---

Screech—Screech—

Inside the Adventurer’s Guild, only the sounds and smells of flesh burning filled the air. The scent of roasting Goblin Ears and Elf Ears was enough to make even the strongest-stomached adventurers gag. Riche, who was roasting the ears, as well as Yui and Luna standing next to me, were all holding their breaths.

“AAAHHHH!! AAHHH! IT HURTS!!!”

“Shut up, you brat!”

-SNAP!

It doesn’t take that long to attach the ears, so why is he screaming like a banshee? It was so noisy that I had to use Silence Punch to quiet him down. Now I understand why they put you under general anesthesia for major surgeries in my past life. If it’s this loud, it greatly affects the doctor’s focus, which is probably why they ask for silence.

“Grrr!”

“Patient, you can’t act like this here.”

By the way, the first Elf fainted from the pain during the ear attachment process. What kind of warrior faints just because their flesh is roasted a little? If she were a true warrior, she should be able to jump rope with her intestines spilling out.

When I passed a mirror to the Elf, who now had Goblin Ears, she glanced at her reflection. Shocked by her appearance, she slumped down like a doll with its strings cut, showing no signs of movement. Then, I approached the female Elf to make her a Goblin as well. She glared at me as if she were going to kill me. They were the ones who charged at me first, but suddenly, I’m the villain.

“Kuh… kill me!”

“That’s a line that should come out of a doujinshi.”

If you had said that in front of an Orc, you would be having a grand time! Everyone else turned into Goblins, and this one insists on staying comfortable. I turned her into a Goblin like the others, but after all the torture training, she didn’t even open her mouth.

I handed her a mirror as the newly appointed Goblin Commander, but she threw it aside like she didn’t want to look.

“Well then, shall we prepare to go to Alvheim?”

“…?”

The only ones giving me strange looks were the Elves. Luna, Yui, and Riche also sought an explanation, as if asking, “What did you just say?”

“Uh… Luke? Weren’t you not going to Alvheim?”

“I have to claim my compensation.”

After coming over to launch a blade at someone just standing around, would everything end just because I took care of a few of them? Revenge is revenge, and I need to claim what’s mine. Doesn’t the superior take responsibility for a subordinate’s mistakes? That’s what collective responsibility means. I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t receive compensation from the World Tree.

“I should at least snap off a branch from the World Tree to make it worth it.”

Plus, I needed materials to craft my weapon, and a branch from the World Tree would serve as excellent material. When I said this sincerely, the Elf—no, now Goblin Commander—approached me, clutching her legs, pleading for me to reconsider.

“P-please… just that…”

“Formal speech.”

“…?”

“Try saying, ‘I beg you.’”

It seems she didn’t grasp the situation; I hold the upper hand here. Why be rude with informal language? We have to start with formalities. So, without a moment’s hesitation, she requested me formally.

“I… beg you…”

Since they’re about to inconvenience the god they serve, shouldn’t pride be the last thing on their minds? For the peace of the god they serve, any pride has less value than a crumpled piece of paper.

“No, that’s wrong. Your attitude in asking is incorrect.”

It seems they have no concept of how to ask someone for something. In Korea, when one has to apologize or request something, there’s a way to do it. As everyone knows, that’s the gyeonjeol (a traditional bow). However, if you cross the sea to the neighboring island, there’s a way even superior to that grand bow, which is—

“Naked dogeza.”

“…Huh?”

“Oh. You probably don’t have the word dogeza here. It means to bow down naked.”

If you’re going to ask someone for something, you need to show that level of sincerity. Could our proud and arrogant Elf warriors, bundled up in their own conceit, do a naked dogeza in front of all these people? But the issue of whether they do it or not is already beside the point.

Reluctantly, the Elf girl began to remove her clothes one by one. As male adventurers started to steal glances, she paused momentarily but soon continued undressing. Neatly folding her discarded clothes to the side, she knelt before me and lowered her head.

“P-please…”

“Hmm~ no thanks~”

“…”

If I were to let her off the hook, then why even have cops in this world? I didn’t expect her to actually do it, but even if I did, I never intended to let her go from the start.

“Let’s move to another location.”

I felt the need to relocate to continue because making her do a naked dogeza in the middle of the guild was giving me a headache. When I glanced back to see who was staring so fervently, Adela was shooting lasers from her eyes. So, we moved to the restaurant—collecting Elves on the way.

“…Why are we coming along?”

“Because I need a guide.”

Fundamentally, the location of Alvheim, where the Elves reside, is classified. The World Tree has set up a massive barrier in the forest, and without an Elf along, we’d be lost in the woods forever, hence their necessity in accompanying us.

“Just kill us instead. I don’t think you can harm Yggdrasil, but we can’t risk you causing trouble, so we won’t take you with us.”

“Really? Is that okay?”

“…What do you want to say?”

“No~ I was wondering if it’s fine for you to ignore the World Tree’s orders for me~”

Who would refuse a superior’s command? Even in the military, if a superior says to do something, you do it. Nobody’s going to be like, “I have the right to refuse the command.” That wouldn’t even make sense. If that were possible, we wouldn’t have ranks.

“…If something happens to Lord Yggdrasil, we have the right to refuse the order.”

“Wow~ these days, the World Tree’s status really has fallen. Even ‘the feeble Elves’ have rights to refuse orders now.”

Even though I called them ‘feeble Elves,’ they didn’t have a single word to retort and remained silent. Even they think of themselves as ‘feeble’ in comparison to the World Tree. Honestly, what kind of lunatic would want to compete with their own god? If there’s a god like that, they must be an idiot.

“Worshiping gods and all, but if you do as you please, what kind of god is that? That’s just dumb.”

With gritted teeth, the Elves glared at me as I insulted the World Tree. But that was all they could do. Since it’s evident they’d get wrecked again if they charged at me.

“You say the world is in danger~? What you’re doing right now isn’t the real destruction of the world?”

“…”

“Wow, still silent? Then I guess I have no choice but to kill you all and just burn the forest.”

“…!”

Only when I mentioned burning the forest did the Elves finally react. Without them, I can’t enter, but that’s all there is to it. If I can’t enter, I’ll just burn the entire forest. I’ll wipe out the Elves along with the World Tree. After it’s all burned down, I can at least collect the remnants of the World Tree.

The Elves, having realized the fragment of humanity that ‘I’ am, would’ve understood that I actually could set the forest on fire. Hence, the female Elf commander started to seriously consider it. It seemed to take quite some time, and just as I took a bite of bread, Luna asked on behalf of the three of them.

“Luke, could you explain to us as well?”

“About what?”

“Why those people came here. Is it some kind of event?”

“It’s kind of like an event.”

World Tree episode. It’s a pretty big scale to call it just an event, so we refer to it as an episode instead of an event. The Elves dramatically proclaimed that the world would perish, but in reality, it wouldn’t really end just by neglecting it. Instead, about a quarter of the continent might turn into desert.

“Do you remember the monster you mentioned back in the Marquis Territory?”

“I don’t… quite know.”

Riche wasn’t there back then, so that response was natural. On the other hand, Luna and Yui remembered it vaguely since it was mentioned just a few months ago.

“I remember! The monster that created the desert!”

“If I’m correct… it was an S-Rank Monster, right?”

“That monster is coming out this time.”

“Excuse me?”

“What?”

Riche was the only one tilting her head in confusion. Luna and Yui responded as if they didn’t quite catch it. It was the S-Rank Monster, the Volcano Dragon, which I had mentioned before. This monster is appearing in this World Tree episode. Unlike the mediocre monsters we’ve encountered so far, this one is dangerous enough to change the map.

“That monster which created the desert is coming.”

“T-then we can’t win, can we?!”

“Of course, if it’s like you said, we normally can’t win.”

That’s why the location of the event is Alvheim. As I’ve explained before, the average force among the Elves is the highest among races; thus, they can adequately cope with an S-Rank Monster.

Another reason is the World Tree itself. The World Tree can match up to an S-Rank Monster, but it has no means of attack. That’s why we must focus on defense and stretch it out into a long battle.

“This episode was basically made for you to take the bus.”

“Bus…?”

“It just means to hitch a ride with someone else.”

An S-Rank Monster? No matter how much of the protagonist I am, I can’t just defeat it right away, especially since this is a growth arc. In the original work, this episode was meant for the protagonists to fight moderately while leveling up. So, while I could take the bus, I was still thinking.

“But, how much experience will there be for an S-Rank Monster?”

When we raided an A-Rank Monster before, we leveled up by sharing experience, and I still didn’t reach level 8. For an S-Rank Monster, wouldn’t it be at least over 10 levels? If we’re having a hyper-burning event, ignoring that would be so un-Korean.

“Are you really planning to hunt it…?”

“Are you asking if I’ll really do it or if it’s just a bluff?”

“Is it even possible for us to win?”

“Of course, we can’t.”

“…?”

The World Tree focuses all its skills on defense and support. Although it can cast buffs that increase the allies’ attack power, if an A-Rank takes a buff, they could approach an S-Rank, but they can’t actually become one. So where does the lacking attack power come from? For such cases, there’s a human among the top three on the continent.

“There’s a Weapon Master. An S-Rank Adventurer is permanently dispatched to Alvheim.”

If Lucia is the peak of Magi called Elemental Master, then the Weapon Master is the peak of Warriors. The lacking attack power will be compensated by him.

“Why do we even need you when there’s already an S-Rank Adventurer?”

“How would I know? You’d better go ask the World Tree.”

At just that moment, the Elf’s long deliberation came to an end.

“…I’ll guide you, so please refrain from burning the forest down.”

You should’ve said that from the beginning.

“Then let’s set off in three days.”

“Why exactly…?”

Luna needs to receive her weapon.

*

Three days later.

“Wha-what are you doing here?!”

“That’s what I want to ask you!”

Ha… those irritating ear-brat monsters. If you’re going to do something, at least do it once and not be so greedy!

 

---