novelraw Chapter 126 : Chapter 126
Chapter 126 : Chapter 126
Chapter 126: Four Questions for Reform (1)
‘It’s all junk, but…….’
Ernst took off his glasses.
He extended his hand and recited the incantation. The third chapter of Oblivion Theory, ‘A Map Woven with a Wanderer's Steps’. A spell that helps detect things that cannot be seen with the naked eye. A golden ripple adorned Ernst’s irises. The origins of the junk piled before him were vaguely guessed.
‘……This could be put in a museum.’
Even tableware becomes special if it's old enough.
Even things like forks and knives become artifacts. Therefore, the front yard of Pnakotic’s dwelling was made of junk, and at the same time, it was a repository of history where artifacts left untouched for over hundreds of years slept. It was because they were too old to be dismissed as mere old junk.
‘This is boring.’
Ernst thought, touching the junk.
He was told to wait in the front yard. With Eleanor.
Abel and Pnakotic must be talking in the last room. A considerable amount of time had passed. He was getting tired of looking at the junk. If he had been well-versed in archaeology, it would have been quite enjoyable, but the objects Pnakotic had collected were ultimately trash to Ernst.
Just like the outdated tactical controller, which resembled the massive table in his grandmother’s bedchamber.
“Hey.”
Suddenly, Eleanor opened her mouth.
She stared at Ernst with a bored-to-death expression.
“Say something. I’m tired of playing in the dirt.”
“My, my, Lady Eleanor.”
Ernst said, taking a step.
Eleanor was squatting in a place far away.
“Were you getting your beautiful hands dirty? How truly tragic. I, Ernst von Tresckow, will personally be your conversation partner.”
Damn it, why do I keep spouting this crap?
Ernst thought, stopping beside Eleanor. He had intended to just act faithfully to etiquette, but at some point, it seemed he had lost control of himself. The words were coming out reflexively. In a direction that he himself found disgusting.
“Your friend……”
Eleanor stood up.
She brushed off her clothes and faced Ernst.
“Is Demian alright?”
“Don’t worry about him.”
Ernst shrugged.
He continued speaking with a faint smile.
“He showed a rather unsightly side last night, didn't he? It’s understandable that you’re concerned. However, Demian is the heir of the Farenheit family, and in terms of swordsmanship skills alone, he is at a level where he could become a knight right away.”
“No, well……”
Eleanor crossed her arms.
She pouted her lips and then sighed.
“I don’t know much. I don’t know what it means to be from a noble family, and I haven’t seen enough swordsmen to appreciate swordsmanship skills. There were no nobles here, and no knights either. So I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“I’m sure you wouldn't.”
Ernst nodded deeply.
He was fully aware. Of the gap that existed between the capital and this place. Not only technology, but also consciousness showed a difference. Thus, a prestigious family of swordsmanship, and Demian's swordsmanship, would have been useless to Eleanor.
“Do you know this, Lady Eleanor.”
Demian is the strongest student in our class.
Ernst muttered as such.
“Him?”
“That’s right. Demian is one of the strongest not only in our many, but also in Cia-Harphe Academy.”
Isn’t it funny?
That such a Demian Fernando von Farenheit, was so powerless yesterday. That he had no choice but to be powerless.
“To me, Lady Eleanor looks like a delicate lady, but……”
Ernst narrowed his eyes.
The spell was active. Through ‘A Map Woven with a Wanderer's Steps,’ he observed the inside of Eleanor’s body.
Ernst’s judgment was accurate. Eleanor was powerless. Her nutritional status was not good, and it seemed she was suffering from a few minor illnesses. It was natural that she lacked divine power. It was a moment that made the title of miko seem ridiculous, but the fact that such a ridiculous title was accepted was the madness of the frontier.
Demian must have been defeated by that.
“……You seem strong for some reason.”
“What are you trying to say?”
When Eleanor asked in a blunt tone,
“It means that we also don’t know much.”
Ernst gave a light bow and showed his respect.
“Just as you, Lady Eleanor, do not know the capital, do not know the nobles, and do not know swordsmanship, we also did not know Portsmouth. So please wait a little longer.”
Because we are getting to know it.
Demian will also get up soon.
After whispering so, Ernst dispelled the spell.
As his vision was restored, a frustrating scene unfolded.
“By the way, Lady Eleanor, may I ask one thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“The fact that you stayed here to avoid the residents means……”
Ernst asked, glancing down the hill.
The landscape of Portsmouth came into view at a glance. It was an utterly shabby land.
“That the residents find Lady Pnakotic uncomfortable, right?”
“Right.”
At Ernst’s question, Eleanor nodded.
“Would you mind telling me the story.”
“I don’t know much either. I was just a puppet, even as a miko.”
It’s just that, he said.
Eleanor whispered quietly.
“She must have been considered a madwoman.”
Because the elf who had lived for about a thousand years, knew the entire history of this village.
***
Abel removed his hand.
He had just experienced the huge spherical orb, the mana device that Pnakotic had shown him. After analyzing the inside of the device, he was able to figure out its identity. It was none other than a sensory stone.
“I offer my condolences.”
Abel said, looking back at Pnakotic.
A crystal solidified by collecting sensations, the sensory stone preserved the target's five senses, combining sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
In a sense, she had stored her life through her senses. The sensory stone of Vincent Tremblay that he had previously received from Konstanze was murky and cramped, but the sensory stone preserved in the last room of Pnakotic’s dwelling was brilliant and at the same time massive.
“You have lived a hard life.”
It couldn't be helped.
The amount of stored sensations was different.
Pnakotic’s life of about a thousand years was preserved.
Inside the shining sensory stone beside Abel.
“0.1223232323232323……”
Pnakotic counted the numbers.
With a sly smile, sitting in her rocking chair.
“Counting repeating decimals is a pleasant thing, but counting one’s age is quite unpleasant.”
Isn't that how all the years one has lived are?
Counting them with numbers became burdensome. All sorts of memories clung to them, and though I've lived a hundred years, it feels like I've lived a thousand, and though I've probably lived a thousand years, I feel as tired as if I've lived ten thousand.
No matter how hard I try, only wrong answers are derived.
Correct calculation becomes impossible.
“So I detached it. From myself.”
Abel nodded.
Pnakotic had, in a sense, cut off her own life. The reason memories can be special is because one can also ruminate on the sensations, but with the sensations placed outside the body, past events would be considered as mere information. It would not be a personal recollection, but would feel as dry as reading a history book.
“I understand, Lady Pnakotic.”
Abel approached Pnakotic.
He looked down at Pnakotic, who was sitting in the rocking chair.
“Thanks to you, it has become clear. This place was once the land of the elves, and……”
“Humans and elves lived in harmony, and also antagonized each other. But that's a story from eight hundred years ago.”
“In the meantime, the elves left in groups, and……”
“An elf who had married a human decided to stay with her family. But that's a story from seven hundred years ago.”
“You are utterly indifferent. Even though you are talking about your own life.”
“What can I do. I have lived for too long. As time passes, old memories become blurry. They are reduced to afterimages. I even detached the memories from my body because I disliked even that.”
Pnakotic sighed.
She folded her wrinkled hands on her thighs.
“Tell me, Abel.”
We are in the middle of a transaction, she said.
Pnakotic muttered with her eyes narrowed.
“I am thinking of selling you my sensory stone. It must be an item you desperately need.”
After moving that to the village square, you just have to let the residents experience it.
My past is the past of Portsmouth. Through the five senses I have preserved, the residents will come to know. What the true history of Portsmouth is.
“……Everything I have seen in this village.”
Abel listened with his mouth shut.
Pnakotic’s words were right. The residents would come to know. That everything Abel had said was true. That Cthanid, whom they had revered as a sea god, was merely a monster, and that human sacrifice had been prevalent until now. If Pnakotic said it with her mouth, it would be considered the ramblings of a madwoman, but if it was conveyed through the senses, there would be no room for denial.
“Lady Pnakotic.”
However, there was a part that bothered him.
Abel wanted to talk about that.
“There were no memories of your daughter.”
In the sensory stone, that is, he said.
Abel whispered, kneeling on one knee.
“According to the information stored in the sensory stone……, you, Lady Pnakotic, decided to stay in Portsmouth for your daughter. The lifespan of a half-elf is a little longer than that of a human, so you must have thought it would be better to let her live among humans.”
But it was strange.
Only the memories of your daughter had been removed.
If it is not a discourtesy, I would like to ask for the reason. What happened to your daughter.
When Abel asked that,
“She died.”
Pnakotic answered without hesitation.
“No, I killed her.”
“I see.”
Abel’s head bowed.
No further explanation was needed.
Pnakotic’s daughter had died. By the old people who lived in Portsmouth. Before the faith in the Sea God Cthanid was even established, she had been consumed as prey to be offered to a mere monster.
“I don’t remember well now. I can’t seem to remember at all, but I thought I might remember someday, so I didn’t put it in the sensory stone. Only the things about my daughter……”
Pnakotic whispered quietly.
Her long ears were trembling slightly.
“The residents of Portsmouth caught my daughter and threw her into the sea. I could only watch. I must have been furious. I must have cursed them. I must have wished for the death of not only those who killed my daughter, but also their children, and their children's children.”
And so they died, and their children died, and their children's children died, and even their children's children's children all died.
Even their children's children's children's children died, and now I don't know who to resent.
“I'm just tired. That's all.”
Isn't it hideous.
To have survived all alone, and to be living for so long.
Hearing Pnakotic’s whisper, Abel,
“I do not think so.”
He reached out his hand.
He took one of Pnakotic’s hands.
“Please consider this as a token of my gratitude.”
For the payment for your sensory stone.
Please consider it as such, and listen, he said.
Abel muttered in a small voice.
“I have lived longer than you, Lady Pnakotic.”
Let alone a thousand years, I have lived for over two thousand years.
“So I can be certain.”
Abel’s lips touched the back of Pnakotic’s hand.
Abel looked up with a faint smile.
“You are beautiful, Lady Pnakotic.”
Even though you are full of wrinkles, and do not have much time left to live, and are conflicted in anger and despair,
“You, who are trying not to forget your daughter, are……”
You are definitely beautiful.
I, for one, can think that you are beautiful.
Abel whispered as such.