Calden seemed like he could be popular. Maybe he actually was.

He had a handsome face, and despite a not-so-great first impression, his manner of speaking and attitude were quite polite.

Being royalty, he held a high position. Judging that he came here, his abilities seemed quite commendable, too. He probably thought highly of his own qualities, so hearing such words might have surprised him.

Hana asked nonchalantly.

“Well, or do you like me?”

“…I have consistently shown my interest in you.”

‘When, exactly?’

That was more surprising. Hana decided not to press further. This wasn’t why she was here.

It seemed the priests’ words held some truth. In this place, Hana was an outsider. For some reason, the priests here considered Hana’s world a higher dimension than theirs whether that was true remained unknown.

Was it mere admiration for someone from a higher dimension or an instinctual liking for someone who might solve this place’s problems? The priests said the people here would feel positively towards Hana.

Hana didn’t laugh out loud, nor did she wipe away her smile. This kind of treatment wasn’t too bad, certainly better than the simple admiration she received back home for her looks.

In the meanwhile, Calden’s gaze was fixed on her feet, seemingly lost in thought. Hana remembered the joke he made when they first met.

After a few throat-clearing coughs, he started to speak.

“It sounds like you’re saying life here is different.”

“It’s very different. I have choices here.”

Hana wanted to see Weed’s reaction but refrained from looking back.

“You really do have a good intuition. Yes, I knew I was going to die. It’s not a big deal to me, but… what’s important varies from person to person, right?”

“What is it that you find so important that even dying doesn’t concern you?”

“Hmm. It’s not like I’m going to die immediately… In fact, if I’m well taken care of here, I might live as long as my natural lifespan, right? That’s what I heard, but I realized that’s not really the issue.”

Hana tried to move her feet, which felt as heavy as stone.

Rustle.

The sound of rustling leaves filled the air.

The priests had told her that she didn’t need to undergo the sacrificial ritual right away.

After thinking about it, it made sense. Even if the World Tree were drying up due to the divine disease, even if the condition worsened, it wouldn’t be so dire that they couldn’t live the single lifespan of a human.

As long as Hana didn’t return to her original world, they would all be content.

However, there was a catch.

What if she lived out the several decades of her lifespan and then became a sacrifice? What would happen afterward? What about Weed, who seemed to break down in tears and collapse as if he were going to die after the ritual?

Weed was distressed even by a small scratch on her knee. Things wouldn’t turn out well if the situation remained as it was. Recently, the priests seemed worried about this, too.

Hana could choose not to die on purpose, as he wished, though she couldn’t live forever.

Having decided to stay here, she needed to find what she could do in this place.

She had often experienced pessimism in her life. What if she had acted differently then? What if she had done better? What if she had taken a completely different path? Could she have encountered better circumstances? From her experience, such thoughts were futile. In desperate situations, they only stressed her mind more.

At some point, Hana stopped worrying about situations she couldn’t change. Instead, she did her best in what she could do. Often, this resulted in satisfactory outcomes. Living this way, she never had regrets. Weed only one exception.

That was why, that was all she could think of before her death in a traffic accident. And this might well be a similar situation.

“I’m trying to do what I can to the fullest. To do so, I want to know everything possible. First, I need to understand what the divine disease really is.”

Calden thought for a moment, then nodded. Before saying the important matter, he paused briefly.

“You asked why I thought the answer lies here.”

“Yes.”

“Because this place seems too perfect.”

“…You thought there would be answers here because it’s a perfect place?”

A hint of disappointment escaped in her voice. Caldern quietly shook his head and continued without hesitation.

“When the world was gaping with emptiness, this place remained flawless. Always majestic and perfect. Doesn’t it seem like a trace of an attempt to create a perfect world?”

Hana nodded somewhat dazedly. She had thought the same since arriving here. If there were such a thing as a perfect world, wouldn’t it be Lár de Ligna Initia? She always considered it an ideal place. If it wasn’t perfect, at least it seemed like a testament to an attempt at perfection.

“The divine disease is regarded as a symbol of arrogance in my country.”

“A symbol of arrogance?”

“Yes.”

Caldern nodded. He then repeated a familiar phrase.

“God dwells in the lowest places. Have you heard this saying?”

Hana nodded. Weed had mentioned the same thing. Weed said that it meant God’s will reaches even the most humble beings. She waited quietly, wondering if Caldern would say something similar. Strangely, he frowned in discomfort.

“One might consider it merely an old tale. Yet, it’s not so fantastical. According to legends passed down, there was a lowly being that accidentally came into possession of a powerful force, also known as divine power.”

“…An old tale?”

“It could be called a myth… You could hear similar stories anywhere in the world. Regardless of how the story moves afterward, it’s irrelevant. Some tell of deities with personalities conveying intentions. Others speak of great powers manifesting by chance. The key point is, in these stories, the one who obtained it was always considered lowly in the culture of that land. The development and ending of the story varied, but that aspect never changed. The lowest is the highest. Such sayings are almost like an idiom.”

Was that all just to tell some trivial mythological story? Hana rolled her eyes, and Calden, seemingly embarrassed by his own words, bowed his head slightly.

“So, going back to the beginning of that story, what do you think the one who acquired divine power might have thought?”

“…I wonder?”

As she asked, Hana suddenly remembered a conversation she had with Weed before.

‘If one could understand the laws of the world, they could create it, right? Perhaps even create a perfect world.’

‘It’s arrogance. That kind of thing.’

Hana asked, and after a long silence, Weed responded in a distant voice.

“First, they would elevate their once-lowly status. And perhaps they thought, ‘With this power, couldn’t I possibly create a perfect world?’ That was clearly arrogance. Because a lowly being tried to create a perfect world and failed, the world began to collapse into void.”

Calden added a piece to help understand.

“…Like weed, something considered lowly.”

It almost felt like an insult to Lár de Ligna Initia.

Only now did Hana understand. The fear was glimpsed in Calden’s expressions when he glanced behind her, towards Weed, and his peculiar reactions when mentioning Ligna. Maybe the fear hidden behind those emotions was because…

“You asked why I came here. As you said, it was not really to find a cure but because I speculated that the cause of the divine disease itself lies here. If we eradicate the cause itself, wouldn’t the existing disease also disappear?”

__