CH 298.1

The water in the lake overflowed as a result of one of the giant branches of the World Tree falling, creating a very high tidal wave that spread out in all directions. The water was then pulled by gravity and receded into the lake along with all the other things it had swallowed.

「What the hell happened!?」

Crawling out of the mud, the people of the elven village asked while looking up at the World Tree, which has lost its light. But no one can give an answer.

Most of them were swept away along with their houses while they were sleeping.

「Let’s go ask the high elf lords. Besides, we’re also going to need some help here」

After applying low-rank healing magic to themselves and their surroundings, they nod to each other and walk away. The destination is the high elves’ mansion built into the trunk of the World Tree.

They struggle through the mud and debris-filled ground with a ball of light floating above their heads and then call out in unison.

「Please show yourselves High Elves-sama! Please rescue us and tell us what happened!」

Look up from the ground and repeatedly shouted to the mansion high above. But only the guards showed their faces, and the High Elves didn’t appear.

There is only one reason. They were too busy dealing with the big incident that put them in danger.

「Killed? Every single one of them?」

The vice-chairman with hunched shoulders runs down the stairs to the inner room, his face blood red. When he steps into the hall with the guards, he finds the bodies of six people who have lost only their heads.

The high elves following them all gulp with grim expressions.

「Who did this!?」

He turned around and asked the guards, but they just shook their heads. They said they found them on his regular duty of delivering refreshments.

(….No way. Are you saying that the attack on the World Tree was a diversion?)

They drew their attention to the Knight at the lake, and while they were there, they broke into this room at the innermost part of the World Tree and killed them. And then somehow activated that self-destructive magic.

The acting chairman, his forehead creased with a deep frown, ponders his thoughts.

(The attack of the Knight at the Lake has not reached the World Tree.)

The magical barrier of the World Tree remained intact to the end. Then, the cause of the ice mass came from inside.

(Looks like I underestimated the knowledge that royalty has about the Magi Charter.)

I must admit. We don’t know about that self-destructive magic.

One of the giant branches fell due to the mass of ice that was gradually building up. It has stopped growing for now, but it is hard to imagine that this is the end.

And the survivors of the royal family have left the place without being seen.

(I guess they have completed their objective.)

In other words, the World Tree is no more. And the Spirit Cannon won’t be able to shoot anymore.

(…It’s the end, huh)

The power drains from the mind and body in one fell swoop. He was smart enough to see further than others.

The high elves are shouting and crowding the guards, while the acting chairman leans his back against the wall and slinks back down to the floor.

「Who is in charge of the security?! Don’t think you can escape this responsibility.」

「Find out who did this! Catch them now!」

The sound of the guards’ footsteps running up the stairs, and now that they are alone with only fellow high elves in the room, they begin to discuss the reactivation of the Spirit Cannon.

Hearing their voices in the distance, the Acting Chairman thinks absentmindedly.

(That’s useless now. We have no chance of winning)

There is only one possible option. There is no salvation for the High Elves, but if they’re thinking for the Elves, it is the only way.

He closed his eyes with resignation, and the very answer he had been thinking about came to his ears in the form of words.

「We give up ourselves to the survivors of the elven royal family.」

When I opened my eyes with surprise, my colleagues were also looking back toward the entrance.

Standing leaning against the wall was the Chairman, not a substitute. It was the High Elf, who had been recuperating from a heart attack that had left him coughing up blood.

His forehead was sweating profusely and his breathing was ragged. He must have managed to get down here by pushing his weakened body.

「We are enemies now, but we are the same elven race. If we take the blame, the people of our village will be saved.」

If we are to protect the standing of the elven race, we must not lose the best magical resources in the world. Then there is only one way to proceed.

The Chairman, who had reached the same opinion, sat on the floor and stared at me. He could hear his colleagues’ doubts, which he had also anticipated.

「If we take the blame, what will happen to us?」

The Chairman opens his mouth with a grim look on his pained expression.

「They’ll probably burn our ears and bury us alive in the ground.」

『Absolutely not!』, they cried out loudly. The hunched-shouldered high elf exhaled from the bottom of his lungs.

He knew what the reaction would be, but he couldn’t say it out loud.

「This is for the good of the elven race. Do your duty as high elves.」

The chairman’s eyes and words grow sharper as he tells everyone. The high elves strongly refuse, but the chairman’s spirit is pushing them to the edge.

As they seek help, a savior appears from behind the Chairman.

「I understand now. So you were the traitor huh.」

It was the old man who was as thin as a dead tree. His eyes are wide with hatred, and he is holding a wand against the back of the chairman’s head.

From what he said earlier, it can be imagined that he thinks it was the Chairman who has brought the enemy in. Perhaps he even suspects him of having a hand in the murder.

「You’re wrong. Listen to my story first!」

He said, but couldn’t bring himself to turn around. The white light of Light Arrow shot through the Chairman’s chest and made a huge hole.

And a stream of red blood shot up to the high ceiling and dripped down to the floor.

「…..」

Silence fills the room at the sudden act of ferocity. The old man, who was as thin as a dead tree, looked around at his colleagues and asked everyone in a quiet tone.

「What’s wrong? Have you all been misled by the words of this filthy traitor?」

The high elves backed away and shook their heads from side to side. Seeing them, the commander of the elven knight order bends the corner of his mouth upward.

「If you kill, you win; if you die, you lose. It’s that simple. The fight is not over yet.」

He steps forward, holds the body of the old pharmacist woman who has lost her head in a princess carry and walks straight out of the room.

After a long silence, the high elves followed after him like a funeral procession. They must have decided that the only way to avoid being buried alive was to follow the commander of the elven knight order.

All that remained in the room were the dead bodies of the chairman and others, as well as the acting Chairman, who was sitting on the floor.

***

It is late afternoon under the summer sunlight in the royal capital.

I am currently heading to the Knight’s hangar today, hoping to meet the Herbivore mechanic I missed the other day.

(The World Tree huh)

Last night, Zaratan told me that the medicinal herb tree in our garden had been transformed into a World Tree. I was very surprised and wondered what to do, but the answer I got was that it 『would have no particular effect』.

『Deliver potions, ride the guild’s Knight, and use the money earned to play at brothels』

Nowhere in this daily life cycle does the World Tree come in.

(Well, it looks like the tree in our garden wasn’t the only one, so we’ll just have to make the other World Trees out there do their best.)

That fact saved me greatly. Because I’ve decided to live however I want comfortably, I wanted to be spared from having something that is the only one in the world or anything like that.

I arrived just in time and immediately went to see the Herbivore mechanic. The slender young man was staring at a ten-meter-long rifle on the floor.