I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-440

**Chapter 440: Hidden Quest**

—

Auril’s sudden action left even me flustered.

I hadn’t imagined she would suddenly hug me.

Was the fact that I was Randolph really enough to provoke such an intense reaction?

Auril was in tears, her body trembling like a tragic heroine.

Of course, I was happy to see her too, but it wasn’t as if there had ever been any strange tension between us, so I could only accept it in an awkward posture.

“Why did you only come now?!”

“I was busy—”

“You touched me, and yet you only come now…!”

“……?”

*Touched?*
That was a statement just begging to be misunderstood.

When I blinked in confusion, the sharp-eared elves began whispering among themselves.

“He touched her!”

“A druid touched an elf?”

“I knew it. They didn’t look like ordinary acquaintances…”

There was no gossip quite like this.

I grabbed Auril by the shoulders and gently pulled her back.

“What do you mean I touched you?”

Even when I was in Randolph’s body, I hadn’t done anything of the sort to Auril.

We had fought while climbing the Tower of the War God, sure—

Was she talking about *that*?

“That’s when you allowed me to become an adult.”

“…….”

I honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

Then Dietrich, standing beside us, spoke up.

“Do you mean you performed the act that makes one an adult?”

“I didn’t do anything—”

“So you forced her into adulthood?”

“What on earth are you talking about…!”

“You wicked adult!”

Dietrich’s face flushed red as he bolted away.

But I was innocent.

I’d never done anything like *that*.

Since this was the first time I’d been caught in such a situation, even I was at a loss.

*Wait.*

In that fleeting moment, a memory crossed my mind.

“Are you talking about when I made the laurel leaves grow?”

“Yes. Thanks to that, I was finally able to grow after being stuck for so long.”

Ah……

My head spun for a moment.

Elves are a race of the forest, and the leaves of their mother trees grow in tandem with their bodies.

Auril’s leaf growth had been halted for a long time.

So when I, a druid, placed my hand on her, the leaves began to grow again.

“And the reason I stand here now is all thanks to you, Lord Randolph—no, should I call you Phantom now?”

“Call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“…It’s thanks to you, Phantom.”

Auril smiled brightly.

“Ah, I see. I thought it was something else…”

“Still, don’t you think it suits them?”

Cold sweat ran down my back, but at least the elves’ misunderstanding had been cleared.

I picked up the Guardian Holy Sword that had fallen to the ground.

“Then will you allow me to open the altar?”

“You’re going in right away?”

“We’ve already spent more time than expected.”

If the former queen hadn’t been so stubborn, I would have started the hidden quest long ago.

Still, it wasn’t as though the time had been wasted.

Thanks to it, Auril had ascended the throne.

If the queen had simply appointed a successor at her own discretion, Auril would never have become queen.

“Then I’ll go with you too—”

“The queen who must protect the forest can’t leave it. Besides, the High Elves will resist. If you leave immediately after ascending the throne, they might make an issue of it.”

“…That’s true.”

Auril looked at me with eyes full of regret.

But now that she was queen, she couldn’t follow me around as before.

She had to completely discard her immature self.

Otherwise, the High Elves would rebel.

They were quiet now because the Dryads and I were present, but if Auril showed even a moment of weakness, the High Elves might refuse to acknowledge her.

So it was best to give them no opening at all.

“You’ll be able to handle it.”

I placed my hand on Auril’s shoulder.

She was someone I could trust.

My greatest ally—my strongest comrade.

Someone I could entrust my back to on the battlefield without hesitation.

“…Yes. Thank you, Phantom.”

Our eyes met.

When we first met, she had been an elf who despised me.

After reading my desires, hadn’t she tried to swing her sword at me right away?

Later, when we traveled together, she’d often been treated like a nuisance—

Yet now, she had become a proper elf in her own right.

I felt proud.

“Ahem. Anyway, let’s depart right away.”

“Ah…! Yes. I’ll notify the elves at the altar immediately.”

After a long exchange of glances, I finally turned my head.

Then, regaining her composure, Auril began walking toward the altar with me.

Behind us, the elves chattered among themselves.

“They don’t seem like ordinary acquaintances…”

“Right? Did you see the way they looked at each other?”

“Is it love?”

“It’s love.”

“Love between a druid and an elf!”

Elves understood love.

They simply concealed their emotions thoroughly.

That had largely been due to the former queen’s influence.

But now that the former queen was gone, a wind of change was blowing through the Primordial Forest.

At that moment, one elf muttered,

“By the way, where did Elder Aruwen go?”

“That’s right. The queen ascended the throne, but she hasn’t shown herself at all.”

“She was close to Queen Auril, wasn’t she?”

“Exactly. The one who should be congratulating her at the front—where did she go?”

*

Primordial Forest.

Elder Aruwen of the elves was in utter turmoil.

“Lies…”

Tears fell drop by drop.

Her face was smeared with dirt.

She simply couldn’t believe the reality before her.

“Why…?”

And yet, she couldn’t deny it.

At the moment the queen died—

…Elder Aruwen awakened memories she had forgotten.

The lock placed on her memories by the queen had been forcibly undone.

Those memories were—

“Andrew…”

…Her memories with Priest Andrew.

The happy times they had shared.

But humans and elves could not be joined.

They must not be joined.

An elf mingling with another race was a taboo of taboos.

No one knew what terrible consequences might arise if the pure-blooded elven lineage mixed with another race.

And yet—

Elder Aruwen had broken that taboo.

While spending time with Priest Andrew, she had conceived a child.

Yes. There had been a child between them.

And now she remembered that child’s name.

“Andassar. My daughter.”

Andassar.

Yet Priest Andrew, whom she had been with until recently, had not mentioned her even once.

He had done everything he could to save her, but nowhere had she seen a child who could be Andassar.

Where had she gone?

Or had she seen her, but failed to recognize her?

—Both of them must be killed.
—The blood of the elves must not be tainted.

When the queen learned the truth, she had flown into a rage.

She had intended to kill both Priest Andrew and Andassar to preserve the purity of the bloodline.

Elder Aruwen had been left with no choice.

Except to forget.

For the queen had promised that if she never searched for them, both would be spared.

*I can’t stay like this.*

Elder Aruwen struggled to her feet.

She had seen Priest Andrew and still failed to remember him.

She had treated him coldly and cruelly.

And yet, Priest Andrew had gone to desperate lengths—even falling into corruption—to save her.

If it wasn’t too late, she had to change something.

But before going to him, there was something she had to confirm.

*Phantom. He will know.*

The man currently in the Primordial Forest.

The Druid of the Golden Scale—called Phantom in the Labyrinth.

There was a high chance he knew everything about her and Priest Andrew.

Elder Aruwen hurried on her way.

*

On the way to the altar, I had no choice but to stop again.

Elder Aruwen stood blocking my path, her face covered in tears and dirt.

“Where is Andassar?”

“……”

At the same time, I was left speechless.

It seemed her memories had returned.

But I couldn’t simply tell her the truth.

Andassar—

Her daughter had died and become a lich in the Labyrinth.

How could I possibly say that?

“You knew, didn’t you? About my relationship with Andrew.”

“…I did.”

“Then why did you pretend not to know?”

“Because that’s what he wanted.”

All of this was Priest Andrew’s wish.

I couldn’t interfere in their relationship.

Elder Aruwen asked carefully,

“Andassar… is she alive?”

“……”

“Of course she is, right? Where is she, and what is she doing? If she’s my daughter, she must be talented. She should be an adult by now.”

She was in the Labyrinth.

Having become an Arch Lich, she was living a new life as one of its guardians.

She had even played a major role in the war against the Reaper Cult.

But I couldn’t call that *alive*.

Biologically, she was dead.

Strictly speaking, she was a corpse.

A moving corpse.

“…Go to the Labyrinth.”

“What? I-Is my daughter, Andassar, there?”

“Yes.”

“Ah…!”

I understood the heart of a parent who wanted to see their child.

How could I stop such a heartfelt wish?

Now that she knew, it was only right to tell her.

“Thank you, thank you!”

Elder Aruwen bowed repeatedly before leaving.

She was likely heading for the Labyrinth.

I shook my head inwardly.

Auril’s ascension to the throne was certainly a joyous thing, but because of it, Elder Aruwen had regained her memories.

It wasn’t something I could celebrate wholeheartedly.

Andassar…

Would she be able to accept her child as an Arch Lich?

Could she forgive Priest Andrew?

All those judgments now rested with Elder Aruwen.

“…Are you all right?”

“Hm. I’m fine.”

I nodded and continued on.

After walking a few more minutes, a massive altar came into view.

An altar adorned with countless leaves.

An altar was, by nature, a place built to offer sacrifices and honor someone.

“I’ve heard this altar has existed since before elves settled in the Primordial Forest. We don’t know who it was built to honor, but elves have continued to protect it.”

That meant even the elves themselves didn’t know the exact reason they guarded it.

Auril continued her explanation.

“However… for a very long time, no one has been able to open it.”

“No one would have thought this was the key.”

The Guardian Holy Sword of the Cernil Kingdom.

How had the founding king of Cernil obtained this sword?

He knew it was the key to this altar.

But he likely didn’t know what this altar truly existed for.

Even I could only guess—I didn’t know its exact purpose.

The Guardian Holy Sword once wielded by the first Elf Queen of the Primordial Forest.

Forged from a World Tree, along with other unknown ultra-metals.

Most of those metals didn’t exist in Pangaenia.