Chapter 239 – Sleeping Flame (6)
I don’t know much about the position of prophet.
I just thought it was something like a prophet or something. Although I know that the prophecy fits so well that the bicorns believe it without a single doubt.
Is that why?
It didn’t surprise me that a prophet had left a record on this island.
But that’s my story, and with Veronica, it must have felt completely different. Look at him trying to calm his heart with his eyes shining.
Well, even if you think about it roughly, that prophet’s main body must have already passed away. Even if you want to meet him and ask him something, he is an impossible partner.
Then, she found her alter ego, which she created to pass on her knowledge to her future descendants. Her heart raced and the tension made her breathless.
Because the answer Veronica has been searching for has appeared here.
【Whoa, whoa…】
Veronica puts her hand on her chest and takes a deep breath. Her prophetic alter ego smiled softly and waited like a machine for a question.
─Suck.
I took Veronica’s hand. It may have crossed the line a bit, but this should have been acceptable. Veronica was a little surprised by my touch, but nodded her head as if she had calmed down.
The alter ego of the prophet seemed to be observing us as we were doing so.
A magical light passed through her eyes. Our qualifications are probably similar to the magic used in the barrier… The mana of the Old God, or something like that must have been determined.
【Welcome. A lovely descendant of my clan. And… My favorite child of chaos with great potential.]
The Prophet’s alter ego smiled receptively and spread her arms.
After greeting me with such a smooth motion, she turned her head and asked Veronica a question.
【The descendant of the clan who followed the path I preceded. What I left out is——Is the prophecy still passed down to your clan in your time? Even our friend Unicorn?]
【──Yes. We are still using the words left by the prophet as our compass.]
Veronica answered with a sense of pride, and the Prophet’s alter ego seemed to be delighted with the answer, but she lowered her eyes like a child who had done something bad.
【… Prophet?]
At that ambiguous reaction, Veronica stopped trying to ask her something. She may have thought that if I asked questions as she came to mind, she would mess up the flow of the story.
【If my alter ego was not renewed, it would mean that my main body lost its life in the middle of the trip.】
As we kept our mouths shut, the Prophet’s alter ego spoke like a program that had gone back to standby.
【I am an alter ego created 113 years after the end of Ragnarok.
Since the first generation, there have been 14 renewals in 100-year cycles, and a total of 5844 years have been spent here without meeting the 15th renewal.]
It was the alter ego of the prophet who reads the manufacturing year and month as if playing a video.
‘Is this a true story in a fucking time unit?’
14 times 100 years is 1400 years.
4044 years ago was roughly the end of the golden age of ancient civilizations. Considering the timing, it seems that the prophet was involved in a war during the great war that destroyed the ancient civilization. Or is it lifespan?
【Thank you for the precious relationship that I met after waiting for an eternity. Please ask me anything. If you deserve an answer, I will tell you all the stories I wanted to leave behind.]
Saying that, the Prophet’s alter ego smiled softly. Maybe that’s the default standby state.
【This… What an unexpected harvest. Could it be that the Prophet left such an arrangement on this island, which was not considered important in tradition? …】
Veronica bit her lip to see if her heart, which had calmed down when asked to ask anything, started beating again.
【Could that person have foreseen that this would happen? That the descendants who will help the clan’s guide in the future will arrive here to save the Burning Branch?]
As she murmured, Veronica’s hands—you wouldn’t even feel the heat—were strangely sweaty.
-Shashak. Noticing that, Veronica shyly removed his hand and said,
【… I’m sorry, dear. Won’t you ask me something first? I’m so nervous that I can’t move my mouth.]
【Uh, um. So what.]
That’s the answer, but what the fuck should I ask? The role of asking about the curse of the bicorns is up to Veronica. The questions were to be properly selected.
Thinking so, I asked a question from the first thing that bothered me.
【Prophet. Are you the one who made this island?]
【Yes, my favorite chaos. I was the one who put my hands on making the creature comfortable to live in. However, the island’s climate and the fiery mana that fills it everywhere are about half natural.]
The alter ego of the prophet who answers with flowing water.
It’s hard to say this, but if you compare it clearly, you can feel the difference in level from Odin’s alter ego. The alter ego of the prophet was like a deep learning AI with a high level somewhere.
Well, no complaints. Even if it is a program that only spits out fixed answers, isn’t it a sense for us?
【Isolated the threat of this island that I discovered during my travels from the outside world, and left a legacy to my family. I believe that those with qualifications will cross the barrier and reach this place.]
【… By threat, you mean that thing behind you, right?]
【What exactly does “That” Refer to?】
Ah, this feels a bit like talking to a voice recognition app on a smartphone.
Maybe that’s why I was able to realize the trick. All you have to do is ask detailed questions.
【The black wall behind the stone monument. Is that what causes fire mana to flow on this island?]
【That’s right. That’s the ‘branch that hurts’ that fell on the middle branch (Miðgarðr). The sword of Surt, the giant. It is a fragment.]
【… Fragments?]
At that, I observed the black ‘wall’ again.
It wasn’t all exposed because it was buried in lava falls and walls.
Still, it’s bigger than our house in Sargadis.
‘… Is that a fragment?’
Doesn’t the expression fragment usually refer to a part of the original that has been fragmented?
So you’re saying that’s just part of the piece? That wall pouring lava waterfalls?
I thought about that for a moment, then I cleared my head.
Fuck. The Age of Mythology in another world is fucking scary. If the Sleipnir I saw in my dream felt like my chest was expanding, that wall felt like my balls were shrinking like a hamster in front of a cat.
[An ancient flame sleeping here, which fell on the continent and caused disaster, and only remained as an island after the land sank. If you are burning even when you met me… Please be careful. It is not something that the black criminal of that calamity can be greedy for.]
【Yes. I will.】
How can you be greedy when a rock melts just by touching it?
Since that kind of firepower is constantly coming out in that range, you can sit on a cushion of money if you use it for something like thermal power generation. But I don’t like it because I think I’ll be cursed.
It’s too much for a fucking dissertation.
It feels like meeting an alien from Mars. I don’t have the courage to write this in my thesis. Still, there is an unknown threat of 〈 Compilation Battalion 〉, but it’s a bit hard to see him leaving his life and his degree on the balance.
【Then the next question… Oh, is it okay if I ask several questions?】
【Reaching in front of me means that you, or you, deserve it. If an unqualified person had broken the barrier and crossed over, he would have been burned to death by the flames here.]
The alter ego of the Prophet who speaks softly of ghastly sounds.
Are you saying that if you broke the last barrier and entered, you would have been burned by the mana of fire that filled this space? The alter ego said so and gave an additional reason.
【And I also confirmed my qualifications with my own eyes. A descendant of your own people and a chaotic favorite with great potential. You are the visitors I hoped for.]
【… What does it mean to be the favorite of chaos?]
Fool (寵兒).
A person who is especially loved by something.
It feels good just by leaving it alone, but if you put the word chaos in front of it, the nuance becomes strange. The prophet readily answered the question uttered with a fucking ominous thought.
【Favorite of Chaos is the title given by Odin-sama for the human race.】
【… So what is that, just means ‘human’?]
【Yes. Are there any problems?]
【Nope. Anything too.]
The fucking 2nd year in Deutsche Middle School. Next time we meet, we’ll really kick each other.
You were scared for nothing I let out a sigh of relief. I guess it was just a hobby for a middle school sophomore with a blind eye.
After all, what could you expect from a god of Germanic mythology who fascinated Hitler and fell in love with the Nazis? It’s like the original middle school 2 gambit that attracts the gun of chaos, adolescence and idiots who are in a storm.
【But why are humans the favorites of chaos?】
【Because humans, unlike gods, are not bound by fate.】
Wow. The description is fucking unkind.
From that short comment, I realized that the current question is something that the alter ego, and even the prophet who created the alter ego, are reluctant to ask.
It is the basis of interrogation learned from the 21st century Earth movie.
If you spit out an alibi or TMI and then suddenly get a short answer, is that a secret you want to hide?
【Prophet. I also have something I would like to ask.]
It was then. Veronica said she was ready to accept an unexpected opportunity.
【Why did the gods of Asgard curse us——Bicorns, Unicorns, and Grani?]
I expected to ask how to break the curse, but Veronica’s question was more fundamental.
【Reason, you mean?】
【Yeah. According to tradition, we were cursed and banished under the world tree without knowing anything. Even if we are later saved according to the prophecy of the prophet, we must not remember the mistakes we have committed.]
Because you were cursed I remembered the words of Hildegard and a young bicorn who picked me up at the sacred place of bicorn.
—Forgiveness would be nice, but it could also be disappointment. Because there is nothing more terrifying than the indifference you receive from the person you want to serve. You guys should know that too.
This is Veronica, who has been trying harder than anyone else to solve the curse of the bicorn.
So Veronica seems to have thought that she must know what she did wrong before she can be forgiven. I have a very sincere personality.
【So we have to remember. What sins did you once commit?]
At that, the alter ego didn’t answer right away and waited.
I don’t know if it’s because it’s being calculated, or if the main body’s hesitation in the alter ego is revealed.
【Originally, the answer to that question should not be told to the descendants of the clan.
… But if you are with someone with great potential, you deserve to be heard. I can easily imagine the hardships you must have gone through before meeting that person.]
Fortunately, she didn’t evade her answer. The alter ego of the prophet talking to me while looking at me. I got over the feeling of incongruity this time too.
【The reason why some gods received curses―─ mercy goes back to the very, very distant past.】
Oh shit This is TMI time.
Even though it was a serious story, I felt a little uncomfortable, so I corrected my posture. I’m ashamed to even say I’m an archaeologist, thinking that I’m bored in a place where I tell you the secrets of history.
Veronica from the sidelined her ear, so she couldn’t even tell me to just do a three-line summary. Cabi.
【I was once a member of the prophets, but one day I saw in a dream an irresistible destruction that befell all the gods.】
The Prophet’s alter ego spoke as if recalling her memories of her old days.
【Odin-nim, who heard my prophecy, made every effort to prevent that destruction. He gathered superior warriors and sought more knowledge than ever before.
… However, it rather fulfilled the prophecy and called the enemy. Odin-sama said that it is because destiny is an inevitability that is destined to happen from the moment you observe it.]
It was a bit like quantum mechanics.
I don’t know what the two are doing, but I’m sure everyone has heard of the cruel fairy tale of Mr. Schrödinger, the cat serial killer.
‘The result is determined by the occurrence of an observer.’
Destiny is similar.
But, in other words, doesn’t that mean that prophecy is an unavoidable future from the time the value was derived? I found a faint sense of incongruity in the alter ego’s words, but decided to keep my mouth shut for now.
The Prophet’s alter ego met Veronica’s eyes and said.
【So the gods, who had no choice but to accept that the inevitable destruction was approaching, showed mercy to several gods. They summoned their representative and gave them the opportunity to choose on the condition that they not tell the clan.]
【… What do you mean mercy?]
When Veronica asked impatiently, the Prophet’s alter ego lowered her eyes.
【… Descendant of the clan. Didn’t you think it was strange? According to my prophecy, Ragnarok is the downfall of all gods. Neither the gods of Sumeronia nor the gods of Narmer-Nile could escape from it.]
Where did you hear something similar? Was that what Odin’s alter ego said?
‘Was it when he asked if I came to this world because of you?’
Odin said that it was not so, and that most of the gods in this world were already dead or weakened by defeat. I can’t remember exactly, but I think it was something like that.
【Nevertheless, we are alive. Even though he is a god, he has escaped the destruction that befell the god.]
That was definitely odd.
The Bicorns, who claim to be the best of the gods, and can actually regain their original power——a little of the power they should have had even if half of the curse was lifted.
But why do they live well even in a different modern world where the gods were massacred?
That answer was the reason.
【──The curse placed on our family was Odin-sama’s mercy to save us from Ragnarok.】
The reason why the prophet expressed the curse on the bicorns as ‘mercy’.
And the reason why the curse fell on the bicorns.
