The story that demon species were targeting a branch of Mother Tree.
Normally, it would have been an unbelievable tale—something from children's fairy tales or the exaggerated rumors that occasionally circulated among first-year students—but because the one who said it was Gerhard Goldenheim, with his piercing golden eyes and reputation for unfailing accuracy, and because she had already encountered magic beasts with her own eyes during the spring expedition to the northern forests, Ariadne had no choice but to believe it. The memory of those beasts, with their twisted forms and eyes that gleamed with an unsettling intelligence, still haunted her dreams.
'Even if I hadn't met magic beasts, I might have pretended to accept it? That would have been fun in its own way.'
