Chapter 181
The Great Chieftain
The stairs carrying them smoothly up the World Tree came to a stop.
They had reached a point even higher than the altitude they had attained in the sky carriage. Since they were now above the mountains, Ferda had expected fierce, freezing winds, yet the air was calm and warm.
Lize gestured toward the entrance.
At once, the grain of the World Tree moved apart with supple flexibility, as though it had transformed into hundreds of blades of grass.
A long corridor leading into the interior appeared before them.
“If you follow this corridor, you will reach a place we call the Mother’s Heart. The Great Chieftain is waiting for you there.”
Lize clenched both hands into fists and energetically encouraged them.
“I will wait here. I hope you have an enjoyable conversation!”
Once the entrance behind them closed, Ferda brought up something he had been unable to say in her presence.
“Are high elves normally that energetic?”
Erika shook her head.
“Of course not. They would be much more likable if they resembled even a quarter of that child Lize.”
“I see.”
“It is like having a pretty person with two eyes living in a village of one-eyed people.”
Erika simultaneously helped Ferda understand and displayed her contempt for every other high elf.
They walked along the lengthy corridor and eventually reached the inner chamber where the Great Chieftain resided.
The heart of the World Tree, which served as the Great Chieftain’s dwelling, was a place truly deserving of the name Mother’s Heart.
The interior contained luxury that even a magic tower with an ancient history could never hope to imitate.
Dense, radiant, and perfectly pure mana gathered along the ceiling, bright enough to illuminate the entire chamber.
And that was not all.
Fine white threads drifted through the blue light as though swimming through a lake.
Ferda knew what they were.
Any mage would have recognized them.
Threads.
When mana was compressed again and again, it eventually assumed the form of a thread. They were treasures that could not be acquired even with limitless wealth.
A single thread could effortlessly form a fifth-tier spell. If enough strands were gathered and woven into a thicker cord, they could release magic as powerful as the seventh tier.
Hundreds—perhaps thousands—of those threads swam through the ceiling as though it were a vast lake.
Beneath those countless strands sat an old man in a meditative posture.
He was a small, elderly man with white eyebrows drooping over his eyes.
Yet he possessed enough control to command the thousands of freely drifting Threads above him.
“It has been some time, Great Chieftain.”
Erika greeted him first.
Her tone was one commonly used when probing an opponent.
The Great Chieftain gave a slight nod.
“May the earth bless you. I never thought there would come a day when a descendant of water entered our mother’s embrace.”
“There is no reason to find it surprising. Why must even we be enemies?”
“You have been requesting a meeting since last winter. I suppose you were occupied with important matters?”
“I would not say I was busy. It was simply irritating enough that I wanted to deal with it quickly.”
The exchange was almost suffocating.
It was painfully obvious that Erika deeply disliked the high elves.
Fortunately, the Great Chieftain appeared unconcerned by her attitude.
Or perhaps there was some reason he could not take offense.
At that moment, one of the Threads passed in front of the seated Ferda.
Ferda unconsciously followed it with his eyes.
“Is it not wondrous?”
The Great Chieftain asked while looking at Ferda.
“It is.”
Ferda answered reflexively.
Had he been asked whether he truly found it wondrous, however, he would have shaken his head.
The moment he saw those Threads, Ferda felt his Shadow Circle begin to rotate.
The reason he had slaughtered the high elves and burned the World Tree in his previous life was because he had desired those hundreds of Threads.
He had absorbed thousands of them and used their power to kill countless people.
And with that power, he had killed Valdrova.
Since they evoked nothing but painful memories, Ferda turned his gaze away.
The Great Chieftain also moved on to the main subject.
“Let us now discuss the reason you came here.”
“Very well.”
Despite the immense chamber and the abundance of mana, the furnishings were remarkably modest.
Unlike the homes of dragons or human nobles, there were no decorations covered in gold. Everything had been woven from pure wood and plant fibers.
“Regent, the item, please.”
Erika looked at Ferda as she spoke.
Ferda took the notebook from the case in which he had stored it and placed it before the Great Chieftain.
“Hmm…”
The Great Chieftain groaned softly and swept a finger toward the notebook.
The Threads floating overhead came to a halt.
Following his will, several strands gathered together and formed the shape of a hand.
The hand ran across the notebook’s cover as though examining a book written in braille.
“This is… Rinne’s handwriting.”
The Great Chieftain recognized it from the letters engraved upon the cover alone.
The fingers turned the pages and scanned the writing.
He murmured as though tracing a distant memory.
“Rinne… Yes. Since that child was still alive, it was only natural that you would eventually come here.”
“You did not know she was alive?”
“When I searched through the minds of the dark elves who entered the Demonic Lands, I clearly witnessed every one of them die. That was why I believed she had perished as well.”
But the Great Chieftain had been wrong.
“I overlooked something far too obvious. That child possessed the ability to escape the bonds shared by the high elves. Naturally, she would also have been capable of escaping the connected minds of the dark elves…”
The white hand continued turning the pages without stopping.
The Great Chieftain swallowed a pained breath, then slowly released it.
“It seems Rinne intends to seize another opportunity after overcoming the deaths of the kin who followed her.”
Ferda could not identify the emotion contained in the ending of his sentence.
Was it sorrow?
Or anger that had remained hidden for a very long time?
While he murmured and sifted through the past, the white hand reached the final page and closed the notebook.
“I have examined all of its contents. I can clearly understand what Rinne is planning as well.”
Life returned to Erika’s face.
The Great Chieftain stroked his beard and leaned back in his rocking chair, tilting his head slightly.
“May I ask you something?”
“Please do.”
“Did you bring the black liquid mentioned in this journal?”
“Yes. I brought it because I hoped you would examine it as well.”
Erika rolled one of the ampoules she had brought across the floor.
The Great Chieftain pointed toward it, and the Threads formed a hand that picked it up.
One of the white hand’s fingers entered the ampoule.
The Great Chieftain reacted to something.
“…I see.”
His expression suggested that every lingering uncertainty had finally been resolved.
“Descendant of water, forgive my impertinence, but what do you intend to do after learning the contents of this journal?”
“We will respond to the threat, of course.”
Erika answered without hesitation.
“If they can create a substance similar to Godwin’s blood and use it to produce demons, then it should also be possible to create a substance capable of counteracting it.”
“That would certainly be true.”
The Great Chieftain responded with a contemplative hum.
Sensing that she would gain nothing if she left the matter there, Erika began persuading him more actively.
“I do not know whether it is written in the journal, but the dark elf named Rinne is currently creating new demons.”
“That is correct.”
“Recently, she has been deploying replicas known as Dopplers in an attempt to throw the Cerdes Continent into chaos.”
“That is also true.”
“There can be no doubt that she intends to mass-produce a substance similar to Godwin’s blood. Once demons begin pouring forth, the tragedy of the Dragon-Demon War will be repeated, and…”
Erika lowered her voice and warned him.
“When that happens, even this World Tree will not be spared from the flames.”
Just as dragons were everything to dragon spawn, the World Tree was everything to the high elves.
Her words were no different from threatening them with death.
The Great Chieftain fell into deep thought.
“The Dragon-Demon War is a tragedy we must never allow to repeat.”
They knew well what suffering had been inflicted before and during that war.
“It is only natural that I, too, wish to help.”
“Then—”
“However, I have one condition before I do.”
As he spoke, the Great Chieftain shifted his gaze.
His eyes settled squarely on Ferda, who sat beside Erika.
“I would like to continue this conversation alone with Regent Ferda. Would that be acceptable?”
Erika’s eyebrow twitched.
“Of course it would not.”
She could not permit it.
Naturally, the items had been brought by Ferda, so he did possess authority over them. However, it was Erika and the descendants of Iorga within her tower who had been researching the black liquid all this time.
Being deliberately excluded like this wounded her pride.
“I have a duty to know as well—as one charged with protecting this continent, and as a veteran of the Dragon-Demon War.”
“I am well aware of the weight carried by your name as a descendant of water. However, that is separate from this matter.”
The Great Chieftain refused to yield even an inch, leaving no room for compromise.
“Then let us do this.”
Erika decided to draw in a third party.
“You said this matter was important to Regent Ferda, so let Regent Ferda decide. What do you say?”
“That is certainly one way to proceed.”
The Great Chieftain carefully raised one hand.
Erika sensed something in the movement.
“What are you—”
She immediately prepared to respond, but it was already too late.
A single white Thread positioned behind her lightly tapped Erika.
In an instant, she vanished from where she stood.
“Not that I intended to grant permission.”
The Great Chieftain murmured words Erika could no longer hear.
Only the two of them remained in the vast chamber.
Ferda, who had said nothing since taking his seat, quietly watched the Great Chieftain.
“You may rest assured. I did not harm Tower Master Erika.”
“I already know that you teleported her outside the door.”
Ferda remained calm as always.
There was only one thing he wanted to know.
“Are you certain there is a valid reason for treating the Blue-Eyed Tower Master as an outsider?”
“Of course. The conversation is likely to become personal.”
Ferda found that answer puzzling.
What could possibly become personal in a matter concerning demons?
“Let us begin with this black liquid.”
The white hand formed from Threads lifted the ampoule of black liquid that had been placed down earlier.
“The Blue-Eyed Tower Master undoubtedly believed this substance resembled dragon blood.”
“She did.”
“But she also believed that it merely resembled dragon blood, that it was not true dragon blood, and that it was a substance beyond her ability to identify. Therefore, she likely suspected it was connected to high elf blood.”
“That is correct. Was that written in the journal?”
“No. I merely inferred it. There are very few reasons that would compel the Tower Master to set foot here.”
His insight was almost frighteningly precise.
Or perhaps Erika was unexpectedly easy to read.
“To give you the conclusion first, it is true that this black liquid was created through a high elf’s ability.”
“Do high elves possess some special power?”
“Unlike humans, elves possess the ability to commune with others of their kind. Among them, the minds of high elves are linked as one.”
“I am aware.”
“That mental network does not merely allow us to share thoughts. It interprets every piece of information they possess through the elven language and retrieves it. To explain it more simply... it can even obtain information about a person that the person themselves does not consciously know.”
The ability to know everything about another person, including what they themselves did not know.
Perhaps because Ferda was a mage by nature, the power sounded tempting merely from hearing about it.
As though he had read that thought, the Great Chieftain added,
“It is not an entirely beneficial ability. Because we share everything, we become especially sensitive to anything that cannot be shared.”
“Is that why the elder behaved so aggressively?”
“That is correct.”
Ferda recalled the elder’s expression as he had considered turning them away at the entrance.
He could understand the reason, but that did not make him eager to forgive the man.
“Rinne used the high elves’ ability to obtain information about every race on the Cerdes Continent.”
Ferda finally understood why there had been an experimental facility in the North and why so many different races had been imprisoned there.
It had all been done to analyze every cell composing their bodies and develop a drug optimized to combine that information with the traits of existing demons.
“Can every high elf use that ability?”
Ferda asked cautiously.
The Great Chieftain shook his head.
“To us, the unified mind is as natural as breathing from birth or feeling our hearts beat. Arbitrarily severing and reconnecting it is something even I, the Great Chieftain, cannot do.”
“But Rinne could?”
“Yes. That is precisely why she was able to betray us and become a dark elf.”
Had she lacked that ability, her intentions would already have been exposed and the high elves would have responded immediately.
The fact that only Rinne could use it was at least one blessing amid the misfortune.
“Wait.”
A disturbing possibility occurred to Ferda.
“Then was she able to create this imitation dragon blood by connecting her mind to Godwin and extracting information from him?”
If she could reproduce dragon blood used in the Ascension Ceremony, that implied she had obtained information about a dragon.
Had Rinne understood everything about dragons?
“Unfortunately for her, she could not have done so.”
The Great Chieftain answered with certainty.
“No matter how we rank ourselves against one another, we are all merely creations shaped by the earth. Dragons, however, are creations shaped by a god. Understanding them requires the language of the divine. No matter how refined the high elves’ language may be, it remains a language of the earth. It can never interpret beings created through the language of gods.”
The Great Chieftain reached his conclusion.
“Therefore, this black liquid must also originate from a creature shaped by the earth.”
“Are you saying an Ascension Ceremony can be performed without a dragon directly conducting it?”
“Not in the case of dragon spawn. But it is possible when creating beings in the form of demons.”
A creature of this earth that was not Godwin, yet had once possessed influence comparable to his.
When Ferda considered it, only one figure came to mind.
“This black liquid was created by reproducing the mana once possessed by the man known as Mawal.”
The Demon King.
Godwin’s name was so immense that Mawal seemed insignificant by comparison, but he too had been a man of terrible notoriety.
The Far East had become known as the Demonic Lands entirely because of what he had accomplished there.
He could not be compared to a dragon, but he had still possessed enough power and ability to be called a calamity upon the continent.
“I see.”
Ferda did not yet understand every detail, but he had grasped the overall picture.
The Great Chieftain had resolved every question Erika had been unable to answer.
Yet after hearing all of this, Ferda could no longer suppress one doubt.
“Was there truly any need to tell me all of this in private?”
When all the information was combined, the answer was simple.
The black liquid was a substance created by using the high elves’ mental network to imitate the Demon King’s mana.
It seemed to be nothing more than the sharing of information, with no obvious reason to keep it secret.
“What I am about to tell you now is something only you must hear, Regent Ferda.”
The Great Chieftain pointed one thin, knotted finger at Ferda.
More precisely, he pointed beneath Ferda’s lower abdomen.
At Ferda’s Red Circle.
“The Demon King’s mana also exists within your body.”