There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 101

‘He’s incredibly angry……!’

Le Guin was the angriest she had ever seen him. Soon, that anger manifested itself.

Kugugugugu!

Olakan, who looked up at the sky at the sound of it tearing through the sky, shouted.

“It’s a meteor!”

A giant meteor that cut through the clouds cast a vast shadow over their heads.

Everyone except the Archmage turned pale.

“That’s a meteor!”

“That crazy bastard used Meteor!”

The meteor was less than half the size of the World Tree, but if something like that fell to the ground, the entire area would be devastated.

Philomel felt her legs tremble and clung to her father’s chest.

“Le Guin, stop it! We’ll get caught up in it too!”

“It’s okay. I’ll teleport us far away before that happens.”

“Ah, is that so?”

No, this is not the time to be relieved. Now that I’m less worried about my own life, I started thinking about the safety of others.

The two dwarves and a rabbit were huddled together, trembling.

“I fully understand how you feel! But let’s talk it out!”

“……You want that?”

“Yes! The World Tree also has stories to tell!”

“Okay. If you say so.”

Click! Le Guin snapped his fingers. Then, the meteor that had come right up to them disappeared like dust. The wind died down and the sky cleared, as if the commotion a moment ago was a lie.

The World Tree shouted.

“It was just an illusion!”

The Master of the Magic Tower wore a nasty smile.

“I wouldn’t use such a troublesome method like Meteor to deal with you guys.”

In any case, peace had returned to the central plains.

* * *

The Chieftain Dwarf, who had heard the general situation from Philomel, could not hide his surprise.

“To think that such an unbelievable thing as a child being switched actually happens…….”

The World Tree and Olakan nodded in agreement.

‘The delusions you guys had are much more unbelievable, though.’

Philomel swallowed her words as she looked at the Chieftain’s greatly swollen bump.

It was because a few of the Archmage’s knuckle blows had landed on his head instead of the meteor.

The Chieftain Dwarf bent his upper body slightly.

“Anyway, I would like to express my gratitude to Miss Philomel. Although it was an illusion, she saved us from the threat of the meteor and persuaded her father well.”

By persuasion, he was referring to the story about the minerals that the dwarves sent to the Magic Tower every year.

When Philomel brought it up, Le Guin readily replied.

“Ah, that? It’s okay now. I forgot to tell them to stop sending it because there’s no place to store it.”

It was a reason that was very like him.

“Haha, thanks to you, I’ve got a load off my mind!”

The Chieftain stroked his beard with a satisfied face.

Thanks to Le Guin also releasing the magic on his beard, he was now free to groom his beard as he pleased.

The Chieftain looked at Philomel.

“Can you show me your hand?”

“My hand?”

“Yes. It’s a small token of appreciation for our benefactor.”

Philomel hesitated and held out her hand, which he touched with his finger.

A warm energy spread from the point of contact. A pure white pickaxe-shaped mark appeared on her hand and then disappeared.

“What is this?”

“It is the blessing and title we give to you.”

A blessing and a title?

She had heard similar words before.

Certainly, the Fairy Queen Serphiane had said this.

“I will bestow upon you the blessing of the fairies! May a bright future unfold before you. And I will also bestow upon you a title.”

Later, she asked Le Guin what it was, but he just said that it wasn’t a big deal and that she didn’t need to worry about it.

The Chieftain’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, you already have a mark of another title on your forehead.”

‘Forehead?’

Philomel made a questioning expression, and Olakan next to her lent her a hand mirror.

‘What is this again!’

There was a white flower-shaped mark on her round forehead. It was the spot where Serphiane had kissed her.

“It’s a fairy clan’s symbol! Let’s see what it says…….”

As if the ordinary flower shape was a letter, the Chieftain narrowed his eyes.

“Benefactor of the Fairy Clan. Savior who saved many from threats……. Wow! If you’ve received this much praise from the shy fairies, you must have done something amazing.”

Embarrassed, Philomel scratched her head.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal……. Ah, then what did you write, Chieftain?”

“Benefactor of the Dwarf Clan. And…… A hero who subdued the White Devil.”

“Who subdued who?”

The Chieftain, who glanced at Le Guin, whispered quietly.

“Looking at you earlier, he couldn’t do anything to Miss Philomel. He even brought the World Tree’s fruit.”

Perhaps it was because their races were different, but their perspectives on the world seemed different.

“……Leaving the title aside, what is a blessing?”

“It’s a concept of wishing you a kind of blessing……. Well, it’s not a great power, but it’s better than nothing!”

Good things are good, so she decided to accept it for now.

After finishing her conversation with the Chieftain, Philomel headed towards Le Guin and the World Tree. As soon as the World Tree saw Philomel, it hid behind her.

“Hey, protect me from that crazy human! Then I’ll give you the qualifications of a hero!”

He looked terrified.

‘There are a lot of people looking for heroes today…….’

Thinking so, Philomel stopped Le Guin, who was spewing flames from his hand.

“Don’t scare him. You have something to ask the World Tree.”

The wizard clicked his tongue and put out the fire.

The rabbit jumped onto Philomel’s shoulder.

“Well done, human! I’ll give you the qualifications of a hero as promised.”

From somewhere, one of the giant tree’s branches slowly approached and placed something on her head. It was a crown made of leaves and branches.

“……Thank you.”

She had no plans to become a hero, but she decided to accept this as well.

“But what do you want to ask me? I welcome the hero, but I want the crazy human to go back quickly.”

Philomel finally brought up the reason why she came all the way to the central plains.

“Do you know about other worlds? I saw it in a very old book.”

The World Tree was lost in reminiscence.

“Other worlds, other worlds……. It’s a word I haven’t heard in a very long time.”

“Do you know?”

“A long time ago, there was a rumor going around. It was a prophecy that invaders would come from another world, so be careful.”

“That’s right!”

The rabbit puffed out its chest proudly.

“The priest who received that prophecy trained under my shade. I was a smaller tree than I am now back then.”

“What kind of world is the other world? What kind of person is the invader? Are they even human?”

The World Tree looked embarrassed by Philomel’s barrage of questions.

“Sorry, I don’t know the details either.”

“Ah…….”

A sigh escaped her lips. It seemed like she had made a pointless trip to the central plains.

“But I know a way to peek into other worlds!”

“……Peek?”

“Yes! If you use that method, you can see for yourself what the other world is like. But you need some preparations.”

“What preparations?”

“A creature from another world, a medium, and a sacred object that the priest received from God in the past.”

The World Tree tilted its head as it spoke.

“Come to think of it, if it’s a sacred object, I think I kept it after the priest died……. Where did I put it?”

“Try to remember.”

“It was so long ago…….