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A man who just revealed his severe scars to the world being dragged outside by fairies pulling his hair—now that was enough to grab anyone’s attention, regardless of whether they knew me or not.

Fortunately, the Elder’s house was isolated even within the elven residential district, so we didn’t attract the attention of other elves. I couldn’t be sure if this counted as good luck, but it is what it is.

“We’re out! We’re out!”

“Can we see Mom? Can we see her?”

“I’m so happy! So happy!”

Once outside, the fairies released my hair and started buzzing in circles above my head, chattering excitedly.

Kids, I get your excitement, but just because we’re outside doesn’t mean you can see her right away... I never said I’d show her to you immediately, you know.

“Children!”

Just as I was about to speak while roughly fixing my messed-up hair, the Elder, who had rushed out after us, shouted at the fairies.

“How could you torment an injured person?!”

Her words made my hands freeze mid-motion. Did she just call me... an invalid?

Sure, the scars were still visible so that misunderstanding was understandable, but the pain disappeared long ago. If a little hair-pulling could cause bodily harm, I’d be as delicate as a sunfish. And I wasn’t one.

“Carl, are you okay? Nothing’s wrong, right?”

“D-Did your wound open up...?”

“I’m fine. They didn’t even touch the scar.”

The rest of the group stepped out before the bitterness could fade, their gazes turning to my wound. I am not a sunfish...

“Don’t be mad, don’t be mad...”

“We only wanted to see Mom...”

“We’re sorry... We’re sorry...”

Meanwhile, the fairies seemed fond of the Elder who cared for them and was genuinely contrite after being scolded. They even apologized to me, which was unexpectedly touching. It looked like the Elder had done an excellent job educating them.

“But what do you mean they can see their mother again?”

Watching the dejected fairies flying slowly, the Elder cautiously spoke up.

I wasn’t sure whether the fairies’ mother was the World Tree or Constantina, but the Elder clearly shared their longing either way. So, she couldn’t help but be interested.

“It’s possible that the World Tree could be revived.”

I gave the Elder the exact answer she wanted to hear.

“...Revived?”

The Elder murmured, her voice tinged with disbelief.

I was just following the Eternal Blue Sky’s words so I didn’t know the details, but the World Tree might be resurrected after about 300 years if things went well.

***After complaining for a while that she would die if the fairies took away her power, the Eternal Blue Sky cautiously continued.

“If the fairies take my power, my divine energy will be torn apart and I’ll have nowhere left to stay. But if I can concentrate the divine power in one place, I’ll be able to survive. You’d feel uncomfortable with me staying in your body too, right?”

In other words, she was politely asking for help in exchange for leaving voluntarily. Honestly, it was a win-win: I’d be rid of the power keeping me from healing, and the unwelcome divine squatter I hadn’t even known about would be gone. I mean, I’d feel uncomfortable even going to the bathroom if I knew there was a god in my body.

The only thing that bothered me was betraying the fairies who were gleefully anticipating gaining divine power—

“While I was in your body, I saw a tree imitating the World Tree. If you put me there, I’ll take responsibility and turn it into the World Tree. The fairies would like that, too.”

“Is that possible?”

“It’s impossible to turn just any tree into the World Tree, but that tree had sacred objects hanging all over it. With that much, it’s possible.”

Apparently, the Elder’s efforts to create a stand-in for the World Tree weren’t wasted after all.

Well, the fact that fairies who made the World Tree their home were still alive meant they’d succeeded in imitating the World Tree to some extent. While the Elder was frustrated that no new ones had been born, maintaining the status quo was already an achievement no other elves could have managed.

“If the World Tree is resurrected, spirits will use it as a gateway, fairies will be born again, and Constantina can communicate with the elves. The divine energy flowing through the World Tree will be enough for me to survive as a god again.”

She boldly stated she’d take a middleman’s fee, but we were talking about the resurrection of the World Tree. A mere commission was something both Constantina and the elves would likely accept. Who knows? They might even worship her as a guardian deity for being the hero who resurrected the World Tree.

So, following her instructions, I touched the tree beside the Elder’s house—

A glowing tree?

The wound on my body glowed once, and then the entire tree started to sparkle. Even in broad daylight, the brightness was so intense it was impossible to miss.

“Huh? Huuuh?”

“It’s shining! Shining!”

“This is Sky Lady’s energy. But, Mom’s energy is here too!”

“Can we see Mom? Is our home coming back?”

“Wow! Wow!”

As soon as the tree started glowing, the fairies began to stir. To me, it was just a glowing tree. But for the fairies who were sensitive to divine power, it seemed to be far more.

“Mother’s... energy?”

“This is... amazing. For a mere tree to have this much energy.”

Even the Elder, who had seen the real World Tree, and Tannian, a saint, showed unusual reactions. All signs pointed to the revival of the World Tree, making it hard to dismiss as just excitement or misunderstanding.

Honestly, I was pretty shocked. I sort of believed it because a god said it, but I had some doubts since this god had fallen to being an illegal tenant. I was worried it might be the desperate struggle of someone on the brink of death by fairies. Thankfully, even as a fallen deity, she was still very much a god.

“Baby, what’s going on here?”

The Mage Duchess spoke up with confused eyes as the sacred objects hanging on the tree started to sparkle.

She’d witnessed everything in real-time: the tree lighting up at my touch, the fairies and elves reacting in awe, and the earlier conversations about reviving the World Tree. Anyone who wasn’t at least a little shaken by this wouldn’t be human—or elf. If even I, a non-elf, found it interesting, then how much more would it be for the Mage Duchess with elven blood?

“A god was squatting in my body.”

“Uh, huh?”

Unfortunately, that was all I could say. How do I even explain something I didn’t understand myself?

“Human! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Our benefactor, our benefactor!”

“We’ll tell Mom about you! And the spirits too!”

Seeing the fairies rushing to cling to me, I could at least guess that things went well.

— I’m grateful too. Thanks to you, I’ll live comfortably from now on.

See, even a god is thanking m—?

What the hell?

I flinched at the voice echoing in my head. Was there a wiretap in my ear?

— Haha, you might be the first person to curse at a god to their face.

The Eternal Blue Sky’s voice still ringing in my head helped me quickly regain my senses.

What’s going on? Didn’t you leave?

I interrogated her mentally since it seemed like she could read my thoughts.

She said she’d leave. Said she’d be gone from my body. But this? This wasn’t leaving—it was multitasking outside my body while still hanging around.

— I did leave. But I stayed in your body for about 3 years, so there might be some residual left.

Her explanation was... odd. Like someone moving out of a house but leaving behind traces of their life. How exactly do you clean up something like that?

— Don’t worry. At most, it’ll take three days for the residual energy to disappear. My power isn’t strong enough to linger for long.

Thankfully, she explained before I could ask further. Her reasoning that it’d end soon because she was weak was oddly self-deprecating, but I let it go since she didn’t seem to be lying.

— And this tree is in better shape than I thought. At this rate, it’ll become the World Tree within ten years. For elves and fairies, that’s just a blink of an eye.

I’ll relay that to the Elder as well.

This was more good news. The Elder and fairies would be delighted to know the specific timeframe.

— ...Anyway, thank you so much. You helped me even though I’m not a god you believe in.

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I didn’t do it for the Eternal Blue Sky but for my own convenience. Even if there were no benefits to me, all I’d done was touch a tree, which wasn’t difficult.

I would have seriously considered self-destruction rather than helping if it had been Kagan residing in my body instead of a god. But a god? They weren’t like earthly rulers who wielded their power over their subordinates or bore the responsibility to rule. Gods simply answered prayers and remained as they were.

So, I had no particular grudge against the Eternal Blue Sky. I wasn’t sure if this indifference was because I didn’t directly fight the god, or if my mental state was just unusual.

— Ah, once the residue disappears, your wound can heal too. Now we can call it a sacred scar instead of a curse.

Oh.

— Of course, it doesn’t have any abilities, unlike Enen’s stigmata. You’re not expecting that from a god who can barely take care of themself, right?

...No, I’m not.

To be honest, I had been hoping for a little something.

***The Elder’s quiet house soon became noisy.

Elves drawn by the self-illuminating (soon-to-be) World Tree gathered, while the fairies who were overjoyed by the news that the World Tree would fully revive in ten years cheerfully played with the young human duke.

“Here, make yourself at home.”

“Ah, yes...”

“Do you like tea? We have tea leaves that elves have been cultivating since our ancestors’ time.”

“If you’re offering, I’d be happy to try some.”

And, of course, there was the Elder, now gazing at me with a mix of overwhelming affection and approval.

I was in the awkward position as the human lover of her granddaughter just an hour ago, a member of a race elves would prefer not to associate with, but also her potential future grandson-in-law. The Elder had treated me with polite neutrality, unsure how to categorize me.

But the moment I told her the World Tree would be fully restored within ten years, that neutrality was replaced by a bond of absolute solidarity. I wondered if she was being too believing of a human’s words, but she must’ve sensed something as an elf who had seen the World Tree herself.

“Fufu, that’s right. We’re having many guests after a long time, so I should put in some effort.”

Anyway, now that the Elder had become my ally, she took an extremely gentle attitude towards my companions as well.

Being a human personally hosted by an Elder of the elves—this was something truly rare, an experience no one else might ever have. Just having this experience alone was enough to feel the worth of coming on this school trip.

Even though it was only day one of the trip.

...Day one.

My head was spinning. It felt like we’d been through so much, but it was still only the first day?

It feels like several weeks have passed.

I hope we could have a normal schedule starting tomorrow.