Chapter 262

Chapter 262

***

Upon entering the elf kingdom the world was dark as if a full moon had risen. Whether day or night.

So to Rickart who had left the kingdom the sun floating in the sky looked strange. Whether he had adapted to the dark place in the meantime, or if the thing called the sun was strange in the first place.

"Anyway where are we going?"

At Edex's voice Rickart frowned and lowered his gaze that was looking at the sun. Caldebert riding the horse answered the young elf's question simply.

"We are going to defeat the dragon."

"Uh......"

Edex seemed to have a hard time quickly understanding it. No, he seemed to have a hard time accepting it.

Because they couldn't even imagine fighting a dragon, not only Edex but also Elline had a blank expression for a moment. Looking back at that sight Caldebert smiled softly.

"There is a place prepared for you folks. You do not necessarily need to follow to defeat the dragon."

Elline and Edex were practically no different from traitors in the elf kingdom and had nowhere to go, but Caldebert was saying there was a place prepared for them.

"Where do you mean?"

Elline asked. Although he made a courageous decision, perhaps because he was somewhat older than Edex he seemed somewhat worried about the future.

"You will know when you go. It is not far away."

As much as he was called a Prophet, Caldebert spoke as if he knew the entire future.

But Rickart who didn't have much interest in such things asked a very out-of-the-blue question.

"By the way Elline how old are you? I think I heard that high elf was over 700 years old."

"I am 224 years old."

"......What about Edex?"

"I'm 84 years old."

When Edex who looked to be at most 15 or 16 in human terms answered like that, Rickart found it hard to believe no matter what. Such was the age of elves.

"What about Hushike?"

"Well, going by the years humans count I think it's been about 15 years since I crossed over to this world."

"What about in the world you were originally in?"

"There is no time there like here. So naturally there is no distinction of past, future, and present either."

"Then what kind of world is it there?"

"It's a place where eternal power flows grandly, small yet big, and aloofly. A place that doesn't exist yet exists. Then one gets drawn by the World Tree and comes here. Among them kids with a lot of curiosity like me go far out and get caught. So I'm really not afraid of dying. Because I know even if I die I will return to the fairies' world anyway."

"......I feel like I'm being tested on how much is truth and how much is fiction, no, how far my belief can reach."

Rickart said. His memories were stopped at the time when he returned from the battlefield and was slaughtering in full swing, but thinking about the things he experienced since then it was full of unbelievable things all over.

After waking up in the Taiga Forest, everything felt like a dream. The good point was that the series of events was not bad. If he knew the world was this wide he wouldn't have necessarily had to travel around the Empire fighting.

Caldebert looked at Rickart as if he knew his feelings, then soon turned his head and looked straight ahead.

The place they arrived at after leaving Elohim the elves' kingdom was the battlefield where they fought the orcs. Reaching there Rickart's group ended up witnessing a very massive tree.

Whether it took the piled-up mountain of orcs as nourishment, in just a day or two very thick tree trunks were entangled like vines and had grown almost higher than a small mountain.

Just, unlike the World Tree the branches hadn't spread wide. The elf warriors who had fought the orcs were kneeling around it continuously offering bows.

Wondering what was going on Rickart was dumbfounded, but Caldebert explained calmly.

"It's a new World Tree. It's different from the existing one. Because this one grows by eating death. Thus, it's another cycle. Not a ring of eternal life, but a ring of life and death. That fits this world better."

They were words hard to understand. Caldebert's knowledge and wisdom seemed to stretch beyond humans to the world beyond. Just what teachings had he received from the dragon.

"You can do it, Ricky. Just as you saved many humans, you can also deliver salvation to elves."

"What do you mean?"

"The last piece is the dragon's death. Eurilias, the leader orc you saw, he is The Black Veil Eurilias."

"......The dragons I know are like very massive winged lizards with horns on their heads though......"

"That's their original form. They can transform into anything. What do you think they transformed into when they reigned as emperors of the ancient Empire? At that time they would have taken a human form."

"No but why an orc of all things. It's strange."

"Dirty and ugly is a human concept. From a dragon's perspective humans, elves, or orcs are all the same. If necessary they transform into what they want."

"Is that so......?"

Answering like that, Rickart looked up at the new World Tree growing upwards while coiling. Even tilting his head back as much as possible the top couldn't be seen.

Having lived he saw all sorts of terrible sights and fascinating things, but this simply couldn't be explained at all. He simply couldn't call it a tree and felt like it was something else.

"Anyway will Ricky get his memories back?"

Hushike who was looking up at the new World Tree with Rickart said as if muttering to herself.

"Why ask that all of a sudden?"

"Because they are too beautiful. To lose them."

"Well......"

Marie and his friends, and family might feel sad if they knew but the current Rickart had no lingering attachments to the lost memories.

While there were sad dreams because they cannot come true, there were sad memories because they were already achieved but couldn't be remembered. The World Tree growing while coiling seemed like that intersection. Grown to the end of that sky.

Caldebert seemed to have complicated thoughts like his hair that had turned gray white. But as if soon getting a grip on his mind, driving the horse like a confident lord he went to the elves revering the new World Tree and said.

"This World Tree will not guarantee a cycle like the World Tree of the kingdom. Just, when you die it will take that as nourishment and pass it on to the next generation. Love each other. Because you love give birth to children and raise them with love. What you must protect is not the World Tree itself but love. As warriors do not fear death, and survive by cultivating and gathering yourselves. Then the World Tree will provide you with a home, fruits, and a forest."

The elves raised their heads and listened to Caldebert's words. Looking only at their expressions they seem to have no thoughts, but in fact that wasn't it but because they were engraving it in their hearts.

Because it was a method to resolve the Elsalam they had harbored for a long time, and blossom it. Perhaps the existing World Tree weakening wasn't entirely the fault of the dragons alone.

"Hushike."

Caldebert called Hushike looking back. Then just like when he fought the high elf, Hushike just caught its meaning.

When Hushike reached out her hand and touched the new World Tree, soon the ground heaved and incredibly thick roots pierced through the surface and began making house shapes on their own.

Seemingly slow yet fast they tangled and twisted this way and that and stood straight, making several spaces to live inside them, though not as much as that city of the kingdom they were somewhat taking a proper shape.

It was still merely the beginning. Though beginnings were always insignificant, it couldn't be known how prosperous it will become in the future.

As Rickart saw it Caldebert seemed like a pioneer, a savior beyond a Prophet. The truly subtle point here was that he didn't seem to necessarily bestow favors out of concern for the elves.

Perhaps he seemed to be following a greater duty, or commandment he might have learned from his dragon teacher. And he also felt that he bizarrely anticipated all this and arranged it like this.

But was that possible? How did an old friend become a wizard, a prophet, and a savior? Well, it didn't feel distant though.

"Ricky, let's chase The Black Veil. We must kill him before he gathers an army. Now is the opportunity."

"......I don't know what it's for, but if it's beneficial to everyone there'd be no reason to refuse. Since my useless life will also get its own reason."

"It's not because of such things."

Looking at Rickart who hadn't completely taken off his depression yet Caldebert said as if comforting.

"Elves are hard to understand but there's nothing complicated about them. They are simple and do not know compromise. Don't they somehow resemble you? Ricky."

"What did you say?"

"You felt a bizarre sense of stability here didn't you."

"How do you know that?"

"It's strange not to know when it can be seen with the eyes."

"Even so what can't be understood just can't be understood."

"Yes that's right. We should go our way. Let's go."

Caldebert turned the horse's head. The Black Cloud, Exrumo followed very well as if it was originally his horse. It was a horse that listened well to human words in the first place, and Caldebert originally drove horses well since his origin itself was a prince.

Caldebert passed the ash-covered area where new sprouts were just coming up. The *duguduk*, *duguduk* sounds were heard, and Rickart and Hushike slowly followed him.

Gaining a new belief and a new nest, the elves who formed a new tribe stood blankly and watched Rickart's group moving away. Elline and Edex waved their hands. Will they be able to form a nation with only worker bees without a queen bee? It couldn't be known.

Anyway Rickart followed Caldebert into the forest on the opposite side. Caldebert went ahead then stopped briefly and waited.

He didn't know on what basis he was tracking the dragon named Eurilias, but he advanced as if groping for memories. Was this also seen in a dream? Just how far did he see?

Walking carrying only a single sword in the armor he wore underneath Rickart suddenly felt someone grab his hand. He knew without looking, but looking back it was Hushike.

"What?"

"I know now."

"What?"

"My mission."

"If you're going to say incomprehensible things cut it out. Because I am a human whatever I can't understand I can't."

The tone was somewhat cold but it wasn't because there was any other meaning. It was because the current Rickart had poor social skills.

Hushike stuck out her lips *ppijuk* as if sulking. She didn't let go of the held hand though.

"You're a fool. Ricky is."

"That is correct. I won't refute it."

"It's no fun."

"I am not a clown."

"But a poet."

"Well."

"Where did the boy who loved stars go?"

"He died."

"No. He didn't die."

Rickart just smiled softly at the childish conversation. He couldn't know how long it had been since he smiled. Thought he had lost the thing called smiling forever.

"Aren't you trembling going to fight a dragon?"

"I have to have seen one to be afraid or not. Still can't believe it transformed into an orc. Then what, the intention was to mobilize orcs to do something to the World Tree? If you're offered as a sacrifice it would let it off? Rather than being afraid I feel like it's funny."

"Right. The world is all funny except me."

"Me too?"

"Of course. Ricky is the funniest."

Rickart chuckled softly. It was his second smile. Though this time it was closer to finding it ridiculous.

"Tell me the story. About the people I met."

"Are you finally asking now? From who? Bori? Marie? Ice? Father? Brother? Mother?"

"Mother."

"Hmm...... After giving birth to Ricky she became frail, so she didn't go out much and mostly did sewing or made clothes in the master bedroom. Even if Ricky did foolish things in front of her she didn't scold you even once, and hugged you in her embrace. When your clothes got dirty from playing outside with your brothers, she would take them off with her own hands and wash you. Without finding it annoying at all, without finding it hard, she whispered, Ricky, my Ricky. For the first time, Ricky obtained salvation there."

"What about Father?"

"Well, though he was always blunt and strict on the side, he treated you affectionately when Ricky left the house. Because he had his duties as a lord, Ricky completely understood that part."

"What about friends?"

"Speaking of friends the scope is wide, let's talk starting with the guide Arno for now. Arno is a truly funny person......"

Hushike unravelled the things Rickart experienced one by one like unravelling a spool of thread. Walking with his head slightly bowed, Rickart listened to it as if listening to another person's story.

But it didn't mean that resonance wasn't transmitted. The meeting with Bori, fighting with Bolka, when the cold Ice melted down, the students shivering in cold and hunger, the man who abandoned his fiery desire for revenge and hugged Bori, the Ehrenberg 5 who in a way were actually no different from me in reality......

Hushike's story was endless. Before even passing the early part, she spoke about each person sometimes shortly, sometimes long.

Listening to such stories Rickart, the girl friend and the old friend, the three went to kill a dragon together.

The closer they got to the dragon the more his heart felt at peace. It felt like the deep-seated hatred and anger in his chest were gradually subsiding.