Chapter 108 : Joining - 3
Chapter 108: Joining - 3
The woman knelt before me with her whole body tied up.
‘Karin Oblang.’
I quietly looked down at her and said.
“Now you know who’s in the superior position between us, right?”
“……!”
“Why? Wasn’t this the line you had prepared to say to me?”
Karin’s face turned pale.
When I communicated through Mr. Jones, I had imagined some warrior-like tough woman.
But she was a silver-haired woman with a slender frame.
Seeing such a person tremble made me feel… strangely sympathetic.
“Untie this first and then talk. You son of a bitch.”
Guess not.
I picked at my ear and opened my mouth.
“Let me ask you this first. How did you know I was here?”
“…….”
“No, more importantly, how were you able to fly in the sky? Tell me specifically what your talent is.”
“Eat shit.”
“Boss.”
Berseum silently tightened the chains even more.
“Aaargh! E-even if I tell you, would you even understand? You can’t see or hear them anyway.”
“Can’t see or hear them? So you can see something like… souls.”
“There’s no such thing as souls in this world, you idiot.”
Aina snickered.
“Oh, but there is.”
“……?”
“Old man. Looks like you’re holding back your strength. Still pretty lively, huh?”
“Hmm. I thought her arms might break if I went any further. But come to think of it, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. My house was destroyed anyway.”
“It wasn’t destru-……”
Berseum raised his hand threateningly.
Only then did Karin speak as if confessing.
“There are kids who help me. I call them spirits.”
“Spirits? What’s that supposed to be.”
“Even if I explained, you wouldn’t get it. I wouldn’t even know where to start with someone who’s a blank slate.”
“Mm. Hold on.”
I asked the Diary Book.
‘Search for spirits in the encyclopedia.’
[Yes. One moment. ……It’s not coming up?]
I spoke in amazement.
“I admit, you gambled on the assumption I wouldn’t know.”
“What are you talking about.”
“Spirits don’t exist. Boss. Maybe tighten a little mo-…”
“W-wait. Spirits really do exist. That’s why I said you wouldn’t understand even if I explained!”
Her desperate shouting didn’t feel like a lie.
I pondered a moment before asking.
“Is it maybe that they have another name besides spirits?”
“Huh? H-how did you know?”
“Call them by their real name. Tell me their original name.”
“I don’t know if it’s their real name or whatever, but they introduced themselves as Aether.”
I immediately told the Diary Book.
‘Search again for Aether.’
[Yes. It probably isn’t the name of a specific individual, so I’ll find general information.]
‘That’s enough for now.’
Soon the Diary Book flipped its pages.
<■ Aether
-Race : None (non-reproducing species)
-Size : average 0.2 meters
……
……
Characteristics
: A mass of energy that exists in nature along with mana.
Unlike mana, it possesses an extremely infant-level intelligence.
It usually appears in forms such as earth, air, water, or fire.
Aether itself is pure energy; when it touches water, it becomes water, and when it touches fire, it becomes fire—an intriguing existence.
The eternal companions of elves.
They greatly contributed to the highly advanced development of elven civilization.
Only elves can communicate with Aether; all other races cannot see, hear, or touch them.>
…….
I had only searched Aether, yet now another unfamiliar word appeared.
Only elves could communicate with Aether?
I scratched my head and asked.
“Hey. Miss Karin.”
“Don’t call me like we’re close.”
“Alright then, Ms. Karin.”
“……What.”
“Are you an elf?”
Then my companions tilted their heads.
The funny thing was that Karin also tilted her head.
“What’s an elf.”
“You’re an elf.”
“Why would I be an elf. And what even is that.”
“Are you human?”
“Ha. How am I even supposed to answer that……. Fine. I’m human. Can’t you see? I’m human, so let me go.”
“There’s no reason to untie you just because you’re human.”
Karin started babbling again, but I didn’t listen.
I had fallen into thought alone.
‘She says she isn’t an elf? Doesn’t seem like a lie. Then is the encyclopedia wrong?’
[I keep telling you, I’m always perfect and crisp.]
‘I also keep telling you there’s no need to be crisp here.’
[Maybe she’s just unaware of something or whatever?]
How would that even be possible.
I thought for a moment, then opened the encyclopedia again.
This time I asked it to search for elves.
Soon my eyes widened.
<■ Elf
-Race : Elf
-Average lifespan : 300~400 years
-Height : average 1.7 meters
……
……
Characteristics
: The fourth intelligent species that dominated the world.
A long-living race that blossomed a brilliant civilization and boasted a great culture.
They endlessly prospered with their unique ability to communicate with and handle Aether.
But around 113,000 years ago, they suddenly went extinct, leaving no trace.
Their civilization turned to ashes, and their corpses vanished as if they had never existed.
This was due to Magireta feeling bored of her game with the elves.
Magireta drove the elves to extinction, erased their civilization, and then secluded herself in Hell until the next intelligent species was born.
The race that appeared next was humanity.
For information about humanity, see a separate page.>
“……!”
I was deeply shaken.
Suddenly my throat felt dry and the hairs all over my body stood on end.
“……Boss. Please untie the chains.”
“Will it be alright? What if she suddenly destroys the house?”
“I didn’t know you were so attached to this place.”
“When I escaped from prison and went looking for my daughter, I was quite poor. It took many hardships to purchase this house.”
“I see. But please untie her for now. Whether she runs or attacks, she can’t do anything with us standing this close.”
Berseum dispelled the magic.
As expected, Karin simply rubbed her arms where the chains had bound them and did not resist in any significant way.
I smirked and said.
“Seeing you not rushing in recklessly, it seems you do have some basic sense. As expected of an elf, one of the intelligent species that once ruled the world.”
“Haa. Is this bastard always like this? He’s been spouting nothing but incomprehensible nonsense since earlier.”
“Don’t speak carelessly. If Mason says something incomprehensible, there is always a reason.”
“And who the hell are you.”
I calmed them both and shared the information I had just obtained.
It was quite shocking, but my companions accepted it more calmly than I expected.
However, it seemed Karin’s shock was on a different level entirely.
Her pupils gradually widened.
“……That’s how it is. Did everyone understand?”
“Mm. Well, for now I understood it as if I were listening to an old tale.”
“Old tales often fabricate things that never happened, but everything I just said was ‘something that really happened’.”
“Kkeung. It’s just too remote in time.”
“To summarize, until 113,000 years ago, it seems a race called elves lived on this land. And Magireta wiped them out.”
I turned my head toward Berseum.
“Do you remember the hypothesis I mentioned earlier?”
“Of course. That Magireta continued repeating the game over and over, and when he grew bored with it…….”
“Yes. I said he might just flip the entire board.”
“…….”
“Flipping the board meant driving the race ruling the world at the time to extinction.”
And the elves were the fourth race that dominated the world.
That meant the first, second, and third existed before them.
“We don’t know how long each race prospered, but if you put it all together, the history of our world is at least several hundred thousand…… perhaps even over a million years.”
“A dizzying number indeed.”
“Now the age of humans has come. But as I said before, Magireta must have grown bored of humans too. That’s probably why the cycles of the game shortened.”
Perhaps this batch was the last one.
If this batch ended, Magireta would surely flip the board again.
If we didn’t do something here, humanity would be annihilated.
It went beyond just the survival of our companions…… what I was involved in now was a game with the future of humanity at stake.
After a moment, Sienne spoke.
“But why is a race that supposedly went extinct now standing in front of us?”
“Well. Hm. Hey, how old are you?”
Karin answered bluntly.
“Exactly twenty.”
“For a race that lives three to four hundred years, that’s a pretty human level of development.”
“Listen when people talk, damn it. I said I’m human! My parents were human, and everyone in my village and my friends were all human.”
“You had friends with that personality?”
“I swear I’ll kill you someday.”
“So? Aether—according to you, when were you first able to see the spirits?”
Karin scratched her head in irritation as she answered.
“As far back as my memory reaches.”
“So you could see them from birth.”
“Probably. When I was young, I was treated like a lunatic because of them. Later, when I grew up and pretended I couldn’t see or didn’t know, only then did people accept me.”
“…….”
“They said I finally returned to normal. I was sick of those reactions, so I ran away from home. After that, I lived in a forest where no one came.”
…….
So she really didn’t have friends.
‘Judging from the way she talks, she really did seem human.’
But the encyclopedia clearly said only elves could handle spirits.
I tilted my head, but decided to put the issue aside for now.
No amount of thinking would yield an answer.
The urgent matter was ensuring our survival.
Since we had prevented Berseum’s house from being destroyed on day seven, we had to prepare for day eight.
‘But before that.’
I spoke to Karin.
“Our first meeting was a bit rough…….”
“‘A bit’? This is ‘a bit’?”
“It’s a bit compared to the house being destroyed.”
“No. Seriously. I didn’t destroy it!”
“From now on, let’s try to build some rapport. Ask if you’re curious about anything.”
In the Future Diary, Karin blended in with the group quite well.
The difference this time was who held the upper hand in the conversation.
In the future, it had been Karin.
That was why I wasn’t able to obtain information about things like ‘spirits’ or elves in the diary.
Compared to that, this was a favorable outcome.
Karin hesitated for a long time before asking.
“……You got first place in the bungee jump quest, right? How did you do that.”
“As expected, that’s your first question.”
“……?”
“Sit there. I’ll tell you our story up until now.”
And so we began to speak calmly.
The conversation with Karin continued late into the night.
She looked overwhelmed by the flood of various information I poured out.
“I guess I really was completely clueless about the quests.”
Yes. She had said that in the Future Diary as well.
Karin spoke with a slightly impressed expression.
“You’re more amazing than I thought.”
“Huhu. You finally realized.”
“……? Why are you the one acting proud. Come to think of it, what’s your name.”
“I am Armelia Kerr Dneroum.”
“What a disgustingly long name.”
That’s it? That’s all the reaction?
Benjamin spoke in disbelief.
“Shouldn’t you have realized something from what he just said?”
“What.”
“You don’t know the surname Dneroum?”
“I don’t. Is it famous?”
Aina put her hand on her forehead.
“How did you even survive until now.”
“Wow, rude.”
“Everyone saw that, right? She’s a real idiot. Compared to her, I’m normal.”
“No, you’re really rude, you know that.”
I calmed the two of them.
Then I spoke to Aina with sincerity.
“I teased you a few times, but I never actually thought you were stupid.”
“Heh.”
“You’re just a little lacking in education.”
“Hey.”
“Well anyway, since we’ve finished talking about the quests, let’s introduce ourselves properly.”
I introduced my companions one by one.
Karin surprisingly listened attentively.
When the introductions ended, she spoke.
“You already know, but I’m Karin Oblang. Nice to get along from now on.”
“From now on?”
She nodded and continued.
“Yeah. I want to go with you guys. I like you.”