Noble Soul (5)

From time to time, Edna had dreams.

It was an ordinary occurrence for any human, but not for Edna.

She was born with the traits of countless races, including humans, elves, dwarves, spirits, and even angels.

Although only five traits were listed at Stella Academy, Edna herself had already discovered and recorded over twelve racial traits, with more likely to manifest in the future.

Just as elves could communicate with nature and dwarves could manipulate metals, each race had innate traits, and Edna possessed all of them.

Occasionally, she even exhibited special abilities that couldn't be attributed to any specific race.

For example, 'prophetic dreams.'

"It's not a prophetic dream, Edna. It's what we call a 'revelation.'"

She once asked the angels, but it wasn't one of their traits.

Angels... Didn't dream.

"Hmm."

A throbbing headache; the sensation of plummeting into an abyss; the feeling of dizziness akin to wandering aimlessly in a vortex, and a sense of overwhelming emptiness like being lost at sea.

It was familiar.

Once a year, no, perhaps only once every three years, she experienced this special sensation.

It was unmistakably a prophetic dream.

"... Must not seek...."

"You were from the beginning...."

"... Become the next star..."

"There is no predetermined fate...."

She realized it was a prophetic dream, and a lucid one at that.

But even knowing it was a lucid dream, Edna couldn't do anything.

She couldn't move her body. It was as if she was experiencing sleep paralysis.

"What? What are you saying? Speak clearly!"

She shouted into the void.

The place was a space bathed in golden light.

In the sky, a massive upside-down castle floated, with a large U-shaped bridge with clouds hanging from its ends.

The dreams and reality blended. And the eerie sensation brought by it made her want to wake up immediately, but she knew she shouldn't.

Prophetic dreams were special.

Even in the original romance fantasy, prophetic abilities were extremely rare.

While it was undoubtedly surprising to possess such a power, the existence of the ability itself wasn't strange.

"Who are you?"

The figure before her had a dark and hazy appearance, as if shrouded in mist. He didn't respond to her questions and kept repeating the same words.

"You will... become a star and rise..."

Please stop.

Every time that voice spoke, her head throbbed with pain.

This wasn't a prophetic dream.

The dreams she had as a child at least showed her significant moments in life. For example, the moment she was accepted into Stella Academy or when she awakened to magic.

But this dream was nothing but pain. It offered no assistance at all.

"Please..."

As Edna tightly closed her eyes and covered her ears, a strange sensation of being sucked into somewhere overcame her, and the world turned white.

"Ah...!"

Before her appeared young men and boys with golden hair and radiant white wings.

They looked at her with concerned eyes and reached out their hands.

"We're sorry, Edna. We can't bear to see you in pain."

Then, as they gently closed Edna's eyes, they spoke again.

"We wish you wouldn't dream, Edna."

"That..."

"It only brings you suffering."

"Ah..."

The headache vanished and appeared to be washed away by water.

She felt at peace. As if she had fallen asleep in her mother's womb.

And when she opened her eyes again, it was as if nothing unusual had happened—just the ordinary, everyday life.

"Alright. Who wants to solve the next problem?"

Stella Academy, classroom.

She must have dozed off after staying up late last night to finish her overdue assignments.

And of all times, she had to have a nightmare—or rather, a prophetic dream—at that moment.

"Hey... Edna, are you okay?"

A male student sitting next to her asked quietly.

It was only then that she noticed she was drenched in cold sweat.

"Uh... Yeah. It's nothing."

She wondered if there was any reason she had a prophetic dream now. Something she hadn't experienced since entering Stella.

Who knows...

There was no reason for prophetic dreams.

They didn't have meaning. They didn't reveal what you want to know, only what you don't want to know—that was the nature of prophetic dreams.

She didn't know where this trait originated from, but she suspected it must be a rather troublesome one.

'... I wonder if Baek Yu-Seol knows about prophetic dreams?'

There was a high possibility that her other self from another world had confided in Baek Yu-Seol about her prophetic dreams.

He was the type who would have figured out the truth by now.

But... She didn't want to burden him with memories left behind by her other self.

She would find out eventually when the time was right, so for now, she decided not to ask.

Ding-dong-dang!

When the bell rang to signal the end of class, Edna packed her textbooks and walked down the hallway with a tired face.

"Hi, Edna!"

"Oh."

"Hi! You look tired today."

"Yeah..."

"Edna! Want to go to Café?"

"No..."

As she walked through the hallway, her friends greeted her, but she was too weary to respond properly and gave half-hearted replies.

Of course, since Edna usually responded half-heartedly, her friends didn't seem to notice anything unusual.

"... Hi."

"Oh."

Once again, someone greeted her, and she absentmindedly replied, trying to walk past them.

But the person blocked her path, forcing her to stop.

"... What is it?"

Edna frowned as she finally looked up to see who it was.

The boy with dark hair tinged with red and a cold expression stared down at her with violet eyes.

"... Haewonryang. What do you want?"

"I have a request."

"A request? If it's something troublesome, I'll pass."

"It's not troublesome. In fact, I think you might find it interesting."

"What is it...?"

Lately, each day had been so monotonous that she was hardly interested in anything.

But since Haewonryang said it might pique her interest, she felt a bit curious.

He quickly handed her a small pamphlet when he saw her eyes light up.

"There's going to be a League of Spirit tournament at the academy to select additional players."

"Aha. You want me to come watch?"

Haewonryang shook his head.

"Would you consider participating as a player?"

"What?"

Now that she thought about it, she remembered something similar happening before. Then, a thought struck her.

'Wait. Didn't I already register for something...?'

Edna had always enjoyed watching League of Spirit matches but had no intention of participating herself.

However, she was forcibly registered as a player by Jeremy Skalben some time ago...

Afterward, she tried her best to cancel the registration, but she was told all day that it was impossible since her name was already on the list.

Even after several days of frequent visits to the administrator, all she kept hearing was that it was impossible.

And now, a few days later, they were holding a tournament to select additional players...

"Am I really going to have to play in this thing?"

As Edna's face turned pale and her mouth dropped open, Haewonryang's expression hardened.

"You're not interested in being a player?"

"No, it's not that..."

What should she do?

The future appeared so bleak that she couldn't even hear what Haewonryang was saying.

The thought of having to become a League of Spirit player, something she had never even considered, made her dizzy.

"Damn you, Jeremy... I'll get you someday…"

Her eyes gleamed with a dangerous light.

———-

Early morning.

As the sky turned a reddish hue, Baek Yu-Seol arrived at the orchard of the Third Heavenly Tree on the morning train, and took a deep breath.

He used to think it was strange when elderly people climbed mountains to absorb pure air through exercises and stretching, but now he could understand it quite well.

As someone with Mana Accumulation Retardation Syndrome, the mana he inhaled tended to leak out, but it was not entirely pointless.

The more pure mana he breathed in, the higher the mana circulation rate in his body, which would speed up his growth.

Of course... Breathing hard in a place like this didn't make a huge difference.

If he trained hard in a place full of energy, that might be another story.

The orchard of the Third Heavenly Tree was originally part of the elves' land, but it had been open to humans for decades now. Though they said the culture and landscape hadn't changed much from the past.

The reason they preserved those traditions was because this place had gained more significance as a tourist destination.

By sharing elven culture with outsiders, they also made good money.

"... I'll wait for a bit?"

After arriving at the station, instead of heading out immediately, he sat down on a nearby bench and opened a book.

The history of Aether World was a grand fantasy epic, and there was nothing more enjoyable than reading it.

Ever since he arrived in this world, his magical knowledge hadn't grown much, but he'd become quite familiar with its history.

He might even consider becoming a history teacher if he ever ran out of things to do.

As Baek Yu-Seol read for about 30 minutes, he heard the sound of the next train.

The design of the train stayed true to its purpose of traveling in and out of the elven lands.

The train was quiet, but it sacrificed a lot of speed in exchange and moved quite slowly.

And on that train...

The Elf King, Florin, was aboard.

Hiss!

As the train doors opened, a small number of passengers disembarked.

Among them were a gloomy mage in a robe; a confident dwarf with a small stature but a proud posture; an elf with their ears wrapped in bandages to conceal them, and some humans weary from their daily lives.

Although a wide variety of people got off the train, it wasn't difficult to spot Florin.

Dressed in a black gown and with a mask, she might seem like an ordinary mage to others, but to Baek Yu-Seol, she stood out as someone special.

She spotted him right away as well and hurried over with quick steps.

"It's been a while. I didn't expect to see you here…"

"Do you still wear a mask whenever you go out?"

"There's still a lingering curse, so I have to be extra cautious when I go out. And... It's also hard to move freely as the Elf King."

Of course, it was partly because of the curse, but Florin, who had longed for freedom all her life, probably wore the mask to move about as she pleased without the fear of anyone recognizing her.

Baek Yu-Seol imagined that even after the curse was lifted, she might continue to enjoy wearing the mask.

If her face were to be revealed, the whole world would recognize her instantly.

"Well, shall we go?"

Florin said this and walked confidently in some direction.

She could finally enjoy a rare, leisurely vacation.

Although it was a short time, not even two days, she seemed intent on making the most of it...

Unfortunately, her plans were ruined in less than thirty minutes.

Thud! Thud!

Before Florin, who was concealing her identity with a black dress and a white mask, knelt elf knights in green robes.

Their robes all bore the emblem of Third Heavenly Tree, and the situation was clear.

'We've been found out.'

She had somewhat expected this.

As the Elf King, Florin was connected to the First Heavenly Tree, "Cheonryeong Tree," the origin of all World Trees.

A mysterious aura. The one that could only be sensed by elves must have been subtly emanating from her.

While the dress could block curses, it couldn't completely conceal the aura of the Elf King.

It seemed she had tried her best to hide it, but while it might fool ordinary people, it couldn't deceive the elder of the Third Heavenly Tree.

"Your Majesty, why did you visit our cradle without informing us?"

The elf in the lead knelt before her and spoke to Florin in a voice full of gravity.

If one were to compare, this elf would be like a district mayor in Korea.

"... I had a reason to visit quietly."

"Is that so? I apologize for not understanding your deep intentions. However, upon realizing that Your Majesty had graced this humble place with your presence, we could not possibly ignore it and have come to greet you directly."

"In that case... I suppose it can't be helped."

Florin gave Baek Yu-Seol an apologetic look, but honestly, he didn't mind.

District mayor or not, he only needed to visit Celestia's garden. Sometimes, these unexpected experiences could be refreshing.

Still, something felt off.

'This level of formality is unusual for elves, isn't it?'

The noble culture of humans and elves was quite different.

Among humans, it might be natural for subjects to speak to their king in extreme honorifics, but among elves, kings were merely revered for their connection to the World Trees. They weren't expected to bow and scrape.

Even though Florin had little social experience, this treatment seemed unfamiliar to her, and she appeared deep in thought.

"Your Majesty, may I humbly deliver some news?"

As expected, the elf elder spoke in a voice suggesting something was amiss.

"... Go ahead."

When Florin nodded, he lifted his head and began to speak.

"The orchard of Third Heavenly Tree... has begun to be corrupted from its roots."

'Wait a minute.'

'Third Heavenly Tree is being corrupted?'

'Already?'

'Things are progressing... much faster than I expected.'

As far as Baek Yu-Seol knew, the corruption of Third Heavenly Tree's orchard by dark magic was supposed to occur in the second half of the second year or even at the beginning of the third year.

Even though the story of this world had been altered again and again, it appeared that events had been advanced by one to two years.

While there had been times when episodes had gone awry, they'd never advanced this drastically before.

He was just as taken aback as Florin.

"Your Majesty, please protect our cradle..."

The elder bowed his head after saying this, and Florin and Baek Yu-Seol stood in silence while exchanging looks.

He had come to check on Celestia's condition, but things had become much more complicated than expected.