novelraw Chapter 301: The Duplicated Consciousness
Chapter 301: The Duplicated Consciousness
"This here is the place you will be resting. The rooms are all clean. However, I will enter the rooms once every week to maintain hygiene and cleanliness. If you have any secrets or any things you do not want me to see, you'd better store them away in advance, alright?"
Heidelin walked in front of Fisher and Ilos, leading them to the vicinity of the guest rooms deep within the corridor. The mechanical clamoring noises they had heard just earlier had been emitted from this vicinity. This here was precisely the place where Phyllis, Balzac, as well as a mechanic called Sertil resided.
In order to search for the legendary Frostwood Sycamore Tree, Valentina had hired several helpers. But Heidelin and Herdor weren't people she had spent money to hire; they originally were members of the Turan family to begin with.
"Here are the room keys. You can head inside and inspect the room to see if there's anything else you need. But don't take too long, oh; mealtime will swiftly commence. The dining hall is right downstairs. At that time, you just need to walk along this corridor and it'll be fine. I must go make a bit of preparation first..."
Beaming, Heidelin handed the keys in her hands to Fisher and Ilos. Their rooms were situated perfectly at the very edge of the corridor. And right opposite their rooms was the room of the mechanic Sertil. At this very moment, continuous loud explosive noises were emitting from inside precisely as if it were currently being demolished.
But such loud noises abruptly vanished when Fisher's group walked near. Waiting for a single second, that room door opened, revealing a little girl wearing a metal mask from within. Upon her body she wore a short shirt thoroughly stained with oil smudges, yet atop her head was tied a braided pigtail frequently appearing in Kadu.
She held a lollipop made of malt sugar in her mouth. Sweeping an appraising glance across her Kadu-style appearance with green hair and black irises... especially after seeing that Ilos wearing a nun's habit... she swept a glance up and down across Ilos. Subsequently, revealing a distinct flavor of catching her fancy, she smiled at towards her,
"Oho? I originally thought people from my hometown had come. Resultantly it's actually a demi-human race... not bad, not bad at all... Right, Herdor. Didn't you have some problem you wanted me to take a look at? Taking advantage of me having time right now, you had best hurry over quickly."
"Sizzle... Sorry to trouble you, Sertil."
Herdor spewed out a mouthful of air. Exchanging a greeting with Fisher, he then entered the other party's room. Through the gaps of that room's wooden door, he seemingly saw the silhouette of a steam machine flickering with magic radiance. But after Herdor entered the room, that room door was shut closed, keeping him from fully seeing the structure inside clearly."That child is Sertil, a steam mechanic from Kadu, a rebel of the Church nation... she must definitely share many common topics with you guys."
Covering her mouth, Heidelin smiled and stated. The two individuals before her eyes: one was a rebel of Naris academia, one was an unconventional demi-human race nun. Naturally there were many similarities with that mechanic of the Church nation... But speaking precisely, their entire team uniformly couldn't be considered normal anyway.
After finishing arranging rooms for Fisher and the others, Heidelin then temporarily bade farewell to them and departed this place. Fisher and Ilos matched gazes for a moment; both having no choice but to head back to the rooms to take a look first, waiting for several minutes before coming outside to gather anew.
Where had Ilos seen this sort of lineup previously? This entire journey she had continuously been following behind Fisher's back. Even the false pregnancy symptoms upon her body had become even more severe; her hands had absolutely never left her lower abdomen. Fortunately, the understanding and considerate Heidelin hadn't opened her mouth to inquire; otherwise, she definitely would have become even more uncomfortable.
The room allocated to Fisher was considered fairly spacious; there was also an independent washroom. Facing directly exactly opposite the bed was the ship's porthole. Looking outside at this time, one could still see the Eastern Ocean swiftly entering the curtain of night. The ship's hull was trembling slightly from the roars of the engine, foretelling the truth that they were just about to set sail.
But right when Fisher had just entered the room, the Cardinal card in his pocket suddenly emitted a dense flurry of alert noises,
"Beep, beep, beep!"
Lord Cardinal's card?
Furrowing his brows, Fisher stepped into the room. Before he even took out the card in his hands, he then saw a small, weirdly shaped machine staying upon the bed in his own room. Upon that small machine flickered layers upon layers of faint blue radiance. It looked exactly like a little dog crafted from machinery.
The Emhart in his pocket had just prepared to poke his head out when Fisher reached out a hand and grabbed him. He thereafter gently tossed him to the doorway. Meeting his suspicious gaze, Fisher spoke in a low voice,
"Wait for me at the door for a bit... If you don't want to get stunned by electricity, that is."
"..."
Emhart opened his mouth. Obediently staying at the doorway, he hadn't seen what was inside the room, but he still cast a suspicious gaze at Fisher.
You damned stinky scumbag! What bad deeds are you trying to commit again? To actually go so far as to not even let the great Sir Book Artifact know the specific situation...
Yet Fisher possessed utterly zero thoughts of acknowledging him. Merely gently closing the room door shut, he turned back and walked into the room, arriving before the bed. The faint light upon the machine on the bed flickered once. Following this, familiar stiff, rigid noises transmitted from within... if it wasn't Lord Cardinal, who else could it be?
"Exceedingly glad to see you again, Mister Fisher. I originally thought the time you would arrive at the Northern Border would still be a bit later. My other Cardinals spotted you, hence why I took the initiative to come searching for you. It's just perfect you managed to hook up with the Turan family's connections relying merely upon yourself; this can save quite a considerable amount of effort."
Fisher moved a stool to the front of the bed. After hearing Lord Cardinal's words, he cast a glance in the direction outside the door,
"It's just perfect that the Turan family is also searching for the Frostwood Sycamore Tree? Since Erwind also wishes to go to the Frostwood Sycamore Tree, when that time arrives, conflict will definitely transpire. Having the Turan family as a reliance, our odds of victory will be higher; is this your plan? Looking at it this way, that Herdor is your informant? Just what exactly is his situation? The card you gave me displays he is your Cardinal..."
The Lord Cardinal before his eyes shook his head. Remaining silent for several seconds, he only then stated,
"Actually, I have not yet begun enforcing my plan. I merely suddenly thought of being able to rely on the Turan family's power to deal with Erwind. After my consciousness returned to the Northern Border, I finally abruptly discovered my damages were even more severe than I imagined. And what requires Mister Fisher to pay even greater attention as a reminder is: Erwind also similarly made landfall within the McDowell Fiefdom not long ago."
"Several days ago, my Cardinals discovered traces of him in a coastal village. His main body absorbed the flesh and blood of an entire village. Although damages to the soul are temporarily hard to recover from, I no longer possess surplus Cardinals capable of delaying his footsteps. Erwind has gazed upon True Ice. It is intensely hard to say what he saw within the True Ice. However, very swiftly he will find clues heading towards the Frostwood Sycamore Tree... As for the matter regarding Herdor, speaking of this would be somewhat into a long story..."
Fisher looked at the Lord Cardinal before him who appeared somewhat powerless within his words. Although he had long realized the Creation Society seemed to have become quite fragmented following the previous President Magic Lord's departure... yet now Erwind was blatantly acting against the Society, there actually was absolutely no one apart from Lord Cardinal, whose ammunition was exhausted and food supplies were depleted, willing to handle this mess of a matter.
This couldn't help but make Fisher possess further comprehension regarding the so-called Creation Society.
The Cardinal before his eyes flickered a ray of light in a humanized manner. Subsequently, it abruptly began disassembling right before Fisher's eyes. Layer by layer, the metallic outer shells were sliced open exactly like a crab's carapace. Following this, it revealed a component swirling with blue radiance located at the Cardinal's center.
While exposing this position that looked quite crucial with a single glance, Lord Cardinal engaged in explaining to Fisher,
"The reason why a Cardinal is able to become a Cardinal... The reason why I am capable of attaching my consciousness onto objects... the key lies precisely upon the core within this mechanical body."
"I require a type of precious ore—[Moonstone]—to process the core and create Cardinals. This sort of Moonstone is only produced by the Turan family situated near the Sema Mountains. But regrettably, several years ago, they ceased the extraction of this ore. Because aside from me who utilizes them as raw materials for manufacturing Cardinals, the remaining humans seemingly solely use them as decorative ornaments..."
"I cannot leak the technology upon the Completion Handbook. But in order to obtain a relatively stable ore supply, I struck a transaction with the Turan family... extending his life for one of their family members who was swiftly dying of illness..."
"However, even newly re-mining the Moonstone there couldn't withstand my colossal consumption of manufacturing Cardinals. The Moonstone mines possessed by the Turan family were practically utilized fully a few months ago. I heard they are actively searching for new ore sources; otherwise, I ought to have had even more Cardinals to go apprehend the Lord of Life."
Fixing his eyes into a squint, Fisher very quickly guessed exactly who the trading partner he had with the Turan family was,
"You mean to say, the body of that Herdor was made by you?"
"Accurately speaking, it wasn't merely the body. I utilized unique methods to duplicate a copy of his consciousness. Then, I uploaded the duplicated consciousness perfectly into a Cardinal. Using this as exchange for a certain quota of Moonstone minerals every year. But the quantity of Cardinals Erwind damaged far exceeded the Moonstone the Turan family gave me. Thus why I completely lack surplus Cardinals to deal with the current Erwind."
Upon listening to Lord Cardinal's words, Fisher's expression turned somewhat bizarre. Because he had suddenly realized a problem,
"Your meaning is to say, you merely duplicated Herdor's consciousness once over. But actually, his original consciousness had already perished together with his soon-to-die-of-illness body, correct?"
"...Regrettably, my database temporarily still doesn't contain considerations regarding this sort of 'Cardinal Ethics'. I will include the newly proposed words of yours into it... But just exactly as you said: this is precisely my method. Herdor's genuine consciousness is incapable of being shifted out of his brain."
Although Lord Cardinal's words were exceedingly plain and simple, it still bestowed an exceptionally shocking sensation to Fisher.
According to current theories, a person's consciousness and mana circuits both originated from the soul. And if Herdor had long died in body, his soul ought to have returned to the Spirit World as it should be, and his consciousness would dissipate along with it; it's only right. If Lord Cardinal was capable of utilizing some sort of technology to reproduce Herdor's consciousness, then wouldn't that also mean he had, in a certain sense, broken free of the world's Rules?
"Although the consciousness of that Mister Herdor Turan is deposited within my database, he completely did not share any of my data. He remains thoroughly ignorant regarding Completion Handbooks and other matters. During conversation, please distinguish us, Mister Fisher, in order to avoid causing misunderstandings..."
Right when Fisher was rubbing his chin in contemplation, his room door was knocked on. Subsequently, Ilos's voice transmitted from outside,
"Mister Fisher... um, are you done yet?"
"I'll be there right away. Please wait a moment."
"Ooh... Understood. I'll just wait for you at the doorway."
Fisher withdrew his gaze, looking at the Lord Cardinal before him. He nonetheless saw him vaguely rock his own mechanical body and stand up. Waggling his butt exactly like a little dog, he hopped off the bed, simultaneously saying to Fisher,
"Mister Fisher. Erwind's destination is the Frostwood Sycamore Tree. Ultimately he will inevitably generate conflicts with the Turan family. The Turan family themselves is not simple. Erwind wanting to act will not be that easy... Moreover, according to Lord of Fate's intel, there seemingly rests a profoundly dangerous weapon upon your body?"
The "dangerous weapon" spoke of by Lord Cardinal, if surprisingly unexpected, was exactly the [Death Rune] Eliog gave him. That short dagger that could only be drawn a single time did not need to be carried on one's person. It merely required him to call upon it, and it could materialize or tag along, possessing extremely identical properties to the Completion Handbook.
According to Eliog's explanation, this dagger was produced by a Demon God called [Agreas] completely through stealing a fragment of the world's Rules. It possessed the special effect of instant death upon hitting its mark.
"Erwind is far, far more anxious than us. And prior to that time, Mister Fisher can assist that eldest young miss of the Turan family in searching for the sigils to enter the Frostwood Sycamore Tree with one's whole heart and entire intent. If you can forge slightly better relations with her, that'd be even better. This way, it's not totally impossible to be capable of obtaining even more assistance when warring against Erwind later. The Lord of Fate stated you are immensely knowledgeable in dealing with ladies... Alright. I shall bid my farewells first. Since I already know where Mister Fisher is, I will come back to notify you if there are new situations afterward."
As he spoke, Lord Cardinal crawled to the room's ventilation duct opening. Those hands and feet that looked rather cumbersome tightly gripped the walls of the room strictly resembling a spider. Instantly, he crawled above the ceiling. Right before the face-covered-in-black-lines Fisher erupted, he bade him farewell and left his room.
And Fisher heaved a sigh, massaging his own brows, organizing the numerous messages he had just obtained within his brain. Just having pushed open the door preparing to exit the room, he then saw the Emhart in the corridor was currently sitting upon Ilos's shoulder, whispering something into her rabbit ears.
Upon seeing Fisher come out, Emhart didn't fluster. Ilos, however, suddenly grew red in the face. Frightened, she almost jumped up into the air.
"Mis-Mister Fisher!"
Fisher raised an eyebrow. Staring at the slowly flying back Emhart, he looked at Ilos and opened his mouth, inquiring,
"What are you guys talking about?"
"Mother Goddess bless... N... nothing... Ummm, it seems it's time to eat. We had better head down quickly."
Clutching her lower abdomen, she slowly walked to Fisher's side. With evasive eyes, she pointed at the corridor ahead. Walking a step ahead, she headed straight toward the front.
Looking at that slightly uptilted rabbit tail behind her back, Fisher death-gripped the playing-dead Emhart. Glaring at him, he said,
"What did you say to her just perfectly now?"
"N-nothing! It was she who asked me! She asked me what you used to do in the past, and also asked me why you would be acquainted with that Turan family's eldest young miss and so forth! You know me: the great Sir Book Artifact has always spoken nothing but the whole entire truth!"
"...Therefore, what exactly did you say?"
"Um... I said you are the scholar who likes demi-human races the most. That's all there is to it, ah."