“You called?”
“You are here?”
Hasyath greeted Sarah with a sullen face as usual.
At first, she thought that his expression was scary, but Isis said he was always like that so she didn’t worry about it anymore.
Sarah asked what it was about,
“From what Mr. Mero said, there was something about a battle…”
“Battle. It is a real battle if you think of it as one.”
“What is it?”
“It isn’t as dangerous as last time but there are places where you will have to be careful. Originally, I had no intention of taking you, but I heard that it is better for you to go for the experience.”
There was no need to take Sarah where he was going now. Of course, that would have been the case if Isis hadn’t told him to before she left for the Black Tower.
‘Sarah needs experience. Just seeing it with her own eyes will help her a lot.’
‘Can’t you take her?’
‘Not this time.’
‘Huh. You are handing down your disciple to me?’
‘Please.’
So Hasyath had no choice but to take Sarah with him.
Well, that’s what he said, but he didn’t hate it. And he heard from Karlovan that she has surpassed the talent a Ran could have.
In fact, it had just been a couple of months, so it was surprising.
‘A truly interesting child.’
Was this what ‘bloodline’ meant?
They only met briefly, but Count Welton, who was the father of this child, was a strong man who didn’t yield any less than the great warriors of the Rans. And he thought that the strongest people in the human world were on the level of an Apostle.
And since she inherited the blood of such a person, he knew that Sarah would also have extraordinary skills that surpass those of normal humans.
‘I didn’t expect it to be like this.’
Well, wasn’t she the sister of the Black Tower Lord?
Even though he was an ordinary human being, he was a powerful black magician who had gone through reincarnation and returned to this land. But these siblings, who shared the same blood, had a natural talent.
“Where is this place?”
“The place where the elves live.”
“Yes? I heard that the elves are spread out in numerous places and live in groups.”
Sarah had joined forces with the elves when she started her mission in earnest. They told her that they don’t live together, and each of them had their own forest.
“Right. Normal elves.”
“Normal elves?”
“We are not going to such a place. We are going to the place known to be the purest in the world.”
The purest in the world?
Sarah didn’t get it. If one said the purest, it would mean sacred, so that would be a sanctuary or temple, but she wasn’t sure if they still existed during these times.
Even more so now that the nature of the 12 Gods has been exposed.
When Sarah looked like she didn’t understand, Hasyath smiled and said,
“We are going to the World Tree.”
The World Tree.
It was the sacred tree, known as the birthplace of all things and revered as the mother of all elves.
That gigantic tree, which was stretched out high, was said to be the purest in the world, and it spewed out a huge amount of mana just by its existence, greatly enriching the surrounding area.
Its influence was so great that all the plants that took root on the Loen continent were supplied with nutrients from the World Tree.
It was literally the land itself.
And there was a race guarding such a thing.
“High Elves. We are going to meet the High Elves!”
Sarah said, looking excited.
The High Elves.
The race that claimed to be the guardians of the World Tree, and built a base there to protect it. And all the other elves were their subspecies.
It was well known that their power was superior to the three major races.
For example, in the past, humans had to retreat after being pushed back by a single High Elf despite several nations trying to conquer the World Tree.
The troops retreated, so the High Elf didn’t touch them, but it was said that if the High Elf wanted to, many humans would have been killed.
In any case, they were a race that was much more mysterious than the dragons, and since the great war three years ago, their true nature had been coming out little by little.
Although not much was known about them, they were no longer as mysterious as they used to be.
‘But there are still many things I don’t know about.’
Was it because the elves were more closed off than the Rans?
Just by looking at Hiyan, the head of the High Elves, and the manager of the World Tree, one could tell how much about them was hidden.
If humans could find out what was hidden there, it would be a great achievement.
“Will you come?”
“Of course! I can see the World Tree, so I must!”
She had heard a lot about the World Tree from the elves she had worked with in the past. The mysterious tree was known to calm one’s mind just from the sight of it, and it gave everyone the warmth of a parent’s hug.
It was said that the elves could only visit the World Tree once in their lifetime, and they would carry the emotions of that time until the moment they died.
So she had always wanted to go.
It was one of those few things on her bucket list before the world turned into a mess.
“We will leave in three days. Make the necessary preparations.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Sarah sincerely thanked him as she stepped out of his place.
Hasyath smiled at the sight of her.
The day to depart for the World Tree had come, and Sarah arrived at the meeting point, packed with her things and looking nervous.
Usually, she would arrive an hour later, but she was so excited that she woke up earlier.
Because of that, she was two hours ahead of schedule.
Sarah scratched her cheek in embarrassment.
However, she couldn’t help it because it had been so long since she had come out for such a mission.
Even though it was a pity that her entire family wasn’t together, she felt like she was going on a picnic, just like when she was younger.
“You are early?”
Mero’s voice could be heard from behind her.
“Mr. Mero too?”
“I am here because I am the youngest.”
Mero appeared with all kinds of luggage on his back. As the youngest of the warriors, he was handling all the troublesome tasks, and this part was no different from the humans and the Rans.
“Damn it, you are the youngest.”
Sarah just shrugged because she was selected for the mission but only as a companion. In addition, since she was a direct disciple of the current King, she didn’t have to do such things.
It was better to train or do something. And since these were orders from above, Mero couldn’t say anything.
And it wasn’t that hard either.
Putting the luggage down, Mero glanced at Sarah.
“Your skills seems to have improved.”
“Really?”
“Yes, what can it be? You should know your condition the best?”
“I have never heard anything like that. I am not sure if my skills have improved because I am always being beaten by my instructor.”
“Well.”
With the sparring that Karlovan does, there was no way the learner would know if their skills had improved.
Mero knew better than anyone else since he had learned from the same person a couple of years ago.
“Then, shall we test it before the others arrive?”
“A spar?’
“Let’s see how arrogant the kid can get.”
Sarah laughed at that and turned her stick into a sword.
Seeing that, Mero was shocked and burst into laughter.
“I won’t let you off so easily.”
“I will improve my skills that way.”
“Come. You will lose ten times.”
“And you will regret it.”
Sarah kicked the ground and sprinted for Mero.
There was still some time for everyone to gather, so it shouldn’t be a problem. More than anything, it seemed like a good way to calm her nervousness.
‘Because this is a mission.’
Sarah’s eyes shone. And she moved for Mero.
“Kuak….”
“You grew a lot.”
Mero tapped her on the shoulder with his sword and said that to Sarah, who was on the ground.
Sarah didn’t seem to have any energy left to answer.
Well, since she was beaten quite a bit, her body hurt.
At first, she tried to spar with him moderately, but then she became more reckless than she had planned, and the attacks that came for her were fierce.
Since she controlled her strength, she wouldn’t get seriously hurt.
“What did this bastard do?”
“Kuak!”
At that time, a fist flew to Mero’s head.
Mero grabbed his head as he screamed in pain.
“Who is it?”
“Who? Brat!”
Gen frowned and spoke to Mero.
“We will be leaving soon, and you made a child like this!”
“W-We had some extra time, so we wanted to relax our bodies….”
“Is this relaxing your bodies? She is just a child! Ugh.”
Gen sighed and checked Sarah’s body, and fortunately, her condition wasn’t bad.
Her body might throb, but she had no major injuries or wounds. But it was still a problem that she was in pain an hour before they had to leave.
“If Sarah is having a problem, you carry her on your back and run, get it?”
“Uh? What? I have to carry!”
“Then you shouldn’t have done that!”
“We sparred in moderation! If I had used more of my strength, I would have been at risk.”
“What?”
“Her skills have improved to the point where I cannot even recognize her. So unknowingly.”
“You… are talking back!”
“Ack!”
Mero, who spoke the truth, was beaten again.
Gen shook his head and fed Sarah the Rans’ medicine.
“Bring Sarah the moment she gets up.”
“Damn it.”
“Damn it?”
“I will do it.”
“You loach. The only thoughts in your head are ways to get out of trouble.”
Seeing Gen walk away, Mero couldn’t stop his head from shaking.
“What are you doing?”
At that time, Sarah, who had recovered, looked at Mero with a sad face. Mero looked at her and then cleared his throat.
“Awake?”
“I was awake, but I couldn’t move. I just didn’t talk because I was hurt.”
“R-Right.”
“Ugh.”
Her body still throbbed, but it felt a little better than before, as if her opponent was being considerate.
“All set!”
The signal was given, so Mero looked in the direction from which the sound came.
“Tell me if you are having a tough time. It isn’t difficult to carry you.”
“Forget it. This much is alright.’
“Strong woman!”
“You are saying strange things again. Hurry.”
Sarah gave a cold response to Mero, who was laughing as they moved.
A tree that was as tall as the Black Tower.
With a huge thickness equivalent to that of a strong nation, its branches spread out wide enough to cover the entire sky.
It was so huge that if you saw it up close, you wouldn’t realize it was a tree.
Its thick leaves covered the sky, and only darkness was below it.
In fact, it was so dark that it looked like the bottom of an abyss. The sky was covered with so many branches that no light could get in.
If tens of thousands of spheres of light that illuminate the darkness hadn’t floated in the air, no one would have been able to see an inch ahead.
Whoosh!
This was the place where the sound of the wind blowing could be heard.
“Seems ominous.”
A man looked at the World Tree and mumbled. The ears of the man were pointed, his skin was as pale as jade, and his turquoise hair settled down gently on his body.
A woman with similar ears next to him answered.
And as expected, she was a woman with purple hair and beauty that couldn’t be resisted.
“The World Tree is drying up.”
She was Hiyan.
The manager of the World Tree and the head of the High Elves.
She spoke with a frown,
“The spirits are crying. The time is coming.”
The voices of the spirits couldn’t be heard by normal people, but the High Elves could.
However, the problem was that, even though they could hear them, there was nothing they could do. So they asked for help outside.
“If it is the Water Spirit King, he can help extend it to some extent.”
They didn’t know if it was possible, but that was the only thing they could believe in right now.
