At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 241
It shimmered with a red glow, as if peering inside an active volcano.
At first, Jiwoo had been startled and woke up immediately upon meeting it, but after several encounters, she wondered if she had grown accustomed to it. Or maybe it felt like a kindred presence, since it too seemed trapped within a dimensional rift.
Could it be hoping for something?
Jiwoo stared intently at it.
“――, ――.”
It made a sound.
It was not exactly a sound, but more like a chilling signal that sent shivers through her whole body.
‘I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before.’
She tried to grasp its meaning, but…
***
“Jiwoo.”
“…Hmm?”
Rubbing her eyes, Jiwoo woke up as Skiass shook her shoulder.
She realized her body was lying on the bed.
Some time had passed, even Kaman was resting his eyes, so only Jiwoo was quietly shaken awake to avoid disturbing him.
“Hey… want to go out for a bit?”
“Have you done everything you wanted to?”
“Yes. Because of that…”
“Alright.”
Jiwoo nodded and prepared to follow Skiass out but caught sight of something next to the bed and silently admired it.
It was a drawing of her sleeping.
Kaman must have drawn it while she was asleep.
The very first page showed her face, and as she carefully flipped through the pages, they were all of her.
There were images of her with her mouth slightly open, frowning as if dreaming, some drawn realistically like photographs, while others were decorated with butterflies and flowers. One even showed her curled up asleep inside a flower bud.
‘Wow, so many…’
There were quite a few, as if they were meant to be shared.
After she had finished looking, Jiwoo put the drawings down. Skiass, who had been peeking alongside her, quietly pocketed one.
“Is it okay to sneak that one away like that?”
“…”
Surprised that he might have been caught, Skiass flinched.
“Can I… keep just one?”
“…That’s not yours.”
“But it’s a picture of Seo Jiwoo’s face…”
Was the person in the picture the owner here, rather than the artist?
While Jiwoo hesitated whether she could answer, a groggy voice came from below.
“…Hey, take it.”
The whispers had ended up waking Kaman after all.
His ears twitched as it shook as he woke up.
“You always make things complicated when one word would do. What do you want?”
With permission granted, Skiass carefully chose from several drawings.
He debated between the one of Jiwoo sleeping inside a flower bud and the close-up of her face.
In the end, Skiass picked the one that was the most lifelike, drawn with such detail you could even see her eyelashes.
“I’ll frame it.”
Kaman handed over the drawing without hesitation.
But then…
“Where are you two going?”
Instead of going back to sleep, Kaman jumped up and followed them lazily.
“It’s dangerous here. We should go together.”
“…Tch.”
Skiass clicked his tongue, annoyed that their alone time was being interrupted by the drawing exchange.
Though their plan for a private moment was foiled, he didn’t want to completely ruin the plan, so he strode ahead.
When Skiass pulled ahead a bit, Jiwoo quietly asked Kaman.
“Kaman, weren’t you planning to share those drawings? If there are so many…”
“That’s right.”
So Skiass just ended up losing out by trying to sneak one too soon.
“That guy’s really an idiot, huh?”
“…Yeah.”
***
They walked for quite a while, and Skiass wasn’t much of a talker.
He moved quickly as if in a hurry.
Without Kaman, their pace would probably have been slower. Though Kaman didn’t seem pleased to be there, it was clear he trusted Skiass to lead without worry.
“Skiass.”
“Hmm?”
Breaking the silence, Jiwoo asked something that had been on her mind from earlier.
“The capital is in the center of El Ragneil, right?”
“Uh… yes.”
“The trees are blocking the mixing of dimensions, right?”
“…Yes.”
“But if the trees keep growing toward the center, that means all the trees eventually end up there. Doesn’t that mean the dimensional collision is worst in the capital?”
“Yes… I guess so.”
El Ragneil was a continent ruled by the trees. Jiwoo had imagined the capital as a high, grand mountain covered in white trees like paradise.
“Then isn’t it more dangerous than outside?”
“No, but… it’s the most beautiful place. Plants grow year-round regardless of season, and sometimes plants that vanished long ago appear. The female manifestation usually shows up there too… and anyway, the female manifestation is there…”
Does that mean that as long as the female manifestation is there, everything is solved, no matter the danger?
“I imagined something like a big pit.”
Maybe because Jiwoo had experienced dimensional travel and being trapped inside one, now she pictured a slightly sunken volcanic crater instead.
“A pit? Ahh…”
Skiass seemed to understand what she meant and said.
“There’s an old story that a huge star fell there, a very, very long time ago.”
The children of Ellandos were more laid-back about time than Caranazion humans, but if they said ‘very long ago’, it must have been an incredibly long time.
“So when I look at the stars… I think about that distant past. Just how massive did that falling object have to be to shatter the world like this…?”