Chapter 4
MIRA IMMEDIATELY PICKED UP the receiver and punched in the number. Incredibly, after staying so silent for so long, the communicator started beeping.
Mira intuitively knew that the beeps were the standby sound as the communicator called someone; though it looked like a walkie-talkie, it acted like a phone. In short, the number was correct.
A few seconds later, the voice she’d been awaiting came from the receiver. “Lord of the Ring speaking.” He sounded a little stiff, but it was definitely Solomon. “Lord of the Ring” was surely some kind of code name.
The communicator was loud, echoing in the wagon. Wasranvel jumped at the noise, then paid even more attention to the device, impressed.
Mira was worried at first, but the connection was solid. “Ooh, it works!” She yelled joyfully into the receiver. “It’s me! It’s me!”
“Ah…it’s you. It’s rare for you to call me. Did something happen?” When Solomon realized Mira was speaking, his tone became more casual; this was the voice of an old friend.
Relieved, Mira started to outline the current situation. “A lot. I have many things to report. First off…” She told him all about Soul Howl—the whole point of this trip—whom she’d indeed reunited with in the Ancient Underground City. She also mentioned how Soul Howl had gotten himself into a situation where he couldn’t use advanced magic, and how the Spirit King helped remove that restriction.
“Wow. So he paid with his advanced magic, but still got this far at the speed we predicted. That shows how strong he is these days.” Solomon sounded excited.
They’d identified the Ancient Underground City as Soul Howl’s likeliest current destination based specifically on their estimate of his strength. They’d calculated that without any limitations in mind—they hadn’t been aware of one, after all—yet Mira found him just as planned. In other words, Soul Howl was just as strong with only middling magic as he was when he could use advanced magic.
“Well, yeah. That’s how the two of us defeated the Machina Guardian without outside help.”
Mira had seen firsthand how Soul Howl’s magic had evolved, so she agreed, mentioning their battle against the Guardian. The Machina Guardian was meant to be a tough raid boss, and the pair had only defeated it on their own because of their status as laborer mages.
Soul Howl’s Great Wall, an impenetrable fortress; Mira’s holy sword-wielding army, overpowering in number; a battlefield shifting at dazzling speed; the Machina Guardian’s new movement patterns—Mira proudly told Solomon all about it, exaggerating here and there.
“When we defeated the Machina Guardian, a mechanized doll came out of it,” she added, then shared the mysterious message and metal plate the doll had left. She’d taken perfect notes on the message, so she could recite it word for word.
Solomon repeated the message slowly, as if confirming it so he could take notes as well. “Let’s see… ‘The black moon rises, and darkness encroaches. Those who have defeated my supreme Guardian and overcome this trial, you are worthy of inheriting our power. Take this and make ready for the battle with the coming invader.’ Did I get that right? Fascinating. And you got a metal plate with weird symbols on it?”
“Indeed. An unheard-of situation, right? We also found what looked like a diary. It was hardly readable, though. We couldn’t make sense of it. Still, it is intriguing. Ready to take notes?” she asked, then read the legible part.
The diary in the Machina Guardian’s wreckage had been scorched, leaving only a single page. Yet the legible part alone contained very interesting vocabulary…including a specific reference to Japan.
“There you have it. Soul Howl agrees that it seems related to this world’s secret. But wait until you hear the next part!” Mira said. She sounded pompous but was clearly eager to continue. “This is a long story, but…”
Now, she told Solomon about the massive laboratory beneath the seventh level. Remembering the excitement she’d felt when she first saw it, she explained the conclusion they’d reached: The research facility was clearly connected to modern Earth.
***
After outlining everything, she finally asked Solomon, “So? What do you think…?”
He was silent for a moment before replying, “I’ve got to say, I think that’s likely.”
There probably was some connection between real life and the Ancient Underground City. Apart from the widespread use of Japanese writing there, they’d seen modern anime DVDs, books, and other evidence connecting it to Japan.
Solomon accepted that possibility without objection. “The Ancient Underground City’s history stretches back far beyond when we came to this world. It’s bewildering that there’s a lab beneath the city, of all places. My researchers will be overjoyed; this is a fascinating mystery.”
The Hinomoto Committee had a department dedicated to researching this world, and Solomon chuckled at the thought of their impending joy. He was plenty fascinated himself. How did the laboratory relate to the person who’d left the mysterious message? And how did they relate to the metal plate and “inheriting power”? Could they just be unrelated mysteries that’d happened to converge in one place?
As the king muttered to himself about various questions, Mira interrupted, “So…Solomon, should I rush the metal plate back to you?”
She’d told him almost everything over the communicator, but she couldn’t give him the metal plate until she went home. That was why she’d gone to the trouble of reporting via communicator in the first place: It was the factor that would decide her next action.
“Well, I’d love to see it in person… But if you’re asking me that, I guess there’s a good reason you used the communicator?”
Sharing what she’d learned in person, after she’d gone home, would’ve been much easier. Thus, the question of why Mira had opted to call provoked Solomon to hypothesize.
“Okay, let me think. Wait a sec,” he said. Acting as if he were taking a quiz, he pondered the question.
For her part, Mira didn’t immediately explain her rationale; instead, she left him with the clues, leaning back smugly. “All the information is available. Will it lead you to the answer?” This was another silly game they played often.
***
After a couple minutes passed, Solomon exclaimed, “Ooh. I know!” He’d seemingly figured out why Mira had used the communicator.
“Go on,” Mira urged.
“You’re planning to search for that orphanage, aren’t you?” he demanded.
“Ugh…correct,” she confirmed reluctantly.
“Knew it,” Solomon chuckled, then added, “Seeking that out before you come back and report to me will be faster and more efficient. But frankly, I’m surprised you even remembered that.” He was genuinely impressed that she’d stayed focused on the orphanage amid all her running around.
“Of course. Who do you think I am?”
The sad truth was that Mira had only remembered because of the rumors about Fuzzy Dice in the inn lobby, but she was happy to take the credit herself.
“Sure. Silly of me to doubt you. As for your initial question, I’d say there’s no rush.” Brushing off Mira’s bragging, Solomon confirmed that she didn’t need to hurry the plate home. “Our brainiacs are as busy as can be right now, after all.”
Grinning knowingly, Solomon announced that they’d made progress investigating the large cave beneath Nebrapolis. Incredibly, they’d successfully identified the withered plants in the cave, which were wildflowers that only grew in very specific locations—flower fields surrounding the white pillars that dotted the continent.
“Oh ho. Quite a connection,” Mira muttered, remembering one specific meadow.
They had yet to determine what the pillar there was, but the field was famous for the Angel Drop herbs one could harvest there. Those herbs cured an illness called the Living Dead’s Plague. As its name implied, it made the living seem all but dead, even robbing them of their sanity.
“Once we figured that out,” Solomon continued, “we started to realize what that big hole was.”
The large cave contained a hole over a hundred meters deep. Based on what they knew so far, they’d theorized that it was where a tower had once stood. Investigating the hole with that notion in mind, they found massive ley lines running directly below it. Ley lines were vital force fields connected to many ancient sites.
For some reason, the white pillar that stood in that cave had disappeared. It was no stretch to hypothesize that a dark demon had done something to cause that.
“We’ve made lots of progress,” Solomon concluded, “but knowing what to do next is a different story.”
What purpose did those white pillars serve to begin with? This one’s disappearance made it difficult to research, so they were considering investigating the remaining pillars throughout the continent. However, Solomon added, the fact that a dark demon got rid of a pillar in the first place was already extremely troubling.
“Right,” Mira affirmed. “Nothing good can come of a demon’s involvement.”
“Exactly. So our brainiacs are hard at work—I mean, they love researching mysteries like this. If you brought that metal plate now, they’d be torn between two great loves. If that happened, I bet they’d literally lose sleep to work on it.”
The objects and information Mira brought home especially intrigued Suleiman, and in light of that, Solomon half-jokingly (and half-seriously) worried that he might work himself to death.
“Hrmm… I see,” Mira said. “Well, mustn’t push them too hard. Besides, the pillars interest me too.”
Solomon’s reasoning convinced her. She did want to know how the white pillars, which existed all over the continent for unknown reasons, related to this. Players had simply considered those pillars locations to gather items for special quests. But now that everything was real and had history behind it, the mystery of the pillars had deepened.
History and mystery, hrmm…?
At some point during their time in the game, every player had sensed that this world was just too vast. And, even more impressively, too full. Countless mysteries packed this continent. Many were beyond reckoning, yet any number of lunatics boldly pursued the truth behind those mysteries.
Mira opened her Friends List for once and looked through the names. There, she found someone specific: Autodi Dolfin. He was one such lunatic—a self-styled archaeologist.
“I just checked, and it looks like Dr. Dolfin’s in this world too. Think he might know something?”
Dolfin had always run around the continent in search of mystery and adventure. If that curiosity was intact, he was surely researching all the white pillars he could find. Asking him about them might even be faster than sending an investigation team.
When Mira proposed as much, Solomon hesitated. “It’s a nice idea… The problem is, we don’t know how much he actually has investigated.”
“Oh…I see your point.”
The self-styled archaeologist typically looked into whatever flight of fancy was on his mind at a given moment. He’d pour his blood, sweat, and tears into one thing, then abandon it the instant something interested him the tiniest bit more. He came back to the original topic once he was done, yes, but hopping from one mystery to another meant that he had a pile of unfinished research.
“At any rate, we can’t send private messages now, so I can’t think of any way to connect with him,” Solomon added. “I’m not sure we’d ever find the guy.” They could at least ask whether he knew anything about the pillars, but Dolfin was a restless archaeologist. Finding him might be just as difficult as finding the Nine Wise Men.
“A way to connect with him…” Mira murmured. The word “connect” reminded her of something—the Spirit King’s blessing came with the power to “link.” Perhaps she could use that to trace her bond with Dolfin? She began clinging to that faint hope.
Just in time, the voice of the Spirit King himself echoed in her mind. “Miss Mira, may I ask a question?”
Surprised that he was the one with a question for once, Mira replied, “Ask me anything.”
His question surpassed her expectations and canceled out the purpose of searching for Dolfin. “These ‘white pillars’ you’ve been discussing—are you referring to the Onbashira of Earthly Reversal?”
He’d said outright what was seemingly the proper name of the pillars they’d racked their brains over for the longest time.
“Come again…?”
Now that Mira thought about it, it was no surprise that the Spirit King—who’d lived for an eternity—knew about the pillars. Frankly, she should’ve asked him first. She’d been touched by the researchers’ efforts, yet the Spirit King’s words ran rings around those in no time. She gasped in utter surprise.
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