#210
To Make Matters Worse (2)
A cool breeze blew refreshingly, and warm, gentle air wrapped around his body.
Was this what a baby in its mother’s womb felt like?
The absolute sense of stability and fulfillment that completely surrounded him tempted him fatally.
If he straightened out his reason and firmly steeled his heart, he could resist it well enough, but right now, he did not feel any particular need to go that far.
In the end, he surrendered completely to that allure and sank deeply into it.
And as he drifted through his unconscious, forgetting even the passage of time...
“...ris-nim? Harris! Are you all right?”
At the repeated external stimulus, his mind slowly began to return to his body.
“You must be having a really hard time lately. I’d had that impression before, but recently it seems to have gotten especially bad. To the point that it looks a little dangerous.”
“Ah...”
Harris, who had been lying as usual in the shade of a tree on the hill, rolled only his eyes through his half-open lids to look at the one who had called him.
Blue hair that rippled like waves, and blue eyes like a lake.
It was the elf girl he had grown close to after spending time with her for one reason or another, Shapiron Silvesti.
But when he opened his eyes and still only stared blankly at her, she tilted her head, then soon nodded as if she understood something.
“Hmm, well! Building up the refinement required of a High Elf can’t be easy, can it? Of course, I’ve been educated in that since I was little, so it would be a simple victory for me!”
As she said that, she shrugged her shoulders smugly.
“Hehehe, you’d better stay on your toes too, Harris-nim. Once I become a High Elf, I’ll overtake you in no time! I’ve already gone through image training several times, so my preparations are perfect, you know?”
“......”
Of course, her delusion was nothing but empty words if she was not chosen by the World Tree, but Harris, with a mature heart, did not bother pointing that out.
...In truth, right now even opening his mouth felt bothersome.
However, Shapiron, who had been chattering excitedly, seemed to take his reaction in a different way.
She suddenly pressed her lips shut and glanced cautiously at him, then began fidgeting with her fingers and carefully added a few words.
“I... I mean, I was saying you should cheer up... O-of course, it’s amazing that you started from the bottom and have already grown that much, too? Um... and...”
“Ahaha—”
At that clumsy attempt at consolation, a laugh escaped him without his realizing it.
He had known from the moment they first met that she had a strong sense of self-love.
And also that she was not a bad person, merely a little immature.
Moreover, even though Harris becoming a High Elf first could have made her feel distant from him, the fact that she still treated him much the same while never failing to attach an honorific to his name was refreshing in its own way.
Since his status had changed so rapidly, he had almost no close acquaintances here, so this was a relationship he found rather welcome.
On top of that, after spending a fair amount of time with her, he had developed his own know-how for dealing with Shapiron.
The most effective method when facing her in a slightly dejected state like now was...
Swoosh—
Harris’s hand moved slowly, passed through his subspace magic tool, and then reached out toward her.
What he held was a bag giving off a savory aroma.
Sniff, sniff—
“Ah! Is this popcorn? Thank you!”
The moment Shapiron smelled it, she accepted it at once as if she had never been watching his mood, then plopped down beside him and opened the bag.
‘Now she eats it without a word.’
Watching her put popcorn in her mouth and diligently chew, Harris quietly nodded.
At first, whenever he gave her food, she had reacted as though she found it somewhat suspicious, but as it kept happening again and again, she had now reached the point where she naturally accepted it even when he suddenly offered her food like this.
Seeing it this way, it somehow felt as though he had tamed a stray cat with snacks, but...
‘It’s probably just my imagination.’
He stared at Shapiron for a moment while still lying down, then drew up his suppressed will and slowly raised his upper body.
“Mm.”
Ever since the control that had forcibly made his body move under any circumstances disappeared, every single movement had become an ordeal.
Now he had to overcome the lethargy that came from this assimilation with nature using nothing but willpower.
Still, since the mental stats allocated to this individual were far superior to before, moving as usual was not impossible as long as he set his mind to it.
The only problem was that if he had even the slightest bit of leisure, he would droop and laze about like earlier.
‘But that feeling from before...’
Harris, who had sat up like that, turned his head and looked in the direction of the World Tree.
A massive trunk like a fortress blocking out foreign enemies filled his vision.
‘As expected, that wasn’t just my imagination, was it?’
When he had been deeply buried in nature and become one with it, the thing he had vaguely sensed was definitely the will of the World Tree.
For some reason, it had not been very clear, but he could faintly grasp the meaning contained within it.
‘Ah, what a pain. But I can’t ignore it either.’
After staring at the World Tree for a while, he eventually forced himself to his feet and drew up the natural force within his body.
And at the same time.
Whoooosh—!
In an instant, the wind swirled into a single point, and from there appeared a translucent, enormous bird.
Pascal, a high-ranking wind spirit that wore gusts all over its body.
It was Harris’s third spirit.
“Mmph? ...Harris-nim?”
Harris entrusted his body to the wind controlled by Pascal and slowly rose into the air, then looked down at Shapiron, who swallowed what was in her mouth with her eyes wide open.
“Ah—I suddenly remembered something urgent. Miss Shapiron, I’m sorry, but I’ll be going on ahead.”
“Yes! Please get back safely!”
And so Harris exchanged a brief farewell with her as she waved her hand while hugging the bag of popcorn, then immediately flew off toward the World Tree.
Since one never knew what might happen, he intended to talk things over with the other High Elves before doing anything.
‘Huh? But this is more comfortable than walking, isn’t it? Summoning him is a bit annoying, but if it’s just maintaining him...’
Of course, even in the midst of that, constantly pursuing convenience was an instinct he could not help.
***
In a space where the boundaries of the world blurred and mixed together—filled only with the unknown and chaos.
There was a being strolling leisurely as if taking a walk, seemingly unaffected by such surroundings.
“So far, so good.”
In this space, there was no gravity, no ground, no air, and even direction and time were distorted.
But such things were nothing more than trivial issues to him.
‘...Perhaps I should have done this from the start.’
That man—the founder of the Oath Against Heaven and the apostle of the Human God, the Revolutionary—nodded as he observed the outside through the cracks spread in every direction.
He had made arrangements in advance for matters to proceed in this way, but even so, he had been prepared for the possibility that some unexpected variable might intervene and ruin everything...
‘Not bad. The hunting dogs have begun hunting the mongrels as well.’
He turned his head and stared at one crack with eyes filled with a bizarre radiance.
There, a black swarm approaching an enormous tree that soared high into the sky was faintly reflected.
‘The World Tree is the pillar and root of the Enamel Continent. If it wavers, the continent itself will waver.’
That tree, which was no different from a part of a god that had descended into reality, was certainly a remarkable existence.
After all, it was none other than the World Tree that had turned what had originally been no more than a fairly large island into the continent it was now.
However, by taking root in the present world through an incarnation, the World Tree had also taken on considerable restrictions. The most representative example was that it was far more vulnerable to causality than the other gods.
The fact that it had been unable to accurately inform its servants of the location of Cecily, a High Elf candidate, was part of that.
And that could be applied sufficiently to other matters as well.
...Even if that matter was an event that posed a fatal threat to the World Tree.
‘Obaipo isn’t bad either. Those so-called hybrids that suddenly appeared are a bit irritating, but still, preparations have been made, so they shouldn’t pose a major threat.’
His gaze moved to another crack.
In truth, he had many regrets when it came to the vampires.
Unlike the lycanthropes, who had been relatively easy to draw in, they had already blended well into human society, and even their leadership was scattered and at odds with one another, causing their strength to be dispersed.
So at first, he had tried to approach Yufersh, the strongest faction, but unfortunately, that had been shortly after Bisk Yufersh inherited the Sacred Blood.
And that young vampire had been so full of excessive confidence that there was no reasoning with him.
‘I thought I’d tied them into a cooperative relationship recently, at least. And now they’re cozying up to each other?’
The Revolutionary furrowed his brow and clicked his tongue softly.
As someone who believed that all lycanthropes and vampires in this world ought to follow him, he could not possibly find the current situation pleasing.
“...Tch, foolish creatures who cannot even recognize the apostle of their Creator.”
It was a fact now forgotten even by those directly involved, but in truth, they possessed an origin on an entirely different level from other races.
To begin with, how could a race that was incapable of reproduction on its own and could only increase its numbers through infection be a proper life-form?
They were demi-humans created by the Human God by mixing humans with seeds brought in from the Outer Realm.
If one had to put it into words, they could be called a kind of illegitimate child.
Though afterward, when the god was exiled to the Abyss, all his authority had been stripped away and even every connection had been erased.
‘...Balteon is doing better than expected as well. I was a little worried when he brought back Madness.’
Next, his gaze swept across the other cracks one by one.
Not only in the southern tribal alliance, where the seizure of power was nearing completion, but even inside the Empire, unusual movements were occurring.
The machinations of a hostile faction that sought to assassinate the princess who had become the first heir, surpassing the crown prince.
If all the things happening now succeeded properly...
‘The board led by the Order will be shaken, and the current trend of everyone cooperating will inevitably break.’
Looking at it this way made him feel a renewed regret for the previous plans that had run aground before they could even begin, but in truth, the things prepared now alone were enough to overturn each region.
Moreover, if cracks formed between them in a precarious situation like the present, what came after was as obvious as fire.
‘If the Immortal King rampages here as well, it would be the icing on the cake. The message was delivered properly, but his reaction is slower than I expected. I thought he would have moved long ago.’
The Revolutionary, who had scanned all the cracks lined up around him and still failed to find what he wanted, let out a sigh and closed his two “eyes.”
Then he focused his attention on his “ears.”
And began to eavesdrop on the sounds of the world through the boundary surface.
[email protected]%$^&
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Noise like grains of sand flowing could be heard from every direction.
The thoughts of those who made up the world, and the sound made by the world itself.
However, no matter how strengthened his authority was in this space, he could not grasp everything in the world simply by eavesdropping like this.
Even so, there was one thing he could clearly know...
‘Oh, so something will happen soon after all. Shall I meddle a little more here?’
Opening the eyes he had closed again, he nodded with a satisfied smile.
Then he stretched one hand to the side—and firmly grasped something that had not been there until just a moment ago.
Wriggle—wriggle—
That thing, the Seed of Madness, twisted repeatedly with its entire body as if resisting.
But the Revolutionary paid it no mind and slowly opened his “mouth” to give it an order.
“———.”
Immediately afterward.
Ruuuumble—
Things from the depths of the Abyss, stimulated by a certain energy that began from the seed, rose one after another.
And at the waves that spread through the cracks opened in every direction, the monsters of the continent began to move in perfect order.
‘This should be enough.’
Madness belonged to a fairly low rank among the dregs of the Abyss, but thanks to that, it was rather easy to manipulate in this way.
It was quite the contrast to Death, which he had given up on handling and simply thrown out like a bomb before waiting for the results.
From the beginning, leading them to bring out Madness had also been part of such a strategic choice.
“Still, not being able to smell is frustrating.”
Having finished all his follow-up measures, the Revolutionary let his body droop and muttered softly.
This side of things was developing quite well, but the other matter had shown no progress at all despite him waiting for quite some time.
‘Even in this situation, is he still clinging to life? Even with such misfortune, he’s tenacious. If only I knew where he was, I would move personally.’
He had thought that if he turned the continent upside down to this extent, the man would soon die amid the chaos.
Given that there was still no news, he seemed to be in a fairly safe place.
Considering that he had not been able to find him despite combing through the continent’s upper echelons for many long years, the man was probably not in that high a position.
Perhaps his bad luck was so strong that he might even be in a situation where dying would be preferable.
“...If I keep overturning the continent, he’ll either be found or die somewhere eventually.”
That was all he could do for now.
Still, it would be nice to have his “sense of smell,” but even without it at the moment, there was no major problem.
For now, the plan was progressing smoothly.
***
Tarak, a large city in the northwestern part of the continent.
“Achoo~! Snrk.”
At the sudden sneeze, a girl holding a stack of documents in her arms wrinkled her nose once and hurried on her way.
‘Should I buy some fried food after work today? Rafi liked it.’
Without even the slightest worry, she thought such carefree thoughts.