Chapter 98: The Great Forest (3)
The Guardian’s turquoise eyes watched me. In the pure eyes of the elf, a question arose, along with a little curiosity.
“Well.”
I chuckled as I met her gaze.
“Asking the other person about their own experiences. That’s a bit strange.”
The Guardian blinked at my words.
“I am human. I cannot live as long as elves.”
After a moment of hesitation at my shrugged reply, she spoke softly.
“I have seen someone with eyes like yours. A very long time ago, in my childhood.”
At the elf’s words, I asked with a little interest. It was rather interesting to hear my story from someone else’s mouth, as if I were a third party.
“Is that so? What kind of person was it?”
The elves, especially the Guardians who have lived for a long time, are not bound by human etiquette. Even at my casual words, she spoke with an indifferent expression, as if recalling the past.
“A powerful being, so much so that I could not dare to fathom its limits.”
“Hmm.”
It’s a little embarrassing to hear it so directly. I asked the elf, who was looking at the past, nonchalantly.
“Really? Is he dead?”
Returning to reality at my question, she calmly replied.
“Since he was human. Probably.”
It was quite interesting that the little elf who had seen me from afar had grown up to become a Guardian. But I didn’t show it outwardly.
Even if she felt something strange with the intuition unique to long-lived elves, she couldn’t be sure of my identity unless I revealed it first.
“It has been a long time since we had a human guest who knows the magic of the forest, so I got a little sidetracked. I apologize.”
Sure enough. With a wry smile, she looked at me and spoke.
“You must have come to ask about the World Tree.”
As a wise Guardian, she seemed to have already guessed why I was here.
“I apologize in advance that you will not be rewarded for your long journey.”
But the words that followed immediately. She seemed to think that the problem in the Great Forest was not something that could be easily solved.
“Well.”
Of course, my thoughts were a little different.
“Can you tell me what’s happening in the forest?”
I said, looking at the Guardian.
“There might be something I can help with.”
“……”
After a moment of hesitation at my words, she began to explain the problems the elves were currently facing.
🔹🔹🔹
The story told by the Guardian, who introduced herself as Ariel-nim, was not long.
The forest being devastated. Beasts losing their minds and being consumed by madness. The World Tree losing its power and withering.
“The forest is being stained with darkness.”
It wasn’t a very surprising story.
A time of chaos. An era where demon worshippers are gaining power everywhere. No matter how great the forest is, it cannot escape the chaos spreading across the continent.
However, if it were just that level of threat, the Guardian wouldn’t have spoken so seriously.
The fact that they had stopped all trade with humans, which had been going on for a long time, and had firmly closed the barrier meant that there was a corresponding threat.
“There was no sign of anything near the barrier we passed through.”
My words were true. No matter how subtle it was, there was no way I could have missed the demonic energy of the Catacombs.
“Yes, that direction would have been like that.”
“Ah.”
I immediately understood the Guardian’s words.
The vast Great Forest does not only border one part of human territory.
“The direction where the direct threat is being applied is the opposite.”
In other words, the entrance to the forest that we approached was, so to speak, the rear. That’s why no elven scouts were visible.
After all, the central part of the continent, where the Inquisition and the Holy See are located, has regained some stability with the destruction of two Catacombs.
There would be nothing else that could threaten the forest from the direction we came from. Then.
“A threat from the west?”
I frowned.
The fact that their dirty claws had finally reached the Great Forest meant that the subjugation of the western region was over.
I pictured a map of the continent in my head.
With the destruction of the two relatively weak Catacombs, the situation became simple.
The central part of the continent, which had regained some peace centered around Hesterica and Delphaud. And the west and parts of the north, which had fallen under the control of the remaining powerful Catacombs.
The Cravassia Empire, located in the east, had no direct conflict with the Catacombs, so it was not very interested in the affairs of the church.
According to the information obtained from the Black Order, they seemed to be busy with their own skirmishes with the Sultan of the Desert.
“Yes. But we haven’t yet grasped the exact identity or size of the enemy. Since those who worship demons have not usually left human territory.”
In short, it was an unfamiliar enemy.
“I see.”
It seems like I could definitely help with providing information from that direction.
I recalled the names of the Catacombs that had their domains in the west.
Pudicitia, Pachiencia, Amadrid.
The fact that they were expanding their power into the Great Forest, which was not a very attractive place for them, meant that they had been pushed back in the power struggle in the western region.
“Hmm.”
When I combined the facts I knew with the strange phenomena in the forest that the Guardian first described, it wasn’t difficult to guess the identity of the ones extending their filthy claws.
“Pudicitia, Pachiencia, Amadrid. It will be one of the three.”
“……!”
Surprise appeared on the Guardian’s face as I recited the enemy candidates at once.
However, elves are not very familiar with the Catacombs. It seemed that this alone was not a sufficient explanation.
“……Amazing. What kind of beings are they?”
The Guardian’s question. Instead of giving further explanation, I looked at her and said.
“First, I want to check the World Tree.”
The place where the World Tree is located is no different from a holy place for the elves.
It might be a bit of an unreasonable request, but I needed to see it with my own eyes to grasp the details.
“……”
At my words, spoken as if I were in a familiar place, the Guardian, who had been looking dubious, shook her head and asked in disbelief.
“……Are you sure this is your first time here today?”
I smiled slightly at the elf.
🔹🔹🔹
The distance to where the World Tree was located was considerable. Due to the nature of the dense forest, it was difficult to know exactly how far away it was, but it was clear that it was not a distance that could be reached quickly on foot.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to wander aimlessly through the maze-like forest paths.
The elves also had their own means of transportation.
“……Quite impressive.”
The elves’ means of transportation, floating in the air, were leaves. Large leaves, big enough for three or four adult men to ride on.
Lephra looked a bit dubious at the thin leaves fluttering as if they would fall off if touched.
Getting on a large leaf floating in the air requires considerable courage for a human with common sense. But unlike Lephra, who hesitated a little, Jerit jumped onto the leaf with a bright expression.
“Haha. A leaf enchanted with magic. What a valuable experience.”
“To be precise, it’s spirit magic. The leaf itself is just an ordinary leaf.”
“Oh, I see.”
One of the elves stared at me as he explained to Jerit. He seemed a little curious about me, who knew roughly about the elves’ way of life.
“……Then it doesn’t have to be a leaf, does it?”
Lephra said, carefully stroking the leaf.
It was a valid question.
Even if it wasn’t shaped like a carriage, at least a sturdy wooden board, or even several woven grasses, would add much more stability.
But the elf’s answer was simple.
“They’re easy to find. And light.”
The elven spirit mage who would transport us seemed to have a relatively cheerful personality, unlike the stiff-talking guard captain.
“Spirits don’t like to lift heavy things either.”
Leaving behind the elf who looked up at the sky and asked,’Right?’, I was the last to get on the leaf. No, I tried to.
Slide.
The moment I lifted my foot, the leaf that had been floating quietly slid forward.
“……?”
Doubt appeared on everyone’s faces.
I took a few steps forward and lifted my foot again.
Sliiiide.
The leaf slid forward again.
It was as if it was refusing to let me on.
“Wh, why is it doing this?”
The flustered elf waved his hands in the air and muttered something. But nothing changed.
The leaf still swayed as if rejecting me. I frowned and stared at it.
‘It can’t be that it noticed the demonic energy.’
Other than that, there was no reason for the spirits to avoid me……
“Ah.”
A sudden realization. I looked down at my waist. The holy sword in its rough scabbard.
Was it because of this?
The spirits seemed to be afraid of the peculiar energy of the holy sword, which had the strange power to cut through phenomena.
Unlike ordinary blades, it seemed that they instinctively felt that this could be a great threat to them.
“……Hmm.”
The faces of the party who heard my explanation were filled with embarrassment.
“Th, then we’re not going to have to walk, are we?”
Fortunately, the misfortune of having to walk the tedious forest path alone did not happen. The elves had other means of transportation besides the large leaves that used spirit magic.
And it was in a very intuitive form, familiar to humans.
Neigh.
One of the elves, who had heard the news, hurriedly brought a large deer.
The deer, with its sleek lines and magnificent antlers, tapped its front hooves and stared at me.
“……”
A brief staring contest.
Whoosh. The deer, which had been staring at me for a while, lowered its posture slightly. Seeing this, one of the elves clapped his hands and said in wonder.
“Oh. It’s tame? It’s quite a proud creature.”
The obedient deer that carried me snorted softly and then slowly started walking forward.
A forest dense with dark green.
A floating leaf and a deer carrying the Inquisitor crossed the elven forest, enjoying the refreshing breeze.
🔹🔹🔹
Running through an open field and running through a forest thick with bushes and trees felt completely different.
I lightly held the deer’s antlers and enjoyed the thrill of passing obstacles at a speed that felt like we were about to collide.
“─Wow!”
A shout from above. It seemed that the leaf was not much different in terms of thrill.
After traversing the forest for some time, I began to see something large in the distance, where the view was obstructed by the dense trees.
The huge brown object looked like a large building made of wood.
“A building in the elven city!”
Jerit’s exclamation from above, accompanied by the sound of the wind.
I smiled slightly at his shout. The cheerful elf moving the leaf, although invisible, would probably have a similar reaction.
We moved towards the object at high speed.
The identity of that huge thing, which looked like one side of a tall wooden building, was the World Tree.
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