Chapter 256

Chapter 256

***

Even if they brought up various excuses or causes, in the end what remained was only fallen corpses. What cause could dwell in those corpses.

Rickart who had committed murder like a machine was cynical. Ultimately he also knew there was no difference whatsoever between those corpses and himself. And, elves too.

Just, if he had lingering attachments to life he wouldn't have necessarily committed such murderous acts, but now he didn't even know himself why he was trying to meet Caldebert.

It's not that his consciousness of purpose was clear, but he had no intention of backing down either. Although he didn't know where his life got twisted from, the current Rickart transcended good and evil and only focused on carrying out his will.

If you want to call him a villain call him that, if you want to call him a robber call him that. Isn't the world originally the most merciless robber? The robber that snatches away fate, faith, and life that was.

Anyway even though Rickart drew his sword, the elves were calm. High elves especially had almost no change in expression, and felt like existences originally devoid of the fluctuation of emotions itself.

Among the several high elves one woman stepped forward. She had hair stretching straight down, and had her eyes closed.

Wondering what Rickart and Hushike were doing she stared blankly, then she opened her eyes. But that female high elf's eyes were twinkling like starlight.

It was called the Eye of Truth, an eye that could pierce through the essence beyond the visible phenomena.

Her gaze was directed towards Rickart and Hushike, and to her Rickart's whole body looked like fiercely blazing flames.

His skeletal structure looked like metal exactly like steel, and especially his heart had reached its peak temperature and was currently burning pure white like molten iron. To the point of wondering if one's eyesight would go bad if one kept looking at it.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again they were a beautiful emerald color. She looked back at her comrades and said.

"It won't do."

"Is it to that extent?"

"Not just that extent, more than that. It was like seeing a small dragon."

"Then what do we do now? It seems there is no room for negotiation."

"No. There is always a fallback for everything."

From Rickart's perspective, the high elves whispering amongst themselves seemed to be plotting some conspiracy. But if they were plotting a conspiracy they wouldn't did it so openly like that.

Soon after seemingly finishing their conspiracy, the high elves proposed one thing to Rickart again.

"We wish to hire you as a champion. If you accept we will officially invite you to our kingdom, and let you meet the Prophet. The discussion regarding the treatment of the Goddess we will do later."

"Champion? What champion? Are you saying you'll hire me as a mercenary?"

"Whether the World Tree dries to death or gets massacred by the orcs ruin is the same either way. If we can resolve even one of them it's a good choice for us, and if your wish can also be fulfilled we consider it a good transaction."

At the elves' calm proposal Rickart looked back at Hushike riding the horse. Hushike merely shrugged her shoulders.

Rickart looked back at the elves again. The sword he held in his hand was already drooping downwards.

"How can I trust you? How will you guarantee the promise?"

"What do you mean? A promise is a promise. What do you mean guarantee?"

"I mean is there something like collateral."

"Collateral? What is that?"

There's no way the elves wouldn't know the meaning of certain vocabulary or words, it seemed perhaps they didn't have the concept itself. Elf promises could be trusted, but Rickart didn't know that fact.

"If I accept your transaction, I will follow you folks. But that is also a part where I become vulnerable. I am asking how you will guarantee the safety of Hushike and me."

"Safety guarantee you say. What should we do?"

"Withdraw the armed ones. And from now on you must stay far away from me. If you approach to a dangerous distance I will accept it as breaking the transaction, and I will attack immediately."

"That is not difficult."

The high elves gestured to the archers and swordsmen widely surrounding Rickart. Then they truly withdrew obediently without a single word.

It still didn't become a certain safety guarantee, but since the opponent compromised Rickart also decided to take a step closer.

"I will fight the orcs. Keep the promise."

"A promise is not something you keep. You embrace it and go with it as a standard of life."

"Well whatever......"

With this a transaction was established for now, and the tautly stretched tension was also eased.

Rickart didn't completely withdraw his suspicion, and pulling the reins tight he attached Hushike as close as possible.

And the Goddess and Champion on horseback approached the high elves, and the high elves naturally guided Rickart and Hushike somewhere.

"What a waste. I liked those clothes."

"It's not right to unconditionally kill and steal just because there's something you want."

"Really? Mm...... Yeah. If Ricky says so it must be so."

Rickart and Hushike whispered to each other sharing trivial conversations. Since the transaction was established the high elves had an attitude as if the two were out of their minds, and never looked back at the two even once.

Anyway their walking pace was very slow. Enough to think they were intentionally walking slowly.

"Aren't you walking too slowly?"

Rickart asked from behind. Then one of the high elves half turned back and answered.

"There is no fast or slow. What matters is whether it's timely. The threads of fate are bound to tangle right on time."

"Did you people have the ability of prophecy too?"

"No. If we had such a thing we wouldn't have brought in a Prophet either."

"But how are you certain about fate then?"

"Because we believe so. Don't humans have something called faith too? Did it disappear as time passed?"

"It's not that...... Anyway I heard elves live long. How old are you people?"

"I am Alimantar, 762 years old."

"......Lies."

"I have seen things about lies in records, but I do not know in detail."

"I merely meant it's hard to believe."

"Whether you believe it or not, the truth does not change. Just as closing your eyes doesn't make that sun disappear."

"What is the light coming from your bodies?"

"It's not something we emit ourselves but the moonlight lingering."

Sometimes there were things hard to believe even with evidence right before one's eyes, the elves were like that. Outwardly they just looked like handsome and pretty people with long ears, but it felt they were fundamentally completely different existences from humans.

"Do you absolutely have to offer Hushike as a sacrifice?"

"As long as there is no other way."

"What is the World Tree for that?"

"The source of our life and the place we take refuge at the end. We follow the cycle. Unlike humans where there are destinations of heaven and hell. But from a certain moment the cycle was blocked, and the World Tree is gradually withering. As time flows the children born from the World Tree are also becoming fewer, and we are slowly weakening and dying."

"Children are born from a tree? What does that mean?"

"Literally. Children born from the World Tree have moonlight lingering on their bodies like us, and live following wisdom and virtue. In the very distant past moonlight lingered on the bodies of all elves. But as you see, the numbers have decreased a lot now."

"Whether the light lingers or not, is it important for living?"

"The light is merely a phenomenon, lifespans are decreasing. Elves these days cannot fully surpass 500 years."

"500 years seems long enough to live......"

"But because of that the cycle is rapidly consumed, and gets blocked. We are gradually going extinct."

"Are you afraid of going extinct?"

"Dying as one of the leaves is not fearful. Just, since we are a whole as one, the whole dying is fearful."

To the elves there was no concept of individual. Like ants or bees, the whole was a single colony centered on the World Tree. In other words, just as the entire group dies if the queen ant or queen bee dies, they seemed to be undergoing such a process.

"Even so, do you have to prolong life even while sacrificing completely unrelated people?"

"Are you asking about guilt? Or are you asking about morality or ethics? I am sorry but, if there is a most important morality and ethics to us it is preserving the World Tree, and furthermore preserving the whole."

Rickart looked up at Hushike. Regarding the sacrifice there seemed to be absolutely no room for compromise. But as if Hushike didn't mind, she merely blinked her eyes blankly.

But this time the high elf asked first.

"The Prophet said, I heard you are a poet but."

"Did Caldebert speak about me?"

"Briefly."

"What did he say?"

"The purest ultimate star. The great poet who personally practiced forgiveness in hell. Yet a lonely person no one understands......"

Rickart thought for a moment. No, rather than thinking it was correct that he became immersed in sentiment. Although a short karma if it's short, it was intense and warm. The karma with Caldebert that was.

A frail yet brave person, a person whose brain was more outstanding than anyone, a person who treated me with kindness without even minding status, and as Rickart saw it, he too was a lonely person.

Although seeming faded it was a clear memory. He thought about what it would have been like if even this memory didn't exist. He didn't even want to think about it.

"Did you teach him about reincarnation magic?"

Awakening from his brief sentiment Rickart asked.

"Of course. Because that was the transaction."

"What kind of magic is it?"

"A dream. I mean a dream that spins reality. This world, what we believe is reality, is a dream of some great existence. Therefore reincarnation magic is also achieved through dreams. That is the essence, and I cannot teach you the specific method unless we make a separate transaction."

It was a hard saying to believe. In the case of humans, because Rickart also naturally believed as common sense that God created the world.

"......What happens if one wakes up from the dream?"

"If it was a bad dream one would be relieved, and if it was a good dream tears would flow along with a gentle smile."

Rickart's heart pounded for some unknown reason.

"I heard Caldebert woke up from sleep, how was he?"

"Since I didn't see it myself. I am sorry but I am not interested in him or you. Ask him yourself later."

They were heartless words. But there was no need to deliberately blame him. Because it was merely a transaction relationship.

The high elves' footsteps stopped. The place they stopped was where a severely twisted large tree was.

Although the tree was twisted, it overflowed with vitality. Unsuitable for the Taiga Forest the leaves were broad and green, and dense like a person with a lot of hair.

One high elf stroked that tree. Then after a moment, the twisted tree began to open its body by itself.

*Kkadudududuk......*

And between the opened thick trunk, rather than an empty space something like a translucent membrane undulated. It looked like the surface of water or mercury.

"Go."

"Where?"

"To the battlefield."

It seemed if they passed that membrane they would go to the battlefield. A battlefield huh, Rickart felt a slightly fluttery mood. Well life was a battlefield anyway though.

"Let's go."

Hushike riding the horse said. Having no thoughts was a disadvantage, but it also had the advantage of having no fear.

"Yeah."

Rickart gripped the reins a bit firmer and headed through the gap the twisted tree had opened. He touched the membrane. It was cold. But soon, a hot aura was felt.

The first thing to greet them was the smell. Meaning fire and steel, blood, and the smell of death. The familiar smell of hell.