Chapter 776: World Tree of Samar.
"And does that bother you?"
"Why should I care about the opinions of insignificant people?" Victor said, creating an Ice Throne and sitting on it. Leaning back, he added, "Life is too short to worry about others' opinions. Be true to yourself and ignore people who pretend to care about you when they actually don't. That's a much better and less stressful way to live life. That's a lesson my dear Mother taught me from a young age."
"She is a wise woman," the woman commented.
"Indeed, she is," Victor nodded.
Branches began to grow before the woman, and soon a Throne made of trees was formed. She sat on the Throne in a rather noble manner and looked back at Victor.
"Isn't it rude to not appear in a conversation between World Trees, my younger sister?"
Maya, Volk, Tasha, and Hassan were confused to hear the woman's words to Victor, but their confusion soon disappeared when they saw a woman with long red hair appear by Victor's side.
Everyone, without exception, upon seeing and feeling the woman's Power, immediately understood that she was a World Tree. Upon knowing this fact, they immediately looked at Victor in shock.
'It's no wonder he can harness so much Negative Energy... This woman is the source of his Powers,' Volk thought.
The first action Roxanne took when appearing in front of her older sister was to look at a specific part of the woman. Upon seeing that she was much larger than her sister, Roxanne put on an arrogant smile and huffed, causing her breasts to sway from side to side, up and down.
The green-haired woman dangerously narrowed her eyes at the sight of her younger sister's smile. She felt a slight irritation at her sister's attitude but didn't react much to the matter. After all, she didn't care about such 'trivial' matters. She was already a very old woman...
Upon seeing those "balls of flesh" swaying with each of Roxanne's movements, an even deeper irritation began to grow within the woman. However, she never broke her impassive expression.
Suddenly, Roxanne's arrogance disappeared, and she assumed a neutral expression. She held her red dress and presented herself in a noble fashion:
"My name is Roxanne Alucard, Wife of Victor Alucard, The Demon King of The Biblical Hell and The Second Progenitor of Vampires... I am also known as The World Tree of Negativity of Nightingale." Roxanne lied as easily as she breathed about the last part. She had long ceased to be connected to Nightingale. In practical terms, Roxanne was Victor's World Tree, not Nightingale's.
Roxanne's words left everyone in a silence of complete incredulity. Not even Roxanne's "sister" expected to hear those words. Unconsciously, everyone couldn't help but look at Victor.
'... He... This... This man married a damn World Tree?' Volk had never heard such nonsense in his life. Yes, the two World Trees before him were beautiful, but... They were unattainable Beings for any Mortal or God. Not even Odin himself managed to form a relationship with The World Tree of Earth. That was definitive proof of how unattainable they were... At least, that's what he thought until witnessing this scene before him.
The Demon King had the ability to make the impossible a reality.
'Why him?... Why is it always this man?' Volk felt envy in this moment. A feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time.
Roxanne's existence gave Maya and Tasha a new perspective on how "powerful" The Demon King was. And the results? His Power was off the charts.
Being connected to a World Tree capable of generating enough Energy to sustain an entire planet was something that defied common sense. They were like inexhaustible Energy batteries.
Yes, they might have a limit to the release of said Energy at any one moment, but the "quantity" of that Energy these Beings possessed was immeasurable.
Noticing the silence around her, the woman with long green hair rose from her Throne and introduced herself in a very similar manner to Roxanne.
"My name is Aurora Seraphina Evergreen, The World Tree of Positivity of Samar... And this is:" The woman now known as Aurora looked to the side, and Red Energy began to appear beside her.
Soon, a little girl with black hair, red eyes, and wearing a dark red dress appeared.
"Aria Seraphina Evergreen, my younger sister and the newly born World Tree of Negativity of Samar."
The first Being to step on a planet was a World Tree of Positivity. Through a process that could last millions of years, this Tree would give birth to life throughout the planet. And when sentient Beings began to be born, the counterpart of The World Tree of Positivity would slowly form, namely The World Tree of Negativity.
Essentially, they were the same entity but, at the same time, separate. They are independent of each other, but also not. This complexity was what a World Tree represented.
"..." The little girl nodded to everyone but didn't say anything. It was as if she couldn't even speak.
"Why is she so small? Doesn't she know how to speak? That's strange. She should have been more developed by now," Roxanne asked.
"Yes, she still can't speak, and yes, she is small. The reason for that is a World Tree takes millions of years to develop, especially a World Tree of Negativity that requires the Negative Energy of Beings to feed upon and grow. The strange one here is you, Roxanne. Why are you already an adult?"
"Despite Nightingale being an older planet than Samar and already having its own inhabitants, you shouldn't be an adult yet," Aurora explained. She could understand if Roxanne were The World Tree of Positivity since they emerged first, and without their Energy, life on the planet could not exist. But Roxanne wasn't that Tree, so why was she already an adult?
Victor looked curiously at the little girl and, with his Dragon Eyes, saw a small red thread connecting the heads of Aria and Aurora.
'They're connected...' Victor looked at Roxanne and saw a similar thread on her head, but it was much thicker and more robust, and this thread was connected to his own head.
He looked back at Aurora and saw an even smaller thread, shared by Aria, leading towards Fenrir's head, who had fallen back asleep. It was clear that he was bored with the entire encounter.
Victor looked at Aurora again and saw a thick thread, similar to the one Roxanne had, coming out from Aurora's feet and heading toward the ground. He could see the same thick thread coming out from Aria's feet and heading towards the ground.
'Interesting... So that's how it works.' It was only when Victor saw another World Tree that he realized how abnormal he was. Yes, sustaining a World Tree's existence was not normal, and he knew that. Everyone said so, and a similar situation has never been recorded in the history books.
Even Ancient Goddesses like Aphrodite, who was a sociable Goddess and always liked to stay informed about everything that was happening, had never heard of a case like his. He already knew he was abnormal. But only now did he realize the extent of that abnormality.
'An existence that can sustain an entire planet, huh.'
This entire process of thinking and actions occurred in a matter of seconds. Victor's reaction was so quick that to everyone around him, it seemed like he was simply standing there, doing nothing.
Before Roxanne could say anything, Victor spoke, grabbing the attention of everyone present.
"That's my fault."
"Your fault?" Aurora questioned.
"Yes, indeed." Victor bent his knee and rested his head in his hands.
"My dear Roxanne was just a dangerous Tree when I found her... Nowadays, she has become much more deadly."
Roxanne smiled sweetly upon hearing Victor's words.
Aurora narrowed her eyes slightly as she noticed the way Victor chose his words. It was obvious that he was deflecting the subject, but she decided not to delve into it and let it go.
"I understand... You have the ability to evolve a World Tree into its adult form. You're even more frightening than I initially thought, Alucard."
Victor smiled. "You flatter me, my dear, but I'm not that special; I was just in the right place at the right time. If it weren't me, Roxanne could have chosen someone else. I'm the lucky one."
And that smile caught Aurora completely off guard. She stared at him intensely for a few seconds and quickly regained her composure. Even as a World Tree, she was not immune to Victor's natural charm.
"Humph, you underestimate yourself, Darling. I wouldn't have chosen to do what I did if, even in my child form, I didn't know that I could trust you. Never underestimate the instincts of a World Tree that senses the negative emotions of a Being," Roxanne huffed, visibly upset by what she heard.
"Really...?"
"Of course. Do you doubt me?" Roxanne dangerously narrowed her eyes.
"Of course not~." Victor chuckled softly and pulled Roxanne onto his lap.
"Kyaa~!"
"W-Wait, Darling. My sister is here~."
"Haan~!"
"Why are you acting like I'm doing something strange? I'm just petting your head." Victor raised an eyebrow with amusement in his voice, stopping his head caresses.
"Humph, you underestimate the power of your caresses, Darling." Roxanne huffed and rested her head against his chest.
Victor chuckled gently and continued what he was doing before. Roxanne's body visibly shivered, but she didn't moan like before as she just closed her eyes and enjoyed the caresses. She seemed very comfortable...
Everyone at that moment felt as if they had eaten dog shit. Did they have to do that in front of them? Were they showing off their good relationship to the world?
Except for Fenrir, who was sleeping without a care in the world, everyone around them felt extremely uncomfortable.
Especially Tasha and Maya, who internally wished for something like that as well, but would never admit it.
Aurora's eyes glowed slightly with a bright green color. She wondered if her younger sister had appeared just to humiliate her.
Aria looked at Aurora and tilted her head at a 90-degree angle, a little confused. She wondered why she was feeling so many negative emotions coming from her sister... After thinking for a few seconds and not finding an answer, she gave up. After all, it wasn't important. Those emotions nourished her, so it was alright, right?
"Can you... be civilized? Aren't we here for a conversation?" Aurora asked.
"Hmm?" Victor looked at Aurora with curiosity. "Actually, our conversation has already ended."
"... Huh?"
"From the moment you and my Wife introduced yourselves, the conversation was over."
"... Wait, I don't understand what you're saying."
"Am I speaking a foreign language, Roxanne?" Victor asked.
"No, you're not," Roxanne replied.
"Hmm..." Victor looked back at Aurora as if she were stupid. How could she not understand something so simple?
"Don't look at me like that! I'm saying that I don't understand why our conversation is over!"
"Huh? Isn't it obvious?"
"What?"
"I have already finished my business in Samar. I even had a good fight and made a new friend. Your appearance was interesting... But that's it, nothing surprising." Victor spoke casually.
"....." An incredulous silence hung around.
Everyone was speechless by what they had just heard.
Especially Aurora. She was a World Tree, after all. She nourished this entire planet! She was important! Why was he treating her like this?
Somehow, Aurora felt a strong urge to hit Victor now.
"My main purpose here now is to take that man with me to teach my people the Art of Assassination," Victor pointed at Hassan. "And to wait for my Wife to finish her business." He explained.
While the silence persisted around them, a conversation was happening in Victor's mind.
[What are you doing, Darling? You know how important she is to us, right?]
[Yes, but I need to deflate her ego a bit.]
[Why?]
[With just one look, I can tell that she has been treated as a superior existence that should be worshiped by everyone in Samar. That treatment is justifiable since she is a World Tree that nourishes an entire planet. But you can't have a proper conversation with someone like that because they will always try to assert themselves in one way or another... And, as you know, I don't react well to those kinds of people.]
[Hmm~... So, you're acting as if she's not important.]
[Yes... As an older World Tree who was worshiped by one of the powers, The Werewolf Faction, she may know things that you don't. It would be very useful if we could get close to her, but she has to lower her guard first. She has to see us as equals. Even though she said I was an anomaly before, she still sees herself as superior to all of us.]
[The way she called me her younger sister made that quite obvious, huh.] Roxanne pointed out. As equal Beings, Roxanne's Powers could not influence Aurora, which meant Roxanne's Powers of sensing Beings were not working on the green-haired woman.
But that didn't mean she was completely helpless. She may not have the same keen observation skills as Victor, but she wasn't foolish.
Of course, the same applied to Aurora. Her Powers of sensing positive emotions didn't work on Roxanne either.
This limitation did not extend to Victor; after all, he was Blessed by The Goddess of Love herself, whose Divinity was at its strongest state currently.
There were few things that Victor could not sense, and among those exceptions was Fenrir himself.
In fact, nothing seemed to work on Fenrir. As a Being of The END, anything that tried to interfere with him was simply erased from existence.
[Yes.] Victor nodded.
[Mm... I'll leave this matter in your hands.] Roxanne said.
The silence lasted for a few minutes until Aurora sighed and said something that caught Victor and Roxanne by surprise.
"Demon King, you really are a difficult individual to deal with... Much more difficult than I initially expected." She had never felt this feeling before, the feeling of not being important. It was worth noting that she didn't quite like the sensation.
"Oh?"
"Demon King... I didn't appear before you for no reason. After all, I prefer to live my life in peace than to risk exposing myself and my little sister." She spoke while caressing Aria's head.
"I came to bargain with you."
Victor raised an eyebrow with interest. "And what do you want from me?"
Aurora's next words caught Victor and Roxanne entirely off guard.
"An alliance... An alliance between you and me, in exchange for providing inside information about the other world trees. I want you to protect my planet."