Volume 6 Chapter 163
by Golden DragonVolume 6 + Chapter 163: Burned To Ashes
Xia Yi awoke from her slumber, slowly opening her eyes. This was… an unfamiliar ceiling.
“Your Highness!!”
Atiya, who had been at her side, was so overcome with emotion that she immediately seized Xia Yi’s hand.
“Mmm, Atiya? What happened to me…?”
Xia Yi sat up with some effort and looked around, realizing she was in a private ward of what appeared to be a hospital. This must be the military hospital of the Maginot Fortress.
Strange, she remembered being rendered unconscious by Eve, didn’t she?
Just then, the door opened and a nurse stepped in. Startled to find Xia Yi awake, she quickly hurried out to report: “Patient Xia Yi in Room 35 is conscious, call the attending physician at once!”
In no time at all, an elven female doctor in a white coat entered the room, approached Xia Yi, conducted a thorough examination, and then began her inquiries.
“Xia Yi, do you feel any discomfort right now?”
“No… I am rather hungry, though. It feels like I’ve been asleep for a long time,” Xia Yi replied.
“Any physical pain or unease?”
“No.”
“One thousand minus seven?”
“Nine hundred and ninety-three.”
“Keep subtracting seven.”
“Nine hundred and eighty-six, nine hundred and seventy-nine, nine hundred and seventy-two…”
“Mm, you seem to be in good shape, we can rest easy now,” the doctor noted, recording her findings. “Xia Yi, you simply need to get plenty of rest. Lord Yuren has already instructed us that should you have any requests, we are to do our utmost to fulfill them.”
“Oh.”
Xia Yi nodded. It seemed Yuren was looking out for her quite a bit… which made sense, if something happened to her, the entire mobile fortress plan would be ruined.
“Once you feel well enough, you may apply for discharge. We shall leave you for now, call us whenever you need anything.”
With those words, the beautiful doctor and her nurse exited the ward.
With the outsiders gone, Xia Yi, who had been bursting with things to say, could finally speak freely with Atiya.
“Atiya, was it you who brought me to the military hospital of the Maginot Fortress?”
“Yes, Your Highness. I woke at my usual midnight hour to check on you, found you gone from your room with the window open, and went out to search for you. That was when I came upon a most wicked elf intent on harming you.”
“A black-haired elf…” Xia Yi paused. “That was Eve.”
“Eve? The elven princess?” Atiya was taken aback. “Is that what she looks like? She doesn’t match the rumors at all.”
“Eve has undergone unimaginable changes, this is what she has become,” Xia Yi sighed. “She found me in the dead of night and we spoke at length. I learned of a dire situation, she truly intends to destroy the world.”
“Just like the elf of apocalypse from the legends?”
“Yes. She has taken control of the World Tree…”
Xia Yi patiently explained everything to Atiya, from the World Tree’s records to the anti-World Tree’s pruning function, from the Mythic Age simulation being conducted in the Elven Kingdom of Transmutation to ordinary Data-entities and Soul Data-entities, and the Authority of Greed. She covered it all from start to finish.
After listening, Atiya underwent a massive mental struggle, her eyes wide and frozen.
“…In short, that is the situation. Do you understand now, Atiya? Eve plans to use the anti-World Tree to bring about the apocalypse.”
“Oh!”
Atiya’s face lit up with sudden comprehension, and she smacked her palm with her fist, beaming.
“Your Highness, I did not understand a single word of it!”
“…I see.”
Xia Yi pressed a hand to her forehead. If it had been Serra or Lucia, they would have grasped it completely. If it had been Elly, she might have understood about half… Only Atiya was truly different, making her comprehend this might genuinely be a challenge.
“Anyway, Eve wants to destroy the world, and all of this is her fault. That’s the gist, right?” Atiya asked.
“More or less.”
“Hehe, Your Highness, why didn’t you just put it that way from the start?” Atiya giggled foolishly. “Now I get it!”
“Atiya, where did Eve go after that?”
“She left the Maginot Fortress and headed north.”
“That must mean she returned to the World Tree. I recall her saying that the complete inversion would still take some time… but speaking of which, Atiya, it’s remarkable that you weren’t affected by the Authority of Greed.”
“Actually, that wasn’t too hard to pull off.”
“Really? Atiya, could you teach me how to do that sometime?”
“Of course!” Atiya nodded enthusiastically.
Just as the two were chatting animatedly, a knock came at the door.
“Xia Yi, are you awake?” It was Yuren’s voice.
“Yes, I’m awake. Come in.”
“Alright.”
Yuren opened the door, even bringing along get-well gifts, which he set on the table.
“Are you feeling a bit better?”
“Yes.”
“Could we talk alone for a moment?”
“Sure.” Xia Yi agreed.
She got out of bed, left Atiya in the ward, and followed Yuren up to the hospital rooftop.
There was no one else there. The night breeze was cool, the stars filled the sky, and the setting was perfect for conversation.
Yuren spoke first: “Xia Yi, the accident that befell you had us all worried. If something had happened to you…”
“The plan to make the mobile fortress fly would have failed, right?”
“…Yes,” Yuren admitted. “From now on, we will do everything in our power to protect you and prevent a recurrence of what happened before.”
“It’s alright. I shouldn’t be in any immediate danger again for a while…”
Xia Yi looked at Yuren, hesitating.
Now that she knew Yuren and everyone in the Maginot Fortress were Data-entities, her feelings toward them had grown complicated.
“What is it, Xia Yi?”
“Nothing…”
“Surely something has happened. Have you learned some truth? I’ve always felt that you and the Maginot Fortress, no, strictly speaking, you and everyone else in this world, are different. The Fortress has received people from other cities before, but only you give me this peculiar feeling, as though…”
Yuren walked to the edge of the rooftop and gazed at the ground beyond the wire fence.
“…you are the one who is truly alive.”
“…”
Xia Yi did not know how to respond.
“The only thing I can tell you is that your intuition is correct, the World Tree is indeed the source of all calamity.”
“So I guessed right?” Yuren smiled.
“Yuren, you are a very perceptive person. I’m not fond of speaking in riddles myself… but the truth is like the rising tide, it easily washes away the sandcastles that children have painstakingly built.”
“In that case, we gather more children, and even adults, and build a city far larger than any castle. Even if it’s swallowed by a tsunami, even if it cannot withstand the waves, its ruins will remain as proof…”
Yuren raised his head to gaze at the sky.
He had, in fact, sensed something amiss in this world for some time now. The people of the Maginot Fortress seemed to hail from different eras, something that should be impossible under normal circumstances. Yet something like a mental shackle prevented him from delving deeper into those thoughts.
“Struggle and resistance are never meaningless acts, they are the proof that we once existed and strove to endure.”
“Yuren, you…”
Xia Yi was genuinely taken aback by Yuren’s conviction. After a moment of silence, she let out a joyful laugh.
“All right, then, just like those demons did in the Mythic Age, let us burn the World Tree to ashes.”
[Translator’s Note: Please join the Gravity Tales’ Discord Server, if you want to hang out.]
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