Chapter 151
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 151
Two days had passed since the fall of the Sun Temple.
Based in the capital city of Helio, the Parsha-Lavitas Allied Forces were rapidly asserting control over the entirety of the Land of the Five Lakes.
Naturally, the busiest man among them was Solif.
As the newly minted head of the Baraha family, he was forced to keep the old vassals in check while simultaneously carving out a massive portion of the family’s internal wealth to offer to the Allied Forces. He was utterly swamped.
“The subordinates aren't listening?”
“They’re trying to play our two families against each other, prattling on about a 'revival' and such. They claim the great Baraha cannot become a mere dependency of another house.”
“Who said that? Want me to kill them for you?”
“Don't say things like that. When you say it, it doesn't sound like a joke.”
At Turan’s words, Solif shook his head with a weary expression and set down his documents.
Normally, high-ranking nobles would delegate such tasks to their subordinates, but since trust had not yet been established within the family, Solif had to supervise everything personally.
“By the way, where’s Meisa?”
“She went back to Kalamf with Armani for now. Someone needs to be there to guard the place in case of an invasion.”
“Ah, right. I heard about that earlier, but I’ve been so out of it I forgot. So, how is your work going?”
“Mhm. Things are starting to wrap up on my end, too.”
For the past two days, while Solif was stabilizing his power and Meisa was organizing the main house, Turan had been holed up deep within the Sun Temple.
Some might have viewed this as the typical indolence of a high noble, but in reality, he was occupied with a crucial task.
He was extracting all the half-human half-fairies of Baraha from their stone slabs, confining them in jewelry boxes to isolate them, and interrogating them one by one.
“There were six in total… no, five now. One of them was being excessively stubborn, so I tore him apart right in front of the others as an example.”
“Ugh.”
“But thanks to that, the rest got scared and started talking. It’s easier now that there are several of them; I can cross-reference their stories.”
Back when he was only getting information from Resion, it was difficult to verify the truth without testing it. With the addition of the other half-human half-fairies of Baraha, that weakness was resolved.
By asking one individual for information and then subtly questioning the others on the same topic, lies were easily exposed.
In truth, despite Turan's precautions, Resion had remained consistently cooperative ever since his defection. Turan surmised that Resion had reached a state of half-despair, realizing there was no turning back after committing such a betrayal.
As the former leader of the group and the acting head of Baraha, Resion knew the most. Consequently, Turan used the others primarily for verification and conducted his main dealings with him.
As a result, Turan had learned a staggering amount of information.
“First, I found out what those needles embedded in your and Meisa’s heads are.”
“What are they, exactly?”
“A leash.”
“A leash…?”
“A long time ago, it’s said that the first generation of mages—born from the union of the Frea Divine Clan and humans—were difficult to control. They obeyed their divine parents, but they looked down on ordinary humans so much that they would massacre them as easily as breathing. So, a device was implanted to control that aggression. It was designed to be inherited along with the bloodline.”
Hearing that story, Turan was reminded of Onil of the Carmine family—a delinquent whom everyone feared because he didn't hesitate to harm those weaker than himself. Perhaps such individuals, born occasionally in every family, were the result of something going wrong with this 'leash.'
If the average personality of the first-generation mages was that volatile, such control measures were understandable—though, of course, one couldn't know what the mages themselves thought of it.
“According to Resion, the very social structure of the current world is maintained because of this measure. He said that if humans followed their natural instincts, mages with such immense power would simply abuse and manipulate ordinary people like insects, rather than protecting them and helping them prosper as they do now.”
“Hah.”
Humans shall worship mages, and mages shall protect humans.
To think that the most basic teaching of the Frea faith didn't come down naturally, but was something the gods had practically brainwashed into their descendants?
Solif clicked his tongue at the revelation, then asked something that suddenly occurred to him.
“Then what about the headache I had back then?”
“Well, that was the original intent, but they added a few more things later for convenience. Things like obedience to the gods or defensive measures if you tried to attack them. Since they aren't in their own bodies right now, the leash doesn't react normally, but it seems to trigger when they are in spirit body form.”
And, in a truly horrifying twist, the pain Solif and Meisa had experienced previously was apparently weakened because the gods of Baraha had become half-human half-fairies. If they had maintained their perfect divine spirit bodies, the moment the mages faced them, their heads would have exploded instantly.
“So, we have to pull them out as quickly as possible. Don't worry. I’ve already learned a few tricks for removing the needles, so it’ll be over soon.”
“Wait, but it’s a bit weird to just pull them out. If what you said is true, doesn't that mean those needles are keeping me from becoming a mad mass-murderer?”
If he pulled the needles only to become a monster that slaughtered ordinary people for fun, how would that be any different from being dead?
At Solif’s anxiety, Turan gave a short laugh and pointed to himself.
“Look at me. Do I look like a monster to you?”
“Uh, honestly, a little bit…”
Meeting Turan’s expressionless face, Solif muttered softly, “Just kidding, man.”
“Anyway, the problem is usually having too much power with an immature personality when you're young. Once you've reached adulthood, there’s a high probability that pulling them won't cause issues with self-control.”
“Now that I think about it, why don't you have a needle in your head? It’s not like you pulled it out yourself, right?”
“I don't know that either. I investigated this part quite intensely… but it seems like truly no one knows.”
The one who designed and installed this 'leash' was a Life Scholar skilled in handling living beings and souls. Otas, the progenitor of Zahar and the Night Hunter who ruled the Enril Desert, was not on good terms with him. However, even he deemed such a measure necessary and entrusted his descendants to the Life Scholar’s hands.
However, at Otas’s request, the design of the leash for his bloodline was made somewhat looser compared to others. It was highly likely that the characteristic cruelty of the Zahar bloodline originated from this.
“Hmm, so in the end, our bloodline governs not just our power, but our very thoughts…”
“Not entirely, but yes.”
Turan recalled the conversation he had with his grandfather, Talis, not long ago. Judging by the hints from that time, it was clear that Talis also knew the truth.
The conversation continued for a long time. They discussed why Resion had risked a surprise attack on Osel, the head of Lavitas, and the price paid to bring in the great Ruban family.
As the gloomy stories persisted, Turan felt the atmosphere sinking and intentionally raised his voice.
“On the plus side, I learned something good this time.”
“Could it be?”
“That’s right. The skills of the Silver Sun.”
“Yes!”
Turan handed a list of techniques he had written down in advance to Solif, who looked as if he had just received a gift. It contained everything from the methods of combining symbols—which Turan had drawn himself using Thoughtography—to the names, effects, and usage methods of various techniques.
“In a short while, you’ll probably become the most proficient of the three of us at handling skills. Meisa and I are just learning them on our own as we go.”
“Heh, my growth is stunted anyway, so I might as well master this. Don't worry, I’ll make sure to learn them perfectly.”
Solif read and re-read the list with a flushed face, clearly delighted. After watching him with a smile for a moment, a shadow fell over Turan’s face.
Skills… huh.
Turan had intentionally withheld one piece of crucial information from Solif. In fact, he planned to keep it from everyone. He simply couldn't predict how others would react if this fact were revealed.
Compared to the secret he had heard this time, the fact that the Frea Divine Clan had been ruling the world from the shadows was nothing.
Turan turned his head and looked at the moon, which hung exceptionally clear in a cloudless sky.
That this world was created as a fiction, and that a true world exists separately…
*
[This world is fake?]
[That is correct. Well, to be precise, calling it 'fake' is a bit much… A created world? A world layered over another? Perhaps that would be a more accurate way to put it.]
Turan frowned at Resion’s words. The world was fake? What kind of incomprehensible nonsense was that?
[Head of Parsha. Have you ever thought about this? That it is strange for grasslands, wastelands, deserts, and wetlands to exist side-by-side with boundaries of less than ten meters? Or for one place to be a fertile plain while another is a frozen snowfield despite being at the same latitude?]
[Not at all.]
If you keep walking, a desert suddenly becomes a wetland—isn't that just how the world is? And what did the latitude of a region have to do with the climate?
At Turan’s response, Resion spoke in a tone that suggested a bitter smile, though his expression was unreadable.
[Yes, I suppose you would think that. Having been born and raised in this world, you have never seen a normal one. It is difficult to explain, but a normal world is not like this. Perhaps the reason you all find it difficult to achieve scientific progress is because this world itself does not operate on scientific principles.]
After laying out such difficult concepts, Resion eventually told Turan about a few things: a world built on scientific civilization, a special form of entertainment called 'games,' and the worldviews that existed within them.
[As a side note, this world itself is not the worldview of the game we enjoyed. The terrain seems to have been transplanted as is, but there were no different races, magical beasts, or beings like you mages.]
Strictly speaking, from the point where he suggested that while the world was overlaid, the living beings might be real, the conversation drifted into excessively pedantic territory. Whether what is seen is the truth, what the criteria for recognizing reality are, and so on.
Turan wasn't one to enjoy pondering such philosophical questions. If he could perceive it with his five senses, combined with his spiritual senses into a sixth sense, then it was simply the truth.
[Actually, the one I am most curious about right now is you, Head of Parsha. There have been a few times in the past when the natives of this world raised the banner of rebellion against us, but there has never been anyone with power as clear and formidable as yours. Furthermore, to be born without a 'leash'...]
[Are you suggesting I'm not human?]
At Turan’s question, Resion’s jewel-like eyes curved into circles. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed like a grinning expression.
[The one to decide that is not us, but you. At any rate, it wouldn't be a bad idea to look into that first. In our world, there is a saying: 'Know thyself.' And another: 'If you know yourself and know your enemy, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles'...]
“Lord Head, are you asleep?”
A woman’s voice woke him from his deep reverie. Only then did Turan realize he was in the middle of a meal and blinked a few times.
As his consciousness resurfaced, he remembered that he had returned to Kalamf the previous night and had held a banquet for the people in the mansion to announce his well-being. Perhaps because he had been staring blankly, the people who had been watching him soon returned to eating and chatting happily.
“I was just thinking about something.”
“I see. So, about what I asked a moment ago—do you happen to know where Mr. Solif went? There was a puzzle we were supposed to work on together…”
Turan frowned slightly at the chatter of Berit Zahar, his second cousin and a hostage-slash-spy for the Zahar family. The mouth that had been prattling instantly snapped shut.
“He has been sent away on a mission. I cannot tell you where he went, as it is a family secret.”
“Ah, I see…”
A normal person might have felt a shred of sympathy for her as she clung to him almost servilely, but Turan felt nothing of the sort. Behind that face feigning sorrow, he could sense a hostility toward him for not being easily swayed, and a burning passion to dig up secrets by any means necessary.
Before long, Berit shifted her target to Meisa and began to act charming again.
“Sister, can't you just tell me? Please!”
“No. Besides, why am I your 'sister'?”
“The stronger one is the older sister, of course. Does age really matter that much?”
At the sight of Berit, who was over thirty, calling the younger Meisa 'sister' and acting cute, several people clicked their tongues, thinking she had no pride at all. Of course, since both were high mages, there wasn't much difference in their physical appearance.
While Meisa was looking somewhat troubled by her clinginess, Bije, who had been eating beside Turan, suddenly flew over and threatened Berit by snapping her beak.
— Don't bully Meisa!
Of course, the bird's voice only reached Turan, but her attitude made her meaning clear enough that Berit shrieked and backed away. The people around them burst into laughter at the sight.
After the banquet ended, Turan took a walk in the garden with Meisa.
“How is your head? Any pain since that day?”
“I’m fine. I didn't expect you to ask that first.”
“Then what?”
“I thought you’d ask about the family’s situation or the surrounding circumstances first.”
“I asked Asiz about those things separately yesterday. More than anything, your condition is more important.”
At his blunt words, Meisa’s eyes widened for a moment before she smiled softly and shook her head.
“How is Solif?”
“I think he’ll do reasonably well. He was the original heir, so he’s learned how to rule, and since he has the support of two great families, he has enough control over the vassals.”
Most importantly, the loyalist faction that had actively supported the previous head had been largely wiped out in the last battle. To top it off, Turan had spread the story that Resion had previously forcibly detained the runaway Solif and tried to execute him.
No matter how absolute a family head was, executing an heir just for running away was excessive. Naturally, the remnants of Baraha raged, calling it slander, but word got out that several high nobles who had been part of the pursuit party had secretly leaked the story. It seemed that, being human, they couldn't keep their mouths shut about the shocking fact that they were supposed to strip Solif of all his rights and return him as a prisoner.
Thanks to this, an atmosphere was created where Solif’s ascension was viewed not as a 'horrific act of impiety' but as 'unavoidable self-defense.' Of course, since there was no clear evidence, it was a somewhat ambiguous justification, but such minor aids were always necessary to legitimize one's rule.
“I hope things normalize over there quickly. That way, the troops we sent out can return.”
“It’ll probably take about half a year.”
After chatting while circling the garden, the two entered a bedroom located deep within the main house. It was to carry out a secret task that should not be seen by others.
“Ugh, I really hate this…”
“We still have to do it. Unless you want to experience something like last time again. No, it might be even worse than that.”
As seen with Resion, a few of the powerful ancient Frea gods possessed spirit bodies even stronger than Turan’s current one. To restrain and handle such beings, the help of Meisa and Solif was indispensable.
“I know, I was just saying.”
Meisa let out a deep sigh, lay down on the bed, and closed her eyes. Before long, her spirit body, revealing the symbols of three bloodlines, appeared.
[If it’s any consolation, I’ll be able to pull them out faster with the method I learned this time. If we do it every day, it probably won't even take three days.]
[Does it… hurt less?]
At Meisa’s somewhat fearful question, Turan shook his head with a look of pity.
[Solif asked the same thing. He asked if we couldn't just use the old method, even if it’s slower.]
A moment later, a spiritual scream, inaudible to human ears, echoed outside the quarters.