Chapter 113 - Now It's Your Turn (1)

A single red maple leaf slowly fluttered down.

That maple leaf finally settled upon the sword embedded in the rock.

The silver sword that shone with a noble light.

The sword, which anyone would inevitably covet, was capturing Vlad's gaze even now.

"..."

However, Vlad could feel it.

That the silver sword standing resolutely upon the rock was bearing its edge toward him.

A guardian sword that had protected someone, and a sword of blood that had slaughtered countless enemies.

And the Dragon Slaying Sword that had pierced the heart of the most perfect dragon.

That sword was now glaring at Vlad.

With its deep blue blade bared.

Do not come any closer. You child who has yet to even open your eyes.

Before I cut you down.

* * *

"Gasp!"

Blue eyes snapped open, piercing the dark night.

Vlad's eyes, having just woken up from a nightmare, were wavering relentlessly.

"... Ugh."

Vlad unconsciously tried to wipe his sweat-drenched forehead, but a sharp pain surged from the bandages wrapped thickly around both his hands.

The wounds from yesterday, when he had gripped the blade in reverse, were still tormenting Vlad.

'What a vicious nightmare.'

Vlad ended up clicking his tongue as he recalled the vivid nightmare he just had.

The scene from yesterday that surfaced whenever he closed his eyes.

Unlike its noble outward appearance, he had clearly felt something dreadful from the silver sword he saw yesterday.

To the point that he was recalling it as a nightmare like this now.

"You should have slept more."

"... You're here."

Vlad turned his head toward the direction the voice came from.

A slightly open window.

Auguste was standing with his arms crossed by the window where the faint moonlight was leaking in.

"How was it? Have you investigated all the tea fields?"

While Vlad was helping the World Tree bloom its flowers, Auguste had been investigating the tea leaves called Tuzon in the elves' territory.

However, the two people facing each other now were deep in thought even after finding their respective clues.

"The fields were divided."

"Pardon?"

"... It means they separated the tea leaves to sell to humans and the tea leaves for themselves to drink."

Two tea fields separated for humans and for elves.

It could have been simply separated for smooth sales, but Auguste, who had approached the fields, could tell.

That the varieties of the two tea leaves were subtly different.

"It means it was filled with malice right from the very beginning."

"..."

The elves' tea. Epsilon.

The green malice that started from the East could, in a way, be considered the Empire's original sin.

Because the elves' venomous intent toward humans had entirely been started by the Empire.

The one that burned the World Tree was the most perfect dragon, but the ones who pushed them out of the forest were none other than the Empire.

"There are enemies on all sides."

Beneath the brilliantly shining Empire, the blood and tears of countless people are buried.

The Empire was an entity no different from another dragon standing upon their trampled world.

And now, the Empire must harvest the seeds of original sin they had scattered all this time.

Whether they want to or not.

Far away under the night sky, there was a single tree shining on its own even now.

Looking at the newly blooming World Tree in contrast to the gradually declining Empire, an inevitable mixed feeling could not help but dwell in the old knight's eyes.

* * *

"I told you, why did you hold the sword in reverse like that?"

"..."

The early morning when the sun had only just risen.

The girl was grumbling as she unwrapped the messily wound bandages.

Even though she had wrapped them herself, she seemed thoroughly displeased with the state of the bandages that wouldn't easily unwrap.

"If I knew things would turn out like that, I would have held it by the scabbard."

"People who make excuses aren't trustworthy."

A knight injured by his own sword.

Especially if it was an injury sustained while holding the sword in reverse, he wouldn't hear anything good from anyone.

"That's why you should have told me in advance."

"It was my first time too. It was the first blooming ceremony I've ever done in my life."

He thought he only needed to show the amber.

However, since the two World Trees used his world as a passage to go back and forth between memory and reality, Vlad also had no choice but to clench his teeth and endure it.

If he had known even a little that it would flow like this, he absolutely would not have held the sword that way.

'Who can I blame.'

If he really had to point fingers, it would be the fault of the girl who hadn't given any warnings, but it wasn't as if Vlad was completely without fault either.

Just as the girl had just said, there was nothing that looked as pathetic as a knight's excuses, so Vlad decided to keep his mouth shut now.

"Done."

Having finally unwound all the bandages, the girl smiled brightly and opened the wooden box she had brought.

A box filled with colorful powdered medicines and liquids.

The inside of the girl's wooden box was so full of vibrant colors that one might wonder if it contained cosmetics.

"Wait. They said I just have to use this and this."

"It seems you haven't actually tried it yourself."

"It's fine, I've watched from the side a lot."

Vlad wished for an expert's touch if possible, but the girl merely picked up the medicine bottles, ignoring such wishes.

"Hold out your hands."

"..."

At the girl's stubborn attitude, Vlad had no choice but to open both his hands and hold them out.

Vlad's deeply cut palms.

Looking at the knight's palms where dark red blood was still welling up, the girl unconsciously pursed her lips.

"That must have hurt."

"Not really."

Although he answered nonchalantly, she knew Vlad had gotten hurt because her abilities fell short.

However, since it was the first blooming for both the girl and the World Tree, someone had to bear the brunt of their mistakes from behind.

Vlad's wounds were a trace of that.

"The elders packed a lot of things for me to use on you. They'll be very effective."

No matter how much the elves ostracized humans, he was an existence that had helped with the precious blooming ceremony, so they intended to treat Vlad without any neglect.

Besides, he said he had even lost the family heirloom he brought, so there was no way they could send him back empty-handed.

The medicine right now was just a small piece of the compensation that was to come.

"By the way, about the sword that was there at that time..."

"Yeah. The Swordmaster's sword."

The girl answered lightly, but the people listening ended up flinching heavily.

Not only Auguste but also Got, who was helping from the side.

The word Swordmaster held that much of a special meaning to the people of the Empire as well.

"What about it?"

"... I was wondering why it was embedded there."

He thought it would be an extraordinary sword, but he never expected it to be the Swordmaster's sword.

From the retired knight to the stableman.

All three humans in the room unconsciously craned their necks and began to wait for the girl's answer.

"I heard the Swordmaster gave it to us."

"The Swordmaster gave... that sword? Personally?"

"Yeah."

The girl's golden eyes, meeting Vlad's, were sparkling.

It was a gaze that harbored not a single ounce of deceit.

"The Empire is bad, but the Swordmaster was nice. That's why he left the sword for us."

"... What do you mean by that."

At the girl's vague, cloud-grasping answer, even Auguste lost his composure and ended up asking back, but all that returned were the cold glares of the escorting elves.

In this place, the only existence who could speak to the girl was Vlad alone.

"The sword there is a Dragon Slaying Sword. A talisman to protect the World Tree."

The girl's eyes pointed toward the young World Tree outside the window.

The World Tree of Aushrina, which was bringing forth flowers while emitting light little by little even now.

Auguste and Got might not have seen them, but to Vlad, who had absorbed the remnants of the voice, they were faintly visible.

The tiny spirits frolicking atop the World Tree.

"... From what does it protect the World Tree?"

You must see the true intention hidden within the phenomenon.

Joseph used to always say that to the inexperienced boy.

Why did the Swordmaster leave his sword behind?

From what did he do so to protect the World Tree?

The only person who could tell him that was the girl in front of him.

"Because the Swordmaster's sword is the most perfect Dragon Slaying Sword."

The noble silver sword.

The most perfect Dragon Slaying Sword.

"That's why all the dragons in this world are terrified of that sword."

The sword he saw yesterday had been speaking to Vlad.

To disappear from its presence at once.

Before it cut him down.

"... I see."

Only then could Vlad realize.

That the bizarre sensation he felt yesterday wasn't just an illusion.

It had been a sharp warning sent to Vlad by the Swordmaster's sword.

THUMP!

'...?'

Vlad, who had been recalling yesterday's sword through the girl's words, suddenly felt his heart pound.

An unannounced thumping of his heart that he hadn't felt recently.

Every time his heart beat, an uncontrollable sense of anxiety began to well up inside Vlad.

It was a completely different pounding from anything before.

"Divine Maiden."

While Vlad was panicking at the sudden palpitation, the door to the room flung open, and the elves who had been escorting the girl began to enter.

All of them with hurried footsteps, without exception.

"You must leave immediately."

"We will escort you."

The girl, having heard the situation whispered into her ear by the escorting elves.

The girl's eyes as she looked at Vlad began to tremble slightly.

* * *

Somewhere in the forest of Aushrina.

In the dark forest a slight distance away from the elves' city, a group of elves were tensely staring into the distance.

AARGH!

However, no matter how vigilant they were, there was a sharpness that could not be evaded.

Thorns flying in from all directions.

Due to the sharp malice spewing forth like arrows, yet another elf had just collapsed.

"Get into formation!"

"The defensive array is useless!"

Despite the screams echoing from everywhere, Varadis's eyes did not waver.

'Just a little more...'

The darkness lurking in the forest was glaring at the elves.

Within those dark eyes dwelt a sneer, alongside an anxiously burning hunger.

'You think I'll let you do as you please?'

All dragons in this world are greedy.

Because they were creatures that always craved perfection.

They were bastards who did not hesitate to shove anything into their accursed snouts to make themselves perfect.

"It's coming out of the forest!"

"Raise your shields! Protect the mages and archers!"

Acrid smoke filled every corner.

The elves did not even hesitate to set fire to the forest to drag the sharpest dragon out.

The screams heard from all around were probably not only from the elves.

'Come out.'

Varadis, drawing his bowstring with one eye closed.

At the tip of the arrowhead aimed by the elves' greatest ranger, a tiny magic circle was manifesting.

Filled to the brim with his rage.

In a state heated to a glowing red.

ROAAAAAAR!

A malicious poison hung at the tips of the shooting thorns.

An unendurable fury was contained within its bellowing roar.

However, even facing this horrific existence, not a single person turned their back to run away.

"Over here, you son of a bitch!"

"You accursed dragon!"

Now, there was nowhere left for the elves to retreat.

Because the young tree behind them right now was the last World Tree in this world.

"Nidhogg..."

The darkness of the forest approaching the elves who had so firmly cemented their will to fight.

A sleek body completely covered in sharp thorns.

Although it was wretchedly crawling on the ground now, the thin membranes attached to its front legs showed that this dragon had also once dreamed of the sky.

"It's much larger than expected!"

"We have to make it stop first!"

Magic circles floating all around.

They would need time to create the window to lock their coordinates.

The time for that dragon to stand completely still.

"Block it!"

Knowing this, the elves began to charge at Nidhogg without the slightest hesitation.

ROAR!

"It's changing direction!"

"Protect the mages!"

Listening to his comrades' screams, Varadis's one eye began to turn bloodshot.

At the tips of the creature's sharp thorns, it was no longer poison but the dark red blood of the elves that was gathering.

"Varadi—s! Now!"

With a snare thrown by someone.

With a snout deflected by someone's shield.

And the advance that was barely blocked by the corpse of the someone who had just shouted.

ROAAAAAR!

And so, the sharpest dragon finally came to a halt.

Through the hazy dust, the accursed dragon's eyes flared up fiercely.

"... Now!"

Having finally locked onto the coordinates, the colorful magic circles began to fly mercilessly toward Nidhogg.

Along with the single arrow fired by Varadis.

The red arrowhead captured the wind, flying as it cleaved through a streak of wind.

Carrying the newly born young flowers upon his back.

Behind the exploding blood of someone, the branches of the young World Tree were swaying far in the distance.