106. Ancient Ruins (6)
106. Ancient Ruins (6)
“Woros are you okay?”
As I stare blankly at the tree, Lerisha asks in a weak voice that she is worried. I gave her a nod of her head.
“It’s okay. I was immersed in emotion without even realizing it.”
“How did you see this tree? Jim is very curious.”
“This tree was uneasy.”
After saying that, I went up to the tree, put my hand on the torso, and continued.
“The reason Arisha cloned the tree was to please Shaiza. It was not for some immature reason that she admired the World Tree and cloned it.”
“Yes. Jim felt puzzled. When Arisha heard from your mouth why she cloned her tree. The Arisha I knew was not that kind of person.”
“Yes. The tree was sad before it cloned itself. Because Shaiza was sad because of her dying self. After being cloned, I was delighted. I thought I could see Shaiza’s smile.”
However, after cloning the tree, Shaiza never laughed in front of the tree. She always wore a sad expression of guilt. What the tree wanted was indeed small. Just. I just wanted Shaiza and Arisha to laugh.
This situation has come because that simple thing has not been done.
“I was always questioning. I understand that the animals of the Ashen Forest evolved through Arisha’s magic. However, monsters also appear in the gray forest. It means that monsters appear in the Elana Education District, not anywhere else.”
Even if you deal with monsters, they continue to appear somewhere. In the game, it is said to be called Regen, but there is a reason as this is reality.
“It was the influence of trees. While trees live for a long time. The original ability, the ability to embrace life, is not perfect, but it awakens to some extent. But… It was broken mentally, so the effect was manifested in the creation of monsters.”
Lerisha hurriedly replies to my words.
“The reason why monsters keep appearing in the education district is… “
“Yes. Since the princess is a member of the student council, she must have seen the statistics. The reason why the frequency of monsters appearing has become clearer. The reason trees grow monsters is probably simple.”
I closed my eyes and continued.
“I forgot. In the tree’s memory. What the tree really wanted, the reason why it became a support in the midst of hard times. The tree was oblivious. That’s right. I only have memories of the relationship between Shaiza and Arisha, but I forgot the fundamental reason why I thought the priest would reconcile and why I had such a wish. And then it went awry. If only I could find what the tree was holding dear—”
When I said that far, I started to hear a rustling sound. At the same time, the golden bird bleeped loudly.
“Wow, golden bird, why… Woros!!”
She turned to the urgent voice of Lerry Shah. Then, insect-type monsters with red eyes crawled out of the forest. It was literally in the form of a caterpillar, so it used the expression of crawling out.
Green liquid was dripping from the fur on their bodies. Intuitively, I knew that the liquid was poison. It must have surrounded us to protect the trees, the breeding grounds of monsters. It crawls incredibly slowly, but judging by how big it is, it must be quite strong.
When the monster appears, Lerisha draws her sword.
“Woros. What should I do?”
“Five minutes… Can you hold out for ten minutes?”
“Okay.”
Lerisha nodded her head and charged her magic into her sword. Lelisha and the golden bird prepared for battle. In this dire situation, Lucy approaches me.
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“Let me tell you one thing. It was the tree itself that handed over the magical energy containing memories to me. Jim is capable, but not omnipotent. You don’t have the power to peek into other people’s memories.”
“…… “
“The tree itself showed us. If it were you, you would understand its meaning.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
At my greeting, Lucy smiles and jumps up and down to block the monsters. I took a potion from my pocket and infused it with magic. It is magic for dissolving potions.
Then he picked up a large leaf nearby and buried the extracted liquid in it. Only the mana oil that was added to ensure that the mana was well mixed was separately extracted. Then he shoved the oiled leaves into the hole Lucy had dug, and knelt down in front of the tree.
“I will listen to your story. You too, listen to me.”
After saying that, I put my forehead towards the hole in my torso and closed my eyes. I woke up to the sudden sound of rain. This time, it came into the memory of the tree.
One difference is that this time, instead of seeing the world from the perspective of a tree, I was able to see the memory world while moving myself.
It was a forest like a jungle. It was raining in the forest. But it wasn’t dark. The sunlight filtering through the rain clouds illuminated the forest. At once, I instinctively knew that there was a World Tree nearby, so I headed there.
Upon arriving in front of the tree, a young girl with light blue hair catches her eye. The girl was wearing a white dress and her feet were bare. She was swinging from her tree, laughing happily. As I approach, she stops swinging and tilts her head.
“Hey… who are you?”
“I… is an explorer It is called Woros Blood. I came because I wanted to see a little of this tree.”
“That, I mean! You are saying that you appreciated this tree too!”
The girl said that with her eyes twinkling. Let me nod her head. The girl smiles briskly and extends her hand to me.
“Similar. You and I are of the same kind. My name is Shaiza. He is someone who will one day become a super-great wizard who will have the greatest impact on this world.”
“Shy… nice to meet. It is truly an honor to meet you.”
“Sure. It should be. I will give you the opportunity to make a special lunch for me as well as you who recognize this tree.”
Young Shaiza smiled as she said that. As she laughs at her, the grass around her begins to shake. I nodded her head and took off the top she was wearing and put it on young Shaiza.
“I catch a cold.”
“Genius is a cold… Acquire!”
“Look at that. Is it okay to go out dressed like that in the rain?”
“But you don’t have those clothes?”
Young Shaiza tilted her head as she said that. I picked up her leaves and stems from around her and made her leaf shoes and put them on. Shaiza, who has the shoes, starts laughing as if she is happy with the world.
“Awesome! Hang this thing. I will someday I’m definitely going to pay you back. Ah! I couldn’t believe it now! Yes?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Yes?”
“I believe that you will grow up and come to return.”
“That… is it so? I see hehehehe. Actually. The villagers treat me like a psychopath. You were the first to believe in me.”
“It’s not an uncle, it’s an older brother.”
Shaiza let out a deep sigh.
“Everyone is so stupid. Even if you say that the tree is special. Even if they say there will be a drought this year. Even if they say that a great disaster will come. Nobody believes me Why can’t I detect something as simple as this?”
“What I just said was something I could sense because you have talent. The reason people don’t believe you is because you have no influence. By the way, call me brother, not uncle.”
“What wonderful things did you discover about this tree, Mister?”
Shaiza calls you uncle again. Since there is no thorough verification about me, it must be called Mister. If it’s really like Shaiza, it’s like Shaiza.
One curious thing is that I tried to talk to the tree, and the tree accepted it. But the tree doesn’t talk to me, but shows the young Shaiza.
There must be an intention for that. I looked at a tree named World Tree that was growing tall. A swing hanging from a tree. A small house made of branches built in front of a tree. Assuming it is a cooking table made of twigs, etc. The childhood Shaiza seems to have lived here.
It is in a beautiful forest. When the tree showed memories before being cloned. The area around the dried tree was devastated. Perhaps the specialness of the tree, which Shaiza in her memory wanted to show to Arisha, speaks of this.
The fact that this tree is the core of this beautiful forest. Perhaps he wanted to show Arisha the mystery of trees growing the life of a forest. When these trees start to die, this jungle-like forest is devastated. In other words, it is the virtue of this tree that keeps the jungle-like forest alive.
The tree probably won’t show this memory to let you know how great it is.
How much the tree cherished Shaiza. Could it be that Shaiza wanted to show how much she valued this tree?
Thanks to that, what did the tree think when it saw the sad Shaiza? On the contrary, I came to realize what Shaiza was thinking when she saw the dying tree.
From the perspective of the tree, he must have thought that he had ruined Shaiza’s precious hometown because he had lost his power. Furthermore, she thinks that Shaiza has created a emotional rift with her beloved disciple. The tree wanted to tell me about her own life for a short time.
The time I can stay in the memory of the tree is not that long. Trees are well aware of that fact. Rather than solving it through conversation in this situation, it seemed that I could vaguely know the intention of showing Shaiza as a child. Thinking so, I looked at young Shaiza and opened her mouth.
“A wonderful part of the tree… This tree literally breathes life. It is a tree worthy of being called the heart of the forest.”
“You got it! Is it so! If this tree dies, the forest dies too. It is literally the source of life.”
“The source of life. Okay… That’s the perfect word for this tree. This tree is full of precious life.”
“Yes! Really great—- uh, uh huh?”
I picked up Shaiza and walked towards the tree. She is wiggling her feet in dismay.
“Look. It is proof that this tree is great.”
“Zu, why are you taking me as evidence?”
“Because you are the evidence. This tree has wonderfully nurtured the life that is you. Shaja, you will have to pay the tree in return for the rest of your life.”
“Yes. I know. I will manage the forest for the rest of my life-“
“That’s not it. Don’t you understand what I said in return?”
“… Yes”
The tree wanted Shaiza to pay her back, but in the end she didn’t get it. The Shaiza I am holding right now is not the real Shaiza. She is only Shayza who lives in the tree’s memory.
Her way of speaking. What she says action. Everything is being reproduced based on the memory of the tree. If it was the real Shaiza, not the tree’s memories, she would have understood what I meant in return.
I’m finally convinced. What the tree had forgotten, what it really hoped for. What I longed for I was sure of everything why he showed me Shaiza as a child rather than a conversation.
“Look closely at Shaiza. The tree made fruit for you. Since it is a special tree, it must have produced fruit when you were hungry. Is it wrong?”
“It’s not wrong. Because it really was.”
“I lent you a branch so you could play, and I became your home. The tree is in love with you.”
“I know. So I’ll take care of it for the rest of my life-“
“That is not what trees want.”
That wasn’t it. The tree did not need a master to take care of it. If it wasn’t the Shaiza of memory, but the actual Shaiza of childhood, she would have given a clear answer. But just as the long years have changed the tree’s mind. Time has changed Shaiza too.
If it wasn’t the Shaiza of memory, it would be the real Shaiza. Not Shaiza, who has lived for a long time and has grown old. If it had been Shaiza as a child, he would have acted like this, and it would have been firmly embedded in the tree’s memory.
The reason why trees were able to endure the hard times. Let’s forget the reason, what was so precious to the tree that it would fall.
“Give me a smile. Even if you get older Even if the tree dries up and dies. You have to laugh Thank you for raising me. Thanks to that, I was able to grow well. You have to laugh.”
What the tree wanted to see was to see Shaiza happy. The expression Shaiza made at the moment when the tree was drying up and dying was pity. Looking at the dying tree, she looked sadder than anyone else.
From the perspective of the tree, it was the last. At the last moment, the person he loved the most looked at him and made a sad face.
As for the tree, when she cloned herself, she was both sorry and delighted. Because she thought she would be able to see Shai Ja’s smile. But that wish did not come true. Just. I just wanted the girl I loved the most to smile. All her life she had to see a face riddled with guilt.
I vaguely knew. The tree said that if Shaiza smiled, she did. It was Shaiza’s smile that supported the tree. Unfortunately, the tree, which had spent a long time, forgot about that fact and eventually fell. It will be visible now What is the precious thing that the tree has forgotten.
“What a tree likes most is your brave smile.”
“Smile… ? Really with that… Yes. That’s right.”
“You got it. If it were you in real life, not the you in your memory, you would have always been smiling in front of the tree.”
As she said that, she put down Shaiza. Then she put her hand on her shoulder and continued her words.
“The most human, but like Shaiza. Even when the time of parting comes, smile at the tree. Perhaps the tree will wait for your smile for the rest of its life.”
“I see. Thank you. I finally found out. That’s right. The tree liked my smile. The tree has been waiting all its life. Believing that one day you will see my smile.”
She knew about Shaiza when she was young, but she forgot about Shaiza when the tree was dying. That the tree’s favorite thing is Shayja herself. When she saw the tree’s memory, she felt uncomfortable. She clearly had a monologue worrying about her Shiza, but her heart wasn’t there.
Compared to that, she was strangely real when she was in pain. Of course. She remembers that she liked and worried about her Shaiza, but she had forgotten her cause as to why she did it. What the tree forgot was Shaiza’s smile itself as she looked at her and smiled unaffectedly.
I didn’t just want to see you smile. Shai Ja’s smile was the reason for her life. There were many clues, but that was also why it took so long to get here. I didn’t know if the tree had forgotten Shaiza’s smile itself.
The tree knew deep down. I can’t remember what was important to her, but that she had a connection with Shaiza as a child. The reason why I showed Shaiza as a child to me who wanted a conversation was because I wanted him to recover something precious that he had lost.
As I was thinking that, young Shaiza turned her body and looked at me.
“Thank you. I finally found out what I was waiting for. Thank you.”
Saying that, he smiled broadly. Shaiza may have built it as a child. It was the smile of the spirited Shaiza that the tree had longed to see for the rest of its life.
Shaiza laughs and her rain stops. The sunlight breaking through the dark clouds illuminated Shaiza and her tree.
ㅡ『Thank you so much for reminding me of my precious treasure. I forgot. The memories and emotions of the time remained, but I forgot the driving force behind my emotions. In fact, why did you think that way at the time? I didn’t understand why he had that kind of heart.”
The tree that showed her her own past, she only told what she was thinking at that time. It was a monologue that was only a shell. Because of that, he was corrupted even though he had Shaiza’s memories. Of course. Because he forgot the root itself of why he had such thoughts in his memories.
But it will be different now. The tree has recovered its treasure. Now, as in the time of Shaiza, I will return to the tree that embraces life.
“I will not push your alter ego. I am Shaiza’s successor. Even if I can’t smile like Shaiza. I will show you how her successor will live a successful and happy life.”
ㅡ『Yes.』
The voice of the tree in my head. There is no way to enter the inner world of the tree again, so this will be the last conversation with this tree. But I thought enough. The word ‘yes’ that the tree exhaled. I felt that there was a lot in it, so I thought it was enough.
Thinking so, she nodded, and her eyes darkened. I hear the sounds of battle in my ears, and the cool forest breeze greets me. I came out of the memory world and returned to reality.
“Ha, no, there is no end. Keep coming! Slow retreat… “
It was Larisha’s voice. Then the vision returned. I was standing in front of a dry tree. My party was protecting me and blocking the monsters.
I looked up at the tree once and then slowly opened my mouth.
“All right. That’s it. Put down your sword.”
“What! Woros! Wake up!”
“Look. It is over.”
“Look what… uh?”
The movements of the caterpillar monster that attacked the party with terrifying momentum stopped at the same time. Lerisha’s eyes widened as she looked back at me with a puzzled expression. She looks bewildered as if she saw something she couldn’t believe.
Beautiful green leaves begin to grow on the dried tree. Gray-colored plants that had grown unpleasantly bloom as they turn into pretty green.
“You did it. Jim believed.”
“Yes.”
The corpse of a dead caterpillar monster. And the stopped caterpillar’s body begins to split. Then, dozens of butterflies emerged from the body of one caterpillar and began to fly around the tree.
It was a well-known butterfly with sky blue wings. Is it a coincidence that seeing the sky blue wings of a butterfly reminds me of Shaiza’s fluttering hair?
The butterfly was sprinkling beautiful glittering powder, and the glittering powder was decorating the surroundings as if blessing a tree.
I was fascinated by the beauty and looked at it. As she watches the gray forest regain its green color, she suddenly has an idea.
I think that maybe the reason why this forest is called the Gray Forest is because of this tree. In fact, the area around the tree was dyed an unpleasant gray color. The dark gray was tinted with green, full of life.
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The tree that embraces life has returned.