After talking about Glen’s new companion, the two touched upon various topics.
“Was there this guy among the input devices?” Zich pushed Windur towards Lyla.
“There wasn’t. I couldn’t remember anything about Windur from the memories I could recall.”
“Only this guy’s identity is still a mystery.”
Starting from the ancient empire, Clowon to Lyla, Estellade, Tornium, and so on, many of the things they were curious about were coming to light. Yet, the mysteries surrounding Windur, the sword which they suspected had pulled Zich to his new beginning, was still hidden under a veil.
“Didn’t Finel say that it was the Clowon Emperor’s sword?” Lyla said.
“That’s all we know about it. She didn’t say much besides that.”
“That’s true.”
Windur was the most mysterious identity among Zich’s companions. Both Zich and Lyla stared at it, but like it always did, Windur remained silent and feigned ignorance.
“Tch! What a bothersome fellow. It only transforms in necessary situations too. If you consider that, it seems to have its own will, but it’s pretending to be clueless.”
“Like master, like sword. You guys are perfect for each other.”
“Damn it!” Zich clicked his tongue and latched Windur onto his back. “By the way, what is the connection between the past laboratory we saw and Finel? Was that thing we saw in the laboratory also Finel’s sister?”
“I don’t think that’s the case. I heard that the empire created Finel by stealing research results from a rebel army.”
“I see. So, I guess that laboratory belongs to the rebel army.”
“I think the experiment might have gone out of control in the middle of research there though.”
“Good point. The things there didn’t look like finished products at all.” Zich recalled the meat clumps surrounding the entire ruin and shook his head.
“Shall we go back now? I’m sure the guys are worried about us,” Zich said while turning around to see the room where the tree was. “Ah, but before that, I have one more question. Is there a possibility that you could revert to being the Princess?”
“I thought of that too.” It was horrifying for Lyla to imagine; while simultaneously losing her current sense of self, she would awaken into a new Demon Lord. That was a catastrophic happening that should never happen personally for her and for the world. Yet, in comparison to such a danger, Lyla wasn’t that worried.
“I think that’s almost impossible. The Princess’ desire for Clowon’s restoration was created through her past and teachings. Since that past was completely blown away, she won’t reappear anymore. In other words, she is dead.”
“I suppose you don’t have any memories as the Princess.”
“No. I still have a lot of remaining memories, but I don’t think hers would be among them. Like Finel said, my memories have been completely reset.”
“It’s welcoming news if the Princess died because of that and you were born as a result, but I want to know why your memories were reset.”
“We will find out as we keep investigating—just like how our many questions were answered.”
“I really hope that’s the case.”
With that, the conversation that they had to do in separation from the rest of the group ended. Zich wanted to confirm the memories Lyla recovered, but it was something he could do later. It wasn’t ideal for them to stay apart from the rest of the party for too long. Zich returned to the room where the tree was, but Lyla stopped him. “Wait, Zich.”
“Huh? Do you have something more to say? If it’s not important, could you tell me next time?”
“It’s something important.”
Seeing her stern face, Zich turned half a circle. “What is it? Did you remember something new about Glen Zenard or Finel?”
Lyla shook her head. “It’s not about them.”
She looked straight at Zich. Her eyes were filled with determination. “I want to apologize first. I’m sorry.” She bowed and Zich tilted his head.
“Did you do something to me that calls for an apology? I don’t tend to forget grudges easily, but I can’t really think of anything right now.”
“I’m sorry about constantly pestering you about not becoming a Demon Lord. I acted like I was trying to stop a future villain from becoming evil, but I wasn’t any different from you. I had no right to say those words to you.”
‘I do think her case is a bit different, but…’ Zich thought. Like the conversation topic they just had, memories played a crucial role in shaping a person’s character—to the point that Zich was a completely different person from Zich Brave like how Lyla was to the Princess. Zich had memories from before his regression while Lyla did not, and they didn’t even need to state out loud which one of them had the higher possibility of falling into the path of a Demon Lord.
‘Although I’m the extension of Demon Lord Zich Moore, Lyla’s connection to the Demon Lord Princess is completely cut off.’
In other words, there was a good cause and reason for Lyla’s pestering. However, it wasn’t time for him to explain all this in detail; there was also no way that the logical mage Lyla had failed to think about this. It seemed like she was apologizing because unlike her thoughts, her heart was still not in order.
Zich suddenly pinched Lyla’s cheeks. He did it lightly so that she didn’t feel much pain, but Lyla was taken aback by this unexpected behavior.
“Wat are ya doing?” Her pronunciation slipped because her lips were pulled.
Zich didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled on her other cheek.
“I ashewed, wat are ya doing?”
Zich still didn’t answer. He simply moved his hand up and down, front and backward, and even circled it around. Due to the guilt she felt towards Zich and from the belief that there was a reason behind his actions, she simply watched him for a while. Yet, when Zich continued to only focus on pinching her cheeks without saying anything, Lyla’s patience gradually reached its limit.
“Leh go!”
“I tald ya to leh go!”
“Can ya hear me!”
Zich didn’t let go even after she repeated herself multiple times, and she even tried to move his wrists away, but it was impossible to push away Zich’s crazy strength with the strength of a mage.
Kick!
In the end, Zich only backed away when Lyla kicked his shin. Lyla rubbed her red cheeks with two hands and shot an annoyed glare at him. “Why did you just do that?”
“I did it to see your reaction.” Zich shrugged his shoulders. “It seems like you’re feeling an immense amount of guilt because of the things you did as a Demon Lord in the past. As a former Demon Lord, I’ll say that if something like this happened to a Demon Lord for no reason, they’re the type of humans who would immediately draw out blood. However, you endured for a long time without doing anything. I give you my assurance that you don’t have any talent in becoming a Demon Lord. So stop talking about how you and I are not any different. My pride as a Demon Lord would be hurt.”
“…You don’t have pride in something like that.”
“Just follow along in situations like this. Really, you can’t read the mood.” Zich complained, and Lyla made a small smile. Then, she moved one step forward toward Zich and put her hand out.
Stretch!
“…Whaw yew dooing.” Zich’s cheeks were now stretched out, and he looked at her dumbfounded.
However, Lyla continued to smile and stretch out Zich’s cheek in all directions. It was the exact same thing that Zich did.
“Is this revewnge?”
“Yourr repawing goodu wiv evil?”
“Saay somewing.”
However, Lyla did not reply. In the end, Zich had to grab Lyla’s wrists and forcibly push them away; only then did Lyla withdraw her arms.
“Why did you do that?” Zich asked with perfect pronunciation. He didn’t seem angry; he just looked at her as if her behavior just now was absurd.
“You told me that Demon Lords would immediately draw out blood in this type of situation, right? But you also endured it too, right?”
“I can’t say I’m a Demon Lord now. I’m walking a completely different path from when I used to be a Demon Lord.”
“Yeah, that’s right. You’re not a Demon Lord. Not anymore.”
“Did you make all this fuss to just check that?” Zich rubbed his face while grumpily looking at her.
“Zich.”
“What?”
Lyla laughed. The tip of her mouth moved upward into a smile, and her eyes curved into subtle crescents. This smile was more bright and more beautiful than any smile that Lyla had made before. It was enough to make even Zich dazed although he had gotten used to Lyla’s appearance.
“Thank you.” The emotions she felt were too great and complicated to express with a simple thank you. However, no matter what modifiers she used or decorate her speech with elegant rhetoric, it was impossible to express her current feelings. Lyla had never felt more remorse that there was a limit to what words could express. Thus, Lyla expressed her thanks simply rather than using all kinds of fancy words and expressions.
“I’m really grateful for a lot of things.” Saving her life, helping her find her past, comforting her, etc—all the things that Zich did for her passed through her mind.
Zich lightly tapped Lyla’s shoulder once. Then, he replied, “You’re welcome.”
* * *
When Zich and Lyla returned back to the room, Hans, Snoc, and Elena were gathered in front of the tree. Elena seemed to be full of curiosity as she looked all over the tree and observed every aspect of it. She intensely gazed at the falling water until a frown appeared on her forehead; then, she tried tapping the tree root with her staff and even tried digging at the tree root. Compared to her, Nowem’s actions were much more rudimentary. He stared at the pouring water with curiosity and then opened his mouth.
“Ah, no, Nowem!”
Koo?
“Who knows what’s in that water!” Nowem’s actions were stopped by Snoc’s fast reaction.
Hans maintained a small distance from those two, but he was also looking at the tree. Even though they were all utilizing different methods, all of their interest was on the tree. Zich and Lyla joined them. The three of them were about to move closer to Lyla and Zich, but Zich waved his hand to tell them to continue what they were doing. Hans, Snoc, and Elena went back to focusing on the tree.
Zich also stared at the tree. “This is our third one, right?”
“Yep.”
“The second one was the Tree of Fire, and the third one was the Tree of Water. And we don’t know what the first one is.”
“I can roughly guess what it is.”
“As expected of Lyla. You really fit the title of a great mage.”
Even with Zich’s praise, Lyla replied nonchalantly, “I think it’s the Tree of Earth.”
“And the reason?”
“Just think about it. The Tree of Fire and the Tree of Water both emitted substances based on the elements from their branches. Then, what about the Tree of Earth?”
“Well, the first thing I can think of is that it might emit dirt or rock.”
“Yeah, you might think that, but if we don’t limit our understanding of these trees as emitting out their unique attributes, we can also say that all the trees are similar in that their branches reveal their elemental properties. Just think about the tree we saw in the tomb. It looked more like roots than branches, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I think the part we saw might really be the tree’s roots.”
Zich understood what Lyla was trying to say by this sentence. “You’re saying that it’s a tree that let out its roots into the sky and grows towards the earth, right?”
“Yeah. Doesn’t it match the name, Tree of Earth?”
Lyla’s words resolved Zich’s question.
“Yeah, that definitely makes sense. Good. Until we find evidence against it, let’s consider that tree as the Tree of Earth.” Zich easily made his decision. “Then, I guess the only thing left to do is to take care of this thing.”
Zich shifted through his pockets and fished something out; the object that Zich took was what Finel used to control the Tree of Water.