“Mo, Mom?!”
Startled by the suddenly hostile atmosphere, Sedina cried out.
“Wh-what are you doing? Why are you... doing this to the teacher...?”
“Step aside. This is an issue between me and that man.”
Ella spoke without taking her eyes off Ludger.
Sedina’s eyes widened at those words, clearly shocked. But soon, she hardened her expression and stood as if to guard in front of Ludger.
“What are you doing? Move aside.”
“I cannot! Did you forget? Teacher is the benefactor who saved me!”
“Yes. I am grateful for that much.”
“Then why are you doing this?!”
“Gratitude is gratitude, but this is a separate matter. My daughter may have grown a lot, but on this point, she is still naive.”
Just as Sedina was about to argue further, Ludger stepped forward and spoke.
“Stop, Sedina. There is no need for you to get involved.”
“Teacher...”
Sedina opened and closed her lips, but eventually stepped back.
Ella looked slightly surprised at how easily her daughter backed down.
Ludger’s refusal to seek help from her daughter was also unexpected.
Was he unafraid of death?
“You are strict in your daughter’s upbringing.”
“I do not want my only child to be harassed by some scoundrel.”
“Scoundrel, is it? Are you talking about me?”
“Who else could it be but you?”
Ella glared at Ludger, her eyes sharp with not a single step of retreat.
“Why is a bloodline of the Bretus Theocracy with my daughter?”
So that was it.
It was only natural that she reacted this sensitively because of that.
Ludger could not help but accept that reasoning.
“Even if you try to deceive me, it is useless. From the moment you entered this place, I had already read your data.”
“So it was that, after all. But I had no intention of deceiving you to begin with.”
“I do like that boldness. Then let me ask again. What is your bloodline’s purpose with me? No, for what scheme did you approach my daughter? Was what happened 500 years ago not enough?”
“That is precisely the point.”
“What?”
Ella demanded an explanation.
“That incident 500 years ago. And the whereabouts of the fragment somewhere within the World Tree. I came to ask about that.”
“You...”
Ella stared silently at Ludger.
But Ludger did not avert his eyes.
“If you read my data, then you already know.”
In the end, it was Ella who yielded first.
As she let out a sigh, the chains binding Ludger melted away into the air.
Ludger rubbed at the spots where he had been restrained.
“So, has the misunderstanding been cleared?”
“Not completely. It is only that I see no reason to keep you bound if we are simply talking.”
“That is enough.”
“Then, since it is strange to keep calling you only ‘teacher,’ your name?”
“Ludger Cherish.”
“Ludger Cherish, is it. That is the name you use ‘now.’ You have, in effect, discarded your real name.”
“You can even tell that much?”
“Coming here means you resonated with the World Tree. Which means your mind is connected with this place. Even if I do not try, I naturally come to know.”
Ella added that it did not mean she knew all of his memories, so he need not worry.
“It is hard to know what to point out first. That there exists a human capable of mental resonance with the World Tree at all is shocking enough... and that he is of the bloodline of the Bretus Theocracy, no less.”
“If you saw the information, then you should understand. Considering my origin and constitution, it is not strange.”
“Yes. Matters concerning the divine.”
Knowing that Ludger was from Bretus, Ella’s lips curved into a faint, subtle smile.
“I thought countless years had passed, yet to be tied to it again like this. Is this fate, I wonder. That even after death, one cannot escape destiny—such a sorrowful thing.”
“I have read many records. And I also heard that you were the very one who, 500 years ago, tried to increase the World Trees.”
“Yes. That was me. But I failed miserably.”
“And the reason was the demons’ assault.”
“What? You even know that?”
Ella’s face twisted into incredulity.
That a bloodline of the Holy Sovereign of Bretus knew of past events was already absurd—yet he even knew of matters involving demons.
“You have not read that far into the data yet? The one who fought that demon was me.”
“...Wait.”
Ella closed her eyes, as if to verify whether what he said was true.
A few seconds later, when she opened them again, shock was clear in her gaze.
“So it takes you quite some time to read it.”
“...What on earth are you?”
“It is as I said. Though I may be of the bloodline of the Holy Sovereign of Bretus, I grew sick of it and fled. Yet cursed fate would not let me go.”
“And so you came here to ask me about what happened 500 years ago?”
“Yes. I needed to confirm exactly what took place.”
Ella Plante ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) let out a soft sigh.
That the teacher who saved her daughter was of the bloodline of the Holy Sovereign of Bretus was shocking. That he had entered the World Tree was shocking. And that he even had a purpose with her.
So much had happened in such a short time that she needed a moment to gather her thoughts.
“...Very well. There is no reason for me not to tell you. Follow me.”
Ella immediately turned her back.
As Ludger silently watched her departing figure, Sedina cautiously asked,
“Are you not going?”
“I am. Ah, do I need to hold your hand again?”
“...!”
Sedina darted forward with quick steps, almost fleeing from Ludger’s teasing, and stood at Ella’s side.
Ludger shrugged lightly and followed after the two.
As they walked, the beautiful scenery faded away, replaced by the space filled with green letters that had appeared when he first entered.
“This feels a bit desolate, does it not?”
With a snap of Ella’s fingers, the space twisted.
The green data gathered together, clustered, and began to form shapes.
In an instant, the scenery transformed into an orchard brimming with fruits.
Though outwardly it looked like that, its substance was unchanged.
Both the trees and the fruits upon them were clusters of data.
But as Ludger observed more closely, he noticed something peculiar.
Some fruits displayed full, luscious ripeness, while others were blackened, discolored, or rotten.
Noticing his gaze, Sedina explained in his stead.
“Those are corrupted information.”
“Corrupted?”
“Yes. Some of the data stored within the World Tree was heavily damaged by malicious code. That is how it manifests.”
“The remnants Ventmin scattered.”
“Many have been restored, but not all. They will not vanish completely, but recovering them will take a long time.”
The deeper into the orchard they went, the greater the number of rotten or spoiled fruits became.
“It does not feel very pleasant. Do not tell me the data I am searching for has been lost as well?”
“You will not know until you see.”
Leading the way, Ella stopped before a certain tree.
Unlike the others in the orchard, this one was very small.
It could have been called a sapling, with thin, bare branches—and at their end, a single red fruit hung.
“Fortunate. Should I call it luck? This data, at least, remains intact and uncorrupted.”
“That is...”
“Yes. That is the fruit which holds the event you so desperately sought from 500 years ago.”
Ella gently brushed the surface of the fruit of memory with her hand.
Her eyes, fixed on the fruit, carried countless tangled emotions.
Naturally so.
It was the spark that triggered the downfall of the Plante family.
And along with the Elven Kingdom, it was the unprecedented disaster that destroyed the former kingdom of the Exilion Empire.
To gaze upon the fruit that contained such a failed past could not possibly feel pleasant.
“To think I would come across this again. One truly never knows what the world has in store.”
“...Mother.”
“I always wanted to ignore it, but it was still a past I was bound to face again someday. Someone had to know.”
Ella looked back and forth between Ludger and Sedina.
“Are you ready?”
As both nodded, Ella, with a resolute expression, plucked the fruit from the tree.
The crimson fruit scattered into powder.
And upon closer look, what seemed to be dust was in fact tiny letters.
The bright red data rose like a sandstorm and swallowed the surroundings.
As the dust-like data settled, a new scene unfolded—a massive underground cavern.
“This place...”
Ludger’s eyes gleamed at the familiar sight.
A vast cavern beneath the capital of the Exilion Empire, Lindebrune.
There, a World Tree was sprouting.
It could rightly be called a sapling of the World Tree.
Yet even so, its size was immense, reaching up to the cavern’s towering ceiling.
“If that were to fully grow, it would pierce through to the surface and stand tall right in the heart of the capital.”
Ludger looked at Ella and asked,
“For what purpose did you attempt to increase the World Trees?”
When he first heard about multiplying World Trees, the thought was simple enough.
It was merely a little surprising that they would want to increase the number of trees they worshipped.
Little was known about the World Trees, but at the time, he thought of them as nothing more than big trees.
But after what had happened in the kingdom, Ludger’s view had changed entirely.
“To increase something like that? It’s nothing short of madness.”
A fully awakened World Tree could easily destroy an entire nation.
Thinking of what Ventmin had tried, Ludger concluded it could influence the whole continent.
Academia described World Trees as ancient trees of the old era.
But in Ludger’s eyes, they were nothing less than highly dangerous super-biological weapons.
“Did you mean to rule the world?”
“I suppose it might look that way.”
At Ludger’s question, Ella only offered a bitter smile.
“As you can see, the World Tree possesses will. It can think, it has emotions. In truth, it is a being with personality—no, something even higher. But don’t you find it strange? Why does a being capable of thought not wield its own power according to its will?”
“Because of restraints, perhaps?”
“And who do you think imposed those restraints?”
Ludger turned his gaze to the World Tree, as if in disbelief.
“Do you mean... it restrained itself?”
“This child is far too kind, loving nature deeply. That’s why it suppresses its vast power, curls in on itself, and spends most of its existence asleep.”
“To restrain its power and lie dormant for the sake of the natural order. That’s like...”
“Like an Elemental Lord, is it not?”
At Ella’s piercing words, Ludger let out a short sigh.
The World Tree was not a spirit.
Yet by her description, calling it the Elemental Lord of trees would not be inappropriate.
“The World Tree spent its existence suppressing itself, living in stillness and self-denial, but because it has self-awareness, thoughts arose that could not be stopped.”
“What thoughts?”
“That it is lonely.”
Ah.
That sound escaped Sedina’s lips.
Having touched the World Tree herself, she could also feel its will.
The immense self within it carried that single emotion, and Ella’s words reminded her of it once more.
“To stand alone, forever and ever, without another of its kind—that is too cruel a fate for the World Tree. Everyone revered it, but none regarded it as equal. For thousands of years it lived on, not leaning on anything, but only serving as something to be leaned upon.”
“So... you tried to give it a friend.”
“Correct. The elves say our Plante family betrayed the World Tree’s will. But the truth is different.”
Why did the family that worshipped the World Tree try to increase them?
The answer to that question was startlingly simple.
Because the World Tree itself desired it.
Those who served the World Tree merely obeyed its will.
“Then why keep it secret?”
Because of that, the Plante family became traitors, and most of its elves were massacred.
If this had been truly the will of the World Tree, they could have declared it openly and acted without shame.
If the World Tree itself had said so, no elf could have argued.
Yet Ella had chosen the human kingdom instead of the elves.
“So there was another reason.”
At Sedina’s question, Ella nodded.
That gesture brought Ludger back to the way she had been so wary of him before.
Could it be...
“The Lumenis Church. And the Bretus Theocracy behind it.”
The words spilled out almost instinctively, but they were essentially correct.
Ella gave no verbal confirmation, but her reaction was already answer enough.
The scenery shifted.
The World Tree that had been sprouting spread its roots across the entire cavern.
By all rights, another World Tree should have successfully taken root.
But what happened after, Ludger already knew well.
It had failed.
Because of the demon Basara.
The scene changed again, and Basara appeared.
In his original body, Basara unleashed devastation upon the kingdom and its surroundings with his authority.
Despair, pain, frustration, fear, hatred, unease—
The capital was thrown into chaos as every negative emotion boiled over, and countless mages, knights, and elves of the Plante family perished.
Yet after a desperate battle, they succeeded in sealing the demon Basara within the World Tree.
Even as he was sealed, Basara struggled to escape, leaving behind human-like figures imprinted in the roots, grotesquely twisted as though sculpted by an artist announcing the end of the world.
With Basara’s appearance, Ella Plante and the ancient kingdom’s plan was ruined.
But there were those who drove the final nail.
The scenery changed again, and into the chaos-stricken kingdom marched paladins clad in pure white armor.
“The Bretus Theocracy.”
Five hundred years ago.
The Bretus Theocracy, known then as the greatest power ruling the continent, had dispatched a vast army.
At the head of that force stood a woman.
She wore white ceremonial robes with a hood pulled low, but Ludger could see.
Ash-gray hair spilling from beneath the hood.
And eyes that sparkled as if holding starlight.