Chapter 2650 Mirror Image <TOC> Chapter 2652 Cecia and the Gargoyles
Translator: SumTLMan
Angel’s story was entirely a reconstruction based on a known result, which was then worked backward to find a relatively reasonable chain of logic. If one truly wanted to pick out flaws, there would certainly be some, because human thinking is multilinear, and trying to quickly find order in chaos is actually quite challenging.
However, if we don’t consider these deeper issues, then purely from both the surface and underlying perspectives, Angel’s inference can stand.
Moreover, the final effect was even better than Angel had anticipated.
Cecia not only believed Angel but also came up with her own reasoning, revealing some secret rumors surrounding Margaret and the Sovereign of Wisdom at that time… and Cecia’s reasoning was highly likely to be true.
This actually corroborated Angel’s suspicion that the Sovereign of Wisdom definitely knew about Margaret and Augustine, and had even promoted their secret meeting from behind the scenes.
Even Totoro’s inspiration——“The Wise One is Not Foolish,” pointed to this Sovereign of Wisdom.
Therefore, it was basically certain that the Sovereign of Wisdom knew of the existence of that wall and was aware that it was the secret site Augustine left behind. However, whether or not the Sovereign of Wisdom had gone inside remained uncertain.
Angel tended to think that the Sovereign of Wisdom had not gone in either, because crafting the key might not have been difficult for the Sovereign of Wisdom, but that alchemy omen would not have been easy to handle.
Nevertheless, even if the Sovereign of Wisdom truly had gone in, Angel did not mind. Though he appeared to be exploring the wall in the present world, his true target was actually the wall in the Nightmare Plane.
Yet now the problem circled back to its origin. Even though it was clear that the Sovereign of Wisdom was the key and knew a great many secrets, how to make it speak remained an unresolved conundrum.
After pondering the matter for a while and reaching no conclusion, Angel turned his gaze once again to Cecia.
Although Cecia had repeatedly warned them not to flaunt her name, she had also stated clearly just now that the Sovereign of Wisdom’s status and her own at that time were roughly on par. In other words, Cecia back then was by no means some minor figure. Her special status was such that even those at the realm of a sovereign had to tread carefully; otherwise, Cecia would never have been able to approach Margaret so effortlessly.
All these years, the Sovereign of Wisdom had also been helping Cecia monitor the activities of Laudsourcians in the outside world, indicating that it had never neglected her.
Hence, if one truly wanted the Sovereign of Wisdom to speak, not only would they need to locate the Wood Spirit, but they might also require Cecia’s assistance.
With that in mind, Angel spoke up: “Miss Cecia, would you like to know the final outcome of your two closest friends?”
Cecia answered instinctively: “Of course I want to know.”
Those two were her only human friends; naturally, she cared deeply about them.
“Why are you asking me this? Could it be that you actually know something?”
“Of course, I don’t know,” Angel replied: “But since Miss Cecia also wants to know their ultimate outcome, in fact, we’re on the same path. Because right now, the only one who knows the entire truth is the Sovereign of Wisdom.”
Cecia frowned: “So what? You still want me to ask the Sovereign of Wisdom for you? Or do you want to use my name to get the Sovereign of Wisdom to speak?”
Cecia shook her head: “Even if I agreed, the Sovereign of Wisdom still wouldn’t tell you.”
“Do you think I haven’t asked the Sovereign of Wisdom about their circumstances all these years? Every time it comes around, I inquire, but it has never answered me even once. So there’s no point in begging me.”
Angel: “Logically speaking, while your two friends do have special identities, they shouldn’t be that extraordinary. Yet the Sovereign of Wisdom refuses to answer any of your questions about them. Doesn’t that suggest there’s something more going on here?”
After Angel finished speaking, the air suddenly became still.
After a long pause, Cecia spoke softly.
“How could I not understand your reasoning?” Cecia leaned back against her throne, her eyes concealed behind the shadow of her hair. Within the interplay of light and shadow, one could glimpse the helplessness in her expression.
“But what can I do? My consciousness can’t even leave this shell, and all my information about the outside world must be relayed through the Sovereign of Wisdom… Over ten thousand years of protracted loneliness, the only thing I can do is hope for the best.”
Cecia drew her legs close and buried her head in her knees, her voice subdued and tinged with sorrow.
Angel could more or less guess the unspoken sentiments hidden in Cecia’s words.
Perhaps once, Cecia and the Sovereign of Wisdom had stood on equal footing, but after she was transformed into the box, not only did her status plummet, there was also nothing she could do, and she knew nothing of the outside world.
Only the Sovereign of Wisdom could help her obtain information from beyond.
Therefore, even though Cecia knew that the Sovereign of Wisdom surely knew Margaret and Augustine’s whereabouts, she was unable to compel it to talk. If she forced a confrontation, she might lose even this final channel of communication with the outside world.
Hence, the only thing Cecia could do was silently pray in the darkness, hoping everything would go in a positive direction.
Perceiving the dejection emanating from Cecia, Angel suddenly felt he understood her a bit more. Ten thousand years was only a number to Angel, but to Cecia, it was a tangible experience.
She had once said that Margaret was a bird in a cage, but how was she herself not also such a bird? In fact, her situation might be even harsher than Margaret’s. This box was both her body and a prison, confining her for ten thousand years.
Angel had often teased that Cecia’s intellect seemed off, but thinking about it now, it was already quite remarkable that Cecia had retained the mindset of a normal person after ten thousand years.
With this in mind, Angel’s voice unconsciously grew gentler: “You can’t act because you’re confined in terms of mobility, and that can’t be resolved for the time being. However, now that we’re here, we can do it for you.”
Cecia raised her head and glanced at Angel with a faint laugh: “What can you do? You might not even be able to locate the Wood Spirit. How are you going to get the Sovereign of Wisdom to speak?”
But Angel’s expression turned solemn: “I can’t make any promises for others, but I am absolutely capable of it.”
“Just you? On what basis?”
Angel replied in all seriousness: “Because I’m a genius, of course.”
Cecia rolled her eyes, unwilling to dignify such a pointless remark with a response.
Angel continued: “I was able to obtain the Source Fire and locate the Laudsourcians. Do you think that’s just coincidence? I could arrange for you to meet Popoca, and right within your own box, doesn’t that surprise you? That alchemical blueprint for the secret site’s key is incomprehensible to almost everyone, yet I understood it and even crafted it. Is that also merely a coincidence?”
“What I said I could do, I will inevitably accomplish.”
Angel’s words weren’t particularly resounding or forceful; they were spoken in a plain, straightforward manner. Yet, for some reason, Cecia sensed a deep-seated confidence emanating from within him.
It wasn’t some absurd or baseless bravado; it felt more like a distinct form of power, one that originated in Angel’s own heart.
It was a feeling that was difficult to describe, yet it struck an unusual chord with Cecia.
A youth not yet twenty years of age, burning with a radiant confidence similar to a Blazing Sun.
That long-lost “youthful vigor” was like a burning gust, sweeping into Cecia’s heart which had been cold and lonely for so many years.
She was silent for a moment, then turned her head slightly and said: “Who do you think you are?”
“I don’t suppose I’m anyone special, but why shouldn’t I be able to do it?” Angel countered, his eyes still shining as brightly as ever.
This time, Cecia remained silent for even longer. After a while, she finally asked: “How do you plan to do it?”
Although Cecia showed no overt reaction, Angel understood that she was, albeit reluctantly, now on board with him.
“I hope, Miss Cecia, that you can give me a detailed account of everything concerning the Sovereign of Wisdom.”
Cecia: “Sure, but I can only speak about that which the oath does not forbid.”
Angel: “I understand.”
Cecia: “And then? Once I’ve told you about it, what do you plan to do afterward?”
Angel rubbed his chin and said in an innocent tone: “Well… I haven’t figured that out yet. We’ll talk about it then.”
Cecia was at a loss for words: “…” She must have met some apparition to have gone along with this so-called blazing sun enthusiasm. Look at that, he just doused her with cold water, chilling her to the bone.
Angel: “Don’t give me that crestfallen look. I really haven’t planned that far ahead. At the very least, I need to catch the Wood Spirit first, and then figure out the rest step by step.”
Cecia snorted coldly: “Then I’d like to see how long it will take you to find the Wood Spirit.”
Angel, however, was quite confident: “Very soon.”
Cecia didn’t continue on that thread and instead asked: “Do you plan to hear about the Sovereign of Wisdom now?”
Angel: “We can wait on that until you’ve met Popoca. However, before you meet Popoca, I have a question for you.”
At this point, Cecia no longer minded. She waved her hand: “Ask away.”
“If I let you meet the Sovereign of Wisdom, do you have any way of extracting answers from its mouth?”
Cecia asked in confusion: “What do you mean? Are you planning for the Sovereign of Wisdom to come looking for me?”
Angel smiled meaningfully: “You’ll understand once you’ve gone to see Popoca.”
“Now, Miss Cecia, are you still feeling sleepy? If not, it’s time to meet Popoca. He’s probably been waiting a long while. Though, as your junior, waiting for his ancestor is quite normal; still, for a first meeting after ten thousand years, do you really want to leave Popoca with a bad impression?”
Cecia had initially been a bit timid and hesitant, but upon hearing Angel’s words, she couldn’t help shooting him a sidelong glare: “Ancestor, my foot, you Wizard Eye Ghost! If I go by my age before I was turned into a box, I’m not that much older than you!”
“When I was still an ordinary person, I wasn’t much younger than I am now that I’ve become a formal wizard. Let me think… I was only younger by… ”
“Shut up!”
Angel: “You’re telling me to shut up when I’m just following your logic? So hard to understand.”
Cecia ground her teeth, clenching her fists, and spoke through gritted teeth, her voice distorted: “I don’t feel like arguing with you now. Just tell me, how do I meet Popoca? Where is he right now?”
Angel smiled in a radiant, sunlit way:
“In a dream, of course.”
…
By the time Cecia set foot on the Dream Bridge, Angel’s infuriatingly cheeky words still seemed to echo in her ears: Popoca is there, in a dream~
Cecia held back her urge to erupt, staring at this long-lost Dream Bridge with a frown: “This is definitely the Dream Bridge, but it seems different from before. Are we really meeting in a dream? Is Angel actually a dream wizard?”
If it really was inside a dream, that wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing.
Though dream wizards were not particularly renowned ten thousand years ago, they were quite notorious for creating all kinds of traps in dreams to ensnare others.
Among such tales were those of dream wizards who lured their opponents into traps by creating the likeness of an opponent’s beloved partner in a dream.
Cecia certainly didn’t want to discover that this so-called ‘Popoca’ was merely a fabricated individual that Angel had created in the dream.
Cecia was tempted to withdraw from the Dream Bridge right away, but after reconsidering for a while, she eventually held back.
Ever since her transformation into the box, her soul could no longer perceive, and from that time on, Cecia had never dreamed again. In fact, she hadn’t truly slept at all. Her so-called ‘rest’ was merely closing her eyes and emptying her mind, imagining herself in a world of nothingness, to pass the time… though, even when she opened her eyes, it was actually a world of nothingness.
So when she finally returned to a dream and beheld the Dream Bridge once more after so long, Cecia hesitated.
“Even if this is just a dream, let me see how far you can go…”
With that thought, Cecia hesitated no longer and walked forward step by step, until her figure disappeared into the Gate of Dreams bathed in a faint glow…
…
Cecia had now been in the Wilderness of Dreams for ten minutes.
Or rather, in a very plain, cramped room within the Wilderness of Dreams for ten minutes.
For those ten minutes, she simply touched her own body over and over, as well as the walls, the desk, the floor, experiencing the various textures.
She had not felt such a real, tangible sensation since being sealed in the box.
“Am I actually dreaming?” Cecia pressed her palms together, rubbing them. That soft sensation felt like she had gone back ten thousand years.
“Yes, I’m in a dream! This is a dream created by Angel!” Cecia suddenly realized.
Yet after that, Cecia’s doubts only grew stronger. Could dream wizards ten thousand years later already create dreams to such a degree? It was no longer a matter of mere ‘realism’; it was as though it were inherently real.
What exactly was going on?
After another ten minutes, Cecia finally took action. She wanted to go find Angel and ask him.
Since Angel was a dream wizard, he had to be here somewhere. Perhaps he was even observing her from the shadows.
With that thought, Cecia pushed open the door of that cramped room.
Beyond the room lay a corridor.
The corridor was very bright, not lit by candles but by sunlight pouring in through a window, lending it a natural and pleasant glow.
Cecia walked step by step to the window. When the sunlight shone upon her, she was unexpectedly greeted by a warmth she hadn’t felt in who knew how many years.
Gazing at the garden outside and the buildings in the distance basked in the sunlight… even though Cecia knew all of this was ‘false,’ she was nonetheless inexplicably moved to tears.
Weeping was also a feeling she had not experienced in a long time. Her nose felt tingly, her eyes grew moist… so this was how obvious crying felt. Even when she was alive, she had never carefully savored that emotion.
Cecia stood by the window for a long time, longing to leap out of it and embrace the long-lost blue sky.
However, she held herself back.
“Angel is definitely watching me. I can’t do this, I can’t do this. I’ll be ridiculed, I’ll be ridiculed. I have to stay calm, stay calm.” Cecia repeated these words in her mind over and over.
Ultimately, spurred by her pride, Cecia repressed her longing——that urge to leap out the window, and instead left it behind, proceeding down the corridor.
There was only one way along the corridor, and she could already see the brown wooden door at the end, which stood open, with red drapes spilling down around the doorframe.
Are there drapes? Perhaps it’s the main hall, right?
Then, Angel should be in there, right?
Carrying these doubts in mind, Cecia continued walking. Before long, she arrived at the door at the end of the corridor.
Yet, when Cecia stepped through that doorway, she did not see Angel; what she saw was a… familiar figure.
Chapter 2650 Mirror Image <TOC> Chapter 2652 Cecia and the Gargoyles