Twin sores transmitted to the cheeks. It's not the pain that comes with the guts, it's not the pain that comes tightening my stomach.
But that tension was the most painful thing I've ever lived.
The pain reached deep.
Her mouth and body naturally stopped moving as the heat swelled up behind her chest cooled by her cold, despised gaze she saw for the first time.
"It sucks, Ray."
Words with anger and sadness, not her usual gentle and warm words.
Her emotions put in there disturb my mind before the meaning of the word.
"Because my thoughts were sweet, do you give Serra the protection of the Evil God?
In response to that inquiry, I clog the words.
"... Sure, that might help Saila. But you know it's dangerous, you know it's gonna be like a demon, and Ray does it?
It would be a lie if I said I hadn't thought about it. Sure, it was in the corner of my head that it might. But that's what happened.
Now, if I don't even die, I don't care later. I can do something.
Yes, it was true that he had thoughts that lacked specificity.
"... you suck. Just push Ray's sweetness against her. You didn't mean to help her from the beginning, did you?
"Chi, no! I'm going to save Saila..."
"No, it's not. I can do it myself. There's nothing I can't do, and I didn't carry that responsibility or anything, I just acted the way I wanted. Ray sucks right now."
I stabbed Charstena in the deep and painful spot so she could see through my thoughts.
"I finally figured it out. Ray was looking down on someone else, wasn't he? I don't care what happens to you."
Her words, which just blame me lightly, fall heavily on my shoulders.
"... so selfish. I was just scared."
"Look down..."
"I'm looking down. Because you won a militant tournament? Because you got thistled in a Kraken crusade? Because you didn't suffer one injury to your S-level opponent? So you got the wrong idea what you could do?
... It's not a mistake. It's all because I'm special.
That's right, I just argued in my heart, and it never came out of my mouth as a word. It was like a puppet whose yarn had cut and lost its support, and her mouth didn't move.
"It's crazy, Ray"
Oh, that's crazy. Why would Charstena blame me? Charstena is mine...
"It's amazing how you won a militant tournament. It's amazing that he didn't get hurt by his S-level opponent."
That's right. I'm amazing. Unlike the others. So, uh...
"But, you know, that's not all Ray's power alone, is it?
"... Huh!
Whatever you do. Yes, I refluxed the words from my heart before they came out of my mouth.
Something collapsed in the back of my chest. Her words flowing in with the reflux blew up the mountains of confidence that everything behind my mind had come alone.
It felt like a hole in my chest. A wind of words blew into a large wind hole, and the pain of being choosen off the meat ran through his chest.
"It's all thanks to Ray's father and mother, the Royal College teachers and friends, and everyone else Ray's involved with."
Charstena's words came into me to make up for what was missing.
This is the first time I've noticed my thoughts.
I didn't accept all her words. But my powers are not my own. That's all, I thought you were right.
If she hadn't pointed out such a natural thing, I wouldn't have known what to say to myself, being an unaware idiot, selfish, tyrannical.
I...
I thought I could do anything by myself. Because I'm special.
But I should have noticed.
That it was given and not in your own hands.
I didn't even think it was because of the second raw given to Nord, and the privileged environment, and I stopped looking at others because I thought I was the power of one person. All those who interrupt are enemies. I assumed on my own that there was freedom ahead of me in paying for it all.
I'm stupid, arrogant.
I was thinking about it because it worked out a little and I was in good shape.
Same goes for Saila. I really thought I could save Saila.
Even if I went to a militant tournament and ran out of time with it, I saw Saila laughing cheerfully and decided on her own that she was still okay and acted as she wished. I didn't even realize it was patience, and I forced her to do it.
... nothing has changed.
Since Charstena and the others told me before. Push the blame on the people who live in the king's capital.
In the end, I tried to solve it on my own again and let Sarah carry all the burden.
How selfish, arrogant, tyrannical.
I use her for my pride that I can do anything I want, and if I have to, I sacrifice her for my greed.
That sucks. That's what scumbags do.
"I" wanted to help her because the "he" in me was what I wanted.
"I" thought it right to abandon Saila. Still, I guess I acted to help her because of this irresponsible pride.
It drove things out of Saila's mind and around her, and brought the selfish idea that using the Evil God's crystal would still help.
Previously, I have overconfident in my power, never thought about anything around me, and acted the way I wanted to.
I thought I was free to do that.
I was wearing my freedom...
Think about yourself and live without looking at others. I thought that was freedom.
Freedom and selfishness are a piece of paper. I didn't see this difference.
... No, I still don't know.
This is the result.
The result obtained by eliminating the intruders and acting as they thought was the deterioration of Serra's medical condition and the gaze of contempt from Charstena.
Is this the freedom I wanted?
... you're not. No, I want you to be different.
But that's why, what did I want...?
I can't answer that. I don't have the answer.
It's just that tomorrow, more than ever, I've lived in a deserted world without thinking about freer people, and 'freedom' is just what I seek, and I've never had to think about it or tried to think about it.
Is it freedom for me...
My freedom isn't thinking around right now. If you think and act around, you will not be able to move freely.
If you really want freedom, I...
Maybe I should be alone.
You just have to live alone, on your own, tyrannically.
The extra foolishness, the pity, I was bringing up such a self-inflicted idea.
But Charstena wouldn't abandon me for trying to abandon myself.
"Ray, what I just said today, go back to your room and think about it alone. Because I'm with Sarah."
That kindness of Charstena hurt for me. It was easier for him to abandon me 'I don't even want to see your face anymore'. It was easier for me to fall into self-immolation, throw everything away, and live alone.
But Charstena turned the same gentle look on me.
- I don't know.
How could you be so nice to me?
I always let scumbags like me end up all the time.
Why don't you abandon me and throw me out?
I went back to my room as Charstena told me. I cried as soon as I walked into the room to bring it to the door.
I regretted it from the bottom of my heart. to your own deeds.
I'm a scum. He's just a big dumb scumbag who behaves when he does it without darkness and relinquishes his responsibilities if he has to, because he has a bit of power.
All the trouble, I didn't even try to hear her say it.
But Charstena was still kind to me like that. That was warm and painful.
...... you have to change.
Whatever.
For the sake of not being able to get any more shuddered by Charstena, who leads scumbags like me, for the sake of everyone who admires me, above all for themselves.
The next day, Charstena and I discussed Sarah. No, we weren't discussing it.
The words Charstena said left my head bare.
"... y... y... re... y, ray, ray, are you listening?
"Yeah? Yeah."
It wasn't exactly where it was. Gradually, Charstena's words were deafening.
I've been thinking about yesterday in my head since last night. Looking at me like that, Charstena offered me a place to discuss what to do if I reflected, but I wasn't here in consciousness.
"............... Are you off today yet?
"Oh, yeah, you are"
Charstena cared for me, that's what she said and went back to her room.
I kept thinking about it ever since.
What can I do to help Saila?
What is freedom?
Should I be alone?
And what can I do to change.
I've been thinking about that at the same time, and it's been a mess in my head. There were dots of ideas that didn't come together, and things that were supposed to be separate ideas were mixed together and turned into things that didn't have answers.
I never stopped thinking about it when I was in that state, and I fell asleep on my bet at some point.
And when I woke up to sleep for the whole day, my head was refreshed and the idea that I had gotten into a gutter was exactly divided into four parts.
And I understood exactly what I had to think first.
"Get the Shizuku of the World Tree"
I put it into words to see what I had to do.
Next, I thought about what I should do to do it. And I remember what Charstena said the other day about having a discussion.
I remember, but it's an auspicious day. I immediately went to Charstena's room and gently slammed the door with my hand.
"Shall I come in, Charles?
I spoke to Charstena inside. After a while, the door opens from the inside.
And I immediately bowed my head to Charstena, who showed her face from inside.
"I'm sorry. I was wrong."
"... yeah. You calmed down. But now let's think about Saila, shall we?
Charstena, who gave me a relieved look, tried to invite me inside. But I hesitated to go into Sarah's sleeping room, and I told Charstena what I thought without going inside.
"I've thought about it a lot since then. But in the end, I only came up with one."
There was no other way from the beginning.
"I'm going to the World Tree."
I wasted a lot of time. But I'm not wasting it anymore. I can't waste it.
"Be sure to make it. So ask me about Saila."
"Yeah... yeah, that's all you got. All right, I'll take care of Sarah. So be careful with Ray. I won't forgive you if you die, will I?
"... oh"
I thanked Charstena for still telling me that.
But at the same time... I don't know if I can stay by her side anymore.
Can I have that kindness... I didn't know.
"... go or fastest"
I did everything I could. This is the first time I've learned to rush....... too late.
But regretting it now is only a waste of time. Let's start with what we can do now.
We're almost to the World Tree. It shouldn't take 10 days to get back and forth if you run all the way through.
But there's not much respite anymore.
It is one of the seven great secrets. I thought it was going to be easy. What was wrong with me?
Now to the world tree as soon as possible. To save Sarah.
When I thought so strongly in my mind, all of a sudden, my legs were dramatically faster. It was more like something within my thoughts had responded to me than my thoughts had turned into power.
- I think I know how he feels now.
I just wanted to help. He is.
But I couldn't help you. He regretted it again.
He also used Saila to clear up the thought.
I'm an idiot for both of us.
I'm risking my life.
Me and you, we have to change. When this journey is over, we'll both go find it. Answer that.
That was the moment I started accepting the other's own mind.
And that's the same with him.
It was the first time my heart and his had been connected. It had appeared as evidence in reality.
A lighter body than usual. And much faster feet.
I don't know what's going on. All I could tell was the fact that I was able to reach the world tree in only two days.
"This is the forest of the world tree..."
There was a giant woodland in front of me that seemed to be over 500 years old.
"That's a lot of fog."
A fog so deep that if you step into the woods, you won't even know where you are. The fog that can stand with the mockingbird wanders through the forest and does not try to leave it. The fog, which looked creepy, created an atmosphere that kept people from swallowing and letting them go. In fact, there are countless people who could not come into this forest and come out.
"I don't have time to be scared here."
After I breathed, I stepped out without hesitation and was swallowed up in the fog.
Deep fog doesn't even let the sun shine through.
Couscous
Dim forest as if in a cave.
Couscous
The moisture that can stand in solidifies over the skin and flows like sweat.
Couscous
That gradually takes away my temperature.
Couscous
And the creepy laughter I've heard so many times since I went into the woods.
"Is it just a secret?"
Unopenable sight. A sense of direction that drives me crazy. And for some reason inhibited skills and magic. The degree of inhibition of space-based skills in particular is not comparable. Not activated at all.
Even though it was not an exaggeration to say that space was the only reliance, neither the thousand eyes nor the clairvoyance that complemented it could only make the vision voyage.
"This fog is suspicious. I feel something magical..."
I can't think of any other cause. But I just figured that out, and I can't do anything about it right now.
Normally, I almost blow it with wind magic, but casting advanced magic with all my might is only a breeze.
Couscous
"No, you had another suspicious one."
I cleared my ears.
Couscous
Kusk. Kusk.
Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Cuckoo.
"There!
Don't make fun of me. I reached in the direction I heard a laugh. But I never grabbed anything, only a gutsy feeling came through. If you look where I hit your hand, it was a tree.
"Did I miss..."
'You want to be there. I just laughed at you ~. Bullying. I was bullied by a human. "
"Huh! Where? ⁉ Huh"
I run my eyes in all directions, but the deep fog gets in the way and I can't capture the Lord of my voice.
That's crazy? I thought I heard it from pretty close...
"How long have you been touching me? Sexual harassment. I'm being sexually harassed by a human ~ '
Are you touching me?
I looked into my own hands. The hand was against Gassili's giant tree.
I looked up at the giant tree to follow its hand.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, there's no way the trees are talking. I wonder if the fog made my head crazy. I can hear the phantom."
"I'm stuck ~. It's a confession. I'll be confessed to a human ~ '
"I knew it was this tree or the tree was talking."
What's going on? This forest! The trees have spoken.
"It's not my tree ~. It's a misunderstanding. I'm being misunderstood by humans ~ '
"Then what? ⁉ I've never heard of a talking tree. ⁉
"I'm a tree fairy ~. Kind ~. I'll teach you humans. I'm so sweet ~ '
fairy
"I have a different image...... can't you be like a little human being like this?
"Me Fairy ~. I can be ~. I can be like a human being ~ '
The pop tree lit up. And so that the photons could gather, and a feathered dwarf appeared.
"Whoa!"
"Me entertaina ~. Dodgy ~. I planted a dodgy on a human ~"
The fairy flies around me like a butterfly with her little hat on.
Is this the fairy? Speaking of what I imagined, it's exactly what I imagined, but somewhere golden. He may actually be drawing fairy blood.
"Hey, can you show me to the World Tree?
"I'm not free ~. Busy ~. I want sweet food when I'm busy ~"
You mean the guide fee is a sweet thing?
"I have candy, can you show me around?
"Candy ~? I love sweet things ~. That's good. If you give me candy, I'll show you around ~"
Negotiations concluded and.
When I take the candy out of my bag, I open the seal on the fairy and then lift it up. The fairy holds the little candy balls with both hands and peroli.
"Sweet ~. Yummy ~. You gave me candy, I'll show you around ~. You're following me ~"
The fairy thrusts the flutter and fog while holding the candy balls. As if I knew where the world tree was, I would follow after the fairy who went on without hesitation, careful not to lose sight of it.
"Are you the only fairy living in this forest?
"It's not you ~. Me pack ~. A fairy living in this forest ~. It's not just me ~. All the trees in this forest are fairies ~"
"All of them? Are all of these trees fairies?
Hundreds. No, there's thousands of them.
Is this also the protection and doing of the world tree?
It's too dense in this forest.
"Right ~. Surprised again ~. I like to surprise people ~"
"I see, that's why you were laughing, Couscous"
"That's because humans were circling the same place ~"
............... you can't see at all, so you can't help it.
"Packy, is this fog your jerk?
"World Tree ~. Fairy King's dwelling tree ~. The divine power of the Fairy King, tell the world. The fog leaked ~. Power Leaked ~"
Is the Fairy King waiting? And as much as I say divine power, so naturally the other person is God.
I wonder what god awaits...
Pucky has informed me to sing when I'm heightening my nervousness that way.
"The power clears ~. Arrival ~. World Tree Defender, Fairy King's Belly ~"
The moment Packy's words were over, the fog cleared up. If you turn around surprised, there's still a deep fog there. But where we left off, the fog was clear all over the world trees.
It is the world tree that stands there. A woman stood closer to man than a fairy in front of a world tree stretched to heaven so high that she could not see the top even as she looked up. Unlike one person, is there a beautiful, transparent blade on their back?
"Packy, I don't like the way you appear like that. Would you be more normal?
"Me entertaina ~. There's no ordinary appearance ~"
"I was in a habit that normally appeared..."
The Fairy King shifted his gaze to me, even as he told Packy his little stupidity.
"Welcome to the World Tree. I'm a fairy living in a world tree, also known as Fairy God Fell Alert"
That's what I say. A fairy god who bows down small with pecories.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ray. Quickly, Fairy God, I have a favor to ask. Give me the Shizuku of the World Tree. I have a child I want to help."
I bowed my head deeply. If something fails here, everything becomes a bubble. I said nervously that I should not say anything to undermine the mood of the Fairy God.
"I don't mind. However, there is only one condition for handing over the Shizuku of the World Tree."
Conditions?
I looked up and waited for the word of the fairy god.
"... Do you know Reaper?
"What? Oh, yes. I've heard that before."
Why does the name of Reaper suddenly come up?
No way... when you die, you say it's a condition to give your soul to Reaper...?
I took a breath with Gokuri,
"Condition is to tell Reaper to come here when he sees him."
I threw up right away.
I seem to have thought too deeply in vain that it is a condition of God's giving.
"Okay. You want me to tell Reaper that? So where do I go to see Reaper? Like the capital of death?
"Capital of Death? No, that's where even God can't go easily. Reapers won't be there, will they? Because there is no reason to go there for his purpose (...). He's wandering around this world. I don't even know where you are in this world. So just tell them when you happen to see them."
What Fairy God wanted to tell you was that Reaper doesn't know where in the world he is. But I was reacting somewhere else.
- I knew there was a death capital.
capital of death whose existence was doubtful. But I said fairy god is a place even god can't go easily. Maybe the fairy god also knows how to get there.
But now...
"Okay. I promise I'll tell you."
"Pfft, thanks. But I've been waiting for thousands of years, so don't worry if I don't see you."
The fairy god said with a laugh, but I felt so sad. I think I've seen the same look on this guy's face.
She was crying then. It was a terrible and painful cry.
I've been waiting for thousands of years. Simply put, how hard is that?
I'll be sure to tell him. I want to tell you.
I felt that way.
"Now let me give you the Shizuku of the World Tree"
Fairy God slowly hands forward. With that, a wooden snail was offered to me. There was a bottle of Shizuku hanging there.
This is the Shizuku of the World Tree. This is the second time I've seen it. Did you use it to purify Cliff Mountain before? I should also say thank you then.
"Thank you. And thank you for helping us purify Cliff Mountain two years ago."
"Purification? Oh, about Shizuku, who gave it to Redick after a while? Yeah, you're doing great."
I still knew about my father.
"Yeah well. There were all sorts of monster marches going on, but I managed to do so because my father was critical and in time."
"Yes. That's good. Because it's hard not to get the benefit even with me......... now what? What, Dad? Are you that stupid son of a bitch?
The fairy god tried to sarcastically flush, he couldn't. Seeing a fairy god who is purely surprised, the flirtatious fairy laughs niggardly.
You're laughing!
"Yeah. He's that idiot's son."
"Yeah⁉ Well, hey, Mullah's..."
"You're my son."
Fairy God became kind to Auntie as soon as he found out I was his two sons.
"It's those two kids. Nice. Oh well, those two... I miss them. When they were sitting here."
A fairy god who remembers the old days that way and speaks of things of great concern. Dad, what are you doing here?
I want to hear it. I want to hear it. But I'm patient now.
We have to get home soon.
"Fairy God, I have a kid who needs to deliver this Shizuku fast, so it's time to excuse me. Let me know the next time you come."
"Yes, you did. But wait a minute. I give you protection."
I knew if I met God, I'd get protection. What would be the protection of the Fairy God?
Will the wings grow again?
"The benefits of the world tree to you."
Fairy God who told me to pray hand in hand. And then the shelter pours into me from the world tree.
This is the protection of the Fairy God.
Feel. Strong and gentle, the presence of the power to watch the world.
This power...
I closed my eyes.
Deeper and deeper.
I searched for the power I just felt, and found it in myself.
Bless the fairy god.
I reached for it softly.