Chapter 40: There Are Too Many <Bad Ending> Turning Points.

I didn't know why ominous premonitions never seemed to be wrong.

Someone once said that the total amount of happiness was fixed, so the more unhappy you were now, the happier you'd be later. At this rate, I felt like each person involved would need to win the lottery first prize three times just to break even.

Unfortunately, since there was no lottery in this world, that was impossible.

Anyway,

'So there wasn't just one <Bad Ending>.'

Naturally, I had assumed there was only one <Bad Ending> each time, but that wasn't the case.

Judging by the flow so far, it seemed this kind of situation would repeat until all the percentages shown on the display were filled...

In that case, how many turning points were left?

Five? Ten? Maybe even more.

Just imagining it made my head throb.

Hooo—.

With a sigh, Franz pushed the thoughts in his head aside.

Resolving the immediate problem before him came first.

"Hera, are you okay?"

Separate from the thoughts he just had, he was worried about Hera.

For the long-lived Elves, 'kin' was practically the same as 'family' for humans.

Even being backstabbed by a close friend left a lingering sting for a lifetime; how much greater must the shock be to be betrayed by family?

Moreover, since Hera was experiencing such a thing for the second time, one could even understand if she wished for the world's destruction.

"Franz, could you tell me just one thing...?"

Hera's gaze, which had been fixed on the floor, slowly lifted to meet Franz's.

Her expression was stained with despair.

As if she might crumble at any moment.

"Why, why do things like this keep happening? Did I perhaps do something wrong? Please tell me, Franz."

"What could you have done wrong? You did nothing wrong."

Franz knew Hera's efforts better than anyone.

Joining the Hero's party and enduring all sorts of hardships and tribulations, struggling to rescue the Elven slaves—everything had been for the sake of the Elves.

If she were at fault, then every Elf present here would have to be considered a sinner.

But understanding her self-reproach as a leader, he could only feel pity.

Franz, comforting Hera like this, sent a look towards Yustia.

Meaning, 'You come over and comfort her a bit too.'

At that, Yustia's eyes widened, and then she hesitantly approached Hera.

"That's right. Hera, what fault do you have? It's all this world's fault. Whoever created it, really..."

"Yustia, thank you..."

'Impressive.'

Franz marveled anew at Yustia's improved eloquence.

He hadn't expected her to subtly diss the Goddess while comforting Hera.

Whether their comfort helped or not, Hera fortunately calmed down after a short while.

The despair that had stained her expression subsided, and life began to return to her eyes.

In that case, it was now time to seriously tackle the problem.

"Hera, could you explain in detail what happened?"

"To get straight to the point, one of my kin was colluding with the cult. The World Tree ending up like this is all the result of that."

Since he had already been convinced it was the cult's doing, it wasn't particularly surprising.

He was just angry at the arbitrary cultists.

Because he had gone through quite a lot of troublesome things because of those guys so far.

And thinking about the troublesome things he would likely face because of them in the future drove him to grind his teeth in annoyance.

'I really need to wipe them out completely.'

As Franz vented inwardly, Hera continued speaking calmly.

"I learned this because my kin told me..."

Hera's voice dropped a little lower.

As if forcing out words that were difficult to utter.

"That person wanted to protect the World Tree, the Great Forest, and the Elves. It's just that they needed power to do so, and the direction they took to gain that power was slightly wrong."

They had dabbled in wrongful deeds to protect precious things.

To use a modern analogy, it was like distributing drugs to feed one's family.

One could understand the sentiment, but not the actions.

One could only feel pity for being placed in such a situation.

"So where is that Elf now?"

"Well..."

Hera's gaze turned towards the World Tree.

"They became one with the World Tree. By drinking demon blood and then taking their own life."

At Hera's words, Franz sighed.

He knew he would have to deal with it one way or another, but it felt like a needlessly unpleasant task would remain.

Because even if the actions were wrong, the intention held was righteous.

"Hera, are you okay?"

"It can't be helped. It's certain that he was wrong. It's just a bit bitter. If only I had returned to the Great Forest a little earlier and corrected the wrongs, something like this wouldn't have happened."

She was talking about the previous incident.

Hera's older brother and childhood friend had sold Elves into slavery, and Hera had rectified it.

In the end, the seeds of evil sown by those guys were still tormenting the Elves.

Franz didn't have much to say.

Whatever he said would just be the rambling of a third party.

And she probably hadn't spoken expecting an answer anyway.

She likely just wanted to lament her situation.

"I apologize for bringing this up. It seems I've only dampened the mood further."

Hera said this, forcing a smile.

It was obvious she was trying hard to act bright, but he decided not to pay it any mind.

It was a problem time would eventually solve.

Anyway, the problem was what to do about that...

Franz gazed at the World Tree, lost in thought.

Cutting it down with magic would be very simple.

So simple he could do it in just one second, *swish-swoosh*.

But that probably wasn't what Hera and the Elves wanted.

They would likely want the World Tree to return to normal.

He had brought Yustia along with that thought in mind, but the situation was far more serious than expected, making him worry if she could handle it alone.

Franz's gaze, which had been on the World Tree, shifted to Yustia.

"Yustia, do you think you can purify that?"

"Well. I'm not sure either, so I think I'll just have to try."

Well, having come this far, giving up didn't make sense.

As she said, they had no choice but to just dive in and see.

"Alright, let's get started then."

'We need to finish this quickly before the situation gets worse.'

As Franz took a step forward, Hera and Yustia followed behind him.

The bean-paste bun without the bean paste, the Hero's party without the Hero, had begun to move.

'Will it attack or something?'

Given that ordinary trees had moved, it was possible the World Tree might launch a full-scale attack.

And that prediction hit the mark exactly.

When they got reasonably close, the branches of the World Tree attacked with tremendous speed.

Snap—.

Franz snapped his fingers, and a round, hemispherical shield formed around the three of them.

Kwoong—!

A tree branch slammed against the shield, shattering the silence of the Great Forest with a loud roar.

As expected of the World Tree, it wasn't the kind of power an ordinary tree branch could produce.

Not only that, but the red liquid dripping from the end of the broken branch melted the grass around it as soon as it hit the ground.

Chiiik—.

Smoke rose, and it bubbled just like an acid solution.

The unexpected attack was a bit surprising, but not problematic enough to be an issue.

He was just genuinely surprised that a tree could do something like this.

Protected by magic, the three advanced step by step.

Branches whipped like lashes, striking the shield mercilessly, but not even a scratch appeared on it.

It felt just like raindrops tapping against a window.

It was then.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to writhe, and sharp thorns shot out continuously from below.

However, the thorns stopped midway, unable to even reach the shield.

"I wish to be of some help too."

It seemed Hera had manifested the power of the Spirit King.

"Just don't overdo it."

There was no reason to stop her if she wanted to help.

Honestly, with attacks of this level, it didn't make much difference whether Hera helped or not, but if it made Hera feel better, that was enough.

'But is this really all there is?'

Franz found this situation a bit suspicious.

Wasn't this the World Tree, possessing enormous power capable of sustaining such a vast forest?

Yet, the only attacks it mounted were striking with roots and branches? Logically, it didn't make sense.

However, it was better for Franz if that suspicion remained unresolved.

Because at this rate, purifying the World Tree didn't seem too difficult.

Hoping his suspicion would remain just a suspicion, Franz moved forward.

The closer they got to the World Tree, the fiercer the attacks became, but there was nothing particularly special about them.

Still, only roots and branches hammered against the shield.

It seemed things were going well.

Perhaps the law of the total amount of happiness was real after all.

Advancing like this, the three finally arrived in front of the World Tree.

"Yustia, please."

Yustia nodded, knelt, and brought her hands together before her chest.

As prayers began to flow from her lips, golden holy power simultaneously started to spread outwards.

It was then.

'What is that?'

Suddenly, Franz saw something bizarre.

It was a flower bud.

A flower bud had formed on a branch of the World Tree.

The flower bud immediately opened, becoming a single flower.

The moment he saw it, alarm bells started ringing in Franz's head.

Because mana began to condense intensely within the ominous dark red flower.

Soon, the condensed mana shot out, drawing a single line.

Towards Franz's party.