Tale of Discovery

Chapter 199: Sacrifice ; Deification ; Gateway

Early the next morning, I awoke to Aruru tightly clinging to me the way she was in the night.

I gently pat her head, resulting in a small smile to appear on her small lips. Amused, I begin to caress her arms, which causes her to cling to me even harder than before.

Meanwhile, a certain half-elf has already gotten up from the bed and was in the middle of tidying herself looks my way with a neutral expression.

"Good morning, Tiffa," I say while continuing my actions.

"Ah, good morning," she responds almost monotonously, "Who is this and why is she here?"

Right, Tiffa has yet to meet most of the girls. The reason for that is because she was always cooped up in her room most of the time during her stay in the castle. With most of her time revolving around the Grimoires, it wouldn't be surprising for her to not know some if not most of the castle's residents. Matilda running errands for her doesn't help her case much either.

"Tiffa," I say in a serene tone, intending to tell her about the Mete and Rift. However, after giving it some thought, that would be pointless at the moment, as it would earn me nothing but amazement, doubt, and confusion from her, "This lass is Aruru, my daughter."

Stunned, Tiffa doesn't know how to respond to my proclamation, so I continue, "Obviously, she wasn't birthed by my non-existent wife."

Perhaps realizing what I'm getting at, Tiffa's expression gradually changes to that of pity. Uh I think she might've misunderstood me. Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway, as long as she doesn't pry into the matter anymore.

All of a sudden, the door to the room bursts open as a chaotic Luctiana enters the room and anxiously inspects us.

Then, she exhales a sigh of relief while falling to her knees.

"Luctiana?" I question, despite knowing the reason she's acting the way she is.

"I'm sorry, but have you seen Ari?" she asks after taking a moment to recollect herself.

"Yes," I casually respond, "He left the oasis in the dead of the night."

Hearing my response, Luctiana squints her eyes while asking, "And how do you know about that?"

Unfazed, I calmly reply while stroking Aruru's hair, "As a Magic Knight, I'm usually the one to keep an eye on the surroundings while on an expedition. As such, it has become a habit of mine to notice something as simple as someone leaving or entering the vicinity."

"Yet, you did nothing about Ari leaving?" she dubiously asks.

"Oh, I did," I say in a cold tone, "Not only did I cast an illusion on him to see me during the whole trip, but I cast a tracking spell to see where he was heading."

"In which direction did he leave?" Luctiana asks after taking a few seconds to digest what I told her.

It's going to be a little awkward if I were to point in the direction while lying down, so I attempt to gently push Aruru away, however, I'm unable to do so due to her tightly clenching onto my clothes.

Letting out a sigh, I slowly lift my body from the bed while holding Aruru's back by my left arm.

Luctiana seems to just notice Aruru as an odd look becomes apparent on her face while she scrutinizes the sleeping angel.

"Who?"

"I'll tell you about that later, for now-"

"No, tell me now!" she hastily interrupts me.

Hah~ This is tiring

---

"You're going to be accessing the gate?" Luctiana asks me in a bewildered tone while we're eating breakfast.

"Yes," I respond, "After all, it's the penultimate solution to all of this world's problems."

"Huh? Are you saying that there is a more effective solution?" she doubtfully asks.

"Genocide," I say in a neutral tone, which causes Tiffa to spit her food out and Luctiana to look at me as if I am demented.

The only one who didn't react much is none other than Aruru who's meekly sitting on my lap and silently eating.

Silence ensues as all of us continue eating without uttering a single word. This goes on for a short while before Luctiana curiously asks, "Does all humankind think like this?"

Hm Do they? I don't think so. Most of them barely know what's good for them, so it would be quite a stretch for them to think of what would be beneficial for the world. What's funny is that even those that believe they are changing the world for the better are mostly hypocrites worse than those who are 'damaging' the world.

Seeing me shake my head, Luctiana breathes out a sigh of relief before murmuring, "That would've been scary."

Okay then, I should probably check on Iaron now to see what's going.

Using Clairvoyance, I directly observe Iaron from the sky, only to be stunned by the sight of Ari as well as the five elves I indoctrinated being tied to wooden poles. In front of them, a member of the Council of Elders seems to be giving a speech to a crowd of elves who have different expressions ranging from disgust to fury.

Despite this being the result of my actions, I don't heed it much attention as Ari had already been marked deceased the moment he planned to use Tiffa. From the looks of it, he's about to get 'sacrificed' himself ironic.

Just as I'm about to cancel Clairvoyance, I set my sight upon two elves dragging out a mature elf toward another wooden pole.

Alais. I have not spent much time with her, but my time with her was a memorable one. What the heck is wrong with the elves? I don't recall there be anything worthy of suspicion regarding her.

"Luctiana," I say in a serious tone, "Ari is about to be sacrificed."

"What?" a flabbergasted voice responds to my statement, "How do you know?"

"The tracking spell," I say, "It allows me to eavesdrop on what's being said around the one I have cast it on."

"What do we do?" she hurriedly asks.

"Go to Iaron."

---3rd POV---

"For this, these traitors shall be sacrificed to please the divine being watching over us," an elderly elf proclaims while pointing his walking at Ari, Alais, and five other elves.

"Only this way will our race flourish!" he exclaims with vigor unbecoming of his senile body.

The crowd of elves in front of the man raise their arms and shout out supportive statements, while a minority of the elves look at the elves tied with a doubtful look on their faces.

"Hear me, oh spirits of the wind," the man begins to chant as several blue orbs for around his arms.

The crowd's cheering begins to increase in intensity, while the doubtful look on the minority has changed to that of horror.

Just as one of them is about to shout something, a sound akin to glass shattering resounds within the ears of all the elves present, greatly alarming them.

The next moment, a black projectile crashes right beside the old man, causing the blue orbs around his arms to abruptly disappear.

"The spirits!" the old man bellows, "They've fallen asleep!"

Hearing his words, the elves immediately begin to panic. All of a sudden, a bright light shines upon them as several figures descend from the sky.

The terrified elves look over at the descending figures, only to be awed by the sight of a golden-haired man embroidered in runes accompanied by six beauteous females.

Meanwhile, the elves are distracted by the bizarre sight, Luctiana is sneakily freeing the elves who have been tied to the wooden poles.

Once Luctiana freed all the elves, she guided them away from the crowd while making sure to not do anything that would attract the attention of the baffled crowd.

The golden-haired man, who is none other than Victor, watches over her as she guides them away before swiftly landing on the ground along with the rest of the girls.

"Go forth," Victor commands in a firm tone while pointing at the giant tree.

Tiffania, who is the closest to him, nods her head and begins walking toward the tree while Aruru and Gabriel follow her with their wings protruding from their backs for everyone to see.

The dumbfounded elves subconsciously make way for Tiffania and the angels as they head toward the bridge that connects to the tree.

Meanwhile, Victor waves his hand, causing motes of light to escape from his palm and nestle on the elves' heads before saying in a loud and sonorous tone, "Heed me, oh beings blessed by nature. I, have come as an apostle of the Goddess Sera for the Great Purpose."

As a response to all this, the elves look at him with dazed expressions, completely unaware of what's happening to the giant tree.

---1st POV---

Making use of my senses in my deified form, I keep a tab on Luctiana and the rest as they make their way out of Iaron.

Earlier, I made use of the black stone along with my Destruction to completely shatter the barrier set around the place, so they should be able to leave without much trouble.

Naturally, there is a chance that a mishap may occur on their way back to Luctiana's abode, so I had Saturnus wait for them right outside Iaron. She's going to escort them to the oasis while keeping an eye on the male elves, particularly, Ari.

Anyway, it seems like the part of the key being sacrificed was nothing more than fallacies, after all. The giant tree at the center of the oasis is now glowing in a greenish-blue color with numerous runes visible on its bark.

In the end, Tiffa was indeed the key, but I wasn't planning to sacrifice her for the cause. As such, I had Aruru and Gabriel accompany her while in a battle-ready state, with the intention of keeping her out of harm's reach if something went wrong.

Fortunately, my worries were unnecessary, which is what I was expecting.

Alas, it seems like I'm one step closer to finding what I seek in this Platform. What a long journey it has been

I take one last glance at the stupefied elves before floating toward the tree while telekinetically bringing Siesta, Krul, and Yuno along with me.

Soon, we find ourselves standing right behind Tiffa and the angels who are watching with awe as the tree seems to 'open-up' in the center before a violet gateway forms at the center.

"This is it," I say while approaching the gateway, "This is our passage to the Lost Continent."

The girls apart from Tiffa all have a serious expression on their faces while staring at the gateway.

"Let's do this," I murmur before walking through the gateway.