The Elder fell to the ground, trembling like a aspen tree at my fiery words.
Having thrown aside his staff, which he had regarded as part of himself, he struggled to catch his breath, looking pitiable like an old, weary deer.
He barely managed to lift his head to look at me, but the fear and confusion filling his eyes were impossible to conceal.
“W-Well, that’s just a speculation…!! Although I am the Elder, I don’t know the personal affairs of the village in detail….”
At that moment, as the Elder’s cracked voice trembled between his lips, I frowned even deeper, my expression growing cold.
I could roughly guess how Rune had been treated while growing up in this village.
Listening carefully to the Elder’s words while trying to keep my heart as cold as possible, I felt a rush of blood to my head at the fact that far worse things had been done to Rune than I had imagined.
“So you’re saying that Rune was never a part of this village to begin with…?”
“The truth about that may only be known by Levand, the Elder of this village… but my speculation is that it’s likely.”
As the World Tree began to turn its back, the elves fell deeper into meritocracy, longing for talents far stronger than the current generation.
Their ultimate goal was perfect independence from the World Tree, seeking a new path to reclaim the brilliance of the past.
However, the choices of those Elders turned into severe pressure for the elf residents living under the World Tree.
Rather than seeing children as children, they began to thoroughly neglect and reject those without talent, viewing them merely as seeds for their splendid future.
“Those disgusting ear-wigs….”
Rune was a victim of that abhorrent policy.
Cast aside by her parents for merely lacking talent, she was handed over to Levand, the Elder of this village.
They intended to raise Rune not as an elf, but as a sacrifice to be offered to a tentacled woman, using her however they pleased.
“P-Please… forgive me….”
Rune, who had struggled more than anyone to fit in with the villagers, was now repulsive in the fact that even the Elder and the villagers had never seen her as an elf from the very beginning.
“Do you really think it makes sense that the Elder didn’t know any of this?”
“Th-That’s not a lie…!! Especially Levand….”
“I thought he was different from the others since he was still alive, but in the end, he was just the same as them.”
“Y-Yes…?”
The elves could not possibly have been unaware of the disgusting things happening in this village.
Especially the Elder.
Yet, the fact that the Elder wasn’t purged along with Levand—
– Fshk
“C-Cough….”
Perhaps the World Tree had entrusted me with the final judgment.
The corruption and decay of this village, which had led even the World Tree to turn its back.
“W-Why…?”
“You probably won’t die easily. I stabbed you deliberately avoiding the vital spots.”
“I answered everything… so why…?”
“Did you think you could receive a get-out-of-jail-free card just because you answered some questions?”
“But I….”
“And this isn’t about delivering judgment; it’s a matter of my personal grudge.”
I couldn’t tell exactly what judgment the World Tree expected from me by entrusting me with this task.
No, to be honest, I wondered if it was correct that the World Tree thought this far and entrusted me with this task at all.
Although it emanated a divine aura, in the end, it was just a tree that could say nothing.
“I find incapable higher-ups like you the most disgusting.”
Thus, I decided not to move according to the World Tree’s intentions, but instead, for this moment, to act based on my personal feelings.
After all, I didn’t seek the World Tree’s power in the first place.
“E-Elder…?!!”
Rune’s panicked voice came urgently from behind me.
Seeing the Elder slowly bleeding out on the ground, she seemed totally unable to comprehend the current situation.
“What in the world happened…?”
The children who had been gathered in front of the World Tree soon gathered around me, starting to understand the situation late.
“Levi…?”
Aizen’s expression was quite serious.
Ellie and Iris looked at each other with puzzled expressions, seemingly at a loss.
Iris tried to say something several times but ultimately couldn’t voice any words.
Both seemed to be struggling to grasp the hidden meaning in my expression.
“No matter how I think about it, this village is not a place for Rune.”
With my firm words, Rune’s eyelids began to tremble with unease.
“Y-Yes…?”
Rune asked me back timidly, as if terrified.
But I maintained a blank expression and opened my mouth once more in a calm tone.
“Let’s go back to the church.”
It was a confusing situation where the children hadn’t been explained anything.
At this point, everyone began to glance at each other in confusion.
However, even so, I couldn’t easily offer any explanation.
Because Rune was still too young to hear the ugly truth of this village.
“J-Just a moment, Levi… I don’t understand at all… Why…?”
“All of this happened because of the Elder’s incompetence.”
“What?”
“He said Levand, the Elder of this village, was the most rotten root, but from what I’ve seen, they were all equally bad.”
With those words, I slowly took a breath.
The atmosphere quickly fell silent, and the air became heavy.
“…So, does that mean the Elder was also a bad elf in the end?”
In the sharply darkened atmosphere, Rune’s soft voice quietly rang out.
“…?”
I never expected Rune to be the first to break this awkward silence.
I thought she would be at a loss for words for a while because of the sudden shock.
Yet, for some reason, Rune appeared to become more composed as time passed and began to speak calmly.
“It was the Elder who said that if you work hard, everyone will recognize you….”
As soon as I heard Rune’s murmured words, a cold sensation abruptly swept through my heart.
“That statement was a lie, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
As if proving that it had no relation to this incident, the Elder, who had been smoothly explaining from a third-person perspective, kept lying to me until the very last moment.
He claimed that everything had happened as a result of Levand’s unilateral actions without his own knowledge—
– Snap!!
“Now, everyone. I know this situation is confusing for you. But we can’t stay here forever, can we?”
Bringing some clarity to the atmosphere.
I clapped my hands together loudly, forcibly waking up the dazed children.
“Let’s return to the church for now. I’ll explain everything slowly there.”
Since the explanation about the current situation hadn’t been properly given to the children, the atmosphere didn’t clear up instantly as usual.
However, the children didn’t seem to doubt me too much and began nodding their heads one by one.
“I don’t know what happened, but in any case, this Elder elf was a bad guy, right?”
“So that’s why he showed up last.”
“A bad elf.”
I was initially worried that the children might hesitate and become skeptical of me.
Fortunately, thanks to my usual behavior, I was able to navigate the situation easily without any major issues.
“…I think Rune should come along too.”
Now, the only thing left was Rune.
Staying in this ear-wig village would never be good for her.
I would like it if she would come with us across the river, but since I couldn’t forcibly take her, I had to speak rather passively now.
However—
“If I go there, can I eat meat every day?”
Contrary to my concerns, Rune suddenly started showing a very positive attitude, her eyes sparkling.
For me, who had been filled with various worries, this was undeniably great news.
Yet, I had no idea why the topic of meat had come up so suddenly.
“Y-Yes…?”
“I want to go. I want to go.”
Her answer was straightforward without a hint of hesitation.
The moment I mentioned being able to eat meat every day, Rune nodded eagerly and gently grasped my hand.
“But why meat all of a sudden…?”
“Iris told me. That working at the church means eating meat every day and having fun.”
“…?”
“I clean really well. I do the dishes well too.”
It seemed that she had quite a bit of conversation with Iris while we had been apart.
Though it wasn’t incorrect, I nodded nonetheless, slightly taken aback that the situation was resolved too easily.
“S-So, shall we head back to the church…?”
“Yeah!”
“Yes—!”
“Yep.”
“Yes!”
With a slightly awkward smile, I was about to leave the ear-wig village with the children when suddenly—
– Swoosh….
A strange sound suddenly came from the direction of the World Tree, sending chills down my spine.
At the same time, an unexpected notification window popped up in front of my eyes.
─────────────
【A portal has been created.】
─────────────
Upon seeing that notification, my brows furrowed in confusion, and I found myself turning towards the World Tree as if enchanted.
“Levi? Where are you suddenly going?”
“Just a moment….”
Finally arriving in front of the World Tree.
The World Tree, towering so large that it couldn’t fit in the sight of everyone, continued to showcase its grandeur.
“…….”
But for some reason, the very center of the World Tree’s trunk had been split perfectly in half, almost like an entrance.
Looking cautiously inside, an all-too-familiar scenery unfolded before my eyes.
“Eh…?”
Without a doubt, it was the church across the river where I lived with the children.
