A stroll riding a deer isn't bad. I enjoyed it. I set Shei down and dismounted the deer. It would be better for Shei to run away and act freely, but there's no particular benefit for me in that.
"I've heard enough. I'll be going now."
Just as I was about to leave with a casual wave, someone grabbed the hem of my clothes. Who's grabbing on so pathetically like this?
"...Huh? Hughes, are you really going?"
I turned my head to find Shei holding onto me with wide, round eyes. Her trembling hand had no strength in it at all, but more captured by her heart than by that grip, I changed my mind and explained kindly.
"Yes. I've heard everything I need to hear, and learned everything I need to know. Now I must act according to everyone's wishes."
"Wishes...? These people came to stop Nebida."
"Yes! Exactly that. They came to thwart Nebida's plan. Put another way, Nebida's plan must exist for their goal to be achieved."
Sustaining one's life through the authority to transform into a tree is not a highly recommended practice even from a druid's perspective. Because it goes against the natural order of nature.
And that's not all. Rebellion is a historically taboo act, and burning the World Tree is the worst sin a druid could commit.
"Humans are born from fruit. Just that single fact drove them to betray their sovereign, destroy a nation, burn the World Tree, and torment the Great Witch who helped them out of goodwill with guilt. Which of those is not a taboo? Who would receive praise for committing any of those acts?"
Who decides what is acceptable and what isn't? Humans decide that too. The druids decided. Rebellion? Acceptable. Arson on the World Tree? Worth enduring.
If only they could prevent humans from being born from fruit, the druids resolved to transcend all such taboos.
"It's all the same as taboo! The same taboos, yet the druids committed all those atrocities! For only one thing—to prevent humans from being born from the fruit of flesh! They abandoned everything else for that one thing!"
Having raised my voice to its fullest, I paused and spoke as if in melancholy.
"...However, Nebida is too powerful, no one would listen to the truth, and even after abandoning everything they held dear, the Tree of Vice still stands. So they hid beyond time, waiting only for this day."
"This day..."
"Yes! This very moment when Nebida tries to resurrect the King of Humans! When Nebida's grand plan is about to bear fruit, they're here to interfere!"
They were waiting for me. Their purpose may differ, but these people too were eagerly anticipating the King of Humans. Perhaps they had waited for me far more desperately than any ordinary Lord of All Creation.
"Now that I've appeared, their wretched survival has been rewarded. But if they successfully escape like this, what will become of them? If they flee successfully, they'll lose their purpose and drift in emptiness; if they fail, they'll die uselessly. I'm sorry, but that's neither their wish nor mine. At the very least, it's not even Nebida's wish, waiting for the King of Humans over there."
Shei was a bit confused. Not because she couldn't rationally understand my words, but because she found them emotionally difficult to accept.
"If that's... the case, then Hughes, you..."
"Yes! If wishes come true too easily, it's no fun, right? Besides, escaping with me isn't your true wish either. It's merely a stopgap! Shouldn't we achieve it more dramatically, more fundamentally?"
"What are you planning to do?"
The answer is simple. Their wishes and those wishes. Nebida and the Lord of All Creation who wish for the king's return, and these druids who wish only to prevent that.
There is but one way to grant everyone's wishes.
"I declare here. I, as the King of Humans, empowered by your wishes! Will proceed straight to the top of the Tree of Vice!"
With one hand raised above my head, I shouted loudly enough to shake the entire forest.
"Those who would stop me, stop me! Those who would help me, help me! Time is running short. The moment I reach that end, the true King of Humans shall be resurrected!"
The druid who had dragged me here, the Great Witch who had blocked the path with the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, and even Shei who had been with me until just now—all were speechless. Shei seemed especially shocked. Her fingers, which had only been twitching before, were now moving quite well.
The first to move was Nenyap. Nenyap approached me and asked with an expression of disbelief.
"How can this be? Though we betrayed our sovereign, it was to preserve the way of humanity. Yet how can the King of Humans compare that to mere rebellion?"
"The way of humanity? Who decides that?"
"We humans do. As humans, there are duties we must uphold even without verbal promises or visible actions. The Late King conceiving a child within countless fruits of flesh was a taboo that twisted the very race of humans! Something that must never occur!"
"Yes. That is what you wished for. And you acted according to what you decided. You acted rightly according to your convictions, so there's no problem at all, right?"
I smiled joyfully at Nenyap.
Don't misunderstand. I'm not reproaching you. If anything, I'm praising you.
Didn't you destroy countless orders just to keep the one thing you decided on? If this isn't barbarism, what is? I like that kind of thing too.
"The wish to not think of a pink elephant cannot be granted. Because the wish only forms when a pink elephant comes to mind. It's the same. If you want to prevent a taboo, the taboo must first occur!"
"Sophistry! Our wish is only perfected when the taboo does not exist!"
"Is that really so? When the Tree of Vice grew, when you heard the rumor that the King of Humans had appeared. When the taboo was about to repeat itself. Were you truly not pleased? Didn't you swell with excitement, saying the time had finally come?"
"Th...!"
Nenyap and the other druids couldn't give a definite answer to my question. They were forest guardians who had waited with only one thing as their purpose for existence. The fullness they would feel at the moment of fulfilling that purpose was also truth.
However, Nenyap couldn't easily admit it.
"Then what of our wish? Our wish, where we endured hundreds of years, transforming into trees, suffering through time of hardship and pain to prevent the desecration of humanity—where did it go? Is it something that can never be fulfilled?"
"It's right there. In your hearts. In the bow and arrows you hold."
If you want to stop me, shoot me with an arrow. If you can kill me, Nebida's plan will be delayed for quite some time.
Nenyap's eyes wavered momentarily, understanding my meaning. I grinned and tapped the area over my heart.
"As long as I'm alive, the resurrection of the King of Humans is possible at any time. The most certain method would be to drag me to some secluded place, kill me, and bury me so I can't be recovered. Ah, it would be even better to turn me into a tree."
"I have no such intention."
"No such intention? You will. If you had, there'd be no need to bring me all the way here. But if pushed into a situation where there's no other choice, would that method really not come to mind? Don't say no. You've already destroyed a nation and even burned the World Tree."
Well, the claim that there was no intention to kill was probably true. Escaping together would deprive Nebida of more time than killing would.
Though the moral influence of this druid couldn't be completely ignored either.
"This is also consideration for you, Nenyap. I may be an ordinary person, but I won't be killed by you."
At my confident declaration, Nenyap gripped the area near his own heart tightly and said.
"...There seems to be disagreement on that point."
Oho. So there's confidence. But the situation isn't favorable for the druids.
During the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, a black jaguar leapt from the darkness and pounced on one of the druids. At the same time, Shei kicked a druid who was quietly nocking an arrow.
Brief impact sounds rang out in succession. Then the voices of the parrot and Shei flowed out.
[I won't stop you from leaving, Nenyap. But know that this is my last mercy.]
"Lay even a fingertip on Hughes. I'll kill you."
An urgent tension flowed through the darkness. Nenyap still had some 'conviction' remaining... but while simultaneously facing the Great Witch's Night Parade of a Hundred Demons and Shei, there was no chance of killing me before Nebida arrived. Nor was he so inclined.
Having finished his calculations, Nenyap sent a signal to halt. The druids preparing to attack stopped upon seeing the signal.
"Desist. The King of Humans has decided not to join us."
"Nenyap! What do you mean! If we leave like this, we cannot stop the Archdruid's sin!"
"As you say. What we must fight against is the Archdruid's sin, not the King of Humans. Moreover, if we fight both at the same time, we'll meet a gruesome death."
"I'm not afraid of death!"
"Neither am I. Death is not frightening. But failing to prevent the sin the Archdruid will commit—that is frightening. If that happens, we won't even be able to lie among the roots of the World Tree in death."
The druids couldn't accept it, but regardless, they couldn't stop me in this atmosphere. The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons looked ready to tear them apart at any moment. The druids eventually began to slowly move away, still unresigned.
During that time, Shei unconsciously drove the deer closer to my side. It was so natural I almost climbed onto the deer without thinking.
"No, Miss Shei should go with them."
"Why?"
Why, you ask. You have nothing to do at the Tree of Origin. I'm going to resurrect the King of Humans, and you're not going to just stand by and watch, are you? You'll probably act up again and get your arm torn off and die.
"That way, Miss Shei can also come to stop me."
"...Can't you just not resurrect him? You can do that."
...Is she asking if I really have to resurrect the King of Humans? Certainly, if my wish were the same as Shei's, I might have also tried to resist.
However, Nebida will resurrect the King of Humans by any means necessary. She could threaten me with force, or control me forcibly. If so, I cannot resist. With that level of wish, I must act.
"Probably not. I don't have anything like regression, you see. To survive, I have to follow Nebida's words."
Whether I like it or not, I'm a being that moves according to wishes. I'll end up following in the end. Especially with this many wishes gathered.
And most decisively... this is the only way to break through this situation.
"Now, go."
I pushed Shei's back.
Shei glanced at me several times, but she had no choice either. By now, the option of killing me if necessary had disappeared from her mind.
"...I'll be back."
"Don't come back with half-hearted resolve."
I waved my hand and cleanly turned to walk away. I didn't look back. Instead, I strode forward, deliberately stamping my feet so loudly that the entire jungle reverberated.
The Great Witch's Night Parade of a Hundred Demons didn't chase the druids but flocked to my side. They surrounded me as if guarding me and matched my pace.
While walking slowly in the midst of beasts, I sensed a subtle presence. Having identified the other party through telepathy, I raised my voice and called that name.
"Did you hear me, Nebida?"
The forest stirred. Some of the densely packed trees shifted aside, and before I knew it, Nebida revealed herself as if she had been with the trees from the start.
The parrot flying beside her spoke hesitantly.
[...I didn't tell her. Nebida figured it out on her own.]
"I know. It's not like I particularly betrayed her or ran away, so I have nothing to be scared of either."
And this way, Nebida won't be able to chase after them. To Nebida, they're nothing more or less than troublesome insects. Nebida's wish is only one—the resurrection of the King of Humans. Everything else is just bonus.
She couldn't miss the long-awaited return of the king while cleaning up insects, so Nebida had no choice but to follow behind me. That was why Nebida felt my intention more keenly than anyone.
"My Lord. Did you wish to protect that woman so dearly?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Had My Lord not made such a declaration, I would have killed them all. Did My Lord not do so to stop me?"
"Oh my, that can't be. If I truly wanted to protect Miss Shei, I would have begged you to at least spare her life."
Nebida looked at me with an expression too monotonous to read. Nebida spoke slowly.
"...Even now, I could kill them all."
"Really? Well, do as you wish?"
"Are you truly fine with that?"
"Why wouldn't I be? If it's a conclusion you reached after agonizing and deliberating, after inferring my intentions and expanding your thoughts, then I have neither reason nor power to stop you. I just flow according to wishes."
Whether she does or not. How could I stop a Demon God who's the strongest in this setting? Stop burning with anxiety as if clinging to me would change your mind. It's already out of my hands.
As I hurried my steps toward the Tree of Origin, Nebida turned her head outward as if giving up.
"However, if My Lord's will is thus, then so too shall I comply."
"Wow, thank you for showing mercy. To repay that grace, I'll work even harder!"
Not a very reliable appearance. But, Nebida.
"Unreliable, isn't it? Are you curious about my schemes? My, but you cannot read my mind. Then what should you do? Control? Whether to accept that is up to you."
In the end, it will be fulfilled as you wish. If that wish is true.