Chapter 131 : Chapter 131
Chapter 131
The detection stone vibrated stronger as its owners drew closer, guiding them to each other.
Soon, Mary reunited with Adela.
“Princess Adela!”
“Mary? Perfect timing! I need a big one, please!”
If only there weren’t an army of beasts chasing Adela!
Mary hurriedly prepared her magic.
The Raincloud Magic, emblematic of the Deminiyan Family.
‘Not enough…!’
Without using a top-grade mana stone staff, her casting took longer.
“Knights! Buy time!”
Simultaneously, golden sand appeared, forming a Golden Knight Order.
Led by a golden knight shaped like the old knight Harris, the Golden Knight Order, once the Shadow Knights, surged forward, clashing with the beasts.
That was enough.
【Heavy Rain!】
A torrential downpour, capable of piercing steel, poured onto the ground.
The rain, avoiding the Golden Knight Order, targeted only the beasts, turning the area into a sea of blood.
Yet, the concentration of poison in the air barely diminished.
In fact… the fallen water droplets turned into venomous poison.
As the surroundings quieted, Adela brushed her forehead.
“Hm, splendid. That Raincloud Magic satisfies even my aesthetic sense.”
“T-Thank you.”
Adela and Mary displayed a decent rapport.
“But I didn’t expect to meet you here, Mary of Deminiyan. This is great. Just one more person, yet it feels reassuring. From now on, trust only me.”
“I-I feel reassured too…!”
Adela’s confident words made her seem reliable to Mary, but in truth, Adela’s heart pounded relentlessly, having narrowly escaped death multiple times.
“By the way, Princess Adela, those things… they’re not ordinary monsters, are they?”
“Right, they’re beasts.”
Beasts.
Monsters corrupted by demonic energy.
“While investigating the source of the island’s poison, I saw something worse than poison. ‘Demonic energy.’”
Demonic energy.
The malevolent force that corrupts everything.
“The forest, tainted by demonic energy, was producing the poison. The beasts are animals that succumbed to the demon. The poison will likely grow stronger over time, so we must eliminate the source before then.”
“I see.”
Adela took an antidote from her magic pouch and swallowed it.
“Phew, what a potent poison, isn’t it? If Martin hadn’t given us heaps of antidotes, we’d be in big trouble.”
“Y-Yes. We need to find Cadet Martin. He didn’t say, but he surely knows more.”
“Probably. That guy’s secretly soft.”
At the word “soft,” Mary looked up at Adela.
Adela gazed at the forest, steeped in poison and demonic energy, thinking of someone within.
“…If you don’t approach him this way, he pushes everyone away. I used to be like that too, so… I can’t bear to see him alone anymore.”
Adela flinched at her own words.
To reveal her feelings about Martin so easily.
Had she changed?
Or was it because it was Mary?
“You’re right, Your Highness.”
Adela looked down at Mary’s affirming response.
“Cadet Martin has changed.”
Ironically, the protagonist party knew this best.
“I don’t want him to keep his heart closed forever either.”
“…Ho. For a shy one like you to say that.”
“I-It’s true…”
Adela smiled.
Was it Mary praising Martin, or Mary understanding her from their first meeting, that she liked?
“Right, it’s true. So let’s hurry. We need to find those Four Great Ducal Family heirs you hang out with, and that Gilbert or Lina or whatever their names are.”
“Yes!”
***
“Wow, a human!”
“Human!”
“So cool!”
Had all the fairies in the area gathered?
A huge swarm of fairies fluttered around me like butterflies.
It was a fantastical scene, but… too noisy.
“So tall!”
“But isn’t he kinda ugly?”
“My dad said humans are naturally ugly.”
These little…
“Oh! Look, he’s frowning!”
“His eyes are mean too!”
Let’s not bother.
Words wouldn’t get through to these flower-brained creatures.
I sighed deeply.
To the fairies, it probably looked like a hippo yawning.
“Ew, smell!”
That was unfair.
My oral hygiene was perfect thanks to Stellar Force!
“Enough teasing our honored guest.”
A single dignified command halted the chaotic fairies.
They turned and bowed to the largest, most beautiful golden flower.
“Your Majesty, long live!”
On the golden flower sat a fairy wearing a tiara.
I knelt on one knee and bowed.
“Martin von Targon Ulvhadin greets the Fairy Queen.”
“Rise, human hero.”
Hero, a word I thought I’d never hear in my life.
I stood and looked up at the Fairy Queen on her golden flower throne.
“I’m not a hero.”
“If one who wields the supreme power opposing all evil and chaos isn’t a hero, who is? …Hm, true. The power one wields isn’t the sole measure of heroism.”
The Fairy Queen smiled.
“If not a hero, who are you? Why have you come to our hidden paradise in this harsh, poison- and evil-tainted place?”
I spoke of the best ending unachieved in the original story.
“I came to be the guardian of the World Tree.”
“…!”
The Fairy Queen, surprised yet as if she’d awaited this moment, smiled.
“Oh, come this way.”
She floated up, guiding me deep into the forest.
Other fairies followed but stopped at a certain boundary, waiting.
Deep in the forest, the space grew darker with trees and bushes.
Yet… glowing plants began to reveal themselves.
“This way.”
At the heart of this space lay a massive cradle of gems and rare plants.
The soil-filled cradle might be better called a pot.
Atop the giant pot, a single delicate sprout grew.
This fragile sprout was undoubtedly the World Tree.
An inexplicable peace washed over me at the sight.
The Fairy Queen didn’t dare fly to the pot, landing on the ground instead.
“Our fairy race… was created by the World Tree to be its limbs. Precisely, we were naturally born from its overflowing vitality.”
To the fairies, the World Tree was a parent.
“Where did the World Tree come from?”
“From the laws of nature, the tenacity of life. This island, isolated from the continent, lacks its blessings. So it gathered the island’s life energy to create a single god for this land.”
That was the World Tree.
In true history, it would’ve grown to become Fog Island’s guardian deity, but this was a Time Chaos Dungeon with twisted history and events.
Left alone, it would be trampled by a demon.
“The World Tree still needs time.”
“Then I must fight the demon controlling the outside.”
“I feel the malice targeting our Mother every moment. Can you protect her?”
The Fairy Queen looked up at me with clear, pure, yet noble eyes.
Her concern and worry were solely for the World Tree’s safety, her faith and trust directed at me.
“How do you trust me? Does my Stellar Force seem that impressive?”
“That’s not why.”
She gave a gentle smile.
“Because I sense unfinished evil in you.”
“Unfinished evil? What’s that? How do you sense it?”
The term “unfinished evil” from the Queen’s lips felt so out of place.
…Or maybe it was just me.
“I just feel it. I know you’re inherently good. You must’ve faced a great, solid wall and faltered. Perhaps you fell briefly.”
My questions only revealed her noble character, as splendid as her appearance.
“But no one can obscure their true nature. No matter how cynically, coldly, or indifferently you arm yourself, you can’t deceive a fairy’s eyes.”
I barely suppressed surging emotions.
To be moved by mere words… it was the first time since Teacher Hailey.
“…Understood. Is there anything I should do?”
I changed the subject.
Not running away.
I just wanted to conquer the Time Chaos Dungeon quickly.
That’s all.
…Really.
“Well, what could there be?”
The Fairy Queen tilted her head with a smile, likely meaning she didn’t know.
‘In the original, Fog Island’s conquest took a month, right?’
The key was how long it took for the World Tree to grow.
In the original, even Gilbert, backed by the World Tree’s power, barely defeated the venomous demon.
Without Stellar Force, that was his best.
‘It’s different now.’
Gilbert now wielded Stellar Force, the power opposing all evil.
Plus, the protagonist party and formidable allies were loaded with antidotes.
‘If they buy time outside while the World Tree grows, that’d be great.’
As I pondered, the Fairy Queen gently flew to my face.
“Or perhaps your power.”
She spoke.
“With that power, so close to pure good, could you nurture our Mother even a little?”
Her expression showed she wasn’t expecting a grand effect—just a wish for her Mother to be more at ease, a suggestion to try something.
“….”
It might just be a pointless effort.
But I couldn’t ignore her earnestness.
“If you wish.”
I walked slowly to the cradle and climbed up.
The World Tree’s sprout, born of the world’s love, shimmered with green and vibrant colors.
I knelt humbly, carefully extending both hands.
‘Stellar Force.’
Stellar Force (Lv 10) responds to your benevolent call.
A small, warm energy rose from my hands, gently enveloping the World Tree’s sprout.
The sprout swayed as if drawn by the Stellar Force, then nestled into it.
“Oh…”
Behind me, the Fairy Queen smiled with感动.
‘Well… good.’
Managing allies’ morale was a virtue in dungeon conquest.
The Fairy Queen, and especially the World Tree’s sprout, seemed truly happy.
Its swaying, like a child in a parent’s arms, was pleasant to see.
‘Not sure if it’s effective, but it looks nice.’
I couldn’t help but smile.
Then, my eyes widened.
‘Huh?’
It was absorbing my Stellar Force.
The sprout slowly began to take in the Stellar Force!
Startled by the phenomenon, I didn’t stop emitting it.
What was happening?
Stellar Force (Lv 10) responds to your question, attempting to explain the phenomenon.
‘Hurry, is something wrong?’
The Stellar Force of Cosmos is the power of order, opposing evil and chaos. The World Tree, the incarnation of nature and mother, also stems from the world’s wind and order to save a chaotic world.
Thus, the Stellar Force of Cosmos could become nourishment for the World Tree.