Chapter 279
Chapter 279
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 279
Chapter Title: Council (5)
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A cold silence descended. Fernandez labored to break down those words one by one and swallow them. They were merely the words of one man. A single person's testimony could never be adopted as decisive evidence in any trial. Yet those words churned through his mind.
“Impossible.”
“Why? Because you tried your best? Come on, Feizashi. Ha. Was there anyone who didn’t try back then?”
“The core personnel of civilized society... Most of those who rose against the apocalypse and stood with me were saved, and some rearmed themselves with even greater power than before.”
He had ended the Walker crisis in Merlin Port and stopped the corruption infiltrating Fairn’s royal castle. Thanks to that, Fairn’s Griffin Knights would now roam the battlefield unhindered.
He had prevented the long decline of the Dane Kingdom and passed the throne to Vicente II’s father. Vicente II would stand firm, preserving his own strength without wasting time or resources through hardships.
The Franzrit bloodline that had infested the northeastern port cities centered on Infermur was completely eradicated. The northern coastline now connected to civilized society’s trade routes, and North Sea commerce was enjoying a golden age.
And more.
“Erik in the north has been shipwrecked, two of the Elf Triarchy have collapsed, and one has become an ally of civilized society. The Great Wilderness has turned into fertile farmland, the Necropolis has fallen, and the beastkin tiger clans have united fifty years earlier than in your previous life.”
“And the war between the Emperor and the Sultan has ended, so the infighting that was devouring civilized society from within will continue no more. Right?”
“...Yes. Even if ‘that time’ arrives another fifty years from now, civilized society can endure.”
That wasn’t all.
If time passed peacefully like this until the era when Feizashi was most active arrived.
Fernandez was confident. He could track down all the villains and cultists from his unborn previous life, those whose locations were still unknown.
He would assassinate them one by one, poison them, stretch them on the rack. When the apocalypse began, not a shred of corruption would remain in this civilized society.
He was confident. And crucially.
There was no such thing as fate.
It was a truth beyond belief. He had already proven it, and now it was a conviction surpassing proof. If the world had been made to meet its doom. If, despite the full might of the Holy Pantheon of Good Gods, this world was fated to perish anyway.
What could be more pathetic? No. It couldn’t be. Underestimating the enemy was the mark of an amateur, but packaging pessimism into premature surrender and despair was the behavior of fools worse than amateurs.
He would never give up. He would not despair or falter.
He had already proven he could endure it.
“Information Reflection doesn’t read a fixed future. Nor is it a convenient ability to foresee future events. You failed in your interpretation.”
“You want to believe that? Of course, you’re right. Seeing the future is...”
-Snap!
The old man said that and snapped his fingers. A spark flew from his fingertips with a crackle, rising in white smoke.
“Like this. It’s nothing more than guessing the shape of randomly scattering smoke. The information I from the main world sent to this me was relatively accurate, but reading an indeterminate future is fundamentally like that.”
“So you failed in your interpretation, or your ability is imperfect.”
“But... Feizashi. I saw it.”
-Whoosh!
The space where they stood rippled. A deep, dark night sky spread like a carpet beneath their feet. Above their heads, clusters of stars scattered, illusions of undulating waves shimmered.
Tempests raged, inverted dragon ascents tore through all directions. Starlight, horizons, clouds, and waves—all twisted together into black, darker, colder chaos.
Amid it all, the immortal whispered quietly.
“I won’t call the future destruction or the world’s fate apocalypse. Since you distinguish between prophecy and Information Reflection... Fine. Let me put it more abstractly. Feizashi, the world will be exhausted. Possibilities and hopes will slowly drain away. This world will be no different.”
“What must I do?”
Fernandez bit his lip as he spoke. Rage and desperation flowed from his eyes.
The words of one man couldn’t be taken as decisive evidence. But this one knew the main world, at least. That meant he was undoubtedly an Information Reflector.
All Information Reflectors killed themselves. Despairing over their future, the world’s fate, the scheduled apocalypse, and miserable reality. Even an immortal? One without a limit to their lifespan, able to count down the approaching end every morning and lament the days passed every evening?
For such a being not to have chosen suicide meant one of two things. Madness, or another hope. The immortal Orkis from his previous life had another name: the Mad Orkis. That was why he hadn’t recognized the old man at once.
Too calm. Too rational. Nothing like the one who had nested in madness, treating every intruder in his domain as an enemy.
So, there was hope. Fernandez needed it. A ray of hope to keep even an immortal Information Reflector from drowning in madness.
“Find the relic from the War in the Heavens. The Crow Observatory of Archmage Karlus. Retrieve it.”
“...How would that help?”
Fernandez frowned at the old man’s words. Archmage Karlus. The mythical figure who meant Charlemagne the Great, founder of the current Empire.
During the War in the Heavens, when humanity was the weakest race on the continent’s civilizations, dwarves and elves roamed the world, dragons and demons clashed, and gods of heaven warred.
Charlemagne the Great was the name of the great emperor who, in that brutal era, unified the crumbling central continental kingdoms, established the antecedent council system, and laid the Empire’s foundations.
Now revered as a semi-divine being, but what caught Fernandez’s attention was something else.
‘The Crow Observatory of Charlemagne the Great?’
-He’d never heard of such a thing.
That was the problem. Fernandez’s information derived almost entirely from his previous life’s experiences. Since it predated his active period, discrepancies with the current era arose from that.
Moreover, information on ‘tragic heroes lost to the annals of history’ who hadn’t acted in his previous life, or figures and ruins outside his main activity period, was inevitably uncertain.
Charlemagne the Great, no less. Any claiming descent would have died at Empress Carbellier’s hands in his previous life, and so-called relics of Charlemagne paraded into battle hadn’t existed in the first place.
Relics that hadn’t appeared until civilization shattered either didn’t exist or held no meaning even if they did. The Holy Pantheon of Good Gods had focused all their might on civilized society then, using nearly every means to hold back the demonic hordes.
“If you saw the main world’s information, you’d know. No such relic exists.”
“No, this isn’t information from that world’s me.”
“...Then?”
“It’s information I incidentally touched while viewing this world’s future. A lingering echo I found in such a fleeting moment that I couldn’t replicate it even if I tried again. One of countless future possibilities whispered it to me.”
Find Charlemagne the Great’s Crow Observatory.
“This is information even my previous self didn’t know. Back then, I was obsessed with communicating with my other-world selves.”
“You want me to trust and pursue a random echo from an unknown source? A relic whose location and nature I don’t even know?”
“That’s why I’m saying it’s the only possibility. All others led to destruction. The choice is yours, Feizashi Wildcast. Die mired in regret, or at least flail about. Act as you will. I can only watch anyway.”
The old man said that and laughed. Fernandez gazed into the old man’s eyes for a moment. Between the grayish-white, clouded eyes, no emotion could be read.
After a brief exchange of glances, Fernandez chuckled softly and shook his head. He had learned all he needed; there was no reason to continue the conversation. Yet he extended his hand to the old man.
“...Huh?”
“Two madmen from past lives walking the same path. Isn’t it ridiculous, Orkis?”
Orkis looked at Fernandez’s outstretched right hand with rare bewilderment. He glanced awkwardly between Fernandez’s eyes and hand, then slowly extended his own to clasp it.
“...What should I call you?”
“Fernandez Cerned.”
“Fernandez... Fernandez. A plain, humble name. A human name.”
The two shook hands briefly before releasing. With that, the hallucination ended. The curtain draping the world dispersed, revealing the reception room as before.
The tea table in the reception room, Orkis and Fernandez, even Rene’s posture—all returned exactly the same. Mental conversations allowed sharing long dialogues in mere instants. Fernandez lifted his teacup and drank without a hint of change.
Seeing this, Orkis smiled. So wary before, now finally feeling like they were in the same boat. What a thorough guy. Orkis reflected briefly and raised his own cup.
“What’s with you two all of a sudden?”
Rene stared blankly at the pair, who seemed to have shared some sudden rapport, and asked. Orkis giggled, and Fernandez shrugged his shoulders. He soon set down his cup and stood.
“Leaving already?”
“Time’s short.”
“From this moment, the Aseas Council puts down roots in Paltennoia. Use it if you need to.”
“That was the plan.”
As Fernandez donned his robe and said that, Rene spoke up in confusion.
“Wait, hold on! We just sat down?”
“Your rest was sufficient. Once we return, you won’t be able to idle any longer either.”
“You said I could just sit tight before!”
“Circumstances have changed.”
Fernandez left the reception room just like that. Rene, rising to chase him, paused and looked at the old man.
“Thank you for your kindness, Speaker. Visit the Carbellier estate anytime. I hope to repay it.”
“Hahaha! That’d be a rare sight.”
“...Pardon?”
“No, nothing! Haha. When we meet next, be prepared—I’ll expect repayment manifold for this old man’s small favor.”
Orkis chuckled heartily, glancing at the departing Rene. Once the visitors were gone, he sank deeply into the empty reception room’s sofa, a smile lingering on his lips.
“Rene Philippa de Carbellier. Haha. Politics is in her blood.”
Asking him to visit again. Considering the Aseas Council’s social perception, it was a subtle invitation to form a connection. He chuckled and toyed with his teacup.
“Nature doesn’t change, Fernandez. That you always regretted it in every future... doesn’t that prove your nature?”
If mortals are most honest facing death, then an unchanged heart in that moment must be their true nature. Orkis shook his head, lost in thought.
Hope hides at despair’s deepest bottom. But that doesn’t mean the path to hope is lined only with despair. Before the old ghost’s repentance, he pondered.
Saving the world might not guarantee his own salvation, but perhaps the process itself was his salvation. No matter what Beitasser’s plan was, or his purposes and intentions.
* * *
“What’s this sudden change in situation? I told you, if you’re short-handed, don’t try to do everything alone—let’s set up a strategy room.”
“Having a lot of work doesn’t necessarily mean political maneuvers are urgent.”
“That’s not the only thing I meant either! So what is it?!”
“First, we need to file one more document when we get back.”
“...Document?”
“Divorce papers. It’s been fun.”
At his words, Rene missed the stirrup she was about to mount, slipped from the horse’s side, and tumbled off.