[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 359: Observers (9)

Clusters of light, shimmering like ripples on water, settled throughout the pure white space.

Watching the majestic sight, Oscar asked,

“Edna, what exactly is going on here?”

“Hmm, first of all, those aren’t just lights—they’re digitized records.”

“…Aren’t those the things you turned into books and stored here?”

“That’s correct, but it seems they were all reverted to their original state after being caught in the explosion of Devourer of Void.”

What kind of absurd resilience is that?

“They’re even sticking to my subspace right now?”

Indeed, the clusters of light were embedding themselves here and there throughout his subspace like barnacles.

Staring at the scene, Edna muttered:

“It’s almost as if… they’re assimilating.”

“Assimilating?”

“Yes, it’s as though this massive lifeform called ‘records’ is desperately struggling to survive.”

“That’s kind of creepy.”

“Still, isn’t it admirable?”

Yeah, right.

Do dragon eyes really find that admirable?

Oscar glanced around with a sullen expression.

Everywhere his gaze landed, assimilation was taking place without exception.

“So what happens when that finishes?”

“I don’t know.”

Edna blinked as she gave that irresponsible answer.

“To begin with, this is my first time witnessing such a phenomenon as well. The idea that records themselves possess a sense of self—there’s nothing like this written in any existing record.”

“Then maybe they’re just haunted?”

“…All records are precious. More importantly, I don’t sense any malice from them.”

“That much is true.”

As he slowly nodded, Edna crouched down and stared at the ground.

There, black letters were written.

<Standing Upright>

Reading over her shoulder, Oscar asked:

“Standing upright? What does that mean?”

“I can say with certainty that this is one of the greatest records in history.”

“What is it?”

“It is a record observing and documenting the moment the first human successfully achieved bipedal locomotion and left footprints upon the earth. It’s quite fascinating—I’ve read it several times myself.”

“…You really recorded everything.”

“We quite literally recorded everything.”

Flash!

At that moment, the black text <Standing Upright> turned golden.

Staring at its radiant glow, Oscar said,

“The color of the text changed.”

“I saw it as well. Shall we try touching it?”

Before he could stop her, Edna reached out—and then made a puzzled expression.

“How strange. Nothing happened.”

“That’s normal. What were you expecting?”

“I thought perhaps it would turn into a book.”

Well, considering they had been books before turning into data after the explosion, it wouldn’t be strange if they reverted again.

Crouching beside her, Oscar said,

“Let me try touching it.”

“Go ahead.”

Edna nodded casually, and Oscar reached out.

The moment his long fingers touched the golden <Standing Upright>—

His vision changed.

“…!”

The cold, damp air unique to a forest at dawn pierced his lungs.

The thick scent of soil, the pristine air devoid of even a speck of dust.

‘World liberation? No, that can’t be it.’

The world he had liberated did not look like this.

Nor could a dragon like Edna have liberated a world.

As Oscar unconsciously looked around, something caught his eye.

‘A person?’

No—though they looked human, something about them felt off.

They were crawling on all fours like beasts.

Then, one of them slowly straightened its spine and supported its body on two legs.

“…….”

Then his vision blurred, and Edna’s face began to come into view.

“…Ska? Oscar?”

Her hand tapped his cheek lightly, snapping him back to his senses.

“Ah.”

“Are you alright?”

“W-what was that just now?”

“What do you mean?”

“The wilderness—the forest. Didn’t you see it? Something that looked like a human was crawling on all fours and then…”

His gaze drifted back to <Standing Upright>.

“…stood upright.”

“What are you saying?”

Edna asked back with a baffled expression.

“Are you saying you viewed that record as a moving image?”

“No. It wasn’t like a video. It felt like I was directly experiencing that moment myself.”

“…….”

At those words, Edna fell into thought before lifting her head.

Then, gazing at the shimmering clusters of light, she murmured softly:

“If that’s true, then this isn’t simple assimilation.”

“Then what is it?”

“It would be more accurate to call it evolution. Records that were previously conveyed only through books, illustrations, and video have undergone evolution by merging with Oscar’s spatial magic.”

Edna’s eyes began to sparkle.

Each cluster of light reflected in them was the history of the world—someone’s record.

The moment the first king was born upon the continent.

The trajectory of a sword first drawn by a nameless swordsman.

Humans studying magic, once the exclusive domain of dragons.

“If all of those records can be seen and felt vividly… that would truly be evolution.”

No matter how well written, records conveyed through text, images, or video can never perfectly deliver everything.

But if one could directly experience the situation, it would become the most perfect record of all.

“But why is it that I cannot see it? Why?”

Edna repeatedly touched <Standing Upright> with lingering reluctance.

“Maybe ownership of all the records has been transferred to you, Oscar.”

“What? That’s so sud—ugh.”

Oscar suddenly staggered.

The earlier record had not been something to read or hear—it was closer to something to endure.

Though it lasted only an instant, countless emotions and fatigue had flooded in during that brief moment.

“Are you alright?”

“…Maybe because it’s my first time, I’m tired. Anyway, I have ownership?”

“That would be my guess. After all, you are the master of the spatial magic.”

A fairly convincing argument.

After a moment of thought, Oscar spoke:

“I grant Edna Sol Laplace permission to access <Standing Upright>.”

“There’s no way something like that would—”

At that moment, Edna’s voice trailed off, and her eyes grew unfocused.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“Edna?”

After about three seconds, just as Oscar began to grow uneasy and reached to shake her shoulder—

“Gasp!”

Life returned to Edna’s eyes.

She hurriedly looked around.

“I—I saw it! Me too! Standing upright!”

“Seriously?”

“Yes! It really seems you’ve taken ownership of all the records, Oscar!”

Hearing Edna’s excited words, worry came first.

“…Just so you know, this isn’t my fault?”

“Huh? Ah, of course not.”

She responded more nonchalantly than expected.

“These records were going to be discarded anyway. Not only did you prevent that, but you even developed them further like this… If anything, you more than deserve the qualification.”

“Th-thanks.”

Seeing how much she usually cherished records, he had expected her to cling to him demanding them back.

Looking at the still-black text, Oscar said,

“If it’s black, that means the imprinting isn’t finished yet, right?”

“There are too few samples to be certain, but that seems likely.”

Then once all those clusters of light finish imprinting, would this entire place become a massive archive?

Honestly, he couldn’t tell whether that was a good thing or not.

‘Of course, I know these records are incredibly valuable. I know that, but…’

Are they records he personally needs?

Judging by <Standing Upright>, most of them would probably be like that.

‘Still, it’s better than having nothing.’

After all, doesn’t everyone eventually grow curious about something at least once?

Secret histories, perhaps.

Or the truth behind certain events.

Once all the imprinting is complete, he would be able to see whatever information he was curious about.

At the very least, it would satisfy his curiosity.

‘Come to think of it, I could probably make a tidy profit just selling information.’

There would likely be a line of buyers.

Of course, if the Dragon Lord heard that, he’d foam at the mouth—but hadn’t he already abandoned ownership?

He had been planning to destroy them rather than let them fall into the hands of the demon race.

‘As for other uses, I’ll figure them out gradually.’

As Oscar stood up, Edna followed suit.

“Alright, let’s head back. The demon race will be coming soon.”

“Yes.”

Even if those demon bastards arrived late, there would be nothing left for them to take.

They would believe all the dragon records had been completely incinerated, and the Dragon Heart was gone as well.

* * *

The moment he returned to the White Tower, he was bombarded with nagging.

“Are—are you okay? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“I told you, I’m fine.”

Oscar had to calm Sasha several times.

“B-but in a book I read, it said there’s a terrifying rabbit sage living on the moon!”

“…Which publisher printed that?”

Spreading false information and ruining children.

Only after quite some time did Sasha relax, and she listened to the story of what happened on the moon.

“The Dragon Heart! Your mana has definitely become incomparably deeper than before.”

“Yeah, I probably won’t end up getting beaten up anywhere now.”

He didn’t tell her about the demon race entity inside his soul.

Telling her now would only make her worry unnecessarily.

“Nothing happened while we were gone, right?”

“I went to the Yellow Tower Master’s funeral.”

So they went through with it—a state funeral.

Oscar gave a bitter smile.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It’s funny when you read the newspapers.”

She handed him several papers.

[Calderan’s great star falls. Pentarion Ereus dies from a long-concealed illness.]

[Every thunderclap will remind us of him. Already, we miss the Empire’s hero.]

[A sea of tears at His Majesty’s eulogy.]

[Who will inherit the position of Yellow Tower Master? Public attention focused.]

“The Yellow Tower Master, huh. I wonder who it’ll be.”

“Probably one of the elders. Even though he’s dead, the faction that followed him is still the largest.”

Which means the Yellow Tower will still be a pain going forward.

“Tch.”

Oscar clicked his tongue.

He didn’t like how luxurious Pentarion’s journey to the afterlife had become.

For a senile old man, he had ended up leaving behind a name as a great hero.

“Master, you don’t like this situation, do you?”

“Of course not. That old man tried to side with the demon race just to live longer. He’s not even worth mourning.”

“His Majesty probably had no choice.”

“I know.”

Recently, the demon race’s activities have been becoming increasingly blatant.

The imperial family had even uncovered traitors hidden within the Dark Trackers.

‘If news spread that the Yellow Tower Master tried to betray humanity, it would only create more chaos.’

Not for his sake, but for the Empire and humanity, he had to die as a hero.

Even if he understood it logically, it still left a bitter taste.

Oscar shoved the newspapers aside and spoke:

“There’s nothing else I need to handle, right?”

“Uh… probably not. Do you have something to do?”

“I think I’ll be away for a while.”

“Are you going on a trip?”

“You could call it a trip… just clearing my head.”

Of course, he wasn’t really going just to clear his head.

‘That thing inside my soul.’

From his trip to the moon, he had gained three things.

One was the dragon records engraved into his subspace, another was the Dragon Heart.

And the last was the information that what resided inside his soul was of the demon race.

‘If nothing else, I can’t just leave that demon alone—it feels too unsettling.’

For now, he would get rid of that unpleasant thing inside his soul first.

That was his top priority.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]