94 – Chapter 94. The Goddess of the World Tree (2)
“Here. You do know this is the residence of the Goddess, right?”
“I know.”
“Originally, not to mention strangers, but men are absolutely forbidden from entering, aren’t they?”
“Then shall we leave?”
“It’s okay. Because I wanted to see you.”
Shocked at the sight of me, Mia blabbered.
But seemingly pleased on the inside, she couldn’t hide the smile on her lips.
Mia looked around once more, then only when she made sure there was no one watching, she closed the door and came in.
“But why are you here? You sneaked into an empty house like a petty thief.”
“That … could you refrain from calling me a petty thief. It’s a little offensive.”
“Oops. I’m sorry.”
It used to be okay.
Lately, I’ve been sensitive to the term petty thief.
Of course, it’s true that I only master the skills that fit a petty thief in terms of magic or disguise on many levels.
Nevertheless, it’s only the second time on this chapter that I’ve trespassed into someone else’s house.
“There’s a celebrity in the party, so it was a little hard to enter the country openly.”
“hehehe. Who on earth is it? Last time it was Evgenia’s eldest, and who is the girl you brought this time?”
“It’s not a woman. It’s a former convict, so I had no choice but to sneak in.”
“Oh, speaking of which, with the talk of Evgenia’s eldest, was her name Elisha? I met her again a few days ago.”
“Pardon?”
I doubted my ears for a moment.
Elisha again?
Here?
“How, how did that happen?”
“King Prost unexpectedly visited Elvengard. At that time, Lady Alisha also came along.”
“You’re kidding. She didn’t act like she knows, did she?”
“The elders greeted him first…”
“…”
Mia lowered her head as if she was embarrassed.
Oh dear.
This is going to be trouble.
Closing her eyes tightly, she calms her mind by smelling the tea Mia served.
“Alisha came here behind King Prost’s back.”
“No wonder Lady Alisha seemed frantic, sending some signals from behind…”
She began to sort of understand the situation.
If Alisha had a plan, she wouldn’t have come to Elvengard, where the elders clearly recognize her face, with Yerina.
She would have made an excuse not to go, but it’s clear she was reluctantly dragged along.
There is only one reason why Yerina would be so forceful.
Alisha’s clumsy lie must have been caught by Yerina.
Although it was expected, the situation was more serious than she thought.
Especially with a monster who observes the momentary trembling of a frown to distinguish a lie.
Alisha’s act couldn’t have lasted long.
“How did the Frost Lord react?”
“There was nothing particularly strange. Oh, thinking about it now, there was a faint touch of anger behind his smile…”
He’s angry.
Of course, he would be.
She realized that his loyal confidante, whom he sent to find the man, secretly went somewhere else.
That must be why Alisha’s letters stopped at some point.
She couldn’t keep raising suspicions once she got caught.
The key point is how much of Alisha’s lie has been detected.
It’d be really good if it seemed like a simple act of wandering.
If Alisha’s solo act is found to be related to me, things will get complicated.
‘The only good thing is that Alisha is under a proper delusion.’
The fortunate thing is, Alisha treats me as if I’m on the very brink of humanity.
She’s someone who’d rather choose to bite her tongue and die than see me reunite with Yerina.
That’s how much Alisha dislikes me.
She doesn’t even treat me like a human.
So, the probability of Alisha opening her mouth voluntarily is very low.
Of course, I can’t be at ease, knowing that Yerina will also do her best to make Alisha speak…
“Such a pain…”
Each time the siege tightens, I feel as if I’m running out of breath.
What’s most frustrating is that Yerina has to bring up the memories from round 12.
Since round 12 was just the previous round, I remember it vividly.
Memories where I laughed and cried with Yerina.
Although most of them had been repeated events I staged for myself and had fake smiles and lines to lure Yerina.
I can’t say there wasn’t a bit of sincerity mixed in between.
The problem is, the moment I face Yerina from then again.
There is no denying that I won’t be able to push Yerina away twice.
Yerina is inherently a difficulty hell, boasting a success rate of confession events that can’t fill 95 percent.
With the resurrection of memories from previous rounds and the occurrence of various errors, there is no telling what variables might have been triggered.
That is, even if we meet again this time, I may have breached a 100-percent capture rate instantly and received a clear game judgment.
To prevent that, the moment I come face-to-face with Yerina.
I will have to hurt Yerina and leave her again.
But I don’t have the confidence.
The confidence to hurt Yerina, who regained her memories, twice.
I’m not that cruel.
“It’s okay, as that was in the past. Anyway, you said two prophecies came down?”
“Actually, three. One just came down now.”
Mia’s face gets even more serious.
Then she begins to recite the three prophecies.
These were the three prophecies:
-Darkness shall fall upon Basil.
-The maiden of the World Tree will be engulfed in grief of lamentation and regret.
-The maiden of the World Tree will drive Elvenguard towards destruction.
The former would allude to the perfect barrier of Belphegor, I presume.
The other two are somewhat unsettling.
Both have to do with the maiden of the World Tree and connote negative outcomes.
That leaves me to think, inevitably…
“I doubt that the maiden in this prophecy is me.”
“Could it refer to me as the maiden?”
“I am guessing along those lines.”
Yulia.
No matter how much I think, Yulia is the one that comes to mind.
And it seems I am not the only one with this thought.
Mia, she has been suspecting Yulia for quite some time…
After all, she had once planned to burn Elvenguard down by provoking Ifrit.
It is reasonable to doubt Yulia with the deep resentment that exists between Elvenguard and her.
‘But Yulia isn’t that crazy.’
Of course, this is all from a third-party perspective.
From the perspective of the Elves, Yulia has betrayed Elvenguard and has been wreaking havoc as a witch by succeeding with her vicious drugs.
But I clearly know that Yulia fled due to the intense political struggles and schemes.
Yulia, who tried to reform the struggling Elvenguard.
Such a Yulia was the thorn in the senior’s eyes, and had to undergo much political distress.
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During all this, an incident advantageous to attack Yulia occurred, and Yulia fled as if she was chased away.
And yet, the leadership changed, ultimately the reform, as Yulia had insisted, proceeded. That’s another story.
‘Yulia is surprisingly normal…’
The Elvenguard fire can be considered considerably normal since Kali’s unique dungeon was positioned within the roots then.
Yulia intended to rid that; it’s difficult to think the main motive was to destroy Elvenguard.
Of course, she might’ve thought it’d be a relief if Elvenguard was destroyed in the process as well…
But this suggests Yulia isn’t that much of a psychopath.
‘A maiden before Yulia? Or someone who will take the title of maiden in the future?’
However, if Yulia were removed from the list of suspects, the investigation would ideally fall into the abyss of uncertainty.
Does it mean that Yulia would be presumed guilty?
Or maybe it’s Mia…?
“Is there something on my face?”
“No…”
At this point, nothing can be assured.
Yet, I realized that one must maintain vigilance over a person who has ever held the title of the World Tree’s priestess.
Even if I firmly believe it’s not her.
Even if I absolutely trust that it’s not her.
Perhaps foreseeing a future entirely hostile to Yulia is called for.
***
“Delivery’s here!”
“…”
“Hey! The delivery has arrived!”
“…”
The top floor of the Gutenberg building.
The delivery man, removing his hat, briefly took a glance around the office.
No one seemed to be around, there was no response at all.
“Is anyone in the inner room? Delivery!”
“…”
Remaining utterly silent even as he echoed loudly in the spacious area.
Given the total lack of response even after this long, it seemed there was indeed no one.
“So this is the office of Gutenberg’s witch…”
The delivery man glanced at various books widely spread across the office desk.
Books with texts about rare search magic, location-tracking magic, binding magic stood out.
But as the text was so dense, the delivery man gave up on reading and shifted his gaze.
“Tsk. The next delivery would be delayed. I should just leave it here.”
“…”
Recipient is not present.
Until he comes back, he can’t be dead.
The delivery man turned his back and rode the elevator down.
“Hurry on, why are you snooping at someone else’s desk…”
And shortly after.
From under the office desk, black hair and long ears emerged, twitching slightly.
The tired-looking elf checked once more that the elevator had descended.
He walked lightly and picked up the box.
“Ugh…”
Or rather, he attempted to lift it.
The box did not budge no matter how much force was applied with his frail arms.
His pale face turned red in the exertion of giving it his all, yet he could only push it a bit no matter how hard he tried.
Giving up on moving the box, Yulia picked up a pair of scissors and sat down in front of the box.
One by one, the strings on the box labelled ‘fragile’ became undone.
And finally, the box was opened.
“Wow, I paid a lot for this and this is all I get? I, I’m not being cheated, am I?”
Inside the box were small wooden totems, a plush doll, talismans, and so on.
With a book written in ancient language laid out next to it.
Yulia meticulously examined each item from inside the box.
“Magical engineering was easy to learn independently. But why is it difficult to find anything related to shaman magic…
These were all catalysts for performing shaman magic.
They were all purchased through contact with a shaman after thoroughly examining the business chain.
The book he spread was a shamanic-related text that was difficult to obtain at a black market auction.
There was no choice but to do it this way because I had neither the confidence, faithfulness nor courage to meet the master directly.
As she had always done up until now.
Everything was learned by herself.
“Damn! This is part two! Where’s part one?”
However, becoming a self-taught shaman was nearly impossible.
In many countries and cities, shamanism is suppressed.
In the small but persistent shaman community, techniques are taught and learned secretly.
Learning the art of shaman magic without a mentor was an immense task, akin to conjuring something out of nothing.
“Ugh, this is driving me nuts. I have to dress in a hooded sweatshirt, put on a mask and sunglasses, and venture into the black market…again.”
But no matter how tough and challenging the road ahead,
Yulia was not going to give up.
To find Eugene.
And to hold onto him.
And, to prevent his regression.
As of now, none of it seemed feasible under the current magical system.
There didn’t exist any magic that could track him down with just knowing his name, body scent, eye color, and the beautiful dimples that appeared when he smiled.
Even if she found him, capturing him was another problem.
If she hired someone strong, perhaps there might be a resolution.
But an average mercenary, who worked for money, wouldn’t be a match for Eugene.
Moreover, preventing his Regression was absolutely impossible with magic.
“Ah, shamanism. Maybe with shamanism – an unknown world to me – it might all be possible…”
If it’s impossible with magic, couldn’t shamanism make it possible?
That’s where the idea originated.
Without hesitation, Yulia chose to learn shamanism.
She didn’t care if the papacy arrested all shamans they found.
She simply wanted to meet Eugene as soon as possible and relieve him from his pains.
Before other stupid girls found him and went crazy over him.
Before Eugene, tired of them, chose to regress again.
Her plan was to break this cycle of eternal agony for him, before any of this could happen.
“I…I…I’ll make you comfortable. I’ll make you happy.”
Tears welled up in Yulia’s eyes, shimmering like dewdrops.
Suddenly, she was crying.
Just as she was about to wipe the tears, questioning her state,
a poignant memory brushed through Yulia’s mind.
‘If it wasn’t for you, we could have seen the ending this time. For a trophy heroine, you’re causing quite a lot of trouble.’
“Ah, Ahh! Aahh!”
Eugene’s voice, vivid, as if he was whispering into her ear.
Her heart ached, and tears flowed uncontrollably.
It must have been words without heart.
To make her hate himself.
He deliberately spewed such words.
Or, some sort of curse or special something forced him to say such words.
If she didn’t think so, it felt like her heart would be crushed.
Yulia clutched her chest and cried, making a vow.
She vowed to make sure Eugene would never have to say such heartless words again.