Chapter 370: There's a Lingering Will in My Cards
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 370: There's a Lingering Will in My Cards
As my consciousness drifted for a moment, another strange memory seeped in like a dream.
What is this memory now? King Elric? Could the lingering will of a woman who died hundreds of years ago still remain?
I had a feeling something was off.
Goldenarch Elric. In the form of the old Golden Empire’s king, speaking and acting like her, she had reigned as a Guardian of the Golden Palace for a long time. Reading Hector’s thoughts, it seemed she had looked exactly the same since he was a young man.
She was a part of the Golden Lord, but she had a strangely strong and independent ego for a puppet he controlled. She even gave Hector orders on her own authority, and he, the most senior elder in the Fallen Dominion, spoke to the Goldenarch with deference and groveled before her.
Some unburied corpses manage to maintain their original form through certain methods. In such cases, they can remain for a long time after death, exerting great influence on the world. Just like the uncorrupted bodies inside the Abyss, King Elric’s form must have been preserved by the Golden Lord’s power, allowing a fragment of her consciousness to remain as well.
No wonder she seemed so strangely lifelike. So it wasn't just the Golden Lord's gloomy delusions reaching a new level of mastery. Sorry for bad-mouthing you, Golden Lord. Then again, a guy who couldn't even bring a little diversity to his city design was never going to be able to portray a woman that well.
Perhaps the two of them together made the Golden Lord more complete.
Well, that's all in the past now.
One spot in the ossuary should be enough. They would have wanted to be interred together.
From within my wavering subconscious, I offered a final farewell and returned to the reality that was pulling me back.
“Woof, woof, woof.”
Scrabble, scrabble. The sound of frantic digging. In the corner of my vision, a crack in the pitch-black darkness shuddered. I squinted, wondering what it was, when the crack suddenly widened and light poured in.
Azzy, having found me curled up in a gap in the rubble, threw her head back and howled.
“Awooo! Good to see you!”
“It's good to see you too, but ‘good to see you’ isn't quite the right phrase here.”
The King of Humans was nearly crushed to death under a pile of rubble. I can’t even call myself a king to anyone. Grumbling, I grunted and groaned as I pulled myself out.
A short while ago, the Golden Palace had been a massive fortress racing across the wasteland. But now, the fortress was nowhere to be seen. In its place, the countless cubic blocks that had formed it were scattered about, completely disassembled.
It seemed the blocks had lost their cohesion and collapsed when the Golden Lord did… something. I had been buried inside, only to be dramatically rescued by Azzy.
The blocks that were once a fortress and the Golden Palace rolled about forlornly. They say nothing good lasts forever. Before the Golden Lord, even solid bricks were more fleeting than flower petals. I patted Azzy, planting my feet carefully so as not to slip.
“Good work, Azzy. How did you manage to find me?”
“Woof! It was easy! I’m used to hiding bones!”
“There’s no point in hiding them. We’re always on the move.”
“An investment in the future!”
“An investment is something you make when you can expect a return. What you're doing is just leaving it in the ground.”
“Woof woof! I’ll get a return! Someday!”
“…Why are you looking at me when you say that?”
The way she stared at me with sparkling eyes, as if determined to collect, was a little scary. It’s not like I planned on welshing, but my abilities have limits. I don’t forget my promises, but I can’t help it if I can’t deliver.
Just then, the Regressor came leaping over the blocks toward me.
Phew, after a near-death experience, even the Regressor is a welcome sight. I raised my hand to wave a greeting at her….
“Hughes! What happened to the Golden Lord?”
…I stopped myself. My expression soured as I retorted.
“You could start by worrying about me. I was buried under all this just a moment ago.”
“It’s not like someone attacked you. The rubble just collapsed a little.”
“Normal people die when they get crushed by collapsing rubble! Do you have any idea how scary and dangerous that was?”
A normal person like me doesn’t have overflowing Qi or incredible treasures like you. It’s a miracle I’m even alive.
As I grumbled, the Regressor scoffed and the color of her eyes changed. Her piercing Jade Eyes, one of the Seven Colored Eyes that could see through any substance except metal.
“Stop whining. It wasn’t even that dangerous.”
The Regressor used Jizan to pry open the crack I had just emerged from. It revealed a space within the buried blocks, just big enough for me to lie down… and the structure of cards surrounding it.
Tch. Cheat. With that broken ability of hers, I can't even get away with exaggerating. The Regressor examined the card structure with a curious look.
“You made a shelter for yourself while it was collapsing. Anyway, what’s that? Steel cards? Is that alchemy?”
Should I call it alchemy? It’s hard to explain.
It’s probably closer to the Divine than a technology, right?
Alchemy is already a human technology. Like any other alchemist, if I have Alchemic Gold and some spare mana, I can alchemize whatever I want. That’s how my card equipment was made.
Of course, just as giving everyone the same ingredients doesn’t yield the same results, the items a skilled alchemist creates are far more intricate and functional than mine. Mana is power; with my pathetic mana, I can barely manage to shape something, but an alchemist can add all sorts of features.
To use house-building as an analogy, while I’m grunting and groaning to stack logs into a house, an alchemist processes the logs into planks, builds a house, and then furnishes it with the leftovers.
However, not even the most brilliant alchemist can create value from nothing. If the only material is dirt, no matter how much mana you pour into it, the best you can make is low-grade alchemic steel that’s more fragile than pottery.
The Primarchs are said to cheat the scales because they have Unique Magic that can make even such worthless alchemic steel useful. But they are only ‘cheating,’ not ‘creating.’
…However, the true realization of Elixir is a little different from that.
Human use of Earth Art is limited to digging holes and leveling ground. But the true realization of Gaia Ego was an understanding of the very earth we stand on.
Similarly, alchemy, the art of changing a substance’s structure and form, is more complete as a technology… but it is a technology processed for human use.
That is not the essence of Elixir.
All substances share the same origin. Gold, steel, or even coarse sand that seems utterly useless.
Even a human being—the components that make up the body are nothing special. How they are assembled is what determines their form and function.
The Golden Lord had realized it.
That all things are made of infinitesimally small blocks.
My Spade card is an idol of the Divine. It is a medium to honor that great realization the Divine glimpsed and to connect with the greatest truths. If one observes that the Divine was also once human, then I, the King of Humans, can also use that power. I can transform matter itself into something else, regardless of its type.
The problem is….
“Why did it have to be cards!”
“What?”
Because I am ordinary now, I can only summon a limited power through the idol. The ability of my 8 of Spades is simply to change any matter it touches into a steel card. Regardless of material or type, I can only make an 8 of Spades, identical in shape to the idol!
I can accept that. If I were given the ability to create anything, my current lack of power, mana, and technique would render it useless anyway. Just as using Earth Art doesn’t make one a Grand Master, and learning Druism doesn’t let you hold a candle to Nevida, glimpsing the pinnacle of alchemy doesn’t mean I can alchemize all of creation like the Golden Lord.
The card I’ve made the most is the one that feels most natural in my hand, but still…! There’s no reason it had to be a card! Couldn’t it have been something more useful?!
I was fuming inside, but hey, it’s better than nothing. I should live with gratitude. Calming myself, I said:
“I didn't do it. I think the Golden Lord saved me.”
“The Golden Lord saved you?”
“Yes. Peru succeeded in reaching him, after all.”
The Golden Palace had fallen. At the last moment, the Golden Lord, having made some choice, did something as he saved Peru. I couldn’t read his thoughts, so I don’t know exactly what he did, but looking at the current situation, one thing seemed clear.
The Golden Lord was dead.
It’s not a great explanation, since he was already dead to begin with, but at the very least, he had abandoned the obsession with the Golden Empire he had displayed until now.
Instead…
Tinkle.
A bell chimed from somewhere. Not far away, a pile of blocks began to stir.
It was as if an unseen person was stacking the blocks one by one to build something. The mountain of collapsed blocks began to arrange themselves, forming a structure. From that place, which looked like a door leading underground with a small staircase visible beyond the darkness, a person walked out.
It was Peru.
Her injuries were still there. The scattered wounds and bloodstains told the story of her ordeal. Her already poor complexion was even worse; she looked like she could drop dead at any moment.
But there was one difference. A small golden bell hung from her waist. Every time it rang, a structure made of blocks would form in her path, as if blessing her future.
The Golden Lord had entrusted his will to Peru. Like a true relic, only its power remained, with none of the original will attached. From now on, it would be Peru who would wield the Golden Lord’s formidable power for her country.
The Regressor called out to Peru as she walked on the newly formed footholds.
“Witherarch. It seems your plan was a success?”
“…Ugh.”
“I can’t believe you actually stopped the Golden Lord, even if you had the elemental advantage. You saved us. So, the ceasefire agreement will proceed as planned, right?”
“…Guh.”
With that final groan, Peru pitched forward and collapsed. The Regressor’s eyes widened at the unexpected turn of events.
“Whoa! Witherarch?”
“Shei. I told you. Not everyone is like you. Some people feel like their life is in danger just by being down there.”
“This is no time for casual remarks! Her energy is unstable!”
“You’ve been the most casual one here this whole time! I told you, didn’t I? Start by worrying about us!”
Well, it wasn’t like Peru was injured from being buried in the rubble. The Golden Lord hadn’t intended to kill us when he brought the place down, so it wasn’t as dangerous as it looked.
Peru’s condition was likely due to her earlier injuries being repaired. Unlike a homunculus, Peru had been healed while still alive. Her body probably hadn’t adjusted to its new state yet.
Unaware of this, the Regressor strode across the blocks toward Peru. Just then, Hilde emerged from another pile of blocks, one step ahead. Hilde had been buried under even more rubble than I had, but it wasn’t enough to injure one of the Six Generals. Casually supporting Peru, Hilde covered her mouth and spoke with a sly tone.
“Oh my~. Peru, are you perhaps dying? Are you going to collapse after thankfully eliminating the Golden Lord, your strength all spent? Does that mean the Fallen Dominion is now unclaimed territory? Free for the taking? ‘My’ prize?”
“Leave her alone! If you touch her, you’ll regret it!”
As the Regressor stomped toward them, fuming, Hilde pouted and pushed Peru toward her as if handing over a burden.
“What is it? Anyone would think I was the one who drove her to her death’s door~. You were the one who pushed her to fight, weren’t you, Shei?”
“The Witherarch agreed to it! Thanks to her, the rampaging Golden Lord was stopped. If he had been left alone, the Military State wouldn’t have been safe either!”
“And that’s why I said thank you! Besides, look! This golden bell here, no matter how I look at it…”
Hilde reached for the golden bell at Peru’s waist.
In that instant, a sharp aura sliced between them like a blade. Hilde flinched back, raising her hands slightly. The Regressor warned her with a murderous glare.
“Hands off. It's not yours.”
Hilde took even that skin-slicing pressure in stride and replied calmly.
“Oh? Then is it yours, Shei? My, you’re greedy. You want to take the Golden Lord’s relic for yourself?”
“If I have to. But that’s for later. For now, don’t touch it until the Witherarch wakes up.”
‘I don’t know how this situation, which has barely stabilized, will unfold. I should leave it with the Witherarch for now and see what happens. It wouldn’t be a problem if I took it, but the Witherarch seems relatively reasonable… compared to the Military State, at least.’
The Regressor lived her life carelessly, but she was strict when it came to relics of the Divine. It was probably because the Divine represented both the power to save the future and the disaster that could destroy it.
Even so, saying she’d take it if she had to… isn’t that a bit too blatant? Hilde will remember that choice. You really need to be careful.
“I wasn’t planning on touching it, you know~. More importantly, you haven’t forgotten, have you? The deadline for the ceasefire agreement.”
“Deadline?”
“You only stopped the Golden Lord; the ceasefire hasn’t been confirmed yet, has it? If we don’t get a definitive answer within the next two days, a war might break out, you know?”
When we first headed to the Fallen Dominion, Hilde had specified a one-week period. An army, once set in motion, is like a rolling wheel; if it doesn’t move toward something, it will collapse on its own. Whether they would return to the Military State or advance on the Fallen Dominion depended on the conclusion reached here.
“But there’s no one to agree to a ceasefire now, is there? No matter how advanced the Fallen Dominion’s alchemy is, I doubt they can alchemize their own leader. What a pickle~.”
But with the Golden Lord gone, there was no decision-maker. Hilde pointed this out and spun around in a circle. She looked absolutely delighted that the peace she so longed for might not come to pass.