CH 256

Briefly contemplating the offer, it turned to Aled and whispered, “It’s a promise? You have to give me a big one, okay?”

Aled grinned widely in response, before it turned to look at Estian and yelled, “Hey, Emperor! Get ready!” The spirit was giving the signal for the emperor to get ready to run.

* * *

A moment later, Aled was alone and staring at the rope in its hand. It wasn’t a simple rope. Aled had originally brought the rope in case Ayura tried to make a run for it. While it was only long enough to tie up Ayura at first, it had now extended to lengths unraveling far beyond what the naked eye could see. At the other end, Ayura was surely frantically guiding Estian and Cecile back to the human realm. ‘I just have to follow this later,’ it thought.

Turning its attention back to the World Tree, the spirit looked up to see a branch that had been completely severed on one side. It had been split by Estian’s black steel blade when the branch tried to attack Cecile.

“Woah, now that must hurt. I’m a spiritual entity, so the mere sight of that sword terrifies me into a cold sweat, makes me dizzy, and turns my legs to jelly. I suppose that’s the World Tree for you. Fighting back against it. Really amazing! Respect. Much respect. Oh, and let’s not be too angry about just letting the two humans go. Don’t they say blessings only come when you show mercy to others? And there’s no need to be so annoyed that you couldn’t catch them. The emperor’s a little too strong for a human, you see.”

The branches of the World Tree trembled as if irritated by the spirit’s prattling.

[You. Are. Noisy.]

Aled clicked its tongue and endeavored to change the subject. “Well, now that we’re alone, let’s just talk openly. What did you scheme with the Archwitch? What the heck did you do”—Aled waved a hand and summoned a strong gust—“for you, the World Tree, to end up like this?”

The strong wind blasted in the darkness and caused the World Tree to sway wildly, revealing the rotten branches beneath its shaking leaves. Silence descended between the two, before the World Tree’s voice rang out once more.

[Are. You. Curious?]

* * *

The World Tree gazed across its dominion, in which peace had finally been restored. The boisterous spirit that had been making noise had departed. Recalling how the spirit had madly scurried off, having been drained of its color so much that not a trace of its original green complexion remained, put the World Tree in a good mood. And that wasn’t the only thing that the tree was happy about.

[I. Said. It.]

The World Tree had shared things only it had known with another for the first time in a long time.

Time was a meaningless construct to the mythical being, but even the World Tree found it displeasing to have to witness the repeated failure of events. With each world’s failure, the blood of Eugendiph would become a world-devouring poison, and since the branches of the tree touched all the worlds in existence, it too became affected by the poison, which spread and caused its branches to rot.

The World tree surveyed what little remained of its unrotten trunk and thought back to the last visit by the Archwitch. While they were both powerful beings, unlike the World Tree, she had powerful emotions.