TFPOTRN | CHAPTER 36

~CHAPTER 36~

“First, let me introduce myself.
You probably already guessed it, but I am Noah, the Earth Spirit King.”

Noah?

My brows pulled together without me noticing.

The names of Spirit Kings change with each generation, and the new names are announced to the world by spirit priests.

Just as no one is unaware of a god’s name, the name of a Spirit King naturally becomes known everywhere.

And as far as I know, the name of the Earth Spirit King isn’t Noah… it should have been *Hetra*.

“Hey, are you alright?”

I snapped out of my thoughts.

I had missed the right moment to respond.

“I’m fine.
I’m… Serena.”

“Serena?
A false name, I see.
Flame… well, it suits you enough.”

“…You know my real name?”

“Of course.
I am the earth.
There is nothing in this world I do not know.
Now… to return to the main point.
You asked to meet the World Tree?”

“Yes.”

Noah leaned forward from the back of the sofa and reached under the table.

When his hand came back up, he was holding a small box.

Could there really be a way to meet the World Tree inside that box?

Finally, could I finally break this miserable cycle of regression?

A tension I’d never felt before wrapped around my whole body.

“To let you meet the World Tree…”

Noah placed his hand on the lid of the box he’d set on the table.

His long and graceful fingers came into view.

“I’m sorry, but it won’t be possible.”

“…What did you say?”

What did I just hear?

For a moment, I thought I misheard him.

Confusion came first, but anger followed right after.

“You promised.”

My voice sounded calm, but even in my own ears I could hear the suppressed heat between the words.

Ifrit had promised in his own name.

A Spirit King’s promise made in his name was never something I doubted he would keep.

But now, with things turning out like this…
Was he mocking me, or deceiving me?
Maybe both.

My mood sank lower and lower until Noah pulled it back up again.

“Calm down.”

At some point he had risen, bracing himself on the tea table and leaning toward me.

“Don’t get too angry.
There’s nothing we can do for the moment.
The World Tree has fallen asleep.”

“Asleep?”

When will it wake up?
Why do I have to wait?
Does he not understand what a promise means?

I frowned and looked between Noah and Ifrit.

Ifrit sat with his hands gathered meekly, looking apologetic.

So he really hadn’t intended to deceive me.

Seeing him like that softened me a little.

*Fine.*
*If it’s only for a while… I suppose I can wait a little.*

I had already wasted decades repeating regression.
A brief wait wouldn’t make any difference now.

“How long does this sleep last?”

“About… four hundred years?”

“Four hundred… are you kidding me?”

I slammed the table, glaring at him.

The child who had been sitting quietly flinched in surprise.

“Calm down.
I told you there’s nothing we can do ‘for the moment.’
Even for us, four hundred years is a long time.”

“So?”

“Right now it’s in a deep sleep, so we can’t wake it.
But the World Tree, once asleep for long, always has brief moments when it stirs.
Those moments come at regular intervals.”

“Just tell me the point.
When is it?”

“Next month.
So when the time comes, take this…”

Noah pushed the box toward me.

Normally I would have opened it myself, but I didn’t even lift a hand and only raised a brow.

The message was clear:
*I’m irritated, so open it yourself.*

He must not have been oblivious, because without a word he obediently opened the box.

Inside was a single thick tree branch.

Although it had been broken off, it looked as fresh as if it were still attached to the tree.

“It’s a branch from a sacred thousand-year-old willow.”

“And what am I supposed to do with it.”

“If you carry this to the World Tree while it’s in shallow sleep, it will sense the energy and wake briefly.
It’s the method we always use when we must meet the World Tree for important matters.”

“Haa…”

So there would be no meeting the World Tree this month at all.

“I promise in my own name as the Earth Spirit King.
This time, the idiot Ifrit made the promise before checking the World Tree’s condition, so this happened.
But next month, I will make sure you meet it.”

“Ahem… me too…”

Ifrit cut in carefully.

It didn’t improve my mood, but acting cynical wouldn’t change anything, so I nodded.

“I’ll trust you.”

…

At my words, Noah looked at me with a surprised expression.

Well, a Spirit King being told “I trust you” by the Demon King was probably a first for him.

After staring at me for a moment, Noah pushed the box fully into my arms.

“Keep this with you.”

“What? Why?”

“If you have it, it’ll protect you from most threats.
Especially anything involving divine power.”

…?

“You don’t think only that small temple was involved in kidnapping and imprisoning a child, do you?
The whole temple wasn’t involved, but with your weak body right now, you wouldn’t handle a single high-ranking priest.”

That was true.

I looked at the branch again, understanding his point.

Noah dropped onto the sofa with a heavy thud.

“Since I swore my own name, it would be a problem if you just died before I keep the promise.
So carry it with you.”

“This thick thing?”

The thousand-year-old branch was as thick as an adult woman’s forearm.

Pretty inconvenient to carry around.

I wasn’t some child wandering around with a big stick for fun.

I stared at it with clear displeasure.

Ifrit quickly took the branch from the box.

Then—

Fwoosh.

A short burst of red flame wrapped around the branch.

The thick branch burned instantly, leaving nothing behind.

“Here.
This way it’ll be easier to carry.”

I stared at the empty space where the branch had been.

Ifrit opened his palm to show me a bracelet.

He had burned the willow branch down into a bracelet.

Because it was made of wood, it reminded me of a Buddhist rosary from the human world.

“Take it.”

He held it out to me.

I reached out without thinking, then stopped.

A sacred thousand-year-old willow branch…

*Can I even touch something like this?*

I wondered if I might taint it just by being a demon.

Normally I wouldn’t think that way, but the shape made such thoughts hard to avoid.

“Hurry up and take it.”

Whether he understood my hesitation or not, Ifrit grabbed my wrist and fastened it on me himself.

“Ah…”

I looked down at the bracelet on my wrist.

Maybe because Ifrit shaped it with fire, it had a faint warmth.

Knock, knock.

A light tapping came from the door.

“Excuse me, Guild Leader.
The food you ordered is ready.”

“Ah, come in.”

It seemed the food he ordered earlier for the child was ready.

The door opened, showing a staff member pushing in a metal cart with dishes on top.

Someone burst in through the gap between the staff member and the door.

“Serena!”