**#182. Forgotten Tale (2)**
—
At the word “husband,” each person reacted in their own way.
Veronica turned her gaze slightly toward Ray.
Demper hastily erased the child-rearing plans he had been envisioning in his head.
And Ray continued asking questions in a voice laced with curiosity.
“You came out to find your husband?”
“Yes. The messages he used to send periodically through the spirits stopped coming. I got worried.”
Grine looked wistfully toward the horizon beyond the wasteland.
“I was afraid something might have happened to him. That he might be struggling with his mission… or worse, fooling around with a human woman…”
“Mission?”
“Yes. A mission. You all seemed skeptical when I talked about the forest earlier. I understand. In a world where black rain falls, it’s hard to believe a place like a forest can still exist. But it’s possible.”
“How?”
“Because the last forest where our village resides is home to the World Tree.”
According to Grine, the World Tree was a colossal divine tree.
Its vast branches and leaves blocked the black rain while providing shade.
And through its endless purifying powers, it prevented the surrounding soil and vegetation from being tainted—a truly precious being.
“Records say the World Tree has existed since the ancient age. Maybe its time is coming to an end. Lately, its power has been steadily weakening.”
That was why Grine’s husband, Karon, had left their home carrying a seed of the World Tree.
To search for fertile land in the outside world where a new World Tree could grow.
“The World Tree can grow anywhere it’s planted. But the more barren the land, the more limited its growth becomes. What we want is fertile ground where the World Tree can reach its full potential.”
Unlimited.
A word that literally meant without bounds.
“How big does it grow?”
“If I were to give an example using the current World Tree in the last forest…”
Grine paused, searching for a comparison.
“It could easily cast its shade over an entire sector.”
Everyone except Ray was left speechless, mouths agape.
And that wasn’t even the most shocking part.
“They say that in the old era, World Trees existed in many places. Some were even large enough to cover entire cities.”
As everyone was still at a loss for words, several terms linked themselves in Ray’s mind.
Elf, seed, traveler.
And—
“Meat.”
“Excuse me? Meat?”
“I’ve heard news about Karon before.”
“Oh! Ray, right! That thing!”
Veronica brought over a flowerpot she had secured inside the bus.
From the cloth pouch Ray pulled from his coat came green seeds.
Grine’s face hardened immediately.
“…Yes. These are definitely the World Tree’s sprouts and seeds. How did you come to possess them?”
“I bought them from a slum resident in Sector 48.”
“A slum resident?”
Ray calmly explained how he had obtained the seeds.
A traveler, collapsed in a junkyard, was rescued by a slum dweller.
In gratitude, the traveler gave the seeds to the resident, and they were later bought by Ray, Veronica, and Philip.
“He always wore a hood that covered his ears. Used a mask to hide his face when going out, had striking features… and carried around ten daggers on his belt.”
“…That sounds like my husband.”
“And apparently, he wouldn’t eat unless there was meat.”
Grine, who had been nodding along, furrowed her brows slightly at the last part.
After a brief pause, she seemed to reach a conclusion and spoke.
“Meat-eating… I suppose he’s become accustomed to human dietary habits.”
“Right? Normally, elves don’t eat meat and live off a vegetarian, light diet, isn’t that true?”
Veronica exclaimed in a delighted voice, as if venting all the injustice she had endured from Ray and Philip.
Grine answered.
“The fruits and vegetables in the forest provide all the nutrition we need. Since elves live their entire lives in the forest, we have no reason to eat meat. Even if we were to encounter it, we wouldn’t put it in our mouths—it simply doesn’t suit our tastes.”
Veronica turned smugly to Ray.
“Heard that, Ray?”
“……”
As Ray was quietly reeling from the sense of betrayal toward elves, Grine opened a jerky pack she had been holding and pulled out a piece.
“My husband enjoyed canned food at every meal… meat, and not just meat, but heavily seasoned processed food…”
Grimacing at the smell, she hesitated—then popped the jerky into her mouth.
She chewed for a while, swallowed…
*Rustle.*
…and naturally reached for a second piece and bit into it.
“Now then… *munch* I’ve told you enough about myself, so… *munch* Ray, can you tell me your story?”
As Veronica looked on, stunned by what she was seeing,
Ray summarized the reason he left Sector 50 and the events leading up to him acquiring the yellow gemstone.
Grine nodded after listening.
“So the yellow fragment of the Rainbow was buried in Sector 46… Perhaps that’s where the Yellow Guardian breathed their last.”
“Yellow Guardian?”
“Each Guardian protected a different colored fragment.”
The Guardians, devastated by the war, each took their fragments and scattered.
The Green Guardian, believed to be an elf, had fled to the current last forest.
The green gem had been passed down since then.
“……”
Ray gazed at the green gem in Grine’s hand.
Mana surged through it in endless waves.
Infinite vitality and dynamism.
He was sure of it.
That was the same kind of gemstone as the one they had—a piece of the Rainbow.
“I’m gathering those fragments to complete the Rainbow.”
At Ray’s candid declaration, Grine smiled gently.
“So, are you planning to take this gemstone from me?”
“……”
That wasn’t the plan.
Grine had done them no harm and held no ill will—there was no reason to forcibly take it.
*Even if we did end up fighting, I can’t guarantee victory against someone of unknown power level.*
While Ray hesitated to answer, Grine asked again.
“What do you plan to do once you complete the Rainbow?”
“…There’s something I want to accomplish.”
“What is it?”
Ray didn’t answer this time either.
Grine looked at him with a deepening smile before speaking.
“I can give you my piece.”
“You *can* give it to me?”
“I don’t think you’ll use it for anything bad.”
*And based on what?*
As if reading Ray’s doubt, Grine said,
“Spirits don’t form contracts with people who have wicked hearts. They easily resonate with the contractor’s emotions. There are exceptions, but most of the time, that’s how it works. And the other reason…”
“……”
“My intuition. You seem like a good person, Ray.”
Ray didn’t show much reaction to the direct compliment.
But Veronica’s shoulders next to him visibly lifted in triumph.
Ray asked skeptically.
“You’re not saying you’ll give it without any conditions, are you?”
“You’re right. The condition is that you help me and my husband find a place to plant the World Tree.”
“That’s… surprisingly modest.”
“Is it? Can finding a new home to preserve an entire race really be considered modest?”
“Why ask me all of a sudden?”
“Because I can see how skillfully you handle the gem’s mana—it means you’re not just an ordinary magician. And I’m still unfamiliar with the human world.”
Ray fell silent in thought.
Accepting her proposal would mean Grine joining their party.
The gains outweighed the risks.
Better to keep the precious Rainbow fragment close than to let it go.
A third-circle mage and a gem with limitless mana—both were formidable assets.
There was no reason to refuse—but one thing needed to be made clear.
Ray exchanged glances with Veronica and spoke.
“I’ll accept your proposal.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“But there’s a condition.”
“What kind of condition?”
“I’ll help you—but I can’t make finding land for Karon and the World Tree our top priority. Each of us in this party has our own goals.”
“How long will it take for those goals to be fulfilled?”
Ray thought for a moment before replying.
“I can’t say for sure. But at the very least, one year. Maybe two, three… or even longer.”
“That’s fine. I just have to wait a bit then. You can help me after you’ve all achieved your goals.”
*Wait a bit?*
Ray suddenly remembered—elves had incredibly long lifespans.
“How old are you?”
“I’ve lived for 224 years now.”
“Pfft!”
Demper, who had been drinking water, suddenly spat it out and asked in a flustered voice,
“T-then… how long do elves usually live?”
“I’ve heard that we grow at a similar pace to humans until about age twenty. After that, we age very slowly. Some live close to a thousand years.”
A thousand years.
Veronica instinctively began folding her fingers to count, but quickly gave up—realizing the scale was entirely different.
Even if they added up the lifespans of everyone present, it wouldn’t reach a thousand years—or even Grine’s age.
It was a moment that highlighted just how different elves were from humans.
Demper cautiously spoke up.
“I envy you… Humans can’t even live a hundred years, but to have nearly a millennium…”
At that, a bitter smile formed on Grine’s face.
“You envy me?”
“Yes. With that much time, wouldn’t you be able to accomplish everything you want? It seems like such a blessing.”
“…I see it as a curse.”
“P-pardon?”
“They say that in the old war, each race lost something dear to them. For elves, it was desire.”
The cold night air, filled with silence, was drawn into Grine’s mouth.
“Think about it. Hundreds of years, repeating the same days, without the desire for growth.”
She spoke with layered meaning.
Then, locking eyes with Demper, she asked,
“Would you call that a blessing?”
“I—I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn…”
“It’s alright. Anyone unfamiliar with it would think that way.”
Grine turned gently with a soft smile.
Gazing at the pitch-black horizon at the edge of the wasteland, she continued.
“If I have one desire, it’s to discover why elves were cursed like this. For that, I need to dig into the ancient history. But the stone tablets and materials preserved in the last forest have their limits.”
She added that while studying the records, she felt someone from the ancient times had deliberately tried to conceal history.
“All the books were missing key information. The damage seemed intentional. The stone tablets hadn’t been physically damaged—perhaps due to their durability—but none of them contained meaningful content.”
Ray recalled the stone tablet he had seen in the Tower of Binjin.
Indeed, it had many scratches too severe to be mere wear from age.
“That’s why I wanted to join the exploration team and head to the ruins. Finding my husband is important, of course—but I’m just as interested in uncovering history.”
“What if you don’t find enough information there?”
“That’s okay. I don’t plan to explore just one or two places. Time is the one weapon I have. And beyond the ruins—if the sky stays clear like now, we should be able to see it… Ah! There it is!”
Everyone followed Grine’s finger and looked up at the clear night sky.
Among the countless stars was a small, unlit mass.
Enhancing his vision to better identify the object, Ray unconsciously muttered,
“A land…?”
“That’s right. A massive landmass. It’s said to hold an archive where all the history of the old era is preserved.”
The boy’s stomach churned.
Though he was clearly sprinting with all his might, it felt as if the boundary of the world was racing past him at an even faster speed.
“……”
But only for a moment.
The tightness in his chest vanished, replaced by a surge of intense emotions—curiosity among them.
As he gazed at the land floating among the stars, the boy’s lips suddenly parted.
“If the elves lost their greed, then what did humans lose?”
