Chapter 328: The Land Where a Demented Old Man Wanders
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 328: The Land Where a Demented Old Man Wanders
The scenery changed drastically after we passed the great wall.
Artificial structures began to appear here and there. The surroundings grew gradually more complex until, before I knew it, the Cataphract was in the middle of a city.
To one side, modest brick houses stood in a row. In the distance, a four-story pavilion looked down upon the world. The long, stretching road was paved with polished stones. It was like looking at a prosperous city where every single brick had been laid with intent.
But this, too, was the work of the Golden Lord. The city existed, but not a single human shadow could be found within it.
There was no workforce to run the city, nor was there any food.
“Incredible. To think a single human could create an entire city on his own…”
Tyr’s eyes sparkled like a child’s. It seemed that even a ghost town was a novelty to a vampire who had been asleep for three hundred years.
To be honest, it wasn’t just Tyr. I was feeling something similar, though for a different reason.
“Hey, Shei-ssi. I was just thinking.”
“What is it? You’re being awfully formal.”
“This ceasefire agreement, we’re giving it to the Golden Lord, right?”
“Probably? I suppose that’s the plan.”
“But will a ceasefire even work? Seeing the Golden Lord’s power in person, it’s even more immense than I imagined.”
The Golden Lord’s power—an alchemy akin to creation itself. It was powerful enough to conjure massive fortresses and cities in an instant, yet so precise that the shape of every brick was different. Truly, an alchemist of creation.
That raised a question.
The Regressor had said the Military State would be victorious against the Fallen Dominion. Presumably, against the Golden Lord.
How did the Military State become so powerful? With just an army?
“What if the Golden Lord doesn't accept the ceasefire? What if he decides we’re insolent, turns us all into gold, and then marches triumphantly to attack the Military State?”
This was an important issue.
The Regressor had been confident that the Fallen Dominion would accept the ceasefire. Having read her memories, I was indirectly influenced and had rashly joined this journey.
But seeing the Golden Lord’s power with my own eyes, I was starting to have my doubts.
No matter how you look at it, he’s ridiculously strong. If he created a castle above my head and brought it down, I’d be squashed like a bug.
“The Military State is a young nation, so it doesn’t have an Arcane to protect it… but the Fallen Dominion has alchemy and the Golden Lord. Shei-ssi, can you beat the Golden Lord?”
“…Well, if I went all out.”
The Regressor’s attitude was lukewarm at best. Well then, shall I read her thoughts?
‘The Golden Lord isn't someone you can just win or lose against. He's even more alien than Tyrkanzyaka. But I'm not confident I can explain it properly, and it would be a problem if he got scared…’
See? You're not confident either!
As I learned from my experiences with Tyr and Ria, when facing a power I couldn’t possibly oppose, I preferred to have it on my side.
What’s the easiest way to win a 17-on-1 fight? The answer is to become one of the 17. How can one person beat seventeen on their own?
Anyway. I had business with the Golden Lord, but I didn’t necessarily have to approach him the same way the Regressor did. A ceasefire agreement inevitably carried the seeds of conflict. If I fought an angered Golden Lord and he dropped a castle on my head, I’d be gone before I even had a chance to use my abilities.
“Please be honest with me. I’m prepared for it.”
Still, the Regressor had to know something. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be acting so boldly.
As I pressed her, the Regressor seemed to change her mind and spoke.
‘Right. This guy might whine, but he’s the type to step into a minefield without a second thought. He won’t run away just because he lacks confidence.’
Having reached her own conclusion, the Regressor recalled the Golden Lord from a previous timeline and answered honestly.
“I probably can’t win. The Golden Lord’s power is not just alien, it’s bizarre. Even with Jizan, I doubt I could even touch him.”
“I see.”
I expected as much, but there it was. She had no confidence she could win.
After nodding for a sufficiently long time, I gave Hilde an order.
“Hilde, please turn us around. I want to go back.”
“Yes! Turning back immediately! Yahoo! It's time for war!!”
“No, you can’t! Wait!”
The Regressor frantically grabbed my collar and shouted.
“Hey! You said you were prepared!”
“I’m prepared to run away! Prepared to cast aside petty honor and save my own precious life!”
“That’s not what ‘prepared’ is for! Besides, what are you going to do if you go back now?”
“That’s my line! What are you going to do, going in without any confidence of winning?! You’ll just get yourself killed!”
I tried to shake off her grip on my arms… but she was too strong. In the end, it looked more like I was throwing a small tantrum as I yelled.
“You might be feeling all high and mighty after successfully conquering the Military State, but in reality, it’s a pseudo-nation that barely qualifies as a country! It’s a deformed state with no Arcane to protect it, no king with a special power, just a needlessly complex and fragile structure! That’s the only reason we were able to tear it apart!”
“Heeeh~. It’s true, but as a citizen of the Military State, it feels strange to hear~.”
In truth, the only reason the Military State hadn’t collapsed was because the Saintess was protecting it…
Ah, let’s not use the word ‘blessing.’ ‘Pretense’ might fit, but ‘blessing’ sounds far too holy.
In any case, the nation was only barely holding on because the Saintess was finding and negating every single ‘possibility of the Military State’s destruction’ that she saw in the future.
It wouldn’t have been strange for the Military State to fall at any time, in any way. The Saintess herself was so weakened that she had to create a substitute in the form of the Signallers. If someone had made a serious move, it would have crumbled in an instant.
I mean, it was almost destroyed by the schemes of just three people.
But the Fallen Dominion was different. Setting aside the size and scale of the nation, the roots that formed the Fallen Dominion were firm.
Democrias, the Golden Lord. He was the Fallen Dominion, and the Fallen Dominion was him. Even if you killed every single person in the Fallen Dominion, as long as the Golden Lord remained, the same nation would one day rise again.
And as long as we couldn’t defeat the Golden Lord, shoving a ceasefire agreement in his face was the same as placing my life in his hands. If he happened to reject the ceasefire, I’d be deconstructed on the spot.
“I’m not fighting! I’m leaving! I don’t want to die!”
“Just listen to me! We won’t have to fight the Golden Lord directly!”
“Oh, really? I’ll sit back down, then.”
Jeez. You should have led with that. I knew I could trust you, Regressor!
“You change your tune so easily! Have some principles!”
“Would you call it a flexible response?”
Isn’t that obvious? When the situation changes, your attitude should change with it.
Still, it seemed the Regressor had a plan. I thought I’d have to fight the Golden Lord. No matter how many times she regressed, she wouldn’t just charge in headfirst without a strategy.
“What’s the reason we won’t have to fight? Is the Golden Lord the type to readily sign a ceasefire agreement?”
The Regressor shook her head and reluctantly revealed what she knew.
“No, the Golden Lord won’t cooperate with us. But he won’t attack us either. He’ll probably be… indifferent.”
‘The last time, when I visited the Fallen Dominion on the eve of the world’s destruction… I couldn’t even have a conversation with the Golden Lord.’
The Regressor chose her words carefully, recalling the previous timeline. In her mind, an image of the Golden Lord she had seen from a distance surfaced.
Before the King of Sins appeared. Facing a global crisis, the Guardians of the Golden Palace had given the Regressor a chance to meet with the Golden Lord alone. Climbing atop the palace, the Regressor entered the empty audience chamber and shouted at the Golden Lord, explaining the situation and begging for his help.
But the Golden Lord didn’t even look at her. He didn’t hear her voice. Lost deep in thought, he just endlessly created things with his alchemy. Behind him, useless toys fell in heaps.
The Regressor tried to get his attention, even if it meant hitting him. But as she got closer, an invisible force pushed her back. The Golden Lord’s force field was so powerful that it repelled even the Regressor, who had grown strong with all sorts of treasures from the end of the world.
A wall of severance. Beyond the force field, the Golden Lord continued his alchemy.
As if the coming apocalypse had nothing to do with him.
Finally losing her patience, the Regressor had swung Jizan at him… but the moment she broke through the force field and reached the Golden Lord’s domain, the world itself moved to exclude her.
The Golden Lord’s power was alchemy. Alchemy at its peak could create all things. Creations made to kill humans assaulted the Regressor. Even she, at the height of her power, had nearly died then.
After that, she was attacked by the Guardians who followed her in, so she couldn’t try anything else and was driven out…
Regardless, for a Regressor who would just come back after dying, it was valuable information.
“The Golden Lord is insane.”
Aah. So… if I say the wrong thing, he’ll erase me from existence? Mm-hm, got it.
I stood up again.
“On second thought, I’d like to go back.”
“Wait! I don’t mean he’s some crazed tyrant. It’s just that he’s completely absorbed in making things, as if he’s lost his mind. Like he’s trying to fill the entire Fallen Dominion with junk!”
“Then why are you shoving a ceasefire agreement at a crazy person like that? It’s not realistic.”
“That’s not it! The ceasefire agreement isn’t for the Golden Lord. If we can just convince the Guardians of the Golden Palace, we can stop the war! The Golden Lord is indifferent to the fate of his country; the Guardians are the ones who actually run the Fallen Dominion!”
Now I understood. So the Golden Lord is powerful, but he’s just a wandering old man with dementia? And the Guardians are the real power? She should have said so from the start.
Man, reading the Regressor’s mind is a pain. I can’t read information she gained in past timelines beyond time itself, so I have to make her recall those memories in the moment. It’s quite tiring.
“What’s the deal, Shei-ssi? Why hide it when you could have just told me from the beginning?”
“…Because on the surface, the Golden Lord is known to rule the Fallen Dominion. The Guardians are also loyal to him. It’s similar enough that I didn’t bother to correct it.”
The Regressor mumbled her excuse, but I read the thoughts hidden behind it loud and clear.
‘This is a secret of the Golden Palace. It’s information you can’t know without meeting the Golden Lord in person. If I reveal this, I won’t be able to avoid suspicion of being the Saintess. If I say too much, I’ll have to explain my regression… Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like he suspects me yet.’
Well, I wonder about that. Isn’t it getting a little dangerous for you?
Whatever. Fine. If the Guardians of the Golden Palace are in the Golden Palace, then the Golden Lord will be there too. As a foreigner, I wouldn’t normally get a chance to walk right up and read the Golden Lord’s mind, so I have to go.
That’s the only way I can read his thoughts and find out how King Elric of the Golden Empire, one of the descendants of the Five Sovereigns, met his downfall.
No, perhaps I explained that wrong. To be more precise.
I have to find out for myself why the Five Sovereigns, who stole the power of the King of Humans, were abandoned by humanity.
Only then… can I reclaim my right to represent them.