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Chapter 80

An announcement about the festival starting on time had been disseminated yesterday. Those who had been notified started streaming out of their houses at dawn. The crowd buzzed with overflowing excitement and enthusiasm for the priestess princess and the reincarnation of the World Tree. After all, they had not seen the latter in this form before.

Despite Ente’s presence, there was no doubt that successive priestess princesses such as Ryuryushii would be under suffocating pressure at such moments.

Unlike the day before, things were different on the day of the festival. Until the priestess princess declared the start of the festival, the crowd would not be able to exchange goods of any kind. Instead, everyone could only admire their revered World Tree and the priestess princess.

Eventually, Ryuryushii appeared on the terrace erected in the middle of the World Tree’s trunk. Guards and chieftains of various tribes surrounded her. Presently, the sun had just risen completely in the sky.

Ryuryushii had layered several thin layers of green feather coats over her outfit from yesterday. In addition, quite a number of spirit stones and magic jewels adorned her fingers and ears.

The moment the priestess princess emerged on the terrace, the people of Ente Forest did not cheer. Instead, they chose to fall completely silent.

However, that was not all. Even the noise of leaves rustling in the forest and the sounds of all birds, beasts, and insects could no longer be heard. Everyone’s breathing had calmed, and it was as though all sound had vanished from Ente Forest. Even the wind stopped blowing and stayed still, waiting for the start of the ritual by the World Tree and the priestess princess.

Selina was startled at being suddenly enveloped by silence, and she looked around in bewilderment. It had been wise of her to slam her hand over her mouth and prevent her yelp of surprise from being heard. Selina’s bafflement must have seemed peculiar as Fio and Marl glanced at her with smiles on their faces.

The lack of noise, not even the slightest whisper, made it clear that this was an extremely important moment. Fio mouthed with her lips for Selina and me to be quiet.

The world of complete silence did not last for long. Soon after, Ryuryushii’s appointed guard, Latanta, held her hand and brought her forward. Then, she raised the staff she had inherited as the priestess princess in the air.

As I watched them, Ryuryushii and Latanta seemed just like lovers. Though, they did not appear to be trying to hide their relationship either.

Perhaps this was because Ente did not prohibit priestess princesses from engaging in romantic relationships. It was common for priests and priestesses who served the gods to devote their affections to their gods. Hence, love and marriage were often forbidden for such individuals. However, this was not the case here.

Eventually, Ryuryushii lovingly released Latanta’s hand and quietly bowed to the crowd looking up at her. Each movement of hers was conducted with the utmost grace.

Neither a declaration nor a blessing was needed at the beginning of this festival. When Ryuryushii raised her head and lifted the staff high above her head with both hands, the World Tree overflowed with mana. In the meantime, Ente appeared facing Ryuryushii.

The crowd gasped silently in awe and joy at the appearance of Ente, the embodiment of the will of the World Tree.

For those of us who had been conversing yesterday, friendship seemed to surface in our minds before astonishment. Ente would certainly be much happier chatting with others close by than being revered by everyone from such a distance.

As Ryuryushii and Ente faced each other, their souls intertwined and came into tandem with each other. Ente deepened her connection to the pulse of the heavens and earth, allowing a large amount of energy and life force—in short, mana—to course through her before she dispersed it back to the rest of the world.

The World Tree had grown out of a large hole in the ground before us and reached up into the heavens. Branches extended from its enormous tree trunk, and innumerable particles of green, yellow, and white light began dissipating from these branches into the surroundings.

The still wind started gusting once more, and the insects, birds, and beasts in the forest came to life again. The silence that had enveloped us vanished as the mana released from the World Tree showered upon everything in the forest and slowly morphed each of our lives.

At this moment, the people who had kept their mouths tightly pursed could no longer hide their excitement and delight. They raised their hands and cheered. Some called out Ente’s name endlessly, while others yelled out Ryuryushii’s name.

Fio, Marl, and Diadora—inhabitants of Ente Forset—were no exception to the bustle. Fio and Marl leaped in joy as they basked in the World Tree’s blessings. As for Diodora, there was an unmistakable smile on her face.

The enormous amount of mana brought about by Ente-Yggdrasil would permeate every corner of this planet, celebrating the life that already existed and the life to come. This energy would serve to nurture all life forms through its abundance.

Under the warmth and light of the mana that filled this world, I silently watched the glowing World Tree.

After this ritual, we headed to Deep Green Town which was flourishing due to the fertility brought about by Ente. As we strolled about, we enjoyed ourselves in whatever time we had been given.

During the festival, Ryuryushii and Ente had to remain completely connected to each other. Hence, they were not able to walk about in the streets. However, they did not remain in this state the entire time from the moment they had stepped onto the terrace. Breaks were included from time to time, where Gaban would make an appearance instead.

Olivier, the headmaster of the academy, did jokingly lament that it was a pity the priestess princess could not participate in the festivities.

While staying at Aziram’s residence, we spent our days wandering Deep Green. As the days passed, the place seemed to be getting increasingly crowded, which led to a peculiar occurrence for us visitors.

This turn of events did not bring us any harm, though Fop and Diadora seemed a little jittery because of this change.

The reason for their nervousness was that Ente had reached out to them through telepathic communication.

Apparently, Ente did not see the festival as needing that much of her attention to carry out. Rather, she was more interested in speaking with me when she found out that I was a reincarnation of a dragon.

This request seemed fairly innocent, and permission had been given for us to speak so long as the festival would not be disrupted. With these considerations in mind, I agreed with an enthusiastic, “Okay!” Once I had given my answer, Ente instantly struck up a conversation with me.

As for the exposure of my identity, Ente was not particularly at fault for it. Rather, she was like an innocent and ignorant daughter who had accidentally fumbled up.

We spent the rest of our stay at Deep Green doing all kinds of things. Holding tight to the vast knowledge we had learned from this trip, we proceeded to return to Bern village.

My unexpected identity revelation during this visit to Deep Green led me to be treated as a dragon the entire time. This experience then left me thinking.

Most people had heard about my resurrection in this world as a result of the brutal fight I had with Caravis in the demon realm. Hence, I had been plagued with the constant worry that some troublesome war god would attack me at any moment.

However, I had reached a realization over time. It was useless to worry about such things. I just had to be prepared to hear that distinctive laugh from Aldeath once more in good time.

Yet, Aldeath was not the only one terrorizing my thoughts. In my human identity of Dran, I had returned home during the summer vacation of the Magic Academy. However, as an Ancient-Celestial Dragon, I had not gone back home. After I had been reincarnated, I had not even met my siblings, the other seven ancient dragons. Neither had I met my other comrades in the dragon realm.

Sixteen years had passed since I had been reincarnated. From the perspective of the dragon species, this period of time was just a blink of an eye. Though, I finally realized during this trip to Deep Green that my behavior thus far was a little unreasonable.

It seemed like it was about time for me to make an appearance in the dragon realm. Once I was back, I would be able to report about the fight that had occurred in the demon realm. After all, this was not a matter that could be left as it was without ever offering an explanation in person.

Bahamut, Leviathan, and the rest would welcome me joyfully, but my youngest sister, Alexander, would certainly pester me to no end. Alexander was certainly a different type of troublesome as compared to Caravis.

Fumu… I guess I’ll just have to deal with these two pillars of trouble from here on out. 

However, Bern village was different from Aldeath and Alexander, who would bombard me with questions. I could very well be absent for a long time from that place and nobody would ask a single question.

Bahamut would certainly stop Alexander from harassing me, but it pained me to burden him with even more problems.

There was no hierarchical relationship between the seven ancient dragons. However, the management of the celestial dragons and dragon gods were left to Bahamut and Leviathan respectively.

I had already died and reincarnated. There was no way I was going to increase the burden on him.

Fumu… It’s probably best if I returned to Bern village and then visit the dragon realm to meet my brethren.