Chapter 280: Interpretation (2)
The daily temperature difference of the Imperial Palace was greater than that of even the Demon Blood desert. Before the sun went down, the Imperial Palace was always warm, clean, and lively. The halls were filled with welcome guests, and the streams and ponds reverberated with the songs of the royal family.
On the other hand, the darkest darkness covered the Palace once the sun set. The welcoming air now became as cold as metal, and the beautiful garden now seemed a dark and dangerous place. On such a bloody night in the Imperial Palace…
Lia was caught by Deculein.
“…”
He was looking at her with suspicion in his eyes. It was natural since Lia had mentioned the divine language in her haste.
“I’ll ask again. How do you know about the divine language?”
Deculein asked. His tone was demeaning.
“…”
Still, she didn’t feel intimidated. The current Lia was stronger than Deculein in a fight.
“…I have been to the Sanctuary of the Altar.”
Though she made excuses, Deculein’s sharp gaze remained.
“So. Did you learn the divine language there?”
“…”
Deculein continued sarcastically.
“You can see that doesn’t make sense to you either. The Altar has been looking for the divine language too.”
Lia’s mouth turned dry thanks to those blue eyes that could pierce her. It was so overwhelming that as soon as she slowly lowered her head, thump—!
His staff hit the ground.
“Look at me.”
“…How many characters of the divine language do you know?”
Lia responded.
“I’m asking where and how you found out.”
Deculein asked immediately, giving her no time or space to think.
“I just know.”
“…You just know?”
She nodded. It was a game that had always occupied her head, whether at work or outside the office, even while sleeping. Other than the creator, she probably knew the most about the setting and concept of the divine language, as well as the related scenarios.
…The problem was, she couldn’t explain why she knew. This world was a game, you were all NPCs in the game, and she was the person who made this world outside the game. How could Lia say that?
“…Yes. I just know. It appeared several times in my dreams for no reason I could discern.”
Deculein’s brow twitched, and his eyes narrowed with cruelty. Lia grew nervous, afraid he might cave in her skull with his wood steel or bash her across the head with his staff.
“…Tsk.”
However, Deculein’s next reaction was surprising.
“I see.”
“…?”
The coldest professor on this continent was nodding his head with understanding.
“…”
Lia’s eyes widened, but Deculein didn’t question it any further. He stood with a stern look.
─…Professor.
At that moment, a voice came from the back of the garden.
“!”
Lia straightened up upon seeing who it was, but Deculein remained casual in his stance.
“Your Majesty. The night wind is cold. Why did you come out?”
Emperor Sophien. Famous for changing her clothes every day, she wore a qipao that perfectly fitted her body. Even in the dark, her shape and curves were dazzling and beautiful. She stomped over with a still sleepy face, grabbing the hem of Deculein’s robe.
“…Professor, I thought you were gone.”
Sophien murmured as if whining. Deculein watched her silently, the mood around them growing strange.
“…Your Majesty. You look tired.”
“Yes… maybe it’s because I was too engrossed in it, or my body doesn’t have enough energy.”
As Lia looked between the two, a single thought popped into her head. What was Julie doing now?
“…Huh.”
Just then, Sophien noticed her and let out a small murmur.
“You’re Lia.”
“How do you know my name-“
“I remember. You’re helping the attendants in the Imperial Palace. I know you’re a good kid, but… Professor. What are you doing with this child?”
To the emperor’s question, Deculein briefly answered:
“This kid is a divine language expert.”
* * *
Yura’s Easter Egg, Lia. Her appearance was very clearly similar. Therefore, it might be natural for this girl to know something…
Deculein was watching Lia with that thought in mind. However, their location had changed, and they were now standing in the emperor’s warehouse. Here, Sophien was staring at Lia.
“So… I mean…”
Lia glanced at them and fiddled with the scroll.
“I don’t…”
“You don’t know.”
Deculein asked. Lia licked her lips, feeling how dry they were.
“It’s much more… than I thought.”
‘Use my special move; pretend to be young. Pretend I’m not even 15 yet.’
Of course, Lia knew the divine language was important, but she didn’t expect there to be hundreds of millions of variations…
“I will kick her out.”
Deculein lifted Lia with Psychokinesis as Sophien nodded.
“Don’t forget the spell to seal her memory-“
“Wait! Not yet! I will write the Last Revelation I saw in my dream in divine language!”
“…Last Revelation?”
Deculein answered Sophien’s question instead.
“Yes. The last revelation of the Holy Age.”
“Look! I will write it down!”
She had tried hard not to forget it.
“…Here.”
Lia wrote God’s will in the divine language. Emperor Sophien looked at the words.
“Hmm. Did you see this sentence in a dream?”
“Yes.”
“You’re lying.”
Sophien retorted sharply. Her expression turned dark, and in moments, Lia’s back was wet with a cold sweat.
“Do you dare tell a lie to me?”
“Your Majesty.”
Deculein intervened, both verbally and physically.
“She’s a kid who hasn’t even finished her coming-of-age ceremony yet.”
“…”
Was that a good enough reason? Sophien’s complexion changed with a snort, and Deculein looked over Lia’s writing.
“You mean that this Last Revelation was written down in the divine language?”
“Yes.”
“…Let me take a look.”
‘Your indulgences will bring me to death.’
Deculein peered over the words written by Lia and then opened the scroll again. His pupils, alternating between the two, moved with tremendous speed. It was like he was a computer.
00100100101010.
“…”
Thud-
Suddenly, Deculein dropped his pen.
“…Indeed. Even the same revelation is completely different depending on how you interpret it.”
He whispered. Lia, coming up with a rough idea of what he had realized, swallowed a laugh.
“Your indulgence will bring me to death… if we arrange and interpret this divine language differently….”
He recited another interpretation of the revelation aloud.
“‘…My death will set you free.”
Indulgence and freedom were similar but different. Depending on how one interpreted it, freedom became an indulgence, or indulgence became freedom. Deculein nodded.
“Well, in the world where God existed, those believers achieved nothing.”
The scenery of the holy age that Quay showed came to mind.
“They dedicated themselves to the only value and absolute reason, their God. There was no progress, no ambition, so many years of meaningless life interpreting and recording divine revelations. They spent their days like inanimate objects or mere earthworms.”
They were the most humble and confined in this vast continent.
“But God didn’t want that.”
Deculein guessed this was the last choice for a God who truly wanted his creations to advance.
“Therefore, he died…”
There was no such thing as a god killer like that which Quay cursed. God gave the revelation to kill himself.
“This interpretation is also possible.”
Tick-
Tock-
Tick-
An ancient artifact clock kept in the warehouse continued to mark the passing of time.
“…Hmm. You will need an award.”
Breaking the silence, Sophien beckoned to Lia.
“Hey, kid. Is there anything you would like to have from here?”
“…?”
Lia blinked a few times, her mind going blank.
“Isn’t there anything you would like to have?”
“No, I have! Just… anything… can I, really anything?”
Deculein looked at Sophien and shook his head. However, Sophien snorted in response.
“Yes. Anything.”
“…”
If that was the case, then there was no reason to refuse. Lia pointed to a copper plate.
“That one.”
“…Ho. It’s Ruketan the Great’s Copper Plate. You picked a good one.”
Sophien smiled pompously, and Deculein glared at Lia.
「Ruketan the Great’s Copper Plate」. As a kind of skill book, it was an item that allowed you to acquire one of the characteristics of the royal family. Of course, the required qualifications were huge — at least level two mana quality and 20,000 mana volume or more — but Lia already met those a long time ago.
“Your sight shows your talent and luck. Take it.”
Sophien took out the copper plate and handed it to Lia.
“W-Wow… y-yes! Thank you!”
Still skeptical that it could be that easy, Lia accepted it with a bow.
…
Lia left the warehouse as if running away with the plate in her hands. In the early morning, while the sun was slowly rising, Sophien looked at me with a piercing smile.
“Is this something you wanted to have?”
“No. However, it was a very precious relic.”
The characteristics of the Imperial family couldn’t be taught to my body anyway, and I didn’t want to learn them. Sophien smiled a little.
“Didn’t she give you a valuable hint? Although you’re reluctant to keep the source secret. First of all, there’s no reason to keep these treasures, and that’s better than letting them rot and turn into shit.”
“…”
I sighed. Then, Sophien’s head leaned against my shoulder.
“Your Majesty.”
“…What?”
“This goes against dignity.”
“…Haha.”
Sophien laughed a little before shaking her head.
“But there is nothing I can do about it. Now my body is not moving.”
“What…”
I checked her condition.
“…”
Indeed, her limbs held no strength, and there was a serious look of exhaustion across her face. Her long red hair had lost some of its lusters.
“It is as if someone is trying to take my body.”
“Since when have you been feeling like this?”
“It comes and goes. However, it’s more often these days. I’ll feel like this for half a day.”
A voice that didn’t sound like Sophien’s responded. In addition to that, a red air current wrapped around her body — a death variable. If Quay stole Sophien’s body, it would be game over.
“…Your Majesty.”
“But it’s okay.”
Sophien moved. She wrapped her limp arms around my waist and rubbed her face against my shoulder.
“This is also strange, but it seems to be getting better because you are by my side like this.”
“…”
“So be still.”
At first, I thought it was a lie. Of course, Sophien couldn’t tell one.
“…It’s not a lie.”
Just by being still like this, the death variable oscillating around Sophien slowly disappeared.
“It means you need to recharge.”
Sophien smiled sweetly, and she hugged me from behind.
No, she fell asleep like that.
Snore… Snore…
Again, while snoring. It was unusually cute.
“…But since when?”
I asked the one watching us, careful not to wake her from her sleep.
-I don’t know exactly.
The voice I heard was Keiron’s. He spoke by borrowing the knight statue displayed in this warehouse.
—The symptoms have gotten worse since you met Quay.
“How do you know that I met Quay?”
—Your medal.
“…”
I looked at the medal on my chest. This medal of honor was the highest award the emperor could grant.
“Even these medals are influenced by you, Keiron.”
─Yes. If you look at the medal in a broader sense, it is a statue made and embedded in metal.
Whether small or large, Keiron could become any statue on this continent. When I met Quay, Keiron became this medal and faced Quay with me.
“Anyway, is it because of Quay?”
-I’m guessing so. There’s no other reason. But… I don’t think you need to worry about it.
“…Why not?”
Keiron smiled and pointed at me.
─The antidote is standing right next to her, isn’t it?
“…”
-It’s a joke. Her Majesty is happy to be with you, so I am happy too.
“…”
—This is no joke.
Snore… Snore…
Sophien’s breath tickled my back.
—But are you going to put Her Majesty to sleep like that? Come on, take her to bed.
“Keiron. Stop it.”
─This is no joke either. She’ll get cold like this.
“…”
─Quickly.
I sighed. But he wasn’t wrong, so I stood slowly.
─Yes. Don’t worry. I’ll make you invisible to everyone.
“Yes. Please.”
Under Keiron’s fierce escort, I carried Sophien through the Imperial Palace.