Chapter 209
Chapter 209
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 209
Chapter Title: The Truth of Heaven (3)
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“Doesn't look like anyone's here.”
“That's for the better. Whether they're Maras or angels, I'm not confident I could fight them, to be honest.”
Canis tilted his head. He hadn't expected to hear such a timid remark from Harvest, who had inherited Arcane's memories.
“You're different from the master.”
“Memories alone don't define a personality. I was designed to protect you. To put it bluntly, we won't be able to complete our mission without Shirone's help.”
That's how it was. Shirone held the key to returning to their original world.
Canis's pride was wounded by the fact that he couldn't be the protagonist, but he wasn't foolish enough to jeopardize their teamwork.
“Still, if we don't disable the Mecha System, we won't get a chance at anything. Shall we take a look around?”
Canis walked around, surveying his surroundings. Then, feeling something was off, he approached a wall.
The panels packed together at regular intervals resembled books on a library shelf.
As he ran his hand over a panel, he felt a faint vibration.
The moment he gently pressed it, it clicked.
Fearing an alarm might go off, he hastily stepped back. A humming sound was heard as the panel slid out.
Canis grabbed the panel and pulled it out completely. A transparent, rectangular electronic plate, like glass, was connected to it.
He held it vertically, then turned it horizontally.
The moment his thumb touched the panel's side, words made of light appeared on the glass plate.
*I see. An angelic library.*
Canis realized, recalling the immense number of panels embedded in Ingris.
Ingris was a space filled with knowledge.
He touched a blinking arrow on the panel, and the page turned. As he flipped through the pages in awe, an endless stream of text continued.
It was a high-density information system, incomparable to a book.
Unable to read the characters, his eyes naturally drifted to the numbers written at the bottom of the glass plate.
The first thing that came to mind was the memo his master had left.
Ingris
113-325-4739-49359-234
This was all that Arcane had left behind. It was likely a serial number to identify the panel's location.
Canis was certain his master had been to Ingris before. And it was here that he must have realized something and discovered how to enhance dark magic.
Canis examined the characters on the glass plate. He couldn't even guess how to pronounce them.
“Harvest, do you know what these characters are?”
“No. It's a language I've never seen before. We might need Arin for this.”
At that moment, the characters began to break down, and words in their own language were etched onto the glass plate.
“Automatic language conversion? No way.”
Ingris was not a space created for Canis.
Therefore, one could assume that every language in the world was recorded on these panels.
The information density was terrifying.
Canis looked again at the words etched on the glass plate. The page contained information about dreams. After a quick scan, he began to read aloud.
“...Drimo is a world that can be entered through dreams. The method is to find the Dream Man, Ruber, within a dream, but since he is in a place detached from the main events, concentration is required to find him. He is usually cooking in a house or taking care of children. Distinguishing him is not too difficult, as only Ruber has color.”
He turned to the next page.
“When you meet him, hand him money and say you've come looking for work. He will then offer you several jobs you can do in the dream. If you refuse three times, he will send you to Drimo. If you find a job you like, you can enjoy the dream for as long as you wish, but you will not remember it upon waking.”
Canis pouted and looked back at Harvest.
When Harvest shrugged, he turned his head back to the panel and continued reading.
“The world of Drimo has numerous items that defy the law of causality because time does not exist there. To bring an item into reality, five conditions must be met. First, help the item's owner and receive it as a reward. Second, go to the public office and report the item as stolen...”
“You can't do that. It is forbidden by law.”
Canis's voice cut off abruptly.
Slowly turning his head, he saw a petite woman standing at the first corner of Ingris.
Her skin was pale violet, and her eyes were sharp and slanted. She had voluminous, curly, lime-green hair, and a red, glowing triangle floated above her head.
It was a One-Horned Mara.
Tension soaring, Canis and Harvest didn't even flinch as they stared her down.
“If you would, please slowly put that back where it belongs. Even an archangel is forbidden from viewing Ingris without the administrator's permission.”
Without taking his eyes off her, Canis slid the panel back into its original spot.
As if pulled in, the panel slid shut, becoming indistinguishable from the others.
“My apologies. It's our first time here.”
Canis, deciding to buy some time to think, apologized first.
“I thought so. A citizen would never break the law. Anyway, it's been a while since a heretic came here.”
Canis realized that her lip movements and pronunciation matched.
She wasn't speaking through telepathy.
“How do you know our language?”
“Huhu, I'm a language collector. Besides, how could I be the administrator of Ingris if I couldn't communicate? In fact, I've met quite a few. People who speak the same language as you, I mean.”
The first person who came to mind was Arcane. Then, he thought of the group of Unlockers that the Kergo chieftain had sent.
“Do you know someone named Kadum?”
The administrator's face lit up as she exclaimed.
“Aha! So that's what this is about? Of course, I know him. Some heretics came here 200 of your years ago. They asked me to extend Kadum's lifespan by 300 years.”
Hearing her words, Canis was certain.
Ingris was undoubtedly a place that controlled human lifespans.
But how?
It was a phenomenon that couldn't be explained simply by its unimaginably high information density.
“Is that even possible? How can you change a person's lifespan?”
“Haa, I get this question so often. I don't know how you people find your way here without knowing.”
The administrator walked around with her hands behind her back, like a teacher. Her eyes, as she looked at the panels, were filled with affection.
“To answer how we can change lifespans, it's because this place is connected to the Akashic Records.”
Canis knew of the Akashic Records. It was a term he had frequently encountered while studying mythology.
The supernatural repository of information said to contain all the records of the universe.
The fact that the same term was used in Heaven meant the myths were true.
But it was an incomprehensible theory.
“Impossible. You're lying.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“Because a record containing everything in the world cannot possibly exist. How would you verify that it's everything? In the end, it must be an exaggeration to some degree.”
“Hmm, you're definitely human. Well, with your level of thinking, you're not wrong.”
Canis felt a surge of indignation.
“So you're saying it's not like that?”
“The Akashic Records aren't something so grand and amazing. This world *is* the Akashic Records.”
“Speak plainly.”
The administrator's eyes lit up as if she'd had a good idea.
“Since you're human, I'll borrow an explanation from the Mechains. Multiply 2 by 3, then add 1. What do you get?”
“7, obviously.”
“Right. That's exactly how humans think. Humans need to find a problem to get an answer. You're beings who need an equation to find the solution.”
“What's your point? Are you saying you're different?”
“We are. Then let me pose a problem in the heavenly way. I just got the answer 7. Guess what equation I used to arrive at 7.”
Canis fell silent. He couldn't know. There were infinite ways to arrive at 7.
“Do you get it now? The Akashic Records are simply the answer. Shall I borrow the words of the Norians this time? Can you perfectly explain Ingris using any expression you like?”
Language cannot perfectly convey original meaning. But now, Canis understood what the Akashic Records were.
“Ingris.”
The administrator nodded in satisfaction.
“Exactly. Ingris is Ingris. Ingris existed even before you came. But to you, this place was nonexistent. Why is that?”
“Because... I didn't know its name.”
This was a serious situation. Canis realized why the Mara needed a name to adjust lifespans.
The name. That was everything.
“Now we're getting somewhere. To a stone or the wind, the world doesn't exist. It's complete nothingness. Even though it actually exists like this. That's because they lack the ability to assign meaning. The universe only came into being when the name 'universe' was given to it.”
Heaven does not seek the answer.
Because the answer is either nonexistent or it is the whole. Instead, they were distorting the truth by changing the equation used to reach the answer.
It doesn't matter if the answer 7 changes to 8 or 9.
Whatever answer emerges will be the entirety of the world, and therefore, it will be perfect.
“Humans are always foolishly searching for the one and only truth. Where is there such a thing? However the world changes, that's all there is.”
The administrator pointed to the panels.
“Ingris is connected to the Akashic Records using the Mecha System. It twists the equations to change the truth. We call this hacking, and it can easily fix something like a human's lifespan.”
Canis felt a sense of crisis. The technology to destroy truth with the Mecha's power was at a level humanity could never reach unless its paradigm shifted dramatically.
The administrator snapped her fingers to get his attention.
“Enough with the explanations. If you're here to make a deal, let's go over there. You can change lifespans at the central control unit.”
The administrator gave him a conspiratorial look and pointed to a machine standing in the center of the intersection.
Canis was reminded of the black market dealers he had seen in Radum. Suddenly, the situation felt surreal.
The Mara belonged to Heaven, and he was a heretic. Why wasn't she trying to harm him?
“Make a deal? You must know what's going on outside.”
“Huh? What's going on outside? Is something happening in Heaven?”
“You don't know?”
“Of course not. I'm the administrator of Ingris, you know. Just processing the information here is overwhelming. I haven't been outside in tens of thousands of years.”
Canis sensed her words were true. Except for the part where she said she didn't care because she was busy.
She was isolated here.
He thought it had to be that way.
There was no telling what horrific things might happen if an administrator with the authority to modify the Akashic Records were exposed to information about the world.
*I thought it was strange that a mere One-Horned Mara was in charge. Then again, I suppose this is better for me.*
In any case, a conflict with the administrator was inevitable. If he were just making a deal and leaving, it might be different, but she would never stand by and watch him disable Jebul's security system.
“What kind of deal are you talking about?”
“Oh, come on. Why act like you don't know? Lifespans, of course. I can extend anyone's lifespan.”
“And what price do I have to pay?”
The administrator made a small gap between her thumb and index finger and winked.
“It's very cheap. Just one word.”
“A word? You want me to pay with a word?”
“Like I said before, I'm a Mara who collects languages. It's why I'm so smart. And why I get to be the administrator of Ingris. Any word will do. Just sell me one word you know.”
“If I sell a word, I'll no longer know it, right?”
“That's right. You'll never be able to know that word for the rest of your life. It'll be erased from the Akashic Records. But does it matter? It's not like losing one word will change anything.”
Just as the administrator said, the world was full of words one knew but never used.
If something like a curse word was acceptable, what difference would it make not to use one?
But the price was so low that it made him uneasy.