Capítulo 1852: Chapter 1851: Afterglow of the Era

“The First Era stretched on for hundreds of millions of years. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, Orcs—All Races walked upon the Earth, brilliant civilizations blooming and bearing fruit. The thirteen First Ancient Gods dwelled in the heavens together with those lucky people who had touched the Supreme, yet would occasionally incarnate as Saints to interfere in mortal affairs. Spellcasters of all kinds of Talents and professions recklessly mined the potential of soul and flesh, recording and creating brand-new knowledge, pursuing the mysteries of the World and the meaning of Life. The vast World was far larger than the present Material World; even in the void outside the World, countless small worlds formed from stable fragments still existed.”

He drew in a deep breath:

“People of today cannot imagine any of this; they cannot imagine that even I can only peep at a single corner of that First Era—how prosperous, resplendent, and glorious it was. But all of it is gone, everything has vanished. Outside the World has become true void, the Deities have departed into Sleeping; even if they still exist, they no longer watch over pitiful Mortals. Transcendents no longer possess the Power of the past, mortal civilization degenerates with each generation, and even those wondrous Races gradually fade away within Space-Time, leaving only the final Echo still reverberating in the corners.”

“So…”

Shard asked:

“The span of the First Era was longer than all the Eras that followed combined? Yes, I’ve heard about that as well.”

The Diviner gazed at him with sorrowful eyes:

“Or perhaps one might say that only the bygone days of the First Era were the truly normal age. From then on, from the Second Era after the Ancient Gods departed one after another, has it already been… the Echo of Bygone Days, the afterglow before the Apocalypse?”

The two looked at each other. The Diviner gave Shard a slight nod, then turned and left through the door. His footsteps receded into the distance, leaving only Shard in the firelight of the campfire, silently pondering over this information of uncertain Truth:

“This World…”

According to the agreement, the “ancestor” of the Edwards did not hinder Shard from leaving the island. When Shard jumped from the window down to the street, what he saw was that familiar tentacled man—Sloss Edwards, who had been Transformed into a tentacled Evil Object because he feared Death—hovering above the town, manipulating masses of tentacles sprouting from underground like giant trees, stopping the spatial aberrations that had appeared on the island from destroying the town.

For Sloss Edwards, who possessed both Spatial Ability and a body that seemed impossible to destroy forever, eliminating those things was merely a matter of Time. Thus, on Shard’s way out, no more monsters blocked his path.

Retracing his original route, he returned to the pier on the northern shore of the island. The doctor’s coffin had already disappeared; he and Lecia should have left the range of the white mist. However, Shard did not leave immediately. Instead, from the Pier on the wharf he dove headfirst into the water, then, hugging the lakebed, began to swim clockwise along the waters around the island, using the pier as his starting point.

Because Luviya had given him a precise location, Shard, who was very quick even underwater, soon discovered, beneath the waters off the island’s northeast, a strange spot faintly glowing with a ghostly green light.

Drawing closer, he discovered a sunken boat lying on the lakebed. It was a small wooden boat, about the same size as the old broken boat Shard could Summon. The vessel had snapped in two at the middle, and at the break was the cluster of ghostly green Glimmer Shard had seen from afar.

That light had no physical form; it seemed to be merely luminous. Only when Shard moved closer and saw two Water Ghosts suddenly rising from beneath the hull did he realize that the glow was bait the Water Ghosts used to lure prey.

These two monsters posed no real danger to him. Shard lured them off to one side and then killed them, so as not to pollute that section of the water. Returning to the broken wooden boat, he then fretted over the fact that he could not see the Boatman’s soul.

Although the island was filled with various lingering residents from the Green Lake Town era, those souls could only be fully observed when Space was in chaos. Shard could have waited on the lakebed, but he worried that the doctor and the others would become anxious about him. Yet if he left just like that, he feared something else might happen.

“Then I’ll just take everything away.”

Even though most of the island’s souls remained only because of that Angel-Level Relic, the Soul Storybook, they still fit the chief characteristic of souls unable to depart—that is, they must rely on some object or some location in order to exist.

For example, the old woman who had married into the Edwards Family at the old Lighthouse cemetery and the Blacksmith in the town cemetery were both bound to their own graves, while the Mineralogist was bound to his former oil painting. Shard was certainly incapable of moving the entire Lake, so he planned to take away the Remains of the sunken boat.

Worried that rashly turning the wreck into a toy might affect the soul that had not yet appeared, he patiently excavated the hull from the lakebed first. After bringing the pieces up to the surface, he casually tossed down a fish skeleton he had picked up from the lakebed and Summoned his own old wooden boat.

He piled the broken fragments of the wreck onto the boat, tied the two main sections together with rope, and then had his little boat tow them, heading away from the island.

The small boat Summoned by the Arcane Technique “Summon Old Wooden Boat” had no sail and certainly no Steam Engine for power, but it did not need Shard to row; it could move on its own at a steady, unhurried pace in whatever Direction Shard wished.

Shard therefore stood at the bow. As the wooden boat advanced, he watched the mist before him grow thinner and thinner. To his surprise, he noticed that along the waterway the boat passed through, the fog was almost completely cleared away, leaving a blank strip of water with no mist at all. Only when the little boat had gone far ahead would the white mist flow back in, filling the gap it had been repelled from.

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“And what is the reason for this?”

With that in mind, Shard gradually began to make out the lights of the lakeside village through the white mist:

“This little boat that’s connected to the one in ‘True Death’ clearly still has powers I haven’t discovered yet.”

After he smoothly left the white fog area, he looked up and saw that the number of souls roaming in the night mist above the lake had increased. Staring into the distance, he still didn’t see the people who were supposed to pick him up on the lake’s surface, but the Red Butterfly Pendant hanging at his waist was already gleaming with light.

The small boat continued forward, and before long, Megan and Audrey’s yacht appeared out of thin air on the previously empty lake. On board were not only the doctor, Lecia, and the yacht’s owner Megan, who had been waiting for Shard, but even Miss Galina and Tifa were there.

Lecia was still wearing the same dress she had put on to go on a date with Shard, only now she had a woman’s coat draped over it. The Red-Haired Duchess stood beside her grandniece, looking down at Shard, who stood at the bow of the little boat, looking up. Their gazes met, and Shard actually felt he could read the helplessness in her eyes.

Though she had had conflicts with Lecia in the past, she genuinely cared about her brother’s descendants and had never imagined Lecia would get involved in the affairs of The Chosen.

Seeing that the little boat was dragging something behind it, Megan signaled several Inner Ring girls under her command to go down to the water and help Shard Shift the wreckage of that broken boat onto the yacht’s deck.

When Shard also came onto the deck, Lecia was the first to walk up and hug him, and she refused to let go no matter what. The doctor leaned against the deck rail and made a “everything’s fine” gesture to Shard.

The yacht returned without a sound, sailing toward the place where the Duin River and Green Lake connect. Grace and Helen had already gone back; before leaving, they had entrusted Dorothy with a letter to pass on to Shard as a farewell, but Dorothy hadn’t come along. Even so, she should already know that Shard had returned safely.

Mia, who should have stayed at the inn to be taken care of by Dorothy, was at this moment being held in Tifa’s arms. The little cat lay in the embrace of the black-haired Miss Maid, staring wide-eyed at Shard, as if hoping Shard would swap the girl in his arms for the cat in Tifa’s.

As for Shard himself, holding Lecia, who refused to loosen her arms, he looked up at the abnormal sight in the night sky:

“The Spatial anomaly is intensifying; the ritual of the Chosen of Space must be carried out as soon as possible. Tonight is only the beginning before the final phase of the anomaly arrives, but it’s also the opening of the decisive battle. We have to hurry.”

He thought again of the Diviner’s words back on the island, and kept in mind that he might need to find him for another talk.

“The Church should be able to clean up these things, right?”

Miss Galina and Megan personally used Sorcery to move the important remains of that little boat, transporting them toward the cabin. The doctor pointed at the sky, and Shard nodded:

“Doctor, don’t underestimate the Church. If they can’t even handle this, what are they supposed to use to maintain order in the Material World? Let’s just go back.”

Another thought rose in his heart:

“Besides, even if the Church can’t deal with it, it’s still not our turn to intervene… someone else can solve this trouble, and he should already be here.”

Meanwhile, at the Green Lake City Train Station, the arriving train had already slowly pulled in and stopped. The travelers lugging big and small bags, though covered in dust from the road, still showed great interest in this city where major negotiations were underway.

Leaving the train station, they looked up at the night sky shrouded in heavy fog, and the buzz of discussion added a bit of liveliness to this quiet night. But soon, patrolling police and some unknown squads came to persuade them to return to their lodgings as quickly as possible. Rumors that there might be a curfew tonight made the guests unfamiliar with this city somewhat panicked.

The passengers who had left the station quickly merged into the city, and behind them, an old man who didn’t want to squeeze in with the others—an Old Cleric in white robes—finally walked out of the station gates and stepped onto the quiet street.

The inexplicably flickering light from the gas streetlamps rendered everything on the street obscure and uncertain. The shadowy outlines of souls peeped at him from the darkness, and the Power of Death was being stirred by some inexplicable force.

The chilly night wind blew past, making the Priest’s long robe billow back and rustle softly. In the swirling mass of fog overhead, it was as if countless terrifying faces were hidden; in the street’s shadows, the indistinct shapes of Shadows were growing more and more numerous.

The aged Lat August the Cleric set down his luggage and raised his head to gaze at the Starry Sky.

In the wind, there seemed to be the sound of wings beating, but perhaps it was only an illusion.