WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈
Chapter 64: World Tree (4)
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“Ugh! Why is everyone getting in my way?!”
The nearby kingdoms Mirne had regularly contacted to maintain friendly relations.
Every last one of them was preparing to wage war in the name of love.
“There’s only so much we can resolve through talks...”
She had no idea where things had gone wrong.
Still, the Macelin Kingdom’s current situation was absolutely terrible.
“Even if we’re only exchanging magic so far, this is awful. Our mages will eventually tire out!”
Mirne tried to calm herself, but the fire in her heart would not die down so easily.
The Mage Tower’s mages would have been incredibly useful at a time like this.
Unfortunately, every mage from the Mage Tower had already been claimed by the Empire.
Even Theo, the genius mage she had trusted, had already gone over to the Imperial Crown Prince.
If only she had the World Tree at a time like this.
If she could use it to maximize Spirit Affinity and cultivate Spiritists.
“Ugh... I need to go meet Ailoren right away, so why am I stuck here?!”
Mirne roughly ran her hands through her hair.
Then she focused on finding a way to break through this situation at once.
The surrounding kingdoms kept declaring war because they believed an actual war would not break out.
“...Where the hell did that rumor come from?! Who spread the word that declaring war... would get them an answer?!”
She had looked into the rumor’s origin.
Apparently, it had not come from any one particular place. It had spread through the western kingdoms all at once.
How something like that could happen was truly strange.
‘Someone did it deliberately... No, who could possibly do that?’
Mirne dismissed the possibility that flashed through her mind.
It was impossible.
Since the rumor had spread simultaneously, perhaps it was simply because people all thought alike.
Still, she could not leave things as they were.
“...I really didn’t want to do this.”
She could not keep being dragged around any longer.
It was finally time to acquire the World Tree.
That way, she could start making contracts with Spirits and enter the Spirit Realm.
Which meant...
“...I’ll have to go to war.”
Mirne decided to face the war head-on.
It was an unavoidable choice if she wanted to put an end to the rumor completely.
+++++
“...If you kill us, you will not escape the World Tree’s punishment!”
“If I’m prepared to be punished, does that mean I can kill you?”
Slice.
Splaaash!
When I slashed the Elf’s inner thigh, blood sprayed out like a fountain.
I had thought the blood might be blue or green since they were a different race, but it was the same red.
“I thought it’d be blue or green.”
“Aaaaaaagh!”
I ignored the scream that came a moment later.
It was not even a missing limb, yet they were making such a fuss over this.
If it hurt enough to scream over something like this, I had no idea why they had acted so arrogantly before.
“You acted like you’d chew everyone to pieces even while being restrained earlier, but your attitude has completely changed.”
“Th-that was... so sudden... I-I’m sorry.”
One slash to the inner thigh had completely crushed the Elves’ spirit.
There were two Elves we had captured. I was holding one of them.
The other was with Pavan.
More precisely, Pavan was making them cooperate.
They had resisted fiercely at first.
Then Pavan lightly compressed the Elf’s palm between both hands.
Crunch.
“P-please stop! I’ll tell you everything I know... please!”
They immediately spilled every piece of information they knew.
“I didn’t know there was a separate method for seeing the World Tree.”
First, a special spell was required to see the World Tree.
Come to think of it, it had been strange.
Based on Pavan’s explanation, the World Tree should have been enormous.
Yet no matter how much I tilted my head back, I could not see such a massive tree.
“The Elves hid it so thoroughly that you need to learn a spell just to see it.”
How afraid were they if they were even scared of letting others see the World Tree?
Still, thanks to capturing the Elves, I quickly learned the spell needed to see it.
“Huh. It really is huge.”
I had not known while it remained invisible.
Once I could perceive the World Tree, its incredible size naturally left my mouth hanging open.
Even when I craned my neck as far back as possible, I could not see its end.
I had no idea how high it reached. From around the middle onward, it rose above the clouds entirely.
“They were planning to move this to Macelin? No, could they even move it in the first place?”
“If the High Elves join their strength, they can move the World Tree once. Of course, they cannot do it often.”
“What’s the interval?”
“Once every thousand years.”
Once every thousand years.
Did that mean once the World Tree was moved, it would remain there for a thousand years?
‘Then the moment it moves to Macelin, does that mean Macelin is guaranteed to become a thousand-year empire?’
It really was a device made solely to strengthen Macelin.
I became certain that I had to either take the World Tree or burn it down.
If the Elves had been friendly or kind toward humans, I might have thought differently.
“...How could humans, an inferior race, do this to us...”
“You spit out insults whenever I turn around. I suppose you’ve never been beaten by another race before?”
Watching how they acted, they were knife-ears through and through.
Yet when I considered that a race like this would give special treatment to Mirne alone...
‘That won’t be easy either.’
I was truly glad I had launched the Confession Attack.
It had bought me an enormous amount of time and let me reach the World Tree first.
In any case.
“Now that we can see the World Tree and won’t trigger the barrier, we should go meet the High Elves immediately.”
I had obtained every bit of information I could get for now.
I signaled to Pavan to gather up the Elves.
“I understand how they escape too.”
I had thought they simply vanished like magic the moment they sensed something unusual.
But if several High Elves had to combine their strength to flee...
‘Then we just need to stop them from joining their strength.’
There was a way to prevent their escape.
“Let’s hurry and secure the World Tree.”
+++++
The forest where the Elves lived was peaceful.
Because they would use any means necessary to preserve that peace.
They would do anything if it meant maintaining a tranquil atmosphere.
But if that became impossible, they fled.
The Elves, who had adhered thoroughly to that principle, experienced something for the first time in their history.
“Gather every High Elf.”
Not only had they allowed a human to enter.
Boom!
They also witnessed the World Tree being scorched by flames created by that human.
“An intruder! A human has invaded!”
“How did an inferior race get in here?!”
“A variable has occurred! A variable! Summon the High Elves immediately and evacuate with the World Tree!”
“Stop the human!”
It was an enormous shock, but the Elves tried to handle the situation calmly.
They did not know how the human had entered, but the intruder was still only human.
The difference in strength should be overwhelming, so they concluded that they could quickly subdue him.
“The High Elves should prepare to move the World Tree! Combatants, come out and neutralize the human!”
They were about to punish the fearless blond, red-eyed human.
“Wait! Wait! No! Don’t attack! I could die too!”
“Me too! I’m here too!”
“...?!”
Behind the human, everyone stopped at the cries of the two Elves held under the arms of a tall, powerfully built woman.
“Dorarn... Hegail!”
Dorarn and Hegail.
They were known as some of the stronger fighters among the Elves.
The moment the other Elves realized they had been captured so helplessly, most of them lost their will to fight.
‘...If Dorarn and Hegail were captured, that means those two are stronger than them.’
‘And they subdued them without taking any damage... Aren’t they absurdly strong?’
‘Can we win? Won’t we die if we fight for no reason?’
The Elves were a cowardly race that avoided battle whenever possible.
The moment they faced a situation where life and death were at stake, their morale collapsed as if it had all been a lie.
They did want to save their companions.
But the Elves treasured their own bodies so desperately that the fear of being hurt or killed gripped them first.
“They’ve all frozen up without even putting up a fight. It’s almost disappointing.”
“Elves as a race have always been far removed from battle. They may have toyed with and hunted others, but they avoided every fight between evenly matched forces.”
“They have no fighting spirit?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
The human and the Giant calmly conversed while swiftly subduing the High Elves gathering there.
It was so futile that it was hard to believe.
An entire race that had lived for countless years was collapsing helplessly.
‘Is this even possible?’
No matter how far they had kept themselves from conflict.
Was it right for them to do nothing at all in the face of a crisis that could destroy their race?
Why were the High Elves not resisting in any way?
No matter how strong the Giant was, they should at least be able to struggle.
It was impossible to understand how an entire race could be pushed back by only two people.
Had they used some kind of method? Did they possess some special power the Elves did not know about?
While the Elves could do nothing but stare at the human and the Giant.
[ The Villainess is pleased. ]
[ The Villainess says she loved the affection you just showed her. ]
[ The Villainess says it has been a long time and that she wants to touch you. ]
[ The Villainess subdues all those who interfere with the reunion. ]
“Huh.”
Bellon, the Imperial Crown Prince, stared at the messages before him in disbelief.
‘It has been a long time?’
‘I’ am seeing the World Tree for the first time.
But the Imperial Crown Prince isn’t? The Imperial Crown Prince must have seen it during his regression too.
‘The World Tree remembers the regression? And what the hell does affection mean?’
The moment Bellon had those thoughts.
- I could not understand why the World Tree liked being hit...
- But I had no choice if I wanted to gain the World Tree’s favor.
- I... needed a whip.
- Honestly, it was something I found deeply unpleasant.
- I had to whip the World Tree?
The Imperial Crown Prince’s memories rose to the surface as if they had been waiting.
“...”
Bellon silently stared at the World Tree.
So the World Tree was the Villainess now, and it had masochistic tastes?
“A female... World Tree?”
The shock only lasted a moment.
“What the hell happened here?! No, how did this happen... before even meeting Mirne?”
“What?”
Bellon’s head snapped toward the Elf who had appeared late.
Since Ailoren had not directly encountered Mirne yet, the information did not appear properly.
Bellon knew that the story had not built up yet, so Ailoren could not be killed.
Bellon also knew that even if Ailoren were killed, another person would quickly replace him.
But.
“I should at least be able to correct their behavior in advance.”
Training did not seem impossible.
It just so happened that the position of Gardener No. 1 was vacant.
As Bellon muttered that and looked toward Ailoren.
[ The Villainess strongly appeals for you to look only at her. ]
[ She asks you to quickly trample her roots again and again, just as you used to. ]
The Villainess continued her appeal.
“...”
At that moment, Bellon fully understood the Imperial Crown Prince’s psychological burden.
Footnotes:
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