Chapter 790
Episode 195: To the Old Oterium (Part 1)
Oterium.
Over five hundred years ago, it was the capital of Vankela. After the Holy Kingdom War broke out, the entire territory of Vankela—including Oterium—became a desolate wasteland unfit for human habitation.
As a result, the Holy Kingdom relocated its entire nation to the central continent, leaving the old lands of Vankela designated as an unprotected zone ever since.
Back when Jin was a trainee knight, he had led a raid against Kinzelro’s Dark Magic Cult, which was conducting bio-golem experiments in the old Oterium. It was there that he obtained the legacy of Riol Ziphl and first encountered the Orgal.
In many ways, that land was tied to Jin by both fate and misfortune.
“Old Oterium, huh…” Jin murmured, recalling his communication with Runkandel as he gazed out the window.
Tasha had died there, fighting off the remaining demons. Thanks to the efforts of her and other heroes in the Holy Kingdom’s allied forces, the demon remnants were eventually wiped out. Yet, the true nature of the demon realm was never uncovered.
In the end, the Holy Kingdom War ended with the victory of Vankela and its allies, and the demons ceased to appear. The demon investigation team was disbanded without completing their mission.
The two great houses had already shed too much blood. Several heads of houses had fallen, and the casualties among knights and mages were countless.
“But strangely, there are hardly any records…” Jin’s words drew nods from his companions.
“That’s right, my lord. Even if the two great houses considered the heavy losses a disgrace, the records about Oterium are far too scarce,” one replied.
As soon as the meeting ended, Ruet ordered the butlers and scribes to comb through every record of the Holy Kingdom War kept in the Garden of Swords. Yet, nowhere was there any mention of the ‘location of the demon realm.’
“Many records were lost due to the Chaos God War in Runkandel, so that’s understandable. But for the Holy Kingdom to have no related records… that’s odd,” Siris said.
Siris had just returned from the Holy Kingdom, but Lani also knew almost nothing about it. In other words, neither Runkandel nor the Holy Kingdom had any surviving records.
“Even if Runkandel and the Holy Kingdom tried to hide the damage from the war as a disgrace, it’s strange for there to be no records at all. At the very least, there should be some documents accessible only to the heads of houses or the Holy King.”
“Either there was external pressure to erase the records, or history was deliberately altered… it has to be one of those two,” Jin concluded.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain how such a monumental event—the most pivotal in all of human history—could have its core records lost.
Whether by coercion or historical revisionism.
Only Ziphl could have done such a thing against both Runkandel and the Holy Kingdom. The records currently inaccessible to Jin’s group must be Ziphl’s doing.
“Lady Tasha said that Ziphl probably didn’t have the capacity to pressure Runkandel at the time. Both great houses were severely damaged right after the war,” Ruet added.
“Then it leans more toward historical revisionism, Your Highness.”
“Yes. Since overt pressure was impossible, they must have chosen to quietly erase the history.”
“Since Lord Alpen and Lady Tasha—the key figures in the incident—were both dead, there would have been fewer obstacles to altering history. As Ruet said, the power they possessed was no longer around.”
—<Elona Ziphl and 3,026 mages attempted to alter the history of Temar Runkandel but failed because they couldn’t overcome his immense power.>
The “power of existence.”
Jin first learned of this term in Temar’s third tomb, the pocket dimension where Ruet resided. Ruet speculated that if Ziphl had altered the history of the Holy Kingdom War, it was only possible because those two were absent.
“Ziphl knew that the demon realm existed beneath this world. But Shinu said even he didn’t know the exact location.”
“So, Ziphl may have altered the history to erase the fact that Lady Tasha was searching for the demon realm’s location, but he probably doesn’t know about the old Oterium—the place the investigation team found.”
“That’s the most likely scenario for now. Ziphl wasn’t part of Lady Tasha’s team. Only Lady Tasha and the Black Knights of that era knew the connection between old Oterium and the demon realm.”
One piece of the puzzle was falling into place.
“Sanna assumed Ziphl knew the demon realm’s location. But when they started cooperating, Ziphl seemed unaware of it. So he’s trying to destroy the surface world with his power to find the entrance. And the reason Sanna hasn’t linked up with the Orgals—who are presumed to already know the demon realm’s location—is because their goals differ.”
“That makes sense, Jin. And even if Ziphl did know the location, he wouldn’t share it with Sanna right away. According to Shinu, Veradin and Sanna use each other. They’ll exploit each other until there’s nothing left, so there’s no reason to give the other what they want.”
“Veradin, Sanna…” Jin paused, thinking about how those two suddenly came together.
“…The holy land. Ziphl’s holy land is a place where the residual energy of the Sun God remains. Veradin is probably trying to use that special power through Sanna. I doubt Veradin has become a follower of the Sun God; more likely, he wants to trap even the Sun God in the Demon Stone.”
In other words, Veradin uses Sanna to imprison the Sun God in the Demon Stone, while Sanna uses Veradin to resurrect the Sun God.
That was Jin’s conclusion.
“Now I understand why Shinu asked for help. If either Veradin or Sanna achieves their goal, Shinu will have no place left. Ziphl must have thought the core of the Demon Stone was the spiritual energy I possess and Shinu’s authority, but now there’s a new way to replace that.”
Looking back, Ziphl had stopped coveting Jin’s shadow power as he once did.
—“I commend this ambush. But you and your god will become the most vital ingredients of the Demon Stone, Jin Runkandel…!”
—“Secure Jin Runkandel. He must not fall into chaos!”
Those were the words spoken by Andrei Ziphl on the Empire’s deserted island and by Keliak during the Sword Emperor War.
Since Jin’s identity as a contractor was revealed, Ziphl had been trying to capture the power of shadows for the Demon Stone.
But after the Chaos God War, Ziphl no longer showed such intentions. Jin’s growth into a giant might be part of the reason, but lately, Jin felt no threat from Ziphl regarding his power.
On the contrary, Veradin had even shown confidence when revealing the holy land and the bio-golems of the demon swordsmen.
“According to the Orgals, the Sun God is the origin of this world, so it wouldn’t be strange if the Sun God’s power surpasses that of Solderet.”
“So that means Shinu was abandoned. You’re not part of Ziphl’s faction anyway, so it doesn’t matter if you’re abandoned or not.”
“Well, I think we’ve covered everything we can discuss together. It’s time to head to Oterium ourselves.”
Arriving at the old Oterium on the back of a red owl, the group found traces of the battle Jin had fought alongside Murakan against the Dark Magic Cult.
Memories from that time suddenly surfaced.
The citizens of the Holy Kingdom who had been sacrificed in the bio-golem experiments, and Saint Mertual Sila, who hid and fought to the end to expose the truth, sacrificing herself.
Jin closed his eyes briefly in remembrance. His companions followed suit, bowing their heads in silent tribute.
“…The battle scars are impressive. Were you already at ten stars when you were a trainee knight, Jin?” Hedo said, surveying the ruins of the Dark Magic Cult’s fortress.
“No, Murakan handled most of the actual fighting back then. I was fused with Tess, which gave me much greater strength. Chaga had summoned a golem made from a phoenix in front of Tess,” Jin explained.
The ruined fortress of the Dark Magic Cult gave off a chilling atmosphere. Along with the battle remnants, patches of chaos-tainted land left by Gliek were visible here and there.
“It’s like experiencing your youthful exploits firsthand, even if only indirectly. Ah! What a joy.”
“Miss, we’re here to work.”
“Shut up! I’m going to trace these sword scars and imagine Jin’s heroic figure, so you handle the work.”
Thanks to Sandra’s quick exit from the scene, the group could focus on their investigation. Valeria shook her head at Sandra’s behavior.
Valeria had come to the old Oterium to research the records, Hedo had accompanied her just in case, and Sandra had simply tagged along.
But the records showed little of note.
“Maybe because some areas are contaminated by chaos, the records aren’t well preserved. Or maybe there just aren’t any special records. After all, I came here once before when you were a trainee knight to check the records.”
—“It would be best to acquire Riol Ziphl’s grimoire as soon as possible.”
—“Is someone else after that grimoire?”
—“Yes. There’s a mage I’ve been watching who’s after it. A human girl named Aria Owlheart, who, like you, has a rather special destiny.”
Those were the words Misha had told Jin years ago when sharing information about Riol’s legacy.
Just as she said, Valeria had come here years ago seeking Riol’s legacy but returned empty-handed.
“Even though my abilities have improved a lot since then, the records still don’t show up. That means Kinzelro hasn’t been here recently. Or… underground. Shinu said the gate to the demon realm is underground, right?”
“That’s right.”
“If Kinzel took some action deep underground in Oterium, it’s possible the records aren’t showing up because of the distance. For example, if the gate to the demon realm lies several li below ground, we’d need to get closer to access the records.”
In record magic, the location of an event is crucial. Without being near the scene, related records simply won’t appear.
Jin paused to think for a moment, then reached a decision.
“In that case, we’ll have to start digging here—from now on, until we find something.”