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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Come to think of it, she hadn’t been mistaken.
I had a mark, not from Helios, but from the Goddess of Time.
I was about to explain about the marks when…
– Release me!
The sapling’s rough voice echoed in my head.
“Huh?”
But I’d stopped its time.
– You think you can contain me with this?! Release me!
“What’s going on?”
How could it speak while frozen in time?
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The acrid scent of fire permeated the dwarven lands. Most dwarves dedicated their lives to blacksmithing and brewing, as if born for nothing else but the hammer and beer.
The most skilled among them, seven master craftsmen, held the title of Maester.
Known as the Seven Heavy Hammers, they were revered, envied, and admired.
Volfete, one of these Maesters, examined the white Dagger of Sealing.
Clank.
A girl with short black hair entered his workshop.
Hayun, head of the Ren family, with two swords at her hips, asked impatiently,
“Are you done yet? You promised it in a week. It’s been two. Should I call Hatsim again?”
Mentioning Hatsim made Volfete frown.
“It’ll be done when it’s done. I’m already swallowing coals because of Hatsim, and now you’re rushing me?”
“The world is ending! If you don’t give us this…”
“If I can’t study this properly, my world is already over.”
He was impossible to reason with.
Hayun sighed, having had this conversation countless times.
“Hayun! He’s doing it again!”
Tana, a blonde girl, Eve’s best friend, burst in.
Unlike her usual neat attire, she was now adorned with daggers and short swords.
“Ah, you’re here! Take a look at this design!”
Volfete greeted Tana with a smile, unlike his reaction to Hayun. He valued Tana’s aesthetic sense.
“Haa…”
Hayun sighed and shook her head.
Tana smiled awkwardly and entered, while Hayun stepped outside.
Volfete’s house was precariously perched on a cliff.
Hayun looked down at the approaching dwarves.
“About thirty today,” she sighed, drawing her swords and charging.
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– Release me!
The sapling roared in my mind. I shuddered, imagining its roots thrashing about if it could move.
If it rampaged in the palace in its current size…
I glanced at Kurika and Eris. They didn’t seem to hear the voice.
“Is something wrong?” Eris asked.
“Can’t you hold it for much longer?” Kurika asked, assuming I was straining.
“No, it’s not that.”
– Damned follower of the gods! Let me go!
It was incredibly loud.
“Are you sure Yggdrasil gave you this without saying anything?”
“Yes, he said the sapling would be enough. It just needed time to grow…”
“A bit too much time.”
Was this Yggdrasil’s idea of “a little time?” He probably considered a few years “a little.”
Kurika tapped his chin, then pointed at the center of the tree.
“I heard you retrieved Sharcal’s staff. Perhaps there’s a secret hidden within it.”
“A secret?”
“Yes, for example…”
He looked up at the tree.
“Perhaps Sharcal’s staff was made from a piece of Yggdrasil.”
“What?!”
A staff made from their protector, Yggdrasil? Unthinkable for Eris.
It would be like making a staff from a piece of a god’s flesh.
But I nodded.
A staff that could channel Sharcal’s violent mana and withstand his self-destruction… it made sense that it would require something like Yggdrasil.
It all clicked into place.
“The staff, made from Yggdrasil, acted as a catalyst, causing the sapling to grow rapidly and its personality to change.”
– I’m not strange! Release me!
‘Is it resisting my time stop because of Yggdrasil’s power, or Sharcal’s distorted mana?’
I clenched my fists.
It felt like something was just out of reach.
“So, Sharcal’s staff was made from Yggdrasil… but what do we do now?”
Eris was still worried about the sapling damaging the palace. I smiled reassuringly and drew my sword.
“We cut it down.”
“What?!”
– What?!
Why overthink it?
“We cut through the center, retrieve the staff, and we’re done.”
Eris looked bewildered by my simple solution, but Kurika smiled faintly.
“I’ll help.”
The earth trembled, and his greatsword emerged.
I remembered the Divine Realm. He thought Demeter had given him that power, but it was the God of Life.
“Tsk.”
I took a stance.
Kurika raised his sword beside me.
– Elves! Stop these madmen!
The sapling roared, but Eris couldn’t hear it. Only I, who had stopped its time, could. I suppressed a laugh.
“It’s a shame we don’t have axes.”
“We need to cut it with mana, not blades.”
– You! Human! You can hear me! Stop! Don’t do it! You madman!
“Shall I go first?”
“As you wish.”
I channeled mana into my sword and plunged it into the trunk.
– Ugh! Alright! Alright! I’ll stop! I’m sorry!
I withdrew my sword at its near-tearful plea. Kurika looked puzzled, but I placed my hand on the trunk and smirked.
It had Sharcal’s personality, but it wasn’t him. The real Sharcal would have laughed and challenged us.
“Can you shrink back down?”
– Y-yes! I can!
Convenient.
“Do you know what the real Yggdrasil wants from you?”
– A gift! A gift for the guardian!
“For Eris?”
I glanced at her. She had her eyes closed, unable to watch us potentially harm a part of Yggdrasil.
– Yes!
“Can you turn back into a gift?”
– It would normally take three years…
I’d figured as much. Beings like Yggdrasil had a different concept of time.
– …But it’s possible. I’ve absorbed a fragment of the main body and a catalyst with unique power.
Excellent.
As I nodded, Kurika, who had been ready to strike, approached, puzzled.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, the opposite. The problem is solved.”
I stepped back with Kurika.
“You know what to do, right?”
I spoke with a sly smile, almost a threat, and the sapling, though indignant, obeyed.
As I released the time stop, it began to shrink.
– I… I wanted to become a powerful being like the main body.
“That’s not your desire. It’s the staff’s previous owner’s ego influencing you.”
It shrunk until it became a staff. Slightly larger than Sharcal’s, but with a new design, wrapped in tree roots.
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