Chapter 203 – Ancient Missing Link (2)
We went down the sunset-tinged city.
Aside from lunchtime for me and Dana, she had been hanging out in her library for five and a half hours. She had just graduated from college, as she had said she would be back before evening.
“Hey. Nor.”
“Uh.”
Me responding to Dana’s random words.
I carved the rune of ᚲ (Kenaz) on my forehead and activated it. It felt like the five senses were slightly more sensitive than usual, as if the buff effect of the rune stone was being applied.
Even so, it didn’t seem like the effect multiplied even if there were a lot of rune stones equipped. I have the Seal of the Seal and ᛏ (Teiwaz) rune stones, but I didn’t feel that the effects were stronger than the last time I used them.
It’s a little wasteful, but it’s normal, so let’s move on.
‘The single item’s buff effect is stronger than the seal.’
Even if it was a rune stone that stored the spearmanship training method of the Age of Mythology, the buff effect of rune magic seemed to depend on the quality of the stone. As much as it has mana battery power, the rune stone used in the seal seems to be of excellent quality.
‘Anyway, the person chasing me…’
I checked the presence with enhanced senses. There were no pursuers.
“Go slow. It’s safe.”
“Huh. The university seems fine.”
Dana smacked her lips. It was a feeling of half relief, half sadness.
I also scratched my forehead in pity.
‘Are the Tabula’s organization and Roadbrick University unrelated?’
College wasn’t dark. I was just pissed off that the professor I paid and hired had been luping my salary for a month. If there was something that was cut by the university cubs, we would have put people on us.
So, worrying about the odds, I kept the ᚲ (Kenaz) rune until I returned to the inn, but there were no people chasing me and Dana.
“I’m back.”
─Kik. I went back to my room and said goodbye. The door of the inn opened smoothly as if it had been oiled. The party members were hanging out on the bed and woke up.
“Senior~. Welcome~♥!”
“You’ve been there. Great job.”
“What is suffering? It was nice to think of the old days.”
“I sat down. I like it, Taeeng~ I think I’ll go out and eat lunch~ Did you say this?”
“Actually, I was sick of thinking about my college days.”
I looked for Veronica, the only one who didn’t say hello, and found a colt stiff as a stuffed animal on the bed. I’m glad her hooves look clean though. I don’t think the bed was dirty.
But there are 4 beds in this room. Where is he sleeping today?
“Why is Veronica like that?”
“Aha♡ Because you were bullied by me! Geary No. 1 passed out completely, but woke up earlier because her older sister Fran was stroking her.”
“Ah. It’s just that her cheeks are covered with rice cakes.”
It was similar to feeding soy sauce shrimp sushi to a shrimp allergy patient.
Although the curse of the bicorn poses no risk to life, it is perfect for passing out from physiological disgust.
“How was the investigation?”
Fran asked, accepting my coat. Dana responded by patting her on the shoulder, as if her neck was sore from having her head down for so long.
“It was a mistake. As well as the rune stone thesis, there was no information about the ruins we were going to go to.”
“… Even if the latter is natural, the former is a good thing.”
Said Veronica. The sound of her suffering was like the will of a terminally ill patient. Having said that, she stood up and changed her words when she saw my face.
“No. You thought things were going well for you, but maybe I was wrong? You don’t look very good.”
“Yes. Depending on your thoughts, I think it would be better to give up researching rune stones.”
After I said it myself, my belly was hotter than I thought, but what surprised me was the party members as well. Ralilura looked at my complexion.
“Why suddenly? Senior, what happened?”
“I will tell you from now on. But what about Veronica? Could you possibly make the conversation we’re having here inaudible? It would be difficult if someone overheard.”
“It is a simple request. Leave it to me.”
Veronica, who had transformed into God Mode, placed small pieces of stone all over her room and activated the runes. The walls of the inn room flashed and returned to normal.
My inspiration grasped the mana that covered the wall. It was a barrier.
“I didn’t let the sound go outside. An hour should be fine.”
“Thank you. Everyone gather here. I’ll tell you what I found out today.”
She gathered the party members and told the news of Yerna and the results of the investigation in detail.
“… So? Is that person?”
When Yerna was told that her whereabouts were unknown, Fran made her lips into a letter. Here alone, old Yerna and Lari Lu Ra, who did not know the story of my past, were twisting her head on one side.
“Is that Yerna your old teacher?”
“What is the teacher? Acquaintance, he is a bad person.”
To Ralilura’s question, Fran answered with gnashing of teeth.
Oh my, our franc angry face is cute too. I hugged Fran and rubbed my cheek. Fran’s face softened, but her anger didn’t subside, so she pursed her lips.
“Lalilura. Haven’t you heard about my husband’s old days?”
When Dana asked while drinking water from a canteen, Lalilura put her finger to her temple. She seemed to be trying to bring back old memories.
“Is that it? That the senior made a mistake in her entry procedure and became a slave ~ Now you have a master’s degree in archeology, a field job? All she knows is that she works with a name.”
“That’s enough of the outline.”
Dana agrees. I must have talked to this guy before participating in the golem subjugation team.
At the time, she didn’t even bother to mention that her papers had been stolen, so she moved on. It’s a sweet potato story that’s in progress in real time, so finding out about it would only make you feel better.
But this time she decided to give a rough explanation. It’s funny that only Lalilura doesn’t know.
“As for what happened——”
I spoke of the grisly tragedy of a former slave master. Even the fact that the thesis thief is being chased by some idiot organization.
As I said that, the coils in my stomach rose up and a fever broke out, but Ralilura’s reaction was more dramatic than mine.
“… Aha♥ That’s disgusting?”
The circus girl’s antics were fucked up, but Larry Loura revealed her contempt for her sincerity.
Miin’s contemptuous expression had no impact. If I cursed at Lari Lura like that, I thought she would get hurt and I would come out of her dream, but even though she was Lari Lura, she seemed to be taken aback when she saw me surprised, so she calmed down her flustered expression.
“Oh, sorry! Isn’t it because of the seniors? Are you saying that Yerna is disgusting?”
─Nodded. It was our franc headbanging up and down as if we 100% agreed with Ralilura’s words. Although it did not show it outwardly, Fran also seemed to despise Yerna in the same way.
Larry Lura said, raising her finger.
“Anyway! Isn’t that person good because he disappeared? He must have been scolded for doing the same bad thing he did to his senior here.”
“She doesn’t know where she is or what she’s doing. She really doesn’t have the loyalty to save her, even if she’s caught by someone and is in danger, she’s the enemy of her husband, right? What she should think about is the rune stone and the ruins.”
─Tak! Dana put down the canteen with the lid closed.
“I’ll say it again. While she was researching, we talked in writing, but my husband and I decided to stay out of the runestone research.”
When Dana said that, her party members tried to open her mouth at the same time. Since she cut back and forth and brought out the conclusions, doubts must have arisen. So I jumped ahead of the question.
“Everyone seems to be curious, so I’ll tell you first. I decided not to write a thesis with rune stones because I thought the risks outweighed the benefits.”
“A risk?”
Lalilura asks the question back. She seemed to ask what was dangerous.
“Yes. No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange that there are no rune stone research results at all.”
Dana gave that answer, but Frando asked Dana if that answer didn’t solve her curiosity at once.
“Strange? Rune stones are very rare. Others may not have known.”
“I agree with Frank. Since the gods cursed it, the culture of learning and teaching runes has declined among humans, dwarves, and elves.”
Veronica, who collected the rune stones, also voted for the hypothesis.
“In addition, rune stones are also rare in modern times. The probability of a rune magician getting his hands on a rune stone is not that high, even if you think about it for a moment. No one has ever made a discovery like yours.”
“Maybe. But if this isn’t a coincidence, that’s a problem.”
“… What did you mean?”
When I looked serious, the party members perked up their ears. It was an attitude of listening, not resistance.
“The image of the rune stone works just by infusing the mana of the rune. Even if it is a valuable item, has there been no human rune magician who has obtained this and infused it with mana for hundreds of years?”
─Talk. I proudly took out the rune stone of ᛏ(Teiwaz).
“This isn’t just a stone with a video playback effect. A stone that enhances rune magic. Of course, at least one or two of the rune masters in history must have obtained a rune stone. It’s natural for a mage to want items in their field of expertise.”
“Senior. Isn’t that because there are a lot of cheaper and better things? Rune stones are very expensive like jewels, but there are plenty of other magic stones that enhance magic, right?”
Rari Lura raised her hand and said. It was said that at the same price, wouldn’t it be possible to obtain a magic stone that has a stronger magic enhancing effect than rune stones, which are evaluated for historical value and rarity.
But Dana shook her head at Lari Lura’s words.
“That’s true, but it also feels odd that no one has gotten it for hundreds of years. Even a rune master is a wizard after all. There must have been people who spent a lot of money to do research.”
“… Is it like that? No, it must be because your senior or older sister said that.”
Lalilura seemed to believe in us, but in fact, the only evidence we had was our feelings. It might have been that the research material had come rolling in on me with a truly miraculous probability.
But what if this isn’t overthinking? I put my fingers on the back of my hand.
“Listen. It’s a matter of possibility. Everyone would understand if the dwarves said they couldn’t shoot a bow because of their short arms, but it doesn’t make sense that no dwarf had ever used a bow in hundreds of years.”
“Yes. That’s right. The more I hear it, the more strange it is.”
Frank squeezed his hand. It seemed that my metaphor was beginning to come to life.
“Look at the contents of the video. I even recorded how to milk a goat in a rune stone. I wonder if this was a valuable item? At the time they were created, rune stones would have been a universal recording medium.”
“But even finding such a common rune stone has become difficult. It is said that there was a long gap from the mythical age to the end of the ancient civilization, but when suspicious things like this pile up, it is bound to be ominous.”
Dana took my word for it. Sitting on the bed, Veronica crossed her white legs and rested her chin.
“… I see now what you are concerned about.”
I was still in the middle of the explanation, but Veronica seemed to have noticed her words already.
“The true effect of the rune stone is easy to figure out for a human researcher who has learned runes. Still, it doesn’t make sense that people who study history and artifacts like you didn’t know anything about it for hundreds of years, right?”
“Uh. Wasn’t it just a coincidence that I figured this out? For some reason, other people didn’t know the secret I easily found out, and I was the only one who was lucky enough to suck honey with it.
I judged soberly.
In a similar case, Return of the Beast, there was a peculiarity that I was an earthling.
Even if I was lucky enough to suck honey, part of the storyline was guessed, so I passed it off as dog gain without knowing the effects and side effects of beast return.
Even if some of its secrets are still shrouded in mystery.
‘But isn’t that what rune stones are?’
For the past hundreds of years, there must have been thousands or tens of thousands of rune magicians all over the world, but only I found the true use of rune stones, sucked honey, and wrote a thesis?
‘There’s no way such luck would come only to me.’
If there is no variable called chance, it is just probability theory.
There is no such thing as a honey tip to win the lottery first prize. Isn’t it normal to think that a lucky person who doesn’t even spend money in the lottery and only draws SSRs is a fucking rom with a management team and a back stomach?
That I’m the only one chosen by 1 in tens of thousands of luck? I’m not very lucky, even if I factor in things like prophecy and Odin’s successor.
‘Is the only luck I can boast about being a woman’s fortune?’
… No All of my party members are beauties, and I only have two fucking pretty wives.
Now that I think about it, even if I have only one woman’s luck, I can’t say I have bad luck anywhere.
“Simply put, this is what it says.”
While I was thinking, Dana prepared to finish the conversation.
“For some reason, those common rune stones have shrunk enough to be regarded as jewels, and there are no thesis that someone might have already written. More than anything, the girl who stole my husband’s thesis is being chased by an unknown organization. Taking all of that into consideration, we thought of this.”
Dana said in a disturbed tone, as if if she had been a smoker, she would have been a chain smoker.
“Rather than saying no one has done research on rune stones——I wonder if it’s ‘failed’.”
For a moment, the inn room was quiet.
She couldn’t even swallow her saliva, enough to doubt her eavesdropping skills if there was anyone who could break through the barrier and eavesdrop on our conversation.
“… Are you saying someone went to the researchers and harmed them?”
She wrapped her neck around Fran’s neck as if she was getting goosebumps after breaking the long silence.
It must be because of me that the idea came to me. The day after I became a lover with Fran, I told her that I had to become strong in order to save her life while researching dimension shifting.
At Fran’s words, Dana let out a moan as if her headache was hurting.
“In our opinion, yes. I wonder if some kind of fanatic or something is going to visit the guys who are doing research that goes against their conscience. It is also filthy extensive and thorough.”
“… Dear There was no reason to ask, so I haven’t asked until now…”
After hearing Dana’s answer, Veronica asked.
“What is the thesis you wrote?”
Party members saw me. Because only Dana knew the contents of the thesis.
“… The Elune language is not a derivative language of the Rune language used in ancient Germania. The similarity of the language found in the remains is difficult to see in a modified language such as a dialect or slang.”
I recited the contents of my thesis, which I still vividly remember.
It seemed that the contents of the thesis were engraved in my head, like the smell of ink on my fingers, because I had been refining in an effort to improve the quality.
“Based on other documentary evidence, we challenge the previously discovered or suggested maps of the period of ancient civilizations. It is correct to view the eastern and western regions of ancient Germania separately.”
I ruminated on old memories.
When I was a lab room slave, the place I went with Yerna was mainly Germania.
He had a keen interest in the history and language of Germania. That’s why Yenna raised me from slavery to researcher, or Professor Brammaton in the Department of Linguistics was close enough to take over the work.
“… Thus.”
It only hurts my mouth to talk about the content of the thesis at length, so I put aside the other content and recited only the key points of the thesis briefly.
“In the west of the ancient civilization of Germania, there exists an unknown country unknown to the world.”
It reminded me of an old madman who I saw on a tombstone-like rune stone.
