Chapter 115

“But.”

The one who spoke was Kengo.

“At the moment, it feels like what we learned about large-scale magic is that we still don’t know anything about it, right?”

Falone looked a little annoyed, while Luano laughed.

“That’s right. I wish I could’ve shown you the husband’s disappointed face after the cipher was solved.”

“Luano!”

At Falone’s protest, Luano only sipped his alcohol.

Falone must have deciphered the character strings carved into the magic stones with more excitement than anyone else.

When I thought of his disappointment, I felt a little sorry for him.

“That said, I think the possibility that this large-scale magic circle was fabricated recently has become low. Also, that it’s still an unsolved mystery. Luck like this doesn’t come around often.”

Perhaps he had been working all night, because Luano looked terribly exhausted, yet only his eyes glittered as he sipped his alcohol.

“We’re talking about possibly leaving our names in history.”

At that fearless mutter, even Falone, who had been angry at being teased, quieted down.

After all, the more difficult the problem was, the more fired up they became.

“That said, when it came to what we should do next, we were at a loss.”

“As for the warning carved into that large-scale magic circle, you weren’t going to listen to it anyway, were you?”

At Kengo’s question, Luano and Falone blatantly looked away.

So did Alan and Zezel, who were quietly staying in the corner of the room.

“Well, that much was expected. It’s something I’ve discussed at length with Yorinobu too.”

“With me?”

“The idea that someone may have already solved this mystery and might be about to fire it at the world at any moment. To oppose that, we have no choice but to solve the mystery ourselves.”

That should not be overthinking it.

It would be far too dangerous to assume that we were the ones who had returned from the mine from the most advanced civilization.

“And among the deciphered texts, there’s something I just can’t stop wondering about.”

At those words, not only Falone and the others, but even Iiria, who had buried her face in Kururu’s chest to escape reality, raised her head.

“It’s those great spirits. What are they?”

“What are they? Well, of course…”

Luano looked as if he had never expected to be asked such a thing at this point, but no answer came out.

If there were someone who jumped up after having an amazing dream, only to find that when they tried to tell someone about it, they could not remember what kind of dream it had been at all, they would probably make a face like this.

Kengo continued.

“In the legends left by the church, I feel like it was God who granted magic to people. But doesn’t this sound like something separate from that? In the church’s story, the impression is that the one and only God granted magic, then went off somewhere. But the impression I get from these texts is that they’re talking about someone who existed in the distant past, or perhaps some sort of race.”

“Like elves?”

At my words, Kengo thought for a moment, then said, “If that were the case, they’d probably be called goddesses or something.”

It was true that elves had the image of being beautiful.

“Elves?”

Kururu asked unhappily.

When I explained that they lived in forests and were extremely long-lived, it seemed this world had no existence exactly like elves.

She gave me a very suspicious look, and when Iiria heard that elves had pointed ears, she touched her own ears and Kururu’s ears.

“Are the elves Yorinobu and the others talking about something like the legendary treefolk?”

“Aren’t those just the people who tell you the way when you’re lost in the forest?”

“They can also tell apart bird songs and tell you where clear springs are.”

The treefolk were probably something that appeared in famous fairy tales in this world.

Surprisingly, the one who liked that sort of story was not the fluffy Iiria, but Kururu.

“I don’t know about elves.”

Luano said then.

“But in the church’s prayers, there’s a phrase like, ‘O God, O spirits,’ right? I just naturally thought it was that. But I’m not a serious church believer, so if you ask me what that actually means, I don’t really know. What do you think, husband Falone?”

Since he called himself an astrologer, Falone somehow seemed like he would also know about the occult.

In this world, the occult and science were probably similar things.

“Hmm… if they are the same beings as the spirits that appear in church teachings, then all I can say is that there are various theories.”

“Various theories?”

“Mm. The interpretation has not been settled. Some say they are great angels who serve God, while others say they are the very power of God’s miracles. In the past, the church itself apparently came into conflict over that interpretation, and heresy disturbances occurred…”

Myths and the like generally contradicted one another and had no consistency.

Just as I was thinking that this was nothing especially strange, Falone continued.

“Somehow, whenever the church speaks of spirits, I feel that it always seems unable to handle the subject.”

That was an unexpected statement.

It seemed not only I, but Iiria, Kururu, and Cole, who had probably received the most orthodox education among us here, felt the same way.

“Unable to handle it? Not just some mysterious, grand-sounding talk?”

At Cole’s question, which was like that of an excellent student, Falone nodded exaggeratedly.

“Indeed. Many clergymen are rotten, but there are also many excellent and serious ones. There are many who sincerely face their faith and try to grasp God’s teachings correctly. But even if one reads their writings, it is utterly unclear.”

“Isn’t that because it was just someone’s careless fabrication?”

Iiria, who was probably one of the most realistic people here and did not seem to believe in a convenient being like God, said that.

“Heh-heh. I feel I may get along well with you, my lord. Of course, that possibility exists, but I would dare to propose another possibility.”

As he flipped his robe and spoke in a theatrical manner, Iiria’s dog ears moved greatly back and forth.

“In other words, perhaps spirits truly did exist.”

Iiria stared blankly, and I did not quite understand either.

“Um, if they truly existed, wouldn’t the church not argue internally over the teachings?”

Because if they existed, then it should have been clear what kind of beings they were.

“My friends, there is not only one belief system in the world.”

Iiria, Kururu, Cole, and even Luano, Alan, and Zezel all looked puzzled.

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

But Kengo and I understood.

“You mean the great spirits might be gods of another land, or something like that, belonging to a different faith from the church’s belief system?”

Falone grinned and pointed at me.

“As expected of one that has returned from the mine.”

Iiria hurriedly spoke to Falone.

“W-Wait, wait. What do you mean by a different faith? Then does that mean everything the church says is a total lie?”

Even if she did not believe in God properly, it did not necessarily mean that she doubted the church from its foundations.

For the people of this world, the church was a natural and familiar existence.

However, if there was another faith besides the church that should praise the one and only God, and the god on that side actually existed, then logically speaking, the church’s teachings would be complete lies.

Iiria was dumbfounded, as if she had never even considered such a thing.

Doubting common sense was very difficult.

In that regard, Kengo and I had an advantage because we had come from a strange country that was among the most devout in the world and, at the same time, had one of the largest numbers of people who called themselves atheists.

“There’s no problem with there being any number of gods. In the country where we were born, it felt like there were about eight million gods.”

Kengo smiled wryly.

Iiria and Kururu’s eyes went completely round, while Falone threw out his chest and laughed.

“Hm-hm-hm! Only heretics can calmly speak of such things! And there are none more suited to heresy than those returned from the mine. Even so, eight million gods!”

“Even tableware and furniture become gods if they’re used for a hundred years.”

When I told Kururu about tool spirits, she looked startled like a cat that was shown a cucumber.

“What a story from a world entirely beyond our imagination! However, this is not limited only to stories of another world like yours, Yorinobu-dono and Kengo-dono. Even in this world, such things are not unusual in the peripheral regions of the empire. All the more so outside the empire’s territory. Though the empire and the church will not acknowledge it.”

This breadth of insight truly felt fitting for a wandering astrologer.

“Furthermore, I feel some frustration at Kengo-dono’s point of focus.”

“Hmm?”

“Because I too thought that if there were any clues to the mystery of magic circles, they would lie in that direction.”

“That direction… meaning the spirits and so on?”

“Mm. If there were words left behind by the spirits themselves, would you not think they would be useful?”

“That… well, they would, but?”

If such things existed, would anyone be struggling?

While we were looking at one another, the one who raised his voice was Zezel.

“D-Do not tell me, Falone-dono…”

“Yes! That very thing!”

Falone clapped his hands, then spoke of the story of mines passed down among beastfolk, which Zezel had told us.

It said that a beastman exposed to miasma inside a mine and turning into a monster tried to seek help deep inside the mine before losing reason, but because his body had already turned into a monster, he could only use the language spoken by monsters, and that language was…

“The same as what was carved into the magic stones?”

At Kengo’s question, Zezel shrank his large body and apologetically lowered his ears.

“Monsters and spirits are, well, probably similar things.”

Falone said such a thing and took over the conversation.

“This is a matter concerning large-scale magic circles. Furthermore, it is a mystery that even the people of the previous empire could not solve. We should not rule out any possibility.”

The history told by the church was not everything, and the legends remaining in this world were not the only legends.

Beyond the message left on these magic stones, there might be a secret of the world that no one yet knew.

“But Falone-dono, surely this is…”

“Oh, Zezel. Even if you become a slave to knowledge, you must not become a slave to common sense! I am a great astrologer and astronomer. I am used to chasing absurd things!”

“You say that yourself?”

At Luano’s wry smile, Falone actually looked proud.

“Well, I do not truly believe that it is spirits or the like either.”

And no sooner had he said that than he spun around.

He turned toward Iiria.

The small lord flinched and braced herself.

“And so, my lord, I have a request.”

After the conversation was directed at her, Iiria warily grabbed Kururu’s arm.

People like Falone might be the type Iiria was worst at dealing with.

Right now, in this place, a fragment of an extraordinary secret that had probably been buried in history for a long time was about to be dragged into the light.

However, only a limited number of people could be excited by such things.

“Could you search for old mines and send people there? In the deepest depths of those terrifyingly old ore deposits, words may still remain, carved into the walls by beastfolk who became monsters… no, by someone pretending to be such, using the last strength of their reason.”

What Zezel had told us was a wildly unbelievable story.

However, now that the cipher had been deciphered, that legend could change from a slightly frightening fabrication into something that had been handed down in altered form from some other story.

Before I knew it, Falone’s tone had become formal, and he bent at the waist as he spoke.

“My lord. Those who left this cipher on magic stones searched for the secrets of magic, met frustration, and on top of that, as the empire itself collapsed, tried to leave the knowledge of their era to future generations.”

Beside the large-scale magic circle pasted on the wall, it was written:

Do not pursue the mystery of magic.

But what was written around it consisted entirely of extremely human words.

“Knowledge is not always something that can be brought out into the open. It is highly likely that what is written here consists only of the milder things among it.”

Countless words were pasted on the wall.

If our conjecture was correct, they had crossed hundreds of years and been inherited by later generations, but they had been carved into magic stones, things that would be seen by many people.

If there had been something truly terrifying that they wanted to convey, they could never have carved it there.

Rather, it would be fitting for it to be carved deep inside a cave.

“If this cipher remains in the depths of old, abandoned magic stone mines, then there is a far more fitting hypothesis than assuming it was written by beastfolk on the verge of becoming monsters. It should be far more reasonable to think that someone who carried information that must not be easily known, and who left behind the dying empire, wrote it at the very end in exchange for their life.”

As Falone spoke, his tone gradually changed, taking on heat.

“I know full well that this is like trying to grasp clouds. However, knowledge must be inherited, my lord. Even if it is dangerous, unsettling, and absurd. Because surely there must be a reason why God gave us this curiosity that sometimes scorches the body and seems as though it will never be exhausted!”

Falone did not seem to believe in God in the slightest.

Precisely because of that, his words had a strange weight.

“We must surely inherit the knowledge left by those who came before us. And we must leave it to the next generation. That is the duty of our entire existence as beings who live within an unbroken chain of history.”

Falone, who looked at the message hanging on the wall, had the face of a monk.

In that solemn profile, I felt as though I caught a glimpse of Falone’s life.

Over half his life, this early old man must have been tossed about and tormented many times by his own irrepressible curiosity.

By something that could be called an illness, or even a chronic affliction.

That was exactly why he probably felt such strong sympathy for the cipher on the magic stones carved by someone who had suffered long ago while pursuing the mystery of magic.

What lay there was not a dry, flavorless magic circle.

It was proof that many people had lived, so vivid that one could almost see their suffering faces.

If that was the case, I felt as though I could also picture the face of the person who carved that language said to be in the depths of the mine.

The figure of someone who may have carried away dangerous information, carved it into rock, and died deep inside a mine.

More than anyone else here, Falone probably overlapped them with himself.

The mysterious legend passed down only among beastfolk that Zezel had told us would be nothing more than an absurd story without the clue of the cipher left on the magic stones.

But now, that was not the case.

Perhaps the very reason the cipher had been carved into conspicuous magic stones in the first place was as preparation, so that someone with enough power to decipher it would notice the true message.

“There is a high possibility it will end in wasted effort. However, I beg you, grant us permission to search and your support. My lord.”

As Falone knelt and bowed his head, Iiria could not answer him until the very end.