Chapter 152 : Holy Existence (1)
Holy Existence (1)
The World Tree was originally a human.
That was a fact only Mirianne, who had been assimilated with the World Tree for ages, knew.
In fact, the origins of the World Tree were not exactly known to the world.
Because information about it was so lacking, only various hypotheses existed.
The most common legend was that it was a legendary tree planted directly by the gods.
And in truth, that was only half-right.
"So... you're saying Pram is the one who saved me?"
"She didn't just save you, she saved everyone here."
To Louis's question, as he regained consciousness, Silia replied in a cold voice.
Louis quietly checked the wounds on Silia's body.
"Did I do all of those?"
"Isn't it obvious just by looking?"
It wasn't just Silia.
Kelian, now also clear-headed, was covered in wounds from head to toe.
Kelian gave a hearty laugh and said,
"Thanks to you, I don't even know how many of my ribs got broken. That was truly an impressive blow. Hahahahaha!!"
"I see...."
Louis couldn't raise his face, knowing that laughter was sarcastic.
Just how much damage had he caused?
Louis looked around to confirm.
The ground that had made up the elves' village was completely scorched.
Collapsed buildings were everywhere, and not just cracks in the earth—mountains beyond the horizon had been reduced to flatlands.
Even just looking at these traces made it obvious how fierce a battle had raged.
He simply marveled at how these people had survived him.
"Then what about that man?"
Louis asked, pointing at Bellain, who had collapsed with one arm missing.
"Did I do that too?"
"That's right."
"I see."
Unlike with the others, Louis looked at him indifferently.
"What's with that reaction! This is your doing!"
Bellain pointed at his missing arm in anger, but was simply ignored again.
In the end, everyone suffered from Louis's rampage.
It was fortunate that the others were even still breathing.
But there was still someone who hadn't opened their eyes.
"How's Rio?"
Louis asked, looking at Rio, who was unconscious and covered in blood.
Having fought the fiercest battle, Rio's injuries were even worse than Silia's and Kelian's.
"Don't worry, her life isn't in danger. But it'll be a long time before she wakes up."
Andrew, who had been seeing to her condition, answered.
Andrew frowned as he closely examined the blood clinging to Rio's body.
"Is this child possibly the Demon King?"
At that question, Silia's heart turned cold.
"Judging by your expression, I suppose I'm right."
"..."
"This side has the Demon King, and over there is the legendary chaos dragon. You really have some incredible company sticking by your side."
Of course, it wasn't meant as praise.
Just looking at what happened just now made it clear how dangerous Louis's powers were.
"As someone who's experienced war firsthand, I can't just leave the Demon King alone... but neither can I ignore your feelings."
Andrew spoke, smiling.
"To begin with, I no longer have the strength to take anyone down anyway."
"Just letting us stay together, I am deeply grateful."
Silia expressed her thanks for allowing them to remain together.
For Andrew, it could not have been an easy decision, yet he allowed it.
"Anyway, that girl was also your squad member, right?"
"Yes."
He pointed at Pram this time.
She had now been appointed the Saint of the Holy Nation, but previously she had crossed through the jaws of death alongside the others.
"Pram, this one being the new World Tree—what are you even talking about?"
Kelian asked Silia's twin blades.
The will of Mirianne, contained within the blades, answered.
[Did you know? The World Tree was originally a human. A person chosen by this land was transformed into the form of a tree with immense power.]
"Then you mean Pram was chosen by this land?"
[That's right.]
Mirianne confirmed Silia's question.
That was why the lost spells had returned to normal.
A new World Tree had been born.
But of course there was a lingering question.
Why was Pram chosen out of so many people?
Of course, Louis couldn't help but wonder as well.
'In the game, the dark mage class wasn't connected to the World Tree though.'
The World Tree, known as a holy tree.
It simply didn't fit with Pram, a dark mage by Class.
However, there were some connections between the World Tree and other mage classes.
He hadn't raised them all, but Louis had leveled all mage classes to the max at least once.
'Though maybe I didn't raise them that much? I only ever leveled each one once.'
Among them, the holy mage line had a skill where you became the tree of light and performed buffs plus massive area attacks.
Louis even remembered the name of that skill.
[Yggdrasil]
The name alone, and the very fact that the character literally became a tree, made it seem connected to the World Tree he just heard about.
'Wait, so if Pram, a dark mage, gets a holy mage skill...?'
Does that even make sense?
It's like a glacier forming in the middle of the sun.
Or was there some other information he didn't know?
So Louis asked.
"Is there any sort of criteria for being chosen as the World Tree?"
[Criteria, hmm....]
Hearing the question, Mirianne pondered for a bit.
[Usually, isn't it a saint who's chosen?]
[Of course that may be the case, but it's not given out to just anyone.]
Mirianne shared her thoughts in response to Frederick's leading question.
[Actually, the World Tree is a tree with no inherent connection to holiness. The story just got twisted around because the holy church kept it. There's no such thing as the blessing of a god in it.]
"Then does that mean someone other than a saint could be chosen?"
[It's not impossible. Of course, you still have to meet the criteria.]
The condition was very simple.
[One must be born with innate magical talent. That's the condition.]
"Magical talent?"
[Yes. That's why I could be assimilated with the World Tree as well.]
Seeing the doubt in everyone's faces, Mirianne continued her explanation.
[For example, a person might be able to operate a magitech device just by holding it, even if they've never touched one in their life. Or perhaps, according to their environment, they can spontaneously learn new magic.]
At those words, Louis and Silia's eyes sparkled.
[Looks like you two have some suspicions.]
As soon as Mirianne saw the change in their expressions, she immediately understood.
They had spent plenty of time with Pram.
They must know a lot.
"Yes, that's right."
"Everything you just listed, Pram's done at least once."
One clear memory was during the stampede.
The essential pathfinding magitech device in the Forest of Death—a device that could only be operated by mages or magitech specialists.
But the moment Pram held it, it activated by itself.
At that time, Pram was a girl who knew nothing about magic or magitech.
And under the influence of the stampede, Pram adapted to the demon realm's environment.
Perhaps because she adjusted to the demonic energy, she reacted to the corpse of Great Devil Palmon.
Because of that, Pram absorbed Palmon's power and made it her own.
Even though she'd never learned how from anyone at all.
[I see. Then she certainly is a candidate. This girl is talented enough to succeed me as a mage. It's only natural she was chosen as the World Tree.]
"What if another similar genius had survived?"
Louis asked, and Mirianne answered quickly.
[Then perhaps that person would have been chosen instead.]
The only surviving mage character was Pram.
So of course, Pram being chosen was only natural.
Even if she had changed to an 'evil' alignment.
"By the way, why did the World Tree suddenly collapse?"
[It shouldn't be strange since the tree was already dead... but someone probably gave it the wrong fuel.]
Having once been one with the World Tree, Mirianne could sense its condition.
[You'd best ask those folks hiding over there for the details.]
"I suppose so."
Louis turned back and spoke.
"Elders! We know everything, just come out!"
"Eeeeek!"
Came the voices of the hiding elders.
The moment they tried to run, the blade imbued with Mirianne's will shone.
And the fleeing elders began to walk over against their will.
It was possible only because Mirianne could control elves at will.
[What on earth did you do?]
"Well... We just let it absorb the sacred stone, that's all."
[The sacred stone?]
"Yes! We just did as usual... We're really innocent!"
They, too, hadn't expected the World Tree to collapse.
That at least was clearly the truth.
[Which sacred stone did you use?]
"Well...."
One elder glanced at Pram.
[Don't tell me....]
"Yes. The sacred stone is made by turning someone's magic into a spirit stone. If it's made with the 'saint's' magic, of course it would have a holy presence."
[Ha....]
The saint's magic?
Louis, Silia, and Kelian stifled their laughter at this.
"The saint's sacred stone... Puhahahahaha!!"
"Ha... hahaha...."
"Pffft... how foolish...!"
The three suddenly erupted in laughter, leaving the elders puzzled.
What was so strange about it?
"Hmm...."
It was just then.
The sleeping Pram opened her eyes.
"Huh? Where am I...."
Awake, Pram in a daze, recalled where she was.
"Up until now... huh?"
And she remembered what she did here.
Locking eyes with Louis, Pram froze.
"Young master...?"
Here, she had rejoined the young master.
The moment she saw him, she clung to him and hugged him wildly.
And she shouted.
I missed you, I wanted to see you, don't leave, I like you.
"Ah...."
As buried memories floated up, Pram turned pale.
"Well...."
"It's been a while."
Louis greeted the fully lucid Pram.
"Is it because you hugged me here?"
He immediately realized why Pram was flustered.
"Don't worry. Rio and Silia have each gone through it too."
"Ugh...."
Suddenly, Pram began to cry as she hugged Louis tightly again.
It wasn't due to the fruit's effect.
"I'll just say it honestly! I missed you, young master!"
"...."
"I don't care about being treated as a saint or anything! I just want you by my side!!"
Learning Pram's true feelings, Louis stroked her head.
Then, teasingly, he asked,
"So when did you ever want to be treated like a princess, and now you're acting like this?"
"Of course I do! I don't want to live in a filthy place like the 7th Legion! I want to live somewhere nice! Even just an ordinary family home would be okay. But...!"
Even living in an ordinary family home was impossible.
"Because our powers are called dangerous and whatever, we always had to live as part of the 7th Legion! What's the point of having special task force privileges! Life was never peaceful."
A chaos dragon, a Demon King using the Blood Sword Technique, a dark mage wielding the great devil's power, and a monster tamer.
With forces like these, it was impossible for them to blend in amongst regular citizens.
The only ones who managed it were Simon and Rozen, but even they refused to be happy alone and chose to stay by Louis's side.
"But... no matter how much my wish came true, all I could think about was you."
"So that's why you wanted to come back?"
"Yeah."
Giving up such a wish just because she missed someone?
Louis felt a shiver at that thought.
"Of course, it's not like I like the special task force. You get what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I know. It's all because of me. So what'll you do now?"
"What do you mean what'll I do!"
Pram declared.
"I'm going back!!"
At that cry, someone exclaimed in shock.
"What are you saying, saint! That's impossible by contract!"
It was Bellain, who had collapsed after losing his arm.
And he wasn't the only one.
"Are you really alright with this?"
It was High Priest Tyrone, who'd somehow managed to survive even after being stomped on by Louis.
Crawling painfully on the ground, he spoke.
"You are the Saint of Prophecy. You are part of our holy church! Have you forgotten?"
The fate of the Saint was to be determined by the holy church.
It was a contract binding the entire Imperial Court—a contract that could never be forcibly annulled.
"Who doesn't know that?"
Of course, Pram was well aware.
"Then why are you doing this?"
"Besides, I heard you were chosen as the World Tree. That means you even more belong by our side!"
Being chosen as the World Tree meant she was 100% the Saint of Prophecy.
That meant she should without a doubt be in the Holy Nation.
"Sorry. I'm not a saint."
"What?"
"Excuse me?"
At Pram's sudden declaration, the two went wide-eyed.
And Pram revealed her true magical power.
A spell circle with a symbol of wickedness appeared in her hand.
"I'm a 'witch', you idiots."
With the Demon King's power emanating from Pram, the nearby trees withered.
Seeing that, Bellain and Tyrone were left speechless.
And now, the elders understood why the World Tree had collapsed.
It wasn't the saint's sacred stone, but a witch's sacred stone that had been used.