Chapter 204 : Chapter 204
Chapter 204
"I was planning to leave for the capital right away, but a short errand has come up."
We were just about to leave the city.
"Let's go see the Tree Depository here."
"Tree Depository?"
"A place where they keep trees. It's a facility only found in central Schmeizen."
I said, fastening my clothes.
It's winter.
Walking around in winter in Schmeizen without an overcoat is tantamount to suicide.
"Normally, outsiders can't see it, but it seems Guard Captain Pound took a liking to us. He said he could show it to us for a moment."
"Let's do that."
Amethus nodded.
Yulan did the same.
None of them would defy my words.
Amethus served me as his master, and Yulan, still like a child, simply followed where I led.
The Tree Depository was outside the city.
There was no roof, only a high wall standing in a circle to prevent the inside from being seen.
Following Pound down the single path, it was a short walk.
The weather was cold.
Yulan let out a curious exclamation at the sight of his white breath.
However, he didn't run around excitedly like he did yesterday.
The first calamity, 'Mimic Crumb'.
Ever since hearing the story of the calamity that befell Schmeizen, Yulan had seemed somewhat gloomy.
He also appeared to be concerned for the people.
"We haven't had much use for the Tree Depository lately......"
Pound said, opening the gate.
The thick iron chains and padlock were covered in rust.
"Aren't you coming in, Mr. Pound?"
"I'm sick of it......"
He didn't hide his displeasure.
Guard Captain Pound let out a deep sigh and gestured to me.
It seemed he wanted us to hurry up and look inside.
"We'll be out in a moment. Let's go in."
It was actually a good thing that Pound wasn't joining us.
We wouldn't have to worry about listening ears.
I was already taking out a metal case from my pocket.
It was a magic tool I often used to prevent conversations from leaking out.
Creak, the old gate closed.
On Pound's face as he closed the gate, there was a blatant expression of sadness.
The inside of the Tree Depository was bright even without lighting.
With no roof, the sunlight poured in directly.
"It's just as the name suggests."
I said.
"It's full of trees."
There were rows of dry trees.
Trees of bizarrely twisted shapes lay with their roots pulled out.
Their forms were all different, yet their heights were similar.
They were exactly the size of a person.
"......"
Looking at the trees, Amethus felt a deep sense of unease.
It was an unease close to intuition.
Being a man with exceptionally good intuition, he couldn't help but have questions.
"......Why are you showing us these, Shion?"
"Well. Why do you think so?"
As always, I never gave an easy answer.
I smiled slyly and placed my index finger on my lips.
"Remember? I said the 'Mimic Crumb' creates replicas of humans."
"You did."
"Did you find anything strange?"
"I did."
Amethus answered immediately.
"Snow that mimics humans falls from the sky……. It's a frightening and bizarre event, but is it enough to be called a calamity?"
His jade eyes sharpened.
"Compared to the other calamities, it doesn't feel particularly malicious."
The second calamity, the 'Night of Inversion', swallowed up three cities' worth of people into the Underworld and turned the White Lord into a wreck.
The third calamity, if not for me and Amethus stopping it, would have devastated the entire Bururade Peninsula and given the Empire a pretext for war.
"If it simply creates replicas, and if the replicas think of themselves as people of Schmeizen, then even more so."
"Go on."
"Rather, one could gain military and economic advantages from it."
"That's right."
I nodded.
"The upper echelons of Schmeizen were initially flustered, but they soon began to devise ways to use the 'Mimic Crumb', just as you said."
With the help of Hohopran Magul, they developed methods to distinguish between originals and replicas, and conceived ways to gather the replicas to form an army or use them as a labor force.
"But these replicas have two troublesome characteristics."
I raised a finger.
"The first thing I've already told you. The replicas think they are the originals."
They look, act, and share the same memories as their family.
There aren't many people who can mercilessly abandon such a being.
No matter how much you know they are fake, you can't help but feel sorry for them.
Therefore, immediately after the 'Mimic Crumb' occurred, there were many people who accepted the replicas as members of their families.
This was especially true when methods to distinguish replicas had not yet been established.
Lawyers specializing in the problems that arose after accepting replicas as family members became popular.
"Second, the original and the replica gradually become one entity if they are close to each other."
"...Do they lose their lives that way?"
"Hmm. It becomes a state worse than losing one's life."
"……."
The reason has not been clarified.
The most plausible hypothesis is that the world recognizes them as the same being due to the similarity they share on a spiritual level, but it's not certain.
In any case, it was a characteristic that was particularly effective in stirring up people's minds.
"You have to kill them or drive them out."
People had to deal with the replicas, who looked exactly like their own families, with their own hands.
If they couldn't bring themselves to do it and drove them out, the replicas would come to their doors at night and cry sorrowfully, begging to be let in.
Tragedy befell every household.
The entire nation had no choice but to scream in despair.
"It would have been easier if a monster had appeared, wouldn't it?"
"...I take back what I said. This calamity is the most malicious."
"It preys on people's weakest spots, doesn't it?"
I chuckled.
"But fortunately, the replicas don't live long. No matter what method is used, they completely dry up and turn into trees after about two months."
"...Then this Tree Depository is."
"Yes. A place where they gather the replicas that couldn't be burned."
Yulan, who had been listening quietly, shuddered.
Looking closely at the trees here, there was a pattern on the bark that resembled a human face.
It was proof that they once resembled humans, spoke like humans, and thought they were humans.
"There are facilities like this in every city."
"......This kind of thing......"
Yulan slowly opened his mouth.
"......If it continued for 14 years... the whole country must have fallen ill."
"That's probably right, Yulan. There must be many places festering out of sight."
"...How could this……."
The childlike man looked thoroughly angry.
His clenched fists were even trembling.
"Let's leave now."
I glanced at the dry trees.
"I think we've prepared ourselves mentally enough."
***
"……."
Yulan remained silent for a long time.
He seemed to be enraged by the calamity that preyed on human weakness and felt sympathy for the suffering Schmeizen.
It must have been a great shock to his childlike heart.
Amethus was just as displeased.
If monsters had descended from the sky instead, if the replicas had been the Empire's minions with clear malice, he wouldn't have been so disgusted.
But the replicas created by the 'Mimic Crumb' were overflowing with reasons for sympathy.
They weren't born of their own choosing, and they shared the original's appearance and memories.
Yet, their very existence was harmful.
The Empire's malice made his blood boil.
"...Ruins again."
Amethus, driving the carriage, clicked his tongue.
Just when a small village came into view, it turned out to be uninhabited.
"They say that after the golden snow started falling, all small villages were closed down at the national level. Because they're hard to manage."
"...There must have been a lot of talk."
"It couldn't be helped, Yulan."
Yulan's face was even more somber.
He couldn't understand why he felt so sad.
Seeing that sad face, I kept my mouth shut.
'There's no need to say anything unnecessary, it would only hurt him more.'
I knew how many tragedies the 'Mimic Crumb' had created.
For instance, the story of a village where people, not knowing they were replicas, disposed of the originals and then dried up and died together; the story of parents who, upon seeing a replica of their child who had died from an illness, rejoiced at it as a gift from God, only to have to hold the same child's funeral twice; or the stories of people who, even though they were the originals, could no longer trust themselves.
Every single person in central Schmeizen was obligated to experience these kinds of tragedies.
'Humans finally break down when small pains last for a long time.'
Short, intense pain often tempers humans.
But when seemingly small and ordinary pains persist for a long time, humans become isolated, twisted, and eventually lose their human form. Just as Serena did after losing Poesia, just as Obro Denoebang did…….
I smiled deeply.
I couldn't bear it without pretending to laugh out of sheer anger.
My hatred for the Empire welled up anew.
My heart was seized by flames, and it was agonizingly painful.
But I didn't want to pass this agony on to Amethus or Yulan.
I raised my head and looked far away.
A tall, pointed castle came into view.
"I can see the capital over there."
The capital of the Schmeizen Kingdom, Föhn.
"It should be right across the river."
"Shion."
"Yeah. You felt it, right?"
I chuckled.
Seven flames flickered in my eyes.
Amethus also had a similar jade-colored flame in his eyes.
They had sensed a presence in the forest.
It was so stealthy that an ordinary person would never have noticed, but it couldn't be hidden from me and Amethus.
"To even come out to greet us, the Cordis intelligence agency is so kind."
"Let me go."
"That was the plan. We can't have Yulan getting shocked by seeing my Ars, can we."
Amethus stopped the carriage.
"I'm counting on you, Amethus."
***
Amethus drew his sword and placed the scabbard on the driver's seat.
The blade was a sharp blue, as it was a sword he meticulously cared for every day.
As he held the sword, the presence in the forest grew stronger.
They had realized their ambush had been discovered.
"I am Amethus Aretion."
He jumped down to the ground, holding the double-edged sword.
I looked at Amethus.
An undeniable pride was evident in his smile.
"I say this to you who are still hiding. If you surrender, I will end your lives without pain."
There was no reply.
"I hope you make a wise choice."
The double-edged sword began to move slowly.
"Today, I'm... angry."
As soon as the words fell, humans burst out from between the trees.
Judging by their movements, they were undoubtedly senior agents of the intelligence agency.
There were about thirty of them.
A senior agent of the intelligence agency was a superhuman who could face dozens of soldiers alone.
Thirty such senior agents was a force that could overturn a small nation.
Half of them rushed at Amethus, the other half at the carriage.
It seemed they were forcing a choice upon Amethus.
To protect one side, he would have to lose the other.
However, Amethus had the ability to easily protect both.
His eyes turned a deeper jade,
dyed deep with a natural beauty.
Amethus Aretion's Ars,
'Oracle'.
He sees.
He saw the past and the future simultaneously.
His sword moves as if embroidering the space between the future and the past.
He cut.
Sometimes he stabbed, parried, or swung.
There were agents with daggers, agents who shot darts, and agents who cast magic with a glowing light behind their heads.
Though their attack methods varied, the opponents were not difficult.
They were all human, so they would die if their necks were cut.
"……."
The double-edged sword stopped.
Thirty-eight heads rolled on the ground at the same time.