Chapter 594: A Tale of the Past. The Old Covenant - 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 594: A Tale of the Past. The Old Covenant - 1
No, not my sister. Because she’s already dead, isn’t she? A dead body is just a corpse. It can’t be my sister.
“Oh? You’re right. If you’re here, I must be dead. Why am I alive?”
There were likely many reasons for that. Nevida’s two-thousand-year obsession with preserving my sister’s body was one possible answer, and the existence of a Divine advanced enough to create humans was another.
But none of that was as important as it seemed. The most important thing was…
That someone wished for the return of the King of Humans. And it wasn't just Nevida; there were more than enough of them.
“Huh? Why? That can’t be right.”
Why not? There’s no other reason.
“Because the reason I died was…”
My sister tried to explain something to me. It was a story of such profound depth that it could not be shaped by the tongue into mere words. It wasn't the tale of a single person, but a great torrent of history formed from the collective consciousness of humanity, impossible to explain in simple terms.
But even without words, one could feel the torrent’s magnificence. The flow and principles contained within were not something to be explained. They were to be accepted.
My sister approached me and explained it in a way only I could understand.
Our minds met, head to head.
I read my sister’s thoughts.
*
There was such a time.
A time when humans, little different from beasts, sought to make all of creation their own and prosper. A time when the roots of knowledge had taken hold and the buds of spirituality were about to blossom. A time when the world held its breath, waiting for the dawn.
Among the humans, there existed beings known as the Lorekeepers.
A picture drawn on a cave wall to denote something. It was codified into symbols, turned into letters, and woven together like intricate sculptures to form meaningful sentences. At last, humanity could record its experiences on something other than the body.
That was lore. The treasure of the human species.
The Lorekeepers were those who gathered and protected the vast collection of lore, ensuring it was never forgotten.
“That will be all for today’s lesson.”
They were also tasked with the most important duty of all: passing down the lore to the King of Humans.
She rolled up the unfurled scroll and carefully wiped the remaining ink with a piece of paper. As the Lorekeeper prepared to leave, the ‘sister’ asked with a look of puzzlement.
“Huh? Is that all for today?”
“There is nothing left to teach. It is because you, my King, are far too brilliant.”
The Lorekeeper spoke as she tucked the scroll into her robes.
“It has been only half a year since the previous King was taken by the tigers. It has been only a month since we found you and brought you here. Yet in that time, you have learned to read and have finished all ninety-nine scrolls.”
“I only read them. This ‘writing’ thing is fun! It’s not hard at all!”
“You are the King of Humans. You should be able to do anything a human can do. Though you are my King, I am also delighted to have such an intelligent and eager student.”
The Lorekeeper smiled with genuine warmth.
The sun set and the moon waned; new shoots sprouted, turned crimson, and fell. The snow that blanketed the world through winter melted, and dormant seeds began to stir.
When the stars in the night sky completed their circuit and returned to their places, she read the heavens to mark the years.
She planted seeds and farmed in accordance with the great flow, poured molten iron in furnaces that belched searing smoke, and hammered it countless times to forge blades, which she then bound with cord to craft weapons.
In a matter of weeks, the King of Humans had mastered all the knowledge the Lorekeeper possessed.
“To say you have merely ‘mastered’ it is to belittle you, my King. For you can perform everything you have learned.”
“Isn’t that why we learn things? To use them?”
“It is because that is difficult. Humans can only truly learn what they have experienced themselves. No matter how many scrolls they read, no matter how much lore they are taught, they often fail to understand it all and simply doze off.”
The grumbling Lorekeeper looked at the ‘sister’ as if finding some solace.
“Unlike you, my intelligent King.”
“But… didn’t all of you create these scrolls?”
The ‘sister’ lightly unfurled one of the lore scrolls. Countless characters spread out before her. An ordinary person would have felt something akin to motion sickness from the dizzying array of letters, but her eyes swiftly scanned every single one.
The Beast King is the apex of its species. But for humans, it is a conceptual trait that stands out even more. The strength of humanity lies not in simple might or tools. Its true power is the ability to learn and master all things in the world.
The King of Humans was exceptionally gifted in the power of learning. Before long, she had mastered every truth and principle known to the Lorekeepers.
Strong, fast, wise, and sagacious.
“If I am amazing, then you who created these amazing things are amazing too! So you should be proud!”
And she was good and merciful, to boot.
The King of Humans was utterly perfect.
So perfect, it was hard to imagine anything more magnificent could ever appear.
Politics was also among the subjects the King of Humans learned.
It was not the kind of politics one might imagine, filled with personal opinions and ideologies, where people tear each other down. What the King of Humans learned was a structural understanding of how humans form groups and live together.
Most of the northwestern part of the continent was the domain of the King of Humans.
It was slightly different from dominion. The humans of the northwest lived in a loose tribal system, and the King of Humans did not interfere with their way of life. The King of Humans forced nothing upon anyone.
But the existence of the King of Humans was too perfect. So perfect that one could not help but follow.
Immense power. Superior skill. Outstanding knowledge. And the very concept of the ‘King of Humans’ itself.
Water flows from high to low. The humans who drank the knowledge that flowed from the King felt a sense of ecstasy and bowed their heads of their own accord.
Thus, the King of Humans made civilization blossom throughout the northwest of the continent. The King’s domain took the form of a nation and prospered even more.
If there was a nation, there had to be a capital. But the center of the nation, the King of Humans, was free, and just as she gave no commands, she received none.
Therefore, the capital also had to be able to move with the King of Humans. The King’s retainers embarked on an endless journey of wandering, following their revered King.
They were the King’s Warriors. Noble humans who assisted the King, followed her, and spread her commands far and wide.
As they journeyed with the King, they would recruit talented people, and when they grew old, they would step down and settle somewhere, taking on the role of spreading the King’s teachings throughout the nation.
These King’s Warriors had another duty: to find the King.
If the King died of old age, illness, or an incident like a tiger attack, they would hold a brief funeral and immediately set out across the continent to find the next King.
This was a crucial task. If their search was delayed even slightly, the ambitious King’s Warriors would fall into conflict and fight amongst themselves, plunging the nation into chaos. The King’s Warriors needed a transcendent being, if only to keep from fighting each other.
Fortunately, the King’s Warriors of this generation had found their King quickly.
“My King!”
A refreshing girl who resembled a blade of grass spotted the King of Humans and ran over, barefoot. She was the child who had found the ‘sister’ when she was newly born in a cave in the Great Forest, and had brought her back and cared for her.
Having lost her parents early and performing menial tasks for a foul-tempered druid, the girl earned the right to join the King’s Warriors for her service in caring for the ‘sister.’ The ‘sister’ also welcomed her warmly.
“Nevida! Here, look!”
The ‘sister’ brought two scrolls she had been keeping and waved them proudly. Savoring the sight of the girl’s eyes, which sparkled with curiosity and joy, the ‘sister’ said:
“It’s the lore of the druids. I wrote down what I memorized to make it a little easier to understand.”
“The… the lore of the druids…? You wrote it yourself?”
“Yes. You said you wanted to be a druid, right? I’ll make you a druid with this!”
Humans are animals too, so it was only natural for even the King of Humans to feel more attached to the one who had shown her kindness from the very beginning. The cherished human of this generation’s King, the ‘sister,’ was Nevida.
The Lorekeeper who had followed the ‘sister’ out was startled by the sight of the scrolls and hurried over.
“My King! Those scrolls are—!”
“It’s fine! I wrote this myself!”
The ‘sister’ may have wanted to emphasize that she hadn’t stolen them, but to the Lorekeeper, that was an even bigger problem. A superior piece of lore had been born somewhere without her knowledge.
“Huh?”
“She is just a child. We will teach her on our side, so it would be best for you, my King, to focus on other, more important matters.”
“More important matters? Like what?”
“Things like creating treasures, ruling the nation, or resolving disputes in the villages.”
“None of that is important. Others can do those things, can’t they?”
Although Nevida had earned the right to become one of the King’s Warriors, many resented the upstart girl who was favored simply because she was the first to meet the ‘sister.’ As a result, Nevida was an outcast among the King’s Warriors.
“No one will teach Nevida but me. This is much more important!”
But that only drew more of the ‘sister’s’ attention. The King’s Warriors, however, failed to see that.
The King’s Warriors, who were always by the King’s side, enjoying her power and knowledge, were the clear rulers of this era. And where the fruit of power grows, so too does corruption.
The King’s Warriors had become corrupt.
Being a King’s Warrior was an opportunity for growth and experience, and they were treated as sages simply for having once been by the King’s side. They could enter any village, oust its chief, and control its people.
Gradually, the King’s Warriors sought to monopolize that power. They fretted over the free and unpredictable King of Humans and tried to find ways to control her for their own ends.
“Let us amend the lore.”
Even the Lorekeeper could not escape the tide of corruption.
“Our King uses our knowledge too freely. The knowledge we painstakingly gathered and recorded on scrolls is bestowed even upon some unknown child. If this continues, who will bother to gather and record the lore? Everyone will simply lie by the King’s side, waiting for the fruit to fall into their laps.”
The other Lorekeepers nodded in agreement with her words.
“Passing down the lore is our duty, but for her to write new lore without our consent… even as the King, she has crossed a line.”
The Lorekeepers, the most noble among the King’s Warriors, were revered by all humans. But unlike other powers, lore could be shared. Perhaps for that reason, the Lorekeepers showed an obsession with the scrolls.
“Without lore, humans are no different from beasts. It is because of our lore that humans, and the King, can be special. We deserve to be treated with more respect.”
“Indeed! Without us, the King’s Warriors might as well not exist!”
“Unfortunately, this King has already mastered all the scrolls. Let us make sure to state it firmly in the lore scrolls we shall give to the next King.”
“What if the King writes scrolls herself, as she did this time?”
“We must retrieve them. It is our duty to preserve the scrolls, after all.”
So saying, the Lorekeeper unfurled a scroll. Not a single letter of the lore scrolls was to be carelessly erased, but the Lorekeeper, ignoring such traditions, prepared to write over the words.
He painted over the sentence commanding them to spread the lore widely with white ink made from ground seashells. Upon the thickened conscience, he layered black letters. The scroll, belying its name of ‘lore,’ now bore a sentence asking for its own concealment.
That was what should have happened.
But as if the lore itself was resisting, the letters danced on their own, fighting against the words that tried to cover them. The Lorekeeper’s eyes widened.
“No, this is…!”
“The Exalted One of Lore is angered!”
“I-Impossible…! Was the lore true after all?”
The Exalted One of Lore was a legendary being said to have created the first letters. He who taught humans writing and knowledge was the guardian of lore, and it was said he would personally appear to punish those who dared to deface it.
Of course, this too was just an old tale created to protect the lore.
But she had the power to make legends a reality.
“That is not something you wrote.”
The Lorekeepers were so shocked they could barely breathe. As if their deepest shame had been exposed, they clutched the scrolls to their chests and trembled.
“Knowledge is the asset of humanity. It came from humans, so it must naturally return to humans. It is not something to be made special.”
The girl rebuked the Lorekeepers with eyes that saw through all of creation.
Overcome with shame and guilt, the Lorekeepers lowered their heads and held their breath. Who she was, how she had gotten here, what power she possessed—none of that mattered anymore.
“However, if lore can be overwritten with sin, then that sin can also be overwritten with merit. I will give you a chance to paint over your mistakes.”
Slipping through the Lorekeepers’ fear, the girl became the new Lorekeeper.