Chapter 513: Metamorphosis (1)
This was already Eugene's third time visiting the Samar Rainforest.
When he had first ventured to the Samar Rainforest, Kristina had been the only one accompanying him. At that time, even counting it in the politest of terms, their relationship couldn't have been described as close.
During their surprising first meeting, Kristina had shown a fanatical streak as she talked about the revelation she had received from the Light. On the other hand, Eugene didn't have even the slightest amount of faith in the Light, and he had also been feeling very perturbed after suddenly being recognized by the Holy Sword.
So, there had been many obstacles in the development of their relationship.
Eugene had thought that Kristina seemed suspicious while Kristina was left feeling dissatisfied with Eugene's uncouth behavior, which she saw as unbefitting of the Hero or of the scion of a prestigious clan.
Yet even so, the two had safely made it all the way through the Rainforest. Although they had barely voiced any of their hidden feelings or doubts, their journey, which hadn't been a smooth one, eventually brought them a bit closer together.
[It was quite the refreshing experience,] Anise whispered in a joyful mood.
At that time, Anise's consciousness hadn't been separated from Kristina's. She had been fused to Kristina's soul, and it had been impossible for Anise to regain consciousness, even in her angel form, without a special opportunity enabling her to do so.
Yet even with that, she still enjoyed thinking of their trip that time with Hamel.
[Kristina, at that time, you really didn't like Hamel, did you? Instead, wasn't there a part of you that felt jealous of him?] Anise recalled.
'That's... at that time, I was still very immature,' Kristina admitted with embarrassment. 'Because of that, my thoughts were very narrow-minded, and I wasn't able to face Sir Eugene properly.'
To be honest, that period was one of the darkest moments in Kristina's life, leaving her with both shame and regret. Back then, with Kristina being the only one accompanying Eugene through this vast and dense rainforest, things had been... purer.
At that time, Eugene's cloak hadn't been carrying Mer or Raimira. Kristina also hadn't been able to hear Anise's voice in her head.
[Kristina...!] Anise suddenly cried out in protest. [Are you suggesting that my presence is a hindrance!?]
Kristina quickly reassured her, 'There's no way I would think that way, Sister! What reason would I have to think of your presence as a disturbance?!'
However... sometimes, a certain thought did come to Kristina's mind. Perhaps someday, no one knew for sure exactly when, but at some point, they would eventually get the chance to experience something more indecent, something more... risqué than just a kiss with Eugene.
When that moment came, how exactly were they supposed to decide who came first? How were the two of them supposed to overcome the difficult and unprecedented situation of two minds sharing one body?
Anise sneakily began, [You know, Kristina, someone has to be the first among equals—][1]
Only for Kristina to cut her off, 'But Sister, although I don't really want to say something like this... in the end, aren't I the original owner of this body?'
[No way, how could you?! Kristina, I never thought that such words would come from your lips. It seems that I've raised a tiger[2]. I thought you were just a naive little lamb without any clue about the world, but at some point, you've become a fierce tiger — no, you've completely turned into an insidious viper! Fine then, I guess it's all my fault. This would not have been a problem if I had just quietly ascended to heaven after I died instead of presumptuously remaining attached to this world!] Anise poured out this long flow of words in a single breath without stuttering or pausing.
'Sister, I've given it a lot of thought, but... when that day eventually comes, setting aside the decision of who will take the lead in getting control of our body during the act, can't we at least agree that whoever is in control of the body at the time should be allowed to have complete privacy during the moment of union...?' Kristina shyly suggested.
[Kristina, just what on earth do you mean by that?] Anise asked in confusion.
Kristina awkwardly cleared her throat, 'Ahem... it might take a lot of effort to find a method that allows us to do it, but we can probably shorten that time by asking Lady Sienna for her help. So in any case, by temporarily putting one side of our consciousness to sleep....'
The more she thought about it, the more embarrassed and ashamed Kristina felt. That was why she felt so disappointed and regretful upon first arriving at the Rainforest.
Back then, at that time... if only she hadn't had such useless thoughts and doubts. If only she had just been able to face Eugene directly and approach him, then....
Anise comforted her, [That's just another useless line of thought, Kristina. Isn't the reason you started to harbor feelings for Hamel that he saved you at the Fount of Light? And also because you heard those sweet whispers from Hamel during the anniversary of my birthday! The fireworks at that moment, the gazes you exchanged — it was partly because all of those were present at that moment that you fell in love with Hamel.]
But to think that Kristina, who wasn't at all proactive back then, would grow to have such cheeky thoughts. Now that she had gotten over her surprise, Anise was starting to feel proud of the younger Saint.
"What's got you so deep in thought? Anise has said something strange again, hasn't she?" Sienna asked, suddenly turning to Kristina. She was flying along beside them with her feet floating slightly off the ground.
Anise sniffed. [To think she's accusing me of saying something strange... how hurtful and unfair. The one who said something strange just now wasn't me, but you, Kristina, isn't that right?]
"Sister is the same as usual," Kristina replied to Sienna's question with a nervous cough.
To Anise, her words sounded extremely cowardly and ambiguous. The same as usual? How could such a response provide a definite answer to Sienna's question?
"So once again, she's rambling on about her shady desires... of course she is," Sienna grumbled with a look that read as if she had been expecting such confirmation.
Instead of saying anything further, Kristina could only give a sheepish smile.
[What a scary child...,] Anise muttered to herself.
Kristina could also hear Anise sighing away at her from inside her head, but she just ignored that.
Instead, Kristina quickly approached Eugene, who was walking ahead of them, and said to him, "This is already my third time coming to this forest with you, Sir Eugene."
"That's true," Eugene agreed.
Eugene had just replied without giving it too much thought, but to Kristina, it felt different. She was filled with pride and joy that she had been able to accompany Eugene on almost every step of his journey.
"When you first came here, you were searching for me. And you also came to save me on your second visit," Sienna suddenly said.
"That's right," Eugene said with a nod.
Once again, Eugene hadn't given his response much thought. Whatever their reasons for coming here or when they visited, it was already in the past. Right now, the thing that Eugene was extremely preoccupied with was....
"This forest is beautiful and magnificent."
Carmen Lionheart was striding forward at the head of their little group. She was still wearing the uniform of the Black Lions, which seemed utterly unsuitable to wear when exploring the jungle, and the family crest on her left breast reflected a sparkling ray of light wherever she turned to look.
"I have to say, just a few years ago, this forest didn't give off this feeling. Back then, the Samar Rainforest felt like a wilderness filled with outlaws who were on the run from the law and inhabited solely by barbaric cannibals and monsters." Carmen squinted as she looked up at the sky above the forest before continuing, "This reminds me of old times before I became a Black Lion. I was still wandering around the continent as part of my training to become a knight and a warrior then. I once came to this forest by myself, without any equipment or other preparations."
They had come to the Rainforest this time to pay a visit to the Elven Territory. They would be meeting with the elven elders who had taught Sienna how to use magic. The primary purpose of this reunion was to seek advice from these elves who had lived for hundreds of years on the ancient black magic stored within Bloody Mary.
But they also had other goals apart from that. Eugene had decided that he needed to take a closer look at the World Tree. When he had first arrived at the World Tree, the giant tree had been sick due to the miasma spread by Raizakia. It had been left in a desiccated state as it was preoccupied with halting the progress of Sienna's death while also keeping countless other elves alive.
Despite being in such a poor condition, the World Tree had still been able to perform multiple miracles. One such act that could be called a miracle was when one of the spirits inhabiting the World Tree settled within Eugene and granted access to his Lightning Flames. The other miracles occurred during his battle with Raizakia when the World Tree manifested Sienna in soul form in the dimensional rift and restored Eugene's body, which had been on the brink of death.
Eugene was also interested in the various religious beliefs that were associated with the World Tree, which had been described to him by Tempest and Ivatar in the past. In the Rainforest, most of its inhabitants believed in reincarnation after death. They believed that whenever one of them died, their soul was guided to the World Tree and then the World Tree would recycled the soul that had been drawn to it and send them back out into the world when it was ready....
If there was any basis to these beliefs, then Eugene felt there was a need to look into it. In the past, Eugene hadn't been able to sense anything strange when in the presence of the World Tree itself, but as he was now, Eugene might be able to feel something. While focussing on the divinity dwelling within himself, Eugene fell even deeper into thought.
'I haven't been able to find out anything about when the World Tree may have first come into existence. Too bad Sienna didn't know the answer either,' Eugene thought to himself.
He wondered if the elven elders would know the answer to his question. If the World Tree had been around since the Age of Myth, and if it really did have properties relating to the reincarnation of souls, then....
'It's said that the Demon King of Incarceration imprisons the souls of his victims. So, reincarnation should be impossible if you die at the hands of the Demon King of Incarceration. Then that means the role of the World Tree seems to be in complete opposition to that of the Demon King of Incarceration...,' Eugene carefully considered.
This might be a bit of a reach, but if it were true, wouldn't that mean the World Tree was meant to act as a defense against the Demon King of Incarcerations?
The Demon King of Incarceration's primary ability was his power to imprison and control souls. However, if those souls taken by the Demon King weren't destroyed or still imprisoned when the time came to move on to the next era, then....
If that was the case, it meant that not even the Demon King of Destruction himself could go against a law of creation like the reincarnation of souls.
Even as Eugene was lost in thought, Carmen continued to tell stories of her past. "I think it was around ten days after I entered the forest on my own? At that time, I was very young, so I couldn't distinguish the difference between bravery and recklessness. Because I was so strong at a young age, I was arrogant and looked down on this vast forest.
"I was soon met with endless ambushes, accompanied by the laughter of those barbaric cannibals.... They kept watching me from a distance, looking for any openings. But I am Carmen Lionheart, after all, and they couldn't overcome me. They might have thought that they were the hunters, but they were sorely mistaken.
"Did you know, oh Radiant Eugene? The lion is the king of beasts. It is the ruler of all the beasts in the world. In other words, the lion is the greatest and the most exceptional hunter in the world. On the other hand, the tribals who were targeting me at that time were nothing more than wild dogs, even if I did have to give it my all to beat them. When I finally decided to stop hiding my claws and fangs, on that night, rather than a forest, this place became a slaughterhouse."
To be honest, Eugene didn't really believe that the lion was the king of wild beasts. If he had to choose a true king of beasts, wouldn't a bear be closer to that title than a lion?
In the forest surrounding that village on Turas' border, where Eugene had spent most of his childhood, ferocious bears were a frequent sight. Bears were persistent, cunning, and vicious. The goblins and orcs who had dwelled within that forest might have killed more people than the bears, but even they didn't dare to invade a bear's territory....
Not noticing Eugene's distraction, Carmen kept up her monologue, "For that whole night, it was like I had transformed into a beautiful lion. Without intending to feast on them, I hunted down those foolish beasts who dared to think of a Lionheart as their prey. I did get the feeling that I was doing something terrible, but I also felt that it was necessary. In this cruel wilderness, I had no choice but to do what had to be done...."
Meanwhile, Eugene... had returned to his previous thoughts. He didn't believe that all of his connections to the past that had survived until the current era were just a product of coincidence. For this many coincidences to have taken place, he had to believe that it was arranged by fate.
Sienna and Molon seemed to be the reincarnations of the Sage and the God of Giants, respectively. Also, for the Twilight Witch... he didn't know why she had been reincarnated as Noir Giabella, a demonfolk, but those two, Sienna and Molon, seemed destined to have become Eugene's comrades in this era. Vermouth was the one who had facilitated their acquaintance.
But then, the reincarnation of Agaroth's Great Warrior, Ivatar Zahav, didn't seem to have been a part of Vermouth's arrangements. In that case, could they have really just been pulled together by the vortex of fate? If that was the case, how was their fate linked to the power of reincarnation, which was said to be governed by the World Tree?
Although he did not know all the details behind it, the reincarnation of the Great Warrior hadn't caused any harm to Eugene. Ivatar, who now ruled over all of Samar, had endless respect for Eugene, and if Eugene reinstated Ivatar as his Great Warrior, he would be able to make everyone in the huge Zoran tribe part of his congregation.
"At that time, this forest could still be called wild in the truest sense of the word, but now... now it can't be called that even with the slightest intentions," Carmen muttered to herself as she continued to look around the forest.
The forest as a whole still remained where it was but there were some differences from before, for one, the route that Carmen was currently walking down was an artificially created path. The Zoran, who had managed to unify the entire Rainforest, hoped to abandon their previous primitive and tribal forms of life and become a proper civilized nation.
The elders of the various newly merged tribes still opposed Ivatar's will. However, there were an incomparably larger number of younger tribespeople who supported Ivatar.
Thanks to that, the forest was slowly changing. Though it still couldn't be called modern, at the very least, various infrastructures were being constructed, development was being carried out in a way that still paid respect to the spirits of the forests, and any outlaws were being pursued and convicted.
"In that case, if you're done taking a look, would you like to turn back now?" Eugene carefully suggested to Carmen.
The warp-gate they had used to get here had conveniently been recently built inside the Rainforest, but unfortunately, it was still only on the outskirts of the forest.
If they kept on walking a bit further, they would soon reach the true Rainforest that had yet to receive any development. Once they reached that point, it would be difficult for Carmen to break away from them and return on her own.
"I should have already told you, oh Radiant Eugene," Carmen reminded him.
"...," Eugene silently looked away.
Carmen insisted, "I have no intention of withdrawing from this journey."
It was rare to see Carmen being this stubborn about something. That was the biggest difference between Melkith and Carmen.
Melkith didn't seem to have any scruples in the slightest. And even if a few traces of such a thing as scruples did exist for Melkith, it could only be in a minimal amount, like the stagnant water at the bottom of a dry well.
However, Carmen was different. She was a true knight whose scrupulous nature was so awe-inspiring that everyone couldn't help but hold her in high regard. Eugene also felt he had no choice but to acknowledge Carmen's honorable character. In fact, everyone who knew Carmen also found themselves respecting her.
Carmen, in turn, made sure to show respect for others and knew how to accommodate their wishes. No matter how much she might want something from them, if the other person truly rejected it, Carmen was magnanimous enough to know when to rein in her stubbornness and give in. However... this time, in a very unusual case for her, Carmen hadn't given up her stubborn insistence.
And it wasn't like Carmen was just being stubborn for the sake of it. Even from Eugene's perspective, the reason that Carmen had given for insisting on joining him on this journey was quite valid.
Next to Eugene, Carmen Lionheart was the second highest-ranking person in the Lionheart clan. Everyone in the Lionheart family would agree with that opinion. Although she retained the body of a young and beautiful woman, she was actually the aunt of the current Patriarch, Gilead. Since she also held the highest prestige of all the elders in the Black Lions Council, this meant that she held the highest seniority in all of the Lionheart clan.
During the long span of time in which she had achieved all of this, Carmen had devoted most of that time to developing her martial skills. Currently, Carmen's White Flame Formula had reached the Eighth Star, and let alone the Lionhearts, her skill could be said to be unrivaled even among all the heroes of the continent.
Before Eugene appeared, Alchester, Ortus, and Aman could have been described as three of the strongest warriors on the entire continent.
But Carmen was still on another level from those three. No matter how small the gap that needed to be crossed for one of those three to catch up with Carmen, they still had to show respect to Carmen as an exceptional warrior who was half a step ahead of them.
However, even with Carmen being as strong as she was, she still had not been able to withstand the might of Gavid's sword. Carmen had also experienced the same humiliation and helplessness that Alchester had felt when his pride as a warrior was shattered.
"I need to undergo metamorphosis and create a new me," said Carmen. "I won't be able to reform myself by repeating any of my past training practices. To become a new me, I have to encounter new things that I never even knew about or imagined."
"...," Eugene couldn't find any way to dispute it.
"I have never seen the World Tree before, so that seems like a good place to start," Carmen said with a firm nod.
"But you've seen the ones at the main estate, haven't you?" Eugene protested.
"Those weren't the real World Tree," Carmen insisted. "Also, I don't think this journey will end simply with seeing the World Tree. Oh Radiant Lion, the reason you've decided to come here... you must have sensed something that inevitably drew you to this place."
Carmen's suspicion was accurate. However, Eugene tried not to reveal how accurate it was through his expression.
Nevertheless, Carmen continued speaking, "I, too, feel that same irresistible call. Oh Radiant Lion, by experiencing this journey with you, I will undergo a metamorphosis and become the new me. That is what I believe."
"Metamorphosis, huh...," Eugene repeated doubtfully.
"Just like how a chrysalis transforms into a butterfly," Carmen said as she quickened her pace. "In this forest, through the aid of the World Tree, I will become a butterfly."
1. The original text uses the Korean idiom, even in cold water, there are upper and lower temperatures. This phrase is meant to show the importance of hierarchy in everything, like how, in Korean society, it is very important for younger people to respect their elders. ☜
2. This is a reference to a Korean fairy tale about someone raising a tiger cub only to be eaten by it once it grows up. A similar story with the same sort of moral is the farmer who saved a viper from drowning only to be bitten by it. ☜
1. The original text uses the Korean idiom, even in cold water, there are upper and lower temperatures. This phrase is meant to show the importance of hierarchy in everything, like how, in Korean society, it is very important for younger people to respect their elders. ☜
2. This is a reference to a Korean fairy tale about someone raising a tiger cub only to be eaten by it once it grows up. A similar story with the same sort of moral is the farmer who saved a viper from drowning only to be bitten by it. ☜