Yet, Zich’s response was rather indifferent.
“There’s no way the World Tree would just let that happen,” he said.
“That tree clearly has free will, but no matter how special it is, it is still just a tree. Furthermore, its powers are sealed right now. It is able to call me here using the emperor’s sword, the woman with my physical body, and the special characteristic of this space, but it can’t control me or make me disappear. Can’t you sense its powerlessness by the fact that it is trying to free itself by depending on me? Me, even though I am among those who confined it the most.” Serpina’s tone indicated that she clearly looked down on the World Tree. She seemed to think of it as a useful tool, and considering how the empire had treated the World Tree, it wasn’t wrong for her to think like this.
Zich didn’t dispute that point either. He was only working to free the World Tree to push Glen Zenard to his fall and he had never thought deeply about the tree before. Still, that didn’t mean he agreed with her opinion either. Truthfully, he just didn’t care too much about the matter. Even if he did care a little, he didn’t plan on disagreeing with her on every little matter. He would’ve gone along with most of what she said as long as it was reasonable—if only she hadn’t said the following words: “It’s not a hard thing to do. After finding the World Tree’s original body, seal its copies, and place that woman as the core again.”
“..Did you say to place Lyla as the core again?”
“Yeah. Not anyone can be a core. One needs outstanding talent and has to go through numerous processes to be one. You wouldn’t need to make a core again since you already have a complete ingredient next to you.”
Zich looked at Serpina for a bit and turned to Lyla. “So that’s what she says. What do you think?”
“I hate it!” There was no need for her to even think. Lyla refused angrily.
“That’s what she says,” Zich said to Serpina, and she stared at Lyla. Lyla clutched onto Zich’s sleeves tighter as Serpina looked at her emotionlessly as if she was just a tool.
“I can’t understand. If you live as a core, you will become immortal through the World Tree’s mana. It’s also the reason why you are even alive right now in this century. The number of those who desire immortality is basically the same as the number of creatures in this world. How could you refuse so vehemently?”
“How could you consider that as living! Without ‘myself’ as an existence, I will just be part of a system! That’s not what it means to be alive!”
“Is the lack of freedom the problem? You say the same thing as the World Tree,” Serpina said in surprise. She wasn’t mocking Lyla—she really couldn’t understand Lyla’s point of view.
“Of course, I will admit that it is restricting, but shouldn’t you be willing to give up that much for the glory of the empire that will rise once again? Think about it. You will be taking part in the empire’s glory. Even if you live for long, you will only be able to live a little over a century at most. However, if you give up a body like that for the empire, you will become immortal, the empire citizens will praise your name for eternity, and you will be able to live forever with the empire.”
“What do you mean forever? The empire fell,” Zich retorted.
“We have to make preparations for that, obviously. If you consider that, it was actually better for the empire to fall once since we can truly create an immortal empire that will never fall.” Serpina really wanted to establish the empire in this current time period again.
“….Were you really fine with just that?” Lyla asked Serpina. Serpina was someone who had lived her whole life without her own will but for the sole purpose of supporting the empire’s system. The empire she belonged to had been annihilated, so it was difficult to find even a small clue about it, but she was moving to raise the empire once again. Thus, another version of herself, Lyla, would have to be a part of the system again.
“I was born as Clowon’s princess and grew up to be a core. A question like that makes no sense to me.”
“You lack something.”
“Those with great callings tend not to be understood by others,” Serpina said. However, could her behavior simply be described as a ‘great calling?’ Lyla had looked at Serpina with wariness and hate as Serpina only saw her as a tool. However, Serpina didn’t only see Lyla as a tool—she also saw herself as nothing more than a tool. Thus, as they conversed more, Lyla began to feel a sense of remorse and pity for Serpina.
However, no matter what Lyla felt, Serpina paid no heed to it and looked to Zich as if she was waiting for an answer. Zich had already decided on his answer by then.
“I won’t do it.”
“…Why?”
“Lyla doesn’t want it,” Zich replied calmly. Yet, the reaction he got from these words was strong. Lyla’s eyes welled up with emotions because she was touched, and in comparison, Serpina scowled.
“For such a trivial reason?”
“Isn’t it your offer that’s so menial that I can refuse it for such a trivial reason?”
For the first time in her life, Serpina felt an emotion like rage. She barely changed emotions and hardly showed it, but she definitely did have them. Yet, Zich didn’t concern himself with it in the slightest. Whether or not the rage came from a good or bad person or was intense or weak, Zich was so used to others aiming their rage at him that he was indifferent to it.
“Then, there won’t be any collaboration,” Serpina said coldly. It seemed like their agreement was falling apart, and Lyla looked taken aback. She was pleased from the bottom of her heart that Zich took her side, but Serpina also called to cut off their collaboration.
Her sharp eyes indicated that she would not easily change her stand. Tension passed between them, and Zich and Serpina’s gazes roughly clashed against each other in the air. However, this did not last long.
“Is that so?” Zich shrugged and continued, “Then, why don’t we just give up?”
“What?”
“…What did you say?”
Lyla’s eyes widened, and the ends of Serpina’s eyes shook. However, Zich seemed indifferent regardless of their surprise. Zich got up and stuffed the chair he was sitting on back into his magic box. Then, he put his hand on Lyla’s seat as well.
“What are you doing? Get up.”
“Ah, okay.” Flustered, Lyla awkwardly got up, and then Zich also folded her chair and put it in his magic box.
Then, he tapped Lyla’s shoulder. “You must have had a hard time staying in this dark underground base these past days, right? You should get back up and rest for a while. You can get some sunlight and take short walks.” Zich moved his gaze away from Lyla as she was too taken aback to reply, and he stared at Serpina.
Then, he said, “You should also get up. I need to take back the chair.”
“…What do you think you are doing?” Serpina sharply asked him, but Zich was calm.
“What do you mean? You told me that you had no intentions to collaborate. Then, what’s the point of conversing with you like this? We don’t think well of each other, so if we just sit here and talk, we’ll just waste time getting angry at each other. So let’s just separate and go our respective ways. Ah, you’re just matter formed out of mana, so if you disappear, it’ll be over for you. I guess we’ll be the only ones going our way.” With these words, Zich waved his hands for her to quickly get up.
It really seemed like Zich wanted to end their conversation. Bewilderment continued to grow on Serpina’s face. “…Why don’t you stop your bluff?”
“What bluff?”
“If you don’t collaborate with me, it’ll be your loss.”
Zich smirked; his laugh was clearly mocking her. “Now that makes me curious. Why do you think it’s our loss if we don’t collaborate with you?”
“The World Tree’s freedom…!” Serpina stopped mid-sentence. She realized the contradiction in her words.
“And you don’t want the World Tree’s freedom.” Zich clearly pointed out the contradiction.
Serpina decided to stay quiet for a bit because she had nothing to say. However, she also couldn’t give up just like this. “…Without me, you won’t even figure out the method to suppress the World Tree.”
“We don’t need it.” Zich denied her statement again. “Hey, Princess, I think you’re misunderstanding something here. The reason why I came here is that Windur guided me here.” Zich tapped the hilt with his thumb. “The reason why this guy probably led us here is for the World Tree’s freedom. But you know, I’m not really so desperate about freeing the World Tree.” He continued speaking as if he was appeasing a child. “My goal is Glen Zenard’s perfect fall, and the World Tree’s freedom is necessary for that goal. Thus, the World Tree’s freedom is merely a method and not my goal.”
“If you collaborate with me, it would definitely be helpf—!”
“Right now, I don’t need to cling so tightly to that one method,” Zich interrupted Serpina. “The reason why I continuously tried to free the World Tree was because of Glen Zenard’s regression ability. No matter how great I was, I couldn’t do anything about that ability because the Brushel System is really an amazing power. It’s for me to understand why you’re so proud of it. However, as you know, the Brushel System has been destroyed now. In short, this means that Glen Zenard can no longer regress.” Zich smirked, and Serpina thought that his smirk was extremely annoying.
Zich paid no attention to her feelings and continued, “Then, I can sufficiently ruin him without the World Tree’s help.” So far, everything he said was the full truth. “Of course, it would be easier to ruin him if I continue to free the World Tree. However, I’m not so desperate to accept your requests.”
“…Your enemy is not only Glen Zenard.”
“Ah, yeah. There’s still the mastermind left.” There was an enemy that Zich Brave mentioned in the past. The reason why Zich obediently followed Windur was to figure out the mastermind’s identity. “It doesn’t mean that I won’t find out their identity just because the World Tree won’t help me. I can slowly fish out more information from Glen Zenard by angering him, and most of all, isn't the white mana that contains the mana of the World Tree’s clones heading towards the direction of where the original World Tree is? So, if we search all over in that direction, we’ll be able to find the original World Tree and find the mastermind. These are some of the methods that I’ve thought of for now. If I ponder more about this, I’m sure I can think of other methods as well.”
Serpina became speechless. Zich stared at her stiff expression and mocked her. “Do you understand now, Princess? When I refused to restore the Brushel System, you lost all the possible cards in your deck to make this deal. Of course, I won’t deny the fact that you had an extremely strong card in your favor, but what can you do? It doesn’t really interest me. I don’t know how great you were when Clowon existed, but as just some matter made out of the World Tree’s mana, that’s the extent of your worth. Do you now understand who has the power in this negotiation, Princess Serpina Arnoux Boyne Slesvita Wipsin Clowon?”