Chapter 49: The Path That Only We Can Take

"So, what's this plan of yours?"

The Great Forest, where its inhabitants wished for stagnation and rejected change.

A boy who had been born and raised there, yet longed to learn about the world beyond it, had come up with a plan. And that plan was—

"I call it Operation: Eradicate the World Tree!"

"……………………Excuse me?"

—somehow, an absolutely outrageous scheme.

"What...?! What are you talking about, Hime-chan?! If the World Tree disappears, what do you think will happen to the Great Forest itself?! The worst-case scenario is that the Great Forest could disappear from the ma-a-ap!"

"Would the consequences really be that severe?!"

Pahal-san shouted, abandoning her usual carefree cheerfulness. Lies-san joined in, equally alarmed.

Meanwhile, Himeros-kun remained perfectly composed. "That reaction tells you everything you need to know," he said, before continuing.

"That whole 'we'll perish alongside the forest' nonsense the elders keep spouting is just an excuse. It's a form of escapism. They're refusing to face reality. When the time comes for their destruction, they'll definitely regret it."

"That may be true, but..."

Indeed. It's easy enough to talk about "the destruction of the world," but actually imagining what that means is difficult. It wasn't hard to believe that they'd panic when they finally saw it happening right in front of them.

"That's why, before the true destruction arrives in the form of the approaching army of mechanical soldiers, we make them experience a fa-a-ake one."

"...A fake?"

"Yeah. It's all a lie. An illusory deception. I modified the magic that had been concealing the hatch and developed an illusion spell. The plan was to use it to show them an illusion of the World Tree rotting away..."

"...? What does that mean, exactly?"

"You said 'was'...? Past tense?"

If it was an illusion, then he wasn't actually planning to destroy the Great Forest. Thank goodness. That was a relief.

Still, I couldn't quite grasp the full scope of his plan.

"I made it sound grand just now, but originally, it was more like a prank that a bunch of us came up with while hanging out together."

He explained that quite a few young elves dreamed of seeing the outside world, and that he'd come up with the idea alongside others who felt the same way.

"We figured everyone would quickly realize it was an illusion anyway. Even so, we hoped it might awaken at least a little sense of danger among the elves... That's all it was. A childish plan."

...That's how he described it. But a ten-year-old boy wanting to do something for his people and his homeland, gathering companions, devising a plan, and making all the necessary preparations... Wasn't that an incredible achievement in its own right?

"Creating an illusion that completely envelops that enormous World Tree requires an immense amount of magical energy. I've spent a year storing magic in the spell formation, but it's only about forty percent charged so far. I don't think I'll be able to do more than create an illusion of part of the World Tree rotting away..."

"...It's a spell of extraordinary scale, then."

Lies-san had devoted herself to studying magic since childhood as a noble, unlike me. If even she was astonished, it must have been a spell of truly immense proportions.

But...

"Even so, why carry it out during a crisis like this? Wouldn't it only cause even more confusion?"

...Exactly. She was right.

As Lies-san pointed out, the elves would then be facing two enormous crises at once: the World Tree rotting away and the mechanical soldiers invading. Just as the elders had said, some might even give up and decide to "share the forest's fate."

"That's not what I'm trying to do. Rather than letting them see these as two separate crises, I want them to understand that they're connected—that they're part of the same ongoing crisis."

"...Hmmm?"

Pahal-san groaned, apparently unable to follow his reasoning.

Honestly, I felt exactly the same way.

"In other words, while the elves are panicking over what's happening to the World Tree, we'll spread the word that mechanical soldiers are invading—and that the Machine City is responsible for the World Tree rotting, too."

"...Hmmm?????"

"I see. So that's what you mean..."

Lies-san seemed to have caught on to something.

Um, so we'd blame the Machine City for the sight of the World Tree rotting away, and then...?

"Most elves have never even heard of mechanical soldiers. If you simply tell them that mechanical soldiers are invading, they won't really understand what that means, and they'll be slow to respond. But if..."

"The danger to the World Tree is something familiar to them, something they can easily understand. You're going to make it seem as though the very entity responsible for that danger is now invading them."

"Exactly! That way, even if we can't convince the elders, at least some of the elves should be willing to fight to protect the forest!"

...I see. So that's what he meant.

In short, he wanted to give the elves a reason to fight—something that would spur them into action.

His plan certainly made sense. And compared to us, who'd done little more than get held up by the tree soldiers, there was no comparison.

...But something about it bothered me. I couldn't quite put my finger on what.

"Still, I think only a tiny fraction of the elves would fight with just this. If we had one more move—something that would really knock their socks off..."

No, no. This wasn't the time to sit around thinking leisurely about such things.

Rene, Tierra-san, Piska, Padron, Nanashi, Tetoma, Mr. Circus, and Minia were all fighting for us. I had to do what I could right now.

Let's see... We were missing one more move that would knock the elves' socks off, right?

Something astonishing. Something that would shock them...

"Hey, speaking of which, when Lies-san gave her surname, the elders were incredibly shocked, weren't they?"

"Y-yes. They were in a complete uproar, as though the world had been turned upside down. They were practically screaming in astonishment..."

"Wait, those elders were screaming? ...I mean, an elf coming from the outside world is certainly surprising, but I can't believe the old men would be so shocked they'd actually raise their voices. Just out of curiosity, could you tell me Lies-san's full name?"

"Of course. My name is Lies Thebe Ro Lamouatié..."

In an instant, Himeros-kun's face was overcome with astonishment.

What on earth was so significant about that name?

"Ro?! Ro as in that Ro?! No way! You're kidding!"

"I wondered the same thing when the elders reacted like that, but why are you making such a fuss?"

"You idiot! You stupid big sister! And an idiot!"

"You called me an idiot three times! You're the real idiot if you call someone else an idiot!"

"It's basic elven knowledge! How do you not know that, you idiot?!"

"You said it again!"

And so, while continuing to argue with Pahal-san, Himeros-kun finally revealed the true significance of Lies-san's name.

"Only the descendants of the fallen elven royal family were permitted to bear the name Ro!"

"Royal family...?"

"Ahh, I feel like I've heard that somewhere before... So she's royalty, huh...? Wait, WHAT?! ROYALTY?!"

"You're late to the party, you stupid big sister!"

Royalty. In Lies-san's case, would that make her a queen or a princess?

Judging by the two elves' reactions, this was clearly no ordinary matter...

Meanwhile, Lies-san herself seemed unable to keep up with what was happening. She just stood there, bewildered and flustered.

"U-um... What do you mean by royalty? And what do you mean the royal line has fallen?"

"This is it! This is perfect! The World Tree rotting away, an enemy closing in, and an ancient royal appearing in the midst of despair! With this story, we can pull it off!"

Apparently, Himeros-kun was too excited to hear Lies-san's confused questions.

He began bouncing up and down with delight.

"With this, almost every elf will be able to fight at the highest possible morale! We should even be able to deal a devastating blow to the Machine City!"

"W-wait a minute! What do you mean, a devastating blow to the Machine City?! I thought we were just going to defend ourselves!"

Since Lies-san seemed concerned about it, I'd been about to ask about the elven royal family on her behalf.

But before I could, I'd heard something I couldn't just let pass. Sorry, Lies-san, but I had to ask about this first.

I'd assumed all we could do was drive back the mechanical soldiers that were coming at us. But was he saying...?

"What are you talking about? There's no point in merely driving away remotely controlled mechanical soldiers. They can just build new ones whenever the old ones get destroyed, can't they?"

...He had a point.

But still, that was...

"Then we have to make the leaders and inhabitants of the Machine City understand that attacking this forest is dangerous. Otherwise, they'll just come back again soon—with even more soldiers and an even more brutal invasion!"

...No. I couldn't do this.

I was an outsider. I had no right to lecture someone whose homeland was on the verge of being taken away from them right before their eyes.

He was serious, and the elves' situation was dire. What he was saying wasn't wrong, and since I'd failed to persuade the city chief of the Machine City, I had no alternative path to offer in its place.

All I could do was stand there, unable to say a word.

It seemed as though the plan would simply be put into action.

But then—

"I object."

—Pahal-san spoke those words quietly, yet firmly.

"I can't agree with Hime-chan's plan."

She'd given voice to the very same words that had been smoldering inside me.

"You're objecting?! What the hell are you talking about, Pahal-nee?! We don't have any time left, and there isn't another way! You don't understand any of this, do you?!"

"...I understand, Hime-chan. You're planning to fabricate a crime that never happened, plant dark feelings in everyone's hearts, and make them fight a bloody war... That's what this is about, isn't it?"

The things I, an outsider, hadn't been able to say.

The things I just couldn't find the right words to express.

Though she'd been banished, Pahal-san had been born and raised here. And now she was putting those thoughts into words without hesitation.

"...And what's wrong with that?! They're the ones invading us! How can you look at it any other way than as evil?!"

"But they haven't made the World Tree rot. That's what you're planning to do, isn't it, Hime-chan? Invading us is wrong. But that doesn't give us the right to pin a false crime on them."

"That's...! That's just idealistic nonsense! You can't protect anything if you're not prepared to shed blood...!"

"I'm not denying that we may have to fight and shed blood to protect the Great Forest. I'm prepared to do that myself. But it's wrong to mix lies into the reason we're fighting... I'm sure those lies would leave a scar that would remain even after the fighting somehow ended. Someday, someone would bring it all up again."

Pahal-san continued speaking with a seriousness I could never have imagined from someone who was usually so cheerful and always smiling.

"I traveled through Chaos looking for my big brother, and I saw all kinds of conflicts. Everyone was fighting for different reasons, and it was rarely the case that one side was entirely to blame. And no matter how selfish the reasons behind a war might have been, the soldiers fighting in it each had something of their own they wanted to protect."

I remembered the conflict between the Fortress City and the nomads.

They'd been fighting because both sides claimed to be the original inhabitants of the same land.

Most likely, one of their leaders had lied long ago. That lie had persisted until the truth was completely forgotten over the generations.

As a result, the two factions had continued fighting for generations upon generations, trapped in a conflict with no end in sight.

"All kinds of worlds got mixed together, and all kinds of things became tangled up until they couldn't be untangled. That's why Chaos has been at war for so, so long."

Things like that had continued to happen all over the world, day after day.

That was Chaos: a world formed from a distorted mixture of countless others.

"I thought it was sad, but I turned a blind eye to it. I hid behind the excuse that I was looking for my big brother, and never tried to do anything about it. I'd given up and accepted that things would just keep going on like this forever."

A chaotic world where races, ideologies, beliefs, histories, cultures, and every other imaginable thing were tangled together.

Countless different versions of justice stood side by side, and people had spent their lives caring only about the little world defined by their own sense of justice.

"...But Kizuna-kun and everyone traveling with him are different. You were genuinely trying to put an end to the wars in Chaos."

Even I had only started taking action because I'd learned about the threat posed by the World Eater.

But along the way, I'd met all kinds of people.

First Rene. Then Tierra-san. Piska and Padron had overcome their hostility and become our companions. Then Nanashi, Lies-san, and Pahal-san... As I'd met all these different people, I'd come to sincerely want to protect Chaos.

"What Hime-chan is trying to do would directly deny the path Kizuna-kun and the others are walking. ...That's why I can't accept it. I can't support it."

Pahal-san was affirming the journey we'd taken together.

"...I've said all that and made myself sound pretty cool, but honestly, I have absolutely no plan from here on out! Still! If you guys are serious about saving the world, I'm sure you'll think of something, right, Kizuna-kun?! Sorry for dumping the whole problem on you!"

Pahal-san, who cherished the Great Forest as her homeland, was telling us to stay true to our own way of doing things.

She believed that we would find a way.

That was a heavy expectation to place on us.

And yet...

"...Thank you, Pahal-san."

—If we couldn't live up to that, there was no way we could unite Chaos as one.

"Himeros-kun. I can't agree with your plan, either."

So...

Let's do this our way.

"...I have an idea."