Chapter 191: In the Ruins (III)

Ishiki heard the poem and was silent for a long while. He stared at the fragment, imagining the person who would have written it. There was no way it was written by the High Priest.

’Or wait.’ Ishiki’s eyes widened frantically as he remembered a piece of information.

’The High priest… The Goddamn High Priest of this cathedral was running pathetically in the Illusion.’

The realization sent chills down his body.

The High Priest of this Cathedral in the Inner Ring was a normal human! He was not a Player!

’How… how could that be? Maybe there really were two of them.’ Ishiki’s pulse quickened without him noticing. But he managed to calm down.

“Set it aside,” he instructed, voice rougher than intended. “We’re taking that.”

They continued their search, moving through the room with systematic efficiency now that they’d established what to look for. Nina pulled books while Ishiki sorted documents, creating a growing pile of potentially useful materials on the table.

Most of the things here were written in the ancient language. Making it impossible for Ishiki to look for something on his own.

He was very frustrated when his eyes found a book that was almost hidden beneath a pile of other books. It made him pause regardless.

He pulled it out and studied it. This

This one was larger than the others, bound in leather that had darkened almost to black. No title marked its spine… instead it just had a symbol embossed in the material. A sun rising over mountains, or perhaps setting. The imagery was ambiguous.

He opened it carefully, and his breath caught.

The pages were stained with dark brown streaks that had soaked into the paper, creating patterns where liquid had spread before drying. The edges were particularly dark, and in some places the staining was so heavy the text beneath had become illegible.

The book had been soaked in blood.

“Nina,” Ishiki said slowly. “I need you to translate this. But… be prepared. It’s not pleasant.”

She came over, then stopped when she saw the staining. Her face went pale in the purple light.

“Is that…?”

“Blood, yes.” Ishiki held the book up, showing her pages that remained readable despite the staining. “But there’s still text here. Can you make it out?”

Nina swallowed hard, then nodded. She leaned closer, reading the least damaged sections.

“The Eastern Continent, undoubtedly the largest in the world, is ruled by a single Empire.” she read, voice shaking slightly.

Ishiki’s attention sharpened. “Keep going.”

“’The Empire comprised five kingdoms under its rule, united beneath the wisdom of an Emperor who claimed descent from the divine.’” Nina paused, skipping over sections where blood had rendered text illegible. “’The Capital of Aethelburg, Sawra—was called the most prosperous city in all the Eastern and Southern continents. Merchants came from different continents to trade in its markets.”

She turned the pages carefully, finding more readable text.

“’The City of Akemetsu in the Northern Continent, which men call the City of Flames, has become synonymous with civilization itself. It is said that Akemetsu’s grace is the result of the people worshiping the Great Old One. The entity grants them power in exchange for devotion, a bargain that has stood for ages uncounted.’”

Ishiki’s eyes narrowed. ’These two pieces of information don’t match but they tell a lot. So we are currently in the Eastern Continent of Nexus. And there is a city called Akemetsu in the Northern Continent.’

He nodded having learned that this place was not an isolated are created by the System. But rather a small part and there was a whole bigger world out there beyond the Crimson Canopy and the other regions that cover the Capital of Aethelburg, which was named, Sawra, apparently.

Ishiki leaned forward. “What happened next?”

“’Following that notion, and seeking to elevate their own city to even greater heights, the people of the Sawra began calling it the City of Dreams.’” Nina’s voice dropped lower. “’For in dreams, all things are possible. In dreams, the boundaries between reality and desire become negotiable and even death itself might be overcome through sufficient will and proper sacrifice.’”

She paused, reading ahead silently. Her expression grew increasingly troubled.

“’People hardly remember that dreams are—’”

She stopped abruptly.

“What?” Ishiki demanded. “Dreams are what?”

Nina flipped the page, then the next one, then several more in rapid succession. Her hands were shaking slightly.

“They are unreadable,” she said finally, voice barely above a whisper. “The paper has completely soaked the blood.”

Then she stopped at another page which was slightly readable at the top.

“The next intact section starts on a completely different topic,” Nina continued. “Something about agricultural practices in the outer kingdoms.”

Ishiki stared at the pages and cursed internally. “We’re taking this too,” he said, adding the blood-stained history to their growing pile.

They worked for another hour, sifting through centuries of accumulated documentation. Most proved useless. But occasionally they found fragments that hinted at deeper truths. Personal journals and stuff.

Eventually, they’d created a substantial pile of potentially important materials. Ishiki stared at the pile with growing frustration. Even if they took everything, he’d be dependent on her to translate. And that assumed they could find time to read through hundreds of pages

’Well there is a better way…’ Ishiki raised his hand and summoned the vestige that he had brought for 30,000 NC from the shop.

The motes of light closed around his hand and then turned into an oval that resembled a human eye viewed from the side. The material was translucent and jelly-like, with a consistency somewhere between water and flesh. It moved sluggishly in his grip.

And at its center, perfectly formed and eerily detailed, sat a white pupil.

The pupil moved and tracked its surroundings despite just being a white circle suspended in translucent jelly.

“What… what is that thing?” Nina whispered, staring at the eye with mixture of fascination and revulsion.

“A vestige that can capture moments,” Ishiki explained. He held it up, watching the white pupil dilate as it adjusted to the purple light from Sorrow’s Edge. “A camera you can say.”

Nina stood, dusting off her dress. “How many moments can it copy?”

“Maybe twenty before it exhausts itself.” Ishiki examined the eye, watching the pupil track his movements. The sensation of being watched by his own artifact was deeply uncomfortable.

They spent the next twenty minutes sorting through their pile, selecting the most promising candidates. The blood-stained history book. Personal journals that mentioned divine figures.

Ishiki opened the first book and placed it on the table then he held the Jian at a preferable distance giving light to make it look properly. He held the [Eternal Longing], the weird eye at some distance from the book and willed it to capture the scene.

The white pupil contracted and bright light emerged from it for a split second. It was like a camera flash.

Within 10 minutes he captured the 20 pages that he thought would crumble in some time and could not be taken out.

He was picking up the books to take away when, suddenly his hair stood on end and a shudder ran through his entire body.

“We’re done here,” he said quietly. “We need to get out of here.”

He heard a sound.

Distant but unmistakable. The scrape of stone on stone, echoing from deeper within the ruins.

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