Volume 4, Chapter 87 – The Secretly Finalized Plan

Translator Note

context… ugh i think im going dum but its just that they are now at the holy tree. not at the abyss

“This is the last batch—[Flash Thunder]!”

As the incandescent light of lightning slashed through the dark tunnel, a tremendous roar poured into Fia’s ears. Even though she had already covered her pointed elf ears with her hands in advance, the violently vibrating air still passed through her palms, making her brain buzz.

After a brief two seconds, the noisy sounds in the dark tunnel gradually subsided. The sound of monsters flapping their wings and large monsters walking disappeared, leaving only a rustling sound similar to wind blowing over sand dunes. Fia, who had fought the Black-Flamed Monsters countless times, knew that this was the sound effect of them turning to ash.

Although the rank of the monsters had recently increased from the initial First Rank to the Fourth and Fifth, in front of her and Claire, it was just a change from small ants to big ants. If they were released from the Holy Tree and appeared all together like the hundreds of thousands of monsters that had attacked Byrne City, they might have actually been able to cause her trouble. After all, Blossom was not a desert; she couldn’t just use orbital beacon bombardment casually. Unfortunately for them, not only were they trapped in the Holy Tree, but they were also restricted by it to encounter her in only small waves at a time. The only outcome was to be crushed.

“—[Eternal Light].”

A light equivalent to that of an ordinary magic lamp lit up at her fingertips. Claire, who had just finished the clearing, let out a long breath. She looked at Fia, who was still covering her pointed ears behind her, a smile appearing on her beautiful and gentle face. She reached out and patted Fia’s head.

“Alright, it’s alright now.”

“Don’t treat me like a child. I’m not afraid of thunder.”

I just thought the sound was too loud.

An elf’s keen hearing was exceptionally useful in most situations, but in a small space like this cave, and with Claire making such a loud noise, it was a negative enhancement. The huge roar made the contents of her brain tremble.

Of course, that being said, Fia did not impolitely push Claire away. Embarrassment and comfort were not mutually exclusive. She tilted her head and looked at Claire’s other glowing hand, her subdued, ruby-like eyes full of curiosity.

“The chant you just recited wasn’t [Illuminate], was it?”

“It’s [Eternal Light]. The effect is similar to [Illuminate] on the World Tree Continent, but the chant and the magic system are completely different.”

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“No wonder I feel like I’ve never heard it before. If you teach me, can I use it too?”

“Mmm…” Claire pressed a slender index finger to her chin and began to think. “You can, but I’ve compared my magic with the magic of the World Tree Continent. Compared to the magic here, the magic I use is more difficult to learn and more troublesome to use. Even if you learn it, it might not be of any use. For example, the simplest [Fireball]. On the World Tree Continent, as long as you say the chant correctly and know how to call upon the mana in your body, you can successfully use it. But my magic, although much simpler in terms of the chant and calling upon mana, has the added factor of needing to mobilize emotions to cooperate with the magic.”

“Mobilize emotions?”

Fia’s eyes widened slightly. There were indeed many schools of magic on the World Tree Continent, but this was the first time she had heard of needing to use emotions to cooperate with magic.

“How should I explain it… it’s like I’ve created a new word. This word is read as ‘fire,’ and in my language, I’ve given it a new meaning, binding the word ‘fire’ with the emotion of anger. Therefore, when I read out ‘fire,’ if I use the emotion of anger, I can create a grand flame. Conversely, if I fail to use my emotions well, I can only create a small flame. That’s probably what it means. The magic chants I use are in themselves an expression of emotion. Rather than a language, it’s more like a string of onomatopoeia. Although it’s not as simple as that, it’s definitely not a complete language system.”

What Claire was trying to say was probably that the language she used could not be used for communication, but only as a medium for using magic. And even as a medium, it could not guarantee that the magic could be stably used. For example, if a person used attack magic in a calm state of mind, the power of the magic would be greatly reduced.

In that case, it was indeed not a convenient magic. And because it was so unorthodox, with even its language system being different, it made one feel that Claire was a person from another world.

Fia had this thought because she herself was an outsider. If it had been a native of the World Tree Continent, they would at most have only thought that Claire was a tribal native who had crawled out of some backward corner, or a Saint chosen by the gods.

“Don’t you find this strange, Claire? Not only are you an unnaturally born life form, with a form different from any known species, but even the magic system you use is incompatible with the World Tree Continent. This can’t be explained by just a single ‘unnaturally born,’ can it?”

“Is little Fia trying to say I’m a ‘Saint’? The people of Dragonfall do indeed call me that. However, a Saint is guided by the gods, and I’ve never seen anyone like a god. Besides, if I were a Saint, I wouldn’t be cursed. In my opinion, you are more like a Saint, little Fia.”

“I’m just a soul who stumbled into this world by mistake. Even my memories are incomplete. Heaven knows what I was like before I came to this world.”

“Then you and I must be of the same kind. Also a soul who stumbled into this world by mistake, with incomplete memories.”

Rather than saying her memories were incomplete, it was more like she had no original memories from the beginning. From the time she had gained consciousness, Claire was only ten years old now. Her age and her well-developed body were a complete mismatch, making one envious—correction, not making her envious.

Unaware of what Fia was thinking, Claire turned to look at the cleanly swept passage. There was not a single Black-Flamed Monster left.

“This place is also cleaned up. We can probably go out and switch to the next one. Recently, when those Imperial Guards look at me, there’s no longer any fear in their eyes. I think the Black-Flamed Monsters should be the source of Divinity. It’s just that these things look like inauspicious objects no matter how you look at them. I really can’t think of how they are related to the gods. And I also have a feeling that the Holy Tree is rejecting me more and more as time goes by.”

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Claire looked back at Fia, her brows lightly raised, a hint of speculation in her clear and deep jade-green eyes.

“I remember you said before, Fia, that the scholars of the Elf Towers called the text inscribed on the dim altar an extremely large sealing barrier, and that only the Elf Saint of that time had the ability to create it. Could it be that the Saint and the Elf God united to seal something under the Holy Tree? These Black-Flamed Monsters are actually a seal set up by the Elf God here. I have been eliminating them, which is why the Holy Tree is rejecting me more and more.”

“Don’t say such terrifying things…” Fia gave a wry smile.

“I’ve been eliminating these monsters with you, Claire. There’s no reason for the Holy Tree to only hate you and not me. Besides, the tree buds after the monsters disappear. If it hated us, it wouldn’t bud at all. In the end, the only enemy that could make the Saint and the Elf God unite could only be the Darkborn. And when facing the Darkborn, they should be killed directly, not sealed. Your theory doesn’t make sense from any angle.”

“True.”

What Fia said was not without reason. Claire no longer dwelled on this issue. She looked at the exquisitely bound, brown book tucked at Fia’s waist.

“Is that the one you found in the forbidden library, Fia?”

“Mhm. The contents are so obscure that even I find them difficult to understand, so I just took it out to read. A forbidden spell is indeed a forbidden spell. The complexity of the chant is on a completely different level from ordinary magic. It also records some interesting things.”

Such as the fact that the Divinity possessed by the gods was so dense that they were protected by the world, so ordinary magic could hardly be effective against them. The reason was that the elements that constituted the magic would dissipate on their own before they could harm the god. It was a very mysterious saying.

As for the chaos under the Abyss that she had detected before, Fia was not too worried. Not only were they quite far from the World Tree Continent, but they were also as fragile as the ones she had seen in the Oro territory and Aurora City. Even an ordinary magic-caster could eliminate them at this level.

The only two things that were concerning were their numbers, and why even the gods and the Darkborn were afraid of something of this level. However, at that time, because Claire was buying time above, she hadn’t had a chance to explore. She planned to find some time in the next few days to go down and test the power of the chaos. If they were the kind of thing that would disappear in a large area with a single blast, then she wouldn’t have to worry about them surging up from the Abyss to destroy the world.

First, they were too weak. Second, even if they did come, there was that emerald-green barrier to block them. And finally, if all else failed, she could also spend some time to go down and deal with these tactless fools.

I hope they have some intelligence and don’t ask for trouble.

With this prayer in her heart, Fia smiled and extended her hand to Claire.

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“Let’s go out. Today is the new moon. We have to prepare early.”

“Mhm. If you can’t hold on, little Fia, I’ll do it.”

“I have made sufficient preparations this time. I will not show any mercy.” As if to show off, Fia patted the brown magic book at her waist. “Really, it was none of their business, yet they had to interfere. If they disrupt the ritual to see the Elf God, I will definitely make them regret it.”

“I guess they must have started to shiver already. Not everyone can bear the wrath of the elf princess.”

Her right hand lightly resting on Fia’s, Claire covered her mouth with her other hand and giggled.

“Hmph. All you know is how to tease me.”

Muttering as if she were sulking, Fia had already made a move. As she commanded the Holy Tree in her mind to teleport her out, the unique trance of teleportation quickly enveloped the two of them.

◇

The sky quickly darkened.

It was already evening. The sky was hazy from the heavy snow and would soon be completely dark. Standing on the roof of the palace in the Royal Castle, one could already see the thousands of lights lit up in the snow-covered Blossom below.

Normally, this would undoubtedly be the most relaxing moment of the day for people, with families gathered around the fireplace, enjoying the leisure after a hard day’s work and the time spent together. However, for the current Fia, this was the time to be vigilant.

It should be said that she was only vigilant in her heart and did not show it on her face for Mizuki to see. This was both to not worry her and to not involve her.

Clark had already made it very clear. The dragon-type great demon named Helian had given him an item called the ‘Seed of Hope’ that could create an abyss. As long as he wanted, he could create an abyss a kilometer wide and several kilometers long in Blossom at any time.

The reason this data was so precise was because he had used the Seed of Hope in the past, and that time Fia had happened to be present—that is, the abyss that had caused the Beast Tide that Fia had seen on her way to Blossom. That had not been an ordinary earthquake, but him choosing a plain where no one would be hurt to test just how powerful this thing was. It was precisely because he had foreseen how much disaster it could bring to Blossom that he had not dared to use it until today.

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Fia could only be glad that she had found him in advance and had discussed his future with him. Otherwise, no one could be sure that he would not have been taken in by Helian’s temptation of “eternal life” and become a butcher who raised his blade against the innocent.

In the end, she had been one step ahead, and he had also chosen not to side with the Darkborn.

As for how to get Veronica out and clean up the time bomb that was Helian, the whole process was not difficult.

First, let Clark play along with her plan. When Helian went to find him, he would agree with her idea. On the night of the new moon, that is, today, Claire would transport him to the desolate land to use the Seed of Hope that created the abyss. According to Helian’s words, when he used it, she would appear near the Royal Castle. In this way, she and Claire could join forces to capture her and bring her to justice.

Second, get through to Veronica. Let her first talk to Yelido, to let him realize that Clark might still be alive, and that she had not forgotten him, to test his reaction.

Then, as the Holy Tree was right next to the desolate land, the huge commotion caused by the appearance of an abyss there would surely cause the guards to go and check. And at that time, he would need to appear at the base of the Holy Tree—also secretly transported by Claire—to create the illusion that he had snuck into the Royal Castle from the desolate land.

The Imperial Guard who encountered him would inevitably have a brief confrontation with him. He did not need to defeat the soldiers, but only to create the illusion of being besieged and dying by falling into the abyss, so that everyone would see that he had indeed “died,” falling into that abyss from which no one could return. And then everything would be over.

In this way, Yelido would know that he was dead, and the necessity of keeping Veronica under house arrest would be greatly reduced.

After that, she could, taking advantage of his relaxed vigilance and softened attitude, propose to live in the suburbs around the capital. This process might be difficult, but if she were to suggest it, for example, to have Veronica live with her in the witches’ farm, with her as a “guard” by her side, it would be difficult for her Father to be suspicious again. And as long as they were out of the range of the Royal Castle, there would be much more room for maneuver. She could have trusted guards stand guard by her side and allow her to meet with Clark in secret until he died two years later.

It should be said that Veronica should also try to see if Yelido would allow her to live alone in a remote area for two years to mourn him. If he allowed it, she would no longer use the attitude of a stranger towards him. Although the possibility of him agreeing was pitifully small, people often liked to compromise. To first propose a difficult condition, and then compromise to living in the suburbs of the capital, the possibility of the latter succeeding would be greatly increased. Besides, Yelido was not a completely unreasonable person. Now that Clark was dead, as long as Veronica could have a change of heart, he could make some concessions.

Admittedly, in this way, Clark could only live with her in secret, but for him, this was already a very favorable condition. His time was running out. Not to mention that to take her and flee directly, there was a very high probability of being caught. First of all, to have to spend the last two years in a sunless life of exile was something no one could accept. As long as he could spend his last moments with her peacefully, without being disturbed by outsiders, he would be content.

And more importantly, to do so would not cause too much of a reaction from her Father. It could be said to be a release for all three parties.

And in terms of feasibility, her Father had already loosened his stance and was willing to search for Clark’s whereabouts, which showed that he did indeed care a lot about her attitude towards him. As long as she was willing to call him brother and sister, he could make many concessions. All of this seemed simple, but in fact, it had been formulated after testing everyone’s thoughts. As long as he was not discovered in two years, even if there were problems in the execution of the plan, she could correct them in time. There was a great deal of room for maneuver.

Even if it did not solve the fundamental problem, as a result that would allow everyone to end well, this was already enough.