MFWSP 57

Chapter 57

“…You noticed.”

David whispered quietly.

“I’ve had my fair share of being tailed, you know.”

In the Hunter’s Guild, when dealing with monsters, you often get into situations where it’s hard to tell whether you’re tailing them or they’re tailing you.

“He’s probably been following us from the start. I didn’t see his face, but it’s likely Nekal, my father’s most trusted guide. He has extremely sharp hearing and smell.”

“A watchdog, huh?”

“Yes. My father trusts no one. He must’ve considered the possibility that the Duke might bring magic stone fruit from elsewhere and lie about it.”

“Is there a chance he’d kill us to win the bet?”

“…He’s not an assassin, so I doubt he was ordered to kill.”

David answered vaguely.

“But if our lives were in danger… he might’ve been told to save only me. If I die too, then winning the bet would be meaningless for him—he’d lose the right to inherit Apellemeon.”

“I see.”

I had suspected as much.

The Marquis likely considered from the start that I might die in the Black Valley.

“Well then, shall we test how good our little stalker is?”

“…What?”

“Get up. I’ll lead the way. I’m not going to keep crawling on the ground like this.”

Though he looked confused, David stood up, brushing himself off.

I rolled up my sleeves again.

A faint white glow appeared in the darkness.

“…What kind of bracelet is that?”

David asked as he stared at it.

“My guide.”

I smiled faintly again and turned my body in the direction the bracelet pointed.

Then, I began to walk quickly.

“Wait, what even is that…?”

David mumbled, dazed.

“W-Wait! Duke!”

He quickly caught up to me, still looking baffled.

“Please explain. What are we doing?”

“Fine. But keep your voice down. I’m not ready to share the secrets I’ve risked my life to learn just because of Adelon’s guide.”

I could hear Nekal moving faintly behind us. David nodded, holding his breath.

“The terrain of the Black Valley, depending on how you look at it, is actually quite simple. Too much magic crashes around here, so nothing stays in place for long.”

I began my explanation.

“The only thing that never changes is the location of the Spirit Tree.”

“…I’ve never heard that before.”

“Of course not. The path changes constantly—so how could the Spirit Tree remain in the same place? But think of it this way.”

I glanced at David in the bracelet’s glow and continued.

“Why does the Spirit Tree exist?”

David had no answer.

“The Spirit Tree… is the heart of the Black Valley. It’s always been there.”

He looked completely lost, unsure why I was even asking.

“No, the dark path and the light path came first. Places where the flow of magic differs from the world. Those two paths have existed since the beginning. The Spirit Tree was created from their collision. That’s why its fruit holds both dark and light properties.”

“You talk like you’ve seen the Spirit Tree fruit yourself.”

“Haven’t others seen it too?”

I fell silent for a moment.

I had seen it—in my first life.

Back then, while researching the flow of magic and magic stones, I had spent a fortune to obtain a few Spirit Tree fruits.

Though they were mostly hollowed out of magic, the faint swirling energy inside gave me confidence in my theory: that the Spirit Tree was born from the clash of light and dark.

As I continued studying their types and toxicity, I was even able to theorize about fruit that hadn’t yet been discovered.

In my second life, Grace must’ve used that theory to find both the red and blue fruits.

“That’s not what matters. What matters is that I’m right.”

Half to myself, half to David, I muttered.

“If the Spirit Tree was created by the collision of light and dark, and it’s sustained by that force, then where must it be?”

“…Where light and darkness meet.”

“Exactly.”

I looked down at the bracelet again, then back at David.

He stopped, as if a realization hit him.

“Then that bracelet must be…”

“The Lover’s Stone. It guides two separated people toward each other. More precisely, it shows the fastest route to reunite.”

I smiled in the dark.

“The point where Prince Karsiel and I find each other… is where the Spirit Tree lies.”

“So that’s why the two bracelets became one…”

David’s jaw dropped.

“And the reason Prince Karsiel left first…”

“The entrance to the light path is far, remember? He started from there. When the bracelet sparkled just before entering the path, I knew he had found the entrance.”

I finished his sentence for him.

The bracelet now glowed even more brightly than before.

“How long did it take for the fastest guide to find the Spirit Tree?”

“According to Adelon’s records, seven days to find it, and three days to return.”

As expected.

Grace had claimed it took five days with the guide when following the light path.

“Looks like we’re about to break that record.”

I smirked. Even if Grace had stolen my future, she hadn’t absorbed all the knowledge I had painstakingly acquired.

“We’ll find it in under three hours.”

Leaving behind the dumbfounded David, I began walking briskly.

Darkness, darkness, and more darkness.

The space stretched endlessly, almost boring in its monotony.

Without being able to use David’s clock in the bracelet’s glow, we wouldn’t have known if an hour or an entire day had passed.

As our conversation dwindled, fatigue built up in our bodies, and the lack of visibility bred quiet fear… two and a half hours in, according to David’s timepiece…

We saw a blinding light.

“…The Spirit Tree.”

As our eyes, accustomed to the dark, adjusted to the light, I could finally reach out to the source.

A massive tree, larger than anything I’d ever seen, reminded me of the night sky—or even the cosmos itself.

Tens of thousands of branches stretched endlessly like a galaxy, twinkling with fruit of every color at their ends.

Deep teal like the ocean, black like the night sky, and blazing red-orange like fire. More dazzling and tempting than any jewel.

And the overwhelming magic that surrounded it… was nearly suffocating.

“To think we found it this easily…”

David murmured, entranced.

“No wonder you made that bet so confidently…”

“That’s right. But it’s not over yet. The hard part begins now—we have to choose the fruit.”

I glanced sideways at David as I answered. He was instinctively reaching for the nearest white fruit.

“Don’t touch it. The curse is far worse than that floating orb earlier.”

As his eyes dulled, I quickly warned him.

“Don’t go too close to the tree either. It’s hard to see because of the light, but between the roots is a cliff.”

“I know. Many guides were lost here.”

As David shut his eyes tightly, I looked around swiftly.

Right now, I wasn’t searching for fruit—but for a person.

If the bracelet had worked properly, then Karsiel had to be here.

“…You never stop surprising me.”

“Your Highness!”

At the familiar voice, I turned. Karsiel stood behind me.

Still in his white ceremonial attire, his golden hair glowing like sunlight, and his deep violet eyes locked firmly on me.

He looked strangely fitting next to the brilliant Spirit Tree.

“You really found it. I had my doubts. I thought I was going mad, wandering in light, staring at nothing but the bracelet.”

“It was thanks to Your Highness’s gift.”

“A gift’s value depends entirely on the hands that hold it.”

Karsiel shook his head and smiled before turning to the tree.

“How strange. So to you and David, this tree appears as a light in the dark. But to me, it’s the only color in a world of white.”

“Whatever it looks like, the Duke said not to touch it.”

David, looking more exhausted than shocked now, spoke.

“I can’t ignore him now that things turned out like this… Anyway, is the item you’re looking for really here? Can you find it?”

To his question, I looked back up at the tree.

The lights seemed to scream, “Choose me!”

Each one radiated toxicity—a curse—except for the two I sought.

“Well… if we’re lucky.”

But I shook my head almost immediately.

No, this wasn’t something to leave to luck.

I could only trust in my own knowledge and research.

I couldn’t be fooled by the fruit’s glittering facade.

For a long time, I circled the tree in silence, examining the fruit.

Once, twice, three times. Carefully, steadily, without rest, scanning every branch and every inch.

How much time passed like that?

When my eyes were so dry they felt cracked, I finally looked up…

And there—above Karsiel’s head—were two tiny fruits.

No glow, no light. Just black lumps that looked almost rotten.

They emitted no magic—rather, they seemed poised to absorb everything around them.

“…Found them.”

I whispered, chest swelling so hard it felt like it might burst.