Part 5 The Red Priests Chapter 125 The Hall of Honesty
In front of the majestic palace, which was gray in appearance and more than two hundred meters in height, there stood several thick stone pillars that were shorter than itself, as if they stood as a team of straight guards.
Klein could imagine that when the “Miracle City” of Leviathan was still floating in mid-air, there must have been a powerful dragon squatting on these pillars.
These were the servants of the ancient gods.
He then glanced up at the open door and said to Leonard and Audrey:
”Stay close to me, in the event of an accident, I will immediately take you out of the world of the book and return directly above the gray mist.”
This was precisely the main reason why Klein dared to explore this place.
”Uh-huh.” Audrey and Leonard, neither of whom was trying to be brave, walked to either side of Klein and walked alongside him.
After relying on their spirit flying ability to cross over a layer of steps, the three of them entered the palace through the exaggeratedly grand door.
The first thing that caught their eyes was a space spacious enough to allow multiple dragons to roll around at will, as well as an ancient stone pillar that held up the sky.
On both sides of the hall, there was a brightly colored mural, which continued to extend forward and intersected behind a giant pillar that an unknown number of people could embrace.
That giant pillar stood in the deepest part of the hall, right in front, not relying on external objects, just by itself, it could make people feel a strong sense of awe and experience the vicissitudes of time, like a petrified deity.
Almost instantly, a grayish-white figure was outlined above that giant pillar.
The figure was covered in scales, each one of which seemed like a solid slab of stone, and just the vague outline of the figure was like an epic.
”The Dragon of Empty Thoughts,” Anglewild! Just as such a thought flashed within Klein’s mind, he heard an inexplicably familiar voice rolling and echoing inside the spacious and expansive to exaggerated hall:
”‘The Dragon of Empty Thoughts’, Anglewild!”
While looking around in dismay, Klein heard Leonard heartily exclaim there:
”The deep air listened in silence around k;
”The breeze is so frightened that it scarcely dares to breathe ……” (note 1)
…… This guy is still in the mood to recite poetry, and I don’t know who he’s memorizing …… Klein looked sideways at Leonard.
Immediately afterward, he heard an echo:
”This guy is still in the mood to recite poetry, and I don’t know who he’s memorizing ……”
At this time, Leonard’s expression was quite stunned, tightly closing his mouth and continuously shaking his head in negation.
But the next second, a voice rang out beside him:
”I didn’t recite anything!”
”What’s going on? Strange …… “At the same time that Klein’s heart moved, he realized that the inexplicably familiar voice just now belonged to himself.
And it echoed once more, repeating Klein’s flickering thoughts.
Then, “Justice” Audrey’s soft voice with a few muttering sensations rang out:
”This …… hall allows the thoughts in our minds to be directly presented around us, even materialized? Well …… when I saw that giant pillar just now, I was imagining what the ‘Dragon of Empty Thoughts’ Anglewilde was like back then, and I was modeling it after the mind dragon I’d seen before ……
”How did all my words, no, it’s true that they were spoken by the ‘hall’ ……”
That’s so, it’s good that I didn’t think of anything strange just now, hmmm, collect your thoughts, collect your thoughts …… Klein began to try to focus his mind with the method of meditation to keep himself from thinking.
At the same time, corresponding words rang out beside him almost synchronously:
”…… Collect your thoughts, collect your thoughts, collect your thoughts ……”
”So this is what Mr. ‘World’ looks like on the inside, like a child who just started school, constantly stressing to himself about the things he needs to pay attention to there, and also, he meditates on surprisingly one cascading sphere of light, so beautiful, no, no, I didn’t think that way, and I didn’t describe you like that, either. Mr. ‘World’, really!” Audrey finally couldn’t help herself as her true thoughts continued to present themselves, and curled her mouth.
As for Leonard, the sound of “hahaha” echoed around him early on.
”These two guys …… no, why am I using guys, be polite, be polite ……” Klein sighed helplessly while listening to the words in his heart, “This is a good place for a game of hearts. “This place is perfect for Truth or Dare, maybe just call it the ‘Hall of Honesty’……”
”What kind of game is this?” Audrey didn’t even need to open her mouth to express her confusion.
”Probably invented by Rossel the Great …… I have to be a little careful not to think about things I shouldn’t, really, it’s so hard to reign in random thoughts that are scattered without the aid of meditation …… “Klein replied while habitually admonishing himself mentally, and, as a result, was once again mercilessly betrayed by the hall.
This time, Audrey burst out laughing as well:
”Haha, there’s such a side to Mr. ‘World’, I can’t believe I didn’t decipher it before ……”
”Hahaha, Klein you also have today, no, what did I say …… ” Leonard violently raised his right hand and covered his mouth.
No surprise, he heard Ms. Justice’s “question”:
”Klein?”
And someone’s complaint:
”Maybe only secret puppetization can stop this guy from thinking, wait, what am I thinking, phew, calm down, calm down ……”
Klein took a deep breath and started to get himself to focus on the matter itself:
”Let’s take a look at what the murals around us tell us, they were a very important means of remembering things in ancient times and often held a multitude of information ……”
Suggesting this, he had heard Audrey’s inner chuckle as she thought:
”Klein, is that Mr. ‘World’s’ real name? No, don’t think about it too much, Mr. ‘World’ will be angry, no, I think it’s more likely that he’s embarrassed, no, no, it’s all the ‘lies’ fault, Mr. World, please believe me! Whew, calm down, calm down, focus, focus!”
With the “audience” pathway’s control over her own emotions and thoughts, Audrey gradually collected her thoughts and turned her gaze to the mural on her right.
Compared to them, Leonard’s ability to control his mind was a little less, and there were still murmurs echoing around him:
”Is the secret puppetization …… guy’s thoughts all so dangerous now? Tsk, so that’s what’s really inside you, haha, Ms. ‘Justice’ is having fun reacting to it …… It’s been a while since I’ve seen that guy make a fool of himself …… ”
Waiting until both Klein and Audrey watched the mural carefully and did a quick communication through their inner floating, Leonard let his thoughts calm down a little bit and focused his attention.
The murals to the right of the three told what seemed to be the evolution of history, with scenes of humans building cities, snow-covered plains, wars and migrations, a kingdom and a city-state, and towers and fruits symbolizing unhindered communication ……
Obviously, these murals start from the doorway and end at the throne of the “Dragon of Ideas”.
Seeing the back, Klein suddenly found a familiar figure.
It was a huge dragon with blue eyes and ice crystal scales.
It was the “King of the North” Urisian!
”This …… book world is based on these murals?” Klein quickly skimmed backwards as his heart spat out, discovering scenes of many blurry-faced adventurers hunting frost dragons and opening the door of departure, images of ice melting and city-states such as Pesot appearing and prospering, and the end of the story where the weather was getting colder and a new story was about to unfold.
”All that is on the mural will become reality in this book world?” “Justice,” Audrey could hardly contain the thought that flooded her mind.
”This wall, this painting, it all looks ordinary, not as good as the works of those painters on the streets …… Worthy of being the abode of the ‘Dragon of Empty Thoughts’, is this the might and authority of the ancient gods… … “Leonard similarly had some feelings.
”It’s possible.” Before Klein could make a more euphemistic reply, he heard his inner voice, “Let’s take a look at the murals on the other side and do an analysis by combining all the circumstances.”
Leonard and Audrey did not object and followed him towards the other side.
During this process, they realized that within this palace, not even a spirit body could fly.
Since those murals were huge, Klein’s three didn’t have to walk for long before they got a good look at the corresponding contents.
And just the first mural near the entrance made Klein’s pupils suddenly dilate.
On that painting, a book with a hard cover was being held in the hands of an unreadable giant with a grayish-blue complexion and one vertical eye!
”This ……” Klein heard his own shocked, hesitant voice.
In the following frescoes, the common protagonist was the parchment-bound book with the dark brown cover: it was acquired by an elf; the writing on its surface changed; it was collected; it was acquired by one person after another, moved around, “wandered” until it flew up to the clouds, to the stars, and landed in the paws of a huge man.
In the next fresco, which follows this scene, the book seems to have no connection with the previous one, and suddenly arrives on the sea, in a vaguely stylized boat.
In the penultimate mural, it is again acquired by a man in a bowler hat, leaving the same ship as before.
The next mural, behind the giant pillar that is suspected to be the throne of Anglewild, the Dragon of Ideas, shows the book meeting a classical quill.
This concludes all frescoes.
”0-08!” echoed Leonard’s stunned voice down the hall.
”The ‘Dragon of Imagination’ wants this book and that pen to make a set? What’s going to happen with that? Against Ince Zangwill, this scene really almost came up …… But in the end, this still didn’t play out? Because the book fell into my hands and was sacrificed to Mr. ‘Fool’, or maybe Adam was prepared for this and deliberately offered his help?
”By the way, earlier in the travelogue, the ascetic had just mentioned Adam, the ‘Angel of Empty Thoughts’, when the Frost Dragons came and attacked the camp. …… Was it the will of the travelogue itself that prevented him from finishing, or had Adam already heard it and cast his gaze over, provoking a certain reaction?” Klein’s thoughts were a flurry of thoughts, which phased into words.
In the process, he could only control himself to think of the Fool as a different being.
As he “voiced” his thoughts, Audrey’s thoughts presented themselves:
”What’s on this side of the mural will become a reality in the material world?”
Note 1: Quoted in Tennyson, “Godiva”.