◈ Episode 259. You Have Earned the Right to Stand, Fruit of Good and Evil.
From the moment the class quest appeared, I had felt a strange sense of incongruity.
It didn’t make sense.
The dragons, including Yunaxus, had clearly said they had swallowed the World Tree’s seeds. They had said it was to use their corpses as nourishment to hatch the seeds.
Naturally, a question arose.
Then what was the seed I found in the [Predator’s Swamp]?
[World Quest: Seed of the World Tree]
The approaching crisis of the Arcana Continent’s extinction.
Amid this great crisis.
Sprout a new hope.
─Germinate the Seed of the World Tree. (In Progress)
●World Tree Seeds currently discovered: 1 / Unknown
●World Tree Seeds currently sprouted: 1 / Unknown
The fruit of good and evil had split into the fruit of good and the fruit of evil.
The dragons had swallowed the fruit of evil.
So I could guess that the seed I had sprouted was the World Tree seed contained within the fruit of good. The problem was who had scattered that seed across the continent.
I had asked Yunaxus because I was curious.
—“Regrettably, I know nothing about that matter.”
That was the answer I got.
Thanks to that, I had been thinking about it without realizing.
Perhaps the split between good and evil from the World Tree…
had occurred far longer ago than I expected.
Why, shall we recall the state of the seed I found?
It was to the point where no one could blame me for mistaking it for a rock instead of a seed.
It looked as though it had taken the full brunt of the ravages of time.
In fact, if it hadn’t been for the [Pentagram of Pure Knowledge],
I wouldn’t have realized it was a seed either.
Who had scattered the fruit of good—
the World Tree’s seed—
across the Arcana Continent?
At present, there was no way to know.
Unless evidence was found.
Everything was nothing more than speculation.
But with this, one thing became certain.
Whether everything had been a demon’s plan from the very beginning or not.
“The World Tree had been consumed by evil.”
Taking advantage of the severed relationship between the World Tree, the dragons, and the elves, the demon must have gone into action. It separated good and evil from the World Tree. First, it drove good out of the World Tree, leading to the current situation.
Ajentres could not accept it easily.
“……
Evil resided in Mother?”
As expected, he flared up and shouted.
“You are speaking nonsense, human. Sisley is our land. If a demon had set foot upon this land, we would have noticed its presence!”
I’m not trying to blame you elves.
Besides, listen properly.
I said the World Tree was consumed by evil, not that evil resided in it.
“Ajentres.”
“Speak, human.”
“Where there is light, darkness must always follow behind it.”
“……
What?”
“If good exists, then on the opposite side, evil must also exist.”
What is a true World Tree seed in the first place?
It is the seed of the fruit of good and evil, where good and evil coexist.
As the saying goes, beans grow where beans are planted, and red beans grow where red beans are planted.
In other words.
Even when the World Tree was whole,
good and evil coexisted inside it.
The elves, including Ajentres, still could not understand.
“Do you dare insult Mother?”
Insult? How hurtful.
However, I could not show that I was hurt.
I continued calmly.
“There is no perfect being in this world. The World Tree is no exception.”
From the mouth of Granfell, who always pursued perfection.
I hadn’t expected such a dignified statement to come out.
After flinching for a moment, I added the reason.
“Because that is providence.”
Perhaps because I spoke with such certainty.
Ajentres fell silent.
But it lasted only an instant.
“Do not compare good and evil to light and darkness.”
Yes, honestly, it was a leap.
“Mother harbored evil within her own body? She is my mother and the mother of all creation. For the sake of all creation, evil of all things…! She would never have harbored such a thing in the first place!”
“……
Regrettable.”
“It seems you still believe the greenhouse was right.”
“……!”
The greenhouse.
At those words, Ajentres’s face turned deathly pale.
Then he turned his gaze and looked at his kin.
Seeing as he understood what I meant…
‘So it was bothering you too, deep down?’
Let’s think about it objectively.
In truth, I, Lee Hoyeol, had not understood either.
From the moment I confirmed the contents of the [Fruit of Good and Evil] class quest, I had been puzzled.
Good things should just be good.
I had wondered whether good and evil truly needed to coexist in the world.
Of course, the question did not last long.
As expected, it was thanks to Granfell.
“The World Tree believed.”
More precisely, it was thanks to Granfell’s lofty pride.
“Just as a single ray of light illuminates the darkness.”
“……?”
“As long as good exists, evil can only prostrate itself on the ground.”
To Granfell, evil was
nothing more than something inferior that would naturally be weeded out.
To fear such evil and deny its very existence?
It was beyond incomprehensible.
It was something that did not exist in his dictionary in the first place.
‘It’s amazing all over again. Truly.’
To form a sense of kinship with the World Tree.
Beyond being a filial son, it is pride that pierces the heavens…!
Still, well, it probably isn’t wrong.
But in the current situation,
it might not resonate with anyone.
Ajentres pointed that out.
“Providence? Ha! Look at the state of things now. As you say, Sisley has become a land of demons, and Mother has collapsed after being consumed by evil. Even now, can you say with confidence that good will always make evil submit?”
I, Lee Hoyeol,
felt as if he had hit the nail on the head.
More precisely, it felt like my head full of flowers had been glimpsed.
‘It’s not like I don’t know that.’
No, in fact, I know it better than anyone.
That Granfell’s theory of pride
is closer to sophistry than anything else in the world.
Because it was the pride of my middle-school syndrome days,
when I knew the world only superficially and feared nothing in it.
But still.
“I can say it with confidence.”
That is why it does not break.
Because it does not break,
it can move forward.
And in the end, it will make that flower garden a reality.
“I will make it so.”
If someone pointed out that I was always good with words, I would have nothing to say.
Even so, if you have been watching, don’t you know?
I may not look it, but my pledge fulfillment rate is fairly decent.
『The emotion of modesty did not exist in Granfell. To underestimation, he gave proof. Overestimation, he would inevitably turn into reality.』
Even if the process had been pitiful.
Even under conditions worse than now.
I was someone who had produced results even I could not believe.
So.
This is not the time to stand there dumbfounded.
Ajentres.
I spoke shamelessly.
“Open the way, Ajentres.”
To the place where the primordial evil has taken root!
*
He had thought it was nothing but arrogance.
But now, his mind had become confused.
Because that was the realm of “something” beyond arrogance.
‘……
How can he remain so composed in this situation?’
Mother, the World Tree, was a primordial being.
To think that such a Mother had been dominated by evil.
And that she had been consumed by the evil she herself harbored…
He had wanted desperately to deny it.
Gnash—
Ajentres bit his lip.
‘……
The possibility is more than sufficient.’
Because he and his kin had not fulfilled their mission.
Only when Mother had withered and dried to the verge of collapse had they noticed the signs.
Only when she was even taking back her blessing had they come before Mother.
‘Perhaps we could have stopped it.’
Even if not my kin.
If I alone had fulfilled my mission…
Ajentres was furious at that fact.
At the fact that he could have set everything right, yet failed to do so.
‘This is my mistake.’
For an eternity,
he had never once blamed himself.
And that was precisely why he found it even harder to understand.
How could that man maintain his composure?
Click—
He could tell just by the sound of his footsteps.
There was no fear in those straight, unwavering strides.
The primordial evil that had consumed Mother.
Even that modifier alone
was enough to make one tense.
It was hard to believe he was walking toward such an existence.
How could Ajentres think otherwise?
Clink—
Because in that man’s hand was even a teacup, though he had no idea where he had taken it from.
‘Even the lizards could not do that.’
The man was doing something even dragons, praised as the kings of all creation, could not do. Was it the influence of that “something” that surpassed even arrogance? Ajentres suddenly recalled the words the man had spoken.
—“I will make it so.”
Without realizing it, he asked himself.
‘……
If, by some chance, that man truly does so, what will change?’
But soon, he clenched his fist.
‘No, nothing will change.’
Mother was already dead.
Her green leaves had long since withered and fallen, and her body had dried out like firewood. Even if the man drove out the evil that had consumed Mother, nothing would change.
Also.
‘Our sins will not disappear either.’
Things had gone wrong long, long ago.
Perhaps, as the man had said,
everything had been wrong from the very beginning.
Swoosh—
Ajentres looked at the man.
‘How miserable, Ajentres.’
He mocked himself.
The man was truly an existence that made him feel small.
Perhaps because he had acknowledged his inferiority complex,
Ajentres found himself expecting it despite himself.
Wondering if that man might truly be able to set everything right.
However, the moment they faced the World Tree.
“……
Mother?”
His expectations vanished like foam.
They had left for the Arcana Continent to find the whereabouts of the blessing.
And while Mother had been left alone in Sisley,
she had been broken miserably.
To the point where she could no longer be called the mother of all creation.
She was rolling on the ground in a wretched state.
“…….”
However, Ajentres did not utter a word.
Because he had learned that everything was his fault.
So he intended to accept any reproach.
‘Mock me as much as you wish, human.’
As stated before, his expectations had vanished.
No matter how remarkable the man was,
he could not have anticipated that Mother would be in such a state.
There truly should be nothing he could do.
It was the moment Ajentres was staring powerlessly at the tragedy.
Click—
“……?”
The man, Hoyeol, stepped forward.
Without saying a word.
Ajentres had thought he would accept even the harshest insult.
But the reaction was different from what he expected.
It was the moment Ajentres stared at Hoyeol.
Hoyeol stopped before the remains of the World Tree.
Then he slowly opened his mouth.
“Exorcism Ritual.”
He uttered words that Ajentres could not understand.
But the question did not last long.
Because immediately, a change began.
Whoosh!
“……!!!”
The scattered remains of Mother began to burn.
The broken trunk.
The remaining stump.
The dried roots.
The snapped and fallen branches.
Without leaving a single thing behind, they began to be swallowed by flames.
“Ahh…….”
He could hear his kin being shaken.
But Ajentres could not move.
Because of the hierarchy of blessing?
No, it was not for that reason.
“Mother……?”
It was because the burning flames were green.
Like the leaves Mother had once brought forth.
As though mourning Mother’s death.
Because green flames were burning vividly.
And beyond that.
He felt warmth.
After losing the blessing,
warmth he had been unable to feel now reached his entire body.
It was the warmth that lovingly cared for all creation.
Mother’s warmth.
However.
‘……
It is not Mother.’
Ajentres did not mistake it.
Mother was dead, burning away.
Therefore, this warmth did not originate from Mother.
Then whose warmth was it?
There was only one being he could look at.
Hoyeol.
A stance that did not waver in the slightest.
The only thing moving was his silver hair.
Ajentres watched his back and spoke softly.
“Ajentres has finally understood Mother’s will…….”
A lofty perspective that looks down upon all creation.
An aesthetic eye that finds and observes beauty in even the most insignificant things.
A dignity that does not waver before any tragedy.
The one who embraced all of that was “something.”
Yes.
The existence closest to the World Tree.
...
I looked at the quest objectives.
─Train your weakened body. (Repeat)
─Enter Sisley, the land of the elves. (Success)
─Encounter the primordial evil rooted in Sisley. (Failure)
─Track the primordial evil. (In Progress)
The World Tree had been split in two.
Thanks to that, the primordial evil that had been trapped within the World Tree had vanished.
I looked at the message that appeared and thought.
‘Maybe…….’
Was this also a predetermined story?
Like the class quests of the Archmage or the Dragon Knight.
It was the fixed story of the Demon Hunter class quest.
Aiming to make me,
the last Demon Hunter, grow a little more through such trials.
‘Well, there’s no way to know right now.’
So I simply do what I can do.
I had cremated the World Tree consumed by evil through the Exorcism Ritual.
Now, in accordance with the quest objective, I had to track the primordial evil.
That was what I had to do from now on.
If someone asked whether, in the end, I would once again bear everything alone in such a miserable fashion.
I would answer that question with, “Well.”
Because at this moment, the messages flickering before me
were not only quest messages.
[Changes occur due to the effect of Sublimity.]
[Your relationship with the Hidden Piece, Sisley, greatly increases.]
[Your influence in the Hidden Piece, Sisley, greatly increases.]
Thud—
At the same time.
A sound reached my ears.
Ajentres had knelt before me.
It was not the effect of [Hierarchy of Blessing].
I mean it.
The message that appeared, as expected, was proof.
[You have obtained command authority over the elf, Ajentres.]
[107 elves under the command of the elf, Ajentres.]
[Current status: Awaiting orders.]
I had already made him kneel once earlier.
I’m not so heartless as to make someone kneel twice, you know.
I opened my mouth.
“You may rise.”
But the answer I heard was unexpected.
“I will not rise.”
……
Ah, I understand what he means.
He must be sincerely reflecting, right?
Yes, I think that is fortunate.
He has come to his senses, even if belatedly.
But.
‘That’s that, and…….’
Right now, everyone needs to stand up?!
Because this damn personality
has no patience, you see.
[You have acquired the class-exclusive skill, “Guardian Spirit of Akshan.”]
The reward for the class quest.
I had just activated the newly acquired skill.
So stand up even now, everyone…!
If you don’t.
“……?!!”
The Guardian Spirit of Akshan.
Awooooooo—!!
You might offend the 『Akshan Wolf』.