Volume 2 - CH 285

Chapter 0285 World Tree

Translator: Tseirp

Ryo built a 300-meter ice bridge without any problems and the Kingdom mission successfully crossed it.

“Okay, Ryo, just erase the bridge.”

Hugh said after confirming that everyone had crossed over.

“Huh? Are you sure? But the missions from the other countries will be behind us …”

“Is it? I don’t know anything.”

He was probably still holding a grudge against being forced to take the lead through the conspiracy of the former emperor and the former king…

Well, with the power of the Empire and the Union, it would be possible to get the earth attribute magicians to build a bridge, so he just wanted to make them suffer a little.

“It will buy us some time, and in the meantime, we will conclude a trade treaty that is more advantageous to the Kingdom than to the Empire or the Union.”

It was never Hugh’s personal resentment or narrow-mindedness.

It was a decision made for the sake of the country!

“You old farts, former emperor and former king, don’t look down on me. Putting in some effort will be good for your old bones.”

… Maybe for the sake of the country.

After crossing the ice bridge, the mission continued to move.

Room 10 and the members of Room 11, whom they are in charge of, were protecting the rearmost part of the mission just like before the river crossing.

However, two priests among them, Etho and Zeke, were looking around while walking with something in their hands.

Naturally, Ryo saw that scene and became curious.

“Etho, Zeke, what are you holding in your hands?”

Rather than their act of looking around, he seemed to be more interested in what they were holding.

That’s because it looked like a booklet made by bundling dozens of sheets of paper and binding them with thread.

“This? This is a summary of the places the mission will visit. The Kingdom has a tradition of making something like this and distributing one to each party when sending a large number of long-distance envoys. I heard it’s an old tradition from the days of King Richard.”

“I heard it is called a ‘travel guide’.”

Etho and Zeke answered while showing the booklet.

“Travel guide…”

What a non-fantasy word…

The idea stank of a reincarnated person… or rather, King Richard was definitely a reincarnated person … Ryo’s premonition turned into conviction.

It was like a school trip booklet…

“So, what were you looking around with that travel guide in one hand?”

“Yeah. According to this, we should be able to see the ‘World Tree’ soon. It’s supposed to be such a huge tree that it appears to prop up the sky, so it should be easily visible and we’re looking for it, but I can’t see it.”

“While there are many trees on the left and right sides of the road, but I was just talking with Etho-san that it’s strange that the World Tree can’t be seen.”

Ryo asked a question, and Etho and Zeke answered that it was strange that they couldn’t see the World Tree.

By the way, it appeared that the four other swordsmen were not interested in the World Tree at all.

Etho, Zeke, and the other four… Looking at the contrast, Ryo thought deeply about the reason for the existence of intellectual curiosity…

When Ryo looked around, quite a few adventurers were walking around with booklets, looking around.

Perhaps they were also trying to see the World Tree.

However, they couldn’t seem to find anything that looked like a World Tree.

“Maybe it’s dried up…”

Ryo mutters.

In general, when people talk about the World Tree on Earth, it refers to Yggdrasil, which appears in Norse mythology.

In the third scene of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung, part 4, ‘Twilight of the Gods’, the god Odin makes a spear from a branch of the World Tree, but in the end, the world tree Yggdrasil withered.

A World Tree that withers due to the actions of gods.

What a suggestive scene!

“People are stupid, but God is stupid too…”

Ryo shook his head slightly, looked to the side, and continued.

“Niels too…”

“Yeah, Ryo, choose your next words carefully, okay?”

Niels, who was walking beside Ryo and listening to the line “People are stupid~” said while putting his hand on his sword.

“Niels too… has become similar to Abel.”

“Long live King Abel!”

Even if it wasn’t as fast as Abel’s sword draw, Ryo understood that he was at a disadvantage at this distance.

Niels is a B-rank swordsman… he had to be careful!

At the rear of the mission, such a scene was unfolding.

At the front.

The leader, Hugh McGrath, who was usually in the lead carriage, was visiting the second carriage.

The second carriage was ridden by the chief negotiator who oversees a hundred civil officials.

“Ignis, are you sure about this report about the ruler of Ayteke-Bo?”

“Ah, Leader. Yes, I’m almost 100% sure. It’s not just from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Intelligence Department, it’s also consistent with the information from Lord Heinlein.”

“I see~”

Chief Negotiator Ignis Hagrid.

The second son of the Marquis Hope family, a large aristocrat in the West, and a high-ranking bureaucrat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the past, he served as a negotiator in the mission to Twilight Land, and in the battle for the liberation of the Kingdom, he persuaded his father, Marquis Hope, to quickly join King Abel. An excellent man who succeeded in making the Marquis of Hope’s prestige clearer in the subsequent Kingdom than ever before.

He looks like a person who is always smiling and is very easy to talk to, but he also has a very quick mind.

“Lord Zuransu, the lord of Ayteke-Bo, seems to be self-conceited … so the negotiations will be difficult. It may be difficult to conclude a treaty in favor of the Kingdom before the Empire and Union catch up.”

“Seems like it~”

Hugh frowned at Ignis’s calm remark.

When he first read the report, he thought it would be so, but he couldn’t help but feel even more depressed when the person in charge of negotiations agreed.

“Okay. We’ll at least occupy all the inns with the Kingdom’s mission. The Empire and the Union are going to be camping outside the city!”

Hearing Hugh’s words, even Ignis couldn’t help but smile bitterly.