[The World Tree Hides Its Divinity]
“Elves again...... A garden again......”
A sighing lament escaped the Chancellor.
He must have come to learn the true nature of elves while touring the academy.
But this matter was on an entirely different level from the things that had happened earlier.
I mourned in advance for the despair the Chancellor was about to experience and pointed at Elaine’s flowerbed.
In the flowerbed I pointed to, five branches had been planted like a crude fence.
“These are World Tree Branches.”
“......?”
The Chancellor wore a blank expression.
His mind seemed unable to keep up with those sudden words.
So I added an explanation.
“The World Tree at the heart of Yggdrasil. Elaine snapped off fresh branches that had only recently sprouted and brought them here.”
But even after hearing me, the Chancellor and Hans only tilted their heads.
“My ears must be clogged from old age.”
“Have I been overworked lately......? It may be that Lord Lewis has made me more tired.”
The two of them shook out their ears in the same manner.
“Hey, Hans. The Chancellor might be excused, but you heard me properly.”
“No. The more I think about it, the more I believe I heard wrong.”
Hans firmly shook his head.
“World Tree Branches in the middle of the academy. Five of them, no less. That cannot be possible.”
“Ta-da. Yet it really happened.”
Even at my kind emphasis, neither of them could face reality.
“No, surely not. Do not make such jokes. The elf students who have arrived at the academy first are not from Yggdrasil.”
So the Chancellor was saying they could not have cut branches from the World Tree in Yggdrasil.
As the Chancellor said, it seemed the elf students selected in Yggdrasil had not arrived yet.
But Elaine was no ordinary elf.
Before I could say anything, Hans agreed with the Chancellor.
“Lord Lewis, this joke is not amusing. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made no report either.”
“Of course not. They don’t know.”
Poor things......
Hans and the Chancellor had been blinded by the repercussions World Tree Branches would bring.
That was why, even while the branches stood right before their eyes, they desperately denied the fact.
Well, it was understandable.
But I had a duty to make them face reality.
“The World Tree is a divine tree with a will. If the World Tree wishes it, it can hide even its great divinity.”
“Then could we not simply leave them as they are—”
“An elder would notice them.”
“Gurgle......”
I had heard that an elder would be escorting the elf freshmen arriving soon.
The Chancellor foamed at the mouth upon hearing that the branches would be found even if they were hidden.
But even in that state, the Chancellor could not face reality.
“I-If the World Tree has hidden its divinity by its own will, then would the elves not follow the World Tree’s wishes?”
The Chancellor’s pitiful eyes cried, ‘Please, anything but an international dispute......!’
Unfortunately, that was not something I could do anything about.
“That’ll be difficult. The World Tree recognizes Elaine, but if you look at the order of events, Elaine secretly cut the World Tree first.”
Yggdrasil was probably in a frenzy, looking for the missing World Tree Branches and Elaine.
The academy had accepted Elaine’s enrollment without knowing that.
“......I understand why you said it would be insufficient even if the entire Special Affairs Bureau were mobilized.”
Hans murmured, his face seeming to have grown gaunt in only a few minutes.
“If we leave them here, it does not suit their status. If we recover and return them, we have no claim of ownership.”
“Exactly. It’s already been bound to Elaine, so it’ll be difficult to touch. Even if an elf elder comes, it’ll be the same.”
“It feels as though even the Minister of Foreign Affairs could do nothing about this......”
Hans’s gaze went to a corner of the dormitory annex.
Beyond the corner of the building, a pointed ear protruded and twitched.
With a glance, Hans asked whether that elf was Elaine.
I gave a small nod in answer.
“Then can the person involved not return them or explain directly?”
“If she intended to return them herself, she wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of escaping Yggdrasil.”
Hans sighed and rubbed his face.
But until then, the pointed ear twitching in the distance only stayed quietly hidden.
‘Is it because Hans and the Chancellor came with me?’
Elaine’s encounter event was not triggering properly.
Normally, we would meet in this flowerbed and have a conversation.
‘It doesn’t look like collecting characters will be as simple as it was in the game.’
As I wondered what to do.
[S. Will of the World Tree]
A Sub Quest appeared.
‘There are Sub Quests too?’
There had been such things in the game as well.
They mostly awarded minor growth materials or story characters.
But Elaine was a character who joined the party straight away in the tutorial—a so-called free character.
And the fact that a Sub Quest had appeared meant.
‘Do I need to clear this quest to obtain Elaine as a companion?’
Well, that much was fine.
This was reality, not a game.
It would be strange for a total stranger to become someone’s companion the moment they met.
But.
‘The quest details are missing again! Why the hell won’t it show me?’
I could not complain to anyone, so I was inwardly frustrated when.
[SP is required to view the Sub Quest details.]
[Spend 100 SP to view the details?]
[Current SP: 0]
[SP can be exchanged for various goods through the SP Shop.]
[The SP Shop function can be unlocked for 500 SP.]
[1,000 SP can be exchanged for 1 MP.]
Yeah. I was wondering why it had not appeared sooner.
MP and SP—Teruna was truly determined to use me properly.
Yet, fortunately amid misfortune.
Or perhaps even this was Teruna’s vile scheme.
I thought I knew what this Sub Quest wanted from me.
“What are you doing?”
When I took out my tarot deck, Hans reflexively went on guard.
“I do not know what you intend to do, but first discuss it with me and Her Majesty—”
“It’s okay. It’s fate.”
Even if I said ‘quest,’ they would neither understand nor be persuaded.
If I called it a divine revelation, they would think I had gone insane.
So it was better to hand-wave it as fate.
......Honestly, that was an excuse. Part of me simply wanted to finish this quickly because I could not be bothered.
No, people of the world! Hear me out!
It was unfair enough that I had been dragged here, but the work kept piling up!
As I swallowed my resentment and spread out the tarot deck, one card sprang out.
Minor Arcana, ‘Ace of Wands.’
It was a card that blessed creation and new beginnings.
“Would you listen when someone speaks......!”
Hans hurriedly tried to stop me, but the card began glowing first.
WHOOOOSH—
A cool breeze swirled around us, as though it were sweeping away my stifling feelings.
The power flowing from the card began to settle into one of the World Tree Branches.
The World Tree Branch accepted that power and revealed the divinity it had concealed.
The long branch, which had been about 120 centimeters, gradually shrank and transformed into a short magic staff.
It had shrunk to only 30 centimeters, but the power compressed within it was as majestic as a vast forest.
“W-What has happened here?”
The Chancellor stared blankly at the World Tree Staff, forgetting even to speak casually to me.
“Quest complete?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m joking.”
Normally, the World Tree’s power had to be awakened through a character story.
That might have sounded grand, but in the game, it was a character-bound weapon you obtained simply by skipping through the story script.
But this world was not just the world inside a game; it was reality too.
There was no way some mysterious force would intervene on its own because I tapped the screen a few times.
So that was probably why the Sub Quest had been given to me.
‘Seriously. It’s working me like a slave.’
Damn Teruna.
After grumbling inwardly, I explained it to the Chancellor and Hans.
“It’s similar to the Elf Queen’s staff. It means the World Tree has gone beyond merely acknowledging Elaine and shown its will to actively help her.”
“Huh......”
“This will preserve the elves’ dignity, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be able to excuse itself by saying that it could not dare interfere.”
The academy would also be able to avoid being blamed for accepting the runaway Elaine.
The elves would not be able to call an elf carrying that staff a ‘runaway.’
“But how could Lord Lewis accomplish something like this......?”
“Fate, I guess. If you put it nicely, the guidance of Lord Teruna?”
The Chancellor looked at me with reverence in his eyes.
But Hans, standing beside him, looked troubled.
“Lord Lewis.”
“What?”
“You have no right to criticize Her Majesty or Lady Kanibara.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That reckless...... Haa. Never mind.”
Hans shook his head.
“There are two ways to make people angry. The first is to stop in the middle of saying something, and the second is—”
“Enough. Go inside. You’re shivering.”
“I have been outside for a while, so I am a little cold...... Achoo!”
Had it been too long since I last used my power?
It felt as though coldness were seeping straight into my bones.
“Go and have something warm first. I will contact the Special Affairs Bureau and come inside.”
“All right...... Ah-choo!”
I hurried back to the Chancellor’s office, stifling the coughs that kept escaping.
Elaine remained hidden around the building’s corner until then and did not show herself.
Well, I would be able to meet her soon enough.
On the way back to the Chancellor’s office, the Sub Quest completion window appeared.
[S. Will of the World Tree Complete!]
[You have acquired 100 SP.]
What a miserly reward.
I thought it would give enough to unlock the SP Shop at least.
***
After Lewis hurried away.
Hans looked at the Chancellor.
“Chancellor.”
“Speak.”
“What happened here today—no, what that man does from now on—must remain a secret to everyone except Her Majesty.”
“Is that Her Majesty’s order? Or the judgment of the head of Special Division 4?”
“It is the judgment I have made as Lord Lewis’s comrade.”
Hans’s gaze went to the staff planted in the flowerbed.
‘He acts as though it is a bother, but he is the person who loves this continent more than anyone.’
After the World Tree Branch became a staff.
Hans had noticed that Lewis’s condition had worsened sharply.
‘Lord Lewis went so far as to force that power out of himself. He must be preparing for an attack from the demonfolk.’
The Yggdrasil War had already proven how great a power the World Tree could exercise against the demonfolk.
So he must have awakened the World Tree Branch by forcing himself to use his power.
‘I don’t know when or how it will be needed, but......’
Hans’s gaze moved to the plaque that read [Elaine].
‘A student. Perhaps he is preparing for the distant future.’
But Hans could not be relieved.
‘The more Lord Lewis acts, the sooner the demonfolk will have no choice but to notice.’
Especially because the Demon Kings who hated Lewis must surely still be watching the continent.
Of course, it was a misunderstanding that would have made Lewis recoil in horror and shake his head.
Lewis was merely following quests.
He had not even thought of the Demon Kings. All he wanted was to finish the work quickly and laze about.
But Hans, who did not know Lewis’s true feelings, judged him by his own common sense.
Stopping Lewis was pointless.
The history of the last ten years and the outcome of the Yggdrasil War proved that.
Therefore, for his safety, all they could do was conceal his existence as thoroughly as possible.
The Chancellor seemed to have read that resolve in Hans and spoke in a heavy tone.
“Director Lionel. I have never set foot on a battlefield myself. Even watching from afar was enough to make my hands tremble, so I have no right to speak of the heroes’ actions.”
“......”
“But the academy is a place I must take responsibility for. Just as you fulfilled your duty on the battlefield, I have the duty to protect and guide the students.”
It was not merely the Chancellor’s tone that changed.
An imposing presence, unimaginable from an ordinary man who had never trained, emanated from him.
If they meant to sacrifice the academy for Lewis, he would never stand by and allow it.
“The paths we walk may differ, but our goal of peace will never differ.”
At Hans’s words, the Chancellor nodded, looking relieved.
The Chancellor’s speech softened again.
“As long as that promise is kept, I will cooperate fully.”
“Then we must write the reports first.”
“......Hoho.”
Too much had happened on their first day at the academy.
Of it all, the Eye of the Demonfolk and the World Tree Branches were extremely grave matters.
They made the tunnel absent from the blueprints and the stone carving that had nearly turned the academy into a forest feel like trivialities.
“Since these things happened at the academy, Chancellor, you should report to Her Majesty.”
“No. You and Lord Lewis discovered most of what occurred today during the inspection, so I believe it is right that you report it yourself.”
“My position is lower. How could I presume to take it upon myself to report such a serious matter......?”
“You are an Inspector favored by Her Majesty, so......”
Hans and the Chancellor headed toward the Chancellor’s office, exchanging a fiercely contested argument.
After the two disappeared, a little while passed.
PITTER-PATTER-PITTER—
A small elf sprang out from the dormitory corner.
“Wow! This is crazy! Insane! Look at the color! The shine......! Wow! I could scarf down a whole salad bowl just looking at it!”
Elaine pulled the World Tree Staff out of her flowerbed and exclaimed in admiration again and again.
The cozy life force flowing into her from the staff was so wonderful that it made her spine tingle.
“I was going to chop his head open with an axe if he did anything strange!”
The twin axes at Elaine’s waist clattered.
They were the very axes that had cut the World Tree Branches.
But the twin axes would not end up splitting anyone’s skull.
The moment Elaine gripped the staff, she knew.
What Lewis had shown was not some dark art.
“But why did he look so sick?”
Lewis did not know it, but Elaine had seen him before.
He was the person who had stopped the World Tree’s corruption alongside her mentor, Aleph the Azure Sage.
She had often witnessed his exploits from afar in the Yggdrasil War that followed.
“Was he injured in the war?”
If so, it was terribly unfortunate.
“Humans are short-lived, so it would be worse for him to get sick...... Should I ask Master to send some World Tree leaves?”
Elaine’s gaze moved in the direction Lewis had gone.
***
Since creating the World Tree Staff, Hans’s gaze at me had become a little strange.
Like he was looking at a treasure that might break.
It was not as though I were some historical relic.
Of course, I did feel a little unwell after making that one thing.
But it was only a cold, wasn’t it?
I stopped drawing Mickey Mouse and looked at Hans.
“Do you like me?”
“Has your cold caused your insanity to flare up? I am a man.”
I already knew his character profile. Who was he trying to fool?
“It can’t be helped if you fall for my charm. It’s awkward, but I’ll understand.”
“Haa...... This is a hero......?”
“‘This’? Well, it’s true I’m not a hero.”
I snickered and took a sip of the steaming cocoa.
“Just so you know, I’m absolutely not a self-sacrificing person.”
Sometimes, in novels, people around the protagonist misunderstood.
The protagonist himself had no thoughts on the matter, yet everyone misunderstood on their own.
“I really don’t have any plan. I don’t know anything either.”
“Yes. Of course you don’t.”
“I’m really Teruna’s puppet.”
A puppet that had made a World Tree Branch into a staff for a measly 100 SP, unable to do anything at all!
“Again. Again. You habitually blaspheme.”
Hans shot me a look.
I wanted to say more, but my throat felt scratchy, so I stopped.
Perhaps because I had wandered around the academy for several days while shivering, I caught a cold.
But thanks to that, I learned something.
There was a high possibility that the Main Story I knew was gone.
‘Not a single demonfolk plot from the academy was found.’
And what had taken its place were the small settings the game company had put in for jokes and fun.
“Did you see the air passage nearly blow off the Chancellor’s wig?”
“......”
Hans bit his lip to stop himself from laughing.
It would have been nice if he had shown that patience and quick reflexes in front of the Chancellor.
Once I finished drawing Mickey Mouse while chatting, there was nothing left to do.
“I have no thoughts.”
“......”
“Because I have no thoughts.”
“Does having a cold cause reduced intelligence these days?”
Hans scolded me, but still pushed a basket of snacks toward my sniffling self.
“What? There are only red ginseng candies.”
“Lord Lewis is the one who ate all those cookies.”
“Still, why red ginseng candies? Your taste is old-fashioned.”
“The Chancellor can hear you.”
At Hans’s warning, I glanced at the desk.
The Chancellor was staring right at me.
“I have a great many questions...... but let me ask this first. Why are you doing that in my office?”