Episode 41
"Haha! You've developed a knack for making things quite funny. You've changed a lot before you see it."
The master burst into laughter as if he had heard a joke. He didn't seem to take my answer seriously at all.
By the soul contract, even though I know I cannot tell a lie.
Every time my body trembled with laughter, my body also trembled. Every time the thorns in my body moved, I felt the pain of tearing my whole body, but my body was fine.
No, it just seemed that the wounds, big and small, were healed as soon as they were not in the first place.
Even the spells of the Archbishop of the Church could not have such a healing effect. I was amazed by the master's magic that transcended the lineage.
-It's inefficient magic.
The demon king whispered in a somewhat unpleasant tone.
-Is it just absorbing and emitting? That's why it's powerful, but it's still insufficient. It's the limit of your natural talent.
I felt a sense of repulsion. But before I could say anything, the Demon King continued in a voice mixed with sneer. As always.
-Do you know how many humans have entered your body right now? That's excessive. Even if you add a little intermediate process, you can reduce the consumption by less than half.
What the Demon King said must be true. He can't lie to me. Just like me, who has no choice but to tell the truth to his master.
-Are you going to stay still? If this continues, you will die soon.
My life is in the hands of my master right now. I don't know what he's going to do to me right now, but I can't be relieved when I see my master's strange state that is different from what I remember.
However, there was nothing I could do.
I cannot tell lies to my master. I cannot harm my master. I cannot defeat my master, and I cannot disobey orders.
You can't rebel against your teacher.
Because that was the contract I made with Master.
-Ha, you're excited. I thought you weren't your average jerk, but did you sign a contract like that?
If I could feel even a little anger in the demon king's voice, it was because of my mood. However, it wasn't that I didn't have anything to say.
"Yes. You made me laugh, so I should give you a gift. Look at this. The wizard who almost killed you."
Something rose from the bottom.
Because of the branches that pierced his entire body, he was someone he would not have thought of as a human if it weren't for his master's words.
After staring blankly for a while, I realized that he was the man who led the group of wizards.
"Uh-huh...!"
He tried to say something with horrified eyes, but the slender branches piercing the joints of his jaw and even his lips only allowed him to let out a muffled groan.
"He dares to subdue this body. He should have given it as nourishment for the divine tree, but he should have given his ugly disciple a chance to take revenge."
Perhaps, my current appearance is not much different from him.
"Kill him."
A good person. My teacher in my memory was like that.
A person who literally approached me like a ray of light in a painful life. I couldn't help but feel like I wanted to be like him. Rather than a hero cheered by, my teacher was a hero to me.
-Actually, didn't you know about it too?
Of course, as I went through the past few months of my life, I vaguely realized that I was not as good a person as my teacher thought.
Mike, Amy, and Johnny and other guards from the Bellivee Estate. Miril and Dahan and other top people they met in the royal capital, and Simone. Andrel's bakery owner, recruiter, and subordinates.
Most of them ended badly, but they treated me warmly for a while. Perhaps that warmth was more than what my master gave me.
Even so, he was the first person to treat me as a human being, who was only treated as an object. Isn't that meaningful?
"Are you not going to kill me?"
As if disappointed, the master beckoned, and the mage's body, which was hanging in the air, split in half.
There was no blood or internal organs splattering everywhere. Only a few dry and twisted lumps fell to the floor.
-It's like watching cheap doll play.
“….”
I tried to close my eyes tightly. It's clear.... It was just because he didn't want to see the wizard's bizarre mole.
However, the master did not allow even that small neglect. The Master poked his face in front of his unclosing eyes.
"Didn't you like the gift?"
Contrary to his disappointing words, he felt a smile. If he hadn't spent an hour with the Demon King, he wouldn't have noticed it.
"Then let's go. I didn't intend to go with you originally, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to show it."
“… Where?"
"You're talking about the obvious. It's not drilling. There are many offerings for the resurrection of the divine tree."
After saying that, the master snatched me away. Then the earth rumbled, and from there countless branches came. Or the roots sprouted.
It looks like a group of giant insects crawling. When I came to my senses, I was hanging like prey and being dragged to the Andri.
It was expected, if not all, to some extent.
The master said that a huge amount of life force is needed for the resurrection of the World Tree. It was natural to move to a nearby territory to absorb people's life force.
I don't know how much time has passed since I lost my mind. However, the members I had saved were heading to the territory. If the Master goes to the territory like this, they too will die as a sacrifice for the resurrection of the World Tree.
Not only that. The same goes for the recruiter, the bakery owner, and all the young people, including the unknown kid. The teacher became a disaster, and he did not want to do it, the kingdom... It will even sweep across the continent.
-Hmm... Is there a human being who has feelings for me while I am asleep?
'No.'
He denied the Demon King's words.
I couldn't deny that I had met many people and felt a lot of emotions in the past few months. That didn't make me a reason to risk my life for people I didn't even know well.
It wasn't to save people.
"I read Master's magic book."
Hanging next to his teacher, he forcibly moved his fixed tongue and jaw to talk to him.
"Huh? Do you finally want to tell the truth? Yes, since when..."
"Offerings to transcendent beings, including demons, are garbage. It must have been written like that."
“….”
The master closed his mouth and glared at me.
"Although there are often cases where those who are hindered by talent climb over the wall through offerings, it is also due to the whims of the transcendent who receive offerings. Right?"
“… Ok. What do you mean by that?"
"I took that as meaningless if I didn't improve my skills through my own efforts."
I don't know how the Master will react. However, the eyes that had been out of focus somehow seemed to be about to return to a little clearer.
"But what is this now, Master."
I put a ray of hope in that appearance.
"To use people's lives and life force as nourishment for the revival of the World Tree... What is the difference between the offerings that Master said are garbage!"
A moment of silence. The Master's eyes completely regained focus.
"Stupid disciple."
However, the emotion in those eyes was not guilt or shame, but pathetic and contempt.
"Does this look like it to your insignificant eyes? Does it seem that relying on the whims of the transcendent is the same as the feat of trying to become a transcendent oneself?"
“… Become a transcendentalist?"
-Oh dear.
The Demon King let out a sigh as if he had noticed something.
The master continued to explain with a tongue kick.
"Do you know, disciple? There is no god in this world."
"What is that...?"
The goddess exercises power, and there is no god in the yard where the demon king, who is said to be equal to him, exists. It was a word that could not be easily accepted.
"It's literal. God exists. But there is no god in this world."
-I thought he was an idiot, but he knew more than I thought.
The Demon King's voice seemed to mean that the Master's words were right. Even so, it was still unconvincing.
The master looked at me pitifully and said:
"The lord of the heavens is the goddess, and the ruler of the demon world is the demon king. Both are mighty transcendentals and deserve to be called gods. But is there such a being in Middle-earth?"
The shock of shattering all conventional common sense came to my mind.
If the transcendentals, called gods, are the masters of each world, who are the masters of Middle-earth? Is she the emperor of the empire or the goddess who is revered without fail? Or is it the Demon King who has been secretly encroaching on the world?
"It exists. No, it existed. Now in a very distant ancient era that has been forgotten, in the age of mythology."
The age of mythology.
It's not a common phrase, but it was something I had heard just a little while ago. The World Tree was real...
"Yes. I decided that it was the World Tree. Can you see it? Disciple. This is one with me. Countless branches move according to my will."
From the teacher who looked at his hands in ecstasy, I honestly felt bizarre.
"On the day all the preparations are complete, Middle-earth will have to welcome its master. Then I..."
"Master."
"What, disciple."
"You said that it takes a lot of life force to grow that branch into a world tree. If so."
I took a breath and glared at my master.
Just that alone made my soul feel like it was going to break, but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop.
"When all those preparations are completed, are there any living beings in Middle-earth?"
That's right. It's not a well-maintained seedling, it's a branch that was cut a long time ago.
That alone made me feel awe at the Master who showed the same miracle as he is now, but if it was really inefficient as the Demon King pointed out...
"How many lives do you need to be reborn as a transcendent person comparable to God? Is it possible to sacrifice all the lives of Middle-earth?"
“….”
The master kept his mouth shut.
That was the answer, and I didn't stop.
"What's the point of being a god alone in a world where everyone is dead? What's the point of ruling such a world?"
"What does it matter to you? Don't you remember? How you were treated until I found you."
I remember. Dark darkness, a small space covered in filth. I still remember that time when I go to sleep.
"Rather, shouldn't we hope for the destruction of the world? Didn't you ask to become my disciple for that reason?"
It wasn't. The reason I insisted on being accepted as a disciple was not because I wanted the destruction of the world.
"Master, as a disciple, I dare to tell you."
I just wanted to be like my teacher. For me at that time, warlock was another name for a hero. Because.
"I will stop Master."
He did not have the same outstanding magic skills as his teacher. Even as I say this now, the contract was holding on to my soul and threatening me. Stop immediately, tell him that it was a joke to make the teacher laugh like before. Otherwise, I wouldn't be safe.
However, it is unacceptable for the Master to go further down the wrong path. To protect my childhood hero.
This time, I vowed to be my master's hero, and I met his twisted eyes.
"As a warlock. No..."
As a hero.
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