Part 3 The Traveler Chapter 215 The Progress of the Story
Understand each other no matter what language is spoken? Klein’s focus went straight past the first sentence of “Iceberg Lieutenant General” Edwina and onto the second, which didn’t seem to be much of a problem.
Although this is in the book world created by “Grocer’s Travels”, everything is possible, but the details of certain things can still indicate certain problems!
For Klein, it was not the matter itself of understanding each other that mattered, but the manner in which that understanding was reached.
Was the world solidified by rules similar to those for understanding languages, or was there a consciousness above all others that aided in the work of simultaneous translation, as I had done at the Tarot? If it is the former, the target who does not know the language of the giants clearly hears an unfamiliar language but understands the meaning, and if it is the latter, what is heard is familiar to those languages …… Because of his own mastery of a variety of ancient or supernatural languages, Klein was unable to make an accurate judgment for a moment, and slowed down his pace slightly to stand alongside Danez, and lowered his voice to ask:
”What language did you just hear Grocer speak?”
Daniz froze for a second, recalling:
”A somewhat familiar but unfamiliar language, but I could understand all of it.”
The supernatural language he fully mastered was Ancient Hermetic, followed by Elvish, and only just above Giant.
Well, similar to the rules of understanding the language …… mind level of understanding …… this shows that the entire book world of the underlying rules, can be different from the outside world, from their own settings, but it seems that the change can not exceed a certain limit, this point is doubtful, to be verified, after all, it can not be I can’t rule out the possibility that there is a “Fool” like being that uses psychic communication to complete the translation …… Edwina is indeed very perceptive and good at observing, and the problems she found are straight to the essence of this book world ah… …In between his thoughts, Klein entered the large, dark and eerie cave not quickly or slowly.
As for the somewhat strange history recounted by the members of the protagonist team, he wasn’t surprised at all, and even just waited for the details in this regard to be presented.
Klein had long known that the major churches and the countries of the Northern Continent were consciously destroying or hiding information, concealing the true history of the Fourth Era, the Third Era, and even the Second Era, and what was being circulated in the outside world was naturally different from what the members of the protagonist team who had once survived those eras knew.
And this was also one of the reasons why Klein took a certain risk to enter the world of the book!
Inside the wide and airy cave, three humanoid creatures were scattered around a pile of campfire emitting light and heat.
One of them, dressed in a simple to the extreme white robe, was facing the stone wall with his back to the flame and his eyes closed, concentrating on praying, a middle-aged man with wrinkles but not too old, who had brown inch hair, and his shoulders, arms, calves, and feet were all bare and covered with all kinds of old scars.
Next to him was a young man sleeping on a rock, dressed in heavy, tough black full body armor, with a straight black sword that glinted with cold light stuck in his hand, and with rather deeply defined features that were distinctly Lune.
Sitting opposite these two is an oddly dressed, uncomfortable man in his thirties, wearing a pointed and stiff black hat, with his coat buttoned up and down in a staggered confusion that is neither symmetrical nor coordinated.
In addition, he wore leather boots with the tips of the toes sticking up, rather like a clown in a circus.
The man had a fairly good face, with flaxen hair and dark brown eyes with a high nose and thin lips, giving him a condescending look, even when seated.
Edwina pointed down at him and said:
”Viscount Mobet Zoroaster of the Solomon Empire, a gentleman who can take away other people’s ideals and dreams.”
”No need to be so euphemistic, y’all, I’m Sequence 5 of the ‘Stealer’ pathway, the ‘Dream Thief’.” Mobet chuckled, not at all as condescending as he presented himself in his aura.
A member of the Zoroaster family …… Leonard is hosting an angel of this family within him, perhaps recognize? Heh, I know what the sequence 5 and sequence 4 of the “Stealer” pathway are called, but I’m still not sure about the corresponding sequence 7 and sequence 6 …… Klein’s surface did not move and flashed a lot of thoughts.
By this time, Anderson had greeted the other party with a warm smile and asked in a self-contained manner:
”Frankly speaking, the first time I heard of the ‘Dream Thief’, I was only clear about the ‘Stealer’ and ‘Swindler’, with two sequences missing in between. ”
”Have the Extraordinary in this pathway become this rare? Doesn’t Edwina know? Sequence 7, ‘Deciphering Scholar’, Sequence 6, ‘Fire Thief’, haha, let me introduce you.” Mobet enthusiastically pointed at the praying man with his back to the crowd, “The pious Snoman ascetic, he believes in the Lord who created everything, the all-knowing God, you guys don’t have to pay attention to him, he’s completely closed off to his own world of beliefs, but when fighting, he’ll be a very reliable companion, ehhh, I say Snoman, you at least say a word.”
Mobet, who didn’t get a response, smiled bitterly and rubbed his chin, saying:
”It’s a treatment I often suffer, you may find it hard to imagine, when I first entered here, I was still a proud, introverted, cultivated nobleman, but long time changed all that, huh, when your companion is a giant who only knows how to giggle and shout slogans …… ”
As he spoke, Grosel, sitting on a rock, laughed nervously and raised a hand to scratch the back of his head, the vertical single eye not nearly as fierce or tyrannical as the various rumors of giants desperately portrayed.
Mobet shook his head and turned to point at the ascetic Snorman:
”Whereas he wouldn’t say a word for years and decades maybe, Shattas was a very violent woman who would beat me up at the slightest mood swing, and hey, how much I adored her then, how much I’m, er, afraid of her now, so I had to take the initiative to talk, to find them to talk to, or else I’d have surely gone mad!
”Luckily, then Dragonzell came, he was quite talkative, hey Dragonzell, wake up, there’s a new companion!”
The sleeping black-armored knight slowly woke up and opened his eyes to look at Klein and the others.
Suddenly, at the sound of metal clashing, he stood up at once and stared at Krynn:
”The Ruins?”
”Yes.” Klein nodded frankly, realizing that the former Lune soldier who had been missing for over 165 years had not aged a bit, with his black hair hanging down and sharp blue eyes that made people want to obey unconsciously.
Longzell appeared in a visible trance, but quickly collected himself:
”Do you know the Edwards of Birkeland?”
”There are a lot of Edward’s in Birkeland.” Klein responded simply.
”The Edward’s who live, at 18 De La Hare Street, NW.” Longzell eagerly followed up.
Klein shook his head:
”There is no Northwest Side anymore.”
”There’s no more Northwest Side ……,” Longzell whispered, repeating the other man’s words in a voice that faded to a whisper.
He was silent for a few seconds and exhaled:
”I don’t know how many years have passed out there, but it should have been many, Edwina told me the exact year, but I don’t even remember what year I came in …… I’ve been asleep most of the time, and it’s as if the time here has frozen.”
Mobet Zoroaster sniffed and laughed softly:
”That’s just your bad luck, everything was beautiful before when we traveled through the city and countryside.”
He looked over at Klein, Anderson, and Danez and said:
”Back then, we lived where there were humans and intelligent races, marrying again and again and again, watching our wives grow old, weaken and die, and heck, we’d forget about the purpose until a new member joined us, and live ordinary, mundane, but pleasant and easy lives for decades and centuries, with the only bad thing about it being that we couldn’t have children of our own.
”Then Dragonzell came, and we entered this ice-covered region, hunting many monsters, but gradually began to sleep, rarely awake, until we met Edwina.”
In other words, time flows normally in the book world, and what keeps the story progressing is the influence of some force on the protagonist’s team, which stays stuck in the last node doing something else until a new member joins them and the book turns the page …… This would be similar to the mind-spirit level of translating languages to each other… …
Conversely could it be argued that the towns and villages of the book world are developing normally and authentically? Well, we must find Urisian, the “King of the North”, as soon as possible, or else as time passes, we too will suffer the effects of that, and fall asleep, or lose sight of the main purpose, and stay here for a long time until new members are swallowed into the book and find us… …Klein was silent for a few seconds, about to speak, when Edwina beat him to it:
”Don’t worry about that anymore.
”We’ll meet the ‘King of the North’ soon enough.”
”Why?” Anderson and Mobet asked at the same time.
Edwina looked around the room and said:
”There were only a few pages left in the sticky part of the travelogue before I came in,” she said.
”And now that you too have come in and found the camp, there are bound to be more pages turned and the story is coming to an end.”
Mobet nodded imperceptibly, agreeing with Edwina’s judgment, while Anderson muttered words like “adhesion” in a whisper.
Edwina then introduced Klein, Anderson, and Danez, and sat down by the fire demonstratively.
Krynn removed his hat, held it with his cane, and sat down slowly, looking at the coolly spoken Mobet Zoroaster:
”Have you heard of the Empire of Tudor, the Empire of Trenthorst?”
He did not bend, he asked a direct question, which was the persona of Germaine Sparrow.
”No.” Mobet shook his head, “Edwina already asked me, heh, in my time, Tudor and Trenthorst were the great nobles of the Solomon Empire like our Zoroaster family, loyal to the ‘Black Emperor’.”
It turns out that the Tudor and Trenthorst families are traitors to the Solomon Empire …… Klein thought for a moment:
”Besides you guys, what other nobles are there in the Solomon Empire?”
”Many, many.” Mobet smiled and glanced at Longzell, “Augustus, Abraham, Charatu, etc, etc, in my time, the Black Night Church’s mortal enemy was the Church of the God of War, the Aegis family of the southern continent, while the Storm Lords, the Eternal Blaze, and the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom fought against each other, all wishing to gain the support of the Solomon Empire.”
He paused for two seconds, his expression gradually becoming solemn:
”At that time, the gods traveled on the earth, not the astral realm.”