Chapter 308: Sienna Merdein (4) [Bonus Image]
“I woke up immediately afterward, though I wasn’t actually able to move my body just yet,” Sienna said as she described what had happened to her after Raizakia was killed.
Once her soul had left the dimensional rift, it returned to her body that was sealed within the World Tree.
It was all because of Raizakia’s poison that Sienna had been sealed away for the past two hundred years. That poison hadn’t just affected Sienna but had invaded all the elves who had stood in Raizakia’s way at that time.
But the World Tree wasn’t simply the largest and oldest Fairy Tree. The World Tree was a sacred tree that had existed long before the race of elves had even been born into this world. That was why the elves regarded the World Tree as the center of their religion. Whether it was their deceased ancestors or their own future deceased selves, all elves believed their souls would be guided to the World Tree after dying to safeguard their race.
It was unknown whether this was truly the case, but it was an indisputable fact that the World Tree was able to perform miracles similar to those of the God of Light.
“You might have experienced this as well, but such a miracle was only able to be performed by working through the spirits dwelling within the World Tree,” Sienna revealed.
Controlling those spirits with summoning magic was impossible. This meant that such miracles couldn’t be performed at will like they could be with divine magic.
Sienna continued, “The elves and I could survive for those two hundred years because the Spirits of the World Tree were actively neutralizing the poison in our bodies. However, with Raizakia dead, that annoying poison completely vanished.”
Thanks to that, Sienna and the elves regained consciousness, but it was still impossible for them to start moving on their own right away. Sienna needed to restore her broken body, and she also needed to arrange meetings with the elves who were waking up in ones and twos.
“The power of the World Tree has been greatly weakened because it had to do so many things in these two hundred years. It must have consumed a lot of power by just lending me the strength needed to drive away Raizakia while protecting both me and the other elves, but then it needed to send my soul to your side and even bring you back from the brink of death,” Sienna reminded Eugene.
The elves, who had now awoken from being sealed, had decided to concentrate on taking care of the World Tree for the time being.
Located somewhere in the depths of the Samar Rainforest, it seemed that the elven territory would continue to reject any visitations from outsiders, just as it had been doing so far.
“There are also quite a lot of elves in the Lionheart estate,” Eugene informed her.
Three years ago, Eugene had brought back around a hundred elves to live in the forest within the Lionheart estate. He had also made sure to publicize this fact. This was done to publicly assert the Lionheart’s position as the greatest source of support for the elves and also spread the word that they would provide unconditional protection to any wandering or escaped elves.
Since then, the number of elves living with the Lionhearts had increased little by little as escaped elven slaves and elves that either wandered around or lived in hiding to avoid being enslaved arrived at their gates.
There were also a few owners of elven slaves and slave traders themselves who had knocked on the Lionhearts’ doors.
This was because of the offer that the Lionhearts had attached to their proclamation. The Lionhearts would pay a bounty for any elf brought to them. However, a few of those visitors had also been hoping to use this as an opportunity to open up a relationship with the Lionheart clan.
Eugene didn’t know the full details regarding this issue. This was because of Gilead and Ancilla, who were in charge of the family and were responsible for dealing with this kind of matter. In any case, the number of elves living within the Lionheart’s forest had increased considerably, their number having already surpassed a hundred and fifty.
“There are also three saplings from the World Tree,” Eugene added.
Thanks to the elves’ diligent care, the saplings had also shown tremendous growth. The Lionheart forest also benefited a lot from the saplings.
The current Lionheart forest was as rich in mana as an ordinary leyline, and there was an abundance of spirits as well. This naturally led to the strengthening of the Lionheart clan’s knightly orders. The rich mana helped accelerate the advancements of the Knights, and the ones who were considered particularly outstanding among their number had even managed to sign a contract with the spirits.
“That’s good news,” Sienna said with a cheerful laugh. “After we all woke up, the Elven Elders’ first concern was about the elves who hadn’t been in the territory at that time.”
Eugene suddenly thought to inform her, “Signard is also at the Lionheart estate.”
At these words, Sienna’s steps came to a halt. It had been Signard’s parents who had picked up and raised Sienna after she was abandoned in the Rainforest. Although Sienna and Signard were of different races, they regarded each other as siblings.
“...Elder brother… is he well?” Sienna asked cautiously.
“He did catch the disease, but he looks healthy enough,” Eugene reassured her.
In regards to the Demonic Disease that had killed many elves, Sienna was also well-acquainted with that disease.
Three hundred years ago, the Demonic Disease had begun to spread among the elves from the moment that the Demon Kings of Helmuth had aimed their blades at the continent, causing the deaths of countless elves and the corruption of many others as they became dark elves to escape their deaths.
“Thank goodness,” Sienna said with a sincere sigh of relief.
Seeing Sienna’s eyes grow damp with unshed tears, Eugene quickly added, “No, I’m telling you, he really is very healthy. He eats well every day and even goes out on walks. And I don’t know where he keeps getting them from, but he keeps giving Mer candies and sweets while saying she really resembles you. Do you want to know what he did when I told him that he shouldn’t feed that kind of thing to Mer since it wasn’t good for her body?”
“What did my elder brother do?” Sienna asked.
Eugene answered, “He tried to give her the roots of some kind of plant or tree while saying they were good for the body and tasted sweet when chewed. Can you believe that?”
Sienna smiled, “Did Mer really chew on those?”
“Would you?” Eugene scoffed. “She accepted it with a grateful attitude, then threw it away later.”
Sienna giggled as Eugene spoke.
Two hundred years was a long time, even for the elves.
During the short period after they had barely managed to survive Raizakia’s attack, the souls of the ancestral elves dwelling within the World Tree had given Sienna the knowledge of how to overcome her current crisis. That was how Sienna managed to conceal their territory to protect the World Tree and the elves within while also interfering with the memories of all the elves who had been left outside.
“At that time, I was already dying,” Sienna recalled.
So how had she been able to cast such a spell all on her own? Her memories of that time were faint. It was the same case when she tried to recall how she had managed to block Raizakia’s breath attack. Even in perfect condition, it would have been impossible for Sienna to defeat Raizakia all by herself, but at that time, Sienna had actually been on the verge of death from the huge hole in her chest.
At that moment, Sienna absolutely shouldn’t have been able to stop Raizakia. If the World Tree and the other elves hadn’t lent their power to Sienna, Raizakia’s Breath would have melted away the World Tree, those hundreds of elves, and Sienna as well.
Sienna thought back to that moment, “I just… I had to do it. I had no choice but to do it. That was the thought running through my head. Honestly speaking, the current me is incapable of using the same spell that I used back then.”
Although Sienna herself had cast that spell, the will that had enabled her to do so wasn’t Sienna’s own.
She had cast an ancient spell that came from an era that had been forgotten even among the long-lived elves. In Aroth, research on ancient spells that were similar to what Sienna had managed to cast was steadily progressing, but from the very beginning, there were many mysterious points about this so-called “ancient” era. This was because there were hardly any complete remnants or materials left from that time.
All the scholars had managed to figure out was that the ancient era of the distant past had literally been an Age of Myth. This Age of Myth was the era in which the God of Light, who currently possessed the most widely worshiped and widespread religion on the whole continent, had actually walked the earth, and many other gods were said to have also been present during that period.
The ring that Eugene was currently wearing on his left ring finger was a holy relic of Agaroth, who had been worshiped as a God of War during that ancient era.
Sienna paused before saying, “...Vermouth, he—”
“There’s no need to talk about him right now,” Eugene interrupted what Sienna was about to say. “That isn’t something I should listen to all on my own… and I think you would also have a hard time talking about it right now.”
Don’t blame Vermouth.
Back when Eugene had first met with Sienna’s mental projection within the World Tree, that was what Sienna had said.
Eugene hesitated, “I’ve already said this earlier; regarding Anise… she might have died, but it’s actually like she’s still alive.”
.
Eugene told Sienna everything about Anise and Kristina. He told her of how Anise, who had become an angel, now dwelled within the Saintess of the current era, so she was still around, even if it was only in the form of her soul.
“It might be a bit strange to say this, but she’s actually doing quite well. Even now, she’s taking care of Mer so that you and I can meet like this. As such, while we do need to talk about Vermouth… let’s do it later, once we’ve met up with Anise,” Eugene proposed.
Mer was currently staying with Anise, but this was something that Mer had actually proposed in the first place. Instead of following Eugene, Mer had said that she would rather stay behind with Anise and Raimira.
But, to tell the truth, this was all a cunning ruse on Mer’s part. She was worried that if she went with him, Eugene might be distracted by the fact that Mer was observing from inside his cloak and would be a bit too careful with his behavior. It would also allow Mer to keep an eye on the cunning Saint sisters so that they wouldn’t be able to interfere with Eugene and Sienna’s date.
“Hm, alright,” Sienna finally agreed with Eugene after giving it some thought.
Unaware of the truth behind Mer’s absence, Sienna resumed walking together with Eugene once more. She had tried to talk with Eugene about Vermouth the last time they had met. However, they hadn’t had all that much time back then, and Sienna had also thought that she needed to be careful about what she said to Eugene.
The five heroes from three hundred years ago were all tied together by strong bonds. However, Sienna thought that, even among their five, the bond between Vermouth and Hamel had to be the strongest. Among all of their party, Vermouth was the one who Hamel was most strongly focussed on, and throughout their journey, Hamel had always been trying to surpass Vermouth.
Hamel was the only one who saw Vermouth in that way.
To the others, Vermouth was the perfect hero who none could surpass.
To save the lives of his comrades and preserve Hamel’s soul, Vermouth had even managed to drag the Demon King into making an oath that had ended the war, and he had accomplished this all by himself.
Then Vermouth had gone and tricked everyone by faking his own death and had even struck Sienna with a deadly wound that could have killed her. To think that the reason Vermouth would go so far had something to do with him arranging for Hamel to be reincarnated as his own descendant.
Even now, Sienna couldn’t understand it. If Vermouth had desired Hamel’s reincarnation and enacted a plan to arrange it, and if he had just told Sienna about his plan, then Sienna would have naturally cooperated with Vermouth. Because Sienna had desperately desired the return of Hamel just as much as Vermouth had.
However, Vermouth hadn’t done so. At that time, Vermouth didn’t say anything to Sienna.
‘But was that really Vermouth?’ Sienna asked herself.
Sienna had felt a strong sense of incongruity from the moment Vermouth had attacked her. His eyes felt so cold it was as if Sienna was staring into something lifeless. But Sienna had yet to confide all her suspicions about Vermouth to Eugene.
~
Hey! Hamel, listen closely. Although the one who tried to kill me seemed like Vermouth, he didn’t really seem like Vermouth. Got it?
~
With an expression that seemed to dismiss the significance of her own wounds, that was all Sienna had said to him when they had met in the World Tree. Sienna had felt it would be best to leave things at that for now. Even though she had been left in a state where she was still barely alive, practically dead, Sienna had thought that Hamel, who was now all alone, might drive himself into a torturous frenzy if she told him the truth with a teary and miserable expression. Sienna had no desire to see Hamel go on a rampage while filled with fury and rage toward Vermouth.
“But now, you’re no longer alone,” Sienna quietly said to herself.
Anise was now at Eugene’s side, and so too was Sienna. More than anything else, Sienna just felt that it was fortunate that Eugene was no longer alone.
“What are you muttering all of a sudden?” Eugene grumbled.
“It’s nothing,” Sienna said with a giggle as she shot a sideways glance.
She kept taking glimpses of Eugene’s face as he walked right beside her.
After leaving the mansion, the two had walked through Merdein Square and were now walking down the city streets. They didn’t go into any of the restaurants or cafes nearby. Sienna was perfectly happy and satisfied with just walking with Eugene as they watched people duck in and out of shops before continuing down the street.
“So much has changed,” Sienna commented.
“Of course, I’ve changed,” Eugene said defensively. “I died and was reincarnated into a completely different body, after all.”
Sienna corrected him, “I wasn’t talking about you.”
“Then why were you looking at my face when you said it?” Eugene responded.
“I wasn’t looking at your face, though?” Sienna weakly tried to deny it. “I mean, I really wasn’t looking at your face. I was… looking at the scenery of the city past your face.”
This wasn’t a complete lie. When Sienna said, ‘so much has changed,’ she really wasn't talking about how much Eugene’s face had changed from Hamel’s; instead, Sienna was talking about the city of Aroth, which had changed so much from how it had once looked in her memories.
However, it was true that, while looking at the city, Sienna had also been staring at Eugene’s face.
Sienna changed the subject, “Did you know? See those Floating Stations up in the sky. I’m the one who made all of them.”
Eugene nodded, “I heard about that when I first arrived in Aroth.”
The guide that Eugene had hired back then had boasted about it. It was said that the fifteen Floating Stations that floated in the sky above the capital city of Pentagon were all created by the Wise Sienna herself.
“Making those things was honestly quite time-consuming, but it was actually a pretty fun pastime. The King of Aroth at that time provided all the materials needed to make them and even supplied the budget that I requested,” Sienna revealed as she narrowed her eyes and gazed up at the stations floating in the sky.
Even now, after three hundred years, the Floating Stations created by Sienna were still operating without any issues.
“In fact, there wasn’t really any need for me to do so, but perhaps, at that time, I… I wanted to somehow leave something like a trace of my presence in this world,” Sienna confessed. “Although I didn’t have any intention of establishing a kingdom like Molon did. For this country… I wanted to leave behind an imprint of the name ‘the Wise Sienna’ so that it would still be remembered even hundreds of years later.”
So that someday, when the time came to release Hamel’s soul that had been preserved inside her necklace… if she was then able to reunite with Hamel in Paradise, Sienna wanted to be able to say proudly just how much a single wizard had managed to develop and change a country.
“Now that I think back on it, I think I did a good job. I constructed them so perfectly that they’re still working just as well as ever, and now… you and I are both able to look up at them together,” Sienna declared proudly.
After having said that, Sienna suddenly thought up a fun and exciting idea. She took a quick glance at their surroundings before grinning slyly.
Eugene was all too familiar with that smile on her face. He saw it whenever she was about to play a cheeky prank on someone. For example, the time when the two of them secretly stole Anise’s holy water and drank it by themselves. With that smile on her face, Sienna would always giggle and then whisper her idea to him.
“I’m getting a bit bored of walking, so how about we go up there?” Sienna asked with a bright smile as she raised her finger to point at the sky.
As had often been the case in the past, Sienna didn’t wait for Eugene to reply. After going up onto her tiptoes, she slowly began floating upwards.
Eugene tried to argue, “But I’ve heard that you need a permit to fly above the capital?”
“Who says?” Sienna sniffed.
“The laws of this country,” Eugene replied bluntly.
“Hah! Do you really think that the laws of Aroth apply to me?” Sienna snorted as she slowly rose up into the sky. Then she turned to Eugene, who was still standing on the ground, and reached out her hand with an offer, “If you don’t have the confidence to fly in the sky by yourself, would you prefer to hold my hand?”
Eugene was also able to fly in the sky on his own. However, instead of flying by himself, Eugene just grabbed onto Sienna’s hand with a defeated smile. But when he did so, it was Sienna who showed an alarmed expression at his acceptance of her offer.
“Stupid idiot,” Sienna averted her eyes slightly and grumbled to herself with a blush before pulling on Eugene’s hand.
If she was just going to be embarrassed by it, then she shouldn’t have offered it in the first place.
Although Sienna and Eugene had just flown up into the sky from the middle of the city, none of the people walking the city streets paid any attention to them. It was because of Sienna’s magic. She didn’t want to receive any annoying attention while she and Eugene were walking around by themselves, so she had spread a wide-ranged perception-nullifying spell around them.
‘I don’t want anything to disturb this moment,’ Sienna thought as she felt Eugene’s warmth and presence coming from the hand holding on to hers.
While relishing in the loud sound of her pounding heart, Sienna flew higher and higher.
Even though she was dragging him along by his hand, she couldn’t feel any burden coming from Eugene. After all, Eugene also knew how to fly in the sky. Right now, he was just allowing himself to get pulled along by Sienna’s hand like a balloon.
Naturally, Sienna was also aware of this fact. But she didn’t feel the need to make any complaints about it. Instead, she just enjoyed the touch of his hand.
“Hmm,” Sienna hummed in thought as she suddenly stopped rising any higher and came to a halt.
When she glanced back over her shoulder, she saw they were far above the city. From up here, Sienna could see the lake she had made three hundred years ago and the royal palace of Abram standing proudly in the center of that lake. She could also see all five of the Towers of Magic.
She could also see Eugene’s face. His body heat that she could sense coming from his hand seemed to have risen slightly from what it had been earlier, but Eugene’s expression wasn’t any different from how it usually was. Seeing his face like this, for some reason, Sienna felt like she had lost to him, so Sienna put a little more force into her grip on Eugene’s hand.
“What are you doing?” Eugene asked.
“Just hold on a moment,” Sienna said as she stretched out one hand.
At this gesture, a staff made from a tree branch appeared in Sienna’s hand. Although it was nothing compared to Akasha, Sienna had personally made this staff from one of the World Tree’s branches. Sienna slowly waved the staff in the air.
If one were an Archwizard, one of the most powerful of all wizards, it was possible to cause a temporary downpour or blizzard.
Of course, it was difficult to spread this phenomenon over a wide range. Making it rain over a single village was one thing, but making it rain over a city was a completely different matter.
Sienna turned her head once more to look upwards.
The Floating Stations of the capital city Pentagon didn’t just play the role of housing warp gates. Every factor of the climate in this city was controlled by a spell that had been created by linking all fifteen Floating Stations together. This spell not only kept the summer from being too hot and the winter from being too cold, but it could also control the weather.
It was set so that it never rained too much or snowed too much; these weren’t particularly large examples of interfering with the weather, but this minimal amount of tampering ensured the peaceful daily life of the citizens who lived in the capital as well as a pleasant journey for the countless tourists who visited each day.
Thanks to this spell, the weather forecast in the capital was never wrong.
Today, the weather in the capital was forecast to be a clear sky with a slight winter chill. The forecast had also said that there wouldn’t be much wind.
“Keep watching the sky,” Sienna whispered in a low voice as she lifted her staff high.
There hadn’t been any plans to make it snow over the capital city, but Sienna had decided to make it snow today. And not only did she have the desire, but she also had the ability to make it snow whenever she wanted.
Although the Floating Stations were protected by hundreds of security spells, the one who had created the core of these spells was the Wise Sienna herself. Thanks to that, Sienna could easily interfere with the Floating Stations’ weather control spell.
These fifteen Floating Stations worked together to control the entire sky above Pentagon. So Sienna’s spell was also able to cover that whole range.
Clouds began to gather in the skies above the Floating Stations.
Realizing what Sienna was trying to do, Eugene put on a puzzled expression and asked, “What are you up to?”
“It’s to commemorate today,” Sienna said with a grin. “Although we saw and experienced a lot of things during our long travels together in the past, you and I of the present will also see and experience a lot of things from now on.”
White snowflakes began to fall.
“Eugene, it doesn’t matter if you saw any other snowfall this year. What’s important to me is that, here and now, the snow you’re seeing… will be the first snow you’ve seen with me since you were reincarnated,” Sienna declared.
Huge snowflakes were now falling around them. Billowing drifts of snow floated past Eugene and Sienna, falling onto the city below.
“That city, which wasn’t supposed to see any snow today, is now turning white because of you and me,” Sienna said as she grabbed Eugene’s hand and pulled him close. While standing right next to Eugene, she took a deep breath before saying, “What you’re seeing right now, the feelings that you’re experiencing right now, as well as what I’m seeing and the feelings that I’m experiencing, all of that… will be the first time for you and me. Just like this snow is the first snow we’ve seen.”
Sienna tilted her head slightly to the side as she stared at Eugene.
She could feel her pounding heart, the blush on her face, the heat from their clasped hands, and the various other sensations coming from their entwined fingers.
Sienna breathed out a white cloud of mist as she laughed and said, “Isn’t that a little romantic?”
Eugene stared down into Sienna’s face without saying anything.
A light breeze was fluttering through Sienna’s hair. The red blush on her ears and cheeks probably wasn’t because of the winter chill. Although heavy drifts of snow were falling from the sky, dyeing both their vision and the city below white, not a single snowflake had accumulated on Sienna’s head and shoulders. In this world that was covered in white, Sienna’s appearance hadn’t changed at all, and Eugene could still see her ever so clearly.
“It is,” Eugene replied in a low voice as he pulled on Sienna’s hand.
It happened in an instant. Before Sienna couldn’t even think of resisting the force of Eugene’s pull, without even being able to let out a notice of surprise, she found herself drawn close to Eugene.
At that moment, no snowflakes could be seen falling in between them. Not a single trace of that pure whiteness was visible to either of them. In Eugene’s eyes, there was only Sienna, and in Sienna’s eyes, there was only Eugene. A gentle heat that seemed uncharacteristic of winter passed through the contact of their lips.
‘Ah,’?Sienna gasped silently.
All thought had disappeared. Sienna looked at Eugene with wavering eyes before closing them tightly.
Her hand, which she had let go of at some point, was now resting on Eugene’s waist. Eugene’s hands were also now holding onto Sienna’s back so that she couldn’t pull away and for him to hold her up if she let go of her spell out of surprise.
“...Ha-ah…,” they both soon gasped.
The moment their lips had met, it felt as if time had stopped or lengthened into infinity. Yet when their lips fell apart, they both felt regret that the time had been far too short. As Sienna breathed out another white cloud of mist from her red face, she lowered her head shyly.
“...Th-this is a-another fi-first, I guess,” Sienna stammered with a blush. “Al-although that’s only natural.”
The first snow that they had seen together, and now their first kiss.
It was perfect. It couldn’t be more perfect than this. Although the snow hadn’t fallen naturally, with Sienna instead making it snow on purpose, was that really all that important?
The important thing was that the one who had initiated their first kiss, who had stolen her lips like a thief, was Eugene!
“...He, heheh, to think you would have the guts to do something like that. S-so how was it? Eugene, what’s your reaction to your first kiss?” Sienna tried to ask as nonchalantly as she could to shake off her embarrassment.
She reopened her closed eyes to stare up at Eugene’s face that was right in front of her.
Eugene remained silent, unable to look back at Sienna, and instead averted his gaze by slightly turning it to the side.
He felt that he had no choice but to do so.
“...Huh?” Sienna grunted as she saw the tremor in Eugene’s eyes and the way cold sweat was running down his forehead.
She felt a trembling coming from the hands resting on her back.
Sienna repeated herself, “I said, how was it? Your first kiss.”
Eugene remained mute, not daring to utter a single word.
“Well,” Sienna hissed as her pupils slowly widened. “How was it!”
“That’s… it’s just…,” Eugene hesitated.
At a time like this, Eugene really couldn’t muster up the will to lie about it. Eugene tried to say something to somehow convince Sienna to keep calm, yet the words weren’t coming to him like he wanted them to.
Before he could even say anything, the slap that came in response had sent Eugene flying.
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