Chapter 172
Chapter 172
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Kerguelen Autonomous Region (4)
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Fortunately, there was an exit. The taste of the air changed, and they emerged onto the middle of a stepped altar.
The jungle of Mount Toa formed a sea of trees below them.
Gazing down from twenty meters up, the forest was vast, with Kerguelen settlements visible here and there.
When they rounded to the other side of the altar, they saw a palace made of gold. It was the residence of the Kerguelen chieftain. Upon entering, they found a long hall with tables set up in two rows.
Shirone sat at the head of the table, with Amy, Rian, Tess, Canis, and Arin seated to his right in that order.
On the left sat Chieftain Kadum and the elders. Hasid, the man who had blown the horn, was not present. Seeing Mahatu at the far end of the table suggested his rank was not low.
Music played as traditional Kerguelen food was served. Before they could even taste it, warriors entered in pairs, carrying large chests on their shoulders.
The warriors opened the lids of the chests. An enormous amount of gold coins and jewels were piled high inside.
"What is this?"
"A humble gift from the Kerguelen. Please, accept it."
The value was beyond counting by individual pieces; it would have to be measured by weight. The five chests combined seemed to weigh at least a ton.
Amy set down her food with a look of displeasure.
This wasn't income from the ruins. It was money earned from trafficking ‘loop.’ And that amount of money was more than enough to feed the entire tribe.
"Shirone, you're not actually thinking of accepting this, are you?"
"I can't accept such a large sum of money without knowing the reason. I doubt they're just giving it away."
When Shirone demanded an explanation, Kadum's expression changed.
Even the most virtuous saint would find their breath catching at the sight of over a ton of gold coins. But Shirone reacted with indifference, as if the gold were mere stones.
It wasn't that Shirone was above material wealth. He simply wasn't foolish enough to covet what wasn't his.
Kadum did not panic. Instead of explaining, he clapped his hands, and a second offering was brought in.
He was confident that even someone who refused riches would not be able to resist this.
Men with white tattoos on their faces, like the one in the Room of Achievement and Sacrifice, entered. Shirone guessed they were priests.
As they parted to the left and right, a dozen young and beautiful Kerguelen women entered.
The boys, including Shirone, stared with their mouths agape. It was a sight they were unaccustomed to at their age.
The scantily clad, beautiful women approached, performing a sensual dance.
From a distance, the dance looked quite spectacular, but up close, it was utterly lewd. The women's eyes were glazed over, suggesting they were in a trance-like state.
"What do you think? These are the most beautiful priestesses among the Kerguelen women. It is our second offering to the Messenger of God. I do hope they are to your liking."
Shirone felt the heat rising from the seat next to him. Without turning his head, he knew exactly what kind of expression Amy was making.
Kadum's goodwill was backfiring.
The priestesses' dance was captivating, but to Shirone, it looked like nothing more than the writhing of women high on ‘loop.’
Unwarranted kindness often feels like a threat, and his mind grew colder as he analyzed Kadum's intentions.
Faced with Shirone's firm reaction, Kadum finally grew concerned.
The mind of an Unlocker is superior to that of an ordinary person, but that doesn't make them a saint. The Immortal Function is a process toward enlightenment, not enlightenment itself.
Someone free from worldly desires wouldn't have been snooping around the Room of Achievement and Sacrifice in the first place. He couldn't figure out what Shirone wanted.
"It seems I have misjudged. I thought you would be pleased. To be honest, this is my first time welcoming a Messenger of God, so I was merely following tradition."
Shirone found that statement even more offensive. Just how debauched had Unlockers of his caliber been for this to become a 'tradition'?
"Did they enjoy this sort of thing?"
"According to the records, they did not seem to dislike it. But please, do not misunderstand. There is no other intention; it is simply tradition. The Kerguelen are a tribal society, but the power of the priests is great. The priesthood is divided into celebrants and warriors, and among the female celebrants, some become priestesses. According to Kerguelen law, a priestess must be beautiful and preserve her purity for her entire life, but she is permitted to lie with someone once to conceive the child of an angel. In other words, the priestesses are prepared to offer everything for you, Shirone, the descendant of an angel."
"If I were to accept these women, what would I have to do?"
The chieftain wouldn't make such a sacrifice without expecting something in return. Tradition, after all, was just a custom born of necessity.
The amount of gold could feed the entire tribe. Moreover, the women performing their courtship dance to be chosen by Shirone were the future mothers who could increase the Kerguelen's population. In essence, he was handing over the tribe's wealth and future to Shirone.
"The Kerguelen are children of the great Ra. And the descendant of an angel is the only one who can connect the Kerguelen tribe to our god. Please, convey our faith to the god."
"By god, do you mean Ankh-Ra?"
"Ankh, Ra. It means the immortal Ra. He has existed since the beginning of time and created us. With his great power, he still watches over us."
Stripping away the religious rhetoric, it was essentially a business deal.
Accept the gold and women as payment, and go to the god to convey the tribe's will. He didn't know how that would be done, but it was clearly related to the Immortal Function.
The mental channel grew busy with discussion about whether to accept the payment.
Tess was against it. Money aside, she couldn't even imagine Shirone sleeping with another woman when he had Amy.
But surprisingly, Amy was in favor of accepting the payment. And Shirone agreed.
-Shirone! How could you? I know all men are beasts, but I thought you were different.
-Calm down. Shirone must have a plan. Amy agreed to it, too.
-Don't make me laugh! Are you taking his side just because you're a guy too, Rian? I will never agree to this. Amy, say something. Aren't you pissed off?
-Of course, I'm pissed. And it's disgusting that they're throwing a feast while their people are starving. But that's something Shirone can control. For now, it's more important to dig up more information, so let's agree.
While Shirone's group exchanged thoughts, a white-haired old man entered. It was Elder Hasid, the one who had blown the horn. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked at the other elders, who were lost in feasting and revelry.
Mahatu looked uneasy as he rose and paid his respects.
"Welcome, Elder."
"Tsk, tsk. Pathetic. What is all this commotion?"
The music stopped, and the dancing girls collapsed from exhaustion.
Hasid walked toward Shirone, leaning on his staff as if it were a third leg.
Kadum blocked his approach with a domineering tone.
"What is the meaning of this, Father? How dare you ruin this sacred banquet."
"Sacred banquet? Outside, our people are starving to death with each passing day. If you keep wasting money on such vanities, the tribe will truly be ruined!"
"I am surprised to hear such slander from the former chieftain of the Kerguelen and an elder of noble standing. Shall I repeat your earlier statement at the council meeting?"
"You must not. The people are filled with hope at the appearance of the Messenger of God. But that's as far as it goes. Why don't you understand that what they want is happiness, not a Messenger of God!"
"I have heard the opinion of a mere elder. Regardless of what anyone says, I am the chieftain. The Kerguelen will be reborn through the grace of our god. We will not live hiding in the mountains, wary of outsiders, but will restore the glorious civilization of our past!"
Hasid's beard twitched. He clicked his tongue and turned away.
In any case, Kadum was the chieftain. If their conflict escalated in front of the other elders, there was no guarantee that the civil war of 500 years ago wouldn't repeat itself.
As the atmosphere soured, the elders began to discreetly excuse themselves, and the banquet eventually came to an end.
Kadum led Shirone's group to the top of the altar. The rooftop was wide, and to the north stood a seven-meter-tall statue. The giant's form, bathed in moonlight, was intimidating.
Kadum stood by the statue and looked up at the night sky.
Countless stars were scattered across it.
But he was looking at only one.
"Do you see that cluster of stars in the northern sky? Connect them to form a figure eight, then find the brightest star at the point where the two circles intersect."
He had said he had something to show them, but they never expected a lesson on constellations. Shirone's group was reluctant, but they took the time to find the star Kadum pointed to.
Kadum's next words were shocking.
"That star is the homeland of the Kerguelen."
"What? Homeland?"
To Shirone, a homeland was where one was born. A place that young people who moved to the city yearned for with nostalgia. It was definitely not some distant point in the night sky.
"The Kerguelen know that the god who created us lives there. We are born and die on this land, but our souls fly to that sky. The kingdom of the heavens. That is why we call that star Heaven."
Shirone was at a loss.
Heaven was an abstract concept. It wasn't a place you could point out like a tourist attraction to a traveler from another land.
"I don't quite understand. Why is that place Heaven?"
"You do not believe in God, Shirone."
Shirone neither believed nor disbelieved in God.
A mage's way of thinking did not allow for clear conclusions about things that could not be analyzed.
To Shirone, God was a being whose existence was unknown.
"There is a passage in the Kerguelen Genesis. It's a myth from before recorded history. In the beginning, there lived a giant, and from the giant's blood and flesh, humans were born. The first human was Garok, who lived for 782 years. His son, Deris, lived for 982 years, and his son, Thesus, lived for 1,320 years."
The Genesis of Ra was not much different from the myths of other religions.
According to some scholars, the lifespans of figures from before recorded history don't represent the actual age of an individual, but rather the duration of a family's rule.
Eljain I, Eljain II, and so on; if a dynasty prospered for thirteen generations, the myth would speak of an Eljain who lived for a thousand years.
It was a plausible theory.
Even in the Tormia Kingdom, the king's name was passed down through generations. The current king was Adolf XII.
Kadum reeled off the lifespans of people they had never heard of, as if showing off his memorization skills.
Once the age of myth ended, he moved on to the age of history.
"Two thousand years ago, the sage Hanes established a civilization here. From that time, we came to be embraced by Ra. You must have been curious why we do not restore the Kerguelen ruins buried in volcanic ash."
Shirone recalled the barrier that ran through the middle layer of the ruins, a barrier so thick that not even Amy's Sniper Mode could penetrate it.
"There are many ancient ruins in the world, and this is one of them. But there is a hidden truth about these ruins that the general public does not know. A very long time ago, our ancestors seemed to travel freely to and from Heaven. The underground facility in the ruins proves it."
"What on earth is in the basement?"
At this point, Shirone couldn't bear not knowing.
Kadum stared intently into Shirone's curiosity-filled eyes and said.
"In the ruins' basement, there is a gate that leads to Heaven."
His head spun as if struck by a hammer. Heaven. Was he really talking about that star in the northern sky?
That place was in outer space.
A distance impossible for any human to travel.
"Are you saying you can go to the place where God resides?"
"Yes. That is precisely it."
A thought suddenly occurred to him. Was this chieftain, Kadum, a madman? Or was he telling the truth?