"Still, leaving this thing here will always be a hidden danger."
Gwen nodded, not disappointed by this. As he spoke, he raised a hand and released a powerful light that was not at all blinding, like a blazing winter sun.
Under that radiance, wisps of black smoke rose from the enormous twisted human face. Like ice and snow beneath the winter sun, it rapidly melted away until nothing remained. Not even the human-face bark Gwen had expected appeared, leaving only the exposed, grotesque roots.
Even those roots still bore specks of black stains. Several joints had cracks that revealed structures within, remarkably similar to the eyes on the dead face from before.
At the sight, Malenia fell silent again. The image of the Golden Tree she had looked up to since childhood grew ever more illusory in her heart.
"Let's go. This is just an insignificant lesion. If you truly want to understand the truth, we can study the roots properly later."
As though he had merely done something trivial, Gwen dusted off his hands. He did not touch the half-dead little Golden Tree with its exposed roots, instead leading Malenia away from the deserted valley floor.
"There's no need to deliberately keep what happened below a secret. You can arrange for people to follow the traces I left when I came up and open a path down there."
After returning to the city, Gwen did not ask Malenia to keep it secret.
"After all, it's a branch of the Golden Tree. It should be properly maintained and worshipped."
"..."
Malenia's gaze changed slightly upon hearing Gwen's words.
She was not skilled at schemes, but as an outstanding commander, she was certainly not foolish—
Worship it?
Was he not planning to rip out the Golden Tree's roots?
Still, considering that