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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The Tree of Agony
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Loan wasn't the only one who felt it.
Bang—!
Seeing Eger bar the entrance with a large bolt, it was clear he had sensed the situation outside as well.
Loan knew instinctively.
'The Union is here.'
He didn't know their purpose, but at the very least, they had to be better than the shelter, which did nothing but steal mana from people's bodies.
This special reading would likely only end after it had drained even the mana that was the very source of life.
'I just have to hold on a little longer.'
The situation was about to change.
He didn't know if it would change for the better for him. All he could do was what was necessary.
Loan maintained the convection of his mana, trying to read the book with a composed demeanor.
But the situation inside the annex was rapidly escalating.
"Is this all?"
"What? What the hell happened!"
"Is it a problem with the formula? Is it the child?"
"How should I know!"
A string of curses followed. The sound came from the pit beneath the curtain.
The clear, angry shouts forced Loan to pause his reading.
Eger, who had further blocked the door by toppling a large decorative sculpture, must have heard the noise too, as he started running toward the stairs.
He seemed to have completely forgotten about Loan.
"…"
Left alone, Loan hesitated for a moment before heading for the stairs.
He could have, of course, gone toward the exit. The obstacles Eger had set up would be no problem if he used mana.
But his heart was drawn downward.
He was pulled like a magnet toward that jet-black, turbid mass of mana, which was endlessly crying out with emotion.
Just as Loan finally stepped into the stairwell.
From the bottom of the spiral staircase, a loud bang was followed by voices.
"Eger. What's with you all of a sudden…"
"What's wrong? Why?"
"You sons of bitches… Did you do something wrong?"
"W-well, your Le Tell would know better than us…"
Eger's usually impassive voice was loud and high-pitched. In contrast, the other two sounded terrified.
He didn't know what had happened down there.
But driven by intense curiosity and an inexplicable pull, Loan felt no fear as he descended.
A damp air gradually filled his senses.
In it was the stench of something rotting, mixed with the metallic smell of blood.
Frowning, Loan carefully made his way down and finally set foot on the last step.
The basement had the same structure as the annex hall.
The difference was that the air was filled with a dark mana, incomparably more turbid than that of the floor above.
And that there was a path of candles leading from directly below where Loan stood to the center of the basement.
And at the end of that path, a tree stood inexplicably.
'A tree in the basement?'
The tree wasn't tall.
About the height of an adult. But its trunk was incredibly wide.
The visible width was about four or five meters, so including its circumference, it had an enormous base relative to its height.
A strange tree that was a mass of black mana itself.
He heightened his senses, but that was all he could make out through the murky mana.
Loan wanted to see it more clearly.
Just then, the other three had their backs to Loan, caught in a scuffle—or more accurately, Eger was brutally beating one of them.
He had grabbed the director by the throat with one hand, lifted him up, and was striking his face with the palm of his other hand.
Naturally, none of the three had the mind to pay attention to Loan, so amidst the commotion, he slowly walked toward the tree.
"Hoo…"
He focused his mind more on the circulation of his mana.
The flow of air around Loan accelerated, picking up speed. Soon, the convection drew in the surrounding darkness, stripped it away, and expelled it in all directions.
The distance closed as light and darkness mixed in a dizzying display.
Only then did Loan realize the tree's true nature.
"People…"
had become the tree.
They weren't impaled on or hanging from an old tree.
Their arms and legs were intertwined, tightly bound together without a single gap, forming the trunk.
People, mouths agape as if in a final scream, had hardened into a tree, their agony frozen in place.
Their naked bodies were scorched and cracked like half-burnt birch, no longer recognizable as skin.
Their fingertips, stretched out chaotically in every direction, had sharpened into points, resembling branches.
But they were, nonetheless, people.
How could anyone do this?
Loan, utterly shocked by the sight, could only blink as he scanned the people.
And then…
his gaze froze on one spot, and he unconsciously took a step back.
"Pauline… Mom?"
It was her, the one who used to take young Loan begging.
The woman who had cherished and cared for him, who had told him that you're never alone if you hold someone you love in your heart, the woman who had left the shelter to become a maid at a noble's estate, was here.
"Why are you…"
A sword was plunged into her chest.
The longsword pierced through Pauline and the person behind her, preserving them both whole.
The smile she used to give Loan was gone.
Her eyes were wide open, her mouth torn.
Her form, frozen in a scream with an arm outstretched desperately toward something, was a perfect vessel of her agony.
Loan's body froze as he watched, only his eyes trembling with unease.
Sorrow, grief, pain…
All sorts of negative emotions and every malicious thought imaginable began to churn and race through his mind.
His body, his chest, his head grew hot.
Loan's mind was focused solely on Pauline.
And so.
"You little rat."
He didn't notice Eger's presence until the man grabbed his head with one hand and lifted him up.
He felt no pain.
Dead, but not dead.
He could only stare at his poor Pauline, bound by the dark, turbid mana.
"It's all ruined because of you."
While Eger was preoccupied with Loan, the vice-director abandoned her dead husband and hurried to flee.
But she didn't get far.
Thwack—!
In an instant, she was sent flying into a wall.
Eger turned at the sound and shouted.
"Blake!"
"Eger, what is all this?"
Blake, who had killed the vice-director in a single blow, approached with a deep frown.
Loan, still held in Eger's grasp, stared at Blake with unfocused eyes.
He looked as though he'd been doused in blood, covered in wounds.
"Uhm, well… I was trying to make one more fruit before the Union arrived…"
"Bullshit. Did they talk you into it?"
He nudged the director with his foot as he asked. Eger simply nodded.
"Then why is there no fruit? You had plenty of time."
"I'm not sure…"
Eger held out his other hand to Blake.
In his palm was a small, withered fruit that had failed to ripen. Yet its color and light were brilliant.
Eger, looking terrified, stammered out an explanation.
"Loan did the reading… but only this grew… and this brat didn't die… and somehow he snuck down here…"
Blake tilted his head, glancing between Loan and the fruit, before cutting Eger off.
"You did something foolish! You idiots…"
Eger's body flinched at his words.
Blake took the fruit, put it in his pocket, and said to Eger.
"Let's get out of here for now."
"What about him?"
"Bring him."
With that, Blake approached the tree.
As Eger turned, Loan was naturally able to watch Blake's actions.
Blake…
reached for the hilt of the longsword embedded in Pauline's chest.
Soon, Blake's turbid mana began to ripple. The flow of mana reversed course, traveling up his fingertips, through the sword, and connecting with Pauline.
In that moment, Loan's eyes shot wide open.
Every memory, prediction, and guess that surfaced in his mind was ominous and revolting.
'Why don't you have a sword if you're a swordsman?'
'Hmm… Well, I had to use it for something else for a bit.'
The image that came to mind was so horrific that his lips and jaw began to tremble uncontrollably.
Shhhnnng—
After a sound like grinding metal, Blake pulled the longsword completely free from Pauline's body.
From Pauline's chest, a viscous blood so red it looked black gushed out.
Like the sap of a tree, it coated the sword Blake had drawn.
Blake then ran his eyes along the blade and wiped it with his other hand.
The blood transformed into turbid mana and enveloped the sword.
"Nice."
Blake looked quite satisfied.
Then, as if testing the sword's cutting edge, he casually swung it at a nearby branch.
Pauline's arm was severed, tumbling uselessly to the floor.
But Loan heard nothing.
The first time he had ever felt such rage.
His muscles and tendons contracted violently, and the circulating mana went berserk.
Loan unconsciously raised his arms and gripped Eger's wrist with both hands.
"Huh?"
Like tearing a thick hardcover book in half, Loan snapped the bone and ripped the muscle, dropping to the floor.
"Aaargh!"
He plunged both hands into Eger's thick neck, from which a scream was erupting, and pulled them wide apart.
The path of sound and breath was severed.
His first kill.
But Loan had no time to ponder or think about it.
His mind was already filled with a single thought, a single emotion.
"Heh…"
Blake, watching the scene, let out a hollow, disbelieving laugh.
"Bloodlines are no joke, but… I didn't think it would be like this. Looks like you can use mana now, little brother?"
Loan didn't even spare him a glance, walking over to Pauline.
Resin-like blood still flowed from Pauline's chest. He didn't know if it was Pauline's or the tree's.
Just as—
she had once done for him.
As if conveying his heart into hers.
Loan, tears streaming down his face, placed a hand on Pauline's chest.
In that moment.
The turbid mana binding Pauline collided with the mana enveloping Loan.
Wooooo—
Loan focused on the flow of mana that had made Pauline something other than herself.
From the whole to the parts, from the parts to even smaller parts.
He observed for a split second, until the mass became a cluster, and the cluster became particles.
And then he intervened in its movement, devising a way to reverse the flow.
Fortunately, Loan's circulation was superior in both speed and stability.
As if reversing the current of a river, Loan interfered with the turbid mana.
Pauline's mana, naturally drawn by Loan's intense convection, began to burst forth and scatter.
Light and darkness, tangled together, began to spin rapidly around Loan.
With breaths taken between sobs, Loan drew the wandering mana into his body and circulated it even faster.
Just then.
A certain thought seeped into Loan's body and mind.
It was someone's thought, made of perfect darkness—or perhaps a wish, a fantasy, or an unrealized future.
The fragmented scenes, engraved into him like broken pieces, were filled with despair.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people he had never seen before lay dead.
The survivors screamed beside them.
A being of perfect darkness floating in the sky was so overwhelming that it rendered even their screams meaningless.
In the midst of it all stood a handsome, scar-covered young man in a black suit.
The moment Loan realized that man was his future self.
The turbid mana was dyed anew with pure light.
It spread throughout Loan's body, swirling in all directions.
As if exceeding its capacity, the inside of Loan's body lit up, bright enough to burst.
Then suddenly—
the excess mana gathered into a single mass—
and settled in his heart.
Spinning furiously.
Wooooooooooong—
Loan gently placed a hand on his chest and looked into Pauline's heart.
His heart, shining brighter than ever, felt incredibly warm.
Thanks to it, the anger and sorrow that had filled him to the brim moments before vanished completely, and the thought that had seeped into him was purified.
Loan accepted this incomprehensible phenomenon as Pauline's love.
Perhaps, her words had finally come true.
And so, Pauline remained whole within Loan's heart.
"Is the tearful reunion over now?"
Loan slowly turned to face Blake.
He had the tip of his sword aimed at Loan.