Chapter 55
Soldiers, maids, knights, and mages alike packed up the camp with crisp efficiency.
Vieta also packed up her tent and went around using mana stones to remove any possible contamination and traces.
Ugo clung tightly to her side.
It did little from a defensive standpoint, but now that the tent separating him from the outside world was gone, his anxiety seemed to have returned.
The boy who had been so brash when they first met that he would even attack strangers was now trembling like a drenched kitten, and Vieta's spirits kept sinking.
“Ugo, just clean this up for me.”
Still, work had to be done, so Vieta soothed Ugo.
At her urging, Ugo frowned and moved only three steps away.
Seeing this, Fulcare shook his head, approached Ugo, and stroked his pale golden hair. A soft golden glow then flowed down Ugo's body.
“It's a defensive spell. Though we probably won't need it much.”
Fulcare glanced at Vieta.
"Th-thank you."
Ugo bowed his head slightly.
Normally, they would have exchanged some small talk,
but Fulcare also seemed to have plenty to do; he went over to Allos, who was loudly urging the nearby knights on, and began speaking with him seriously.
Maybe elves were elves no matter how young they were, because Ugo seemed to instinctively realize that Fulcare's magic was powerful.
With a much less anxious look on his face, Ugo cautiously moved away and sat down on a nearby rock.
Under Ugo's not-quite-surveillance, Vieta used a broom to gather and burn the trash.
She was about to drop a mana stone to erase the last traces when,
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Blanc appeared accompanied by two knights.
“You two, step away for a moment. The elven boy will be uncomfortable.”
Blanc's expression as he said this looked stiff, like a thoroughly parched tree.
“Are you feeling ill?”
Once the knights moved away, Vieta whispered to him.
“I'm fine. I just feel a little strange. Could it be dizziness?”
As he said this, Blanc raised a hand and pressed his temples repeatedly.
Blanc usually kept his emotions under control, so if he was saying this, he was definitely uncomfortable.
“Have you told Fulcare?”
Seeing Blanc, who said he had also gone to the priest but had only been told there was nothing wrong, Ugo approached and tilted his head.
“I sense a strange energy coming from big brother.”
“…Strange energy?”
Blanc squinted one eye.
“I sense it coming from Vieta, too.”
With a look full of curiosity, Ugo boldly felt around Vieta's waist.
At the sudden touch of the child's hand, Vieta's face flushed like red wine.
Blanc also seemed too embarrassed to keep watching, so he cleared his throat and turned away.
“This is it.”
A few seconds later, when Ugo poked Vieta's right side, Vieta loosened her apron slightly and drew the dagger she had been wearing.
Ugo then pointed to the World Tree leaf on the dagger's hilt.
“The energy I sense from this and from this big brother here is exactly the same.”
“It seems he can sense the World Tree's energy.”
Fulcare was standing beside them before they knew it.
Looking at the six pairs of eyes turned toward him, Fulcare continued leisurely.
“I asked Iseria about it when she kept sighing heavily the other day, and she told me it was because she could sense the World Tree's energy and said not to worry.”
“I've never heard that.”
Vieta's face went deathly pale.
The elves can sense the World Tree's energy….
Thinking that the elves must have felt the pain of being burned alive when the World Tree went up in flames, Vieta realized again and again how cruel and heartless the choice she had made in the past truly was.
“Elves generally don't talk much about themselves. And Iseria said she was a special case. It's rare for a fully grown elf to sense the World Tree's energy, though it can happen with young elves.”
Fulcare's gaze slowly turned toward Blanc.
“Not only have you raised a Guardian Tree, but you can even sense the World Tree's energy? You really are an unusually strange human.”
Fulcare forced a smile, but Vieta couldn't easily say anything.
In any case, she couldn't deny that there had been an elf who sensed that energy back then.
When she imagined that perhaps Giselle, who had screamed at her while buried in the ground, might have sensed the World Tree's energy, Vieta shuddered.
“The World Tree's energy? If it's experiencing emotions, that can't be a good sign.”
Blanc was still pressing his temples firmly.
“…Is Ugo all right?”
Forcing her emotions back under control, Vieta grasped Ugo's arms and met his eyes.
If a child who had only recently lost his parents was also sensing the World Tree's unstable emotions….
“Hm, I can't sense its emotions. I can only tell that some kind of energy is there.”
At least that was a relief. Vieta pulled Ugo into her arms.
“More importantly, I think it's about time we set out.”
Fulcare said this as he watched Allos approach them.
***
As they traveled toward the World Tree, one person was added to Blanc's carriage.
It was Laurent.
“Vieta. It's been a while.”
“…You've had a hard time.”
“By the way, why does the prince look so glum? And who's this little guy, and why is he covered in Fulcare's magic?”
Laurent was still Laurent. Despite the rudeness directed at him, Blanc did not change expression and remained composed.
“Apparently, he's sensing the World Tree's energy.”
Ah. Laurent nodded as if he knew about the World Tree's energy as well.
“And this elf delivered Elrod's letter.”
Laurent's expression changed subtly at Blanc's words, but fortunately he did not question them further.
“So we're finally entering the World Tree, which I couldn't get into even once while camping out here for over a month. What good is the World Tree's permission when the gatekeeping elves are so annoyingly strict?”
Instead, he began badmouthing the elves.
Vieta hurriedly covered Ugo's ears.
“So, did you find out anything?”
I did.
Laurent grinned and pulled a battered piece of parchment from his clothing, holding it out to Blanc.
Blanc unfolded it, tilted his head in puzzlement for a long while, then handed the parchment to Vieta.
Vieta took it and wore an equally troubled expression.
The parchment was densely filled with numbers by date, and there was no telling what they meant.
Here and there above the numbers was the symbol M.
“The numbers at the front are the number of elves who entered the World Tree, and the ones at the back are the number who left the World Tree. They aren't exact, but they shouldn't be far off.”
Vieta quickly examined the parchment.
Although there were daily fluctuations, starting about three months ago the number of elves leaving the World Tree had become far greater than the number entering.
“Then what were those letters written here and there?”
“Elves aren't the only ones seeking the World Tree.”
It was only natural.
No matter how closed-off the elves were, they could not completely sever ties with the humans who ruled the continent.
“Does that mean the Kingdom of Madak? But wouldn't it be natural for them to communicate with the World Tree? Even our Empire alone….”
“What do you take me for? If it had been a normal visit, why would I have recorded it?”
Laurent cut Blanc off.
Then he continued while looking at Ugo.
“Anyway, this doesn't seem like a topic to discuss here, so let's talk after we enter the World Tree.”
At the unfamiliar person's gaze, Ugo burrowed into Vieta's arms.
***
“How do you people even handle your work!”
An elf with blond hair that was almost brown turned around, shouting.
The elf being berated shrank his shoulders.
“Lord Laisen, th-that….”
“Go on, tell me all about it—slowly.”
Watching his trembling aide, Laisen sank deep into his chair and half-reclined.
“We succeeded in ambushing the messengers using the magic tool borrowed from the Kingdom of Madak, but….”
“But?”
Laisen's brow twitched.
The magic tool he had borrowed had been secretly developed in the Kingdom of Madak, built on the Empire's technological foundation.
“Because one elven child ran off with the letter….”
Bang!
At the deafening boom and vibration that shook the floor, the aide abandoned all dignity and collapsed into a seated position.
“I'm asking why you let that child get away.”
In Laisen's hand as he reclined in the chair was a spear well over two meters long.
With a soft crackling sound, the floor touching the spear's shaft began returning to its original appearance.
“A-an elf suddenly appeared….”
“An elf?”
“Yes. That elf spirited the child away….”
“Stop spouting idiotic nonsense!”
Laisen's roar fell over the aide's bowed head.
“I picked out the best of the best in the World Tree, so who could possibly have stopped them?”
“…A-according to the s-survivors' testimony, it was definitely one elf.”
At the word survivors, the rage-filled expression on Laisen's face relaxed somewhat.
“Where is that survivor?”
“T-they're being treated at a temporary base o-outside the World Tree.”
“…Have them prepare so I can go at midnight.”
It would be far better to question the people who had been there himself than to badger an aide holed up in the office, stammering from fear of his aura.
“U-understood.”
Laisen gestured for dismissal toward the aide, who bowed deeply, but the aide did not withdraw.
“What is it? What now?”
At Laisen's irritated question, the aide squeezed his eyes shut and opened his mouth.
“Th-that is, Prince Roen has just entered the World Tree….”
“Ha.”
Laisen's face, which had only just relaxed, twisted again.
“The Empire's prince is here now, and you're telling me to show my face?”
It was infuriating enough that a girl who was nothing without Siran had risen to the position of chief; now she was ordering him to come and go as she pleased.
What irritated him even more was that, officially, he could not disobey Elrod's orders.
“We'll depart in ten minutes.”
To maintain the elves' support.
And to claim legitimacy.
Laisen made one final compromise with himself.