Chapter 107
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Tracing the Sacrifices
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Elin pressed her index finger to her lips and sank into thought.
The desk was cluttered with ancient documents and materials strewn about haphazardly.
Radia had a pen tucked behind her ear and was groaning as she pored over the files.
*What the hell is providence?*
Elin swept back her silver hair, now matted from days without washing, and gritted her teeth.
Her head felt like it might explode.
The tears from the clear lakeside within her body—aside from what Elise, her contractor, was conveying to her, Elin had to uncover more herself.
Only then could she hope to keep pace with that professor who was pulling ahead of her, even if just a little.
Endless questions coiled through her mind.
But the more they did, the more doggedly Elin pressed on.
The outline of the myth was always the same.
In the era when runes existed, humans coveted the throne of the gods and earned punishment.
In that process, some humans turned into giants.
Those transformed giants bore the stigma of divine retribution, devoured humans, and the age of giants dawned.
When the giants, bloated from feasting on people, became a dire threat, dragons emerged—and those dragons made giants their prey.
*This is the age of dragons.*
People eked out survival as servants of dragons, while others worshiped them but fled all the same, just like from the giants.
Like the age of giants, after eons passed with no giants left to devour, the dragons turned to rampaging unchecked. And the one who slew those dragons was...
Elin flipped open a page in the mythological tome.
A dragon shrouded in golden radiance.
The final dragon that brought the age of dragons to a close.
After that, demons appeared, unleashing a cataclysmic downfall, leaving only the genesis of the current world behind.
*Elise said providence means purity.*
Now, she was starting to get a feel for it.
Purity was a clash between substances.
Was it the magi wielded by demons, or powers like mana and divine force?
In truth, it could be viewed as a battle over what could claim the core of the elements—what deserved to be called purity.
Substituting it with "hegemony" didn't alter the meaning much.
The common thread was that all these substances stemmed from aether, the primal force wielded by intelligent beings.
Aether, the foundational concept.
Naturally, then, there existed its superior counterpart: aither.
Elin's theory was that when an aether substance worthy of challenging for purity triumphed over the others, it ascended from aether to aither.
“And only those who possess aither can wield runes.”
Those who held runes crushed other races and reveled in their era.
Elin's eyes narrowed.
Humanity's prosperity stemmed from victory in that ancient hegemony war.
No records remained of which races had vied alongside them, but humanity had prevailed.
Thus, mana spread far and wide.
Elin shifted her line of thinking.
“What if we had lost back then?”
Could history have unfolded differently?
Just a hypothetical example...
Demons wielding magi—if they had existed and won?
Would magi have blanketed the world today instead of mana?
Elin shook her head.
Demons emerged only after the runes' fall.
They couldn't have been present back then.
Yet in that "what if," if some other race had triumphed, perhaps a different substance would dominate now instead of mana.
This opened up new avenues of thought.
So, what had golden-age humanity done with their runes?
What artifact symbolized their golden era?
Before coveting the throne of the gods, what had proven their flourishing?
“The World Tree.”
In the rune-bound era of pacts, humanity had raised the World Tree.
It stood as proof of their rune mastery—and of their victory.
A factory churning out mana, the aither of that age.
Even today, every newborn creature carried at least a faint trace of mana within them.
“But now we can’t wield runes with mana?”
Why? Why not?
Elin clutched her head.
Back then, they had wielded runes using mana.
Mana had been the aither that outlasted rival substances from the aether.
The World Tree had been its factory.
Yet modern humanity couldn’t wield runes with mana.
They merely fumbled with its faint remnants.
Elin let out a ragged breath.
Gasping, she churned her thoughts.
“Why did the professor say we can’t use runes?”
The reasons current humanity couldn’t wield runes: absent pronunciation, incompatible vocal structures, lost original meanings.
Mana accumulation methods posed problems too.
These were conventional wisdom.
“But the professor wielded one?”
The rune of water.
The traces he’d shown in Elise’s abode.
It was unlikely the professor drew from any energy beyond mana.
So yes—mana had once been aither.
Had that status reset somehow?
“The cause of it. Other possibilities...”
The professor might be an exception, but the World Tree—mana’s factory—was no longer what it once was.
That was one way to interpret it.
With the World Tree diminished, mana had been downgraded from aither to mere aether. Now aether’s substances vied anew for purity and hegemony...
“Way too speculative.”
Elin burst out laughing.
If that were the issue, humanity would need to wage another war to reclaim it.
“Absurd.”
She dismissed it as utter nonsense when groans arose from beside her.
“You mentioned an altar.”
Radia was there from the start, but now Arion had joined them in sorting documents.
“Senior Radia?”
“Hm? Oh, Elin. Any luck? Find what you’re after?”
“Not really. Info’s too scarce—pure guesswork.”
“Share those guesses with me later.”
“Sure. But you look swamped, senior.”
“If I seem that way, care to lend a hand?”
As Radia spoke, she slyly nudged a towering stack of books in the desk’s corner.
Elin’s pupils quivered—she hadn’t meant it as a request for help—but her arms were already laden with the pile.
“These all... about the demon worshippers? That altar thing?”
“The professor never spelled it out directly, but when he used me as his go-between, I pieced together scraps of info.”
Elin nodded.
The magic stone from Senior Lianel.
Even from the bits she’d overheard, Elin grasped the rough picture. Radia, who’d spoken with the Roosevelt courtier, must know far more.
*And Senior Radia was right there in the ballroom that night—she saw it firsthand.*
Elin had gotten the broad strokes from Radia, but secondhand accounts had their limits for the imagination.
“Princess Lilian was the demon worshippers’ target. For a sacrifice, and the recipient... a great demon, right?”
“Nothing less for what they worship.”
“But why Princess Lilian of all people? The professor didn’t say, but was there some special reason...?”
Elin shrugged at Radia’s mutter.
“More importantly, what’s this about an altar?”
“Sacrifices, remember? You don’t hold rituals like that just anywhere—there’d be an altar. Or some symbolic site standing in for one.”
“You’re trying to find its location?”
“It’d be nice to know, but I’m not holding my breath. Thing is, with the empire’s three masters on alert, could they really spirit away a kidnapped princess far?”
Spatial transfers? Mage Oshua would trace them back. Physical flight? Professor Aiden or the Sword Duke would hunt them down.
Did the worshippers truly believe they could evade those two?
“My bet: the altar’s somewhere close to the palace.”
Close enough for a swift snatch-and-ritual.
Elin furrowed her brow in thought.
“Makes sense. But why bring it up?”
“Their plan tanked thanks to Professor Aiden. So all those sacrifices meant for the altar—where’d they go?”
“The sacrifice was just Princess Lilian...”
“Think about it—for a great demon? One princess enough on common sense? Elin, factor in the magic angle.”
Lianel emerged from the study, face gaunt and hollow-eyed.
“You don’t offer just one, usually. Multiple items, corresponding ones together.”
Elin nodded, conceding the point.
“Yeah, figures.”
“Exactly. Ritual’s busted, the imperial family’s out for blood with the Royal Guard mobilized and searching. They had to tidy up fast—but where’d they stash or offload the rest of the sacrifices?”
“...Ah!”
Those ritual sacrifices would each hold immense value.
No way they carted everything off—so they’d have hidden them or liquidated quickly.
“I’m hunting where the demon worshippers fenced those high-value goods. Trace the items’ paths, and we’ll uncover their network.”
“Gonna be scattered thin.”
“Fine by me. Just need a lead.”
Radia had the Drake family’s shadows at her command.
She could deploy them.
The catch: she didn’t command many.
“Can’t have them digging blindly. Need specific targets...”
“I’m no expert, but... nobles have secret auctions, right?”
Radia froze mid-step.
Her head swiveled with a rusty creak.
Her eyes demanded the reasoning, but Elin was lost in her own world.
“Altar-bound items—so sky-high value, perfect for discreet disposal. Secrecy guaranteed, and somewhere the imperials wouldn’t scour easily.”
“Go on.”
“Somewhere taboo, hands-off... not for resale after purchase, low practicality but collectors would lose their minds...”
Elin trailed off, then voiced her hunch.
“Like a black market auction for nobles only. Shady enough that nobles keep it hushed. Slip them in as lots—no one the wiser?”
“That’s it!”
Radia and Lianel cried out in unison.
Then they high-fived, grinning like they’d cracked the case.
Elin blinked at them, a beat behind.
“Huh?”
“An auction house! How’d I miss that?”
“Exactly! They’d flood a black market with those shady goods!”
“Zero in on it—or snag one lot...”
“And maybe learn something routing through Professor Aiden.”
Even if it got dicey, Aiden had promised backup.
Or better—drop his name and tear the black market apart?
“Perfect plan.”
Radia balled her fist.
At that moment, an inexplicable headache throbbed through me.
“Somehow, this feels off.”
Something felt profoundly wrong.
“What’s wrong?”
Princess Lilian’s voice carried worry, but I couldn’t pinpoint it and deflected.
“Just a sense my workload’s about to spike.”
Princess Lilian chuckled.
“What kind of feeling is that?”
But for some reason, I couldn’t muster a smile.