The Hero’s Disciple Has Returned

“Just hold hands, only hands.”
“…I got it! I understand!”
“It wouldn’t be particularly bad if it’s on the forehead…”
“No! It’s better to end with just a handshake, even for any possible situations!”

In the end, Jade nodded, saying he would follow William’s will too. Seeing this, Riel was clearly expressing her great dissatisfaction by pouting her lips.

‘No, why is a human who’s a Great Magician doing this?!’

Riel’s eyes can see many things. This means that no matter how thoroughly the other person tries to hide, Riel can see the hidden essence within. Therefore, it rendered all of William’s efforts to thoroughly hide his magical power meaningless. That’s why Riel couldn’t help but be wary of William. A human who is a Great Magician was an incredibly high being that even the highest human authorities had to be cautious of. Yet such a being was acting like a servant…

It was a situation full of terror in many ways.

‘It’s not particularly that I’m scared! I’m confident I can win even if the opponent is a Great Magician! I’m definitely not doing this because I’m scared!’

It’s not exactly a lie. But it’s not the truth either. With Riel’s skills, she was confident she wouldn’t lose even to a Great Magician or Sword Master at the superhuman level. But the problem was what came after. Humans at the superhuman level were always connected to large organizations. As a result, she would end up making an overwhelmingly large number of enemies. Of course, Riel could also call for elves, but… That was a path Riel didn’t want. Therefore, in the end, Riel couldn’t fight a human at the superhuman level. Because there was nothing good to come from fighting.

“…It’s easier to do it with lips on the forehead…”
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything!”

In the end, Riel decided to obediently hold Jade’s hand. It wasn’t a big problem since it was just the difference between eating with a big spoon versus eating with a small spoon, but still, who wants to do something multiple times when it can be done in one go? But since it seemed like she would suffer more if she upset that Great Magician, Riel decided to endure a little hardship.

“…I’m starting.”

In the end, although she had to go about it in a very roundabout way, Riel finally succeeded in bestowing a blessing on Jade.

♤♤♤

“It’s a dream.”

I easily recalled that I had come to my senses in a dream world. It wasn’t particularly difficult. Although I was moving my body according to my thoughts, I couldn’t feel any sensation of moving my body at all. Even when I pinched myself, it didn’t hurt at all.

“How strange. To be able to feel so clearly even though it’s a dream.”

Should I say it feels like falling into a succubus’s dream world? They say succubi create a dream world to lure human men and trap them there. It was roughly that kind of feeling. However, if this was really a succubus’s dream world, the atmosphere and feeling wouldn’t be so free at all.

“Surely, I received something from the elf claiming to be the ‘Elf of Blessing’ and then lost consciousness… And I’ve come to my senses in this dream world?”

I could finish grasping the situation without much difficulty.

“If so, this is the result of that blessing… It’s quite different from the image of blessing I had in mind.”

I thought it wouldn’t be much different from how priests do it, with light flowing out and seeping into the subject’s body… To think I’d fall into a dream world like this. I wonder what connection there is between falling into a dream world and a blessing…

It was then.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, child of humans with a brilliant soul.”

When I turned my head

There stood a beautiful woman.

From her pointed ears and beauty on a different level from humans, I could tell she was an elf. I couldn’t help but recognize it, having just seen Riel, who was also an elf. However, unlike Riel, the woman in front of me now was a very mature woman. She was a woman with such mature charms that any human man would have his heart and gaze stolen. But that didn’t mean Jade made any mistake with his gaze.

How should I put it…

She’s certainly attractive, but…

The moment you look into her eyes, you realize.

She’s not an ordinary living being…

She’s some kind of different being.

Although her outward appearance is that of an elf woman, her essence is something enormous… It’s merely disguising and hiding something enormous in the outward appearance of an elf woman. I just naturally came to know such things.

“You… What is your true identity?”
“Indeed… You are the owner of a special soul. To sense my essence. Even though I’m hiding it perfectly.”
“So what exactly are you? Honestly, should I say it’s a sense of dissonance… I feel so twisted that I’m even feeling uncomfortable.”
“I apologize. It wasn’t particularly to deceive you. My true form is so enormous that just seeing it could crush you under the pressure, so it couldn’t be helped. I am the World Tree, the being that all elves regard as their parent, and the being that humans sometimes mistake as close to a god, that’s who I am.”

…Well…

Not content with getting involved with an elf I didn’t want to be involved with,

Now I’m getting involved with the World Tree, said to be close to a god…

Is today just a terribly unlucky day?

“Sigh.”

I couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh thinking such thoughts.

♧♧♧

“Damn elf! What on earth have you done!”
“Ah. No… I just bestowed a blessing with my special blessing!”
“What kind of blessing did you bestow for this to happen!!!”

It wouldn’t have been strange for William to scream like that.

Because Jade was trapped inside a barrier.

Not long after that elf held his hand, an enormous energy engulfed this space, and just like that, it created a barrier trapping Jade. William, being a Great Magician himself, didn’t just watch. He tried to stop it somehow by using magic. But it didn’t work. Because it ignored his magic.

‘It’s different from my lord’s ‘Anti-Aura’! Literally, the quality of the energy itself is different! To the extent of easily ignoring the power of a Great Magician like me! Truly close to a god…!!’

“No! I didn’t intend to bestow such an amazing blessing! But! Suddenly ‘Mother’ intervened!”
“Mother?! You don’t mean the World Tree?!!!!”

If it’s the World Tree, it’s possible.

To begin with, it’s rather too obvious that the power possessed by the World Tree, called close to a god, is not something an individual human can do anything about.

But…

“Wasn’t the World Tree unable to come out to maintain the barrier!”
“That can’t be! Idiot! Fool! How great do you think our glorious Mother is! Do you think there’s anything she can’t do! It’s like how humans misunderstand that we can’t lie! Humans just arbitrarily assumed that because Mother had never tried to come out!”
“…Ugh!”

Why on earth is the World Tree popping up here?!

♤♤♤

“Well. Shall we share a cup of tea?”
“Outside… I mean, is my body okay?”
“Yes, I’m just putting up a barrier in case something happens while you’re in contact with my will, but there’s no big problem.”
“I think people would be quite surprised if the World Tree’s barrier suddenly appears, though?”
“That’s why the human magician is trying hard to stop it. But he couldn’t stop it in the end. Hoho.”
“……”

When I heard stories about the World Tree as a child, I certainly drew a noble image in my mind of someone very solemn and able to embrace everything, as befitting the mother revered by all elves… But the woman in front of me doesn’t match that image at all no matter how I look at her.

‘To think I’m considering it strange because it doesn’t match the preconceptions I arbitrarily drew. Even I think I can only say I’m being ‘too arbitrary’.’

Feeling a strange sense of guilt, I decided to follow the World Tree’s will.

“The tea is delicious.”
“Yes, because it’s brewed from my body.”
“Pffft!”
“Ah. I said that in case you might misunderstand. My true form is a tree, you know. It’s nothing strange.”
“…Aren’t you doing this on purpose?”
“I hope you’ll see it as a cute joke. Hoho.”
“……”

Even if I wanted to get angry, I couldn’t bring myself to do so in the face of that appearance that was not just elegant but even sacred. Have I always been such a man who’s weak in front of beauty? I don’t think so… Or maybe it’s that I’m cowering in front of such an enormous being as the World Tree. After all, it’s a being called close to a god. Isn’t it nonsensical from the start for a mere retired mercenary to withstand it?

“You are amazing.”

Hmm?

Why am I receiving praise from the World Tree?

“What do you mean?”
“The more special a soul is, the less this world leaves it alone. It tries to ruin it somehow. As if that’s its reason for existence. Therefore, no matter how special a soul one is born with, most souls end up unable to overcome it and become corrupted. There are no exceptions to this. All souls have been like this. It was the one absolute truth that never changed from the distant past to today, absolute equality. Until you, the exception, appeared.”
“…It seems like you’re packaging me in some incredibly grand way. But I’m not particularly an amazing person.”

I said it to clear up the misunderstanding, but the World Tree just shook her head with a meaningful smile. It was a moment when I felt an ominous feeling that I had built up more misunderstanding, making my spine shiver.

♧♧♧

The World Tree couldn’t help but be truly amazed at the human man with the brilliant soul in front of her.

If he had such a brilliant soul, surely the world would have used every means possible to dirty that soul. He must have had to lose his parents cruelly, no one would have properly extended a helping hand to him, and the path he walked would have been full of disappointment and despair. But despite all that, this human man endured. No matter how much the world tried to corrupt him, no matter how much it tried to make him despair, he didn’t lose his essence. He didn’t lose it. That was more amazing than a superhuman who has reached the level of Sword Master wielding an aura blade, or a Great Magician using great magic.

After all, those are just reaching that level by being able to handle their talent perfectly to match their original potential. Compared to that, maintaining one’s purity in a situation where one would only lose, be frustrated, and despair is completely different.

Therefore, for the World Tree, the brilliance shown by the human man in front of her was more valuable and precious than the superhumans praised as amazing.

‘That’s why it’s a natural conclusion that the hero child chose this human as her sanctuary.’

For that soul full of wounds, this brilliant soul must have felt not just attractive but like paradise, and it actually would be.

Although the World Tree insisted she wasn’t close to a god and it was a human misunderstanding,
She was certainly a being close to a god.
Therefore, she knew.
The only truth in this world
That the hero couldn’t escape from the vicious cycle of regression
She knew.