Chapter 140 : Memory
Chapter 140: Memory
The sudden invasion of the Demon Tribe.
Evendel had fallen into chaos, but only for a moment.
The World Tree regained its strength, and the magic that had been pouring down vanished without a trace.
Even the Monsters that had fallen from the sky writhed in agony and self-destructed.
“How could this be… Has she finally awakened.”
The Elders looked up at the World Tree as if drenched in emotion.
How long had it been since they had seen their mother so full of life?
‘Had she merely been asleep all this time.’
Robin glanced sidelong at the Elders of Evendel and Aelin.
Unlike the Elders, who were purely delighted, Aelin seemed somehow awkward.
She was happy, that was true—but she wondered if it was right to be.
Unlike the other Elves, the World Tree Aelin saw looked hungry.
Did the Elders not realize this? Aelin began to think that she alone felt this peculiar sense of connection.
Though there was no expression, no gesture, no words, the state of the World Tree became clearer and clearer to her.
The tree, which was no different from the root of the Elves, wanted Aelin.
“Aelin!”
“Uh… why?”
“Why are you standing there blankly? I called you several times and you didn’t hear me?”
Robin waved his hand in front of Aelin’s face.
Her eyes, regaining focus, looked at Robin.
“Don’t say you’re going to die so carelessly. Why would you say that?”
“I didn’t say it carelessly. I was supposed to become nourishment for the World Tree. But since it’s become so lively like that, it seems like I might not have to die… I’m not sure.”
Robin could not fully understand Aelin as she spoke in a slightly dazed tone.
Nor was it something he could easily judge, not knowing the circumstances.
Still, one thing was certain.
“I don’t want Aelin to die.”
“I don’t want you to die either. It’s fine for now, but if you stay here, it could become dangerous. I’ll show you the way out, so leave with Sigbard right away.”
Aelin pushed at Robin’s back.
Even if she explained, he would not understand what she meant, and it was not something she could explain.
It was simply a premonition that things would turn out that way.
The connection she herself could not understand grew clearer little by little.
Pusssssss.
The branches of the World Tree drooped limply.
The Elders, who had been cheering, fell silent and stared in vain.
The life force that had spread through Evendel vanished like snow melting away.
The World Tree returned as if it had fallen back into slumber. No, even more strength drained from it than before.
Aelin, who had been trying to somehow send Robin outside, flinched and stopped.
In blocking the magic just now, the World Tree had expended a considerable amount of power.
“Aelin, stop. Where are you going.”
“It’ll only take a moment. I’ll just show this friend the way out.”
Piyuuuuuuuuung.
A line shot from outside Evendel, splitting apart with a bang as it headed toward Evendel.
Magic manifested once more.
One of the Elders grabbed Aelin’s shoulder firmly.
“There is no time. We ask that you allow Mother to regain her strength.”
“…Alright.”
Without even a chance to say goodbye to Robin, the Elders took Aelin away.
Magic and Monsters fell from the sky.
Left alone, Robin pondered what to do.
Should he head out to kill the Demon Tribe like this, or persuade Aelin and stop her from dying?
“I need a guide, and I can’t just let her go without even making a recruitment offer.”
Kukukung.
Monsters poured down.
He recalled the conversation he had just had with Aelin.
She said it was her own decision, but from Robin’s perspective, it was not.
When Sigbard had thrown her and she flew toward the World Tree, it had been obvious she did not want to die.
‘Well, who in this world actually wants to die.’
He began devising how to persuade the Elf whose hobby was mapmaking.
“Kiieeeek!”
First, he would clear out the bothersome Monsters.
The place Aelin arrived at, following the Elders, was the center of the World Tree.
Before a small pond filled with golden sap, Aelin closed her eyes.
She had expected it to be warm, but this place—no different from a heart—was unbearably cold.
The final destination of all the Elves who had chosen to become nourishment.
What had they felt as they stood before this?
Had they been happy to return to Mother?
Had they been proud, believing they had lived without regret?
“You’ve worked hard all this time. Now set down your heavy burden.”
An Elder, always blunt, patted her with a voice tinged with warmth.
“Is it the end once I go in here?”
“It is the end.”
“…….”
“I will give you time alone. Enter when you are ready.”
The Elders left, and Aelin remained alone.
From the pond, bubbles rose and burst as though it were the stomach of a giant Monster.
She had only heard that she would become nourishment; she did not know by what method.
The Elders had hidden it carefully, and now she thought she understood why.
The process of becoming nourishment would not be noble.
Would she not be submerged in immense gastric juices and absorbed as though digested?
“Do you want to eat me that badly?”
The World Tree gave no answer. Of course—it was a tree and could not speak.
She brushed her hand along the wall.
Unlike its hard bark, a soft elasticity pushed back against Aelin’s hand.
“Lady Elysia wouldn’t have hesitated like me.”
She had imagined this situation countless times, yet her feet would not move easily.
What was she so afraid of that laughter slipped out?
She had been raised preciously, treated like a princess, yet there were few of her own kind with whom she truly interacted.
It was not that Aelin had been discriminated against; it was simply the nature of Elves.
With cool rationality as their foundation, they spent their entire lives focused on themselves.
For Elves, it was natural not to take great interest in others who were different from themselves.
In that sense, from another Elf’s perspective, Aelin had received more than enough attention.
“I should have been born human instead.”
As a child, Aelin had thought of herself as a mutant.
A beast starved for warm emotions.
Rather than food given generously, she had wanted friends with whom she could laugh at nonsense, quarrel, and grow close.
Everyone else lived just fine on their own—so why was she lonely?
Smack.
She lightly struck both cheeks and cleared away the stray thoughts.
There was no turning back now, nor did she intend to.
When she removed her boots and her bare feet touched the surface, the rough texture seemed to beckon her to come in.
Rustle, rustle.
She loosened her belt and removed her clothes, folding them neatly.
The clothes she left before the pond would be discarded by the Elders.
She took a deep breath and dipped her toes into the pond.
It was no different from cold water.
Her body did not melt away the moment she touched it.
Splash, splash.
When she stepped in until it reached her waist, a change occurred.
Something tough like tree roots seized Aelin’s ankles.
In that state, the bottom slowly swallowed her like a swamp.
So this was truly the end. She tried to entrust herself without resisting when a familiar voice came from behind.
“In the middle of all this chaos, did you come here to take a bath?”
“Robin? Why haven’t you left?”
“There’s no one to guide me—how am I supposed to get out?”
Seeing Robin as calm as if he were walking in and out of his own home, she felt more puzzled than pleased.
“The Elders should be guarding this place. How did you get in?”
“They rushed outside in a hurry, saying they were going to block the Demon Tribe. There aren’t many people around here to begin with. It seems like they all went to fight.”
“…You’re not going? I thought your goal was to kill the Demon Tribe.”
Her body was sinking deeper by the second, and yet they were having this conversation.
Even she found it absurd; Aelin let out a short snort through her nose.
“I’ll deal with the Demon Tribe without being told. Before that, I came to persuade you, Aelin.”
“If you’re going to say there’s no need for this or tell me not to die, it’s useless.”
At that moment, Aelin, who had been slowly sinking, submerged completely beneath the water, down to the very tip of her head.
“Aelin? Aelin!”
Was the digestion beginning in earnest now?
Aelin’s consciousness drifted away.
In her dazed state, something—like an illusion, like a dream—flooded into her mind.
‘This is… Lady Elysia……?’
Though she had never once seen her, these memories belonged to Elysia.
‘Memories? Why do I have Lady Elysia’s memories…….’
A short yet intense lifetime flashed through Aelin like a revolving lantern.
Her head hurt.
Not a simple headache—it felt as though her brain would burst.
No, the pain was so extreme that it would have been better if her head had simply exploded.
As if it had swallowed Aelin for this very purpose, the World Tree spat her back out of the pond.
“Puha! Huuuuugh……!”
“Aelin! Get a hold of yourself!”
Her entire body convulsed as she clutched her head.
Memories of driving back the Demon Tribe alongside humans.
The journey of following them into the Demon Realm.
Companions who advanced while defeating countless members of the Demon Tribe.
And the final battle in which she suffered grievous wounds…….
“Guuuuugh!”
The pain that felt as if a blade were raking through her brain vanished all at once.
Her mind cleared as though she had woken from a deep sleep.
And yet, the vast memories she had just seen did not rise clearly to her mind, as if they could be grasped like a dream.
“Harold!”
With that desperate cry of a name she did not even recognize herself, the lifetime of one Elf vanished like a mirage.
She tried to recall it, as though it might come back to her—but it was as if everything were shrouded in thick fog.
Though Aelin did not realize it, tears were streaming from her eyes.
What came after everything ended was a dreadful emptiness.
Only fragments of deeply missed memories slipped through her fingers like sand.
Crack.
A branch extending from the wall stopped before Aelin.
It held something, and when it lifted it up, it was a bow.
A bow without a string.
As if entranced, Aelin took hold of the bow and stepped outside.
All of this happened in less than ten seconds, as far as Robin could tell.
“What happened! What are you going to do going out there like that!”
A beat too late, Robin followed and looked at Aelin’s back as she stood upright.
The bow that had no string now had one. An arrow appeared as well.
She drew the bow to its fullest tension and released.
Piiiiiiiiing!
It flew, drawing a line through the air like a flash of light.
The arrow, rushing toward a distance too far to even see, pierced straight through the head of a member of the Demon Tribe outside Evendel.
Ping! Pipipiping!
Could the World Tree freely transform its body?
Right beside Aelin, arrows were being formed in real time from a wooden cylinder that resembled a quiver.
Though made solely of wood, the arrows were harder than steel.
Aelin’s arrows, shot toward places impossible to even guess, did not miss a single target.
She fired at a speed of one arrow per second.
The moment she drew the string, she released it and immediately set another arrow to the string.
Even a machine could not have been so fast and precise.
Only after firing over a hundred arrows did Aelin finally stop shooting and gasp for breath.
“Haaah… huuuuh…….”
“Aelin, can you hear me?”
“Robin.”
“I’m listening. Say something.”
Thud.
The strength left her hand, and the bow fell to the ground.
Not just her hand—strength drained from her entire body.
The body she had barely been supporting collapsed flat onto the ground.
Startled by the sight, Robin hurried over.
“Seven members of the Demon Tribe, ninety-six Monsters. I eliminated the most dangerous ones first.”
“Really……? No, I’ll believe you. For now, get yourself together.”
“Thank you. But my body feels strange.”
Robin brought the clothes Aelin had neatly folded and helped her put them on.
“It doesn’t feel like my body. It feels like I could hit anything. What is this?”
“Even if you tell me, I have no idea.”
“I saw Lady Elysia’s memories. I think I inherited Lady Elysia’s abilities.”
Elysia or not, Aelin could not even move a single finger.
If there was any consolation, it was that the Monsters spread throughout Evendel no longer cried noisily.
The magic had vanished as well.
It was not that the World Tree had regained its strength.
Aelin had shot and killed every single member of the Demon Tribe that invaded Evendel.
“Aelin, I’ve been meaning to say this for a while—would you consider exploring the Uncharted Area with me?”
“Okay.”
“…I did say it, but isn’t that answer a bit too easy?”
“I’ve wanted to go for a long time, and I have to go. I need to see for myself what happened to quench this thirst.”
Robin had no idea what she meant.
He would have to talk with her more in detail later.
Still, he was relieved she responded positively.
A sudden invasion of the Demon Tribe. And even more sudden, Aelin’s godlike archery.
Though everything was a mess, the incident had come to an end.
“But listen. You saw it, right?”
“Saw what?”
“When I was shooting. I wasn’t wearing anything. You saw everything, didn’t you?”
“…If that made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need to be sorry. It didn’t make me uncomfortable.”
“R-really? That’s a relief.”
“What do you mean, a relief. Now you have to take responsibility.”
Robin, who had been walking while carrying Aelin, stopped in his tracks.
‘Should I put her down even now? She doesn’t seem able to walk yet.’
“What are you thinking. I mean take responsibility as a leader.”
“Ah, ah…….”
“Don’t Adventurers move as a team? I’m joining, so brace yourself.”
Had Aelin always been like this?
Unsure, Robin answered that he understood for now.
It had truly been a chaotic day.