Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 331 (Part 1)



331 (Part 1)

<Chapter 332> Apostle. (2)

My apostle.

At the words of the World Tree I couldn’t help but frown.

“Apostle?”

What does that mean? Apostle you say.

Is that really what you’re calling me?

“What do you mean by that?”

[I’m glad to meet you like this.]

In the hollow and empty voice there is a glimmer of hope.

The World Tree spoke to me as if it were delighted.

‘Why does everyone…’

Even while hearing that my expression showed no signs of softening.

Everyone was like that.

Those who met me all seemed to convey emotions of joy in their voices.

As if they found it interesting or perhaps.

As if they were pleased by the changes brought about by my existence.

‘Damn it.’

Each of those things was not something I welcomed.

The fact that beings I could not understand were welcoming me.

In the end it meant that I had something.

I tried to erase such feelings and asked the World Tree.

“Do you know who I am?”

From its reaction I wondered if it knew that I had returned.

The World Tree fell silent upon hearing my words.

Creeeak—

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Slowly a branch moved revealing its response.

[Apostle.]

“Why do you keep calling me an apostle? What does that even mean?”

[I do not know you but you know me.]

I questioned its words.

The World Tree does not know me.

But I know the World Tree.

The latter made sense but the former was unclear.

Even knowing that I was aware of the World Tree…

….

….

！..

.

Are you saying that you the entity in question do not know me?

“What do you mean by that?”

[It seems you have traveled back in time Apostle.]

“•••!”

I swallowed hard at the World Tree’s words.

How did it realize that?

‘Was the claim of not remembering a lie?’

It was a statement made so casually.

My eyes trembled.

I had wondered if it might remember something. Could it be that this tree has memories?

[Are you curious about how I know?] “ ”

[Do not be so surprised; I do not know how you have lived through the past.]

“Then how do you know?”

Creeeak.

A root that had pierced through the ground pointed directly at me.

To be precise it was pointing at my chest.

[Because I can feel the traces I have left on you.]

Only after hearing the World Tree’s words did I vaguely understand how it recognized me.

‘Is it the trace of my past life?’

I gently brushed my chest as I recalled.

It was referring to the traces that tree had planted in me.

[I have not given you any memories but it is certainly the mark I have bestowed upon you.]

Memories resurfaced.

At that time I had accepted it for the sake of killing intent.

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And.

-You are wrapped in trivialities.

The Heavenly Demon I encountered later mentioned it while looking at me.

Moreover I thought the Heavenly Demon had erased it.

Could it be that it was not erased?

[It seems you tried to erase it but you cannot completely remove what is layered upon the soul.]

“•••Can you read my innermost thoughts?”

[That cannot be. How could I a mere ancient tree perform such a feat?]

Yet it felt as if it could read my innermost thoughts one by one.

It was quite an unsettling feeling.

Layered upon the soul huh.

That’s quite a miserable situation.

Even if I have traveled back in time.

It meant that the soul could not be helped.

“•••I came to ask you something.”

With that behind me I had to ask.

There were so many things I wanted to ask.

There was also so much I needed to know.

The reason I had to come to this world after all.

It was because I had countless questions to ask this tree.

Could this ancient tree truly tell me about it?

[Questions you say? What is it that you are so curious about that you sought me out?]

The voice resonated.

It was the same as when we first met.

An unrefined resonance.

Enduring that I asked it.

“Did you bring me back?”

Traveling back in time was akin to a miracle but I knew that such miracles would not come easily to me.

There was certainly a reason for my regression as the celestial being had said.

If someone had intervened in such matters.

The first being that came to mind was this tree.

“Are you saying… you saved me and sent me back to the past?”

Turning back time is by common sense nearly impossible.

If someone else had used such power on me.

That being had to be anything but ordinary.

When I thought that far.

The tree before me was anything but an ordinary being.

It was the first entity I should suspect.

One.

[Apostle that was not my doing.]

The World Tree stated that it was not responsible for it.

[To turn back time is to accumulate unimaginable karma upon the soul.

It is beyond the power of a mere ancient tree like me.]

“A mere ancient tree cannot speak. It cannot grow as large as you.”

[Whatever it may be the miracle you experienced was not my doing.]

I was about to voice my disbelief.

But I knew it would lead to a meaningless argument so I kept my mouth shut.

“So you’re saying it wasn’t you who brought me back…”

[Unfortunately I no longer possess such power. It is an impossible story.]

The fact that it no longer had such power meant.

Was it possible that it once did?

[Apostle.]

In that moment the wind blew.

[I do not know what has happened to you.]

The voice filled with sorrow grated on my ears. It sounded as if it was lamenting over me.

It did not sit well with me.

“Why do you keep calling me an apostle? What exactly is an apostle?”

[Since you have received my mark it signifies that you are my past and in the future I have chosen you. Thus you are my apostle.]

“How do you know that meeting you is the future?”

[Did you not come to meet me a little earlier than before?]

“ ”

[I am glad. After enduring such a long time I have finally met someone to bestow my mark upon.]

A long time indeed.

It was something it had said back then as well.

“Who exactly are you?”

[Did I not tell you?]

I had not heard much. I only knew how to return to the original world and how this world differed from the outside.

That was about it.

‘What more could I have learned when it spoke and then soon after rotted away?’

The World Tree had conveyed a few words to me before just like the body of the celestial being had done earlier.

It had turned to dust and vanished.

The sight of that massive tree slowly swaying in the wind as it disappeared.

I would never forget it for the rest of my life.

[I am called Mu-A.]

“I already know that.”

[I am the fifth World Tree descended upon this world.]

[I am the master of this world.] “Master…”

No matter how I looked at it this world was already ruined and decayed.