This narrative continues from the perspective of the sage fifty years ago.
My name is Otfried.
I was the magic caster for the Hero’s party, though lately, people have taken to calling me a sage.
As Hero Rudolf and I pushed through the woods, a blue-haired Dryades stood waiting at the entrance to the Sanctuary. Female Swordsman Fidessa, who was supposed to have gone on ahead, was nowhere to be seen. It appeared we had caught up to the Dryades first.
The Hero’s arm had only recently been severed by the Big Sister Dryades. As if to protect the wounded man, I stepped cautiously half a pace in front of Rudolf, keeping my guard up. Noticing our arrival, the Dryades fixed us with a bellicose glare and raised her voice.
"How dare you betray me, Hero!"
Using Spirit Magic, she manifested Poison Blades in the air. The toxic shards flew toward us like arrows, but I conjured a shield with Earth Magic, intercepting every one of her strikes.
"If you wanted me gone, you should have just been honest and said so...!"
The Dryades’s emotions seemed to explode, as if she were unable to process the situation. However, the Hero looked just as perplexed. He spoke desperately to the woman who had been his lover.
"You're the one! Why did you come to me this morning saying you wanted to break up? Did you suddenly lose your nerve about leaving the forest?"
I finally understood the cause of that morning’s commotion, but then the Dryades shouted back.
"Was it not the Hero who rejected me first? You came to see me at dawn, telling me you couldn’t be with a spirit after all..."
"What are you talking about...?" Rudolf muttered, a realization dawning on him.
Hero Rudolf had gone to see the Dryades at dawn, and at daybreak, the Dryades had gone to see the Hero. Furthermore, the incident I had witnessed earlier involved the Dryades sisters. It had felt as though the elder sister had walked in on the younger Dryades while she was in the Hero’s Tent.
If both of their testimonies were true, it meant that for some reason, they had both gone to the other’s side at dawn to initiate a breakup—yet neither of them seemed to realize what they had done.
Something was terribly wrong.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, thunder roared and a gale swept through the clearing. When I opened my eyes, Female Swordsman Fidessa had already plunged her Twin Swords into the Dryades’s chest. She must have used the opening while Rudolf and I were drawing the spirit's attention to launch a sneak attack.
"Did you call your other comrades just to deliver the finishing blow...? Did you set me up, Hero!"
The Dryades glared at Rudolf with an expression of pure, agonizing sorrow. Fidessa’s blades remained impaled deep in her body.
"If it was going to end like this, I wish I’d never met you. I don’t even want to see your face. I want to forget everything and just disappear."
"...I don't feel that way."
Ignoring the blades, the Hero approached the Dryades. He spoke to the swordswoman who still held her weapons ready.
"Fidessa, sheathe your swords."
"...Understood."
Following his command, Fidessa withdrew her blades and retreated. Rudolf stopped quietly in front of the Dryades.
"Let me talk with you once more. Just the two of us."
"............I can't trust you."
"Then I'll leave my sword behind. You'll feel safer without a weapon, won't you?"
The Hero tossed his Holy Sword to me. It was a sacrilegious way to handle a holy relic, but I didn't have the luxury of scolding him.
A mysterious, door-like rift opened in the space between them. The Dryades vanished into it, and the Hero followed, stepping slowly through the threshold. Together, they disappeared into the Sanctuary.
The Door of the Sanctuary remained open.
Now then, what was I supposed to do?
"Hey, Fidessa."
When I turned to speak to her, she had vanished. Where on earth had she gone?
The moment the thought occurred to me, a woman’s scream echoed from within the gate. Sensing an emergency, I rushed into the Sanctuary.
There, I saw a massive Poison Blade protruding from the Hero’s back. It had run him through, thrust from the front by the Dryades. I realized instantly that he was already dead.
The Hero’s Helmet was rolling on the ground nearby. My heart ached at the sight; he could have easily survived a strike of that caliber if he had only been wearing it.
"You had a sword just a moment ago... why...?" the Dryades whispered.
In the Hero’s hand, he held no weapon. Instead, he gripped a single Blue Flower. It looked as though he had intended to propose to her all over again.
The Dryades snatched the flower from his cooling hand and tucked it into her hair. Then, with an expression of absolute hatred, she turned her gaze toward me.
At that moment, I noticed it.
Her left eye was gone—gouged out by a jagged cut.
Someone had attacked her inside the Sanctuary. But Rudolf had been the only one in there with her, and I was the one holding his Holy Sword. Who, then, had slashed the Dryades’s eye?
Her remaining right eye, clouded with a loathsome, sinister aura, pinned me where I stood.
"Begone."
With that single command, I was blasted out of the Sanctuary. I was thrown clear of the threshold just as the Door of the Sanctuary slammed shut.
Then, the blood-stained Dryades emerged from the Sanctuary. As a spirit, she did not possess red blood. That meant the gore coating her belonged to Hero Rudolf.
Poison Blades erupted from the earth, lunging toward me with murderous intent. Dazed and broken, I couldn't even react.
"What are you spacing out for, Otfried!"
Fidessa’s sword parried the blade just before it pierced my chest. Even with death staring me in the face, I couldn't quite accept the reality that my best friend was gone. Still, Fidessa’s voice managed to snap me back to my senses.
Without a moment to process the chaos, we were plunged into a battle against the Dryades. From every corner of the forest, voices echoed: “I hate humans.”
She attacked from all directions without pause. Having lost our leader, we were forced to abandon the forest and flee for our lives.
However, once we cleared the treeline, we found the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's Army waiting in ambush. Alongside them stood a colossal Ice Dragon with scales of brilliant blue. We had walked right into a trap.
One by one, my comrades were cut down. In the end, only Fidessa and I remained.
Then, Fidessa fell as well.
Using the opening she created with her final breath, I channeled everything I had into Wind Magic to escape. Her final words, "Please live," still ring in my ears today.
Defeated and alone, I returned to the Royal Capital. Our journey to subjugate the Demon King had been a total failure.
I took her Twin Swords, the only mementos I had left of her, and hid them deep within my family’s shed. Along with the memories of my fallen friends, those Mythical-grade blades entered a long sleep.
Later, I learned that the elder Dryades had joined the Demon King's Army, eventually becoming one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
Looking back, there were so many anomalies in that forest. I believed it was all a trap orchestrated by her, which explained why the rest of the Four Heavenly Kings were waiting outside. Of course, there’s a possibility that the Dryades herself was a pawn in a larger scheme by the Demon King's Army. Regardless, nothing could change what had happened.
Then, I remembered the gear. While I had managed to bring the Holy Sword back to the capital, the Hero's Helmet had been left behind. His remains were still there, too.
But I didn't have the courage to return to that forest alone while it was under her rule. With my comrades dead, I lacked the strength to dismantle the Demon King's Army by myself.
I decided then that I simply had to become stronger. If I became a man who could stand against them alone, the problem would be solved.
I devoted myself to training day after day. Decades passed, and eventually, I came to be known as the Great Sage. By then, however, I had a family I cherished. Having distanced myself from the front lines, I never once approached the Dryades' Forest.
Before I knew it, fifty years had passed. Now, I travel with my beloved grandson.
In a certain Border Village, I encountered a White-haired Girl whose parents had been murdered. Seeing her reminded me of Fidessa, who had the same white hair. This rekindled my curiosity regarding the nearby Dryades' Forest.
With my current power, I wouldn't be easily defeated even by one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Resolving that I would be fine, I decided to detour through the forest on my way back from the mountains to the capital.
I explored the East Forest while soothing my grandson, who was grumbling about wanting Nectar. There, for the first time in fifty years, I reunited with the younger Dryades sister.
She asked me about the events of fifty years ago, and I chose to tell her the truth. It was a lifetime ago, so I cannot be certain every detail is perfectly accurate. Even so, I spoke of my old comrades without reservation. Perhaps it was because of the lingering regret I felt for failing to look after her sister as she had asked me to all those years ago.
The elder Dryades is now known as the Fallen Spirit Princess of the Four Heavenly Kings. My information network suggests the Demon King's Army may attack this region soon. I had attempted to hunt a Dragon in the mountains to preemptively thin their ranks, but that had turned out to be a wild goose chase.
When I warned the younger Dryades of the impending invasion, she seemed determined to find a way to protect her home. She mentioned finding allies who could help. I truly hope a powerful helper appears to oppose the coming darkness.
And so, I left that forest of ill-fate where my friends had perished. My only wish was that the remaining sister would not meet the same tragic end as her sibling.
That was the tale of the Great Sage who once traveled with the Hero’s party.
Several days after the Alraune gave nectar to the nectar-crazed boy and the Great Sage spotted the little witch in the village, the Sage recounted these events to the younger Dryades sister.
Shortly after that, the Alraune and the little witch arrived in the Dryades' Forest.
Next time: Dryades's memory.