Chapter 224.1 - Decoding
「Let's do our best, Haruma-kun!」
「Ah, uhm… Yeah…」
Though Nakajima-kun felt quite uncomfortable upon seeing Himeno-san smiling ear to ear, he had no choice but to huddle together in the corner of the entrance workshop.
「Man, not only is Nakajima-kun talented in swordcraft but also in alchemy. Such a wonderful all-rounder.」
Concerning the result of the test, Nakajima managed to invoke 『Simple Alchemy Formation』. And since he succeeded, he was officially forced to work in our Entrance Workshop as a new hire.
「Uhm, Momokawa-kun… I'm a member of the exploration team.」
「This job is our current top priority.」
The exploration team had long since departed to procure material for binding Orichi's movement. The vanguard party which had already been training under the guidance of Master Souma had also departed along with the exploration team to gain combat experience and become even stronger.
I wanted him to participate to gain experience too, but the plan wouldn't reach completion unless we were done on this side.
「Well then Himeno-san, I'll leave Nakajima-kun in your care.」
「Leave it to me, Momokawa-kun.」
Nakajima eyed me resentfully as if I had betrayed him. On the contrary, he should have thanked me for placing Souma-kun and Kenzaki in different teams.
Well then, now it was time for this third wheel to leave this couple.
And today's plan is…
「I've a request for both of you.」
「I've got a bad feeling about this.」
「Yu~p, I want to escape if possible~」
I invited our main employee Shimokawa and ‘liaison officer’ Class Rep. In fact, Takanashi was the most suitable person for this job, however, her non-cooperative attitude was a huge minus.
「Don't you think that your opinion about me is a bit too harsh?」
「Place your hand on your heart and ask yourself about your daily deeds.」
「Yup, your request has always been over the top.」
Really? I was actually assigning jobs in accordance with everyone's aptitude though.
「Rest assured. I called you today just to have some exchange of opinion.」
I showed them some documents.
「Is this… The document about ancient language?」
「Yea~h, I seem to have seen these letters before.」
It was a document from a note of Yamajun's ancient language, a document that I recorded from the ancient language on the water fountain and entrance workshop that was deciphered by Takanashi.
And lastly, the goma's letter that I transcribed from goma's lithograph back in the goma village.
「Amazing, you recorded all of this?」
「But how to read this? I can't read this without the deciphering skill.」
It was exactly as Shimokawa had said, even after gathering documents of ancient language, I still couldn't read it.
「It's not that I want to discuss the ancient language here, but you can't help but be curious since it is used in magic circles. That's why I think we might be able to strengthen the magic circle if we managed to decipher part of the ancient language.」
Today's goal was to enhance the 『Hexagram』, and develop a more powerful version of it.
Breaking the shell of Yamata no Orochi with 『Rotten Bog』 was the crux of its subjugation plan.
「Enhancing the effect of 『Rotten Bog』 will shorten the time needed to complete our plan.」
Rather, I had serious doubts if my current rotten bog was strong enough to melt Orochi's shell.
「Surely, breaking the shell of Orochi is the biggest stumbling block in this plan.」
「Oioi, don't screw with me Momokawa, I'm on your side, all right.」
「That's exactly the reason why I'm seeking your cooperation as a fellow spellcaster to develop an enhanced magic circle.」
「I'm willing to help, of course, but…」
「Don't ask me, dude. I mean, I know nothing about magic circles, they just come out when I use magic.」
Yup, honestly speaking, we still had no idea about the inner workings of our vocation.
「Anyhow, let's start by making a list of every magic circle that you can use.」
Now was the time to delve even deeper into the mystery of magic circles ―― Naturally, I knew that it couldn't be completed in one day.
The road to enhancing the magic circle was long.
「――Our follower, Momokawa Kotaro.」
「It's an honor to meet you after a long time, Ruinhilde-sama.」
Yup, it was quite a long time since the last time I was invited into Ruinhilde-sama God Space-Time. The last time was when she gave me the『99 Soul』.
And since I've been invited again, it means that I would get… A new curse!
「Which do you need to defeat the giant eight-headed serpent? Brute force? Wisdom of a coward? Or prayer for a miracle?」
「Well, everything I guess.」
I want to expand our choices in regard to war potential. I want information to fill the gap in the subjugation plan. Naturally, I wouldn't hesitate to accept the blessing of god either.
Rather, she seemed to know that I was facing the challenge to take down Yamata no Orochi.
「Greed is Thy provision. Thus, I shall grant Thee wish in order for Thee to move forward.」
So, it isn't as simple as it'll be given as long as I ask. The god realm seems to have had a hard time too.
「I'm currently lacking so many things. So, I'll appreciate anything given to me.」
「Excellent, now Thee has taken another step forward. Not knowing that Thee has been heading toward the abyss ahead of Thee.」
Eh, that remark sounds ominous for some reason. Did I commit a fatal mistake somewhere?
「Thee have been racking Thee's brain. Because Thee is a coward.」
「I just think that everyone is too reckless though.」
「No need to feel embarrassed about Thee's own cowardice.」
「Of course, there's no "Continue" option in reality, after all, it's "Game Over" once you're dead.」
This chicken play was the real safest subjugation plan. We would gather information and track records while standing behind the safety margin. Betting everything in a single fight was simply beyond reckless plan.
「Exactly, there's wisdom at the end of accumulating knowledge. And that wisdom is the thing that enables you to take another step forward and arrive at the Divine Truth.」
Does that mean I had to do my best to gain more knowledge? That was indeed my duty back in school… But now wasn't the time for that. What I needed the most right now was useful knowledge. Or a cheat code to insta-kill Yamata no Orochi.
「Alas, does Thee already know that the truth isn't just conceived in heaven.」
Honestly, I have no idea at all. Nor do I know what you're talking about.
「Keep going and Thee shall arrive at the truth. Ahead is a path that will lead to a deep, and dark abyss untouched by light.」
Ha~h, now I couldn't help but get more and more anxious since she seemed to be hinting at some sort of an unpleasant flag!
Are you sure that I can proceed on the right track, Ruinhilde-sama? Does that mean I have no choice but to grope in the darkness since I am a shaman?
「I shall grant thee a new curse.」
「Thank you very much.」
All right, I couldn't care anymore at this point. I mean, since we're already in the abyss anyway, let's push forward.
「Prejudice, not ignorance is to be abhorred. Enlighten and unravel the outside principle――」
Here it comes, her usual, sharp bone fingers pierced through my forehead.
It would be better if it killed me right away. Alas, I knew that this kind of process was the way Ruinhilde-sama bestowed a new curse to me.
「R-Read… Read!」
The morning after I got the new curse from Ruinhilde-sama, I quickly confirmed its effect.
『Outlaw Decoding』: That was the word that was considered taboo and lost from history. Demon Race letter, Evil God language, Devil Knowledge. Even now, not a single soul knows why they're considered taboo.
Though something feels off about the flavor of the above text, it was a trivial matter since I could use this to decipher goma letters.
「I see, it's surprisingly just normal writing.」
My new skill allowed me to read a few sentences in the lithograph magic circle in the Goma village.
It kinda felt like the effect of 『Ancient Language Decoding-Beginner』 that only allowed its user to read several sentences. Though I couldn't read the densely packed letters in the center of the magic circle, it was possible to read the letters on the edge of the circle.
The content was divided into three parts.
The first is, "All Hail Our Great God!", a literal prayer to god.
They're gomas and yet they actually had the gall to steal the sentence from the Bible.
The second was the magical power circuit.
『Convergence』, 『Distribution』, 『Resistance』, 『Fusion』, 『Ripple』, 『Intersection』, 『Pararrel』.
It seems that the magic circle wouldn't work effectively with just one of them, it would only work if the effect of the smaller magic circle was combined. In short, the magic circle was like a machine, it needed many smaller gears and parts for it to work.
Of course, if some part was mismatched, the magic circle wouldn't work.
Even when I tried to read the letter there was many technical jargon such as 『Njaba』 or 『Dagoba』 which sounded like goma's yelling.
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