105. Ancient Ruins (5)
105. Ancient Ruins (5)
Lucy boasted that she could find Arisha’s old tree, the World Tree, within 10 minutes. She proved by her actions that her words were not bluffing. Our current location is about 30 minutes away from the secret passage in the Ashen Forest.
If it was just me and Larisha trying to find this place, it would have taken more than 3 hours. But is it because there is a vampire queen and a golden bird in the party? There were no dangerous animals attacking us, so we arrived safely and quickly.
Arisha’s tree. The so-called World Tree was completely dry, and like my greenhouse, there were unpleasant gray grasses and plants growing around it. It is as if life has been taken away.
Only near Arisha’s old tree, I feel like I’m looking at a black-and-white photo.
“Have you seen it? This is the power of Jim. If Jim puts his mind to it, the continent… No, it can be found anywhere in the world. Jim says. If there is a man to be found, he will be pursued to hell. Hell, oh-ho-ho!”
Lucy stretches out her chest and laughs badly while saying that. It is true that she found Arisha’s tree, so she decided to just listen quietly.
After all, Lucy was praising herself for a minute or so.
“Um, why didn’t you respond? Even so, Shaiza’s successor. Larisha von Meloyer there. Come on, load… Us?”
Lerisha fell in love with the golden bird and was in no position to listen to Lucy. Does Golden Bird know that Lelisha is fascinated by him? It provides service while posing in various poses.
Lucy’s disappointing expression starts to turn blue. It’s true that Lucy was trying hard, so he decided to appease him first.
“Lucy Purple. Thank you. Thanks to that, I was able to find the tree easily.”
“… Are you serious?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“That. Right… Then, praise Jim. Jim has been gracious to you.”
“Thank you. It’s definitely a great ability.”
“Good. Good! More. Show more gratitude and praise Jim. What are you doing? Uh… ? Hey, hey Woros!”
After greeting, turn around to examine the tree. Embarrassed, Lucy shook my shoulder and coaxed me to thank her more. I have to inspect the tree, so I don’t have time to play with Lucy.
For that reason, she hugged her and approached Lerisha. As I approach carrying Lucy, Lerisha tilts her head in bewilderment. Without saying a word, I put Lucy Purple on Lerisha’s body.
Then Lucy smelled Lerisha and calmed down. I feel it every time like this, but I think I did a really good job bringing Lerisha. I really didn’t know that Lelisha had the ability to take care of the vampire queen.
Now that Lucy is also quiet, we can finally investigate the story behind the tree. As I approached Arisha’s tree with such thoughts in mind, red light began to leak from the trunk of the tree. At that time, Lucy Purple, who had fallen away from Lerisha, stood next to me.
“It seems to be Arisha’s magic. She may be visible to your eyes, but she is clear to Jim’s. It means that the mana circuit was unreasonably pierced through the trunk of the tree.”
“Is it because of Arisha’s magic?”
“Yes. It’s unfortunate, but… I’m going to cut down that tree before I go back. It seems to be a tree with terrifying power called cryptid. You don’t know what will happen when it mixes with Arisha’s magic. First… It’s meal time.”
“Please.”
Investigation is important, but recovering the sealed magic of Arisha is the priority. Her magical power will not return to Sora’s ring, but will enter Lucy Purple’s body.
Lucy hops up and stands in front of the tree, and uses her fingernails to pierce a small hole in the tree’s trunk. Then, he puts his mouth to his mouth and sucks loudly.
Then, the red light emitted by the tree slowly began to gather towards Lucy’s mouth.
Like that, the last ray of light was sucked into Lucy’s mouth. Thud! A small shockwave is generated along with the sound. The shockwave started from under Lucy’s feet and spread, knocking down all the small grass growing around her.
Finished, Lucy lifts her mouth from the tree and looks at me.
“It is over. Now, what you fear will not happen.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“You… Shaiza’s successor. This tree was weeping. I could understand the story because this tree showed me memories, but… There was nothing Jim could do.”
“… What was the story? I really want to hear it.”
Lucy answers my question with a nod. She tucked her hair behind her ear and opened her mouth.
“You are too high for me. I’m sorry, but could you lower your body a little?”
“Okay.”
“And Lerisha and the golden bird. While Jim does this, he is defenseless. I hope you take good care of us both.”
Lerisha and Golden Bird respond to Lucy’s words saying that they know. After absorbing Arisha’s magical power sealed in the tree, Lucy somehow looks more mature. Perhaps the story about the tree made him no longer in the mood to play around.
“Then… Jim will try to summarize and show only the important parts. It is to convey to you the memories contained in the magical power.”
After Lucy said that, she put the palm of her hand to my forehead. Then, a huge flash of light flashed in front of my eyes, and my vision changed in an instant.
The place was a ruined rocky mountain. And under my feet no. Below my gaze. I see two women standing and looking at me. Someone I know well It was Shaiza and Arisha.
Among them, I heard that Shaiza reached out to me. She murmurs in a powerless voice.
ㅡ “Look carefully, Arisha. This tree is a mystery itself. It must be the one closest to the truth. However, you have gone so fleetingly before the research is over.”
ㅡ “Mr. Shaiza. I don’t know why the teacher brought me and showed me a dying tree.”
ㅡ “It will. Arisha. My arisha I just wanted to show you The way life blooms in this tree. But… You’ve crossed the water now.”
After saying that, Shaiza closed her eyes and shook her head.
ㅡ”I just wanted to let you know. How valuable is research for life? But… Now you are wrong.”
ㅡ “I will be grateful for bringing me here. But nothing will change my dream of creating a powerful deterrent to keep the peace.”
ㅡ”…… “
Shaiza looked up at me without answering. To be precise, it would be to see a tree. She was just staring at the tree, with lifeless eyes as if she had really lost the world.
ㅡ”If you saw that… Arisha, you could have thought differently. Too bad. I really miss you.”
With that said, she sighed and turned away. As soon as Shaiza leaves, the sight darkens at once. How much time has passed The sun was shining in my memory a little while ago, but now the moon was up.
Again, there was a woman standing below me. She is a wizard wearing a witch’s hat. She was Arisha. She muttered as Arisha cucked her pipe, her pride.
ㅡ”What the hell is this tree? Hey. Because you died My master has been down for days.”
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As Arisha said that, a mysterious female voice was heard.
‘I’m sorry. I don’t think I can do my part anymore. Will you comfort Shaiza instead of me?’
However, the mysterious voice does not reach Arisha. Arisha still exhales smoke from her cigarette and laments her life.
ㅡ “These days… Master is a little bit disrespectful. That’s because I burned all the weapons I made. But, I still want him to smile.”
To Arisha’s words, the tree answered.
‘Me too. I don’t want to see my old friend Shaiza sad.’
But I still can’t reach Arisha.
ㅡ”Because I want to see Master smile. I will duplicate you making you alive again. Then… Shaiza-nim too… hahahaha, what am I doing against the tree?”
Arisha said that and began to put her magical energy into her staff. Then towards me…. No, she swung her staff with magical power toward the tree.
Kwajik!ㅡ Kwajik!ㅡ
Twice. Third time. Arisha brandishes her staff at my body. I felt my vision gradually go upwards, and dust rose with a tremendous sound.
And when the dust cleared, my sight was fixed on the sky. Arisha cut down the trunk of the tree.
ㅡ”I hope Shaiza-nim will be happy.”
At Arisha’s words.
‘I’m sorry. It wasn’t me that Shaiza wanted to see. It must be my strength I can’t have life again sorry. Sorry. I still want to see you one last time. The way she smiles in front of me. Thank you. Thanks to you, I can see you again.’
I whispered
To Arisha, but my voice still did not reach. So my eyesight gets dark again. A forest came into view. While copying, it was transplanted and planted in another place. The curious thing is that everything seemed low a moment ago, but now everything seems high again.
When you are breathing in the pleasant forest breeze, you hear the sound of cutting grass. Arisha came.
ㅡ”You… It’s called the tree of life. It’s called the world tree. But why… Why can’t you do anything?”
‘I’m sorry. I now… ‘
ㅡ “Haa… Mr. Shaiza. You were very angry. That he cut down a tree you… I’d say I cloned you… I can’t believe it at all.”
Arisha bites her teeth hard.
ㅡ”So please… Embrace life or whatever. Shaiza-nim won’t believe me if I show that! Ha.”
Arisha shakes her head as if she is in deep despair. The tree was still apologizing to Arisha.
This seems to be the story of Arisha cloning the tree. According to what she heard from A1, she longed for the World Tree and attempted to clone it, she said, but her inside story was completely different.
Arisha only wanted to please her teacher, Shayza. But in the end, her meaning was not conveyed, and Arisha seems to have been branded as a bad woman who cut down trees.
The tree, seeing all of that, felt upset. But it’s strange. I knew the story of the tree’s cloning, but was this tree’s alter ego growing in my greenhouse? When you have such a question, your view suddenly changes. Another woman was standing where Arisha was.
It was Shaiza.
ㅡ”I’m sorry. She drove Arisha to a halt. I heard that you were cloned. My disciple has done a terrible thing. Perhaps he made you this way to get revenge on me for burning the weapon.”
Shaiza whispered as if she was really sorry.
‘No. She’s really glad she got a chance at her life once again. I’m serious. So please don’t bully her pupils. Smile for me as always.’
I answered that, but I still can’t reach it.
ㅡ “Because I scolded Arisha loudly once. I will never do anything bad to you again. You… I will take responsibility and raise you. Because that would be the only way to atone.”
‘No. Really. Because it’s really okay because of me… Please don’t fight with your disciple because of me. Please don’t make that face.’
ㅡ”Keuugh… Arisha, how did you do this… Sorry. Sorry.”
‘I need to be sorry… I don’t have to… I just.’
I don’t want to damage Shaiza’s relationship with the student she loves because of me.
That’s all I want.
I begged. Because i’m fine I asked him to get along well with his disciple. But. Do not reach In that state, Shaiza is my. No, they use the roots of trees to plant alter egos in greenhouses.
Shaiza always had a sad expression whenever she saw the trees planted in the greenhouse. Arisha seems to have lost interest in trees, and she doesn’t come to the forest at all. Because of the tree. A huge gap formed between the two.
In fact, everything was a misunderstanding. Arisha made an alter ego of the tree to make her master happy, but Shaiza misunderstood that she cut down the tree in retaliation for burning her weapon.
Because she mismanaged her disciples, I am. No, Shaiza, who thought that the tree had become like this, always had to suffer from guilt. In fact, if Shaiza and Arisha had a serious conversation, it would all be a problem that could be solved.
After Arisha cloned the tree, she should have confessed to Shaiza right away. Things wouldn’t have gotten this big. But Arisha couldn’t do that. That’s because the tree Arisha cloned had lost the ability to hold the life that Shaiza wanted to see.
From Arisha’s point of view, there was no way to prove that this tree was a world tree. As the tree lost its ability, it was discovered belatedly after worrying that Shaiza would be disappointed again.
The tree was well aware of the situation, and thought of this.
Because when I came back to life, I couldn’t hold on to life. Because it was just like a normal tree. It’s because Arisha couldn’t tell me about me, so the rift got deeper. It’s because of me.
Negative thoughts and the wish that Shaiza would reconcile with his disciple were maintaining a proper balance in the tree’s mind. Despair and hope coexisted.
That’s how Shaiza planted the alter ego of the tree in the greenhouse. Until she died. For about 30 years. Shaiza has been plagued with guilt. It’s because a simple conversation to clear up the misunderstanding didn’t come.
The day Shaiza died. The tree wept bitterly. With a powerless scream that no one could hear. Shed dry tears. After Shaiza left, the despair that kept the balance in the heart of the tree began to grow.
As time passed, Arisha also left.
The tree continued to worry seriously. How can we convey each other’s feelings and induce the two priests to reconcile? However, there was no way. Because Shaiza and Arisha, the parties to the case, are already dead. But the tree denied that fact.
Although Shaiza and Arisha died, the tree lived in pain every day, thinking that the close relationship with the priest was damaged because of him. The situation couldn’t get any better since they had been struggling to deny the fact that the people involved were dead.
That’s ten years. After a hundred years have passed, the tree, worried about the relationship between the priest and the priest, struggles to admit that Shaiza and Arisha are dead. Negative thoughts began to grow in the mind of the tree whose reason for living was gone.
Arisha’s tree was endowed with evil magic and was forced to turn violent. The main body, which had no choice but to stand still, radiated negative magic around it, contributing to the birth of evil monsters. The alter ego that grows in Shaiza’s greenhouse has been transformed into a violent tree that always breaks something.
Thanks to seeing the memory, I was able to know the current state of mind of the tree. Now Arisha’s tree is angry. There is a lot of resentment piled up in my heart. Those uncontrollable emotions were released in the gray forest by making monsters born. In the greenhouse, it was loosened by hitting the floor with a large branch.
But I know. The fact that the biggest emotion that the tree is currently feeling is fear.
It is because of the fact that a person who suddenly appeared in the greenhouse is trying to harm him, and that someone is trying to abuse Arisha’s magical power by sealing it in his body. Dying isn’t scary. It was terrifying to die without seeing hope. No, the tree was trying to remember something. I was struggling to remember as if I had forgotten something very important.
When I think about trees like that, my vision gets dark. When I open my eyes, I see Lucy standing in front of me. It is liberated from the memory world.
“How is it? What is the story of the tree?”
“My heart… It’s complicated. First of all, thank you.”
“I’ll hear back from you later. Ruler. Show it to Jim. Jim is very curious, what choice will you make after learning the story of the tree?”
Lucy said that and moved away. An old tree standing silently as she moved away from her place. Arisha’s tree catches her eye.
For me, Arisha’s tree was just a cryptid that prevented me from advancing into the 2nd greenhouse. I pushed and removed it by force in the game, and I tried to do the same in real life.
But pushing with force wouldn’t be a good idea. At least for this one. I am also Arisha, who is a party to the case. She’s not even Shaija. However, from the standpoint of the successor who took over Shaiza’s work and had to clean up Arisha, I had to free this tree from the pain.