The ruins that appeared with the sudden earthquake resembled an ancient Greek temple.
Moreover, although it had clearly been abandoned beneath the lake for quite some time, the exterior was so clean that you could believe it had just been built.
Iris and I carefully stepped onto the stone platform and made our way towards the ruins.
The ruins we arrived at, just like when viewed from a distance, had an unsettling atmosphere due to their excessive preservation.
"The World Tree's temple…"
Looking at the ruins, Iris murmured in a small voice.
"World Tree?"
"Yes, I've only seen it in ancient murals, but from the architectural style to the golden tree symbolizing the World Tree engraved everywhere on the outer walls and pillars, it's certain. This is a temple built thousands of years ago to serve the World Tree."
Stroking the outer wall of the temple and looking around, Iris, as expected, was observing her surroundings with the curious eyes of a scholar.
'Should I increase the output even more?'
Light, a basic magic that most mages learn, simply has the effect of brightly illuminating the surroundings.
About the size of a small flashlight?
But if you slightly touched the part of the magic circle that makes up the light magic, which is responsible for the intensity of the light source…
Flash-
You could brightly illuminate the entire temple.
I couldn't do it for long, at most an hour? It was a modified magic circle, so it was somewhat successful, except for the problem that the efficiency was very low.
"Wow! Hyunwoo, that's the modified magic I taught you last time?"
"It's basic, but still…"
After stroking Iris's head, who was delighted at her disciple's growth, we carefully moved our feet into the temple.
Thanks to the enhanced light magic, the inside of the temple was very bright.
'Next time I come, I should bring a high-performance magic generator and some lighting.'
Until I escape, I should live like a human.
The inside of the temple was much more desolate than I thought.
"Hyunwoo, there's something over there."
At the tip of Iris's finger was a small altar and a skinny tree.
There was only a bit of dust on the altar, and no other offerings were visible.
"Oh no…"
Iris's worried voice was heard.
She was stroking the tree behind the altar, wiping away tears.
Whether it was because she was an elf, or because Iris was so kind.
"It's serious."
The tree looked so lifeless that a tree in a wildfire area would look healthier.
"If only I could call a dryad…"
Comforting the sulking Iris, I looked at the tree a little more.
It was slightly larger than the trees used in the landscaping of apartments or parking lots. Other than that, there didn't seem to be any special features.
'…Something's wrong.'
A sense of unease.
My instinct told me that the source of the unease that had been intensely stabbing my whole body since entering the temple was this tree.
But even when I carefully flowed magic power into the tree, it didn't show any reaction.
'Could it be.'
I turned my head, wondering.
"Iris, would you like to inject magic power into this tree?"
"Excuse me? Magic power…?"
"Who knows? It's a tree placed in the temple of the World Tree, the god of the elves, so maybe it'll become healthier if it receives the magic power of the Elf Queen?"
"Hmm…"
It was a vague guess, but nothing seemed to go wrong.
Iris ended her short deliberation and placed her hand on the tree.
Her unique green magic power shone, and that energy was transferred to the tree.
The tree seemed to shine for a moment, but soon became quiet as if nothing had happened.
'…Is this not it?'
Honestly, I thought this suddenly appearing temple might be the key to escape.
'Should I offer something to the altar?'
Since it's the World Tree, should I bring fertilizer or tree nutrients from Earth?
"Hy, Hyunwoo!"
"?"
When I turned my head at the urgent voice calling me, a change was happening to the skinny tree.
Clearly, life was overflowing from the dying tree. No, the tree, which was full of fresh young leaves, was shining golden.
It was truly the reincarnation of the golden tree.
"The effect is amazing."
The change didn't end there.
The tree, which had regained its vitality in an instant, spread its branches throughout the temple. A golden light brighter than the light source of my light magic filled the inside of the temple.
The tree was at least three times larger than when I first saw it.
"Iris, you could get a job as a gardener."
"Excuse me? Oh, no! My magic power doesn't have the effect of growing trees!"
"Then what's that?"
"I wonder…?"
As the size gradually increased, and the inside of the temple turned into a botanical garden, I wondered if I had touched something wrong.
But.
[My child.]
"?!"
"Eek?!"
Such worries disappeared in an instant with the voice that seemed to strike directly into my head without passing through my eardrums.
Reflexively, I quickly looked around, but there was only Iris and me here.
"Could it be."
"Wo, World Tree…?"
As if answering that, the golden tree shone once again.
[My child.]
"O, Oh… Mother…"
Iris, with big tears falling, approached the golden tree as if possessed.
At that sight, I grabbed Iris.
"Hyunwoo…?"
"Wait."
I drew magic power from the circle.
If that tree was really the World Tree, there was something I had to ask.
"If you're really the World Tree, there's something I need to ask."
Unrefined anger rose up my throat and was spat out in the form of words.
"Why did you lock her up? Why did you depose her? You appointed her, so is taking her down again your will?"
It's been a full 200 years.
I have to repeat my life ten times to reach 200 years.
For such a long time, Iris spent 200 years alone in this dark, damp, and empty space.
"Explain properly before I burn it all down."
Even so, Iris didn't show any resentment towards the World Tree.
Why?
Because that's religion, and the mindset of a believer towards the existence of a god.
Of course, if Iris feels happy meeting the World Tree, I'm fine with it.
But I know.
Given her personality, no matter what dissatisfaction she holds, she'll never say a single harsh word to the World Tree and keep it all inside, so I have no choice but to step in.
Why did she abandon herself? How much has Iris wanted to ask over the past 200 years?
[…]
"A god, instead of apologizing right away, is trying to get by just by freeloading on the heart of her believer?"
"Hy, Hyunwoo…!"
A huge fireball rises above my palm.
"If you're really a proper god, you should give the believer who had to endure alone in this crappy place for 200 years because of you the utmost sincerity, apology, and explanation that you can."
Otherwise, I'm going to burn every branch and root of the tree.
Iris couldn't say anything at the sight of Hyunwoo she had never seen before.
It wasn't that she couldn't understand his feelings, but to Iris, who has infinite affection for God, his words were too harsh.
Even so, Iris didn't resent or disappoint Kang Hyunwoo.
Even the fragments of his intense anger were for her.
[My child.]
The World Tree broke the heavy silence and opened its mouth.
[Like he said, I must apologize to you.]
"Mo, Mother… There's no need for such words…"
[Even if there were circumstances, the pain you received will not disappear. There's no way for me to make up for the past 200 years of suffering you've sent me, but I swear I will repay you someday.]
The branches reached out to Iris like a person's arms, and embraced her as she was.
[I'm sorry, and I love you.]
With that short word, Iris, embraced by the World Tree, quietly wiped away tears without saying anything.
***
In the sanctuary of Elves' kingdom, Feledia, is enshrined the symbol of the World Tree.
A symbol refers to a creature or object that has been an object of faith for believers for a long time and has transformed to symbolize God himself.
And the symbol of the World Tree was a giant tree that had lived for ten thousand years in the forest enshrined in the sanctuary.
[Two hundred years ago, I lost the connection path to the symbol.]
"Lost?"
[Unfortunately, I don't know the details either. I've only been wasting time for the past 200 years with the connection to the ground cut off.]
At the World Tree's explanation, both Iris and I thought of the same thing.
"So that means… Iris being deposed wasn't something you intervened in?"
[Of course. There is no child in present Feledia more suitable for the throne than this child. I guess it must be the machinations of those who tampered with the connection path between me and the symbol.]
'…That's a relief.'
I had half expected it from the moment the World Tree spoke to us, but there's a big difference between hearing it from the person himself and not.
As a result, Iris was able to gain the conviction that she had not been abandoned by the god and mother she loved most.
"Sniff, sniff…"
Anger towards the perpetrators was piling up at the sight of Iris quietly wiping away tears.
Revenge is Iris's, but if she forgives them.
Then I'll intervene.
"By the way, is it even possible to cut off the connection between God and the symbol…?"
I didn't think it was right to continue using informal speech even though I knew that the World Tree didn't intervene in Iris's deposition and imprisonment.
Anyway, even breaking the barrier of the Commons, which is maintained by the World Tree's magic power, requires holy relics.
And even more than that, the symbol of God, by an elf?
Of course, this isn't a racially discriminatory statement. Iris is also an elf.
But it's too big of a scale for something that just a national minister would do.
[It is true that there is no precedent, but it cannot be said that it is impossible. Perhaps there was the intervention of another deity.]
"Do you perhaps know who that intervening deity is?"
So I can find them and kill them later.
I don't know if I can kill a god, but wouldn't it be possible if I destroyed every god's temple and killed their believers?
It's not for nothing that they say a forgotten god is a dead god.
[…Unfortunately, I don't know at this time.]
Was it my imagination that I felt resentment in the World Tree's unwavering voice?
[Since the other children except for the royal family cannot hear my voice, it was impossible to investigate the incident. Moreover, this Commons is the only place in the forest where my voice does not reach the royal child.]
"Wait a minute…? Then Resilia knew that and imprisoned Iris here?"
[In the circumstances, it would be reasonable to think so.]
I feel like I'm gradually seeing the outline of the incident.
An elf who worships the World Tree as the only god colluded with another deity to usurp the throne, and to make matters worse, committed some kind of outrage against the symbol of the race's only god, cutting off the connection with God.
Moreover, she knew the special nature of this Commons, which even the royal Iris didn't know?
'…I wonder if the country called Feledia will still be around when I go outside?'
[You don't have to worry about that.]
'? Did you read my mind… Ah, right.'
A god can do that much.
I was quickly convinced.
[God and believers are always connected. The prayers that believers offer to God are bidirectional. Judging from the fact that the emotional state of the elves is not much different from before, the state affairs don't seem to be very chaotic.]
That was a lucky break.
I'd be a little embarrassed if it was a wasteland when I got out of here.
[My child, I'm sorry I'm late.]
"No… It wasn't something Mother wanted either. I'm so happy just knowing that…"
After that, Iris talked to the World Tree for a long time, acting as if she was being spoiled by her parents.
At that sight, I entered meditation to understand the 2nd circle I had recently reached in more detail.
How much time had passed like that?
[Kang Hyunwoo.]
I opened my eyes at the World Tree's call.
[You seem to want to get this child out of here.]
"Yes, since we're on the subject, can you get us out of here?"
[That would be difficult. In my current state, I cannot interfere with the ground. Thanks to the existence of this temple and my fragment, I can have this conversation, but I cannot accomplish anything beyond that.]
I thought it would be easy to go, but there's no way such a thing could happen in my fate.
Actually, I didn't expect it.
For some reason, I thought it would be like that.
[Instead, there is a way to get out of here.]
When the World Tree's branches pointed to the altar, the altar began to move to the side with a buzzing sound.
[There is a dungeon deep underground in this Commons.]
A circular staircase leading underground appeared where the altar had disappeared.
[Bring my holy relic sealed in the lowest level of the dungeon. If you have that, you will be able to escape from here, as well as help you with the trials ahead.]