Chapter 54: The Concept-Erasure Domain, Alnima— Part 3

A little while earlier.

They were still on their way to the Great Forest, just after passing that enormous lake.

"Miss Tierra's cooking really is the best! Today's meal was delicious, too!"

"Thank you, Pahal. ...By the way, could you tell me more about the Elves' treasure? I've been a little curious about it."

Using my knowledge of the game, I knew that a certain spirit resided in the World Tree in the Great Forest. So, to lay the groundwork for what was to come, I asked Pahal that question.

"It's like a huge lump of magical power!"

"That's rather vague..."

"Hmm. To be honest, I don't know the details myself. The spirit bestowed it upon us, after all."

"The spirit? ...Come to think of it, I've heard that Elves worship conceptual spirits."

"That's right!"

Of course, it was all an act.

"I" already knew exactly what the treasure was and who had bestowed it upon them.

However, without some sort of setup, things would get troublesome later. Specifically, making sure the story added up when explaining where, when, and how I'd obtained that information would be an absolute nightmare.

On the other hand, if I casually brought it up in conversation here, I could simply insert it later as a flashback. That would make things easier from a storytelling perspective, too.

As long as I claimed to have deduced it by combining what I'd learned from Pahal with my knowledge of spirits, there shouldn't be too many inconsistencies.

"Umm, where should I start? ...Well, to begin with, there weren't any spirits in our world."

Conceptual spirits belonged to the world of Chaos.

More precisely, they originated from the world that had served as its foundation: Alnima. You could think of them as Chaos's original inhabitants.

So why had the Elves come to worship Chaos's conceptual spirits?

It was true that conceptual spirits were worshipped throughout Chaos. There was even a world religion called Spiritism.

But it was rather strange that the Elves, who had cut off contact with outsiders so thoroughly, should be especially devout. There was a clear reason for this—

"A really long time ago, right after the Great Forest became part of Chaos, the whole forest froze solid..."

It went without saying: different worlds... different planets had different climates. The plants and animals living in each environment evolved to adapt to it, and a sudden change in their surroundings could lead to them all dying out at once.

The same problem had always arisen when worlds fused together in Chaos. Apparently, there had even been a time when a world of endless scorching deserts fused with a world of silver-white snow and ice, causing the weather to go completely haywire.

The Great Forest had suffered a similar abnormal climate event, leaving every tree trapped beneath a thick layer of ice.

"Apparently, the conceptual spirit of 'Winter' saved them. The Elves' treasure is what they received back then."

Centered around the four spirits embodying the concepts of "Spring," "Summer," "Autumn," and "Winter," multiple spirits worked to regulate and resolve such problems as part of their respective missions.

While the spirits worked to stabilize the environment, the living things in each world gradually adapted to the conditions of Chaos.

The Elves' treasure was an ultra-high-density magical crystal used by the conceptual spirit of "Winter" during that process. Even by Chaos's standards, it was an unquestionably SSR-tier, extraordinarily rare item.

"The Elves were grateful to the spirit, and ever since then, they've continued to welcome spirits with open arms, even while rejecting outsiders."

"...Do spirits visit the Great Forest that often?"

"I've actually attended a festival to welcome a spirit myself! It's called the Spirit Festival. Apparently, one visits roughly once every hundred years or so. ...But they say that once a spirit enters the World Tree, it never comes back out. They're truly mysterious beings."

"They never come back out... I see. That makes sense."

...Well, of course they didn't.

The spirits in question all shared one thing in common: they had completed their missions. Spirits that fulfilled their missions returned to Alnima—or, more specifically, dissolved into Alnima and disappeared. They were merely heading for the World Tree because it served as an "entrance" leading to Alnima.

When the World Tree, which embodied the concept of the "center of the world," became part of Chaos, it formed a powerful connection with Alnima. As a result, it became one of the entrances leading there.

Of course, countless entrances existed throughout the world, and it was also true that many spirits deliberately chose the World Tree. The towering tree was impossible to miss, and the Great Forest's isolation from the outside world meant they wouldn't be interrupted by unexpected visitors. Being welcomed by the Elves was probably another reason.

By the time a spirit reached the end of its long journey fulfilling its mission, it would have developed at least a few emotions resembling those of a human. Perhaps they wanted to make a few happy memories before they died.

"Oh, right! The Spirit Festival I attended was to welcome the conceptual spirit of 'Winter' I mentioned earlier. That spirit never came out of the World Tree, either."

"...I see. Thank you, Pahal."

"No problem! It's my way of thanking you for the delicious food! I hope it comes in handy!"

In any case, that took care of making my source of information fit the story.

Now I could claim to have deduced things from this conversation and go meet that conceptual spirit: Winter, the former conceptual spirit of "Winter" who would play a role in WF's first winter event.

It was the first major hurdle of Chapter Two. If that character was in danger of fading into obscurity, I might as well make use of him.

—Back in the Alnima domain.

"You haven't given up on everything, have you? You could be anywhere, yet you deliberately chose to stay here."

In that place, a spirit and a former spirit were speaking to each other.

"To begin with, I'd already thought something was strange after hearing what Pahal, an Elf, told me. It's true that this is where conceptual spirits come after completing their missions, dissolving and disappearing. But as far as I know, the conceptual spirit of 'Winter' had his concept stolen by the Wicked King. So isn't it strange that he entered the World Tree and never came back out?"

This former spirit was little more than an empty shell, stripped of his concept.

His body and values were still those of a spirit, which had allowed him to enter this place. But since his mission remained unfinished, he couldn't disappear into this space.

"......It's just that... I'm hiding from the Wicked King."

"If that monster got serious, breaking into the Alnima domain would be easy for him. This place isn't safe at all."

"......"

Then why had he stayed here all this time? Why had he spent years alone in a place utterly devoid of entertainment? Surely, the reason was—

"You stayed here because you couldn't give up on your mission. You wanted to keep confirming that you were still a spirit, and that your mission wasn't over yet. Am I wrong?"

After a long silence, the former spirit finally spoke, as though admitting defeat.

"...You're right. That's exactly it. I've been clinging to the mission I'd lost all this time. As long as I could remain here, I could believe that I, the Great Me, was still a spirit. And as long as my body hadn't disappeared, I could believe that my mission still wasn't over."

His words carried a strong sense of self-mockery. It was as though he were saying, Go ahead and laugh at someone as pathetic as me.

And so—

"I have good news for you."

And so—

The spirit answered without missing a beat.

"If you lend a hand with my mission, then—"

She delivered the words the "human" had prepared, words guaranteed to move his heart.

"It'll help us smash the Wicked King's plans to pieces."

"......Really?"

"Yes, really. So—"

"H-Hey, wait a—!?"

Perhaps he'd been trying to read her expression to determine whether she was telling the truth. The spirit didn't miss the slight widening of the gap in the kotatsu blanket.

With lightning-fast movements, she thrust her arm through the gap and grabbed the former spirit's arm.

Then, with strength utterly disproportionate to her slender frame, she hauled him out—

"That racket you made earlier was bad enough, but can't you handle things a little more gracefully? You're kind of rough around the edges, you know. In just about every way."

"I'm not rough around the edges!"

Snow-white hair, skin so pale it looked as though no blood flowed beneath it, and dull, gleaming gray eyes.

The tall, gaunt young man forcibly pulled out of the kotatsu possessed the inhuman beauty shared by other spirits.

"...Still, maybe that's one of your good points. Yeah, I don't dislike it."

"Sorry, did you say something just now?"

"No, nothing."

The former spirit's quiet murmur apparently hadn't reached the spirit, who was visibly irritated by the accusation that she was rough around the edges.

She paid it no further mind, simply keeping hold of his arm and starting to run.

Then she declared—

"Come on! Let's go fulfill our mission!"

◇◇◇

"—All right. Sit on your knees."

"......Yes."

This was the spiritual world of Tierra As, a space where the three minds—the "human," the "spirit," and the "planet"—could talk to one another.

Now that her body had left Alnima and the "human" had recovered consciousness, the very first thing he did was address the "spirit" in a stern tone.

And the reason was—

"I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT SETTING OFF ROMANTIC PAIRING FLAGS! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?!"

A wooden placard hung around the neck of the "spirit" kneeling in seiza. Written on it were the words: I am a promiscuous spirit who seduces anyone and everyone.

"What was THAT?! She swoops in while he's despairing over losing everything, grabs his hand, and dashes off with him?! What is this, youth?! A sports anime?!"

Of course, the "human" doing all this scolding was himself an A-rank criminal in this very field—a notorious first-love thief who'd done the exact same thing to countless people, with a certain female mercenary senior being the prime example. In other words, he had absolutely no room to talk.

The "human" had been a man in his previous life, so his default setting came with a thoroughly broken sense of personal boundaries.

The "spirit" was single-mindedly devoted to her mission and clueless about the subtleties of human relationships.

And the "planet" honestly couldn't care less about the ins and outs of male-female relationships.

Since none of them had noticed the irony, nobody was around to point out the spectacular hypocrisy of his accusation.

As it happened, the only reason anyone had caught on this time was that the "human"—the one with at least a marginally better sense of propriety compared to the other two—had been unable to come out and was forced to observe the spirit's behavior from a third-person perspective.

"That entire conversation could've been wrapped up in two sentences, couldn't it? 'Help me with my mission.' 'You'll be able to thwart the Wicked King's plans.' That's all you needed, right? That was the plan, wasn't it?"

"...Well, I saw a bit of myself in him, and I couldn't just leave him alone, so..."

"Then why'd you have to go feeling all weirdly sympathetic and chatting away?! That's how romantic pairings get started, you shameless, easy spirit!"

"Uuuh... I'm sorry..."

"...Hey, Human. That's enough teasing to hide your embarrassment. Keep going, and you'll make the spirit cry."

At that point, the "planet," who'd been quietly watching, intervened.

The "human" faltered. With his ears turning bright red, he muttered in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz.

"...But, well... yeah. You did pretty well, considering you suddenly had to handle everything alone. Honestly, I'm impressed."

Then, without turning his face toward her, he stroked the spirit's head and prefaced his next words with, "I'm only saying this once."

"You've been through a lot. I'm sorry. And thank you. You really helped me."

The "human" paused there. After taking a deep breath, he gathered his resolve and continued.

"...And besides, of course 'Tierra As' couldn't be who she is without you. 'I' am a trinity spirit, after all."

"...Hmph. 『　オレ (Ore) 』 will only say this once, too. Well done, Spirit."

"U-ueh..."

"Argh! Don't cry, you idiot! Oh, for—! Earth-sama, I'm leaving the rest to you! I'm going to switch back in and work on fixing my affinity levels!"

"Hey, Human! Don't dump all the trouble on me and run away!"

"Uwaaaaaah! O-hoshi-sa-maaaa! Being alone... being all aloooone was so loooonely!"

"Enough already! Stop crying so pathetically! Stop making a racket! And stop clinging to me!"