Weed ~The One’s Gardener~

Chapter 8

The tribes of the forest studied the cause of the void and found a solution, and they finally solved it.

There was only one solution to the void, and since dispelling the last void from the outside about ten years ago, the method had never been dragged out. Moreover, the ceremony no longer needed to be performed.

At least, that was Weed’s opinion… but it seemed not to them.

“…Since the sacrifice came, Weed’s condition has noticeably improved. All this time, you felt nothing and withered away. Your current illness will surely be cured.”

“She is not a sacrifice!”

“It is a sacrifice, Weed! There was absolutely nothing wrong with the procedure!”

Weed sighed and then asked.

“Procedure? Who told you to go through the summoning ritual in the first place? Who allowed it?! A completely different person was summoned because of another summoning ceremony that should have been completed. Didn’t you see her face? She was human. A young one, even. It is not a life that should be extinguished immediately as a sacrifice.”

“That’s not true, is it? If things really went wrong, there shouldn’t have been anything at the time of the summoning. It means she was the answer to the summoning! She looked like a life that would be extinguished to me. However, you saved her, who was bleeding and dying. You even confirmed the characteristics of the sacrifice yourself.”

“No, return her. She is absolutely not suitable for sacrifice.”

“It’s something you don’t know just by looking at it. Have you talked to her about the problems here?”

Weed evaded answering. As he was still looking down at them with his chin up, he turned his head away as he said the next thing.

“…I am fine.”

“You’re not!”

“You’re not fine!”

Weed raised his voice and denied it. However, these troublesome people around Weed didn’t back down easily or change their opinions today. It was impossible to compromise if the normally obedient people persisted so resolutely.

“Weed! I will disobey this. We still need Weed.”

“As evidence of that, Weed is getting better. You’re talking to us like this…!”

“I know that you have been working hard to solve the void. You said it doesn’t matter because the outside doesn’t bother you, right? No. We care for you. Only this time… This job is only for you. It’s not for the outside, not even for the world…. This sacrifice is only for Weed.”

The way to solve the void was to ask for help from the life of the other world. And right now, the priests in front of him were trying to approach Shin Hana, who had just been summoned from the other world. It was because they believed that Weed’s disease could be cured with her life as a sacrifice.

Weed was keeping an eye on when they approached Hana.

As long as he declared Hana as a ‘guest,’ they weren’t the kind of people who would do nonsense without his knowledge or permission. Although they call her ‘sacrifice,’ they would also honor Hana as a noble even if it wasn’t necessarily his order.

But for some reason, Weed couldn’t believe them. It was because they arbitrarily summoned another being from another world.

It was also because of that that he entered Hana’s sleeping space last dawn and surprised her.

As she screamed in her sleep, his body moved first, even though he rationally knew he wasn’t to blame. As soon as he heard her screams, he wanted to make sure she was all right. For he knew what the priests would ask of her as a ‘sacrifice.’

Sacrifice…

Lifeforms from the other world scatter their lives in the void to fill what is lacking in this world.

The reason why the void was created from the beginning was because this world was not completed. No matter how beautiful and omnipotent the sanctuary was, this world was not perfect. This world, which seemed to have been abandoned by God, began to collapse without being able to overcome its shortcomings.

It was a disaster in the form of a void.

That was why life from another dimension was needed. The void of this world was filled when noble lived from a higher dimension that was more perfect and complete than this place and scattered the energy they had lived here.

In that way, the world gradually begins to stabilize.

Of course, they were not indiscriminately summoned. The cycle was kept though a small number was summoned only when it was deemed necessary. In addition, those noble sacrifices were treated with due respect here, willingly performing ceremonies and giving their lives, and the priests thanked and mourned their sacrifices and deaths.

In particular, Weed shed tears day and night nonstop whenever life in another dimension was cut off here. He stopped eating and drinking for at least a week and cried in grief.

After the last ritual, he cried for over a month before losing his consciousness and falling asleep.

Weed’s condition got worse every time there was a summon. Perhaps the priests were worried about him, and they waited for his permission to be granted without doing any rash summoning.

The first summon was answered by a bug from another world.

In the end, a life that looked like a cow or a horse responded. All were summoned as old animals or on the brink of death and ended their lives here. The old animals were treated with respect for the remaining time, and the priests helped them to go through their lives just before death as painlessly as possible.

Moreover, most of the lifeforms that have been summoned so far accepted what their end would be like. Even if they couldn’t communicate, they could tell just by looking into each other’s eyes.

A color that was no different from the incarnation of God here. The golden eyes, a sign that they came from a higher dimension, seemed to hold that much wisdom. It was as if they understood and acted on the problems of this world.

In short, the death of the sacrifice was necessary to solve the problem here. In this world, a life that could be extinguished at any moment was always summoned, and they willingly sacrificed it.

So, when Shin Hana, a ‘human,’ responded to this summon, the priests, as well as Weed, were taken aback.

It was the first time they had a human. However, considering the size of the last void and the condition of the divine disease, it was not unreasonable to say that they needed the power of human-level high intelligence.

The priests rejoiced in anticipation of solving the last void with the last sacrifice and healing Weed, who was carrying all the new divine disease caused by the void.

If there was one problem, it was that Weed refused to sacrifice as soon as he saw Hana. It was unknown how she was injured, but he stopped the bleeding from her torn, battered body and made new flesh sprout. Not only that, but he hid her in his nest and blocked access to the priests. Moreover, he said that he would send her back.

Those words made the priests’ self-control collapse.

There was a disagreement. The priests saw her condition at the time of the summoning and judged her suitable for sacrifice, and Weed dared to save her and said that she was not a sacrifice.

“I don’t care what you do as long as she’s not a part of this.”

“Weed…!”

“Send her back. This matter is now over.”

Each of the tribes of the forest looked worried in front of him. They let out a deep sigh and cried while showing tears. It wasn’t that he couldn’t quite understand why they were doing this.

In the meantime, the tribes of the forest were free from the effects of the disaster.

At the center of their home, the sanctuary, Lár de Ligna Initia, there was the largest void in the world, but unusually, the divine disease did not spread accordingly. The wise tribe of the forest was foolish in this matter, thinking that they were benefiting for no reason.

It was only after Weed, who had taken on all the effects, collapsed that they finally confirmed his condition.

The priests managed to summon the sacrifice, thinking that the last void would be resolved. Regardless, since the sick party himself, Weed, refused, there was no choice. In the first place, it was Weed’s will to resolve the void outside the sanctuary, and since the priests followed him, they could not go against his wishes.

Knowing that they would continue to be a nuisance as long as he continued to shield Hana, Weed made a makeshift effort to draw her blood and handed it out to them.

Nonetheless, everyone in this room knew what was going to be needed in the end.

However, Weed did not want any more sacrifices. He was preparing his own end, and they really did nothing.

—