#218. The Scene Looked Up At (2)
—
The boy climbed to the top of the World Tree and gazed out at the world.
An endless expanse of yellow wasteland.
Gray roads branching out like lines on a palm.
Scattered ruins and abandoned vehicles.
The objects far below on the ground appeared only as dots and lines.
“Haa.”
Was the shortness of breath because of the high altitude?
Or was it because of the thrill that gripped his body?
He couldn’t tell, but one thing was certain — the world that had been hidden until now was finally revealing its true face.
…Though not all of it.
The panorama before him was finite.
The stretching wilderness disappeared at the distant edge of the horizon, and the roads, as if to reveal the limits of human exploration, were broken in many places.
But that was enough.
Enough for the boy to feel an overwhelming sense of scale, the likes of which he had never experienced before.
“…….”
Slowly turning his gaze, the boy’s eyes stopped at a certain point.
‘A mountain…?’
The silhouette visible at the northern edge of the horizon had the shape of a massive mountain range.
Mana, piercingly blue, raged across the landscape, and when he enhanced his eyesight with magic, he realized it was a fierce wind mixed with snow and ice.
He was stunned.
Considering the season was winter and how incredibly far away that place was, it still didn’t make sense — the climate difference was too extreme.
‘A phenomenon caused by the difference in mana concentration in the atmosphere. There’s no better explanation than that.’
Other phenomena seen at the horizons in different directions supported this assumption.
A sky struck by endless lightning.
Ground from which fierce flames burst through cracks.
And truly enormous footprints.
Around each of these phenomena, manas of various colors rampaged.
Then, after passing west and south, his gaze finally landed on the east — the Elton River.
Splash── splash──
The massive river, winding and flowing, continued beyond the horizon, its end unknowable.
At that moment, a huge black silhouette moving beneath the water caught his eye.
“…….”
He wondered what it might be but couldn’t find an answer, and shifted his thoughts to the sectors aligned along the Elton River.
Sector 36, Sector 37, Sector 38, and…
Though he couldn’t see all the way back to Sector 50, their starting point, he could still take in quite a number of sectors at a glance.
The pattern was clear: the higher the sector number, the closer together they were placed.
Sector 28, Sector 27, Sector 26, and…
As the boy traced the sectors with his eyes, he suddenly noticed something strange.
Sector 25 was missing.
At the edge of Sector 26’s outer road, where it should have connected to the next sector, there was only empty wasteland.
This too was incomprehensible.
He had always assumed that the sectors continued all the way to Sector 1.
Puzzled, the boy enhanced his vision further — and saw that the mana across the wasteland was fluctuating.
‘A distortion field.’
A massive dome-shaped distortion, as if several sectors had been combined into one.
It was an easy conclusion to draw — something was hidden there.
Swoosh.
Finally, the boy lifted his gaze.
The black cloud-covered sky felt close enough to touch, but when he actually reached out, he realized it was still a long way off.
“…….”
The World Tree’s height had yet to reach the sky island.
It was a disappointing reality, but he wasn’t particularly let down.
Just being able to witness things he could never have seen from the ground was already a tremendous gain.
Rustle, rustle.
Just then, the leaves rustled, and a head popped out.
“Ugh! Finally caught up! What the— you can actually ride that spirit—!”
Isra, speaking breathlessly, looked around and fell into a daze.
As if hypnotized, he climbed up beside Ray and blankly stared out at the world.
After a long while, he spoke.
“This is… really amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. Ray, you too, right? This is your first time at such a height too?”
Isra looked at Ray, seeming to seek confirmation that he wasn’t the only one overwhelmed.
…A high place.
They had climbed many rooftops during their journey, but for some reason, what flashed through Ray’s mind was the junk heap of Sector 50.
Sector 50, the scrap pile of the junkyard.
The boy had often sat atop it, looking out over the sector and the wastelands.
…That had been the whole world to him.
But now, he was clearly at a greater height — and able to see much more.
Then, looking up at the sky, Isra asked,
“But it’s a shame. Just a little higher and we could see the sky beyond the clouds. Hey, is there any way to make the World Tree grow even more from here?”
“That’s impossible. It’s already reached its growth limit.”
“Growth limit?”
Ray nodded.
The World Tree, having grown far beyond its normal adult size, now required an exponential amount of mana for any further growth.
Even pouring all the green mana from the jewel wouldn’t meaningfully increase its height anymore.
And it would remain that way.
Unless Ray’s ability to wield green mana took another major step forward.
“Isra, do you usually feel a sense of belonging?”
“Huh? Belonging? To what?”
“To Rael Row, or to the dwarves.”
Isra thought for a moment before answering.
“I guess I have to. No matter how much I keep saying I want to leave Rael Row, I can’t deny it’s where I’ve lived all my life. And being a dwarf — well, that’s not something I can change either. So yeah, I feel a sense of belonging to both.”
“If you had to pick the stronger one?”
“Hmm, being a dwarf, maybe? But that’s kind of a random question.”
“…….”
Ray silently stared at the green emotions swirling in Isra’s vessel.
In truth, it wasn’t such a random question.
It was part of his investigation into emotions that could amplify the power of green mana through resonance.
Curiosity and a sense of belonging.
Curiosity — he felt he had more than enough.
But belonging — he felt sorely lacking.
‘…Feeling a sense of belonging to one’s own race.’
It was an idea that felt foreign to him, something he had neither experienced nor thought he ever would.
Humans, after all, spent their lives sharpening blades against each other.
Exceptions were rare.
Rustle, rustle.
“Ahh! Ray! Control your pet! I’m gonna fall! I’m gonna fall!”
Turning at the commotion, Ray saw Isra flailing atop a branch.
Laqria’s movements had caused the entire branch and leaves to shake.
“She’s not a pet. She’s a friend.”
“Friend, pet, whatever! Just calm her down! If she keeps moving that huge body like that— I’m dead! A handsome, tall dwarf— dead!”
Laqria had lifted her body higher up the World Tree.
It looked like she was yearning to touch something beyond the clouds.
The vessel radiated a brilliant green light of belonging.
Ray placed his palm on Laqria’s yellow, scale-like skin and spoke to her.
‘Why? What’s up there?’
But the spirit, overflowing with excitement, gave no clear response.
Ray withdrew his hand.
After pulling Isra back up onto the branch, they moved to a more stable spot and opened a ration pack together.
Rip—
“Phew, barely survived. I almost made it onto the list of dwarves who died stupid deaths — fallen from a branch during a spirit’s rampage.”
“That’s a very specific list.”
“…It’s just an expression. There’s no real list.”
The ration pack contained canned meat, compressed grain bars, and chocolate.
While eating, Isra spoke.
“If I had finished my flying device, we could’ve gone even higher.”
“Flying device?”
“I never told you? One of my dreams is to reach the Sky Island.”
“I remember that part. But I don’t think you ever mentioned a flying device.”
“Oh, right. It’s nothing big. I’ve been building a mechanical flying device personally. It’s not really a secret.”
Isra said he had been crafting wing-type flight devices that could be attached to the body since he was a kid.
“The reaction from others hasn’t been great. Flying is extremely difficult, technically speaking. Maybe for a few seconds, sure — but flying for minutes at a time is almost impossible. Plus, dwarves are a race that lives underground, so people say there’s no reason for us to even desire the sky. Hearing that over and over made me wonder if I was just wasting my time. I almost thought about giving up—”
“That’s cool.”
“—Huh?”
“It’s cool.”
“Hiccup.”
Caught off guard, Isra hiccupped.
It was so unexpected, and coming from someone so unexpected, that it shocked him.
It was as if Rockdeer suddenly spoke human language.
“Hiccup, you said it’s cool?”
“Philip once told me: if you have a clear goal you want to achieve, and you’re working hard toward it, that’s already a pretty cool life. So yeah, you’re cool.”
The word “cool” echoed inside the dwarf boy’s mind.
“If you’re not gonna eat that canned meat, can I have it?”
“Oh, uh, hiccup, sure.”
Without realizing it, ownership of the canned meat transferred.
Meanwhile, Laqria, now reduced to a smaller size from exhaustion, clambered across the branch and wrapped around Ray’s arm.
After finishing their meal, Ray moved to an outer branch with a better view of the landscape and sat down.
And then—
Scratch— scratch— scratch—
He began to capture the scenery on a blank canvas.
*
Those who saw the sketchbook’s drawings reacted with a variety of emotions.
“There are lots of familiar landmarks here. Things we encountered while wandering with Rael Row for so many years.”
“But this snow-covered mountain, we’ve never seen anything like it before, have we?”
“Seeing all those landscapes compressed like this… it’s stirring a lot of memories.”
The elders shared both joy and a sense of nostalgia.
“This one’s obvious at a glance! It’s the Elton River! And the clusters of buildings beside it must be the sectors! But… what’s the shadow in the river supposed to be?”
Veronica’s eyes sparkled with amazement and curiosity.
“As expected… the more time passes, the more it feels like my understanding of the world is breaking down. Just months ago, I thought the Last Forest was all there was.”
Grine, looking at the magical phenomena drawn at each horizon, showed a spark of scholarly interest.
And Curiosa—
“There’s no such thing as Sector 25…?”
She was thrown into deep confusion and doubt.
“Kid, you’re not lying to me, are you?”
“You can sense others’ emotions strongly, right? Based on your judgment, do I seem like I’m lying?”
“……”
A long silence followed.
Ray continued with another question.
“You said you’ve never been above Sector 26, right?”
“That’s right. I’ve only ever acted according to the doctor’s instructions.”
“Have you ever thought about going above it?”
“Not even once.”
“Why not?”
“Why… why… why, indeed.”
After repeating the same words for a while, Curiosa spoke in a voice of realization.
“Why did it never occur to me to go up there…?”
“There’s a possibility that the doctor placed a mental restriction on you.”
Ray continued, locking eyes with her as he raised her mask.
“For example, something like hypnosis. Or some unknown sorcery that binds emotions. That seems like the most likely explanation.”
“……”
Perhaps from the shock, Curiosa remained dazed for a long while before speaking in a fierce voice.
“That damn bastard… So the doctor wanted us executives to never come up to the upper sectors and just act like puppets in our designated places.”
Curiosa let out a laugh.
It was a laugh steeped in bitter rage.
*
Soon, all the dwarves of Rael Row began preparations to construct the underground city.
“Move! Hurry!”
“Team 3, over here!”
Drills and all sorts of equipment were brought out, and dwarves in outdoor gear bustled about in all directions.
Watching the scene, Grine turned to Ray and said,
“I’ll go back to the Last Forest. I have to tell our kin that we’ve found a new home.”
“……”
“Is there something you’d like to say?”
“Grine, elves consider the forest part of their community—something they see as belonging to the same group, right?”
“That’s right. I believe I mentioned that before.”
“In that case—”
Ray took a breath.
Then he continued.
“I’ll come with you. I need to meet the World Tree of the Last Forest.”
