Once I steeled myself with the resolve to return home, the very first thing I did was nothing special.
‘First, I’ll head to the main base.’
There was no need to go back and organize our forces or grasp the situation.
By this point, I had neither the time nor the reason left to do so.
I look for a moment at my mother, bound to Mu Ah.
“……”
I still don’t know what it was you wanted from me.
That’s why I wanted to ask.
‘Mother.’
Did you truly wish for me to become a calamity?
If not, then why do you keep pushing me down that path?
Or else…
‘Even though I barely managed to do it…’
Was I simply being led toward my fate in the end?
Whatever the case, there was no one here now who could answer my questions.
No—maybe I’d already heard the answer.
I was just refusing to face it.
“Mu Ah.”
I run my hand along the thin trunk. The rough, scratchy feel is no different from any other tree. It used to be called…