Chapter 62

The floor shook as the tree rumbled from the effects of my hand. The ground began to rot, at a terrible rate, but this was in the calculation, the whole palace turned dark as life began to be sucked out of it.

I needed this effect to reach the roots deep within the ground.

“What are you doing!” cried the queen as she looked to be in pain, she is linked to the tree…

A few moments later, the rot began to change, pure, rejuvenated wood began to sprout, flowers and mold, then greenness, all followed. The tree began to revive, as the effects of my ability began to resuscitate it, what I needed was to accelerate the rate at which the tree would consume the nutrients from the ground, absorbing all it needed to revitalize itself, and the results were amazing, to say the least.

The tree began to brighten, the fading lights shone brighter and all I needed to confirm that this would work was the harrowing sound of the monster in the distance.

It is working.

Few more seconds were all I needed to have the tree fully recovered. I pulled out my hand from the ground to avoid any unnecessary side effects.

Looking now at the queen with a grin, she looked to be surprised, the roots on her back which were clearly sucking the life from the queen began to do the opposite, they began to pump her back with mana, not only her, every single one of the inhabitant of the tree began to feel the energy stemming from the core of the tree of life…for a long time, the tree of life was actually doing its job.

“Well this should be enough for you to recover, but I need to get that thing away from here for a moment.”

“What do you mean?” Said the queen whose face began to brighten, as some of the wrinkles on it began to disappear.

“If Famine comes here, his passive will stop the feed of mana to your countrymen…”

“Are you planning on fighting that abomination alone?” Said Haruka in exclamation

“I just need to stop it from getting here…”

“There is no need,” said a daunting voice.

Something or someone presented itself within this room without any of us even noticing it.

Looking back I saw a man, tall and handsome looking, though its face looked a bit pale, almost malnourished but not in a grave way.

His eyes were pitch black, while he wore an ashen colored coat, with its chest and stomach showing. And under that, some sort of long robe. He was not buffed, nor was he skinny, just in between, yet still he bore the signs of danger all over him.

Without the need to even inspect him I said.

“Well, it is good to finally meet you, Famine.”

To these words, everyone shook in their place…the one we were about to go out and fight, was standing right between us.

“Sorry to have shown that ugly side of myself… it is out of habit when I find a place to ‘rest’ I make myself at home,” he said while adding a soul wrenching slow laugh.

Creepy! Creepy as heck!

The hairs on my back stood to no end when I looked at him, but due to the helmet, I wore it didn’t show.

“Well, can I kindly ask you to leave this place then? You seem to have had your fill…” I said

“Hmm, Banished one, you are one of my brother’s apostles… you grew strong…”

“Indeed, but it is not enough…I couldn’t even harm you… and if I am correct you can still easily wipe us all out…”

“True, it is what you just said banished one, but be at ease. Now after regaining my composure, there is no need for me to feast anymore. However, once the need arises, I might appear in another place…this place is a bore now, though they are still famished, their suffering no longer beckons me to remain, there are other places where I can visit…I will leave soon”

“Hold on,” I said, “So your presence is beckoned by famine, right?”

“Indeed, the hungrier the lands get, my persona gets called to it, and once I am present, all that stay, perish… yet, for the first time, my presence was quelled by not the death of the residence, but by one such as thee, to have negated Famine from this land…” he said and once again he laughed in a scary manner…I can’t understand what is funny about what he just said, but I let it slip…

“Then, I shall call upon you when the time is ripe…”

“You? How so, banished one, you treat me as if I was your minion.”

Said Famine without a hint of aggression. But mostly questioning.

“I vowed to bring down the divine, and I can summon your presence if I bring about Famine to their land. Once I am at the Upper realms, you shall hear my calling, as I suck the very life out of that place…”

“Good, it has been long since I last visited that place, but you should be wary, as I shall not take you for an ally…I will only feast upon the weak…” said Famine as he disappeared from sight.

And within but a moment, everyone dropped to their knees, while only I stood.

What is happening?

They all began to gasp for air, the queen, and the guards, even my companions.

“What is wrong?” I asked

“You…You managed to remain conscious in the presence of a major idea…not phased, nor afraid, I couldn’t even breathe…What are you? A human? Impossible for one such as a human to remain undisturbed in front of something this terrifying…” said the queen

“Well, I never said I was a human, to begin with, you only assumed. Yet still, this ended without much complication, thanks to me don’t you think I am in need of an award?”

“Whatever you please,” said the queen this time regaining more of her composure. “Though you are greedy, I still think that your efforts should be repaid in kind… what is it that you seek? Though another fruit of the tree cannot be harvested…it needs time to grow”

“The one you gave me is enough,” I said then removed my helmet “I need to remove this curse, and I was told you can do it.”

“The black dragon’s nightmare… and it festered that much… how can you remain sane?”

“Who said I was?” I replied with a smile.

“Indeed, no sane man would dare talk back to one of the four ideas like if they were chatting with a friend, but you will have to give me time…I need to regain my energy”

“How much time…”

“Four days should be enough for me to recover, I have given much of my life force and mana to this tree so it could survive. I need that much to be in perfect shape…”

“I don’t have four days, at least not me…how much time would you need to cure someone only partially touched with the curse?”

“What do you mean? You clearly seem fully corrupted…” replied the queen.

“Not me…Her” I said pointing at Haruka “She needs to be cured as soon as possible…and I don’t want any excuses…Make it happen…”

“Though we are thankful, you dare risk our Queen's health to save a slave?” said one of the guards who looked to be in better shape

Ungrateful fuckers…

“You seem to be forgetting your position,” I said “I just saved your whole kingdom, and even more, your own princess is one of these slaves”

The guard could only grip tighter at the pommel of her sword.

“Stop it!” said the queen “He is our savior, we owe him this much, and my daughter did that on her own accord… none of you has the right to question this man, or my daughter’s choice…she gave up her freedom for your lives, be respectful of that…” she then took a breath and spoke to Haruka.

“Let me see, then.” said the queen, and signaled Haruka to go forward.

The girl in question looked hesitant at first, but after a nod from me, she approached the queen.

Haruka removed her helmet and her chest armor for the queen to see.

“The curse festers even more…but it seems that the Boulgra remedy is doing its job at containing it as much as it could…Well done daughter of mine, it was the best decision to make to stop this curse from spreading. Remove that shirt.” Ordered the queen, though Haruka is my slave, I hate to see her ordered around by another one…

“But…”

“Remove it, you should not be feeling embarrassed by this, we are all women, and that man is your own er and must have seen your body many times over…”

Not really actually…

Haruka then reluctantly removed her Shirt, revealing her skin, though I was a bit behind her, I was still able to see her naked back. It actually got me a bit excited, even if it had some of the black taints, yet looking closer…I saw some fading scars on it… Those scars look old, probably before we got to this world… I wonder what caused that.

“Your body would have gone to ruin if it was not for that remedy, but the infection is contained…I could heal this even without the need to fully recuperate, I would need less than a day…”

“Very well,” I said, “Then I guess we will be spending the next four days here with you.”

“Prepare room for our honored guests!” said the queen and the two of the guards went away carrying the order.

One of them then came and escorted us, while one rested with the queen.

“Can I have a word with my daughter before you leave?” asked the queen

“I don’t mind,” I said.

Thinking about it, this elf queen, looked to be able to remove a curse of such strength, I guess removing her daughter’s slave collar should not be that difficult, but still if I were to notice or discover such act, she would probably regret it.

So I just left it at that and followed the guard. That is of course after waiting for Haruka to quickly dress.

Haruka had a red tint on her face. She approached me and said.

“D-Did you see?”

“See what?” I replied

“D-don’t make me say it! Did you see?!”

“I saw nothing… don’t sweat the details…”

“Details?” said the girl with a bit of ire, then stomped her way out of the room following the guard.

“So tactless,” said Haruna when she passed by me.

Misaka could only smile after leaving.

Did I do something wrong?

Sigh…

I followed the guard as she went downstairs. Leaving the throne room, we could see the tree and its inhabitants, the both of them, filled with life and energy, the lights within the tree shone brighter than before, illuminating the darkness of its inside. While the inhabitant’s mummified looks were no more, they still looked a bit malnourished but they were slowly recuperating.

The citizen grew louder while I only needed some rest, so thankfully we got to the rooms designed to us before anyone would notice our presence. Most people were still wondering about the ‘miracle’ that just happened, and I didn’t want to be seen as any kind of heroic figure…people talk, and fame would only bring more annoyance, people will start to demand things from you… this is why I hate the term ‘Hero’ it is the worst of all.

Being a hero means that you are forced to help people, that you have obligation to care and protect them, if I were to help anyone then it wouldn’t be without a suitable reward.

A hero does that for the good of the people, and his selflessness… that is stupid and quite ironic…There is always something to gain.

The room where we got was a big onion like room, that was inside the tree, there were several of these stuck to the wooden walls, these are homes for royalty it seems, once we got inside, it looked to be furnished with all kind of things, tables, chairs, a big fluffy carpet and a king size bed… yes, one bed…

I couldn’t help but notice the reddened face of all three girls when we were the only ones in the room. Even the guard coughed excusing herself.

This is going to be awkward, isn’t it?