The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

Page 131

"You, an alcoholic, and you still manage to accumulate a huge pile of empty bottles every week?" Qingzi said, arms crossed, staring at him with an unfriendly expression.

"...Thank you for your concern, I have given it up, and now I only indulge in it in small amounts."

The believer understood, sincerely put her hands together, nodded slightly, and then secretly rolled her eyes.

It seems his previous decision was wise; the many trivial matters that occurred during his time of wreaking havoc in Gomorrah must remain buried deep inside…

"When you get back, give me a report on everything that happened during the time you lived alone."

"?"

"Stop pretending you don't understand."

"……it is good."

Upon hearing this, the believer felt a wave of dizziness, but then breathed a sigh of relief.

Anyway, there's no physical evidence, and as for witnesses... if even one witness comes up, that place would have to undergo the Great Dao's evolution to establish earth, water, fire, and wind, which is completely unrelated. In the end, he'll just have to make it up on his own...

It was all a piece of cake, I passed the test with ease...

"My dear boss, they're going to do some renovations on this wrecked ship, and it'll be a bit noisy. Do you think it might delay your work? ... Ugh, why are you all dressed?"

Suddenly, an elven face appeared outside the window near the stern. It was Deedlit. In the silvery moonlight, this silver-haired bean sprout hung upside down on the outer structure of the stern like a ghost, peeking into the first mate's bedroom from the top of the window frame, her tone full of surprise and regret.

"Go away, we're talking about serious business, I understand."

The believer waved the little demon, who was hanging upside down and eavesdropping at the stern of the boat, away as if chasing away a kitten or puppy. Then, as if still worried, she went up and closed the window. Only when the silver moon over the sea was no longer visible did she leisurely return to her original position.

After this incident, both Aoko and Salome had subtle expressions on their faces.

"Miss Deedlit is as quirky and unpredictable as ever." Salome seemed to finally realize, belatedly, how her late-night visit might be misunderstood by those on the ship, and a faint blush rose on her profile.

Aoko's reaction, however, was much more decisive.

"Honestly, I don't know where this Lin Jing grew up. She's a pretty girl herself, but all she says are dirty jokes that are easy to misunderstand, or she's just too down-to-earth..."

"How exactly did it go too far?"

The believer casually asked a question as if in jest, while holding up a wooden cup, also made by Lin Jing, filled with fruit wine.

These were supplies purchased locally when we left the Forest Spirit Harbor in the northern part of the Tree Sea, to replenish the vitamins that most of the crew urgently needed for their voyage...

"The kind of head that leads you to hell," Aoko rolled her eyes.

click!

Another strange noise suddenly came from the room. The two girls subconsciously looked for the source of the sound, and then turned their gazes to Lord Hern, who was sipping... and nibbling on his fruit wine cup.

Click, click, click...

Mr. Hearn calmly swallowed the fruit wine in his mouth along with the chewed pieces of the wooden cup, then casually wiped the chipped cup back into place.

"?"

"Your Excellency Hern..."

"What are you crazy about?"

"It's okay, I'll just eat some fiber."

"..."

"..."

"Ahem, where were we?" The believer cast a kind glance at Salome.

"The reasons why the Rhine in the Far East returned to the West in our generation."

"Yes, since the day of the Heavenly Cry, Ju'an has spanned the old and new eras in the Far East. What made you choose, or rather, forced to choose, to return to the Western Lands in this generation?"

"The fact that you used the word 'forced' means that you spoke with Mr. Joshua."

“I thought he had reported everything to you in detail after his release from prison, after all, Your Highness, you are the rightful heir of the Rhine.”

“Mr. Joshua has his own moral principles, and besides, before Sister Wang passed away, the two ‘Mr. Joshua’s’ vows were to serve Sister Wang, not me.”

"I see."

The believer understood. In this way, the contradictions in the big cat's many behaviors, and the reason why Salome repeatedly instructed him to do dirty work in private on the journey north, rather than instructing the big cat, could be explained.

Both generations of Joshua were Olivia Reinhardt's knights-in-waiting. As the last saints walking on the earth, they served only the Rhine descendants who inherited the angelic marks, not the Rhine descendants who inherited the curse of the great sin.

"Wait, wait, what's going on with these two Joshuas? And what did you and that big cat talk about before I arrived?"

"Oh, I almost forgot."

The believer then came to her senses. Aoko had arrived in Silver Harbor after the shipwreck of the westward fleet, so there were naturally gaps in the information he had. He then briefly recounted to Aoko the legacy of the two generations of saints, Joshua, and the story that the big cat had recalled in prison. He emphasized the pious saint who had dedicated his life to fighting against the Holy Light, an incredible act.

Before Salome's visit, Nobunaga and Aoko had discussed this topic, but it came to an abrupt end due to the incident during the visit. Now that the old story has been brought up again, it's a good opportunity to ask the person involved to clarify things.

"Lord Hern, Miss Aoko, as you both know, the Mr. Joshua on this ship is actually named Gross. Considering that one of his parents was a Son of Earth, Gross is more of a surname than a given name in Yale culture. So let's call him Mr. Gross for now. Mr. Gross's mentor, the Mr. Joshua who traveled alone to the southern continent of Thranheim to explore many years ago, is actually a devout and loyal paladin serving the Rhine royal family. Before he received the saint's inheritance, his name was Vladimir Fradin."

"In other words, Joshua does not refer to just one person, but to the name passed down through generations of saints?"

After a moment's thought, Aoko understood the meaning behind Salome's words.

“Yes, Mr. Vladimir and the late King… my father were close friends, their friendship dating back to their childhood. After my father inherited the throne of the Far Eastern Court, Mr. Vladimir, because of his loyalty and his expertise in the Path of the Holy Light, became the late King’s right-hand man.”

“In Gross’s recollection, he took over Joshua’s mantle and holy sword in February of the 185th year of the Resurrection Calendar and set off for the Far East. In January of the same year, Mr. Vladimir led his followers northwards and was never heard from again.” The believer glanced at the nautical calendar on the wall of the first mate’s room and then added, “Now it is December of the 198th year of the Resurrection Calendar. In other words, Mr. Vladimir has been missing for 13 years. Going back further, Gross spent seven years following Vladimir across the entire Southern Continent, plus two to three years of sea travel westward. That means Vladimir Vladin returned to the Southern Continent at least 22 years ago. If his return was at the behest of Your Highness’s father, then Your Highness and your sister were truly prescient. However, at this time, Your Highness and your sister were not even born yet. How did he become Princess Olivia’s knight-errant?”

“Uncle Vladimir left behind a Holy Light avatar in the Far East to protect the Rhine royal family and to teach Sister Olivia the Way of the Holy Light.”

"I see."

As expected of a divinely ordained saint, his skills are indeed formidable; he can still handle leaving behind a clone across the ocean with ease.

However, the name Vladimir Vladimir sounds somewhat familiar.

The feeling of déjà vu lingered in the woman's mind ever since the name was first uttered by Salome, yet it remained elusive and inexplicably irritating.

“Uncle Vladimir’s avatar of holy light dissipated in the Far East 11 years ago, in November of the year 187 of the Resurrection Calendar. My sister and I were only 7 years old at the time. Father concluded that Uncle Vladimir had met with misfortune in the West and immediately planned to organize a fleet to go west ahead of schedule. Just the following month, Mr. Gross arrived in the Far East with Uncle Vladimir’s letter and sword and went to the Rhine Royal Court to pay his respects. It was that letter that temporarily dispelled Father’s idea of ​​going west 11 years ago.”

……

Chapter 197 The Rhine Dilemma

Salome pieced together the fragmented past one by one. In the narration of this last princess, many previously scattered clues were connected and formed, returning to their original form.

“Your Highness, I can understand the deep friendship between Vladimir and your father, but that alone is not enough to motivate a human king to make the decision to send his entire people westward. Is there anything else you haven't said? What exactly happened to the Rhine people in the Far Eastern Royal Court that made a human king not only send his trusted confidant back to his homeland from thousands of miles away, but also make such a great decision after his confidant disappeared.”

"Extinction of offspring and longevity."

Salome suddenly threw out this pair of words.

"what?"

"what?"

The woman and Aoko exchanged a glance and simultaneously asked a question that seemed to stem from confusion.

"To put it simply, the men of the Rhine are dying younger and younger, while the women of the Rhine are living longer and longer. There are fewer and fewer newborns, and the probability of a newborn being a prince is getting smaller and smaller. By my father's generation, he was the last male in the Rhine royal family, and by our generation, there are only a pair of twin sisters left—my sister and me."

"This is truly an extremely bizarre crisis of national subjugation and annihilation..." Upon hearing this, Qingzi felt a wave of dizziness.

"Your Highness, I have two questions."

"Your Excellency Hern, please speak frankly. Also, please stop addressing me as Your Highness. Since my sister's passing, Salome has been all alone." The princess first gave a bitter smile, then her expression darkened.

"Alone? Your father..."

"Until two years ago when the westward fleet set sail, the Rhine bloodline had disappeared from the Far East."

"……Feel sorry."

"It's alright, Lord Hern. What were the two questions you just raised?"

"First, when did these symptoms, which resemble those of a genetic disease, begin?"

"The initial signs were too subtle to be verified. The earliest record in the tribe dates back to the end of the Tertiary period, which is about four hundred years ago."

"After the day of Heaven's Weeping, before Yale was destroyed, that is, shortly after your branch migrated to the Far East? This period is too vague, and it is difficult to extract useful information. Let's put it aside for now. Now, the second question is more important than the first one. Please answer truthfully, Your Highness."

The believer felt quite regretful about this, but then her expression turned solemn.

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency Hern, Salome is now all alone. She will do her best to help you and answer your questions without reservation."

“You are too modest. My second question is, has Princess Olivia’s talent and skill ever been seen in the ancestors of your branch of the Far East Rhine?”

"never had."

"really……"

"On the contrary, it is an unbelievable thing that Sister Wang's talent and skill appeared in our branch of the Rhine descendants."

"Oh?"

"The legacy of Elijah, the guardian angel of the Kingdom's Ring, can only be traced back to the royal family during Yale's golden age, appearing in the direct line of the Rhine royal family. The original Elijah was the eldest daughter of that ancestor [Rhine]. The ancestor of the Far East Rhine, tracing back to the eve of the eastward migration, was actually a descendant of that generation of Yale emperors, the son of that emperor's deceased cousin, who inherited his deceased father's position and was a Grand Duke of Yale's royal court."

The lineages of royalty are ridiculously complex, just like the descendants of the monarchs at the Clock Tower. I'm completely bewildered and need a break. You handle things here.

Aoko's voice came through the encrypted channel, indicating that he was going to give up. Xin Nu pursed her lips, thinking that he also wanted to rest, but the important matter at hand was more important. She decided to patiently continue rummaging through the piles of historical documents with this descendant of the Rhine, hoping to find some clues.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aoko happily sipping a cup of sweet fruit wine, a carefree joy on her face.

"Salome, in other words, the Rhine Royal Court in the Far East is actually a collateral branch of the Rhine, and the appearance of a guardian angel in a collateral branch that was previously only possible among the direct bloodlines of the Golden Age is what you find so inconceivable, right?"

"Yes, Lord Hern." Salome's expression brightened considerably when the believer addressed her by her first name. Even the gloom of loneliness she had felt earlier dissipated slightly. As the last descendant of the Rhine, she did her best to answer the many secrets of the past that had been sealed within the royal family for the righteous man before her, and occasionally corrected any erroneous statements.

"Your Excellency Hern, strictly speaking, the direct line of the Rhine royal family was completely severed long before my ancestor crossed the sea to the East. The Grand Duke of the Far Eastern Royal Court—the uncle who helped him inherit the dukedom when he was still young—was the last emperor of the direct Rhine line. Shortly after that emperor ascended the throne, the [Day of Heavenly Weeping] descended. During his lifetime, he did his best to promote many reforms to maintain our empire, which was teetering on the brink of divine punishment. Among them was the secret instruction to send the Far Eastern Royal Court to Gozan in the form of diplomacy, leaving behind the seeds of civilization. After he died young while still in his prime, another powerful collateral branch of the Rhine, second only to the direct line, seized the throne after a struggle. Thus, the direct line of the Rhine royal family was severed."

[Hmph, that's just the kind of bullying only within the nobility.]

Aoko's disdainful comment drifted in from the encrypted channel.

Every family has its own troubles, and it's common for wealthy families to turn on each other, let alone the imperial family of a ruling empire that controls a planet. By the way, I remember you and your sister didn't get along very well, did you? You seemed to be having a lot of fun fighting...

Don't bring up the past...

Having been caught red-handed, Aoko gritted her teeth and made a defiant gesture. However, when she saw that Shinju turned her head away and wasn't buying it at all, she felt rather embarrassed and started to change the subject, intending to gloat over the incident.

"Um, Salome."

"Hmm, Miss Aoko?"

"That emperor, I mean the last emperor of the Rhine line, didn't he raise any children himself? If he had one or two outstanding princes, how could his relatives have seized the throne? Wouldn't his children have suffered terribly in that situation?"

"This is also recorded in the internal history of the Far East Royal Court, but the situation at that time was too complicated, so there are not many valuable records. All we know is that several of the emperor's sons died in the war to quell the rebellion after the day of Heaven's Weeping. Of course, we have no way of knowing whether relatives were secretly involved... Alas, in the end, the late emperor who was kind to the Far East Rhine lineage was already all alone when he passed away."

"Being the last emperor is really tough... wait, it's not exactly the last emperor, it's more like the dynasty is on the decline... anyway, it's all about timing and fate. Who told him to be on the day of the Heavenly Weeping just as the day he was on the throne arrived? Don't you think so, believer?"

Aoko stared meaningfully at someone, while Mr. Hern, whom she was staring at, was like a squirrel quenching his thirst with a slice of watermelon he had pulled out of the subspace, wearing an innocent expression that seemed to say, "What are you talking about? I'm just a little squirrel eating watermelon."

"In fact, Your Excellency Hern should be quite familiar with that late emperor."

"No, no, no, strangers? How could I not be a stranger? How could I, a mere seventeen-year-old Gozan dragon born in the Fourth Era, be acquainted with an Emperor of the Rhine Empire of the Third Era Yale Empire?"

The devout woman held the watermelon, shaking her head like a rattle-drum, her expression as innocent as could be.

"Have you forgotten? We talked about this back in Silver City. You showed me some sketches you made when you woke up, records of your dreams. The Gozan people believe in fate. Since then, I have always believed that you, Lord Hern, are destined to be with our Rhine family, because the person you depicted in your drawings is undoubtedly a Rhine daughter. We also jokingly talked about a wild possibility back then, saying that the frozen Rhine princess might be able to survive the turmoil spanning two eras, like Sleeping Beauty, waiting in her slumber for the prince to awaken her."

Salome smiled sweetly at the squirrel-like nun.

"Let me explain, I'm still a little confused. Just how many things are you two hiding from me?"

A sense of alienation, as if she were an outsider, made Aoko feel extremely uncomfortable. She glanced at Nobunaga, who seemed determined to play dumb to the end, knowing that she wouldn't be able to get an answer from him anytime soon. She then turned her questioning gaze to Salome.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~".

Salome noticed Aoko's displeasure. Putting aside what an observer might think, from her own perspective, Aoko's visit to Lord Yiren tonight was intentional. Her plan had been thwarted by Miss Tian Lanlan, so it was impossible for her not to feel a little disappointed and upset. But seeing Miss Tian Lanlan's expression, she felt a small sense of triumph at having turned the tables.

In that case, we're even, right?

Miss Tian Lanlan, there's plenty of time in the future.

“Miss Qingzi, you misunderstand. Please don’t take the Sleeping Beauty joke seriously. It was just a little joke I made when I first discussed the northward journey with Lord Hern. After all, at that time, Lord Hern was still hesitant about whether to travel north with the group. I was alone and powerless, so I could only do everything I could to keep Lord Hern, such a talented person, here. And since ancient times, young men have been obsessed with the word ‘fate.’ At that time, I thought that Lord Hern also believed in fate and destiny. I was just a young and impetuous wanderer, so I made up that whimsical joke. I hope you two will forgive me.”

"So, what does the story you told him have to do with that last direct descendant of the Rhine Emperor?"

Aoko crossed her arms, growing increasingly impatient. Strictly speaking, Salome was also the type of person she wasn't good at dealing with. These riddle tellers told stories in a way that was all over the place, and it took them far less time to weave a lie-like story than for the listener to dispel the fog of the previous one.

"In short, when Lord Hern sought my interpretation of his dream, I took the opportunity to quote a story from the royal court's secret history about the emperor's youngest daughter, weaving a tale that was both true and false, a story that was regrettable, in an attempt to lure Lord Hern into joining the northern journey. However, Lord Hern had already seen through that story and shelved it, so Miss Aoko need not worry about it anymore."

Salome explained kindly that she didn't want to cause discord between the two of them because of her mistake. Otherwise, wouldn't she really become the venomous princess who wanted the saint's head in Lord Hern's eyes?

This is not good; it's not conducive to long-term development.

"I didn't realize you were interested in Salome's ancestors? They're all ancient people, from the last era, at least several thousand years ago. How about I go with you to Yale City in the Southern Continent for archaeological research? Maybe we can find that little princess's tomb and you can fulfill your wish to see her remains? If she really has returned to dust, you can keep something as a memento and bring some burial items home?"