## Chapter 921 – Another World Dungeon

“Ah! How truly beautiful, World Tree!!!”

He sang of its beauty with a bizarre attitude, as if everyone should naturally desire the World Tree and sincerely praise it.

“Why is it so beautiful!!”

This crazy bastard gives me something like this as a reward…!

“Unbelievably beautiful…!!!”

A sightseeing ticket? Is that even a reasonable thing to give!

I’m not that interested in that crazy tree in the first place, and I have no intention of crawling into the elves’ den on my own two feet. To dare try to settle my life debt with something like this!

If these bastards have any conscience, they shouldn’t do this!

“So beautifulllll!!!!”

More than that, this son of a bitch is so mentally unstable.

ㅡFlash!
ㅡWhoosh!

The Elf Guardian Warrior would shout in an exaggerated voice, as if performing in a play, and then suddenly jump or perform incomprehensible high-speed rotations, spreading his arms wide. As an ordinary person, I couldn’t understand his dreamlike overacting at all.

Even inhuman gymnasts on synthetic drugs that explode with frenzied artistic inspiration instead of encouraging extreme overactivity and insane violence would make less mysterious movements than that.

“The World Tree is the root of this world!!! Even when invaders from another world and evil gods of unknown origin ravaged this world, the World Tree did not lose its light!!!”

The Guardian Warrior, who had been flailing around so wildly, suddenly grabbed my shoulders tightly, shoved his face close, and shouted as if screaming.

“What the hell!!”
“This world originates from our mother, the World Tree! The human paladin has been given the opportunity to receive that origin!! Any sentient being would want to receive their root, so this is the greatest reward possible!!!”

This bastard is a completely insane psycho…!

I had heard that the elves believed in a World Tree-centric ideology.

Apparently, this giant sacred tree called the World Tree is the elves’ actual god, their spiritual pillar, and their religious leader. This crazy elf, whose job is to protect it, seemed to be nothing short of a World Tree fanatic.

“How do you feel about it!!!”
“Calm down!”

I grabbed his wrist, pushed him away, and rebuked him. He blinked as if surprised for a moment, then straightened his clothes and cleared his throat.

“Ahem, I got too excited. I’m sorry. All elves love and worship the World Tree, so I couldn’t control my emotions.”
“I understand your feelings, so calm down.”
“Ah! Thank you for understanding! Humans also believe in gods, so we have a common ground! After all, the most important thing when communicating with other races is not just giving gifts, but also forming a common ground!!”

I ignored his words and looked at the commander.

“…”

For some reason, she was covering her face with both hands and hanging her head low. She must have noticed this guy’s psychotic nature as well.

“I know that the relationship between our elves and humans is not very good! Well, I’m from this eastern forest, after all! But we must harmonize! The fact that the human paladin has eliminated the lord of another world who appeared near the Elven Forest will be the starting point for that harmony!!”

It seemed that he was an elf who advocated harmony with humans, but I had the feeling that he would be considered a serious oddball among his comrades.

If that’s how it looks to a human, it’s 100% true.

“That would be nice. Harmony is important.”
“That’s right! We don’t need to fight! In order to perfectly protect the World Tree, we need to create a world without fighting!”

So that was his purpose.

Anyway, he nodded with satisfaction after shouting for a while and took my hand.

“Oh, by the way, what I said at the beginning was part of the World Tree anthem. Guardian Warriors start their day by singing the World Tree anthem every morning during roll call.”
“‘How truly beautiful…’ Is that it?”
“That’s right!”

There’s no way that guys who happily sing that kind of song every morning are normal.

He’s as abnormal as a duty officer who keeps making us sing the national anthem and the division song when we’re exhausted to death during morning roll call. I wouldn’t mind if we only sang the national anthem, but why do they keep making us sing the division song…!

“Anyway, you, human paladin, have been able to receive that beautiful World Tree. Permission has already been granted. Very few humans have seen the World Tree, so it can be said to be a very honorable thing.”

No, I don’t need it at all.

But seeing him praise it so much, I don’t think I can just tell him to take this piece of crap back. I wish I could sell it and turn it into money, but I wouldn’t be able to transfer a carefully issued invitation to someone else.

It must be for my exclusive use.

More than anything, these guys seemed to genuinely believe that this was a good thing.

“So this is the invitation, huh.”

I said, looking at the leaf that was already in my possession.

“That’s right. If you can’t go right away, just keep it. It’s a ticket made directly from the leaves of the World Tree, so it won’t wither.”
“What?”

This is a leaf from the World Tree?

That seems a bit precious.
Could I use it magically somehow?

“If you have that, you can receive benefits corresponding to a special guest, so I’m sure the human paladin will be satisfied.”
“A special guest…”
“The World Tree is the root of this world, so you can’t help but be satisfied.”

This guy isn’t a tree-fucker, is he?

It’s kind of like that tofu-dregging feeling, where he might stick his dick in a hole in the World Tree and shake it around. If he were a woman, he might carve a dildo out of that branch.

Anyway, he kept emphasizing the root.

“No, but what does it mean that the World Tree is the root? Does it mean that this world originated from the World Tree? I’ve never heard of that.”
“Ah, humans naturally wouldn’t know.”

He nodded.

No, should I say “he”? I still don’t know his gender. He looks that androgynous.

“This world is indeed derived from the World Tree. Of course, you’d have to read the scriptures in detail to prove and convince you of that, but it’s a fact that all elves know.”

He said that with an infinitely serious attitude.

“The World Tree is very powerful and sacred.”

This is a statement that seems to have a lot of religious issues, but is there nothing I can do because the religions are different? I can imagine how other paladins would react if they heard this.

Should I ask our Kadia?

In the first place, no one but the elves would believe that the world originated from the World Tree.

“Even when human civilizations declined and regressed during the Age of Idol Wars, the World Tree did not lose its light. Of course, the Elven Forest also suffered great damage when the lords of another world and evil gods ravaged the world, but in the end, no one was able to invade our World Tree.”

Well, the Elven Forest is a huge forest.

It seems that the World Tree, hidden in its center, was not damaged even during the turmoil of the Idol Wars.

“The World Tree is that sacred of an existence.”

But that doesn’t prove that it’s the root. Well, I’m not going to have such theological discussions with this elf, so let’s just move on.

“Well, I understand roughly. This is evidence that the elves are showing the utmost affection. I’ll gratefully accept it.”
“I wish you could visit in the near future, but do you have any plans?”
“I’m a very busy person. I don’t know when I’ll have time to go sightseeing.”
“That’s a shame… Well, it doesn’t matter when, so please be sure to come. The elves will be very grateful to the guardian of the Elven Forest, so you don’t have to worry about attacks.”

Did he realize that I was worried about being attacked?

Whatever the case, entering the elves’ territory is not a good choice. They say they’ll treat me as a special guest, but I don’t know what the reality is.

And this World Tree ideology is really suspicious.

Isn’t it like some kind of Juche ideology?
Or maybe it’s fascism.

“Hehehe, I was a little worried, to be honest. You know, there was a bad incident this time, too.”
“I received the report, but I think it was unavoidable.”

Anyway, I had a short conversation with the Guardian Warrior. He said that he was very grateful to me and that he hoped I would come to receive the World Tree.

“But can only I enter?”
“Well, if you have a group, you can enter together. That’s the kind of invitation it is.”
“Hmm, I see.”

It’s not a very satisfactory reward, but I’ll accept it since the elves are showing the utmost respect. If I demand more here, the image I’ve built up will disappear.

But it’s really useless.

Should I keep it at home?

“I’d like to have a drink and talk leisurely, but I have a lot to do because of this incident. Please be sure to come.”
“If I have the chance.”

I finished talking and went outside.

Let’s go back.

* * *

I returned to where my wives were.

They were all seriously worried, so they welcomed me quite enthusiastically. At this rate, I don’t think I’ll be able to follow the paladins tomorrow.

“Okay, okay. I won’t go tomorrow. Then let’s get ready to go back.”
“Yes!”
“Sigh, we’re finally going back.”

In fact, I’ve already accomplished my purpose, so there’s no need to go any further. But I feel bad. I’m too uncomfortable sending only the paladins. After all, we’re all people who eat the same church rice.

“More than that, I brought something like this.”

I immediately took out the rainbow-colored orb and the World Tree sightseeing ticket that I found in the remains of the Monster King and showed them to her.

“This orb is…”

Risha grabbed the orb.

“Do you know what it is?”

Clearly, that bastard Vihal reacted violently to this orb. That means it will somehow help to raise Vihal.

“Hmm… it’s very strange. This color seems to be the same as the flash that the Monster King emitted before teleporting.”
“Vihal reacted a bit when he saw this. Look.”

I immediately pulled out Vihal and held it up to the orb.

ㅡWhoooo…!

Vihal vibrated.

“Oh? It may contain a type of power that a demon can absorb.”
“Right? But you don’t know what kind of power it is more precisely?”
“Well… this is the first time I’ve seen something like this, so I don’t know…”

When Risha shook her head, Karin suddenly said.

“No, our witch-nim really doesn’t know anything the more I see her!”
“I, I told you! I’m a black magic expert! How would I know what this unidentified otherworldly being spat out!”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s natural that you don’t know.”

Karin smiled slyly as if it was funny, and Risha avoided her gaze. Somehow, our Risha seems to know everything, but she doesn’t know much.

“Ah… is this perhaps a leaf from the World Tree?”

At that time, Aria grabbed the ticket.

“Oh. As expected, you know it as soon as you see it.”
“I have the knowledge, after all. But should I say that I can’t remember the details… What is this…”

Everyone expressed their doubts at that word.

“World Tree?”
“The World Tree actually exists? I thought it was some kind of religion.”

Cloudy tilted her head, and Winia expressed her doubts.

“Katt. What is that?”
“Ah, the elves gave this as a gift. As a sign of gratitude, they said they would show me their World Tree.”
“Oh my, really?”

ㅡTwitch.

Cloudy’s ears twitched for a moment.

It seems that she’s a bit interested. In fact, Cloudy likes that kind of thing. She enjoys sightseeing and seeing new things.

“Hehehe, why? Do you want to see it?”
“Of course I’m interested… Is it okay?”

It’s not okay.

“Oh my gosh, the World Tree. Can we really go see it?”
“World Tree…”

Liz-noona said, putting her hands together, and Risha licked her lips.

“They said they’ll show it to me, do you want to see it, noona?”
“Well, the World Tree only comes out in stories, after all. I think it would be good to see it if we can…”

It seems that this noona is also interested.

“No, can you trust the elves?”

Karin shook her head at Liztina.

“Aren’t they going to shoot us with arrows as revenge if we go in?”
“I honestly think they will.”

Winia agreed.

Well… I’m not that interested, but if there are women who want to go see it, I’d naturally want to show it to them, but it’s not safe in the first place.