Chapter 2806 The Sovereign of Wisdom’s Compromise <TOC>
Translator: SumTLMan
「Aedannis is displaying such overwhelming strength, she has even already become stronger than the former guide. And Ouro has not appeared for ten thousand years, the Sovereign of Wisdom only guessed that he was slumbering, and never suspected that he had encountered misfortune?」the Black Count asked.
Sovereign of Wisdom: 「According to the contract, she would not make a move against Ouro.」
「A contract, heh.」The Black Count gave a somewhat disdainful snort: 「A contract from ten thousand years ago, if it has never once been updated, its loopholes would not be fewer than holes in a sieve.」
「What is more, even if there is a contract, if Ouro does not show himself, would you not suspect that he is already dead? Or rather, that he has been placed under house arrest?」
The Sovereign of Wisdom looked at the Black Count, and said blandly: 「Even if I thought in that direction, what significance would it have?」
To the Black Count, this orthodox descendant of Noah, Aedannis was by no means someone who guarded the legacy left by their forebears, what she was doing now was more like that of an enemy of the Noah clan. And Ouro, although on the surface he seemed to have tacitly approved Aedannis’ behavior, who knew whether something had happened to him, if something really had gone wrong, then Ouro’s behavior could also be understood.
At least, in the Black Count’s view, Ouro perhaps was the one closer to being the guardian of the Ruin Site.
But the positions and thoughts of the Sovereign of Wisdom and the Black Count were both different, the Sovereign of Wisdom indeed had some old affection toward Ouro, but that kind of bond lasted no more than a few short months. Aedannis, however, had dealt with him for a full ten thousand years.
Compared with Ouro, the Sovereign of Wisdom obviously cared more about Aedannis.
Moreover, whether Ouro’s ending was death, or house arrest, to the Sovereign of Wisdom it was all of no consequence. Because his value was now far lower than Aedannis’.
The Younus sent by Aedannis helped stabilize the foul energy within the magic formation; Aedannis herself was also proficient in magic formations, and when the Hanging Prison Stairs encountered a void storm, it was also Aedannis who helped stabilize the overall situation.
Therefore, Ouro did not matter now, Aedannis was the one more important.
What is more, through analysis and conjecture based on many details, the Sovereign of Wisdom could basically determine that Ouro had not met with disaster, he indeed spent most of his time slumbering.
Also, it was absolutely impossible for Aedannis to make a move against Ouro.
The Sovereign of Wisdom even suspected that the reason Aedannis still remained in the underground sewers was because of Ouro.
The bond between them, whether specifically familial affection, friendship, or even love, the Sovereign of Wisdom did not know. But everything Aedannis did absolutely took Ouro’s feelings into account.
Otherwise, based on the Sovereign of Wisdom’s understanding of Aedannis’ personality, if she truly made up her mind to deal with the descendants of Noah, she absolutely would not show mercy.
Looking back over the past, Aedannis could be said to have shown quite a lot of leniency toward the descendants of Noah, even the descendants of Noah swallowed by Younus were physically completely unharmed. Basically, as long as they were thrown into the Sea of Void Mirrors and had their memories washed once, and it was confirmed that they would not remember the matters of the underground sewers afterward, they would be released alive.
This sounds as though it should be very easy, but in actual operation it is very difficult. Because the Sea of Void Mirrors is quite dangerous, even Mirror Dwellers must proceed there with the utmost caution. Every single time, Aedannis went through such a cumbersome process to wash away the memories of the descendants of Noah, and then let them go, was that not because she took Ouro’s emotions into consideration?
Including this time as well, Aedannis’ main target was Angel, as for the descendants of Noah she had not said anything at all…… of course, it was also because this time, in Aedannis’ eyes, the descendants of Noah were about the same as before, so she simply did not place them in her eyes.
The Black Count was not a fool either, after considering things from the Sovereign of Wisdom’s point of view, he understood his meaning.
He also did not resent the Sovereign of Wisdom for considering things too utilitarianly, if it were him, he too would first consider practical problems, and only then speak of other matters.
However……
「Since you have already decided to stand on Aedannis’ side, then why did you choose to help us?」
This question from the Black Count was not the first time they had asked it, it was only that previously the Sovereign of Wisdom’s answers had all been very ambiguous. Since this time the Sovereign of Wisdom wanted to show sincerity, then on the same question, would he have a new answer?
This time the Sovereign of Wisdom pondered for quite a while before speaking: 「There are many internal reasons, there are subjective thoughts, and there is also the push of the subconscious, all in all, they are too numerous to be fully enumerated. If one truly wanted to list them one by one, I myself might not necessarily be able to list all the reasons.」
「But, these reasons are all fragmentary, they are a kind of inner driving force. If reduced to one core, actually there is only one word.」
When the Sovereign of Wisdom paused, he stretched out a finger, and wrote a word on the True Word Book.
Change.
This word, in the Continental Common Script, has the most basic interpretation of: breaking the existing current state.
And what the Sovereign of Wisdom wanted to express happened to be precisely that most basic interpretation.
Maintaining the status quo indeed has many benefits. But if it continues for too long, one will only grow content with the status quo, and become negligent in responding to change.
The Sovereign of Wisdom could maintain such a stable status quo…… for ten thousand years, but his lifespan could not possibly allow him to maintain another ten thousand years. In fact, if he did not seek a solution, if there were no chance of breakthrough, even one thousand years would be a problem.
It was impossible for the Sovereign of Wisdom not to care about the limit of his lifespan, but aside from the danger of lifespan, what he cared about even more was whether he could see Nightfall rekindle its former glory.
If it were merely as before, only silently waiting for Nightfall to return, the Sovereign of Wisdom did not believe that within his limited lifespan he could see any hope.
Therefore, he had been thinking all along about whether there was a way to break the status quo.
Until the arrival of Angel and the others, from their performance along the way, the Sovereign of Wisdom saw a trace of hope.
Perhaps, this was the variable he had been waiting for.
「Who are you fooling, I do not believe it at all.」Daus muttered in a low voice.
The Sovereign of Wisdom looked toward Daus, and said nothing, but the questioning meaning in his gaze was very direct.
Daus: 「What the Sovereign is expecting is not just a variable, but hoping for an external variable is not as good as creating one yourself. Anyway, I do not believe that the Sovereign would regard us as a variable.」
In the Sovereign of Wisdom’s words, their importance had been elevated without limit, could that be possible? It was not that Daus did not know how to appreciate favor, rather, to Daus’ ears, these words were simply too much of an 「elevation」 of them.
Also, the most, most important point was
If the Sovereign of Wisdom truly expected the ten-thousand-year balance of the underground sewers to be broken, and hoped for some change, why did he have to choose the Ruin Site as the place to make his move?
These two 「spirits」, Ouro and Aedannis, in the Sovereign of Wisdom’s previous words, had not been important to the point of being able to affect the future prospects of the underground sewers.
Therefore, to use the Parting Sky Poetry Room to speak of the 「change」 of the underground sewers, how could he believe the Sovereign of Wisdom’s words?
Sovereign of Wisdom: 「I know what you are thinking. What you are thinking is actually not wrong either, in such vast underground sewers, even though they have become one stretch of ruins, wanting to find a suitable variable is also not easy.」
「I know that among you, some have great backgrounds. Merely relying on the ability of the forces backing you would be enough to turn the underground sewers upside down.」
「But, destruction is very simple, while breaking the deadlock is very hard.」
「To me, what I need is to break the deadlock, and not destruction.」
「I have never prayed that I could break the deadlock all at once.」The Sovereign of Wisdom said in a low voice: 「To me, the Parting Sky Poetry Room is a pry point, as long as it can be pried loose, many congealed deadlocks can gradually loosen.」
What the Sovereign of Wisdom sought was to pry one point, and scheme for the whole overall situation.
As for why the Parting Sky Poetry Room would become the beginning of breaking the deadlock, the reason was very simple, because in the entire underground sewers, only the Parting Sky Poetry Room had not been controlled by the Sovereign of Wisdom.
Only by completely controlling the underground sewers would the Sovereign of Wisdom have no worries behind him when implementing the means of 「breaking the status quo」.
「It sounds very beautiful, but it is all idealism.」Daus: 「And ideals are very difficult to realize.」
In truth, everyone agreed with Daus, it was only that none of them opened their mouths.
After remaining silent for several seconds, the Black Count asked: 「On what basis do you think that we are the variable? What do you expect us to do after we go to the Parting Sky Poetry Room? To what extent must it be done, before that point of breaking the deadlock can be pried loose?」
Sovereign of Wisdom: 「As long as you can smoothly arrive at the Parting Sky Poetry Room, after that you do not need to do anything at all, just drift with the current, and let the situation develop as it will.」
「Eh?」Everyone looked at me, I looked at you, somewhat unable to understand what intention the Sovereign of Wisdom had in doing this.
One second earlier he had said they were an important variable, how was it that the next second there was a kind of illusion of them being 「abandoned pieces」?
「Do not be surprised, destiny is not absolutely fixed, even prophecy wizards find it difficult to get ashore in time when the surging waves of fate come crashing over, adapting to circumstances at the proper time and in the proper place, that is the correction of fixed destiny.」
「Before you came in, I also had no plan at all, as the situation changes, I too will continuously revise my own thoughts, and now that it has come to this point, although I do not believe my thoughts are absolutely correct, they have already tended toward maturity, and I am also willing to be impulsive for this once.」
After the Sovereign of Wisdom finished speaking, perhaps seeing that the doubt in everyone’s eyes had still not dispersed, he then used an even more straightforward tone and said:
「Just like before, you did not do anything, yet she had already begun to show abnormal actions, had she not? I do not know why she is abnormal, but I believe that your existence is itself a variable.」
「When the variable enters the Parting Sky Poetry Room, the beginning of breaking the deadlock, in fact, has already begun to gather momentum and move.」
At the same time that the Sovereign of Wisdom spoke these words, writing was also constantly appearing on the True Word Book, it could be seen that the Sovereign of Wisdom had indeed dissected and laid out his inner thoughts.
Only, whether it was a sincere dissection, or a selective dissection, that was hard to say. However, at the very least, the words he was now speaking, everyone could understand, and the True Word Book also informed them that what the Sovereign of Wisdom said was the truth.
Since the Sovereign of Wisdom had already said things to this extent, the Black Count no longer pressed on this topic, but instead asked: 「Aside from this, regarding the Ruin Site, the Parting Sky Poetry Room, does the Sovereign of Wisdom still have any other circumstances to add?」
Up to this point, the Sovereign of Wisdom had spoken of many events from those years, and had also spoken of some past conditions of the Parting Sky Poetry Room, but all of these were surface-level, regarding the current situation of the Parting Sky Poetry Room, as well as slightly deeper matters, he had almost completely not touched on them.
「As for the current situation of the Parting Sky Poetry Room, what I know is not much, however, I have already called over one who understands the inside circumstances.」
「Who?」
Sovereign of Wisdom: 「One you have seen before, very soon it will come see you.」
The Sovereign of Wisdom paused, then continued: 「You can take advantage of the present moment to ask some other questions. Or rather, do you already have no more questions?」
As soon as the Sovereign of Wisdom finished speaking, Daus eagerly raised his hand and said: 「Me, me me!」
The Sovereign of Wisdom looked at Daus, and softly said: 「Mm…… for the time being, questions are limited only to those about the underground sewers.」
Daus immediately wilted, and dejectedly lowered the hand he had raised.
At this time, Vai timidly raised his hand: 「May I ask a question?」
The Sovereign of Wisdom nodded, indicating for Vai to speak.
「Aedannis played the role of the Demon God of Mirrors, why did she drag Ouro in as well? Also, does the Demon God of Mirrors really not exist, then what was the final destination of those believers?」
Of Vai’s questions, everyone still paid relatively more attention to the former one, as for the latter question, it had no particular meaning. At least for the present situation it had no value, after all, this was already a matter from ten thousand years ago.
「As for why Ouro also played a role in the Demon God of Mirrors, this…… I do not know either.」
After the fall of Nightfall City, the Sovereign of Wisdom only met Ouro once, and the theft of treasure by the Demon God believers was something that happened afterward, from that time onward he could no longer contact Ouro.
「However, according to the intelligence I obtained from some believers I caught, it can basically be determined that Ouro did not participate in this plan of the Demon God of Mirrors.」
「Perhaps Aedannis forcibly dragged him into it, in order thereby to declare that everything she did had Ouro’s approval. And as for Ouro taking back the things of Augustine and Margaret, outsiders indeed had no way to question it.」
Angel agreed with what the Sovereign of Wisdom said, but at this time he also added a sentence: 「From the perspective of the design of this mark, what it actually embodies is the two sides of a mirror.」
「A mirror has an inside and an outside, and the corresponding Demon God emblem should also have a distinction between inside and outside. That is to say, for the god inside the mirror, and the god outside the mirror, to appear in the emblem, only then is it more in line with the meaning of the emblem itself.」
「What Angel said also makes sense.」The Sovereign of Wisdom looked toward Vai: 「You may choose for yourself which explanation to believe, or you may believe both explanations, that is also fine.」
Vai inwardly nodded, indeed both explanations were believable, and neither conflicted with the other. It was fine to believe either one, personally he felt that both could be believed.
「As for the second question you asked.」Sovereign of Wisdom: 「According to what I know, I have not heard that the Abyss has any Demon God of Mirrors, or, rather, some similar Demon God that is simply not in the Wasteland Plane…… mm, you should know what the Wasteland Plane means, right?」
Angel and the Black Count nodded, but the others looked around in bewilderment.
The Sovereign of Wisdom sighed, briefly explained the phase planes of the Abyss, and that what the Southern Region Wizarding World corresponded to was the 「Wasteland Plane」.
The two apprentices were left stunned, when they went to the Abyss they were always at the outermost, outermost layer, and moreover were near the stronghold city.
They completely did not know what the deeper parts of the Abyss were like, and even more had not expected that the Abyss they had seen and known was actually only one ordinary phase plane of the Abyss.
One had to know, even merely the Wasteland Plane was already vast to the extreme, they could not imagine that the Abyss still had even more other phase planes. And that in those other phase planes, there were also Demon Gods they had never heard of……
「And this surprises you? The pan-plane is enormously vast, worlds larger than the Southern Region are everywhere, when you set foot on the journey, you will slowly get used to it.」Daus, with the appearance of an old hand full of experience, spoke earnestly and sincerely.
Kael humbly accepted it.
But Vai coldly mocked: 「Had you not also never heard of the Wasteland Plane, what are you pretending for now.」
Daus: 「I was only……」
「You merely had no source of information.」Vai answered in Daus’ place: 「Why was there no source of information? Freedom, ah, how precious freedom is. In the name of freedom, but to put it plainly, it is simply finding a pretty outer shell to decorate your own ignorance.」
Vai’s words struck straight into Daus’ heart.
Indeed, the reason he did not know about the Wasteland Plane was precisely the lack of intelligence. For big matters, small matters, and trivial matters in the Southern Region, he had his own channels, but once it came to outside the Southern Region, to the larger world, he was completely dumbfounded.
And as a wizard, it was also impossible for him to remain forever confined to the Southern Region.
One day, sooner or later, he would have to go out. But if he went out, yet had no source of information whatsoever, then with great probability he would only lose himself in the boundless void.
After being silent for a moment, Daus snorted through his nose: 「Having no information now is normal, later on would I not have it.」
Although Daus’ speaking voice was very low, everyone heard it, and also understood what he meant.
He clearly had already planned to 「repay Angel with his body」.
Vai gave a light snort, and said nothing, but inwardly he was happy for his close friend’s choice.
As for Angel, he merely smiled lightly, and in his heart had already begun thinking about how he ought to make use of Daus’ abilities, especially that unique and unmatched ability of inspiration……