"What...?"

I could feel the doubt in everyone's voice as I said my piece. Massaging my face, I looked at the post-leader of the Black Hound Guild. His red eyes coldly stared in my direction as he stood motionless on the spot.

There was something unsettling about his gaze.

I couldn't quite place it into words.

However, for some reason, I felt my chest grow heavy.

'He doesn't look at all worried.'

.....Was it just a bluff, or was it perhaps that I had guessed wrong?

In hindsight, I wasn't entirely confident about my hypothesis. There were clues here and there, and if he truly was the possessor of the missing page, then there was also a chance that the monsters might not attack him.

Why...?

'Because the tree is the one controlling the monsters.'

Or at least, that was what I assumed to be the case.

The timing was all too perfect.

From the Crimson Shade to the 'Silent Eaters' that suddenly made their way into the town. None of it made sense unless it was pre-planned beforehand.

Such was the only possible explanation that I could think of... And if the Black-Hound post-leader was truly the one who held the page, then there was a high chance that the eaters wouldn't attack him.

Still feeling the same red eyes on me, I turned towards the post-leader beside me. Unlike Karl, his eyes were white, and his skin tone was black.

'His name is Lennon, right...?'

Just staying a few feet away from him felt pressuring.

"What are you trying to say?"

His deep voice reached my ears.

Pursing my lips slightly, I raised both of my hands in a sign of submission.

"Before you say anything, I'm surrendering. You can do whatever you want to do with me, but..."

I turned my head to meet those intense blood-red eyes.

Yet again, I felt my chest grow heavy at the sight of them.

Why...?

"....before you take me in, you won't mind testing whether my words are true or not, right? It won't cost you much anyways."

"....."

Lennon remained quiet while his white eyes remained fixed on me. I had a hard time understanding what he was thinking.

He then turned his head to look towards the other post-leaders.

There were three of them.

.....I could recognize two of them.

With shoulder-length red hair, a mole beneath her chin, and eyes that matched the fiery hue of her hair, stood Alyssa Karline, the post-leader of the Fire-Phoenix Guild.

Beside her stood a taller man with a skinnier build. His head was balding, and his eyes were narrowed into slits.

He was the post-leader of the Dark Raven Guild, Jack Whitlock.

They were the only two that I was able to recognize due to the memories I had extracted.

Regarding the last one, I really didn't know.

But it didn't matter.

....The content of their conversation was what I was more interested in.

"Should we listen to him?"

"It wouldn't hurt. There's nothing to lose from the deal. He seems to know something."

They didn't even bother to keep their voices down as they spoke.

"Karl might not like this."

"Why wouldn't he like this? This is nothing for him. When all is said and done, he'll just take the cadet with him."

"That's true."

"What do you think, Karl?"

The post-leaders turned to look at Karl who remained motionless on the spot, his expression hard to read. I stared at him from where I was, trying my best to carefully gauge his expression, but the more I looked, the less I saw.

.....It was extremely eerie.

To the point where I felt the hair on my arm rise.

And the fact that he didn't even bother to address them but just stared at me added to that feeling.

"As expected, you need to be removed."

His voice was cold and low, layering slightly. Immediately, everyone turned to look at him. The way he was acting... it had clearly shocked them.

Ba... Thump!

My heart jumped.

A strange sensation gripped my chest.

I closed my eyes then.

"...."

I lowered my head to stare at my hand.

It was again shaking.

Not out of nervousness, but at a certain realization.

A realization that made me shudder.

"Hoo."

I took a deep breath.

"Karl, are you alright? What's going on...?"

The other post-leaders were staring at Karl warily. Glancing at them, Karl didn't answer and continued to fix his gaze on me.

"It was right."

By 'it', he probably meant the tree.

".....They're not the problem, you are."

"Karl?"

"What are you saying...?"

I remained quiet while staring back into those red eyes.

Squench. Squench.

Familiar roots started to appear beneath the ground as they entangled my feet and crawled up to my body before reaching my eyes and mouth where they started to pull them apart.

My vision flashed.

....And the world turned quiet.

I heard nothing, not even a whisper of wind.

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!

The only thing I could hear was the faint sound of my very own hearbeat.

It was growing weaker and weaker by the second.

"Hmm! Hmmmm!"

"Umm!"

Such silence was shattered by faint moaning sounds coming from afar.

They were enough to startle my eyes open.

"H-Haaa..."

My chest squeezed at the sight that bore before my very eyes.

And the air sucked out of my lungs.

'.....So it's like this.'

Blood-red leaves scattered across my vision, covering the town that hid beneath.

"Hmmm...! Hmm!"

Hands outstretched from the ebony bark of the tree as moans echoed throughout.

Squench. Squench.

A familiar sound tickled my ears.

My guts churned at the sound as roots slithered up from the corners of my cheeks, slowly dragging my eyes and ears backward.

"....."

I was paralyzed.

Frozen within the tree as my heart grew numb.

"Hmmm...!"

I spoke, but no words came out.

I thrashed, but my body refused to move.

Squench. Squench.

I soon gave up, and I closed my eyes.

"....."

Everything around me turned silent.

It was just me and my thoughts.

'When...?'

My mind was blank.

Since when.... had the tree possessed me?

"H-haa."

The weight over my chest increased.

....I had entertained the possibility. I wanted to refute it, and yet it came true in the end.

All of it.

'From the very start...' All of it had been an illusion.

"Haa.. Haa..."

As if a boulder was resting ony my chest, I struggled to breathe.

The clues were there.

The timing of the Crimson Shade, and the monsters. The fact that all information about the tree was missing.

....And the roots weird that continuously popped up here and then.

The tree... It had already taken hold of me and was merely letting me, and everyone else it had absorbed quietly live within an illusion it had created so that it could absorb the life force of those within.

None of us knew.

The illusion was perfect.

....Almost perfect.

But at the same time, the clues were hidden in plain sight.

My memories of the time before I had been absorbed by the tree were gone, but when I thought about it, the very first moment I stepped into the station, I recalled feeling something.

A strange tickle at my cheeks and ankles.

'Right, that must be it.'

.....That was the starting point of where my memories had been overwritten.

Then...?

The vision I had experienced from the quest... it was in fact the second time that I had seen it. Only that, whatever happened before, I had failed.

"Haa... Haa..."

I felt my body grow cold at the realization.

'Horrifying.'

This tree...

It was horrifying.

"H-ha."

What now...?

I swallowed my saliva.

With each passing second, I felt my mind growing number and number. The tree was slowly eating me away.

.....I knew I didn't have much time left.

And yet, the sense of helplessness I was feeling seemed to increase.

There were still many questions I didn't know the answer to.

Was the tree targeting me because I was the only one looking for clues about it, or was there some other reason...?

I thought back to Karl's words.

'It was right.'

'.....They're not the problem, you are.'

I felt my mouth grow dry.

'What am I supposed'

My thoughts were cut short.

Before I knew it, the darkness surrounding me had disappeared.

The world around me was a familiar shade of red.

"..."

Karl stood on the opposite end with his gaze wholly focused on me, his red-eyes complimenting the backdrop of the world.

I shuddered under his gaze.

It was as if he knew that I knew.

"Haa... Haa..."

And my breathing quickened.

Sweat started to trickle down the side of my face.

"This..."

And then,

Bang

"Hieeeeek"

The distant wall exploded, and a loud wail echoed through the entire station. An enormous hand pulled apart the shattered pieces, revealing a tall, gaunt figure reminiscent of the 'Silent Eaters,' but far taller and more grotesque.

Its flesh appeared to be pulling down from its face, and its smile was even thicker.

Rumble! Rumble!

The world started to quake then.

Thump!

As the creature's foot pressed against the ground, its large eyes scanned the surroundings before locking in our general direction.

"Hieeeeeeeek"

That was when it let out a loud shriek and the defensive barrier that was surrounding us trembled.

"Ukh....!"

"What the hell is that!?"

The post-leaders were naturally shaken by the situation.

Looking up at the monster, I felt numb.

I could hardly think.

'What do I do...?'

....I was starting to lose sight of my rationality.

'No, I need to calm down.'

Though I said that, I had a hard time doing so.

Partially because of the effect of the tree on my mind, and partially because of the fear that had gripped over me.

Thump! Thump!

Distant thumps echoed.

With each thump, the ground shook.

It was growing closer and closer to us.

However, I had no time to pay any attention to it. My thoughts were clouded by the situation.

'What do I do? What do I do? What do I....'

I stopped at a certain point and looked up.

Two red eyes stared at me.

"Ah."

And that was when I realized.

"Right..."

The entire time, the tree had been hiding information about itself. Whenever I tried something, it'd shift the illusion to make it harder for me to find out. It was almost as if it was buying time to fully 'digest' me.

Then...

'There must be rules it has to follow.'

And,

'....It must also have a weakness.'

I looked straight in Karl's direction.

That weakness wasn't hard to guess.

"The page..."

I opened my mouth to speak, finally calming down somewhat.

"....I need it."

Such was it's weakness.