Chapter 582: Sorting Out the Situation (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 582: Sorting Out the Situation (2)
“Who is it? The other factions searching for Temar’s tomb.”
“Who do you think?”
“Zipple.”
“Correct. But that’s not all. The Viment Imperial Family is also searching for the tomb of Runcandel’s first patriarch. Your movements were actually exposed to them once before.”
Jin remembered a conversation he’d had with Margiella back when Kinzelo visited Runcandel to offer him a position in their group.
That was the first time Jin had learned that Viment was searching for Temar’s tomb.
Without the protection of shadows, the legacies Solderet left in that tomb were unusable. Furthermore, all the legacies discovered so far had been part of a plan Solderet had set in motion a thousand years ago.
Therefore, while Zipple had to prevent Jin and Runcandel from claiming those legacies, Viment had no logical reason to track Temar’s tomb so persistently.
At the time, Margiella had gone beyond merely stating that Viment was tracking the tomb; she revealed that they wanted the ‘remains,’ not the legacy.
Jin hadn’t known what they intended to do with Temar’s body. It was only after encountering the Demons in the Wantaramo Forest that he began to surmise they were seeking it for the purpose of demonization.
That ominous and horrific suspicion had finally been proven true.
“It’s impossible to know exactly when Viment obtained Temar Runcandel’s remains. It could be because it happened too long ago for my current Record Magic to see, or because the power Zipple is using to manipulate Temar Runcandel’s history is too strong.”
Valeria’s assessment was accurate.
When she first obtained a Demon’s corpse and used Record Magic, almost no information was visible. Zipple’s manipulation magic had erased the ‘History of Temar Runcandel,’ hiding even the laboratory's location, which had no direct connection to him.
However, the situation had changed now that Gliek’s defeat had dulled Zipple’s ‘Power of Stories.’ Records that were previously invisible, even within the Demon corpses, began to surface.
Still, the Power of Stories had not vanished entirely, and the moment Viment obtained ‘parts’ of Temar’s body was an event from a thousand years ago. With her current abilities, Valeria could not see that far back.
“...In my opinion, they didn’t use the entire body, only parts of it. If they had the whole thing, the Demons would have been perfected by now, and there would be no reason for Viment to still be searching for his tomb.”
Grit!
Jin clenched his teeth, his gaze darkening.
Those madmen… Were they not afraid of the consequences? Or did they decide that completing the Demons was worth the risk, even if Runcandel eventually found out?
Either way, it made his blood boil.
Since it seems even Zipple didn’t know the Imperial Family possessed parts of Temar’s remains, they must have been confident they would never be caught.
It was something Jin could never have discovered if not for Valeria. The Imperial Family had only left a trail because they hadn’t accounted for a survivor of the Hister family—let alone her relationship with Jin.
“Are you going to strike the Imperial Family immediately?” Valeria asked, her voice feigning indifference, but Jin could sense she was deeply concerned.
It had been barely a month since the Sword Emperor Holy War and the Gliek suppression had ended. The moment Jin informed the clan of the Imperial Family’s atrocities and attacked the Empire, this land would face calamity once again.
Valeria was worried about the countless ordinary people who would die for no reason. He found her display of such concern—something he hadn’t seen in a long time—both welcome and pitiful.
Jin Runcandel… you have that look on your face again, as if you’re peering into my inner thoughts.
While Valeria was thinking, Jin shook his head.
“No. This is the land Sir Ron and Hairan fought so hard to protect. I cannot allow the Empire to become a battlefield again so soon.”
“I see.”
“Besides, Runcandel isn’t in a position to start a war right now. Striking the Empire without justification is impossible, so the clan would have to go public with the information about Temar. That means Zipple would find out too, and the clan would have to deal with both the Empire and Zipple simultaneously.”
Even if he wanted to tear the entire Imperial Family apart right this second, the situation didn’t allow for it. Even Dante would have almost no way to help Jin if Runcandel attacked the Empire. After all, the duty of the Lord of the Sword Emperor Castle was to protect the Empire.
“For now, my people and I will keep this information to ourselves. We must stop the Imperial Family from further desecrating and insulting Temar.”
“A wise choice.”
“You know how to give compliments?”
“Occasionally. I was inwardly worried that you might be an idiot who shares the hard-won information with your clan. If Runcandel knew, the matter of Temar’s body would become the clan’s business, not yours, and it would have become difficult for me to examine the records of the Demon corpses any further.”
“Wasn’t it because you were worried about innocent people dying in another war?”
Valeria didn’t answer and simply sipped her tea.
“Anyway, a lot has changed since the King of Chaos was destroyed. It’s not just the Demon corpses; I’m also seeing clues in deciphering the Solderet recording devices you gave me. And as for Runcandel… it seems your clan has regained a bit of its magic sword’s power.”
“Yes. The curse Zipple placed on Runcandel is weakening.”
“The same goes for the curse placed on my ancestors. There’s been a very slight change in the Hister family’s history that those bastards erased.”
Suddenly, Valeria stood up and bowed her head to Jin.
“I feel I should offer my thanks.”
Jin barely managed to hide his flustered expression.
“I think those thanks should go to Sir Ron, not me.”
“I plan to stop by the territory near the Sword Emperor Castle and do so before I leave.”
“You speak as if you’re leaving right now.”
“There’s no need to feel disappointed; we’ll be seeing each other much more often than before. There’s more to share and more help to give and receive. From now on, I plan to use Tikan occasionally when I need to hide from Zipple’s pursuit.”
“I don’t recall giving permission, yet you’ve decided that quite boldly.”
At those words, Valeria smiled. Ever since his previous life, Jin’s heart always felt lighter whenever she smiled like that.
Since the Sword Emperor Holy War, Runcandel’s Guardian Knights were always stationed near Tikan. Runcandel could no longer stand by and watch anything happen to Tikan—both for Jin’s sake and the clan’s.
Excluding the heritage sites, there was no place safer for Valeria than Tikan now. Especially since Zipple’s pursuit had become more persistent lately, most of her hideouts had been discovered or destroyed.
“If you’re going to treat me like an unwelcome guest, I’ll look elsewhere.”
“Come often. Even when there’s no business.”
“I’ll try.”
“However, it seems I won’t be able to see you for a while. Once I finish a few things I need to take care of, I plan to be away for a bit.”
“Chaos. Is it because of that?”
At Valeria’s question, Jin reflexively covered the back of his right hand.
On it remained a black spot of Chaos he had obtained from Gliek’s Abyss. Even after the creature’s death, the traces of Chaos that had tainted Jin had not completely vanished.
While a powerful inner demon wasn’t pressing down on him like before, he occasionally felt a slight demonic nature.
And that demonic nature was growing, slowly but surely. If left alone, it might one day become as massive as what he experienced in Gliek’s Abyss.
He had already met Holy King Rani. Since even she couldn’t heal the spots left on his body, it meant there was currently no known method to cure it.
However, Jin recalled how the Fighting God blood in his body had resisted the influence of Chaos.
The brothers of Laprarosa, especially the Fighting God brothers, might be able to tell me a way.
Jin planned to look for a way to stop the demonization in Laprarosa.
And Jin wasn’t the only one falling prey to the encroachment of Chaos. The same phenomenon was occurring in Rosa, Kelliark, and some of the key figures from both Great Families who had participated in the Gliek suppression.
While Jin was in Laprarosa, those outside would also be searching for a means to stop the demonization.
“That’s part of it, but now is the perfect time to train in the land of my brothers. I was planning to go anyway, but now that both Great Families have weakened and my clan has begun to seriously protect Tikan, I can go with a much lighter heart.”
Jin had already shared the details regarding Laprarosa with Valeria. He felt he would definitely need her abilities when the time came to bring his brothers out from the dead world of Laprarosa into the human world. The punishment the Pluto Tribe was enduring was of the same vein as Zipple’s manipulation of history.
“I’ll also look into ways to heal your Chaos separately.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Don’t get your hopes up. Examining records concerning Chaos is truly difficult. Oh, and before you go, show me that thing you mentioned earlier.”
The object Valeria was referring to was the mysterious mechanical device Jin had obtained from the Sota Desert. He pulled the device from his robe and handed it to her, along with a portion of the ship blueprints.
“Are you asking me to look at ship blueprints too? You’re working me too hard.”
“Is it impossible to create a completed version of the blueprints with Record Magic?”
“Record Magic isn’t omnipotent. If the creator of the blueprints were here and their memory was just incomplete, I could help restore it. But it’s impossible to figure out the whole thing from just a part using only Record Magic.”
“Even if your Record Magic reaches a perfect level?”
“If it were our family in its prime, perhaps.”
A blue, transparent mana window rose before Valeria. The mana spreading from her permeated the mechanical device and the blueprints, then withdrew, carving characters onto the window.
While watching the window where the records of the ship blueprints were being written, Valeria’s expression remained unchanged.
“...As expected, the blueprints can’t be restored. However, the production year and the creator’s name are showing up. It was made in 1775, led by a man named Tingen Bauer.”
“Tingen Bauer?”
It was a name he had never heard before. The names of the other participants appeared as well, and they were all magic engineers belonging to Zipple.
Then, as Valeria looked at the records of the mechanical device, she flinched.
“What is it?”
“This is the core component of the teleportation device you said you first saw in the Gaifa Archipelago. It was also made by Tingen Bauer… wait, that’s not his real name?”
Record Magic could reveal pseudonyms. However, Valeria felt a strange resistance blocking Tingen Bauer’s real name from being revealed.
That meant history had been manipulated regarding the individual known as Tingen Bauer as well, suggesting he might be someone related to the Hister family.
Valeria began to concentrate again. For some reason, she felt that if she could just push past the resistance a little more, the real name would appear.
That intuition was correct. About five minutes later, breaking into a cold sweat, Valeria managed to uncover Tingen Bauer’s real name.
< Creator: Quaul Ganesto (Tingen Bauer) >
The moment Jin heard that name, his eyes widened.
He had seen the surname ‘Ganesto’ before in Solderet’s recording devices.