The Great Empire of a Distant Land (15)

As the gate slowly closed behind me.

Two elves dressed like officials operated the mechanism for closing it.

As they turned the large handles round and round, the chains rattled, and the gate slowly closed.

At last, the gate shut completely with a resounding clatter.

"All of us Forestfolk are overjoyed that we have been able to welcome our progenitor, the True Person, into this Yellow Ancient Forest. It is truly an honor."

The two elves bowed politely to me.

They looked genuinely happy, and I saw no sign that they were hiding some ulterior motive.

Still, being called the True Person who was their ancestor...

Elves were said to have been created by the gods using High Elves as a model, so being called their progenitor was not all that strange, but... it was not a particularly pleasing way to be addressed.

The only major differences between elves and High Elves were their roughly three-hundred-year difference in lifespan, the strength of the power spirits lent them, and where their souls went after death.

Three hundred years would be a long time to most people, but for elves who lived seven hundred years and High Elves who lived a thousand, I thought it was little more than a minor discrepancy.

But there was no point in arguing that here.

I could worry about that after I understood the situation, but for now, going with the flow would make things proceed more smoothly.

I gave a broad, dignified nod to look the part, then made Sire walk toward the forest, even though Sire was confused by the disappearing path.

"The trees won't block our way. It's all right."

Sire was a truly intelligent horse, possessing both the intelligence to recognize danger and the timidity to fear it.

Even so, Sire also had the trust and courage to follow my instructions.

The trees of the forest shifted their roots and trunks aside, opening a path for us.

This was my first time in this forest, the so-called Yellow Ancient Forest, but there was no chance of my getting lost.

That was because the trees of the forest guided me of their own accord.

No matter how unfamiliar the land or what secrets it concealed, the forest accepted me.

I did not doubt that, nor did I hesitate.

This was my territory.

The elves, who had probably intended to guide me, came hurrying after me in a panic.

They must have realized that I had no need of a guide.

They did not utter any unnecessary words.

It wasn't as if they couldn't talk to me. On the contrary, I would have found it helpful if they had told me all sorts of things, but they remained silent.

Well, I felt a little awkward about starting a conversation myself, so I continued through the forest in silence for a while.

Then, all of a sudden, I realized: ah, of course. A forest with this much power would naturally have one.

A large spirit tree came into view beside us.

I brought Sire to a halt, then leaped down from Sire's back.

"May I have some?"

I asked while looking up at the spirit tree.

The tree rustled its branches, then dropped several fruits into my outstretched arms.

They were apua fruits, which grew only on fully matured spirit trees.

But this was a little different from the apua fruit I knew.

The life force filling the fruit was unchanged.

Its sweet scent, however, was stronger.

With a crisp bite, I tasted it. Ah, yes—the sweetness was close to that of a peach.

The apua fruit I knew was a fruit with a good balance of sweetness and tartness, like an apple, but the spirit trees of Yellow Ancient Province apparently bore a different kind of fruit.

That was rather interesting.

Since it seemed a little odd to eat them all by myself, I tossed one fruit to each of the two elves behind me and let Sire nibble on one as well.

"For an immortal tree to drop immortal peaches of its own accord—as expected of our progenitor!"

That was what one of the elves said.

Immortal tree. Immortal peach.

Ah, an immortal, then.

Even here, I could see the shadow of Ryusui Teikun.

But setting aside what sort of being Ryusui Teikun was, I said,

"This immortal peach is delicious. I like apua fruit too, but this is certainly no less tasty. I'd like to have my acquaintances far away taste these, and I'd like to have you try apua fruit."

I had taken a liking to the taste of the immortal peach.

Sire seemed very pleased as well, rubbing its head against me.

Now that we had replenished our energy, it was time to go.

After eating fruit brimming with life force and breathing the forest air into my lungs, I could feel my mind clear and my body fill with strength.

I mounted Sire and proceeded deeper into the forest.

Guided by the trees of the forest.

Thus, we continued through the forest for about two weeks.

But in truth, we weren't traveling straight ahead.

We stopped by streams because I wanted to drink and bathe, and Sire needed water too.

There were many unfamiliar plants, so I stopped to observe them, while Sire munched on grass it liked.

It was an unhurried, leisurely journey, more like a stroll.

Even the spirit trees—or rather, immortal trees—that should normally number only one per large forest were scattered here and there.

As with the deep forest of my homeland, this was evidently a special place.

The forest's bounty was everywhere, so I never lacked food. Still, when I gnawed on the dried meat I had brought, the elves stared at me in shock.

Well, that was fine.

After all, I wanted to eat meat too.

Naturally, I refrained from cooking or boiling anything over a fire.

Many things from the forest could be eaten as they were, and as befitted a sacred elven domain, the climate was mild and the nights were not particularly cold, so staying huddled close to Sire kept me warm enough.

Elves often disliked people using fire in the forest, and it would have been pointless to quarrel with them over something like that.

However... it was a larger forest than I had expected.

No, I was sure there were plenty of forests larger than this one. That was not what I meant; for an elven sacred domain, it was quite large.

For example, Pulha Great Forest was an enormous forest, but the deep forest at its center, its sacred domain, occupied only a tiny portion of it.

Even on foot, I thought it could be crossed in a week.

Of course, that was only true because I was a High Elf, accustomed to forests and able to rely on the trees opening an easy path. An ordinary human would do nothing but get lost, making it impossible to cross.

But all of Yellow Ancient Province was an elven sacred domain.

It might have been a small province compared with the others, but even so, it had taken me two weeks to travel from the north gate to its center.

In other words, something in this land generated enough power for such a broad stretch of forest to be a sacred domain.

Hmm...?

No, something didn't feel right.

There was no doubt that something in this land generated great power.

But perhaps the same was true of the deep forest?

Until now, I had assumed that most of Pulha Great Forest existed to sustain the deep forest, but maybe I had it backward.

After all, Pulha Great Forest was a place where the power of the forest was so great and monsters so numerous that humans called it a dangerous region.

If something in the deep forest generated powerful energy, and the surrounding Pulha Great Forest had formed under its influence...

Ah, then the walls around Yellow Ancient Province might exist both to keep outsiders out and to keep the power within from spilling out and creating a place like Pulha Great Forest.

...Then what exactly existed in the deep forest?

Something the High Elf elders were probably hiding from me.

Hmm... ah, it must be the Undying Bird.

The Undying Bird had been created to link High Elves and True Giants, traveling between earth and sky.

Then naturally, it had to be with one or the other.

That meant I could also deduce what existed in Yellow Ancient Province.

Spirits are everywhere in the world, High Elves dwell in the deep forest, and True Giants live above the clouds.

And if the Undying Bird was with the High Elves, then the only thing left was the True Dragon that guarded the world.

The emperor of Yellow Ancient Province—the emperor of the Yellow Ancient Empire—is Ryusui Teikun.

In short, the answer had been there in the name from the beginning.

This Yellow Ancient Empire was probably a cradle meant to keep the True Dragon—said to sleep until the end of time—from awakening.