Seeker 223.2

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Chapter 223.2. World Tree (2)

The light sphere is great, and it doesn't seem to be at a stage where we can do anything right away. 

Firing a missile toward the Earth won't make a difference.

But the light sphere is undoubtedly, little by little, being 'eroded'—that's how I feel.

While gazing at that sight with concern, the unicorn opens its mouth.

-That glowing spherical object is the "core" of the World Tree. It is the center of the World Tree, the source of benevolent power, and the root of the energy that sustains this land. However, those black entities surrounding it are different. They're malevolent forces trying to harm the world.-

"A malevolent force trying to harm the world..." 

I felt that the black serpent was something not good. 

It was a vague feeling, as usual. 

Unicorn, which had been looking at the light sphere, turns around and says to us.

-If the World Tree's core is got consumed by that entity, this world will be filled with malevolent power. No longer a place where benevolent creatures can dwell peacefully. It will become a world dominated by blood and slaughter, hatred and suffering, hunger and strife.-

"..."

The three of us were left speechless. 

There was a significant part of what Unicorn was saying that I couldn't believe. 

It was too vague, abstract, and lacking in specifics. 

But, on the other hand, my seeker body somehow grasped the meaning of what Unicorn was saying.

The image that came to mind was a world where the sky and the earth were dyed red, and malevolent monsters roamed countless, killing people and creatures endlessly. 

Crops didn't grow well, people starved, fought with each other, and hated and killed each other. 

I had an intuition that such a world would arrive when the World Tree's core got consumed by the grown black serpents.

Of course, these phenomena in front of us, the light sphere and the black serpents, couldn't be solved or influenced in any way. 

They were just symbols. 

It seemed like the only way to remove those black serpents was to deal with the underlying malevolence on a global scale.

The unicorn continues.

-The anomaly of the World Tree is reminiscent of the time when the Demon Lord appeared in this world, about thirty years ago.-

"The Demon Lord, you mean the one the 8 Heroes defeated?"

-Yes. At that time, the 8 Heroes managed to prevent the worst outcome by eliminating the cause, the Demon Lord. This time, we haven't even clearly identified the cause yet, but I believe it's a world crisis.-

"A world crisis... So, what should we do?"

We weren't inhabitants of this world. 

To put it bluntly, until something happens that leads us back to our original world, we can't treat whatever happens in this world as someone else's problem. 

However, Kazane-san and Yuzuki didn't have the look of "This doesn't concern me". 

It seemed like they felt something needed to be done, and I felt the same way. 

To call it a complete non-issue, I had become too involved with the people of this world.

Unicorn, with a somewhat gentle smile on its face, continued the conversation.

-For now, what I want to ask of you is to convey this information. Please inform the human world about the anomaly of the World Tree. There's the Royal Capital of the Holy Kingdom, a 3-day walk to the north from here. If you tell Holy King Eldrick, one of the 8 Heroes, he will surely take action.-

At that moment, a notification sound rang out. 

Along with the usual notification sound, a message box opened.

───────────────────────

Special Mission: Inform Holy King Eldrick of the Anomaly of the World Tree!

Experience Points Earned upon Mission Completion... 30,000 Points

───────────────────────

As expected, a special mission had appeared. 

It seemed it would take us further north from the World Tree, crossing the border into the Holy Kingdom of Lardilt. 

By the way, I thought there wasn't much of a choice to refuse Unicorn's request. 

Considering the number of days it would take and the experience points earned, it wasn't a particularly large amount.

But it wasn't as if there was a significant amount of experience points to be gained by heading south and backtracking. 

Above all, in this situation, it didn't seem right as a person to refuse this.

For now, there didn't seem to be any major risks either. 

Kazane-san and Yuzuki also seemed enthusiastic.

Well, there wasn't much room for hesitation here.

"All right, we'll accept your request."

-Thank you. I thought you'd say that.-

"We may not be pure maidens, but we're good people."

"Yeah, yeah. We're not pure maidens, but we're good people."

-You're really hung up on that, huh...-

Hearing the awkward tone in Unicorn's voice, we burst into laughter.

So, that's how we ended up heading north to the Holy Kingdom of Lardilt, located a little way from here.