World Tree of Beriton, Yggdrasil.
It is the only ascendant left in the world, hinting at the potential for the advancement of all sentient beings, and it exists as a kind of mother to all World Tree types on the continent. However, it is now merely a monument that is barely clinging to its life.
The grand transformation that devolved the World Tree into its current state was the immense telecommunication that engulfed the entire continent.
Aside from the legendary Demon Realm War passed down through tales, it was an unprecedented great war in history.
A time has begun again when all lives were treated as resources, and efficiency was sought in the act of cutting someone’s life short.
The war resulted in countless casualties and birthed even more hatred.
Many good beings fell into corruption, and many young ones lost their humanity.
For all living things, each day was a day of suffering.
And the one that suffered the most from that war was Beriton.
In the face of overwhelming numerical inferiority, having slightly higher magical technological prowess than other countries was merely enough to buy time…
In the end, even the sacred World Tree of Beriton, which was believed to endure until the end of the world, was set ablaze.
At that time, the destroyer who burned the World Tree was the remains of the former continent’s coordinator from the mythological era.
It was the ultimate destruction weapon, an advanced necromancy that raised the remains of a race that held superiority over all races and materials during the mythical age, embodying the pinnacle of everything.
The True Dragon.
It was undoubtedly a powerful dark magic.
Even now, in a world that has developed to this extent, a material harder and more efficient than dragon bones has not yet been created, and the scales left by dragons are still used in the highest-grade magical armor, while Dragon Hearts continue to serve as core structures for many subtypes of World Trees. Thus, the True Dragon from 300 years ago was truly akin to a calamity.
Afterwards, people named that monster, filled with fear and awe.
The killer who sneered with hate, they called it Nidhogg.
—–
However, that did not mean that the World Tree, protected by numerous magics and sacred principles, could be destroyed.
The World Tree of Beriton is an ascendant.
Thus, unlike ordinary creatures, it is immortal and therefore an existence that cannot be killed.
Yet, ‘it’ shamelessly tore the World Tree apart, disregarding all laws and principles.
It was already something overwhelming that could not be called an ordinary True Dragon.
Even from the beginning, perhaps it was designed to target the World Tree; it grew stronger and rampaged, feeding on the magic of the World Tree instead of that of the caster.
In the end, for the sake of protecting the World Tree, Beriton had to make a decision.
The death of the World Tree would soon lead to the destruction of the world.
After much deliberation, they decided to unleash ADF on the World Tree.
The problem was that, to activate ADF, permission from three or more council members was required, and due to the strong magical interference emitted, ADF could never be activated from the outside.
Additionally, there were far too many issues with this plan, but ultimately there was no other way.
Eventually, the operation was approved, and after many sacrifices, it was successful.
Fortunately, even that monster could not remain free from the effects of ADF, which collapsed the very structure of matter.
However, as a result of that operation, the elves lost three elders and suffered immense damage, losing most of their forest due to the weakening of the World Tree.
As a consequence, they experienced a hundred years of economic and magical darkness.
No mage has managed to discover how that True Dragon was able to gnaw at and burn the roots of the World Tree.
They couldn’t even gauge the number of lives used to create it.
Since there were no known parties or materials related to it, it wasn’t clear whether it was part of a properly planned operation or merely a terrorist act carried out by a third party taking advantage of the war.
The True Dragon vanished without a trace due to ADF at that time, leaving no evidence behind, and reconstruction was impossible.
Thus, information about Nidhogg remains fragmentary even now.
It was hardly likely that proper records were left during the war, and the detailed outlines of events from that time have numerous confidentiality clauses that remain unknown to the public.
And that secret still persists.
Even now, 300 years after the war, no nation wishes to speak on the subject, and Beriton, too, does not want to officially acknowledge the shameful fact that they had to unleash ADF at the cost of great sacrifices right in the middle of their own capital.
Therefore, very few beings know of the essence of ‘Nidhogg.’
Yet, to think they would use the name of the True Dragon that nearly killed the World Tree…
“What could the reason be?”
Could it be a coincidence?
Did they simply borrow the name by chance?
Or, if not that, are they seriously trying to create something similar to Nidhogg?
I do not know; nothing is certain yet.
It has become an issue that I can no longer bear alone…
“…Yerna, Yerna!”
“Uh, yes?”
Yerna only barely emerged from her thoughts at the repeated calls.
The one calling her name so desperately was Dayton, her husband.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been dazed since earlier… Are you tired too? Well, considering what happened…”
In response, Yerna replied, smiling awkwardly.
“I guess so. Um, what did I say earlier?”
“I asked about the condition of that old man named Gordon. You went to see him, right?”
“Yeah, I’m curious about that, too.”
At that, Luke approached and poured tea, asking.
Luke also seemed curious about the condition of the person he had healed.
Yerna smiled slightly and replied.
“He seems fine. He’ll probably be back on his feet soon. Luke, that was really incredible power. Thank you, Lu.”
Luke’s powers were indeed remarkable.
It wasn’t just that the man had regained vigor; his entire body, which had been sick with joint pain and back pain due to old age, seemed as if it were reborn.
In fact, his skin even appeared slightly more youthful.
As Yerna praised Luke while petting his head, he smiled shyly and said.
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
While healing, he treated all ailments.
After all, he was a practice opponent… With the decision made to use power, there was no need to leave any illness untreated.
“By the way, does he remember me?”
“No, from what I could tell, he seems to have no memory of you at all.”
“That’s a relief.”
I was a bit uneasy about using memory manipulation magic after such a long time in a state of confusion, but it seems I succeeded in erasing his memories.
The reason Luke was waiting for Gordon to awaken was simply to confirm whether his mind was in order and if there were any untreated parts. Essentially, he had planned from the beginning to erase any memory of seeing him.
It was inevitable; if Gordon knew Yerna, then they might meet several more times in the future. How could he show his grown self then?
Taking action before it became too complicated to manage memories was the best course.
However, memory erasure or alteration was an exceedingly dangerous method, as Shirud had once explained.
All living beings, including humans, are made up of memories, and thus, losing permanent memories inevitably affects the self.
Therefore, it is generally a taboo that should not be used either for casting or attempting.
But he was anyway an elderly man nearing death.
Having saved a life that would originally have been lost, it was fair that he should endure at least minor side effects.
“Since you’re both here now, I’ll ask. You said you would tell me, right? The reason you brought that injured man to me. What happened?”
“Ah, right. We promised to tell you…”
Luke, in the end, began to delve into what he had tried to gloss over.
“Do you really want to know?”
Luke nodded, as if it were obvious.
“It’s your mother who said families shouldn’t keep secrets.”
“…”
As her own words came back to bite her, Yerna found herself at a loss for words.
Truly, Luke was relentless.
In resignation, Dayton said, “Let’s tell her, Yerna.”
“Yeah, we can’t keep hiding it. It’s not like we can avoid it.”
Yerna dropped a folder onto the table.
Luke picked up the folder and asked, “What’s this?”
“That’s your past, which you don’t remember. Dayton and I found it. Gordon got hurt searching for it.”
“…This?”
A strange light appeared in Luke’s eyes.
A past he couldn’t remember—this was truly intriguing.
Now that he thought about it, even with all the memories flooding back, he had no recollection of what had happened before taking this body.
He retained the memories of being the great mage Luke Ilushi, of living as a beast in the Demon Realm, and of being killed by a human as a hatchling, yet the memories of waking up as Luke Ilushi in this time remained a blank.
So how could he not find this interesting?
Luke carefully opened the folder, starting to flip through the pages one by one.
Soon, the expression filled with curiosity gradually turned into a subtle one.
The content was enough to bewilder Luke.
“Uh, Yerna, this is…”
“Yeah, it’s the experimental record of your creation.”
Experimental record? What does that even mean?
This body was clearly created 5,000 years ago.
But what is this document?
However, the pictures of a horned cat bound and subjected to torturous examinations along with detailed explanations beside them seemed to unambiguously prove it belonged to him.
In fact, even if that weren’t the case, the cat in the pictures shared enough features with him to draw a connection.
So it was evident that the cat in the pictures was at least related to him.
Is this body being created in modern times?
That can’t be.
Seeing the frozen expression on Luke’s face, Yerna averted her gaze and muttered.
“I’ve been looking for the people who made you like that. Of course, I know you wouldn’t want me to, but… it’s hard to ignore.”
Luke set the document down.
Even though he had a bad feeling about the fact that a prison-like cage was his first memory…
He was confused.
And at the same time, intrigued.
It was a question that Luke had not even tried to find answers to until now.
What had happened during this blank of memory?
Now that clues were given, wouldn’t it make one want to investigate further?
Even if it’s something that wasn’t necessarily him.
Luke looked directly at Yerna and asked.
“Where did you get this?”
