Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint - Chapter 588



587 – Noise Marketing

‘Hmm. Normally, I should be the one to intervene, but… if I interfere while they’re fighting, it’ll be too conspicuous… They look lively. They have their own circumstances… I’m hiding my identity too… I’ll leave it to Walpurgis…’

So that’s why Walpurgis came; the great witch called her. To bring her busy subordinate all the way here just because she felt awkward to speak herself. Truly impressive.

I was transported to the layer of the warrant, reclaimed by Valpurgis. I smiled awkwardly at the gaze that seemed to see me as a troublemaker and spoke to Valpurgis’s illusion.

“Thank you for your help. It seems like you’ve been having a hard time being tossed around.”

“I’m worried that it seems like I’ve gained another burden to bear.”

I felt a piercing gaze from the apparition. I brushed it off lightly and replied.

“It seems you’re too reliable for a witch? Take it easy.”

“There’s much to be done. Just like now.”

“Oh dear.”

“It’s not something to dismiss with an ‘oh dear.’ Be cautious in your actions. There are many kinds of people in the shadow of the World Tree. Not just the inhabitants of the tree, but also those who come seeking the teachings of the Great Druid, the witch’s potions, or the rare flora and fauna that only grow in the World Tree. Among them, there may be those who harbor grudges against you or have their own ambitions.”

“Like Blanca?”

The apparition flickered for a moment.

“…It’s similar. The difference is that I have the support of Lord Nebida.”

“You mean the Lord of All Beings?”

Valpurgis answered slowly, enough for me to feel it even beyond the illusion.

“Yes. Those… indeed.”

“Those? Does that mean you are not the Lord of All Beings?”

“I am, after all, just a single human, with only a mandatory curiosity about the king of humans.”

“Don’t you wish for anything from the king of humans?”

“…Of course.”

“Hmm? Your answer is slow.”

“I have one thing I’d like to ask, but it’s not something grand enough to be called a wind. It’s just a curiosity.”

Walpurgis dismissed my words and turned away, as if unwilling to respond further. An uncomfortable silence lingered while we rode the ‘waterway.’

Meanwhile, the returnee was deep in thought.

“Why did Hughes go to such lengths? In the end, we gained nothing from this adventure, did we?”

Nothing gained, indeed. We experienced various things, didn’t we? Why the discontent?

“Hughes does enjoy observing people. Wherever we went, he engaged in conversations with the locals. But it can’t just be for the sake of watching. What was Hughes’ intention? Should I ask?”

Yes. Go ahead and ask. I’ll answer you.

“No. We’re being watched anyway. Hughes can’t tell us, and even if he did, we couldn’t take it at face value. Let’s just think about what will happen. If we reveal our identity to Blanca… what good would that do? It would only announce the appearance of a human king, right? Surely that can’t be the goal.”

Ha, really. You think of everything.

…I can’t tell if this one is perceptive or not.

*

The nations have fallen, but they have not disappeared. What burned was the World Tree, and with the annihilation of Muhoo and his close associates, the focal point evaporated. Originally, the nations were a loose assembly of clans and tribes, so their form remained intact. Some tribes still follow the customs of the nations, pledging loyalty to the last royal bloodline, Hexia Agartha.

The chief of the Anub tribe, a loyal hound of Agartha and composed entirely of canine-humans, perked up at the unexpected news.

“What? A human king…? Is that true?”

“Yes! I saw it with my own eyes!”

“But are you certain that it is a human king?”

“Well… not exactly. But I overheard a conversation between the Night Witch and the Black Dog! They referred to him as a human king!”

The Black Dog refers to Baskerville. Just as the Anub tribe served as Agartha’s loyal hounds, Baskerville was also a hound of the royal family. Thus, the Anub tribe felt a strange kinship towards Baskerville.

“The Night Witch, you say? Then the Grand Witch must know as well. It’s worth confirming. Well done, Kario. Your quick thinking shone.”

Kario, who brought the news, wagged his tail proudly at being recognized. However, the chief could not smile so easily.

There’s a smell. The scent of flames that will burn this jungle. As the chief responsible for a tribe, and as a loyal servant who inherited the spirit of the nations, he felt a sense of pride.

“King of humans. If that is truly the case, the world will tremble.”

He couldn’t gauge just how significant the changes this news would bring might be.

Nevertheless, amidst the anxiety and fear, he had to act. That was his duty as a tribal leader. Anup stroked his chin and murmured.

“Perhaps this is a good thing. It might be an opportunity to sweep away the remaining traitors on this land.”

*

“…they must think so. Anup, those foolish creatures!”

The news didn’t only reach Anup’s tribe. The ruckus of leading the majority of the people under the World Tree into battle was too loud to cover up. It would have received less attention had it been advertised.

“If they think the human king will become their king, they are mistaken. The human king is only a king to humans! Do they think he will become the king of you beastmen?”

The nations fell as they were. Just like the tribes favorable to Agartha, those that were hostile were left untouched.

One day, Agartha suddenly created beastmen. Those beastmen, who had suddenly appeared in the world, needed food, clothing, and shelter. Agartha, fond of the beastmen, allocated a corner of a cherished open space to them, but there is no true open space in the world. Neither in land nor in the hearts of people.

The tribe, which secretly thought of that open space and Agartha’s favor as theirs, quietly accumulated dissatisfaction and hatred.

Some of them participated in the rebellion, contributing to the downfall of the Agarthan dynasty. In truth, they didn’t wish for the destruction of the nations.

“If there is a true human king, he would never recognize those mixed with beastmen as humans. The downfall of the nations happened because they mixed with beings like beastmen! This is an opportunity to create a true human nation!”

Those who had once experienced having a nation understood how sweet that powerful authority could be, and how much strength was required to command the jungle. Even hundreds of years after the fall of the nations, they longed for the past.

“Let’s set out! To the land of the false World Tree!”

*

“…the time has come. The fruits have borne from the soil sown with sin. Now the tree of betrayal is complete, the fruit of good and evil will ripen, and the juice of sin will flow.”

And in the great jungle, there were not only the descendants of the nations.

Amidst dozens of trees growing on a low hill, a girl was wandering. Gently stroking the branches like outstretched human hands, she whispered to the trees with a voice filled with sorrow.

“In the past, the eternal Agartha bore beastmen through relations with the king of beasts. Every birth should be blessed, yet the eternal one turned birth into a terrible betrayal out of personal greed and stubbornness. That is… something that should not exist in this world….”

The vibrant trees, grown from the hot and humid earth, were objects of faith in themselves, products of the great nature. For the Druids who revered the natural world, the jungles of all nations were truly lands overflowing with blessings.

However, when the World Tree, the blessed ginkgo, burned to ashes, and the tree of origin created by the High Druid sprouted in its place, what the Druids felt was endless despair and resignation.

“…One fallen High Druid, a mad Archwitch. Along with countless witches and warriors… They are powerful… but we are powerless.”

High Druid Nebida. The teacher of all Druids, who has protected nature since ancient times and conveyed the teachings of the Druids. She, who loved nature and made a pact with the king of all beasts, was a model and pride of the Druids.

When she declared that she would bring forth the World Tree in place of the burned ginkgo, all Druids lent their strength to her. They gathered the trunk and leaves of the dead ginkgo and presented them to Nebida.

However, what was born was not the World Tree that would dye the world with beautiful ginkgo leaves, but a cursed tree of betrayal that bore different flowers and crops on each branch.

Afterward, the Druids turned their backs on the tree of origin. They became the watchers of the forest, constantly observing the tree of origin.

“We are those who have preserved the tradition. We are those who carry the sins of this land. And we are those who have sworn that it shall not be repeated.”

There is a tale that the number of heartbeats allowed to a single life is predetermined. This story arises from the fact that creatures with shorter lifespans have faster heart rates. A mouse the size of a finger beats its heart over 900 times a minute, spending its entire life searching for food to sustain that energy.

In contrast, trees, which have no heartbeat and no movement, can live for nearly eternity. It is even unclear whether the concept of natural death exists for trees; they simply exist like geographical features.

Some may feel fleeting beauty in the beast that burns everything in a short time, while others may feel awe in the tree that silently guards its place for eternity.

The Druids were of the latter. They were those who revered the slow and immense, the colossal cycle that cannot be measured by human senses. After endless awe and exploration, the Druids claimed a link in that cycle.

“…Rise. For the World Tree. For the great nature. And for the natural order we must protect.”

Druids who have made pacts with trees can live for hundreds of years. They merge themselves with the trees, spending time close to eternity without consciousness or sensation.

Simply ‘being alive’ yet unable to do anything, the Druids do not encourage the act of disrupting the order. However, for some reason, a Druid who must pass on their memories and knowledge chooses that method.

The ‘tree’ moved.

The forest of knowledge. In the distant past, the Druids who discovered the sins of all nations and severed them. Those who, to escape the pursuit of the Archwitch and to convey the sins they witnessed, volunteered to become trees awakened from a long slumber.