LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 86
“Is it certain?”
Ethan asked Cecilia as he stared into the air. Cecilia hesitated, trying to avoid answering, but with his piercing gaze, she stuttered out a response.
“…Well, umm… they say the spirit is definitely right in front of us… y’know…”
Hearing her words, Ethan looked ahead once more. It was just an area where civilization and nature were vaguely mixed, a boundary between the Academy and the mountain.
They couldn’t find any sign of them anywhere.
“If the spirit is there, then it probably is. Is there anything else, Cecilia?”
“Uh, I’m not sure but… the World Tree… the World Tree? Anyway, both its response and theirs are definitely in front of us. I don’t know why the World Tree is here, though…”
The World Tree.
From what he knew, the World Tree could only grow outside the great forests of the elves. Also, it was a tree so thick and massive that it was bigger than most buildings. It wasn’t a regular tree you could see on the mountains behind him.
Even if he squinted and looked around, all he could see were wild energies swirling around, incomprehensible to his eyes.
It looked like something akin to magic or mana was swirling around, blocking access from the surroundings.
“…There is definitely something, but whether it’s the World Tree or not, I can’t tell. It can’t have suddenly sunk into the ground or flown up into the sky, so it’s definitely ‘there,’ but… it seems we can’t go. Something is blocking us.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying! There’s something ahead… Huh? We can’t go? It’s not that it’s invisible?”
Making a question mark with her small spirits, Cecilia expressed doubt at Ethan’s words. To her, it seemed like they could definitely reach that place.
“Yeah. Can’t you see it? The fierce swirling energy over there? I thought as an elf, you’d be able to see it.”
Perhaps feeling a bit insulted, Cecilia immediately changed her tone and retorted.
“I-I can see it, okay?! I-I just thought you didn’t know… so I was keeping quiet.”
“If I don’t know, you should have told me. If it was dangerous, I might have walked right into danger.”
“Y-yeah, that’s true. I’ll let you know from now on. But you know, if that… thing is the origin of the World Tree, then there’s no need to worry. There’s a child of the World Tree right here!”
Maybe he’d chosen the wrong partner. Ethan thought this briefly, but quickly changed his mind.
He decided to be thankful for having a collaborator. Despite being a bit unreliable, she was an elf and was even controlling spirits, after all.
For him, who had lost nearly all the support from the Church and his pre-arranged collaborators, Cecilia was an invaluable presence, like priceless gold.
He couldn’t just wait idly for her, who remained silent as if communicating with something beyond the barrier, so he took action.
“Alright… that aside, we need to find out if it’s safe.”
Ethan picked up a beetle crawling around and threw it straight towards the swirling energy.
The beetle, cutting through the air, vanished without a trace.
“A rejection… wave? Why is it… rejecting me?”
With the beetle disappearing without a trace and Cecilia’s comment leading him to deduce the situation, Ethan sighed inwardly.
It seemed impossible to enter that place.
He figured that if he tried to force his way in, he would likely meet the same end as the beetle. That’s what he thought.
However, Cecilia seemed to be thinking differently as she slowly approached the vortex.
“That can’t be right… something must definitely be wrong. Let me check it out!”
Her shock at being rejected seemed to push her to deny reality as she walked toward the whirlpool.
“It’s dangerous!”
Just before she reached the vortex, he grasped her and pulled her back. Luckily, only the cuff of her sleeve was torn away by the vortex, and she was unharmed.
“…That’s… impossible…”
But her mind wasn’t in a good place.
Why would the World Tree, which gives birth to elves, want to harm its own child?
The spirit she thought would never be taken was snatched away, and now the World Tree, which she believed would always embrace her warmly, had rejected her. Her understanding was crumbling.
“It doesn’t make sense. The Church abandoned me, the monsters attacked the Academy, and now a mysterious princess from the East has crossed over. Are we going to give up?”
Give up? That one statement pulled her back from the brink. She needed to take care of and protect the humans; how could she think about being protected herself?
“…No. That’s not possible. Even if there are many unreasonable things… I believe the Goddess wants to uncover everything, even that.”
“…With doubt, think, and discover. Yes. But it’s time to withdraw now. It seems we can’t do anything with just our strength.”
Cecilia, more willing to listen, decided to comply with Ethan’s judgment. Even if she was a spirit, she felt that entering that vortex would lead to utter destruction without a trace.
“…This is going to take a while. Really.”
“Can’t be short.”
Expressing the same sentiment, they abandoned their pursuit.
—
Feeling off, and the air seeming like it had come up from the sewage, they escaped to a resting place for the first time in a while. The great tree still stood in its place, displaying its grand stature.
And the fresh mana.
Finally, they could breathe a bit and cool down their overheated heads. This meant that he could slowly think through Dokan’s words.
He understood. No matter how much of a protagonist they were, at first they were a commoner with no connections, so they would want to expand their network as much as possible.
Two friends are better than one. Two diamonds are better than one, after all.
If he weren’t this way, he would have kept people around him who could enrich his life. He could fully understand that in his head.
But his heart just couldn’t accept it at all.
Why does he keep looking at someone else when I’m right here? He was aware that was a bad desire.
But there was also a part of him that didn’t want to relinquish Dokan. He was the only one he could truly feel at ease with here.
In truth, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Dokan viewed him as just one of his friends. He knew he cared for him, that he treasured him more than anyone else.
Yet, he still felt like it wasn’t enough.
…If he could push a little more here. Could he tie him completely to his side? So that, even if not as friends, if they couldn’t be best friends, even if it was just in words—
“There you are.”
Just before his thoughts took a turn for the worse, Dokan caught up to him and interrupted his thinking. This is why the feeling of infatuation is annoying.
He wanted to live his usual life with his head completely empty, but the fact that it made him think about something was frustrating. Any answers he crafted would only lead to disaster.
“…Hmph.”
He understood it with his head, but people aren’t just creatures of the mind. However, he wasn’t going to stay silent like before.
But he made it obvious that he was a bit angry as he pointed it out.
“…”
If there was one problem, it was that it seemed to be too effective, as this time, Dokan was just sitting there like a dumb person who had swallowed honey without saying a word.
Why does the one who did wrong feel uncomfortable while I’m the one who is?
It felt like this happened all the time. But if he tried to fight back, he knew he would ultimately lose, which was futile. How can an introvert defeat an extrovert?
Even now, he was sitting next to him so naturally.
In the end, the ones who always lose are the introverts. He knew that if he spoke first, he would lose, but in the end, there was nothing for him but to open his mouth first.
“…Isn’t there something you want to say?”
Specifically, what he wanted to say was—you’re the only one for me—you’re the best, from now on, it’ll only be you and not anyone else. Not apologies.
“Well. I don’t really know what to say.”
He said he didn’t know what to say… well, then, he could let him know. Just say you’re the most precious thing.
“…I know why you’re mad. So, I just want to ask one thing. No matter how absurd my words might be, can you trust me?”
The atmosphere suddenly turned into one of confession… but what kind of nonsense was he going to pull now? He wouldn’t let him off lightly if it was another excuse.
“…Go ahead and say it. I’ll listen.”
“I want to say that there’s an unavoidable reason for meeting with the others. You’re the most important to me. I might even like you.”
Huh… what? Like me?
“So, I’ll say this clearly. When it’s all over, I’m only going to look at you. Just hold on until then… can you do that?”
Wait, that escalated too quickly.
After being confessed to or whatever this was, I heard that even if I flirt with other girls, in the end, I’ll be looking only at you.
…What am I supposed to say to that?
“…Are you really saying this with sincerity?”
I asked back, loaded with many meanings. Was he really saying he wanted me to believe that, was it a check—
Or was he asking if he really liked me?
“…Sorry. Even I think this is really silly. But I mean it.”
If so, then maybe I…
Might have a bit of a hard time…?