Chapter 112 - When the World Tree Blooms (3)

The morning sunlight barely squeezed through the dense trees.

There were those wandering through the dark forest, relying on that sunlight.

Elegant features, long and pointed ears.

They were the search party members guarding the vicinity of Aushrina.

"Halt."

At the command of the captain leading them, the search party members stopped their steps and held their breath.

Because the captain's tightly clenched fist was telling them that there was something ahead.

'The smell of blood...'

Although not as acute as their hearing, their sense of smell was superior to that of humans.

The search captain furrowed his brows as he smelled the coppery scent spreading from within the pitch-black forest.

'Scatter.'

With glances and hand gestures.

Following their prearranged signals, the elves quickly scattered into the vicinity, soon blending into their surroundings and beginning to keep a lookout in all directions.

'I'll go alone.'

With a hand signal, the search captain stepped forward little by little alone.

A few of the members following him carefully drew their arrows and began to nock them on their bowstrings.

Branches swaying with the wind.

In the dark forest where not even the sound of birds could be heard, the only thing echoing was the dreary clashing of branches.

"... My god."

However, the silence they had kept until now was broken by someone's sigh.

Atop a thicket dizzyingly tangled like a spiderweb.

There was an elf there, head bowed with both arms spread wide.

"Confirming a penetrating wound to the abdomen."

"The wound is frozen."

"It seems it's been at least a day since they died."

Hearing the reports, the search captain approached the corpse with a grim expression.

Bits of entrails hung out, having slowly spilled from the sharply pierced, massive hole.

"We are too late."

The search captain knelt on one knee and looked at the wound made on the corpse.

A massive hole that an ordinary human could never possibly create.

The two eyes, still glaring wide open, told of just how much agony they had suffered.

"... Nidhogg."

The search captain looked beyond the forest through the massive hole pierced in the corpse.

The sight of the forest seen through the dark red passage.

In that place where the light dared not reach, there was only a fullness of darkness.

There was an echo-like cry faintly heard from deep within the forest.

A voice that sounded as if it were starving.

The dragon hiding in the darkness was watching the young World Tree that was about to bloom.

* * *

"..."

Vlad ended up thinking that he was currently strolling through a garden.

Even though the place he was actually standing in was a cave where not a single ray of light entered.

'What kind of cave is this?'

It was understandable to be mistaken like that.

Because the floor, which should have been damp, was soft like freshly laid straw, and the interior, which should have been dark, was glowing brightly from the moss densely covering the walls.

'Fireflies?'

Furthermore, there were fireflies floating around everywhere.

Seeing the luminescent bodies hovering around as if welcoming the group, Vlad's mind became confused.

The atmosphere, which didn't fit the season or the location, was defying Vlad's common sense.

"It will really like it when it sees that amber. It's been very anxious lately."

The group heading toward the source of the World Tree through the cave bored toward its roots.

Bright despite being a cave, and warm despite being winter, this place diverged further from the scenery of reality the deeper they walked in.

"It was panicked too, since it's the first time doing it."

Spring is coming.

And flowers bloom.

The young World Tree, stretching in tune with the approaching spring, was said to be blooming for the first time since it was born.

But the World Tree was worrying about whether the blooming it was doing was proceeding correctly.

"So it was feeling very depressed, and that's when you came here just in time."

There are times when one becomes anxious even while moving forward.

Wondering if the direction they are going is right, or if it is okay to keep going like this.

Or if it might become irreversible.

The inability to easily step forward even when one must is likely due to a lack of certainty.

In times like this, it would be nice if someone were by your side to pat your back and tell you that you're doing well, but unfortunately, there was no such entity for the young World Tree.

"... I see."

Vlad quietly nodded while listening to the girl's words.

Before he knew it, Vlad was deeply understanding the worries harbored by the World Tree through the existence of the girl.

Even though the tree and the knight existed in worlds that could not reach each other.

"We're here."

With the girl's words, the end of the long, long passage began to come into view.

The bright lights visible up ahead.

That light was not the glow created by blue moss, but the light cast by today's sun.

"Vlad of Soara. You are probably the first human to ever come this far."

With those words, the faces of the elves escorting the girl began to frown.

Did the human in front of them know?

That the place he was standing right now was a secret space that only a select few among the elves could enter.

However, the Divine Maiden of the World Tree did not hesitate to guide the blue-eyed knight to this place.

Because she was certain that the blue-eyed knight had to come here.

"..."

Vlad slowly raised his head as he listened to the girl's words.

A massive hollow (空洞).

The roots of the World Tree, situated everywhere, tangled dizzyingly to create a large space.

"Do we go in here?"

"Of course. Be my guest."

The girl opened her arms as if inviting him into her own home.

With the girl's welcoming gesture, Vlad carefully took a step inside the hollow.

The grass covering the floor laid itself down following Vlad's footsteps.

Seeing the World Tree's firm invitation and expression of welcome, the expressions of the escorting elves grew strange.

'... This is the World Tree.'

He felt as if he could hear a faint heartbeat from the tips of his toes as they stepped on the ground.

Along with that heartbeat, it felt as though Vlad's own world was gradually expanding.

The connected worlds were finally facing each other.

"It seems happy that you came."

Vlad turned his head at the girl's words coming from behind him.

The elves who had followed to escort them merely stood silently at the entrance of the hollow.

Right now, the only ones standing here were Vlad, the girl, and the young World Tree looking down on them.

"You can show it, right? Please do."

The Divine Maiden of the World Tree, who could offer no help to the young tree.

She clasped her hands in prayer, asking the knight who had brought the memory of the Mother World Tree.

Pleading with him to please show the child the image of its mother.

For the young World Tree, which had to step toward a world it had never advanced to before.

"Understood."

At the girl's request, Vlad drew his sword.

"... I suppose this side would be better, wouldn't it?"

The cold blade was sharp, but the hilt to be gripped would be gentle.

Thus, the knight rightly decided to hold the sharp side himself.

Because it was a side unbefitting for a young tree yearning for its mother's embrace.

-----.

The heartbeat quickened.

The heartbeat of the World Tree, previously felt only at the tips of his toes, was now transmitted through the air as well.

Alicia's amber was sparkling in the light coming down through the ceiling.

The young World Tree gazed at the autumn scenery shining through that light.

A wide field.

A waving wheat field.

And a large maple tree swaying in the breeze.

The maple tree in the memory was looking at the young World Tree.

"Butterflies?"

"It's butterflies."

Vlad saw the butterflies fluttering around him.

They were the same butterflies he had seen in the girl's illusion back then.

Butterflies like flowers were fluttering toward Vlad and the girl.

Through Vlad's feet touching the roots and the sword he held upside down, memory and reality were facing each other.

At that moment, Vlad could feel it.

That he had become the passage and the world connecting the two.

"It's blooming..."

As the light enveloped him, Vlad slowly closed his eyes.

The World Tree in the memory slowly began to bloom.

As if telling its child to do it like this.

Seeing the mother it had never been able to feel, the young World Tree unknowingly reached out its branches to embrace her.

Amidst the entangling branches, the autumn scenery of that distant past and the scenery of today were slowly overlapping.

* * *

"... Ohh."

Old Geronimo closed the book he was holding with trembling hands.

Though his body had grown as heavy as the weight of the years, he quickly grabbed the cane beside him and hurried to the window.

A fragrance he hadn't felt in a truly long time was blurring the edges of his eyes.

"Hmm?"

The ears of Varadis, who had been shuffling through documents in his office for a while, pricked up.

Because the passing breeze was telling him to quickly turn his head.

That soon, there would be a single moment that could only be seen right now.

The elves tilling the fields, and the elves guarding the forest.

Noir and Got in the stables, and Auguste investigating the tea fields.

Both humans and elves turned their heads and looked in the same direction.

The elves' forest. Aushrina

In the middle of their newly settled land, there was a single tree shining brilliantly.

"It is blooming."

Yes.

I know now.

How I am supposed to bloom.

And my mother, who now only exists in memories, also told me so.

That I was doing well.

-----!

Within the World Tree flickering in pure white, all sorts of possibilities began to raise their heads.

On the branches close to the clouds, flowers chasing the sky.

On the branches stretched the farthest, flowers following the wind.

On the lowest branches, flowers reaching toward the earth.

"Oh... Ohh."

"Spirits are being born!"

A young bird, a horse, a snake, a mole—all smaller than a single blossom.

The possibilities the World Tree had harbored all this time were thrusting their heads out into the world.

The young ones, forgotten under a single name, were lifting their heads toward the world.

"..."

If a young world was being born, someone rightly had to protect it.

That was why the blue-eyed knight did not stop gripping the sharp blade.

A streak of blood flowing down the restlessly trembling sword.

That red hue falling to the ground was a knight's gift to the children being born right at this moment.

Today, spring had come to Aushrina.

Under the guidance of a mother who was no longer here, and the endurance of a knight.

* * *

"..."

The World Tree, which had shone as if to burst, grew still.

And now, the butterflies of illusion that had been fluttering dizzyingly just moments ago vanished without a trace.

DRIP. DRIP.

Now that everything was still, the only thing moving alone was the drops of blood flowing from Vlad's hand.

The red color dropping onto the green grass looked forlorn.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry."

The girl, covering her mouth with both hands, was tearing up.

The nameless girl was empathizing with the pain of Vlad in front of her more than the joy of the blooming flowers.

Because the knight before her eyes had not hesitated to support the memory for the young World Tree.

"Has it bloomed?"

Vlad raised his head and looked at the ceiling opening outward.

A single maple leaf, which had turned red at some point, was slowly falling toward Vlad.

"Thank you... It says thank you."

Vlad quietly looked down at his sword as he listened to the girl's words.

Red blood flowing along the blade.

And Alicia's amber, missing from where it should be.

The heirloom of the Heinal Family had fulfilled its purpose today.

"Haa..."

Along with an overwhelming, indescribable emotion, Vlad only then released his hand from the sword.

A deep cut.

Despite it, Vlad had not let go of his trembling sword even in the moment the World Tree bloomed.

Because in the sight seen through the connected worlds, a mother was stroking her crying child.

Vlad truly did not want to interrupt that moment.

"Hmm?"

Inside the roots, which had grown somewhat darker, perhaps because the World Tree was exhausted.

That was why today's sun shone all the brighter, casting a single beam of light down through the ceiling.

And where that light shone, there was a rock that hadn't been visible earlier.

"What is that?"

A large rock that revealed itself as if saying it was okay to show it now.

Atop that rock, a nameless sword full of sunlight was sparkling.

It was a sword tinged with a silver light.