Chapter 128: Four Questions for Reform (3)
A comrade's corpse was placed in the middle of the great sea.
The banshee's corpse had risen to the surface of the seawater. The ripples it created. Nodens bent down beside the ripples. He knelt on one knee and reached out his hand. After stroking the wound engraved on the banshee's chest, he gently pushed it away and personally buried it at sea. The dead banshee began to sink into the water.
Slowly, and deeply.
The void spoke.
In the voice of an insidious woman.
“Shut up, Demon King.”
Nodens stood up.
He looked around while standing on the water.
“My comrades were not created. They were born.”
The woman's laughter adorned the void.
Nodens' sea was blue.
It was made to seem blue.
The nurous banshees that peeked their heads above the surface were utterly beautiful. They were made to feel beautiful.
Everything that the Main God's creations found ugly, was misconstrued as beautiful to Nodens, the Demon King's creation.
The woman asked.
“It was unpleasant.”
Nodens stared at the other side of the sea.
He observed Portsmouth from a great distance. The human dwelling built at the edge of the land was hideous. Humans dig up the earth and cut down trees to build their nests. Just as humans find the nests of monsters repulsive, Nodens found human villages to be nothing but unpleasant.
“I saw the one who killed my comrade.”
He intended to covet the sea, he said.
Nodens muttered in a silent tone.
“He was different from the humans I have vanquished so far.”
“I do not know.”
Nodens thought of Abel.
Battle would be inevitable. That man would arrive soon.
In the first place, the declaration of war had been made. On the first day Abel arrived, Nodens rembered the comrades who had been cut down by Aura Blade and annihilated. That was the signal. Would Abel cross the sea first, or would Nodens cross the sea first. In other words, a reconnaissance battle had begun with a slight choice left.
“That man is strong.”
“Different. I felt curiosity.”
“I do not know.”
Nodens looked down at the sea surface.
He could not lose the sea. Nodens thought, bending his upper body.
He reached out his arm and stirred the water. Laughter welled up from the deep sea. It was as if the seawater was being tickled.
But it was the laughter of children. The laughter of young and innocent children. Before long, countless eyes were engraved at Nodens' feet. The gazes of boys and girls. Children were reaching out their hands toward Nodens. Nurous faces shimred in the water where Nodens stood.
“Do you hear it.”
Nodens muttered.
“Do you hear it.”
O adversary from the outside, he said.
Nodens whispered with a sneer.
“If by any chance you can hear it, how do you hear it.”
Do you hear it as a human's.
Or do you hear it as a monster's.
Nodens asked as such.
Towards the natural enemy he would not hesitate to fight.
***
It was noon when they arrived at the square.
Monika stared straight ahead with a stern expression. The atmosphere was unusual. A huge orb was glowing, and Abel and Eleanor were standing around it.
‘……A sensory stone?’
Monika had an intuition.
That the identity of the orb was a sensory stone.
Its size was different from Vincent Tremblay's that she had seen before, but its nature seed the sa. The radiance of the sensory stone connected to the mana device was dazzling.
‘Good. They all look like they're at a funeral.’
Ernst thought.
The complexions of the residents gathered in the square were pale.
It must be because they had co into contact with Pnakotic's sensory stone. The mont they touched the sensory stone, they must have seen through the mana stored in the mana device. They must have heard. They must have felt it completely. They must have experienced the history of Portsmouth through their five senses.
‘Guilt, astonishnt, and rationalization…….’
Lizer sensed.
He perceived the residents' ntal state as a spirit.
It was not difficult to grasp the situation. If it was such a massive sensory stone, it must belong to the old elf. The residents had reflected on the truth of their faith in Cthanid, and as a result, they had fallen into confusion.
- What on earth is this……, is what I saw and heard truly real?
- Please tell . What on earth did you see? Was it the sa as what I saw? I…….
- Miko-nim, what is all this about. Please tell us. Please give us a revelation!
The residents' eyes turned toward Eleanor.
Eleanor moved quickly. She hid behind Abel's back and observed the residents' faces. To have the residents co into contact with the sensory stone while feigning to be a miko. With that, Eleanor had fulfilled her role. After erasing the expression she had maintained as a miko, she questioned as a girl.
‘Is this really enough.’
Can the residents handle it?
The facts they had never known their entire lives.
“It is all true.”
There was no ti for concern.
Abel explained in an indifferent tone.
“You have glimpsed a lifeti through the sensory stone. You must have felt the five senses of the elf who has lived in this village the longest, Pnakotic.”
Abel's thod was radical.
Whatever the circumstances, since he had ended up killing the village chief, it was only right to nd the relationship with the residents, even by using eccentric ans.
More than just asserting his justification, more than just presenting practical evidence, he had intended for the residents to experience the truth with their entire bodies. So that they could never deny the truth.
“It will be difficult to accept for now.”
Abel said, looking around at the residents.
“I am not unaware of your situation. The village chief's death, as well as the facts you have just reflected on, will feel sudden.”
I will give you ti, he said.
Abel continued, gesturing to the sensory stone with his chin.
“Tell the residents who are not here. I will leave this sensory stone in the square for a while. You may touch it as many tis as you like. You may experience it as many tis as you like. Please contemplate it carefully.”
Your faith is flawed.
This village is stained with nurous mistakes.
Decide. How to accept all of this.
“Whatever decision you make……”
I will do my best.
For the safety of Portsmouth, he said.
Muttering so, Abel took a step forward.
The startled residents.
When Abel took a step forward, a murmur spread. The sound was small, so he could not grasp the content, but he could guess that a mixture of emotions was crossing their minds. For now, ti was needed. The residents would fall into greater confusion than yesterday, and Abel intended to wait until their thoughts were organized. He had to create such a leeway.
“W-where are you going?”
Eleanor asked, hastily following Abel,
“I'm going to the coast.”
Abel answered without hesitation.
“I have been away for too long.”
Don't we need soone to stand guard, he said.
After muttering quietly, Abel ca to a halt,
“My n, it is now your turn.”
He opened his mouth, facing the students.
These children also needed to know clearly. What kind of history lurked in the land they had to protect. Even if it was a sin, he intended to guide them through the process of experiencing it themselves and judging its value.
“Monika, Ernst, Demian.”
Go and touch the sensory stone.
Abel instructed as such, and,
“Lizer, you watch over the sensory stone.”
“In case soone tries to break it?”
“That's right.”
At Lizer's question, Abel nodded.
Lizer would not need to experience it. There were many lands with mistakes. As long as he had been active outside of CIAR, he must have known long ago. Therefore, he ordered him to guard. In case so of the residents tried to damage the sensory stone.
“And Roberta Sinclair.”
“……I don't want to.”
When Abel called her na, Roberta pouted her lips.
“You're going to leave out, aren't you? Because I'm the youngest……”
“You got it right.”
You co with .
Whispering so, Abel reached out his hand, and,
“No, I'm going to see it too!”
Roberta hastily stepped back, but,
“──No, no, no!”
It was no use.
Abel went on, carrying Roberta.
Roberta, who was on one of Abel's shoulders, shouted wildly.
“Hey, did you sleep well.”
anwhile, Eleanor opened her mouth to Demian.
Demian's grey eyes twitched slightly. He bowed his head, avoiding Eleanor's gaze.
“……I slept well, Lady Eleanor.”
“Lies. You couldn't sleep. Your face is the color of dirt.”
Follow , she said.
Eleanor grabbed Demian's arm.
While leading him toward the sensory stone,
‘What's with that person.’
Monika's eyes widened.
Was that his original personality? Isn't it too different from when he was acting as a miko. Thinking so, while scratching the back of his neck,
“Let's go. I will escort you, goddess of amber.”
Ernst gestured to Monika, and,
“Ernst, the spirits told to tell you. You're really disgusting.”
Lizer went on, grinning.
Hmm. Monika let out a long breath.
She walked along with Ernst and Lizer and observed the residents' faces. They looked as if they had witnessed the spirit of the dead. Was it because they had touched the sensory stone? Monika thought, sweeping back her hair. It was hard to keep up with the situation. Who is Pnakotic anyway? Questioning so, she stood facing the sensory stone.
“Let's begin.”
Lizer said with his back to the sensory stone.
“Demian, please don't throw up.”
Ernst whispered to Demian, and,
“……I won't anymore.”
Demian muttered in a low voice, and,
‘Alright, let's do this.’
Monika reached out her hand without hesitation.
And so, the mont she rubbed her palm on the sensory stone,
.
.
.
A distorted scene.
It was as if the hands of a clock were spinning wildly.
Only Monika stood at the center, while all sorts of things went back and forth around her like the rewinding hands of a clock. Nurous voices brushed past Monika's ears, and day and night changed in the blink of an eye, confusing Monika's mind.
The buildings disappeared.
They were not collapsing.
They were returning to a ti when they did not exist.
The barnacles that had dominated various parts of Portsmouth disappeared, and the unpleasant humidity also disappeared. As things disappeared, things also ca into being. No, it was different. It wasn't that they were being created. They were just returning to a ti when they existed. It was closer to the past buildings, the past people, regressing to a ti when they existed.
Monika, who felt a sense of nausea, gently closed her eyes, and,
‘This place is…….’
When she opened her eyes before long, the sensory stone was no longer visible.
Neither was Lizer, Eleanor, Demian, nor Ernst.
‘……The Portsmouth of the past.’
She just experienced it.
The color of the seawater, which was rippling smoothly.
The air mixed with a fishy sll, but lively.
And finally, the sound. The utterly comfortable sound of nature.
Monika's five senses perceived the distant past.
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