Chapter 220 - Successor (1)

A very long time ago.

The first era of the Empire, which no one remembered anymore.

Back then, the eastern part of the Empire was originally a barren wasteland with nothing at all.

Unlike the fertile West where the Mother World Tree was located, the barren eastern wasteland, where not even a single blade of grass could easily grow, was a land that even neighboring lords paid no attention to.

"... It seems the children have starved a lot."

A parched and desolate land.

Looking around the place, the man gave a bitter smile as he met the gazes of the children looking at him.

It was because, despite him being a stranger, the eyes of the children following him were sparkling with the expectation of food.

"Because there isn't much to eat."

"Is it a land that even elves cannot save?"

With every step the man took, the children of the village inched closer to him.

However, the man felt a bit saddened by the fact that the children clinging to him now were not doing so out of innocent curiosity.

"... This is a land that no one, not just us elves, can save. Your Majesty."

The young Geronimo called the man with his robe pulled down low 'Your Majesty'.

It was a title that could only be bestowed upon one man, the supreme ruler of the continent, but the man Geronimo was looking at now appeared far too shabby to bear the glorious title of Your Majesty.

"How is it, seeing it for yourself? Do you finally feel relieved?"

The width of the sleeves flapping over his emaciated body was broad.

Since he had shared even his own food, Geronimo's eyes had become thoroughly hollow, seemingly filled with nothing but bitter venom now.

"In the end, the king of humans only thought about humans. It seems the former elder's words were indeed correct."

"..."

There was a knight who harbored a will that sparkled like the stars.

He was also the one who gathered the potential of all the races in the world into his single sword in order to eliminate the existence known as the most perfect dragon.

"... I'm sorry."

However, the man now taking off his robe was not the clear and bright knight of that time.

The old man, who had piled nothing but regret upon his deeply wrinkled face, was merely a liar who had failed to properly keep the promise he said he would fulfill.

"I borrowed too much to kill the most perfect existence. As I was paying those back, I ultimately couldn't take care of you all."

"Please return."

Stopping in his tracks, Geronimo muttered in a quiet voice.

However, despite being quiet, his clear voice entered Frausen's heart and sank heavily.

"I would appreciate it if you could return and send us some damn food to beg for."

At the tips of his stopped feet stood a very small sapling.

The sapling, not even reaching the waist of an adult man, looked so precarious that it seemed it would dry up and die at any moment, perhaps because it was standing on parched land.

"I hope that, by your mercy, we can survive this winter."

"Geronimo."

The elf begging for food and the World Tree's sapling that had yet to even properly take root.

Facing their miserable sight, Frausen deeply regretted the fact that he had come here too late.

"... Do not beg for food. Because you all are people who have the right to stand tall."

The elves who had to sacrifice the Mother World Tree to destroy the most perfect dragon.

But now, their current state was merely a life of holding out their hands to beg from others, with their past glory nowhere to be found.

SHING.

"Your Majesty?"

'Their misery must ultimately be my fault.'

'My fault for completing my mission as a knight but failing to fulfill my duty as Emperor.'

"I am sorry for repaying this too late."

THUD!

Drawing his sword, Frausen planted the silver knight in front of the World Tree's sapling without any hesitation.

That sword which still retained its silver light, even though its owner had grown old and shabby.

"... It is the sword obtained from the Lady of the Lake, blessed by God, and forged with an eternally unextinguishable flame."

"What are you doing now?"

The young Geronimo was startled by Frausen's sudden action, but the face of the old Emperor looking at him was full of nothing but a relieved smile.

"Do not pull out this sword. Until the children here no longer starve."

Having planted the sword, Frausen looked around at the eyes of the children watching him and began to smile.

"And until the young World Tree puts down firm roots."

As vibrant green grass slowly began to sprout around the planted silver knight, the young children, who were born in the wasteland and had never seen green before, widened their eyes in astonishment at the sight.

HUMMM.

A man who stepped down from a glorious position of his own accord to shoulder an unfulfilled duty.

The silver knight wept as it watched its owner's figure gradually moving away, but its owner merely stroked it once and put his robe back on.

"Still, I'm glad it doesn't seem to be too late."

A barren wasteland with nothing, a land where children starved.

And a land where the planted sword would someday be pulled out.

The name that place would be called in the distant future was the elven forest, Aushrina.

* * *

The tall wooden palisades were a grand sight, but they could not block the ominous air drifting in from outside the forest.

Watching the village grow increasingly unfamiliar whenever the adults moved about busily, the young elves of Aushrina merely rolled their round eyes in anxiety.

["There are children gathered over there."]

"..."

And the same went for the children of the Luga tribe.

Seeing the children who, despite looking different, harbored the same look in their eyes, Vlad silently walked forward.

"The army of humans is about a thousand strong."

"That sounds manageable."

According to Varadis, who was walking alongside him, the soldiers the Count of Vitskaya had desperately scraped together numbered around a thousand.

The opposing elves of Aushrina numbered around 700, so if they fought with the palisades to their advantage, there seemed to be no reason for them to be at a disadvantage at all.

"... The problem is the revived ones."

However, the Count of Vitskaya was not alone.

Behind him was a throng of dark mages who had answered Lamashtu's call, and they were likely still swelling their ranks and burning with desire for Aushrina even now.

"Their numbers alone were about 2,000 when checked three days ago. If combined with the human army, that is a total of 3,000."

"..."

"And perhaps they are continuing to multiply even now."

At that moment, a sudden gust of wind blew, bringing a strong smell of oil from the nearby torches.

The southeast wind blowing from the city of Tanobo toward Aushrina was also an omen showing that the upcoming battle would by no means be easy.

"That is why we need a barrier to turn this situation around."

The barrier that had enveloped Aushrina was maintained through the unchanging promise of the Swordmaster's sword.

However, since the revived Frausen had ended up taking that sword, the barrier formula the elves had built up over hundreds of years was unable to serve its purpose, like a safe that had lost its key.

"I'm counting on you."

With those words, Varadis stopped in his tracks, as if indicating that his guidance ended here.

In front of where he stopped stood the old elders waiting for Vlad in front of the young World Tree.

Their eyes, waiting for a new silver knight, were just as desperate as the eyes of the children he had seen earlier.

"... Hey, Varadis."

"Hmm?"

While walking toward those desperate gazes, he suddenly turned around and looked at Varadis, as if remembering something.

"Thank you for back then."

Looking back, Vlad was smiling.

It wasn't a smile bright enough to make one smile along with him, but his somewhat relieved-looking smile lightened Varadis's heart just a little.

"I'll try to pay you back with this. The price for all the times Varadis helped me."

From the city of Deirmar, devastated by war, to the forgotten dwarves' island of Lemnos.

Vlad had continuously remembered the elf who had been by his side all this time.

"Because a knight only accepts rightful compensation."

For the elf who had silently stood beside him when he needed it most.

Looking at Vlad, who was saying he would repay the help he had received through this opportunity, Varadis briefly lost his words.

"... Right."

Leaving it at that, Varadis stood for a long time watching Vlad's receding back.

Even though he was walking to shoulder a massive duty, there was not a hint of hesitation in Vlad's steps as he headed toward the young World Tree.

* * *

"Listen, my soldiers!"

Soldiers were lined up along the border of the deep green forest.

The soldiers, largely divided into two formations, looked just as different from one another as the positions they stood in according to their roles.

"You must remember too! Those elves who suddenly betrayed us!"

The dead ones were quiet, and the living ones were holding their breath to match them.

It was a formation shrouded only in a bizarre silence for those about to face battle, but the Count of Vitskaya alone was shouting loudly to everyone.

"You must also remember the suffering we endured because of it! Even now, your families back home are probably starving!"

Just as the Count said, his territory's people were endlessly starving right now.

Because Vitskaya County, cut off from trade with the elves, was like a field whose waterway had been blocked.

At this time when even the Dragonblood Duke's support had been cut off, the only way to save the territory suffering from burning starvation was to steal from others.

"Look ahead! At that green forest! Even while your families are starving, those wicked elves are likely playing and eating there, enjoying a honey-sweet rest!"

Anger with nowhere to go desires a target to burn, and pent-up grievances desire an outlet to burst through.

Right and wrong aside, at a time when they only needed a target to vent upon, the existence of the elves was nothing short of excellent firewood for the people of Vitskaya.

"That's right! If it weren't for those bastards, we wouldn't have ended up like this!"

"This was all brought upon them by the elves first! Those bastards started it!"

What is needed to survive is the courage to turn a blind eye to something and just a tiny justification to tear into others at any time.

With a single speech that fulfilled all those conditions, angry shouts directed at the elves began pouring out from the Vitskaya forces.

"In the end, they too are trying to kill others in order to survive."

"..."

And there were those watching them from another camp.

They were those standing amidst an army filled with all sorts of the dead and ominous beings.

"How does it look to you, Joseph. Do you think trampling on others to survive is justified?"

It was a sight akin to death itself.

The appearance of the woman looking at him while wearing black mourning clothes.

The woman, who refused the world God had made and didn't even set a single toe on the ground, was looking at Joseph with a truly enigmatic expression.

"God is truly cruel, isn't he. Because he is the one who created the loop where one must kill someone in order to live."

"..."

Seen up close, she was a very benevolent woman.

Because the sight of her embracing even the dead children one by one in her arms was akin to a holy mother sent by God.

However, Joseph could catch a glimpse of the terrifying madness hiding behind her warm smile.

"That is why we must destroy it all. So that no one can ever die again."

Some out of base desires, unfulfilled dreams, or tragic accidents.

The dark mages who were drawn by darkness and followed all the way here must all have their own circumstances, but Joseph could be certain that there was no one as crazy as Lamashtu, who was right in front of him.

"And let us remake it."

Because she was rejecting this very world created by God with a passion purer than anyone else's.

Joseph could only remain frozen stiff at the mad smile Lamashtu gave him.

RUMBLE.

In that instant, the Vitskaya forces began to agitate at the sudden vibration of the ground echoing out.

Due to the intense vibration, which could not be felt normally, not only the living but also the revived ones were swaying without being able to find their balance.

"An earthquake?"

"No."

Slightly lifting her veil, Lamashtu raised a pale finger and began pointing to the center of the elven forest.

At the tip of where that finger was pointing hung a single tree towering high into the sky.

"As expected, it seems the elves don't want to just die like this either."

The young World Tree visible far away was shining.

Beyond its original green hue, with all sorts of radiant colors.

"It's the barrier formula."

Those vivid colors of light, which could be recognized even by people outside the forest, were flashing incessantly even now, illuminating the elven forest like a lighthouse.