Chapter 130: The Power of the Scion
Chendo froze slightly, his gaze falling involuntarily on the stack of documents in front of him.
They were stranded on this empty wilderness, with only a rather dilapidated small town nearby. Outside this train car, people were bustling about, immersed in the joy brought by the card game, almost forgetting the predicament they and the world were in.
But Siles had never forgotten. He also knew that Chendo had never forgotten either.
After a moment, Chendo slowly let out a breath. He said, “Alright, let’s…” He still subconsciously paused, “…Let’s look at these documents together.”
Confirming that Chendo was fine, Siles opened the document in front of him. Chendo hesitated for a moment, but eventually reached out and took part of it to help Siles share the workload.
His hesitation stemmed from his identity as an Old God’s Scion, not from a reluctance to help Siles. In fact, he was already very accustomed to this sort of thing—reading alongside Siles.
Soon, Siles was engrossed in the reading.
According to what Grosvenor had previously said, Old Gods would only choose to fragment their authority and power and give it to other entities under very special circumstances. And those couldn’t be called descendants in the biological sense, but rather inheritors of power.
However, this power could be passed down through human bloodlines. This was why Chendo was called an “Old God’s Scion”. The power of the Old Gods combined with human bloodlines created this group of humans possessing divine power.
But, they couldn’t be called deities, nor could they be said to have “mastered” divine power.
Judging from various descriptions, as well as Siles’s observations of how Chendo used his power, it was more like they were “borrowing” the deity’s power, much like a child borrowing an adult’s belongings.
It was just that the deity tolerantly allowed this, rather than subjecting them to severe spiritual pollution upon encountering the power of an Old God, as happened to other Revelators.
…Or was it that the Will of an Old God’s Scion was strong enough to resist such pollution? A more accurate word might be: immunity?
Thinking of Chendo’s Will stat of 99, Siles couldn’t help but shoot Chendo a thoughtful glance.
Spirituality, Constitution, Will. These three corresponded respectively to Divinity, Divine Title, and Divine Name.
Chendo Praia. This name symbolized an Old God’s Scion, and at the same time, this name coupled with this identity constituted Chendo’s self-cognition.
From this perspective, his self-cognition was unique and difficult to influence, which indeed could explain why his Will was so high.
But looking at it from the perspective of an Old God’s Scion, the matter didn’t seem that simple either. The dice’s definition of this world made Siles suddenly realize that his three-element theory very much needed further exploration.
As far as the world was concerned, what significance did these three elements they possessed symbolize?
Siles noted this question down, but kept his primary focus on the issues related to Old God’s Scions.
In these documents, Siles couldn’t find any information regarding Ligadia’s Scion, which made him feel a slight sense of regret. However, he also noticed that the existence of Scions was extremely rare.
The thirteen Old Gods Siles was familiar with, at least on the surface, had never created any Scions.
But in reality, Ligadia did possess a Scion. Furthermore, in Jan Calder’s Gods and Believers in the Shadows, he mentioned that Thaddeus and Lusmi had once “conceived a child together”.
This was obviously a metaphor; perhaps it meant that Thaddeus and Lusmi had co-created a Scion?
However, death and stars. Siles found it hard to say what kind of power combining these two would grant that Old God’s Scion.
Moreover, even though Jan Calder’s various claims had been corroborated, one couldn’t say that all the information mentioned in that book was correct. Perhaps the information was a mix of truth and falsehood; Siles couldn’t ignore this possibility either.
Therefore, regarding this Scion of death and stars who might have already been forgotten by history, Siles always maintained a degree of skepticism.
Within these documents, Siles also noticed another incredibly crucial element: why would deities create Scions?
In some very ancient records, dating back as far as the Age of Divine Birth and the Age of Faith, people mentioned the “purity” of the deities. Because they weren’t pure enough, they needed to expel a portion of “impurities.” And creating Scions became a more convenient method to do so.
Regarding this so-called “purity,” the documents didn’t provide a clear explanation, only offering some ambiguous descriptions, such as the deity’s “aging,” “fatigue,” and so on.
Based on his own understanding of deities, Siles actually formed some hypotheses.
The power of a deity was directly related to concepts. For example, Akamara, the God of Dreams and Illusions, clearly had power connected to concepts like dreams, illusions, and reality.
In Akamara’s paradise, these concepts existed very vividly; even Akamara’s paradise itself was nothing more than this deity’s dream.
Even after the deity fell, the dream forged by power had still not disappeared.
Previously, Siles had formed a thought: to be “conceptually related” to everyone in the world, that is what a deity is.
Correspondingly, if one wished to be “conceptually related” to everyone, then this concept absolutely couldn’t be so vast as to be boundless, because then it might be impossible to find such a commonality across all of humanity.
For instance, life and death; everyone experiences life and death. For instance, stars and mountains; everyone can see stars and mountains. For instance, dreams and the sea; everyone can come into contact with dreams and the sea.
From this perspective, those thirteen Old Gods all possessed very distinct, yet also “ordinary” traits.
…They would expel a portion of unneeded, redundant “concepts,” and that was one possible reason why they created Scions.
This practice was more common among the older, weaker deities. Their power itself wasn’t very strong, so they needed this method of expulsion even more to keep themselves pure.
But those thirteen Old Gods, they probably didn’t need to do this. Because their power was already vast enough; even if there were some redundancies and impurities, it wasn’t a major problem. They were even less willing to sever their own authority.
According to Siles’s understanding of these thirteen Old Gods, they even wanted to devour each other, thereby expanding their own authority and sphere of power.
From this angle, the existence of the Praia family and the existence of that Scion of death and stars, became even harder to understand. What could make these Old Gods change their past practices, sever their power and authority, and create human Scions?
Another possibility mentioned in these documents was the special relationship between deities and humans.
That was something that existed in a more ancient era.
At that time, people worshipped the power of deities, but wouldn’t believe in or revere them so fanatically. Gods and humans lived together in this world; perhaps the gods were stronger, and humans were weaker.
In any case, during the Age of Divine Birth and the early Age of Faith, the relationship between gods and humans was more intimate. Gods had favored humans, and humans had gods they were devoted to.
However, in the mid-to-late Age of Faith, such things became very rare. The gap between gods and humans gradually widened; the power of the gods became increasingly vast, magnificent, and terrifying, causing humans to become increasingly terrified and prostrate themselves.
In that era when the relationship between gods and humans was still intimate, some tolerant deities would share their power with the humans they favored. That was somewhat similar to the “Blessed Ones” of later generations, but compared to the Blessed Ones, the power of this kind of “Scion” was more equal and gentle.
The power of the Blessed Ones was a gift from a deity, which could be taken back at any time (although deities rarely did so); the power of a Scion was a sharing from the deity, something the human could use for their entire life, and would even continue to be passed down through their bloodline.
Such situations did exist. This document included a mural from a cave dating back to the Age of Divine Birth, and a modern painter had recreated the image of that mural with more delicate strokes.
It depicted a fierce beast sitting side-by-side at a table with a human possessing beast-like traits. In front of them were likely other members of the tribe. Some archaeological research on this tribe proved that the fierce beast was the “Beast” God the tribe once worshipped.
However, a human sat side-by-side with this Beast God. This unbelievable phenomenon utterly shocked the archaeologists at the time.
…Of course, archaeology. These archaeological activities seemed to have taken place during the Imperial Era. The vast majority of the materials had already vanished. The historical gap of the Age of Shadows also caused most of these precious materials to be lost.
Siles felt deeply regretful about this. He knew the Church of the Past must have collected a portion of ancient documents, but even for the Church of the Past, the documents they collected were still incomplete.
Behind the Church of the Past stood the only deity in the present world. Therefore, this meant that what happened in the Age of Shadows was a massive, irreversible catastrophe. That was a scar upon this world, one that was difficult to heal.
Siles couldn’t help but sigh, then closed the document. He looked at Chendo opposite him and said, “How is it, did you find any useful information?”
Chendo shook his head. His reading speed was slower than Siles’s, though he hadn’t taken too many documents to begin with. He said, “There is no mention of the existence of the Praia family. There’s also no mention of the Scions of other Old Gods.”
Siles nodded thoughtfully.
He believed Grosvenor must have copied all the documents in the Church of the Past regarding Old God’s Scions and sent them over. However, these documents contained no mention of Ligadia, or the Scions of other Old Gods.
This meant that these matters were inherently unknown.
Previously, Chendo had said that even the Praia family themselves didn’t know which person in the family would be the Old God’s Scion. They also needed an “inspiration” from Antinam to realize it.
Therefore, it was also Antinam who told the Church of the Past about the existence of the Praia family, making the higher-ups of the Church of the Past pay attention to it.
He pondered what this meant.
On the one hand, Antinam seemed to know far too much about the past… Of course, He was originally the God of the Past and History, so it was perfectly normal for Him to know everything that happened in history.
But as a new god, for Him to know the stories of the Old Gods like the back of His hand, and to even know about the family of Ligadia’s Scion, seemed rather strange. After all, when Ligadia disappeared, Antinam had not yet appeared.
…No, it should be said, since Antinam was born in the Age of Mist, exactly why could He know the past so well? Was it because His power is this concept of “history”?
And this brought up two questions: The first question was, how could His “birth” be explained? This world was originally very ancient and had a long history; why did Antinam happen to be born right at the end of the Age of Silence?
The second question was, the matter of a deity’s “birth” in itself was already a highly special situation. He had a specific time and place of birth, just like an ordinary human born into this world.
…The birth of a deity? That made this deity far too much like a human. Not to mention, Antinam’s “History” Divinity was also very closely related to human civilization.
Was He really, as some people guessed, just a more powerful Revelator?
On the other hand, Antinam symbolized the past and history, but His actions—including sheltering humanity in the mist, having the Church of the Past keep an eye on Siles and secretly provide help, and informing the Praia family of the birth of the Old God’s Scion…
These actions all seemed to point invisibly towards the future.
If Antinam was a deity in the same sense as the Old Gods of the past, shouldn’t He let humanity continue to wallow in the past and history so that His power could be enriched?
Why were His actions completely out of line with the concept of His power?
Regardless, Antinam, the only deity in the present world, clearly also hid many secrets. Siles hoped to first unravel some of these mysteries before truly facing this deity.
He thought for a moment, then turned his thoughts back to the matter of Old God’s Scions.
This document provided two reasons for deities creating Scions: one was the deity expelling “impurities” from their power, and the other was the deity sharing their power with the humans they favored.
Neither could explain the existence of Chendo, nor the existence of the rumored Scion of death and stars.
Regarding Ligadia’s Scion, Siles actually did think of a plausible explanation.
That is, during the Age of Shadows, when Ligadia embarked on His journey, He decided to leave behind a branch of His power just in case—although Siles wasn’t clear on what exactly Ligadia wanted to guard against.
This practice was similar to Akamara leaving those six dolls in the paradise, and suspiciously also leaving a group of people in reality—such as that mysterious stall owner—as advanced preparation.
Of course, the premise of this speculation was that the Praia family indeed emerged in the Age of Shadows, sometime before Ligadia left.
If that was truly the case, then what exactly happened in the Age of Shadows that caused these deities to leave behind backup plans one after another became a much more complex question.
Could the “child” of Thaddeus and Lusmi have appeared for the same reason?
Siles shared his speculations with Chendo and asked, “Within the Praia family, is there any relevant saying about…” He weighed his words, “…making you do something, or future missions, or anything like that?”
“Future missions…” Chendo thought for a while, and finally shook his head honestly. “No, I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
Siles couldn’t help but sigh and said, “Then it seems even stranger.”
His gaze fell on those documents, and at the same time, he heard the dice prompt [Knowledge +1] in his mind. He thought to himself that this one point of Knowledge was probably based on the information from those more ancient eras.
Siles fell into deep thought, while Chendo couldn’t be bothered to think that much. He didn’t interrupt Siles’s thoughts, just quietly organizing those documents by himself, setting them aside, then propping up his chin and silently gazing at Siles. He always did this.
In this tranquil afternoon, time ticked by bit by bit.
Around three o’clock, the drunk repairman finally arrived, belatedly. He brought a group of people with him, and after inspecting the tracks, he said it might take a day or two to repair.
The passengers were already feeling irritated and distracted, so they couldn’t be bothered to argue much about this statement. There were indeed some impulsive passengers who questioned why it would take so long, but these questions received no reply.
Afterwards, this repairman actually did some serious repair work with his colleagues for a while, but as evening approached, he left on his own accord.
The sky was like a trembling orange flower; the florist carefully decorated the corners of the sky with petals. After eating dinner, Siles and Chendo went for a walk outside the train together.
They ran into Herd Dryson again. He looked much better and had become significantly calmer. However, his tone still carried that very neurotic feeling; the sudden blow probably still inevitably affected his state of mind.
He once again earnestly thanked Siles and asked, if he wanted to investigate matters related to the House of Hales, where should he go?
“Biedel City,” Siles said. “You can try your luck in Biedel City in Galsworthy.”
Regardless, the cities in Galsworthy were always safer than the outposts and villages in Glastone.
Herd only half understood. Siles gave him a rough explanation of some divisions and sectors of the Ashless Lands, and Herd finally understood. He thanked Siles repeatedly, but also revealed a rather awkward embarrassment.
That embarrassment seemed to say that Siles had helped him so much, yet he had no way to repay him, and it even further highlighted his own ignorance and weakness, causing him to feel increasingly uneasy and nervous. Before long, Herd said goodbye to Siles.
Siles watched his retreating figure thoughtfully.
Chendo said with slight displeasure, “You clearly helped him, but he has this feeling of…” He thought for a moment, “…wishing you hadn’t helped him.”
Siles said, “Perhaps he just doesn’t know how to handle this situation. But…” He looked in the direction Herd had left, and after a moment, added, “He is slowly stepping onto an unknown path.”
If he were in a safe city, this personality might be harmless; but at a crossroads of fate like this, such poor performance could be fatal.
Regardless, Siles was probably the best person he could find to ask for help; yet Herd maintained a hesitant attitude throughout, as if unsure whether he should let an outsider get involved in his family’s affairs.
He did tell Siles some information, but Siles had to actively ask for most of it himself.
After a moment’s thought, Siles shook his head, offering no further opinion on the matter. He merely said, “We’ll be delayed here for over two days. Good thing the schedule wasn’t that tight when we set out.”
“Indeed. That lady had great foresight,” Chendo said. He was referring to Professor Bella.
However, being stuck in such an environment all the time was indeed depressing.
When they were having dinner just now, Siles even learned that the fuel on the train was running low.
Originally, this train only carried enough fuel for a one-way trip, plus a little extra; but now, they had been stuck here the whole time, and the food supply, hot water, and so on all required fuel, and they still had to continue their journey to Maltz later.
There was only an inn in the distance, and a dilapidated small town. Even if they could find some supplies, life for the next day or two might still be rather troublesome.
The passengers couldn’t help but sigh and groan.
There were nearly a hundred passengers on this train in total. A gloomy atmosphere almost immediately enveloped the entire train.
Chendo asked Siles in a low voice if it was necessary for him to go further away to seek help, or to send a message to the Praia family to have them come and pick them up.
“The train tracks are broken; the only possibility is to use carriages,” Siles said calmly. “One carriage can seat five or six people at most. Plus luggage, do you plan to have people drive twenty or thirty carriages over? In this icy and snowy weather, it’s not very realistic.”
Chendo sighed and asked, “Then what should we do?”
“The more feasible approach is to get the tracks repaired quickly.” Siles also sighed slightly. “Tomorrow we’ll go to the town to check the progress of the repairs and the situation in the town. If the situation is very bad, then have the Praia family send people over to repair the tracks. I imagine they should have this capability?”
“Of course, this is something Ligadia’s believers often do—providing help to strangers on a journey,” Chendo said. “Then, everything depends on tomorrow.”
Siles froze slightly, then suddenly looked at Chendo.
Chendo said, puzzled, “What’s wrong?”
“Ligadia’s believers often provide help to strangers on a journey,” Siles said slowly, organizing his thoughts. “Chendo, remember what I said about the concepts of deities?”
They were now traveling far from home and trapped in this wilderness. This perfectly matched the concepts related to Ligadia.
Chendo looked at the parked train in some confusion. Against the backdrop of the snowy sunset, the dusty train looked utterly ordinary. He pondered Siles’s words and then asked, “You mean, this kind of scene easily attracts the power of a deity?”
“Yes, and at the same time,” Siles thought for a moment, then said, “Don’t you think this is a very suitable scene for Ligadia’s power to take effect?”
“So, I can directly get us out of this predicament?” Chendo said thoughtfully. “I can directly use Ligadia’s power to let us continue our journey? Fundamentally change this situation of being trapped?”
“It’s at least worth a try,” Siles said.
They walked a bit further away, arriving at the foothills, ensuring no one would notice what they wanted to do. Then, Siles took the necklace Chendo had given him earlier out from his collar, untied it, and handed it to Chendo.
“Ligadia’s amulet. The [Safe Travels] ritual,” Siles said. “Perhaps this can provide some help.”
He pondered seriously.
And Chendo held the accessory, which seemed to still carry Siles’s body heat. He seemed to have been burned by something; his fingers trembled slightly. He gazed at Siles so intently.
After a moment, Chendo said, “What I desire the most is to let you escape this predicament.”
Siles froze slightly, then raised his eyes and looked over. He saw Chendo’s emerald eyes, filled with a focused, deep affection and devotion under the sunset’s afterglow.
Chendo whispered, “May I embrace you?”
“Of course, Chendo,” Siles said. “You don’t need to ask me. You can always do so.”
So Chendo leaned in and embraced him. At the same time, his gaze looked past Siles, towards the parked train and the broken tracks. He tightly gripped the amulet.
He thought, if he truly mastered Ligadia’s power, if he truly was Ligadia’s Scion, if he could possess the power to change the current situation… then, he hoped this power would grant his beloved Professor Siles Noel, [Safe Travels].
He didn’t elaborate on the contents of the letter. It essentially said that the granduncle had personally experienced the incident at the House of Hales, encountered something else afterward, and so wrote this letter to the family before his death, hoping someone (specifically Herd) would go to the Ashless Lands to do a certain thing.
At the time, Herd thought it was a joke and casually mentioned it at the dinner table that day. To his surprise, his parents and grandparents all reacted very intensely to it.
His family argued all night, but Herd was unable to participate. And the result of their argument was that yesterday afternoon, Herd was directly kicked out of the house.
He only had time to grab that letter, some coins, and a simple change of clothes. Just like that, he was thrown out by his family.
Moreover, he received a very stern instruction: “You must complete the mission in the letter!”
Lost and confused, Herd wandered around Lamifa City. He came from a wealthy family and had been doted on since birth, but overnight, everything changed. He was in a state of sheer panic.
A certain special power drove him to complete the mission in the letter. He thought that as long as he did what the letter said, he could return to his previous life.
So, in a daze, he boarded a carriage heading out of Lamifa City.
“Why a carriage?” Siles had to ask. “Did you not know how to get to the Ashless Lands?”
Herd shook his head vigorously and said, trembling, “I… I don’t know. I know about the train station, but when I went to the train station to ask for directions, someone said he could take me to the Ashless Lands in his carriage. I believed him, but he just… took my money and dumped me halfway, saying it was for my own good so I wouldn’t go to the Ashless Lands to die.
“…There was a blizzard last night, and I found this inn in the snow. If this inn hadn’t been here, I probably would have frozen to death.”
Siles fell silent for a moment. He realized that the person in front of him really was a young man spoiled by his family, and moreover, he seemed to still stubbornly want to complete the mission his so-called “granduncle” entrusted to him.
Herd looked at Siles with anticipation and said, “So, you must know what happened at the House of Hales, and you must know the inside story behind it, right?”
Siles remained silent for a while.
From Herd’s words, it was clear his granduncle decided to write this letter because of the incident at the House of Hales.
But, how could that be?
The annihilation of the House of Hales was caused by those Old God followers hiding in the shadows, who had distorted their faith in Hoodoka over the long passage of time and finally decided to make a desperate attempt to resurrect the Old God.
Their action naturally failed, but it indeed caused numerous disasters and casualties.
The legend of the Non-existent City, the secret of Corinna Canyon, the incitement at the House of Hales and other outposts… regardless, that was an underground conspiracy hidden behind countless legends in the Ashless Lands.
After that incident, Siles also learned from Jerome Lanmere that some major merchants in the Ashless Lands were also involved. But those merchants were all either dead or injured as well.
…So, how did this so-called Dryson family get tangled up in this incident?
Siles deliberated for a moment, and finally said, “I’m afraid I need to see that letter.”
Herd visibly hesitated. Up until now, he had tried his best to avoid discussing the contents of that letter. He had just verbally, and indirectly, given Siles a rough idea of what it contained.
It seemed even he himself didn’t dare to look at the letter again.
However, despite his fear and resistance, Herd finally took the letter out of the backpack he carried with him.
The envelope was gone, so it was really just a crumpled piece of paper, covered in sweat and bright red bloodstains, to the point where even the writing on the paper was a bit blurry.
Herd nervously explained, “When I received this letter, the paper was already like this.”
Siles nodded thoughtfully. He first inspected the paper itself and found no issues, then looked at the content written on it.
“Warning:
“The House of Hales is annihilated. I have encountered disaster again. The time has come, please have the youngest child in the family embark on a journey. Someone is waiting at the seaside lighthouse in the north of the Ashless Lands.
“Hurry! Hurry!”
It was just a short paragraph, but Siles instinctively frowned.
The seaside lighthouse in the north of the Ashless Lands?
Lighthouse?
He instinctively felt that this matter might hide no small secret. Of course, he originally had this feeling, but now it was much clearer.
The imagery of a lighthouse always had some connection with Ligadia.
Whether it was the legend of the snake in the fog described by the seaside lighthouse dwellers in On the Journey, a book by a devout believer of Ligadia, or the relevant power of the “Soul Lighthouse” used by Chendo, these were directly connected to lighthouses.
Furthermore, seaside lighthouses were also connected to Amois. After all, they were guiding beacons on the ocean.
This mysterious granduncle told Herd to go to the lighthouse in the north of the Ashless Lands to meet someone and do something together… What thing?
No, he should ask, whose side was this family on?
This question of stance was extremely important and could very likely lead to diametrically opposed outcomes.
And what should Siles do?
He fell into deep thought.
Meanwhile, Herd looked at him nervously.
In the midst of the silence, Chendo returned. He had probably asked Alan downstairs about Herd’s room, so he knocked on the door and walked in. He said, “The people on the train know about this inn now, it seems a few plan to come over. Also, almost a whole morning has passed, and there is no sign of the repairman. It looks like Mrs. Mencken was right; we’re going to be stuck here for a while.”
Siles nodded, finding it unsurprising.
He roughly told Chendo about Herd’s situation. When he heard the word “lighthouse,” Chendo also unconsciously narrowed his eyes. He looked at Herd with amusement and said, “This is no small matter.”
Herd subconsciously shivered again at his teasing tone. He clenched his hands even tighter.
Siles said, “Perhaps we need to investigate this matter.” He then asked, “Herd, do you know absolutely nothing about this granduncle?”
“Absolutely nothing,” Herd answered honestly. “I didn’t even know such a person existed in my family.”
He could see that Siles and Chendo understood the behind-the-scenes factors of this matter much better than he did, so he breathed a huge sigh of relief. He even said with anticipation, “You know? I mean, I am very grateful that you are willing to help me!”
“I will try to investigate this matter,” Siles said, returning the letter to Herd. “But, what do you plan to do?”
Herd was taken aback. He said, “What… what do I plan to do?”
Siles very calmly pointed out Herd’s current predicament: “You are currently penniless and cannot go home. Do you plan to continue to the Ashless Lands, or stay here and fend for yourself?”
Herd was stunned for a long time. It was as if only at this moment did he suddenly understand what kind of choice he needed to make. He had been in a daze before, never realizing that his situation was already so dire.
He subconsciously licked his dry lips, then whispered, “Could… could you give me some money? I want to return to Lamifa City. Once I get home, I will repay you!”
Siles’s expression didn’t change; he took a deep look at the young man in front of him. Herd also felt somewhat baffled by that look.
He said, “Are… are you worried I won’t pay you back? No, I won’t. Sir, I am the only son of the Dryson family; many people in the city know me. I will definitely…”
Chendo said, “Stop deceiving yourself, this… Mr. Dryson. Do you really think you can go home?” He added, “Better think carefully about what you should do now.”
Herd abruptly snapped his mouth shut. He was stunned for a moment, then grabbed his head and let out a few sharp screams. He trembled madly.
At a certain moment, Siles even felt that his emotions carried a hint of ferocity. But it was hard to say whether that was genuine or just the struggle of a young man driven to a dead end.
After a while, he sat up straight, his expression calmed down, despite his bloodshot eyes. He said, “I still… I still have to ask you to lend me some money… but I, I mean… I need to, I need to go to the Ashless Lands. I want to unravel this secret.”
He closed his eyes, then murmured softly, “Yes, this secret… the secret of my family.”
Siles remained noncommittal. Even though Chendo had pierced through Herd’s disguise, Siles didn’t react to it. He simply said, “Of course you can, Herd. I will lend you one hundred Duke coins.”
Herd nodded repeatedly. As if suddenly remembering something, he asked, “Did you travel here by train? I vaguely heard you and Mrs. Mencken saying so earlier.”
“Yes,” Siles said, realizing what Herd meant. “Do you want to travel with us?”
“Yes… yes, that would be more convenient,” Herd murmured. “Besides, I also don’t want to… don’t want to stay here anymore…”
“Then pack your things, Herd,” Siles said. “You’ll have to go tell the conductor. We’ll wait for you outside. Oh, and take this hundred-coin note.”
Siles took out a hundred-coin note from his wallet and handed it to Herd.
Herd thanked him repeatedly. He said, “I will repay you as soon as possible; thank you for your generosity.” He whispered, “I never expected something like this to happen… thank you for your helping hand.”
Siles just smiled slightly and didn’t say anything.
He and Chendo stepped out into the corridor. The corridor was empty, though still warmer than outside.
Chendo asked, “What do you think is really going on here?”
“It’s hard to say. Is the Dryson family Old God followers?” Siles said. “But Old Gods also have different stances. The point is, which side is the Dryson family actually on?”
This secretive style was clearly very fitting for Old God followers, not to mention the behavior of Herd’s elders after the incident occurred. They completely kicked Herd out of the house.
Such crazy, terrifying actions were clearly inextricably linked to the Old Gods. However, the Old Gods were one thing, and the choices of these humans were another.
The lighthouse. The lighthouse was related to Ligadia.
The Dryson family might be on Ligadia’s side, but the appearance of the lighthouse didn’t necessarily mean they set out based on Ligadia’s guidance; it might also be because it was indeed a landmark building on the sea. Therefore, they could also be standing opposite Ligadia.
…Perhaps they were on the “shadow’s” side, or perhaps they stood against the “shadow.”
Their unclear stance made it very difficult for Siles to determine how they needed to handle this matter.
Perhaps the first thing they needed to do was clarify what this matter actually meant. What exactly did that mysterious granduncle write the letter to the family for? And why did he demand the youngest child in the family set out for the Ashless Lands to find that seaside lighthouse?
Was the whole affair really related to the Old Gods?
After a moment’s thought, Siles said, “We’ll arrive in Biedel City in a few days. If Lanmere is there, we can ask him to help investigate relevant information, at least finding this ‘granduncle’ first. No one knows how long that mysterious Mr. Dryson stayed at the House of Hales, or why he stayed there all along.”
“Why would he stay at the House of Hales all along?” Chendo asked, a bit puzzled. “Was he looking for some clue at the House of Hales? Or perhaps… waiting for something?”
Siles pondered for a moment, then said, “He specifically mentioned the annihilation of the House of Hales in his letter. That means he, and the Dryson family who received this letter, understood what those followers of Hoodoka wanted to do. Was it this matter that ultimately drove him to write this letter… is he a helper to those Old God followers, or the exact opposite?”
Siles pondered this question, while also realizing that this question, like the one he just thought of, was important but equally unknown—the mysterious Dryson family, and the mysterious Mr. Dryson.
“After the incident at the House of Hales, he decided to do something,” Chendo added. “…What did he encounter afterward?”
Siles thought for a moment, then helplessly shook his head. This point was very hard to say; no one even knew a mysterious Dryson had been staying at the House of Hales, so even fewer people would know what he did after leaving the House of Hales.
They stopped talking and waited in silence. Soon, Herd left the room.
He planned to follow Siles and the others back to the train, and would later set out with them as well. It was evident that after encountering such a sudden change, he wanted to mingle with the crowd and forget about those annoying things.
Mrs. Mencken was a little regretful about this. However, people soon appeared near the inn—they were passengers from the train. They came here to clear their minds, and perhaps also for more comfortable beds.
So Mrs. Mencken immediately beamed with joy. She even specifically thanked Siles and Chendo.
The three of them walked for a while again, returning to the train. The entire morning had passed just like that. There were indeed still vacant berths on the train for Herd. Herd paid the conductor to buy a ticket, and then casually joined the conversations of the others.
Although occasionally, when he looked out at the endless snowfield beyond the window, he still couldn’t help but show a look of fear and uncertainty.
Siles and Chendo went to the dining car to have lunch first, and then found Dr. Chester—he was playing cards with other people. Noel Cards seemed to have swept through the entire train in a short amount of time; of course, the main reason was also because staying in this place was truly boring.
If nothing had happened to the tracks, they would be almost at Maltz by now. But now, they could only wait in the pale daylight and endless snow for the repairman from the train station to come over. The passengers sincerely hoped the repairman would come quickly, but they also knew very well that this wasn’t an easy task.
Hearing Siles talk about Herd, Dr. Chester couldn’t help but show a very confused expression. He said, “This is unbelievable, why isn’t the House of Hales matter over yet?”
Siles actually really wanted to ask this question too, but that was just how things were. They probably wouldn’t be able to escape the shadow cast by those Old God followers that easily.
Dr. Chester pondered for a while, then said, “Could this mysterious granduncle have been a spy left at the House of Hales by those Old God followers back then?”
Siles froze slightly.
This theory went a step further than his previous guess that “Mr. Dryson might be a helper to those Old God followers”, directly confirming Mr. Dryson’s identity. And that wasn’t impossible.
At the time, among the explorers at the House of Hales, there must have been people with unidentified backgrounds mixed in. They couldn’t possibly verify everyone’s identity one by one, so it was highly possible someone slipped through the net.
…We might be able to hook a big fish, Siles thought to himself. Of course, the premise was that they had to investigate everything thoroughly.
“This matter truly lacks a beginning and an end,” Chendo sincerely sighed, then added, “Unless we can really find that mysterious granduncle.”
Siles and Chester both nodded.
A call for Dr. Chester came from afar, sounding like Lorenzo’s voice.
Chester replied, then said to Siles, “Professor, the card battle game you invented really has many people obsessed. It also makes our waiting time much less agonizing. By the way, do you guys want to play? They might still be setting up a game.”
Siles thought about it, and finally shook his head. He said, “I still have a batch of materials I haven’t finished reading. Since we’re stuck here, I can spend some time finishing them.”
Chester looked at Siles in surprise and said, “You really are very busy… even busier than I imagined.”
Siles felt slightly helpless.
Since Siles planned to return to his compartment to read, Chendo naturally left with Siles instead of playing cards. They said goodbye to Chester. Siles first went to his own compartment to get the materials he wanted to read, then went to Chendo’s compartment.
“What are you planning to read?” Chendo asked.
Siles said, “The Church of the Past sent me two sets of materials previously, regarding news about the Old God’s Scions and the fall of the Old Gods, respectively. Since you are here, let’s look at the first set of materials together.”
