,
“……Did you know?”
“Of course.”
“Damn it……”
Since Ferda was his superior, Zed could not bring himself to curse him.
Luri gave him a thumbs-up.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to spread word of your homosexual tastes.”
“No, I didn’t even hit on Lize! So I wasn’t rejected, and I didn’t seduce Lize either.”
“Who do you think is going to believe you?”
“Regeeent!”
While the threats against Zed continued, a frivolous voice shouted Ferda’s name.
It was Penelope, Zed’s soulmate.
Ferda had been wondering why she had not appeared yet.
“I heard an incredibly hot and pretty girl came in.”
“……Yeah.”
Ferda gestured with his chin, and Penelope turned around.
Penelope made an even more beastly noise than she had when running over.
“Woohoo! She’s really pretty!”
“What, are you interested in her?”
“Of course I am! So, Regeeent~. May I ask whether I have your approval to use her as my daily sustenance?”
Penelope rolled her eyes while using honorifics that were utterly inappropriate.
She was even more pathetic than Zed.
While Ferda was dumbfounded, Zed answered in his place.
“Go for it. You have my permission.”
“Yay! I’m going right now!”
Penelope ran off like a child going to buy a toy, and Zed chuckled as he watched her.
“I can’t be the only one who suffers.”
“……”
Ferda could only stare in disbelief.
Both the man and the woman had ignored the person who actually needed to grant permission.
“Come to think of it.”
“Yes.”
“That demon slept with you too, right?”
“Right?”
“Then Lize being a man shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”
“No way. Even so, that girl is always singing about how much she hates men, so how could she—uh, that crazy woman! Where is she dragging Lize?”
Penelope was holding Lize’s hand and trying to take Lize somewhere secluded.
Zed quickly ran over, knocked her unconscious, and protected Lize’s chastity.
For the time being, Penelope was given a restraining order forbidding her from going anywhere near Lize.