I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

87. A blessing that is like a curse

‘It seems like there is some other meaning hidden there.’

Arcel closed his eyes for a moment and organized the stories he had heard so far in his head.

This world is like a paradise for elves.

It is said that the blessings received from the tree that the ancestors of the elves first planted on the land they discovered a long time ago, and that is why the elves praise the world tree and take care of it like a parent.

“No matter how much you do, you can’t do that… How can you participate in cutting down the world tree? “If you said something like that in this country, it would be the same as death if you were found out.”

“But if I stay here like this, there is nothing else.”

“Even so… If the World Tree disappears, we elves will no longer be able to rise.”

The World Tree is certainly an irreplaceable and precious thing to the elves.

In order to make this land abundant and survive each day like outside, the abundant environment prevents the elves from biting and fighting each other.

It would be literally like paradise.

A paradise on earth that makes you lazy day after day and forgets to even move forward with your own two legs.

It was like a pretty flower with sweet honey.

The problem is that there was a drug-like ingredient in that sweet scent.

“So you elves can’t do anything without the World Tree?”

“…!”

At those words, Stella’s ears perked up.

“I heard that the great ancestor whom you elves serve led the elves through the greatest and most brilliant period even before that world tree grew.”

Ancestor of the great elves who cultivated this land.

He wanted to save the elves from a world suffering from all kinds of conflicts and monsters.

For that purpose, he wandered around the world and discovered this land, and hoped that the elves would live here without any external interference and without suffering.

In fact, it was like that until the time when our ancestors were alive.

However, after the ancestor passed away, the elves began to rely too heavily on the World Tree, the legacy he left behind.

“I’m not an elf, so I don’t know the details, but if that ancestor were still alive, he probably wouldn’t have wanted the elves to be trapped in this land forever.”

I hope that someday, when a peaceful time comes, we will escape.

In order to avoid the strong rain, we built a wall under this tree we found and did not give up going outside.

“But still-“

“If it were a livestock with low intelligence, it might be content to just stay in a safe cage with plenty of food.”

Because elves were not livestock that were satisfied with just living.

Even animals sometimes feel stressed and long for freedom when confined in a limited space.

“Are you elves really just livestock?”

“Well, still… This world tree is our only hope. We elves have suffered irreparable damage due to this incident. Without the blessing of the World Tree…”

Stella still seemed to hesitate.

I myself did not like the life of an elf from the beginning.

Elves who live only under the shadow of the World Tree simply because they are safe and prosperous.

More than 90% of the elves had never gone outside the World Tree and did not even think about going outside.

Most of the remaining 10% of elves were mobilized due to the recent war with demons, so there was no need to explain what it was like before.

Of course, even so, it was difficult to accept that the world tree was suddenly cut down.

“Stella, I remember what you said as we sat in front of the campfire when we were on our journey together.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I want to show the sea to the elves in my hometown. I heard that there are infinite expanses in the world other than the sky.”

“I can’t believe you still remembered that-“

Stella asked back as if she was very surprised.

Even among elves, there were very few who had seen the sea in person.

The entrance to the land of the elves is so inland, and you have to travel for several days to see the sea, so it is natural that there is no opportunity to see it.

The frog in the well could only look up at the sky.

The only world the frog knew was the small space in the well and the seemingly endless high sky.

“This land is certainly a rich and blessed land that cannot be compared to any other place.”

But when I came out of the well, an incredibly wide space opened up.

Stella still vividly remembers how she felt when she first went out to sea with Arcel.

I could not dare to guess the end of the vast sea.

“But I wouldn’t be trapped here. “Just like Alfred’s grandmother did, and just like you did.”

Once you cross the horizon, a new continent appears.

The land of the elves was not small, but it was also not large enough to be compared to the outside world.

Above all, there were many elves who did not know the concept of the sea.

“…I will not force you anymore. But I will cut down that world tree to get out of here. “Being locked in a cage like this once is enough.”

Arcel sheathed the holy sword and stood up from his seat.

If I wasn’t going to be trapped here forever, I had to start preparing one by one.

There are a terrible number of elves and shadows surrounding the tomb. You must find a location that is as safe as possible from them.

I had no choice anyway.

“Let’s go, Alfred.”

“Okay. If it doesn’t work out anyway, I’ll do something. “I don’t like being trapped in a place like this because it reminds me of the old days.”

Arsel left the room with Alfred.

“…”

Stella continued to stare in silence at the door where Arcel left.

†††

“It’s definitely an annoying situation.”

“It wouldn’t be a problem if there were only demons, but that shadow is different.”

Alfred took a skeleton out of the ground and threw it with all his might toward the outside.

Quaak!

The skeleton flew with great force and was swallowed up by a shadow rising from the ground.

“Maybe the situation will be similar even if you try to fly in the sky?”

“In the worst case scenario, I wanted to send at least you outside, but even that would be difficult…”

Arcel frowned and bit his lip.

I felt uneasy because I felt like I had put Alfred and Stella in danger just to lift the curse.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, I just have to throw away this body and create a new body outside.”

“…Is it possible to regenerate a body even if there is no body?”

“You can also create an alter ego, that’s easy.”

Of course, since Alfred’s worries are the most useless worries in the world, Alfred doesn’t seem to care.

Still, the situation did not change.

“Hmm, it’s not like I can’t shoot with a bow. “It seems difficult to hit with a sword rather than an arrow from this distance.”

“How about throwing it?”

“I don’t think it will reach the distance if I throw it. “The holy sword was not made to be thrown in the first place, so it lacks power.”

But it was still too early to give up, so I looked around and looked for the most likely location within the barrier as much as possible.

Can cut down the world tree with a holy sword bullet.

At the very least, I was prepared to destroy myself and tried to find a location where I could cut down the world tree with a slash filled with magical power.

“They say it’s a tomb, but in reality, this place is closer to a castle built on a mountain. If you want to snipe from afar, the observation deck is probably the best.”

As Alfred said, the best place for sniping is from the observatory in the tomb.

“Isn’t it too dangerous there?”

However, it was located outside the tomb’s barrier.

Thanks to the barrier inside the tomb, the elves were unable to attack, but it was clear that the moment they left the barrier, they would come flooding in.

“But it’s impossible in other places, and honestly, there’s a high chance of failure there, too, even if that ogre helps you.”

“…I see.”

Alfred nailed it down and said it was impossible.

The distance from the tomb to the World Tree is about 25km.

It is quite a distance, but since the World Tree is so large, it is not particularly difficult to hit it.

As expected, what held me back the most was the power.

Honestly, it was so far away that it was almost impossible for Arcelo.

“Who is going to fail?”

At that time, a voice was heard from the grave.

“Stella?”

“Look at that, even if everyone says they don’t like it, they end up being honest with their body.”

Alfred crossed his arms and clicked his tongue.

Stella was walking out from the entrance of the tomb as if she had made a firm decision.

“People think my arrows can only travel about 20km, but I’ve never shot farther than that, so that’s definitely not the limit.”

Her eyes contained a starlight that had never existed before.

She had been hesitating until now, but now that she had made a firm decision, the clouds blocking the starlight were no longer there.

“Stella, are you really okay? Even if I help cut down the World Tree, which is like a parent to the elves.”

“…As children grow up, they naturally leave their parents’ arms and become independent, but we elves stayed in our parents’ arms and never thought about becoming independent.”

Stella spoke with a bitter expression, but she no longer hesitated.

“Besides, I don’t want to be separated from you again, even though I had to send you away separately then. “It doesn’t happen anymore.”

And when she went to check on what was going on in her hometown in the past, she couldn’t stop Arcel from doing her terrible thing.

If she had been confident, at least such a terrible curse would not have been engraved in Arcel’s heart.

Stella recalled her past and promised herself that she would no longer repeat the same mistakes.

“I will no longer act foolishly like I did in the past. To me, you are a precious friend and the only warrior who saved my life.”

Stella said with a slight smile.

“…Thank you, Stella.”

Arcel was also happy to see Stella, placing her hand on her chest and truly welcoming Stella.

Looking at her like this, she felt like she had gone back to the past.

Not the terrible past, but the happiest past.

To the time when everyone gathered together in front of a bonfire, sang dreams and admired the stars in the night sky.

She thought she could no longer go back to that time.

“Wow! Clap clap clap! I’m sorry to cut you off during a truly touching story. Just because that little guy helps you doesn’t mean everything will be solved, right?”

“Ah… Is that definitely true?”

“Why, is there another problem?”

But Alfred clapped his hands and separated the two.

It seemed a bit inconvenient, but he said there was a more important issue than that.

“You demon, if you take a look, you will see that in order to snipe the World Tree from here, you can only do so from a specific location. The problem is that that location is outside the barrier of this tomb.”

“I’ll check in a moment- Oh, by the way…”

Stella frowned as she looked around as she climbed the wall to a higher place.

“Stella, is it difficult for you too?”

“It’s easy to simply hit it, the problem is that it’s difficult to maintain the power to cut that big world tree. “If you don’t hit the exact center, it will only penetrate and you won’t be able to cut.”

If you can’t cut down the world tree, it is meaningless in the end.

The barrier of the World Tree will not disappear by being penetrated.

From Noble mtl dot com

Even there is only one bullet.

If you fail to cut down the World Tree in one go, there will be no next time, and only a bad end awaits you after that.

“And the one with the highest probability of hitting the center is that observatory.”

“That unlucky demon is right, but if there is no barrier, we will be exposed to attack.”

In particular, sniping requires sufficient time, although it is not long.

In order to achieve ultra-long range sniping and the power to cut down the world tree, it was necessary to focus on bullets and demonstrations for at least a few minutes.

“To shoot the holy sword, of course I need your help, and to shoot the bow, I need to be there… Then there’s time…”

“I wouldn’t recommend risking your life on me. As you know, all I can do right now is throw a few skeletons as bait.”

“That’s not all, there’s something sinister at the center of that World Tree. “That might be it.”

In the first place, Alfred was trying to cut down the World Tree in order to fully demonstrate his power.

As the observatory is located on a hill, it can be defended, but this is only possible if there are enough people to defend it.

Besides, now that I see it, there wasn’t much time.

“It must be the devil you saw. “I wondered where he had gone, but he seemed to be plotting something in the World Tree.”

Alfred said, stretching.

“Is this adding insult to injury?”

It seemed like there was a branch elder who had disappeared in that distant world tree.

Stella’s eyes confirmed that very dark and black impurities were mixed into the clean World Tree.

I don’t know what they’re planning, but I have a feeling that we shouldn’t leave Arcel or Stella alone.

“The… Seniors?”

While thinking for a while, Morian, who had been quiet this time, carefully spoke out.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Could it be possible for you to get me out of here? After listening to the story, it seems like you don’t have enough hands, but if you don’t mind, I’ll help you out! “Now I can move my body to some degree!”

Morian confidently says he can help.

It was an unexpected rope that fell from the sky.

However, it was not possible to tell whether the rope was strong or rotten.