Chapter 17 - Peering at God's Shameful Secret

The servant asked back in surprise.

"What? Are you saying you will take her in, my lord?"

"Think about it. If what you say is true, this child will keep being like this, unable to do even the tasks she is given properly. Then you will have to clean up after her again. Would you not?"

"..."

The servant's lips jutted out.

That was indeed what was happening now, and thinking it would continue made irritation surge up inside her.

"You have the authority to give that child orders. Do you not?"

"Yes, I do, don't I?"

"If you have that sort of authority, you can tell her to get out of this house."

"Hmm... But she is still a child he cherishes."

"In words, she is a child he cherishes. But think about it."

Ferda tempted the servant.

"A jewel's flaws are more visible the brighter it shines. In the long run, who do you think will suffer? Your master has now earned the title of Sage and is on his way to an easy life. Would correcting and covering up such a person's flaw not be the decision of a loyal servant?"

"..."

The look in the servant's eyes changed.

She had begun to think Ferda's persuasion sounded strangely right.

The fact that she was hesitating meant she had already been won over.

Ferda decided to deliver the finishing blow.

"I will help make that decision easier for you."

Ferda took out three gold coins and placed them in the servant's hand.

"Oh, oh my! Oh my my my my...!"

The servant's eyes went round.

A full three gold coins.

For commoners, it was difficult to even hold one gold coin in their entire lives, even if they spent that life plowing fields.

She had received not one but three of them, so it was only natural for the servant's eyes to glaze over.

'Yes, if I am to cover up Master's flaw, then someone like that...!'

The servant cleared her throat, then soon began rubbing her hands together obsequiously.

"Oh my, my lord. What should I do?"

"It is simple. All words have power. You only need to give an order. Tell her to abandon her name from this moment on."

"Oh, I understand. Hey, brat. Put that down and come here!"

The girl rose from her seat and walked over beside the servant.

"Now, you damned brat. Listen very carefully from now on."

At the servant's words, the girl nodded.

"You are abandoning your name from this moment on. And from this moment on, this gentleman will be your master. So from now on, follow him. Understand?"

The girl's eyes slowly looked up at Ferda.

Her empty, unfocused eyes seemed to ask Ferda a question.

Ferda looked into those eyes and asked.

"Will you acknowledge me as your master?"

At Ferda's question, the girl answered.

Nod, nod.

"Good, that is confirmed."

Ferda lifted his head and looked at the middle-aged servant.

The middle-aged woman was absorbed in touching the gold coins.

"Since the matter is settled, I will tell you one interesting fact."

"An interesting... fact?"

He had obtained what he wanted, so now it was time to tell her the truth.

"Why your master cherishes the girl you just cast out, even though she is hopelessly dull."

"That is... because she is pretty enough..."

"No. Your master, Hellus Phobidas, likes women with large breasts. And he likes women who giggle at worthless jokes as if they are beside themselves with delight. He is a man with a terrible inferiority complex. He has no confidence in beating intelligent women, so he likes empty-headed women. And even if she is pretty enough, he has no reason whatsoever to like such a wooden, young servant."

The middle-aged servant's face gradually stiffened.

She could not understand why he was suddenly saying this, but the context of the story seemed to scream that she had made a mistake.

"What if I told you the truth is that this girl is the source of your master's insight? Would you believe me?"

"What do you mean? How could someone this hopelessly stupid..."

Confusion entered her eyes.

Only then did the servant realize it.

That she had been tactless and filled with nothing but greed.

And that she had fallen into a trap.

With trembling hands, she held out the three gold coins again.

"I-I w-will take it back. I will return the money, so please give that child back—"

"No. There is no need. And even if you return it, you cannot make it back alive."

"W-why?"

"You understood what I was saying, did you not? What you just heard is the same as peering at a god's shameful secret. I hope you understand this as well."

She had no choice but to understand.

Those who peer at a god's shameful secret must die.

The servant's face turned cold and rigid.

"The reason I told you this is because I am at least showing you some goodwill. It means you should take that money and run quickly."

Ferda advised her coldly, no different from usual.

"The moment your master catches you, you will disappear without a trace."

* * *

"Do you believe humans can suddenly attain enlightenment?"

Ferda asked Luri.

Luri answered him.

"I do."

"Why?"

"Humans think they live by knowledge accumulated over the years, but they cannot live by accumulation alone. I believe they survived because there are flashes of insight that cannot be caught up to through such accumulated knowledge."

It was a view befitting the servant of an immortal.

"That is true to a certain extent. But there are parts that are wrong as well."

"Which part is wrong?"

"They say you cannot dig a well no matter how many days you dig in a place with no water vein. No matter how enlightened one becomes, wisdom that did not exist cannot simply spring forth."

Ferda looked down at the name on the list.

Hellus Phobidas.

"The same goes for this man."

"Then the meaning of what you are saying is that the Sage of Water is a puppet..."

Luri turned her gaze.

A blond-haired girl close to her own height was standing demurely.

Her eyes were unfocused, their direction impossible to discern, giving her exactly the sort of face that would be called vacant.

"And this vacant little brat is the source?"

Ferda mimed tugging on a leash as he spoke.

"Have you heard of a slave sage?"

Humanity stores and compresses knowledge, learning the past in order to pioneer the future.

In Ferda's world, where people did not throw their bodies against problems directly, that was what they called it.

They predict what cannot be predicted, and control what cannot be controlled.

That is the core of those who pursue knowledge, and they advance toward that place through their own methods.

Combining knowledge with knowledge to draw a new conclusion.

Excavating lost technology through exploration and investigation.

Or pleading with a god to obtain the desired answer.

And setting foot in a forbidden realm that must not be entered.

'Of those, the forbidden realm is still the most effective.'

Not receiving a god's smile, nor a god's kiss, but peering at a god's shameful secret.

This girl Ferda had taken in was also one who had set foot in the forbidden realm.

As much as one gained wisdom capable of shaking the world, an enormous price was required, and that price was truly simple.

'Who am I?'

One becomes unable to ask that question.

It is an exceedingly simple question, but it is also everything.

Knowing who one is connects to what one lives for, and what one lives for leads to action.

But at the same time, it was also because one could no longer think that thought that one survived.

The ultimate knowledge and wisdom that cannot move on its own, and cannot think on its own.

The ultimate tool.

"What is born that way is a slave sage."

"To lose oneself in exchange for power... What a truly foolish choice."

"Yes, it is a truly foolish choice."

Ferda muttered as if bitter.

Luri could not understand why he was making that expression.

"So what forbidden thing did she obtain to become like this?"

"It is simple."

Ferda tapped her head.

"The Library of All Things."

"The Library of All Things?"

"Would you believe me if I told you there are more books inside this tiny head than all the books in Escolaia?"

"..."

Luri glanced at the girl.

An ordinary girl with not even a speck of mana and no ominous aura.

If she had passed her on the street, she would have been a child one simply walked past, thinking her an idiot.

To think there were more books in her than the Library of All Things, called the aggregate of human intellect.

It was hard to believe, but she did not object.

In any case, the one who had chosen was Ferda, and it was Ferda's responsibility alone.

"Look at me."

Ferda instructed the girl.

The girl's eyes stared at Ferda.

"Before I bestow your name upon you, I will give you your highest-priority order."

Ferda spoke clearly, syllable by syllable.

"This order will be remembered like your breath and your heartbeat, and it will become an absolutely immutable truth."

She nodded.

Ferda commanded her as if reciting an incantation.

"The ruler of great power, the Red Dragon, Grand Duchess Valdrova, will be the beginning of your existence and your end. You will devote your entire life to her."

She nodded.

"I, Ferda Valdrova, possess the right of command as Grand Duchess Valdrova's proxy, and I will command you."

She nodded.

"However, if my actions run counter to or go against Grand Duchess Valdrova's beliefs, you may raise an objection. If I still fail to understand..."

After a very brief silence, he spoke again.

"As a last resort, you are permitted to rebel. Have you remembered all of it?"

She nodded.

"Good. From now on, your name is Mori."

The girl was bestowed the name Mori.

A strange vitality began to circulate in the girl's eyes.

* * *

"Aside from Burnel Marquis, you have succeeded in recruiting everyone."

The office in Valdrova Castle.

"He will come before long as well."

"Are you certain?"

"If he does not come even after I said that much, then I will have to give up too."

There was no obsession or passion in him that said he absolutely had to have it.

It felt as if he simply let connections that flowed on like time flow past.

'It is no different from the behavior of immortals.'

Even Luri, who clearly distinguished between those two things, was confused by it.

Luri looked down at the paper with four names and four lines drawn through them.

"So are these four the end for now?"

Ferda shook his head.

"Actually, there is one more."

"Who is that?"

Ferda wrote down the name of the person he had in mind.

-Luri Valdrova.

"It is you."

Ferda said so.

Luri showed sincere revulsion.

"I have not the slightest intention of standing on your side. Do not misunderstand simply because we have become a little closer."

Ferda did not overlook her loyalty.

"That is fine. What I want is not that. Rather, it is closer to you continuing to be wary of me and hate me exactly as you did before."

"... What is that supposed to mean?"

"If Mori leads a rebellion, you must be the one to stand at the forefront of it."

"..."

Luri's expression hardened.

She was shaken far more than when she had heard the word helper.

"Does that mean... I must kill you?"

"It does."

"Why?"

Ferda answered.

"Unlike immortal beings like dragons, humans are destined to die someday."

"...!"

Luri unconsciously clenched her fist.

It was something she had once said to Valdrova.

"Because humans die someday, they change, and their eyes grow clouded. When that happens to me, I may put forward the excuse that it is for the Grand Duchess while trying to satisfy only my own greed."

His eyes were strangely sad and distorted.

They slowly rose and turned toward Luri.

His blue eyes looked at her with deep emotion.

Luri could feel it clearly.

"So you, her servant, must watch over me."

That this man was prepared to offer even his own life.

"So that my king, my fiancée, will not be hurt."

With trembling lips, Luri struggled to speak.

"... You sound just like humans who do not know their place."

It was a venomous remark she had blurted out without thinking.

Luri nodded to that proposal and answered.

"Understood. After hearing what you have to say, I believe I can do that much."

"Thank you. As expected, you are a loyal dragon spawn."

"However, since you seem unaware of one thing, I will correct you."

Luri erased the surname portion of her name.

That meant she was not Valdrova's spawn.

"My true name is this."

-Luri Silverwind.

"Then, if you will excuse me..."

Luri left the office, and Ferda silently looked down at Luri's name.

'I did not expect this.'

The surname Luri had written gave Ferda no small shock.

When a dragon spawn completes the ascension rite, they receive that dragon's name as their surname.

Just as Ferda had gone from Rosnova to Valdrova, Luri also bore the surname of the one she had inherited from.

She was not Valdrova, but Silverwind.

'That means she is a silver dragon spawn.'

Thinking about it quietly, it was something he could have noticed.

Mobility that let her move in the blink of an eye.

Wind-type magic.

All of it was possible if she had inherited the blood of a silver dragon.

But that was also impossible, because in Ferda's mind, things did not add up.

The reason being,

'Silverwind died at Valdrova's hands.'

After killing the Black Dragon, Godwin, Valdrova went berserk.

There was someone who sacrificed his life to stop her, and that was the Silver Dragon, Silverwind.

'Because of that, they are practically sworn enemies.'

The reason Valdrova became known as an evil dragon was also because Silverwind's faction had strong influence.

He had many spawn under him, and his reputation was excellent as well.

'A silver dragon spawn swore loyalty to the Red Dragon...'

Ferda rested his hand on the armrest and tapped his chin.

'Does that mean she is only pretending to be loyal?'

Ferda immediately rejected that.

'Luri is more loyal than anyone.'

There was no room for doubt.

The fact that she handled everything for her master, who was alone, was not something that could be done through a mere sense of duty.

'Then does that mean she is rejecting her blood as a silver dragon spawn?'

He rejected that as well.

Blood is thicker than water.

That saying was an even more absolute factor in dragon society than in human society.

'I cannot know.'

Ferda retraced his future.

Thinking about it, there were a few things that bothered him.

It was when he had gone to Valdrova to kill her.

'Luri was not there then.'

The castle that had been built was half-destroyed, and the only one inside the lair was Valdrova, who seemed to be waiting only for death.

Even at the moment Valdrova was dying, Luri did not appear.

'It would be good if I could know the reason, but...'

It had been outside the realm of the old Ferda's interest, so there was no way to know.

For now, he knew only the fact that she, who was nothing if not loyal, would one day turn her back on Valdrova.

'This may be something I need to know.'

Whether he liked it or not, it would undoubtedly bring sorrow to his partner, so Ferda did not hesitate.

* * *

The next day, a carriage arrived in front of Valdrova Castle.

Burnel Marquis had arrived.