Chapter 17 (1/2)

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

When Herti’s voice fell, everyone present swallowed subconsciously.

All except Betty—the little girl did not understand anything they said.

Rebecca could not help but think of the monsters who had ruined her home. Those monsters were the product of the Dark Wave. She had once thought that these monsters had wandered over from the wastelands through the Great Barrier and intruded into Anzu territory—after all, the Cecil Clan’s territory bordered the south of Anzu, which was pretty close to the wasteland. If something was really wrong with one of the sentinel towers that caused a breach in the Great Barrier, then it was conceivable that some monsters would have come through.

Now, Rebecca could not help but imagine an even worse scenario—what if the monsters had not come from the wastelands, but were born on Cecil territory lands?

What if those monsters… foretold a new tide of magic?

“Um… aren’t we getting a little too worried about this?” Amber was the first to break the silence. The half-elf girl forced a smile and pointed to the notes in Herti’s hands. “That’s just a notebook from a single rogue mage. The clarity of his records are questionable. Do we really have to link it to the Dark Wave?”

Gawain did not rebut her, but nodded. “Yeah, I might just be a little too nervous.”

After all, he was only analyzing the inherited archives of someone’s memory. Even though it felt awesome to spew out the great history of seven hundred years past in person from memory, he felt a little shocked by its contents after his recital.

“That’s right.” Amber breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Gawain nod. “Your ancestor has been dead for seven hundred years, and his mind is still adapting to modern times—I know you’ve experienced the Dark Wave in your lifetime, so the psychological shadow is probably causing… Ouch!”

Rebecca smacked her staff onto the half-elf’s head and glared at her. “Don’t be rude to Lord Ancestor!”

Gawain cast a strange look at Rebecca’s wand. In his head, he was thinking about how she was already rude for hitting her old ancestor with the “rod of ‘rest in peace’”…

“Whatever may be the truth of this matter, we have to report this to His Majesty the King when we reach St. Soniel,” said Herti as she handed the notebook to Gawain. “As for how much the King would believe of this… That’s not something we can influence.”

Gawain tucked the notebook away in silence, suppressing all manner of complicated thoughts to the back of his mind.

Then, he lifted his head and gazed at the large “sun” in the sky.

There was no canopy shading the glade. The sky was wide open above them, and a giant sun had now reached its zenith. The mighty yet oppressive crown of brightness was bringing light, heat, as well as the power of magic to this world.

Perhaps it was the last element that brought about a drastically different natural order on this planet from that of Earth’s.

Gawain’s eyes traveled across the surface of this giant sun. Those faint streaks looked like they could be storms on the surface of the gas giant. He tried to scour the surface for any ominous dark red spots on it, but his efforts were in vain: their appearances were only but a flash on the surface and disappeared as suddenly as they came.

However, the sense of foreboding in Gawain’s heart did not vanish with it. He merely pushed his concerns to the back of his mind, silently planning what he should do next.

First of all, he had to gain a foothold in this world. Even though his family was run-down and ancient now… having a starting point was better than building it from scratch in the wilderness or cemeteries.

After passing through the dense forest, their journey became much easier. Perhaps the “law of conservation of character” did exist, for the crew were not waylaid by any more monsters or “natural phenomena”. They thus made their way to the main road safely, and even met a small caravan of traveling merchants along the way. After handing them an adequate amount of money, the crew finally put their worries of having to traverse over hill and dale on foot, and rode with them in a carriage that sped towards Tanzan.

The leader of the merchants was a plump northerner who hailed from the richer lands of the kingdom and sold local products and herbs in the south. He told them he had planned to head to the Cecil territory to secure one last deal, but heard that it was in the throes of a terrible disaster along the way, causing him to abandon his journey halfway. At first, he was cautious and was reluctant to bring Gawain and the rest of his weapon-carrying crew on board, but Herti managed to finally persuade him with two pieces of gold, and even talked her way into letting them ride in the carriage.

Gold was indeed the most eloquent negotiator in business transactions (for sure).