Chapter 108 - People Who Don't Know Each Other (2)

Epsilon.

An Imperial word meaning the elves' tea.

However, it had long since become a word that referred to the Empire's tea rather than the elves' tea.

"The suicides of young nobles began to increase noticeably."

The spreading scent was refreshing enough to evoke a forest, and the taste upon the tongue was sharp enough to clear the eyes.

Epsilon, which possessed excellent utility for practical use beyond a simple fad, had spread through word of mouth starting among the young nobles.

"But by the time they realized this was the cause, it was already too late."

The man in the gray hood looked down at the pouch in his hand with a hollow smile.

"Suicide? Does this tea called Epsilon show some kind of hallucination or something?"

"No."

The man in the gray hood shook his head as he looked at Vlad.

"If there had been such serious side effects from the beginning, they would have noticed it much sooner."

Drugs, whatever they may be, inevitably cause severe side effects.

Inducing mental confusion as well as various adverse physical effects, making normal activities in society completely impossible—that is exactly what a drug is.

"Then what are Epsilon's side effects?"

If there were no serious side effects, wouldn't it not be much of a problem?

The man in the gray hood ended up sighing at Vlad's natural question.

"High dependency, an overly potent awakening effect, and a sense of depression."

"What, just because of that."

Upon hearing Epsilon's side effects, Vlad couldn't help but smile.

He was speaking so seriously over side effects of this level?

But contrary to Vlad's dismissive reaction, the man in the gray hood remained earnest.

"A sense of depression severe enough to make one jump out of a window right in front of their mother's eyes."

"... Hmm."

Vlad, who had thought it was no big deal, shut his mouth with a sharp intake of breath.

Because the weight of the answer he received was so heavy that he felt sorry for daring to scoff at it.

"Youngsters these days have always been depressed. That's just how the times are."

Potential is a beautiful thing, and the young ones who can express it in their own worlds are precious.

Therefore, you must rightfully protect those moments.

"That's why they couldn't catch on."

The first Founding King Frausen.

He was a man who cherished and loved the potential of children and youths.

However, unlike the will of the first king, the current Empire was no longer able to present a future for the youth.

The loosening state of the Empire continued to drive its future pillars into dangerous battlefields, and those who had already claimed their seats no longer left any places of glory for the young.

Now was a depressing time for everyone.

"Then shouldn't it just be banned by law?"

He didn't know much about laws, but if it was such a dangerous substance, it would be right to ban it anyway.

But at Vlad's naive question, the man in the gray hood let out a sigh-like laugh.

Look at this naive youth here.

A child who doesn't recognize the dark cobwebs stretching deep across this world.

"... Someone's misfortune is someone else's happiness."

The man in the gray hood opened the mouth of the pouch and began to pour out the elves' tea leaves.

Tea leaves scattering in the wind.

Scattering like ash, the elves' tea leaves were slowly drifting into the dirty muck of the back alley.

"The vested interests in Epsilon are already deeply rooted in the recesses of the Empire. To the point where it can't be stopped by the deaths of just a few youngsters."

Epsilon is profitable.

And money becomes power.

The powerful figures of this era were people who didn't care at all about buying shining gold with the deaths of the youth.

"I want to put a stop to that."

An unidentified plunderer.

A retiree wearing a shabby hood.

But he was a man who had saved as many lives as the weight of the tea leaves he had plundered.

The sword of the man he had faced on the stone bridge that day was shining so brightly that Vlad couldn't dare to block it.

* * *

A dark night.

Vlad was quietly climbing the hill at the entrance of the city alone.

A place that wasn't very high, but overlooked the scenery of the city.

Looking down at the city of Tanobo from there, Vlad could tell that what the man in the gray hood had said was right.

"... He's right."

In any city, there were bound to be places where the light didn't reach.

The existence of slums was a phenomenon that naturally occurred regardless of a ruler's competence.

"It hasn't been long since they were formed."

But the sight before Vlad's eyes right now looked a bit different.

A border divided like a line between the center of the slums and the outskirts.

The slums on the outskirts, which hadn't slowly accumulated and blended into the same color but instead had an abruptly different hue, caught Vlad's eye.

"..."

There had to be a reason the size of the slums had suddenly grown.

Because when people were pushed off the very ground they stood on, there was always a story behind it.

Knowing this, Vlad turned his head and looked at the large building near the slums.

A four-story building whose lights had yet to go out despite the dark night.

Gloomy smoke was flowing out from the chimney attached to the top of the building.

"It's the same everywhere."

The city of Tanobo was growing wealthier as time passed, and the Vitskaya Family was establishing itself as the new power in the central region.

However, the people of the territory who should be sharing in those benefits were increasingly being pushed to the outskirts of the city and mobilized only to manufacture drugs.

Everywhere, the powerless merely floundered, crushed beneath the massive world.

Vlad spat out the bitter feeling rising from within him onto the ground and began to walk down the hill.

"I really ought to do this."

He owed his life on that stone bridge.

The clue about the voice also lay with him.

And he also had a personal debt to pay back to the Count of Vitskaya.

There was no reason to hesitate over the offer the man in the gray hood had extended.

'He hunts dragons, uses Imperial Swordsmanship, and seems well-acquainted with spirits here and there.'

But there was something else messing with Vlad's head.

'Just what did he used to do?'

Someone connected to spirits, highly likely to have slain a dragon, and above all, someone who used Imperial Swordsmanship.

The more Vlad learned clues about the voice, the more confused he felt.

How did a man who was clearly so incredible end up striking into me via black lightning?

Vlad was now growing more curious about the reason he had ended up like this than the voice's true identity.

* * *

A dense green forest, despite it being winter.

Packed tightly beneath a tree so massive that one couldn't capture it all in their eyes no matter how high they raised their head, there were houses.

No, there were trees that looked like houses.

The elves' forest. Aushrina.

In that place overseen by the World Tree, there was a man moving busily.

"Sir Varadis! The Priestess is..."

"... I know."

He was struggling to maintain his usual cold impression, but even now, his navy-blue eyes were wavering relentlessly.

"Open the door."

"Yes, sir."

Escorted by his subordinates, Varadis entered the largest tree beneath the World Tree.

Inside the massive tree, which looked like it would surpass ten stories if compared to a human building, stood a single tree that had naturally taken the shape of a house despite no one laying a hand on it.

"Are you here, Varadis."

"... I apologize for being late."

"Not at all."

The place closest to the World Tree.

Having practically sprinted to the highest place in the tree, Varadis bowed his head at the sight of the elders who were already waiting for him.

"Is it a revelation?"

"I believe so."

The oldest among the elders.

An old elf with skin cracked like an old dead tree silently nodded while leaning on his staff.

However, even though his face was stiffly hardened by long years, it held an expectation that could not be hidden.

"... It's a revelation received after a truly long time."

A history of hardships and trials.

For humans, it might have been an era filled with glory, but for the elves who ended up increasingly pushed to the edges of the continent, it was a time of disgrace.

Even during such times, the revelations of the World Tree had come down only a handful of times, so the elves must have felt as if they were navigating a dark, vast ocean without a single speck of light.

"Is she really going to be alright?"

Unlike the expectant elders, however, Varadis wore a face full of worry as he parted the wall of elders and walked inside.

Incense blooming from everywhere.

Countless candles burning in between the incense.

Because the girl lying in the center was still trembling violently in pain.

"It's the first revelation from the World Tree she's receiving since being appointed as the Priestess. There's bound to be a heavy toll."

Hearing the words from behind him, Varadis carefully stroked the girl's sweat-drenched platinum-blonde hair.

Her hands and feet that were still shivering endlessly. And even her two eyes that had rolled back, leaving only the white without pupils.

"..."

Varadis tightly held onto both of her hands for the sake of his younger sister, who was trembling as if struck by a seizure, struggling to handle the energy of the World Tree.

The hands of the girl he held were far too cold.

"It's... coming."

As if finally feeling Varadis's warmth, the girl slowly began to open her mouth.

Along with her words, the surrounding candles and incense began to flicker erratically.

"Everyone, be quiet."

Following the oldest elder's words, the elders exhaled their breaths carefully.

While everyone held their breath, the candles placed everywhere began to flare up brightly as if about to burst.

It was the revelation.

"The dragon... is coming."

Varadis felt strength enter the girl's hands.

The girl's deeply furrowed expression, as if she were having a nightmare, was pitiful to see.

"But the dragon saw it. What should I do."

Her voice changed with every utterance.

As the World Tree's revelation and the girl's voice took turns, the words flowing from her mouth gradually began to take shape.

"... Show it."

The girl's breathing grew increasingly ragged as she gasped out her words.

"Great Elder."

Seeing the girl's complexion growing paler by the second, Varadis urgently looked back.

"... Show you what?"

Nodding at the sight of him, the Great Elder quietly closed his eyes and gripped the staff he was holding.

The current Priestess was still young and inexperienced, so she had to be cherished.

The oldest one in this place willingly decided to open his own world to share the burden of the revelation for the sake of the youngest girl.

"Wh...at. What must I show you..."

The Great Elder drew out the World Tree's revelation through a question.

Beads of sweat were slowly dripping onto his two hands clasped in prayer.

"The sword!"

The parts of the revelation that couldn't be conveyed through the girl's mouth began to flow into the mind of the oldest elder.

"Gah!"

A vivid place began to surface in the Great Elder's mind.

Beneath the tree roots.

A damp cave, stalactites, and a rock in the deepest part of that place.

A single sword lodged into that rock.

"... Heavens."

A sword that hadn't lost its light even through the long years.

The eyes of the Great Elder, who recognized that sword, flew wide open.