Chapter 312
Chapter 312
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 312
Chapter Title: Laughter #2
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Great Oracle Pythia.
A woman who looked like an old widow draped in a black veil burst into laughter as she spoke.
“A person as special as you is the first I’ve ever seen in my long, long life. Jikbakguri? Mikami Yua—who in the world is that?”
“Sh…shit!?”
To be honest, it was true that I harbored deep distrust toward the likes of prophets.
There just weren’t many people who spouted seemingly plausible nonsense about prophecies of the future without any real basis.
False prophets.
False oracles.
In places overflowing with all sorts of religions and faiths, such people were everywhere— at least one in every city park—sowing confusion among the masses.
Vulcanus is enraged, Pompeios’s volcano will erupt! The world will end! The Day of Judgment for humanity’s sins, the Day of Wrath is upon us!
And those prophets who shouted such terrifying warnings would invariably pull some strange trinket from their robes.
But with this specially made indulgence, you can escape the doom! Right now, just 10 coppers each. Buy three or more for your family and get 2 coppers off—
So in my mind, prophets were no different from quack doctors or con artists. That notion had subtly taken root. I’d approached the oracles of Delphi—known as the city of prophecy—with a mix of skepticism.
“D…Drive? Sakuya Yu…”
“Oh, shit—!”
The truths I’d desperately wanted to keep hidden were now spilling from someone else’s mouth. My nape prickled, a chill ran down my spine, and my legs felt weak.
Had I ever been this flustered since falling into this world? No, absolutely not. Right now, it was as if the things I’d buried deep in the abyss of my heart were being dragged out into the light.
“Sato…”
“Stop, stop!”
Hearing those things I’d wanted so badly to hide come out unexpectedly made my hands and feet tremble. It was safe to say I’d plunged into full-blown panic.
“Are you, are you peering into my mind or something?”
At my flustered question, a laugh like wind rustling through leaves came from beneath the black veil.
“Of course not. I simply perceive the worries you carry a bit more keenly than most.”
Indeed.
I was starting to understand why people visited fortune-tellers. I’d heard that famous celebrities and politicians alike consulted them and poured out their troubles.
I’d thought it was all nonsense, but experiencing it firsthand hit me to the bone.
This woman was the real deal.
Holy shit.
I had to admit that this woman—Great Oracle Pythia—possessed extraordinary power and had every right to act so arrogantly, as if she could provide answers even to me.
Just then, Pythia let out a slight hum.
“Still, this is a worry I’ve never seen before. D Drive? I haven’t the foggiest what that means. I’ve lived a life longer than most by far and even glimpsed the lofty gods themselves at times, yet this is entirely new to me.”
At those words, someone nearby gasped in shock.
“A-as expected of Lord Hatsan…! Even the Great Oracle is at a loss with such profound and deep concerns…! It must be worries about the truths of the world…!”
Paranoya seemed to have leaped to some grand misunderstanding. But in a way, she wasn’t wrong.
Profound worries.
The greatest regret I’d left behind in my previous world.
It had always gnawed at me from within, filling me with unease.
And so, I decided to subtly ask the Great Oracle about the fact that made me more anxious than anything since coming to this world—a question I’d agonized over alone, unable to tell a soul.
“So, is it true that my secret hasn’t been seen by anyone?”
Even now, when I tried to sleep, memories and worries about the external hard drive where I’d stored vast amounts of data would jolt me awake.
If my little sister or other family members discovered what was on it, all sorts of horrors could unfold. The computer had a lock password, but who knew what might happen.
Anxious tension caressed my nape—
At last, Great Oracle Pythia spoke.
“That, I’m afraid, is something I cannot answer. It seems to be a question beyond the realm where I can even pose one.”
“The Great Oracle… can’t answer a question…?”
This time, it was Hippolyte who was stunned.
“Pythia, don’t you answer every question?”
“Indeed. Even I feel bewildered. I never imagined such a thing could happen. The God of Light whispers nothing in my ear.”
Murmurs rippled through the air.
The atmosphere around us grew strangely heated. But since I still hadn’t gotten an answer even from the Great Oracle, I felt a bit dejected.
In the end, my D Drive was a Pandora’s box—uncertain if it had been opened or not.
Or, to put it more precisely, wasn’t it in a quantum mechanical state where both possibilities existed? Schrödinger’s D Drive—damn, that was some next-level shit.
“Anyway, I am Pythia. They call me the Great Oracle and heap embarrassing praise upon me, but I’m merely an old woman who’s lived longer than most and thus gained a slightly broader perspective.”
Great Oracle Pythia formally introduced herself. She then glanced over our group and opened her mouth again.
“You all seem to have many questions for me. Whose shall I answer first?”
At her question, we exchanged brief glances.
We’d roughly decided the order while climbing the high stairs of Delphi, so we silently agreed to follow that.
“I’ll go first.”
With a rustle and clank—
Hippolyte stepped forward before Great Oracle Pythia, her armor rattling.
Her tall, slender frame towered over the seated old woman in lotus position. Was it dignified? Majestic? I couldn’t quite pin it down.
She’s so tall, great proportions—such thoughts crossed my mind as Hippolyte spoke.
“The Mars Guild of Sodomora—do you think its listing will go well?”
“Hippolyte, Hippolyte Heavensinger. Isn’t what you’re truly curious about something else entirely?”
“…”
Hippolyte fell briefly silent. Pythia chuckled lightly and waved her hand.
“Well, fine. I merely answer. The answer is—someday.”
“Someday?”
“Whether in five years, a hundred, or perhaps by year’s end.”
“Cryptic.”
“That’s the stock market for you. No one knows what will rise or fall, when the big players will cut losses, or when the little fish will get swept away in a panic sell-off.”
“Is that truly the answer?”
“Truth be told, I cannot divine stocks or lottery wins through prophecy. That is one of the few edicts the God of Light has given me. What I just said was merely my personal opinion.”
“I see.”
Hippolyte seemed to accept it. Then Pythia added a few more words.
“And, Hippolyte. Have no fear—you will become the mother of wars. Many peoples will descend from you, and your sons and daughters will seize enemies’ throats like weeping lions, spilling blood far and wide.”
“Is that a prophecy of my fate?”
“Less a prophecy than a blessing. You’ve had ample time for riddles with me. I think this suffices as an answer—”
“Indeed, yes. It does. More than enough.”
Hippolyte looked immensely pleased. She even stepped back slightly. What the hell was that about? I had no clue.
“Now, Paranoya. You’re next, little naive stream nymph. Come forward.”
At Pythia’s call, Paranoya flinched. She shuffled hesitantly to the front, her gaze darting不安定ly.
“I-I haven’t decided what to ask yet…!”
Paranoya fussed about, unsure what to say.
Well, she’d been dithering about it the whole climb up the stairs, so maybe she still hadn’t settled on one.
Then Pythia spoke.
“Fear not the question. Worry not—you will meet them someday.”
“…Pardon?”
Paranoya looked as if she’d heard the unbelievable and gaped. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead burst into tears.
Her sobs were so heartbreaking that we all panicked. We had no idea what question that answered or why she was suddenly crying.
“Paranoya, why are you crying? You okay?”
Luna comforted the weeping Paranoya, wiping tears from her face with a tiny handkerchief-like cloth. She then squeezed the soaked cloth into a small beaker-like vial.
“Y-you mean old hag made Paranoya cry!”
“Bursting into tears upon learning the truth is common enough. Noxdoti. Noxdoti, your question is…”
Pythia seemed to gaze at Luna with her fluorescent eyes visible beneath the veil.
She even inhaled deeply—huff—of the strange sulfurous smoke billowing from below her face.
“Noxdoti. Your tale cannot be told in a sober state. I shall borrow the power of the fumes.”
What?
I’d heard inhaling too much sulfur could drive you mad. From what I could see, the old woman was doping herself up to answer Luna’s question.
Rustle—
Pythia even rose from her seat.
“Little moon hidden by night, Noxdoti. In time, all shall kneel and worship at your feet. The children you bear will be symbols of fear, vanguard destroyers of darkness, superstition, and civilization—”
“M-me? Me what? I didn’t ask that!”
“In the black darkness covered in ink, you shall become the king’s rain in a world of boiling lava and corpse-strewn lands—”
Where had the frail old woman who’d just handled Hippolyte and Paranoya gone?
Pythia’s voice boiled deep like phlegm, chanting curses in cryptic tones—utterly eerie and terrifying. Luna visibly shrank from the prophecy laid upon her.
“Me, a queen?!”
I was just as shocked. No, all of us were.
Luna, a queen?
The king’s wife?
“N-no, I don’t wanna marry some king! Hatsan and I are already bound by the thread of fate! Take back that prophecy!”
Luna shouted angrily, but Pythia merely shook her head.
“A fate already twisted once cannot be undone. You who cannot sit upon the throne have no choice but the seat at the king’s right hand.”
“W-what does that mean?!”
“I cannot say more. As eternal light is shrouded by night’s veil, so truth shall crush the sun in blackness deeper than darkness itself.”
Whatever it was, Pythia seemed unable to answer Luna’s question further. The sun crushed at night?
It wasn’t that the God of Light’s authority fell short of Nox—Luna’s mother?
Push it further, and relations between the God of Light and the incarnation of night, Nox, wouldn’t stay friendly—I interpreted it that way.
That’s why it was metaphorical and allegorical. Being in a position to understand made it kinda fun.
But a queen?
What the hell was going on?
Luna, the king’s wife?
My vision swam.
It was right then.
“Zigress.”
Pythia called my name. She bowed her upright form and lowered her head before me.
“I am not permitted to answer you. The answer you seek shall come from Apollo himself, sovereign of all prophecy.”
“Pardon?”
“Kneel, all of you. And bow your heads as low as possible, hiding your eyes and faces. The God of Light can blind all who behold him…”
Flash—
It happened in that instant.
Cleaving through the hazy smoke, a single ray like a beam of light shot from the high heavens straight toward me.
It was a brilliance that could truly blind—had I felt something like this before?
Back when I was a green Iron Tier rookie.
During my first duel with those thugs, hadn’t the bald Sun Fist—who claimed the God of Light’s blessing—shone with something similar?
Of course, this light dwarfed that.
I knew instinctively.
Lower yourself, bow your head, close your eyes—or something terrible would happen. It wasn’t just me who sensed it; we all hurriedly bowed and knelt.
We even clutched our faces with our arms, refusing even a sliver of light to seep in.
『At last—.』
Before us—
『At last, it is our turn.』
The incarnation of light descended.