The Sun Has Set (3)

While everyone else was exploring the room with their own brand of curiosity, I pulled out the moonlight orb and focused my mana into it. As a swordsman who had dumped every last point into swordsmanship, I wasn’t particularly skilled at magic. Still, any human in this world possessed mana, so releasing just a small amount wasn’t difficult.

The moment I did, a brilliant light reminiscent of moonlight burst from the orb.

Jjaeng—!

“W-whoa?! What is that?!”

“Yohan, what the—?! W-wait, nothing bad is happening, right?!”

“…I simply infused it with mana, and this is the result.”

Everyone except Cryan, whose mobility was still limited, rushed over at once to peer into the crystal. Even though I had casually brushed it off as the effect of pouring in mana, I knew better than anyone what this truly was.

The image reflected in the crystal was a screen more familiar to me than anything else. Just as I had suspected, it was the UI for constructing a skill tree. However, unlike the translated version I remembered, the contents were written in suspicious ancient characters. At present, deciphering their meaning seemed nearly impossible.

It was probably the ancient language known as the Tongue of the Sun. From what I recalled, Eclipse had learned a little of it at home, so she could read it haltingly. In the story, players could unlock the ability to read it by raising their language proficiency ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠after school… but since I had never done that, this was exactly what I saw.

Well then. Let’s see how much our protagonist knows about this.

“—It says, ‘The tree where the Lady of the Moon has taken root?’”

“Oh, you can read all of it?”

“N-no, I only read the biggest part. The words are too difficult, so I don’t understand the rest…”

Just as I thought. Unlocking this would require spending who-knows-how-many turns studying. Honestly, I hadn’t expected much.

Lady Karalin seemed fascinated simply by the existence of such an object in this place. Her eyes sparkled as she pressed Eclipse, asking how she knew about it.

“…It’s an ancient ruin!”

Clearly, the innocence she had held as a child had never truly faded.

“Ah, this is…”

Eclipse, flustered by the sudden attention, rambled on about how she had learned it at home and somehow managed to explain. For me, it was a stroke of luck. She was drawing all the aggro while I fiddled with the orb.

Language? Not being able to read it was fine. Even though it was my first time touching the thing, I handled the sphere with more familiarity than anyone, swiping through the UI with practiced ease.

I already memorized where everything is, after all.

When playing the game, did anyone really read every single letter on the UI one by one? At first, maybe. But after some time and adaptation, you started skipping ahead using memory and intuition. And the period during which I had to adapt to this screen had long since passed.

Just how long had I been staring at this thing?

I, the one who had activated the orb, entered the menu that described myself. A diagram appeared, showing all my skills connected like a mind map. Drakaris. Rorschach. Azero. Every Steel Spirit I had swallowed so far was there, each represented by its own distinct symbol.

And everything branched out from what appeared to be Burga’s symbol—a grotesque, immortal-pig-like emblem—occupying a massive portion of the map. Even the most recent addition, the Six Demon Sword I had devoured, Yagnus, was there.

“As expected… it’s here.”

But the section explaining him was… unsurprisingly, wrapped tightly in chains and locked.

“…A metaphor. The noble soul, bound to the flesh of an evil god, falls into corruption. In the end, it falls into eternal slumber.”

Yagnus. One of the six heroes who once stood beside the first Hero and subjugated the Goddess of Evil. He had been a brave knight who stepped forward to save his slaughtered kin. Though he succeeded in defeating the evil goddess, he ultimately became bound by her curse and transformed into a demonic sword. A paradoxical being, forever doomed to slaughter the very humans he had tried to liberate.

Since they were called the six heroes, it was easy to understand at a glance. All six demonic swords shared similar origins. Every one of them had fought alongside the Hero until the very end for the sake of humanity’s liberation.

Though I feel no sympathy for them now.

In the original story, Eclipse destroyed them using the Sun-Obscuring Swordplay whenever the time came. By intentionally triggering a solar eclipse.

What if the sword stole their body? Under an eclipse, the laws created by the Sun Goddess hold no power.

Therefore, the vile concept they all shared—“seizing the body of the one who destroyed them”—did not apply. As a result, Eclipse could never use the demonic swords. Because she destroyed them rather than absorbing them, nothing was registered in this orb that could turn them into allies. All that remained was the simple fact that she had shattered them.

But what about me?

Although I had destroyed them through a similar loophole as Eclipse, I hadn’t stopped there. I had imprisoned them inside my own body. From the perspective of the Steel Spirits, they were trapped in coffins… but since this object displayed every possible human state and future potential, perhaps the way to open those coffin lids would be revealed here.

I traced the mind map on the screen, searching for any path that could restore Yagnus’s original “will.”

And then.

Upon closer inspection, a single faintly glowing branch connected to another menu. At its end was a sub-tree labeled 「 」. I couldn’t read what was written there.

At that moment, Cryan—who had somehow appeared beside me—dragged a chair over with a grunt and spoke.

“Hmm. Yohan. Why are you trying to skip over this without showing me?”

“…Ah, I forgot you were here.”

“That aside, how fascinating. Upon closer look, this is written in the Tongue of the Sun. A dead language once used throughout the predecessor states of the Karlank Empire.”

Wait. Now that I thought about it…

“Why are you looking at me with such a surprised face? It is basic education for a crown prince.”

This guy Cryan. There had been a setting that he learned this while receiving imperial education in kingship. Of course!

Good. As expected of the crown prince.

I gently pulled him by the shoulder without causing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pain and positioned him in front of the crystal. Understanding my intent, Cryan naturally and fluently translated the glowing branch.

“To break the chains of original sin is the call of one forged in the sun. If light shines upon him once more, all things shall return.”

“Damn it. This is a huge discovery!”

“A huge discovery…?”

“Look at the thing next to it.”

“……!”

Beside the characters was a diagram similar to the one at the entrance—an alignment of celestial bodies. Anyone who didn’t understand what this meant was a fool.

I turned my head and looked at Eclipse, who was unexpectedly engaged in girl talk with Lady Karalin, chattering away about something.

“……Eclipse! Come here for a moment!”

“Yeees…?”

“You. You. Hurry over here.”

I was so excited that my words were coming out wrong. Eclipse seemed flustered by my unusually ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠urgent tone. She fidgeted, clasping her hands together.

“Peep—?!”

“What do you mean, peep?”

“Ah, aah. That was a slip of the tongue…!”

With no time to waste, I grabbed her hand and pulled her over, pressing it against the orb. The branch on the screen reacted to her approach, emitting a single ray of light.

“W-what is this, Mister Yohan?! While I was chatting over there, did you figure out how to use it?”

“Yes. Perhaps… we may be able to summon a hero of the past who was corrupted by evil.”

Her eyes widened. After a brief hesitation, she gave a small nod.

“Then… what should I do?”

Damn it. What should she do? I didn’t want to waste time on useless explanations. Lady Karalin, I’m sorry. Honestly, the only person I care about is you. Please forgive this rudeness of me boldly taking another woman’s hand.

Tap—.

As if performing an ancient ritual, I covered her hand with mine and rubbed the crystal. Red text appeared, and an empty window floated on the screen.

“—is what it says, Yohan.”

“Thanks for the translation.”

Cryan’s performance as an instant translator was outstanding.

The language of the Successor. In that case…

“Eclipse. It looks like you’re the key. Is there any prayer or traditional phrase passed down in your family? Anything that comes to mind?”

At the question, she thought for a moment before beginning to recite softly.

“…There isn’t anything like that, but my father used to say something sometimes. He never forced me, but he said I had to keep memorizing it…”

“Then say it.”

“I’m not sure if my pronunciation is accurate, but…”

She recited the Tongue of the Sun, though not very fluently.

“All heroes shall return. The fragments of the sun are calling them.”

The moment the words left her lips, the screen floating before us cracked like glass with a sharp crack. And then—

Along with the sensation of my mind being freed, a storm of mana surged through the orb. Before my eyes appeared the bizarre form and horrifying body I knew so well—the illusion of Yagnus in his bandaged, demonic appearance. From within those bandages, a blood-soaked knight in armor burst forth on his knees.

He had no eyes and no mouth. Yet his spirit burned brighter than anything. A man who had been trapped inside a single sword for eons. Thump—.

Though he could not open his mouth, his gaze spoke directly to me.

“Liberation… it is.”

The orb trembled. The lock on Yagnus’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠icon vanished.

“…How many years has it been?”

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Was this even possible?

Pulling a hero out from within one of the Six Swords was a hidden episode that had never appeared in any data mining.

…The first Hero had prepared a way to break the evil goddess’s curse on his comrades—!

Right before my eyes, a hero from the past—someone I had only seen in setting books—was awakening.

“…Damn it. Damn it!”

In my shock, I covered the orb. Yagnus was no longer a cursed demonic sword. From now on, he was my sword.

Then, as always, Burga spoke with a laugh.

He had become my mental roommate upon waking, and apparently couldn’t believe it. All he could do was spout nonsense.