Episode 583
Chapter 151: Situation Recap (3)
Rokia Ganesto.
A teenage knight from a thousand years ago, renowned as the greatest pure mage in the old Runcandel.
Jin and Valeria had seen her in the recorded footage left in Temar’s fourth tomb.
“…It’s surprising enough that this is a core component of a teleportation device, but Ganesto? That’s not a common surname.”
At least, Jin had never met anyone with the name Ganesto in either his past or present life.
It was probably because the history of the teenage knights had been altered so thoroughly that the name Ganesto had fallen out of use.
“Tingen Bauer, Quaul Ganesto—there’s a high chance they’re descendants of Rokia Ganesto. I could feel the backlash from the historical manipulation just by reviewing the records.”
Suddenly, a flood of theories raced through Jin’s mind. None of them were good.
Perhaps Rokia Ganesto had betrayed old Runcandel, and her descendants had been living under aliases, contributing to Zipl’s cause. Or maybe, because their history was erased, they’d forgotten their grudges and become subservient to Zipl. Or perhaps Zipl had deliberately fed them false history.
‘The Rokia Ganesto in the footage… she seemed cold and ruthless. She even appeared somewhat favorable toward the witch Helluram.’
—“Gaju, no! Brother, I can’t just sit here. I’m going to find that witch in the Black Sea. Rokia said that if it’s a witch, there might be a way to stop Zipl’s historical manipulation…”
That was what Sara Runcandel said in the recording from the third tomb.
During the height of the war a thousand years ago, when the histories of the fairies and Runcandel were being rewritten, Sara had wanted to hear Rokia’s opinion and meet Helluram.
Of course, it was too soon to jump to conclusions. Jin had no way of knowing exactly what had happened a millennium ago.
Besides, Quaul was only a descendant of Rokia, not one of Runcandel’s teenage knights.
“We need to find Quaul Ganesto and meet him. But with just the blueprints and the device, we probably can’t pinpoint his location, right?”
“Right. The parts were made in 1780—the year you were born.”
The blueprints dated back to 1775, and the teleportation device was built in 1780.
Though Jin said they should find Quaul, in reality, meeting him would be nearly impossible.
Zipl wouldn’t just leave a mage engineer of that caliber unattended. Without a doubt, Quaul was the greatest mage engineer alive today.
‘Mother said a prophet told her this machine would change the course of the war.’
Now that it was confirmed the device was part of a teleportation system, the prophet’s words rang true.
‘Also, the prophet told Mother that by refining and strengthening the ship blueprints, they could start producing fleets immediately…’
If so, the prophet might also have the ability to complete the device.
From a practical standpoint, it would be best to contact the prophet right away, hear the details, and negotiate.
That was exactly what Rosa intended.
—I originally planned to use those through the prophet.
—But after suspending Joshua’s rider status this time, I’ve changed my mind. I will postpone negotiations with the prophet. During that time, prove to me that you have a better method than the prophet.
Rosa hadn’t specified exactly how long this period would last, but Jin guessed it had been extended due to the Gliek campaign.
Right now, Rosa was overwhelmed just trying to reorganize the family.
The war had claimed countless knights from many families—over three hundred elite knights, including five Black Knights.
Whenever a Black Knight was drafted or died, Runcandel’s top execution knights would don the black helmet to fill the ranks.
But now, maintaining the ten-member Black Knight system was reaching its limit. The only exception was Mon, who had been demoted to execution knight after the Sota Desert but was now reinstated as a Black Knight.
‘Besides, Mother must be cautious because of the Chaos corruption.’
If the losses were only in family strength, Rosa might have rushed negotiations with the prophet to quickly restore power while Zipl was weak.
But since she couldn’t fully exert her strength now, the talks had to be delayed. It was simply too difficult to negotiate proper terms with the prophet at this time.
“The development probably started in earnest back then, but the technology only recently became practical enough for combat use.”
“Whenever it became usable, Zipl originally wanted to reveal the fleet and teleportation device later. Using the fleet as bait in the Sota Desert was to confirm the existence of the prophet in your family.”
Valeria handed the blueprints and device back to Jin. He had tried several times to extract new information through record magic, but to no avail.
“It’s time to move on. If there’s any progress, send a letter to Tikan. Maybe your sister will find a small clue about Temar’s fifth tomb soon.”
“Luntia? I heard that Dipus, not Luntia, was leading the effort to stop the chaos. So they were searching for Temar’s tomb? I didn’t expect it to be helpful to you.”
“There might be information inside Runcandel you don’t know about. The Third Rider is acting based on that.”
Valeria extended her hand to Jin.
“See you again.”
“Take care.”
Two days later, in a completely unexpected place.
Jin found a clue about Quaul Ganesto.
“You said Quaul Ganesto’s alias was Tingen Bauer?”
In the innermost chamber of the secret base, Talalis’s gaunt face lit up with wide eyes at the name.
“Do you know him?”
“Neither Quaul Ganesto nor Tingen Bauer are common names. Especially Tingen Bauer, the mage engineer… I’m pretty sure I know him.”
—A genius mage engineer, huh? Hmmm… I’ve had a few lovers like that. Want me to get in touch? Son-in-law.
Right after acquiring the device, Jin had talked with Talalis about the need for an engineer.
Surprisingly, Talalis had once dated a man named Tingen Bauer in her youth.
“He was my seventy-seventh lover. Hm, it was a lucky number, and his eccentric personality made him unforgettable. A perfect example of a genius weirdo. So Zipl was making things like this?”
“Talalis, do you have any way to contact him now?”
“I remember the house he used to live in, but it’s unlikely he still lives there. A log cabin in a remote area of the Palein Kingdom—over thirty years ago.”
“Still, we should check it out. What kind of person was he?”
A faint smile crossed Talalis’s lips as she recalled memories of Quaul.
It seemed their memories weren’t all bad. But then her expression soured.
“He was a pain in the ass. I never thought anyone besides your father could dump me!”
“…Excuse me? Did you say my father?”
“Oh, don’t get the wrong idea. Your father dumping me was a duel, not a breakup. Anyway, Tingen cut ties with me back then, saying he was busy with some research. I haven’t heard from him since. When your daughter gets back, I’ll lend you the mount. You should visit the house he lived in.”
“Understood.”
Vroooom!
No sooner had Jin replied than a mount appeared before Talalis, letting out a cry.
The mount still bore black spots of chaos corruption all over its body. But unlike Jin or other infected, it was slowly purifying the chaos with its own energy.
“Well, my daughter’s not going to be a noble anytime soon.”
“Mother.”
It was the first time Jin had seen Siris since the war.
“Siris.”
Because of that, Jin expected her to be angry with him. After all, Talalis was severely injured and had lost most of her strength, and Jin felt partly responsible.
“Jin.”
But contrary to his expectations, Siris showed no anger. Instead, she looked at the black spots on Jin’s hand with concern.
“…Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m fine for now.”
Siris stared silently at Jin’s hand for a while. Feeling awkward, Jin cleared his throat.
Siris had often been angry when Talalis got involved in Runcandel or Zipl affairs because of Jin and suffered losses.
But her anger wasn’t directed at Jin personally—it was because she hated how these massive powers looked down on the secret base.
She had long since accepted Jin as an ally. Her prickly attitude had been nothing more than youthful rivalry.
Especially with the Gliek campaign, even without Jin, Talalis would have had to step up to fulfill the secret base’s mission.
So Siris understood that thanks to Jin, the secret base had suffered only minimal damage. She had heard that without Jin, Talalis would have had to break all of Elona’s seals.
If Elona had been freed, the secret base would have had to isolate itself from the world for a long time until she disappeared.
And Jin’s help didn’t end there.
Siris’s gaze shifted behind Talalis, where the aura of Elona’s seal was mixed with energy.
The Black Dragon Misha.
Right after the campaign ended, Misha had come here at Talalis’s request to help maintain the seal.
If Elona had broken free, it would have been disastrous. Misha was pouring all her strength into the seal, unable to recover at all.
Because of that, Misha was essentially in a state akin to being a household item, bound together with Elona’s seal.
Jin followed Siris’s gaze toward Elona’s seal and Misha. Before entering the seal, Misha had told Jin she was fine, but it was only natural that he felt a pang of sympathy.
“Thank you for your concern, Siris.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”
“Heh, you two have a nice vibe going on. Daughter, why don’t you go on a date with your fiancé right now? To the Kingdom of Pailin.”
When Jin explained about Qaul, Siris nodded readily.