“Dear Mother, I hope this letter finds you well.
“…It is a cold winter. I heard that the rainy season will also last for many days, so I hope you will take care of your health. I bought a nice wool scarf at the October Market, which I hope you will like. It should help you fend off the invasion of the bitter cold.
“…I am very sorry that I will be unable to return home to accompany you during the winter break, because a friend has invited me to travel to the Ashless Land. As you know, my major fills me with curiosity regarding that mysterious land.
“I will be careful. When the time comes, I will write to you to share what I see and hear in the Ashless Land. I hope you can also be happy for me, because I happen to have dodged the annoying rainy season and cold wave.
“…A friend of mine mentioned an empty shop under his name, and we might partner up to do some business. By that time, you will have even less need to worry about my livelihood in Lamifa.
“However, we haven’t been able to decide exactly what business to do yet. Perhaps you could provide us with some suggestions?
“…Everything else in life is as usual. Matters at the university and the History Society have come to a close for now. I hope the life in the Ashless Land over the next two weeks can bring some fresh sights and experiences.
“…
“May the warm winter sun shine upon your soul.”
Siles sat quietly on one side of the train’s sleeper compartment, gazing at the scenery outside the small window.
It was Thursday, October 21st. He had embarked on the train bound for Maltz.
The matters perpetrated by the crazed cultists of Timiafa and Brancani had come to a close by this time. Yesterday, Siles had gone to observe the Day of Divine Birth celebration, and afterward, he heard Dominic explain the results of their investigation.
Bolin Elgar. This follower of an Old God was born in the year 350 of the Era of Mist, making him exactly fifty years old this year. He came from a well-off background; his family originally ran a well-reputed restaurant.
Therefore, during his childhood, Elgar had already dealt with a vast amount of food and diners.
It was hard to say exactly when he had gone astray. Perhaps it was due to some exceedingly rare ingredients of unknown origin, perhaps a diner who harbored alternative designs, or perhaps some uncommon and bizarre recipes.
In short, around the time Elgar was thirty years old, having already become the head chef of the restaurant, he suddenly chose to close down this old establishment that had been operating for decades. Instead, he began to mingle with mysterious merchants, eccentric explorers, and members of strange organizations.
According to the results Dominic investigated at Elgar’s home, this organization seemed precisely to be the gathering place of contemporary “Drowning Desire Diners.” The Church of the Past was already conducting a deeper investigation into this organization based on that information.
The information they obtained mostly came from the correspondence records between Elgar and others, which included Elgar’s communications with business partners, fellow conspirators, and Clarence Dwight.
The first correspondence between Elgar and Clarence appeared in the year 380 of the Era of Mist, which was twenty years ago.
At that time, Elgar had just closed down his family business and joined that organization.
His mental state was in an extremely excited and intense condition. This mental state caused his family members to feel deeply worried, so they found a psychiatrist to diagnose and treat Elgar.
And that psychiatrist happened to have some connection with Clarence Dwight. To be exact, the beliefs related to Brancani possessed an incredibly powerful presence in the newly developing field of psychiatry.
People believed that mental illness might stem from an extremely irreverent and blasphemous psychological state, considering it a punishment from the deities—even though the Old Gods had already fallen—or that the individual themselves had become involved with something far too grim and uncanny.
In other words, in this era, when humanity did not understand brain lesions and mental illness sufficiently, people naturally took it for granted that it was related to mysterious forces.
Moreover, mysterious forces did indeed exist in this world.
Therefore, self-restraint, self-reflection, and self-punishment became the treatment methods for many mental patients, and even psychiatrists would use such a diagnostic process.
Consequently, Elgar back then was recommended by this psychiatrist to Clarence Dwight, hoping to take this opportunity to treat him.
This was truly a bizarre matter, and at the very least, when the investigators discovered the contents of the early correspondence between Elgar and Clarence, this sense of strangeness became increasingly apparent.
At that time, they did not yet know that their respective beliefs were completely opposed to each other to a certain degree. Thus, they merely conducted discussions regarding topics such as mental states, self-sublimation, asceticism, and indulgence.
From a certain perspective, Timiafa and Brancani indeed symbolized fulfillment and abundance in a spiritual sense. Whether it was asceticism or indulgence, they reached the same destination by different routes—at least, so it seemed to these cultists.
Therefore, as the correspondence between Elgar and Clarence grew increasingly frequent, they also seemed to gradually absorb some elements from each other’s concepts.
For example, asceticism could actually be said to be a kind of spiritual enjoyment and satisfaction; whereas greedily engorging oneself on food might be a form of torture in a physical sense, which indeed somewhat ruined one’s health.
They didn’t realize that their thinking seemed to have walked into a misconception to some extent, heading headlong toward an extreme yet diametrically opposite direction without looking back. And at this time, no deity would come to correct their thoughts or point out the path ahead for them.
Finally, in a letter fourteen years ago, Elgar and Clarence made a bold, almost “blasphemous” move. They redefined Timiafa and Brancani, believing that these two deities were inherently interconnected and one and the same.
They were two sides of the same coin, rather than completely opposed.
They seemed to have obtained some corroboration from certain obscure materials and ancient texts, and vaguely mentioned these sources and some fragmented phrases in their correspondence, such as the expression “born from the same source.”
Before Elgar died, he had also said to Siles, “They are one and the same after all… it was so in the past, and it shall be so in the end,” appearing to believe in this concept deeply.
Regrettably, however, during the subsequent search process of the incident, they failed to find the sources of these claims.
In short, when Elgar and Clarence reached this conclusion, they were overjoyed, believing that like the divine agents during the Era of God and the Era of Empire, they were proclaiming the concepts and power of the deities to the world.
This intense, incredible emotion stimulated them, making them want to achieve a “great deed.”
They further deduced that in the past, the reason why people were unable to awaken and resurrect Timiafa and Brancani was because the information obtained by those cultists suffered from a generational gap.
They believed that people in the past did not know these two deities were essentially one. Therefore, every attempt was limited to only one aspect, thus rendering it a futile effort.
Only by resurrecting both deities simultaneously could they achieve “perfection” and truly awaken Them.
…To be honest, when Siles heard these thoughts and “concepts,” he actually felt at a certain moment that Elgar and Clarence were truly quite incredible.
They achieved logical self-consistency, yet failed to realize that all their logic was built upon a false foundation, and was merely based on their own erroneous and one-sided understanding of this world.
In any case, based on such thoughts of theirs, Elgar and Clarence began their actions.
Fourteen years ago, Elgar had already become an important member of that organization. That time happened to coincide with the ascension of the new Grand Duke, and some frequent anomalous movements also appeared on the side of the Revelators. In short, it was a chaotic time, which precisely provided Elgar and Clarence with an opportunity to exploit.
Therefore, Elgar used internal connections within the organization—which possessed decent influence in terms of food, luxury goods, and pleasure, particularly among certain nobles—to become the palace Chamber-master.
Meanwhile, Clarence officially became a member of the Elder Council of the History Society at that time.
When Dominic spoke of this matter to Siles, his tone was quite dissatisfied, mostly believing that the History Society’s inaction allowed a frenzied, devout follower of an Old God to become a high-ranking official of the society.
Siles, however, thought that perhaps it was precisely because the Dawn Revelation Society broke off completely with the History Society at that time, and Mr. Xia disappeared, that some changes also occurred within the History Society?
Some more conservative, obstinate elders became the helmsmen of the History Society, and Clarence merely happened to be there at the right time, rather than the History Society specially promoting him.
Thus, Elgar and Clarence began their respective actions from then on.
As could be seen from their correspondence, their actions—including the Greyson Food Company and the Torture Society, and Clarence proposing some frenzied subjects within the History Society—had clear targets for every single action, with the ultimate goal being to awaken the deities they believed in.
What surprised Siles slightly was that at the beginning, Elgar did not actually think of promoting food within the general public. He practically still wanted to work from top to bottom, first starting with the food and drink of the Grand Duke and the nobles.
He lay low for a few years, staying safe and sound to ensure he wouldn’t be suspected and to ensure he had already obtained the trust of the Grand Duke, and only then did he begin to move slowly.
He would replace a portion of the food with things carrying “mental pollution,” or incorporate some elements of the deities during the food preparation process.
During a certain period, roughly seven or eight years ago, the correspondence between Elgar and Clarence was filled with elements of anxiety and unease. They felt that the progress of their actions was too slow, and didn’t know when they would be able to achieve their desires.
Subsequently, they decided to accelerate their progress.
The Greyson Food Company was also born at this time. However, this food company, which was still ordinary back then, did not become popular as they had anticipated, developing only lukewarmly.
During this period, the correspondence between the two of them also carried a slight element of discouragement.
If it had remained just like this, then they might not have been able to pull off any earth-shattering event that caused a sensation throughout the city. Their lives might have been completely consumed amidst unperceived madness.
However, right at this time—to be exact, right at the beginning of this year—someone in the organization Elgar belonged to suddenly discovered a strange object.
In the letters, Elgar spoke with an almost ecstatic tone, saying that they could utilize that object to transform all disgusting, cheap materials into delicious, highly attractive food.
What was that? A portrait brought back from the Ashless Land.
Under the gaze of that strange man wearing a chef’s hat, any prepared food—even before it was fully prepared—would automatically be beautified into excellent, attractive delicacies.
The only problem was that it didn’t possess a very long shelf life.
That was like a kind of fraud—simultaneously defrauding human vision, smell, and taste, and also deceiving people’s stomachs. At least when the food of Greyson had not yet exposed its true colors, people hadn’t heard of anything like getting a sick stomach from eating it.
And such food precisely matched the thoughts of Elgar and Clarence.
Food with a gorgeous exterior but rotten interior—wasn’t that a form of torture? Wasn’t that a form of enjoyment? Wasn’t that precisely something that was two sides of the same coin?
Elgar spent a high price to buy this portrait, and spent a period of time studying its uses. There was only one portrait, so at the very beginning, they were unable to start construction on a large scale.
Until… at the same time, the research department of the History Society, under the leadership of Clarence, initiated a less conspicuous research topic—replicating time traces.
When Edward Bellow previously explained the topic led by Clarence to Siles, he said that the topic of replicating time traces did not yield any too reasonable results that could be applied on a large scale.
However, judging from the correspondence between Elgar and Clarence, this topic was actually successful, except that its effect did not receive too much attention because it could only be used to replicate time traces that were “written by human hands” such as books, paintings, and text.
The researchers seemed to, during the ritual time, completely not resist the pollution carried by the time trace, but instead actively accepted the invasion of the pollution and comprehended that state, thereby creating a similar time trace—depicting, it could be described as such.
Therefore, such a replication process was extremely dangerous and irreversible.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this that Edward would say it was not a “too reasonable result.”
To Elgar and Clarence, however, they didn’t need to care about that much. They themselves were already Revelators heavily invaded by pollution, and were even delighted that they were polluted, because those were the imprints left by the deities.
Thus, after replicating a large batch of portraits (which simultaneously consumed a large batch of Revelators), their plan officially commenced in the middle of this year.
Their correspondence also mentioned the source of ingredients for the Greyson Food Company. It was mainly those unclaimed corpses in the Lamifa City Police Station. And the reason why they could do this was due to Clarence’s connections.
Just as Elgar’s family suspected he possessed a mental illness and he consequently got to know Clarence, these days, even many criminal behaviors were considered related to “blasphemy” and “irreverence,” and the police station would likewise consult people like Clarence due to the problems of criminals.
Therefore, Clarence used the excuse of “studying whether mental illness and blasphemous behavior affect physiological states” to request those unclaimed corpses.
With this, everything was ready.
The events after that were everything Siles already knew—from the frenzied expansion of the Greyson Food Company, the food town verging on losing control, the small movements of the October Market circus, and the various behaviors of the Torture Study Society.
The recipes Bertram Fenn’s friend brought back from the Ashless Land happened to come at the right time. In fact, Siles did not think those recipes themselves would have any problems, but after being processed and modified by Greyson, the final finished products were not necessarily “clean.”
Meanwhile, the Torture Study Society had actually been cooperating with Greyson’s moves in the dark. Many members of this organization were residents of the West City; after all… generally speaking, life in the West City was quite a bit worse than in the East City.
Therefore, the members of the Torture Study Society also put forth massive efforts for Greyson’s promotion in the West City. From another perspective, they themselves also deeply needed such cheap yet “delicious” food.
Setting aside these stories behind the scenes, the one thing that made Siles most curious was the “ritual” at the very end of all this.
Clearly, Elgar and Clarence regarded that portrait—or rather, the initial portrait—as the incarnation of Timiafa (and Brancani), which was what the followers of the Old Gods conceptualized as the “Deity’s Slough.”
It was hard to say from where exactly they had confirmed this news.
After purchasing this portrait from the hands of that secret organization’s member, Elgar set about searching for the specific source of this portrait. It was purchased by that member from a certain explorer of the Ashless Land.
Therefore, all investigations also had to start from the Ashless Land.
However, during the case investigation after the incident, Dominic did not find their investigation results from those chaotic letters, or whether they had truly conducted a very deep investigation.
It seemed that Elgar and Clarence, during the process of investigating and searching for information, defaulted to the notion that the portrait was precisely the past trace left behind by Timiafa, the time trace they needed.
Perhaps these two individuals destroyed a portion of the correspondence between them, or perhaps their investigation records were preserved somewhere or with someone in the Ashless Land.
In short, their investigation into this portrait seemed to yield only one result—they established a connection with that mysterious circus.
After the incident at the banquet on the eve of the Day of Divine Birth ended, Dominic also sent people to look for that circus. However, the circus of the October Market had disappeared without a trace at some unknown time, which truly made them feel regretful.
After all, this caused their investigation process to lack an extremely important link, which was, why exactly did these two individuals, Elgar and Clarence, get involved with the circus of the Ashless Land.
Of course, from Billy, the manager of the Greyson Food Company, they also learned a portion of information.
For instance, it was Elgar who gave him the contact information of this circus, letting him contact them and letting this circus do some rather illegal dealings within Lamifa.
For another instance, during the process of Billy’s contact with the circus, the circus itself did not seem to know how Elgar learned of their existence, nor did they know that Billy would contact them.
Elgar seemed to have learned of the circus’s existence from somewhere else, but what exactly this “somewhere else” was remained highly enigmatic.
All in all, Elgar and Clarence, who regarded this portrait as the incarnation of a deity, chose to offer a sacrifice to this “deity” amidst boundless madness.
Their initial idea came from “uncontrolled time traces,” which was the so-called “spiritual inactivation” of humanity. They then decided to “cultivate” the activity of the portrait. During this process, they “used” countless Revelators.
And after the portrait indeed obtained some “activity,” they began the preparations for a large-scale sacrifice.
In the world of Fisher, sacrifice was indeed an incomparably grand activity, stretching out over many years. Every year’s celebration of Antinam’s Day of Divine Birth could be said to be a kind of sacrificial activity, except that the connotation of sacrificing was fainter, while the connotation of celebrating was stronger.
The early sacrifices came from the worship of deities by people during the Era of Gods and the Era of Empire, and this worship activity was extremely singular and one-sided. Humanity back then could not even imagine the power of the deities.
In contrast, the later sacrificial activities, particularly around the Era of Silence, without exception stemmed from humanity’s worship and awe toward the power of deities, and likewise, humanity also thirsted to obtain such power in the capacity of a “protected one.”
The sacrificial activities also transformed from the initial one-sided offering into a subsequent process akin to an equivalent exchange. Of course, limited to cultists.
At a certain stage, the deities seemed to intentionally feedback a portion of power to their cultists.
…These contents were written in the correspondence between Elgar and Clarence, and also indirectly contributed to their thoughts and conceptions regarding a large-scale sacrifice.
Since the deities of the past would provide feedback toward sacrificial activities, shouldn’t they now also be able to use this method to awaken those sleeping deities?
At the very least, they hoped to receive a response from the deities, hoping to confirm that the deities indeed still existed in some corner of this world.
They thought so, after all, in their view—the Old Gods were merely sleeping, rather than fallen.
And their sacrificial activity did indeed awaken some… thing. But that could not be said to be a deity, nor could it even be said to be the will of a deity. That was merely the power of a deity.
Based on Grenfield’s past explanation regarding the “pure power” of a deity, Siles believed that they might have just attracted Timiafa’s power by a freak combination of factors due to the concepts of banquets, food, excessive desire, and so forth.
…Yes, only Timiafa’s power, Siles felt so. This sacrifice did not attract Brancani’s power.
When they attacked Elgar back then, all attacks were blocked back by a kind of red mist. Elgar seemed to believe that it was the protection of the deity toward the cultist during the sacrificial process, but in Siles’s view…
If combined with the subsequent scene where “the red mist connected Elgar’s brain with that portrait,” then Siles believed that this was merely the performance of something “protecting its food.”
It regarded Elgar as its food, while those attacks were acts of snatching food.
…The instinct of a deity’s power.
Just as Akamara’s power would make people immerse themselves in dreams, Timiafa’s power would instinctively devour and feed.
When Siles realized this matter, he couldn’t help but draw in a light breath.
At that time, Dominic was feeling extremely driven to madness due to endless questions.
He wanted to know where that portrait exactly came from, he wanted to know exactly who had been supporting Elgar and Clarence’s activities in the dark over all these years, he wanted to know… whether the Grand Duke of Konst knew about the designs of these two individuals?
At the Day of Divine Birth celebration, even though they had experienced such a complex, terrifying conspiracy the day before, the Grand Duke of Konst still announced the Withered Wasteland Development Project with a serious and calm face, as if nothing had happened at all.
Dominic was also unable to conduct more investigations against the Grand Duke, aside from some routine questioning. In fact, if the questions raised were a bit too detailed, they would be rebuked by court officials and other nobles.
In the end, Dominic also believed that they probably couldn’t obtain more information from the Grand Duke’s side.
However, the Grand Duchess instead unexpectedly provided them with a piece of information. She said that the food in the palace would sometimes make her feel that it was unpalatable and disgusting, hoping they could investigate the sources of these ingredients.
Dominic knew what the ingredients of the Greyson Food Company all were—those unclaimed corpses in the Lamifa City Police Station—but that was after Elgar obtained that portrait and possessed the ability to “turn waste into treasure” that he could do so.
Over so many years in the past, where did Elgar get those problematic ingredients in the palace from?
This question left Dominic lost in thought. He said to Siles that he was afraid this would be a long investigation process. Even though Elgar and Clarence’s conspiracy had already been exposed and resolved, their past possessed countless areas that needed investigation.
The source of the portrait, the source of the ingredients, the disposal of the participants…
Speaking of the disposal of the participants, certain high-level executives and funders of the Greyson Food Company, as well as the vast majority of the members of the Torture Study Society, were of course already arrested and undergoing the review process.
However, the families of Elgar and Clarence—this was another question.
They might have understood or guessed the designs of these two individuals, but they did not truly participate in them. Therefore, whether they should be convicted and how to convict them became a difficult problem.
The primary investigators of this incident were the Church of the Past, so the Church of the Past also placed these people under control, but it was merely interrogation and investigation, with no next step of action for the time being.
Siles also met the soul-shattered Horatio Dwight at the Church of the Past.
This young student, who usually appeared composed and self-contained with rationality, currently had a dull gaze and a depressed expression. When he looked toward Siles, his gaze suddenly lit up, as if he had suddenly found an object he could turn to for help.
He looked at Siles with such supplication and asked, “Professor, do you think they were wrong?”
Siles thought of that letter placed in his office drawer, written to Horatio. In the letter, he looked forward to the final formed paper of the Suffering Records Club, and thought of picking a time to mail it out.
But looking at it now, it seemed this letter could no longer be mailed out.
The answer Siles ultimately gave Horatio was, “Any concept heading toward an extreme will be terrifying. We live in a real world, rather than a world of concepts.”
Horatio murmured this sentence, seemingly falling into deep thought.
Siles did not say much to Horatio. That he was able to see Horatio was still because his relationship with the Church of the Past was decent, so he paid a visit privately.
He hoped this student had nothing to do with this incident, but that figure blocking the entrance of the dining hall, with a blue radiance emanating from his body… seemed to cause Siles’s hope to shatter once more.
Even if Horatio himself had no intention of abetting an evil doer, his behavior seemed to have already done so.
Aside from Horatio, another person who appeared that day and made Siles feel concerned was that mysterious figure with grayish-white hair who appeared at the entrance of the kitchen.
He didn’t know who that person could be, but that person very likely saw the judgment Siles made.
Siles reviewed the people who might have appeared in the palace and might have appeared at the kitchen entrance that day, and ultimately reached a conclusion: that might be someone from the Dawn Revelation Society.
Siles had previously written a letter to the Dawn Revelation Society, hoping they would take some action regarding the banquet incident.
However, on that night, Siles did not discover the figure of any Dawn Revelation Society member at the banquet scene, and afterward, he didn’t hear any talk from Dominic’s side about a mysterious individual helping them either.
Judging by the style of the Dawn Revelation Society that Siles had heard of, it was impossible for them to have absolutely no reaction toward the movements of the followers of the Old Gods. They reasonably should have done something to prevent all this from happening.
Therefore, that figure who arrived late and appeared at the kitchen entrance was very likely the helping hand they dispatched. It was just that the opponent’s action was a bit late, and in the end, it was Siles who directly saved the day with his judgment.
This instead made Siles somewhat worried.
Did that person notice his judgment? Siles’s voice was quite light at that time, but the entire kitchen was also extremely silent.
Furthermore, even if the opponent didn’t hear the content of the judgment he spoke, the fact that Siles so simply solved a follower of an Old God and prevented an action to resurrect an Old God was likewise bound to appear extremely strange and draw suspicion.
Could an ordinary literature history professor who had just become a Revelator for a few months achieve such a turning of the tide?
…Siles couldn’t help but get a headache over this.
Of course, there was also a piece of good news.
Clarence Dwight did indeed discover that Siles was a member of the Dawn Revelation Society. This matter was mentioned in the correspondence between Elgar and him, and Clarence had indeed investigated Siles’s past.
Fortunately, however, Clarence did not believe Siles had a connection with their designs. He believed that the “Three Elements of Deities” proposed by Siles was merely a symbol of the Dawn Revelation Society acting once more.
Therefore, in the letter, Clarence merely said that he would resolve “this newly appeared member of the Dawn Revelation Society” within the scope of the History Society, requiring no intervention from Elgar, and didn’t even mention Siles’s name in the letter at all.
Siles suspected he might have spoken of himself to Elgar on other occasions, but in any case, both of these individuals were now dead in the meat grinder, so he temporarily seemed to be able to put down his worries of his identity being exposed—dead men keep secrets best, don’t they?
Even if this world possessed the ability to make dead men speak, presumably no one would think of going to ask Clarence such a question.
…Siles cautioned himself not to worry needlessly.
Clarence was already dead. He might as well worry about that culprit who originally sent people to break into his office. If Clarence and that person’s stance were identical, then would he perhaps have learned that Siles belonged to the Dawn Revelation Society?
And that guy was extremely undisciplined, Siles thought.
In short, this matter seemed to have passed just like that. Although the scene made a relatively big fuss and some people also died quietly (Siles would always sigh because of this), generally speaking, they at least didn’t let a harsher situation appear.
The greatest impact was perhaps that many residents within Lamifa City had not been very willing to taste delicacies recently…
In this season of freezing rain, the residents of Lamifa City truly endured a lot.
The follow-up investigation was still ongoing, but Siles suspected what exactly the Church of the Past could investigate. After all, judging from the current situation, all clues seemed to boil down to the Ashless Land.
…Which was precisely the destination of his journey.
Dr. Chester Fitzroy ultimately still decided to join Siles’s journey. He temporarily requested a leave of absence from the University of Lamifa. However, at this moment, the University of Lamifa was originally on winter break, so his leave application was approved very quickly.
Because this decision was very hasty, when Dr. Chester wanted to purchase a train ticket to Maltz, the seats on the train Siles was taking were already completely sold out. He could only choose a slightly later shift.
Siles did not pay particular attention to this matter. He comforted Chester and said he would wait for him at the train station when Chester arrived.
However, Chester appeared quite full of worries regarding this. He hoped Siles would pay attention to safety, at least not to meet with an accident on the train.
…This gentle doctor seemed to have a tendency for overprotection, Siles thought.
In any case, Siles still promised him, and then on the morning of the 21st, carrying his travel bag alone, he arrived at the Lamifa Train Station and boarded the train bound for a foreign land.
He felt quite a bit of a novel sensation in his heart.
The train of this era was similar to the train of the nineteenth century on Earth in Siles’s memory—the locomotive, the dining car, the carriages, and the not-so-clean restrooms.
Siles couldn’t help but frown, but thinking of the customary hygienic conditions of this era… in the end, he could only let out a sigh, thinking that it was just a day’s journey after all.
Roughly half of the carriages of this train were sleepers. Following the number on his ticket, Siles found his carriage and berth. At this moment, the compartment was still completely empty; he didn’t know who his roommate for this day would be.
He breathed a slight sigh of relief, because the environment of the sleeper carriage here was a bit better than he had imagined—about seven or eight square meters, two single berths on the left and right, looking quite clean. One side of the compartment was a door with hinges, and one side was a window, with a table board that could be lowered.
Siles checked his ticket, and then sat on the bed on the left side, relaxing slightly. Realizing that the gap between these two berths was roughly over a meter, he felt at ease.
…To be honest, he was not a person accustomed to conducting long-distance travel by himself. Even if he truly conducted such travel, he would try his best to place himself in an environment of solitude.
He knew this kind of thing could not be forced. It was better to hope that his “temporary roommate” possessed a personality that was relatively easy to get along with.
Siles calmed down quickly, put his backpack away properly, and then pondered over what things to do during this long journey to pass the time.
He brought a few books, mainly the gifts Alfonso and Emmanuel had left him previously. He was highly interested in a few of them, so he specially carried them by his side, which just happened to pass the time.
However, he was currently waiting for the train to depart and for the owner of the opposite berth to arrive, so he was somewhat unable to read the books.
After thinking for a moment, Siles took out the maps from his backpack, lowering his eyes to view and contemplate them.
He took out several maps, first looking at the train trace map of the Duchy of Konst. To travel from Lamifa City to the border city of Maltz, they needed to pass through several train stations, which included some cities Siles had heard of or hadn’t heard of.
But generally speaking, the territory of the Duchy of Konst was not considered large, with a total of roughly over twenty cities within the borders. Furthermore, some cities were even separated from each other by the dense mist.
This peculiar sight and nation would probably only appear within the world of Fisher.
Of course, what was mentioned here were cities, rather than villages. In the connections between cities, there existed quite a few villages and agricultural farms. The people living here mostly clung to old ways and didn’t contact outsiders much, but the internal connections were extremely tight.
The train Siles was riding would pass all the way through many such villages and cities, ultimately arriving at Maltz.
After arriving at Maltz, Siles would need to repurchase a train ticket to the Ashless Land—specifically, Galsworthy—and then change to other means of transportation in Galsworthy to head to the final destination: the House of Hales.
Siles placed the railway trace map of the Duchy of Konst at the very bottom, and then observed the railway map of the Ashless Land.
Galsworthy was a relatively large area, likewise possessing different cities. Siles ultimately wanted to head to the House of Hales located in the middle-east-to-southeast direction of the Withered Wasteland, so his destination was also Biddle City, located in the southeast direction of Galsworthy.
The train line from Maltz to Biddle had a total of two shifts a day, departing at twelve o’clock noon and six o’clock in the evening respectively. Heading to Biddle would be a long journey; they needed to stay on the train for a period of two days and three nights.
After arriving at Biddle, to travel from Biddle to the House of Hales, they could choose different modes of transportation, which might also take one to two days of work.
That was to say, just traveling from Lamifa City to the House of Hales would take at least five days.
Of course, to ensure safety, the line Siles selected actually took a bit of a detour. If taking a straight line and rushing with all one’s might, then perhaps they could arrive at the House of Hales in two or three days.
But there was also no necessity. Choosing an absolutely safe route was the cornerstone of a pleasant trip.
Therefore, Siles had psychological preparation for this long journey time, merely gazing at the railway map quietly for a moment, before putting away this map again and turning to look at another map.
That map was allegedly an explorer’s map from Quinton Praia.
The Hales House.
Siles’s gaze fixed firmly on this term. His trip to the Ashless Land this time was precisely to explore the secrets hidden behind this post station.
Ten years ago, last year, and this year, this post station had all sent out news related to the “non-existent city,” as if someone was deliberately controlling everything behind the scenes. But was it just these three years? Over the past ten years, had there been such rumors every single year?
…Perhaps it was also impossible to be every single year, as that would certainly draw suspicion. But it might be that such news was sent out every now and then, and then attracted batch after batch of explorers to head to their deaths.
But in the final analysis, what was the purpose of the mastermind sending out such news? Did they also want to conduct a grand sacrificial activity like Elgar and Clarence?
Could all this be related to the God of Sin and Lies, Hoddoka?
Furthermore…
Guilt and lies, shadow and fraud.
After learning that the function of that portrait of the Greyson Food Company was to disguise disgusting ingredients into beautiful and exquisite delicacies, Siles couldn’t help but think of Hoddoka due to this fraudulent effect.
One of the methods of the Apostles of Wicked Guilt was fraud. They would make the victims believe they were not injured, thereby missing the opportunity to save themselves.
However… Hoddoka and Timiafa?
Why did these deities slowly and vaguely seem to establish some connections with each other? Could it truly be as Elgar said, that They were once born from the same source?
Siles lowered his eyes to look at this map, falling into deep thought.
“…You’ve been tricked.” At this moment, a deep voice suddenly rang out by Siles’s ear, carrying a subtle, elusive tone, “I have never drawn such a map.”
Siles was slightly startled, instinctively lifting his eyes to look at the newcomer.
That was a handsome man with grayish-white, slightly long hair. His complexion was slightly dark, a healthy wheat color, and his eyes were a very beautiful emerald green. His features carried a clear exotic flair that did not belong to the Principality of Konst.
His slightly messy hair, which carried a bit of natural curl, was braided into a plait that rested askew on his shoulder.
Noticing Siles’s gaze, he lifted his chin slightly, indicating the map in front of Siles. He repeated once more, “That is just a trick used by merchants to deceive people.”
Only then did Siles realize something. He hesitated for a moment, and then said, “Mr. …Quinton Praia?”
His gaze shifted subtly on Qindo’s grayish-white hair.
“You know me,” Quinton said. His meaning was that Siles knew of Quinton Praia as an explorer; at least Siles had heard of this reputation.
However, Quinton did not appear surprised by this. Perhaps his renown among the explorers of the Ashless Land was just so high that it was not strange for a resident of distant Lamifa City to have heard his name.
…This made this man appear somewhat arrogant, Siles thought.
Siles still made a relatively polite self-introduction, “My name is Siles Noel, if you would care to know.”
“Alright, I know now,” Quinton said. “Since you were tricked by this map, I’m afraid this is your first time heading to the Ashless Land. No wonder you’re checking your destination so defenselessly. You plan to go to the House of Hales?”
It was indeed so, but… Siles looked up at Quinton in silence.
He felt that Bertram Fenn’s statement was indeed correct; Qindo was truly not a person with a very good temper, his tone consistently carrying a bit of condescending arrogance, even though he seemed to be reminding Siles of something.
Siles had always disliked dealing with this kind of person.
He then said, “Yes.”
Right at this moment, he realized, with hindsight, the reason for Quinton’s appearance here.
Qindo sat opposite Siles and said, “Then it seems we’ll be traveling together for quite a long time.”
…This was his travel companion and roommate for the coming period. This was Quinton Praia.
Siles fell into silence.
For a moment, he didn’t even know what to say—and then he thought, it seemed he had no necessity to say anything either. He merely nodded toward Quinton politely, then put away all the maps, took out a book from his bag, and lowered his eyes to read.
Opposite him, Quinton’s emerald green eyes watched Siles thoughtfully the entire time.
The train started slowly, and the scenery outside the window kept passing away like a fast-forwarded film. Rain began to fall from the gloomy sky, but Siles was about to head to the world beyond the borders.
