WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 578

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Beasts Are Born from the World Tree

They say every grave has its story, and the great witch's was grim enough to earn that. A small act of kindness had come back as poison and set the World Tree ablaze. Enough to break anyone.

"So that's what happened."

'A druid burning the World Tree. I never had time to think through the great witch's side of things.'

The regressor nodded slowly, turning the great witch's words over in her mind.

"Everyone has their own history and circumstances," I said.

"...I know. That still doesn't mean I can accept what the great witch is doing the way you do. If burning the World Tree were simply her only goal, she could just let it die on its own."

"The World Tree is allowed to collapse?"

"So what. Better the World Tree dies than the world ends. You can get by without one tree."

The World Tree dying is fine, apparently. Simple, I suppose, or maybe just radical.

"But the great witch won't stop there. She'll definitely do something worse. We have to stop whatever she's planning to bring down the World Tree."

"How? You can barely hold yourself upright right now."

"Ugh..."

The reality of her situation hit home. The regressor tried to move her arms. They still wouldn't budge, and just the attempt sent a wave of terrible pain through her.

"I can't do much from here, but... this might actually be an opportunity. This is the Tree of Corruption, the dead king of trees, the one that bears the fruit of sin. The clue I'm looking for should be here somewhere."

"What clue?"

"The Rider of Plague and the Green Death. The great witch would have created them here."

"What are you even talking about? Tell me something I actually know."

The Rider of Plague, the Green Death, both completely new to me. These are historical events and you're the only one who knows about them?

"There's a terrible plague sweeping the Empire. People's skin rots black, weeping pus and stench as they die. Twenty percent survival rate, and survivors face severe aftereffects. It spreads so fast they named it the Rider of Plague."

Hold on. She's actually going to tell me? And a plague? I asked in surprise.

"Is that the plague the great witch created?"

"No."

"Sorry?"

"She didn't make the plague itself. Well, she did spread it through a few villages and stoke fear, so she's the root cause, but the plague itself was nothing special, merely unusually horrible. The Rider of Plague was a common disease."

Calling something a common disease sounds strange, but the jungles of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand genuinely do circulate every kind of plague imaginable. The population density is so low nobody notices. A flu from the Kingdom of Ten Thousand that spreads into the heart of the Empire becomes a plague.

"What the great witch made was the other one."

"The Green Death?"

"Right. Not a disease that kills people, but one that kills plants and insects. The moment it takes hold, they rot from the inside out. A final ruin for all flora, one that always ends in death."

So it's a disease to kill the World Tree. Clear enough goal. Nobody holds a grudge against trees, so the only person who would make something like that is the great witch.

"The people who eventually figured out that insects were spreading the plague didn't realize it was a poison, and they overused the Green Death to wipe out the insects."

Neither Walpurgisnacht nor the great witch had been particularly forthcoming, but it hadn't mattered. Their plan had already come to pass, run its course through the regressor's cycles, and become a future that no longer existed.

"Is that your foresight, Mr. Shei?"

"Let's call it that. I'm too tired to keep making things up at this point."

"Funny how people open up once you strip away the layers."

"Wh-, what are you stripping away?"

"The mask. The mask."

Lucky she said it first. I'd already picked up enough from reading Walpurgisnacht's thoughts to have a decent idea, but pretending not to know was exhausting.

"Even if it's basically confirmed that you're the Holy Maiden, Mr. Shei, anyone could be listening. Why say it so openly?"

"This isn't the room we were in before, and the great witch just left. It's the only window where there's no surveillance. If she's still watching us even now, then... there's nothing to be done about that."

"Not bad. Well done."

"Being praised by you doesn't make me happy at all."

"You're actually thinking things through now. A real improvement. Keep it up."

"That doesn't mean I wanted you to criticize me instead!"

What do you want from me. Honestly hopeless. I sighed and sorted through what the regressor had said.

"So in short, somewhere in this tree there should be a clue about what you mentioned."

The regressor spoke with grim resolve.

"Right. We need to find it."

"..."

"What?"

What do you mean, what. You can barely hold yourself upright right now, so I'm the one who has to handle everything.

"Fine. I'll go along with it. Where do you want to start?"

"Let's survey the whole tree first. We don't even know what's where."

"The whole thing? Are you serious?"

"Yes, why? Is there a problem?"

"...No. Let's go."

That problem would make itself known soon enough.

The World Tree. Standing 870 meters tall not counting the roots, the largest tree in the world. The trunk supporting that height was less a tree than a hill-sized structure, and its roots, spreading deeply underground, gripped a radius of ten kilometers in their hold. Two rivers fed it drinking water, and its leaves covered the world.

Within the World Tree's domain, there were no earthquakes, no floods, no wildfires. It gripped any breaking earth, drank any overflowing water, and snuffed out ordinary flames with a single exhale.

"...How do we get down?"

And so the regressor's declaration was staggering in its presumption. With Skywarbler and Jizan both confiscated and both arms useless, a single slip would kill her. Flying on the wind was a thing of the past.

"Going down is easier than going up, so let's start from the top and work our way down slowly."

"What about getting back up?"

"Nevida will carry us up. If she won't, we walk out on our own."

"...Fair enough. Let's go."

The Root Tree had small mushroom platforms along its trunk that people could use to travel up and down. The regressor shook her unmoving arms and rose from her wheelchair.

"You're going to walk when you can't even move your arms?"

"So what. You think I'll fall off just because my arms don't work?"

"Yes."

And a gust hit right then. The regressor's body tilted and she started sliding off the mushroom platform. Exactly as expected. I caught her before she could fall.

"Whoa, ah."

"See? You can't."

A tall tree is never free of wind, as they say. The Root Tree, successor to the World Tree, was practically wrapped in a constant storm. Nearly a kilometer above bare ground. The torrents of wind that shattered and swirled past its isolated branches were not something a person with both arms pinned could withstand.

"Okay, wait. I can use energy control to keep my balance."

"The Root Tree inherited the World Tree. Its trunk and leaves are saturated with vital essence. Forcing energy through the Root Tree's vital essence would be difficult even for you at your peak, Mr. Shei."

"What about you?"

"I can use the Demon God's power."

I lifted my foot slightly. Below it, burrs had sprouted and gripped my shoe so I couldn't slip. The Root Tree was the Demon God itself. It cooperated readily with the Demon God's power when I drew on it.

The regressor brightened.

"Oh? Then do the same for my feet."

"You want me to read your every unconscious footstep, grow plants to match your stride, and manage my own footing at the same time?"

"But what other option is there? It's not like we can fly."

"..."

"Huh?"

I let out a short breath and picked the regressor up. Her arms were bound forward so I couldn't carry her on my back. They were carefully reattached arms, and crushing them out of alignment would be a disaster, so I had no choice but to hold her in both arms like a bundle of cargo.

No wheelchair to push, and I couldn't very well drop her. This was the only way. The regressor didn't argue, she accepted the method itself even if she didn't love it.

"Um, uh, hmm."

"God, you're heavy. Would've been easier if your arms were detached."

"...What! I'm perfectly light, thank you!"

The regressor squinted at me, sour-faced. Still, without her arms to flail around, she stayed reasonably still, which made carrying her somewhat easier. I walked down the mushroom steps with my back against the trunk of the World Tree.

"The Root Tree is structured around a central trunk heading toward the Layer of Spirits, with countless branches spreading out from it. No matter how much time we have, going through every single branch would take over a year."

"We won't need to. Let's get a rough look at what's out there from a distance first, then head to whatever looks important. I'll use the Seven-Colored Eyes."

The regressor's eyes bled to violet. The Violet Eye, one of the seven colors, the one that sees far. She scanned the countless branches stretching into the distance, turning only her head to study the fruit hanging far away.

"The nearest branch has meat fruit hanging from it."

"Meat fruit? Can you make out what kind?"

"Hard to tell... turn me a bit."

"It's right in your line of sight."

"My field of view narrows when I'm looking far. Hurry."

"Ordering me around since it's not your body doing the moving."

Grumbling, I adjusted her direction. After about ten seconds of staring at the branch, the regressor made out the animal shape forming within the fruit.

"Monkeys. Closest to farthest. The details differ, but they all have the form of monkeys."

"They're all meat fruit?"

"Right. Everything on that branch seems to be meat fruit. Looks like monkeys are what that branch grows."

"What about over there?"

I tilted the regressor toward a branch slightly lower than the one bearing monkeys. She complained at the sudden change in angle.

"Don't turn me so fast. Shifting my view quickly with the Violet Eye open makes me dizzy."

"You're going to open and close your eyes every single time? Just close your eyes when I turn you."

"Warn me before you turn!"

Grumbling, she looked at the branch bearing clusters of small fruit like grapes and said:

"Mice and rabbits. Huge numbers. Just as many varieties of mice. They're hanging in the gaps between the leaves."

"None of them moving around?"

"No. But it wouldn't be strange if they woke up any moment now. The Root Beasts all look fully formed already."

"Mice and rabbits, probably not meant for eating, then."

"Hard to say. Maybe she found some delicious rabbits."

And that was simply the nearest branches. Below those, the endlessly branching limbs bore fruit of every size. The smallest were so small even the Violet Eye could barely pick them out, and the largest bowed the World Tree's branches under their weight.

Even after walking down for a long while, all we could see were meat fruits hanging from the countless spreading branches.

"All of those are beasts, aren't they."

"Seems so. All beasts. What I can see right now is cattle."

"Since we've made it to cattle, should we take a quick rest?"

"We haven't come that far."

"I've been carrying you the whole way down. My arms are about to fall off too."

"Oh, right."

The moment I mentioned I was the one carrying her, the regressor immediately agreed. A lot more cooperative now. Maybe the injury had humbled her a little.

I shifted my grip and said:

"Hold tight. I'm going to jump straight to where the cattle fruit is from here."

"Jump? How?"

"Like this."

I balanced the regressor in one hand for a moment and pulled out a card with the other. Spade 9, the Root Tree. Nevida's power and the sum of her knowledge, the Root Tree responded to my Demon God. I struck the trunk of the World Tree with the palm holding the card, and a long, tough vine burst up from beneath the bark.

A skilled magician can tie a rope with one hand. I bound myself and the regressor securely in the vine, then nodded with confidence.

"Good. That's solid."

"...What's good about it. One wrong move and we fall."

'Well, even if we fall, Hughes would be able to handle it.'

Oh? That's a lot of faith to place in me. I can handle it, but I can't exactly manage someone with both arms paralyzed at the same time.

Feeling a little uneasy, I wrapped an extra loop around the regressor and leaped off the mushroom platform.

I had plenty of confidence in this sort of thing, and the regressor was only physically limited right now, danger was nothing new to her. The two of us drew a smooth arc and headed straight for the branch bearing the cattle fruit. I landed on the comparatively flat surface, let out a long breath I'd been holding, and set the regressor down.

"Ow ow ow. My arms, my arms feel like they're going to fall off."

"Come on. You weren't that heavy."

"Beast forelegs aren't built for holding heavy loads. Try carrying yourself sometime."

"I'll do it once my arms are healed."

"Ughhh, my muscles are killing me. I don't even have the strength to rub my arms out."

"That too, I'll take care of once my arms are healed."

"Very generous of you..."

"Ah, there we go. All healed now."

The Demon God really is useful.

While we rested, I used the Root Tree to summon some plant furnishings. A bamboo pipe rose and poured out clear water, and a wooden chair and table appeared. The regressor settled into the chair without a second thought.

"I'm getting a little hungry anyway, so let me grab one of the cattle. Or I suppose here it's more like picking it."

I headed toward one of the large cattle fruit nearby. Unlike the smaller ones, a fruit large enough to hold an entire cow was too big and heavy to hang from an ordinary branch, it rested ponderously in what looked like a giant nest of petals. I approached with my card to pick the cattle fruit.

That was when a human shadow stirred inside, right alongside the cow.

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