‘Umm. Normally it would be right for me to stop them... But interfering while those two are fighting would stand out too much... They look quite energetic. They must have their own circumstances... And I'm hiding my identity too... I should leave it to Walpurgis...’
I wondered why Walpurgis came, and it turns out the Grand Witch called her. Calling her busy subordinate all the way here just because she felt awkward starting a conversation herself. Truly remarkable.
Recovered by Walpurgis, I was transported to the floor of the Lord of Creation. Smiling awkwardly under the gaze that seemed to look at a troublemaker, I spoke to Walpurgis's phantom.
“Thank you for your help. You must be having a hard time being dragged around like this.”
“I am worried that it seems one more source of trouble has been added.”
I felt a stinging gaze from the phantom. Brushing it off lightly, I replied.
“It seems like it's because you're too reliable for a witch? Take it easy sometimes.”
“There is much to be done. Just like now.”
“My, my.”
“You cannot just brush it off with ‘my, my’. Please be careful with your actions. There are many kinds of people in the shade of the World Tree. Besides the tree's residents, those seeking the Archdruid's teachings, the witches' potions, or the rare flora and fauna that only grow on the World Tree linger everywhere. Among them, there may be those who hold a grudge against you, or those with ambitions.”
“Like Blanka?”
The phantom flickered for a moment.
“...Similar. Except that they are backed by Lord Nebida.”
“You mean the Lord of All Creation, right?”
Walpurgis answered so slowly that it could be felt even beyond the phantom.
“That is so. They... well.”
“They? Does that mean you are not the Lord of All Creation?”
“I am, first and foremost, a single human being, with only an obligatory curiosity about the King of Humans.”
“And you have no desires for the King of Humans?”
“...Of course.”
“Huh? Your answer was slow.”
“There is one thing I would like to ask, but it is not grand enough to be called a wish. It is merely a curiosity.”
Walpurgis dismissed my words and turned around. As if refusing to answer any further. An uncomfortable silence lingered while riding the ‘water pipe’.
Meanwhile, the regressor was pondering something deeply.
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‘Why did Hughes do that unnecessarily? In the end, isn't there nothing gained from this adventure?’
You say you got nothing. You experienced all sorts of things. You went through it too, so why are you complaining?
‘Hughes does like watching people. He talked with the locals wherever we went so far. But it wouldn't be just for sightseeing. What was Hughes aiming for? Should I ask?’
Yeah. Ask. I'll answer.
‘No. We're being watched anyway. Hughes might not be able to tell me, and even if he does, I can't take it at face value. Let's just think about what happens next. If we reveal our identity to Blanka... what good is that? It just advertises that the King of Humans has appeared, right? Surely that can't be the goal.’
Hah, really. Thinking all sorts of things.
...I can't tell if this guy has good intuition or bad.
***
Manguk had perished, but it had not disappeared. What burned was the World Tree, and though its focal point evaporated as the Queen Mother and her close aides were wiped out. Originally, Manguk was a loose collective of noble families and tribes, so its form still remained. Several tribes still follow the customs of Manguk, sending their loyalty to the last royal, Hexia Agartha.
The chieftain of the Anub tribe, who were Agartha's loyal hounds and whose entire tribe consisted of dog beastmen, perked up his ears at the unexpected news.
“What? The King of Humans...? Is that true?”
“Yes! I saw it with my own two eyes!”
“But are you certain that he is the King of Humans?”
“Th...at I am not. But I heard the conversation between the Witch of the Night and the black dog! Calling him the King of Humans!”
Speaking of a black dog meant Baskerville. Just as the Anub tribe was Agartha's loyal hounds, Baskerville was also the imperial family's loyal hound. Therefore, the Anub tribe felt a strange sense of kinship toward Baskerville.
“The Witch of the Night? Then, the Grand Witch must also know. It's worth checking out. Well done, Cario. Your quick wits shone through.”
Cario, who had brought the news, wagged his tail, proud of being acknowledged. However, the chieftain could not smile as easily.
He could smell it. The smell of the flames that would burn this jungle. As a chieftain responsible for a tribe, and as a loyal subject who inherited the spirit of Manguk, he took pride in it.
“The King of Humans. If those words are indeed true. The world will be shaken.”
He could not fathom how massive the changes this news would bring would be.
However, even amidst anxiety and fear, he had to act. Because he was the chieftain. Anub stroked his chin and muttered.
“Rather, it worked out well. This might be an opportunity to wipe out the rebels remaining in this land.”
***
“...Is what they're thinking. Anub, those fools!”
The news did not only reach the Anub tribe. The incident of driving most of the people from the shade of the World Tree into a fight was too boisterous to cover up. If they had advertised it, it would have been less of a sensation.
“It is a miscalculation if they think the King of Humans will become their king. The King of Humans is the king of humans alone! He is not Agartha, do you think he will become the king of you beastmen?”
Old Manguk perished as it was. Just like the tribes favorable to Agartha, the hostile tribes were also left as they were.
Agartha suddenly created beastmen one day. The beastmen who were suddenly dropped into the world also needed food, clothing, and shelter. Taking pity on the beastmen, Agartha gave up a corner of her cherished vacant lot, but there is no true vacant lot in the world. Be it land, or people's hearts.
The tribes who inwardly thought of that vacant lot and Agartha's favor as their own piled up resentment and hatred inside.
Some of them joined the rebellion and contributed to the fall of the Agartha dynasty. Even though they did not truly wish for the destruction of Manguk.
“If he is the true King of Humans, he would never acknowledge those mixed with beastmen as humans. The reason Manguk fell was because things like beastmen got mixed in! This is the chance to build a true nation of humans!”
Those who had experienced a nation once keenly realized how sweet that absolute power was, and how much strength was needed to rule the jungle. Even though hundreds of years had passed since Manguk fell, they longed for the past.
“Let's depart! To where the false World Tree is!”
***
“...What was bound to come has come. The fruit has formed on the land where sin sowed its seeds. Now the tree of depravity will be complete, the fruit of good and evil will bloom, and the juice of sin will flow.”
And, the great jungle did not only house the descendants of Manguk.
A girl was walking among the dozens of trees growing on the low hill. Gently stroking the branches that looked like outstretched human hands, she whispered to the tree with a voice filled with sorrow.
“In the past, Queen Mother Agartha laid with the King of Beasts and gave birth to beastmen. All births should be blessed, yet the Queen Mother turned birth into a terrible depravity out of personal greed and obstinacy. That is... something that should not exist in this world...”
The vibrant giant trees that grew in the hot and humid land were objects of faith in themselves, the fruits of Mother Nature. To the druids who revered Mother Nature, the jungle of Manguk was truly a land overflowing with blessings.
However, when the World Tree, the blessed ginkgo tree, burned to ashes, and the Tree of Origins made by the Archdruid grew there. What the druids felt was endless despair and resignation.
“...A fallen Archdruid, and a mad Grand Witch. On top of that, countless witches and warriors... They are mighty, but... we are powerless.”
Archdruid Nebida. The teacher of all druids who had protected nature since primordial times and passed down the teachings of the druids. Loving nature and contracting with all sorts of beast kings, she was the paragon and pride of all druids.
When she declared that she would make the World Tree bloom in place of the burned ginkgo tree, all druids lent her their strength. They gathered the trunk and leaves of the dead ginkgo tree and delivered them to Nebida.
However, what was born was not a World Tree that would dye the world with beautiful ginkgo leaves, but a cursed tree of depravity that bloomed different flowers and crops on every branch.
After that, the druids turned their backs on the Tree of Origins. And becoming the watchers of the forest, they constantly observed the Tree of Origins.
“We are those who have preserved the heritage. Those who have harbored the sins of this land. And those who have sworn that it will not be repeated.”
There is a saying that the number of heartbeats allowed to a living being is predetermined. This arose because creatures with shorter lifespans have faster heart rates. A mouse the size of a finger has a heart that beats over 900 times a minute, and it spends its entire life searching only for food to gain that energy.
In contrast, a tree with no heartbeat and no movement can live for a time close to eternity. A tree, where it is even unclear if the concept of natural death exists, merely exists like a terrain feature.
Some people feel a fleeting beauty in beasts that burn everything in a short time, and some will feel awe in trees that silently guard their spots for eternity.
The druids were the latter. Those who revere the slow and massive, colossal cycle that cannot be measured by human senses. At the end of endless awe and exploration, the druids finally claimed a link in that cycle.
“...Awaken. For the World Tree. For Mother Nature. And for the natural order we must protect.”
A druid who has contracted with a tree can live for hundreds of years. Assimilating themselves with the tree, they stay awake for a time close to eternity without consciousness or sensation.
Because they merely ‘exist’ and cannot do anything, the druids do not encourage the act of twisting the natural order either. However, a druid who must pass on their memories and knowledge for some reason chooses that method.
The ‘trees’ moved.
Forest of Knowledge. The druids who discovered the sin of Manguk in the distant past and cut it off. Those who volunteered to become trees to avoid the pursuit of the Grand Witch, and to convey the sin they witnessed then, awoke from their long slumber.