NOVEL NEXT Book 2: Chapter 214: The lone flame in the ice (2)
<the lone flame in the ice (2)></the>
The God of Hope said something to Cale the first time they met.
‘Look for the Blue Wolf.’
‘Even before ancient times… There were numerous creatures that existed long before human history started. Among them, there was an existence that was both fierce and merciful.’
‘The ruler of the predatory animals, the King of the wild beasts. Find the Blue Wolves who have lost their standing and are being forgotten.’
It was mentioned that these Blue Wolves would be the existences that would allow him to handle the numerous variables and the rapidly changing flow of things in Aipotu.
Those Wolves could handle the weight of imbalance in place of Cale and his friends.
The God of Hope had said some other things as well.
‘Take your Blue Wolf and the black Dragon. Once those two children decide on their respective paths, and only then, will the flow finally change.’
Then once Lock and Raon decide on their respective paths, a variable that could change this world would appear and the flow would finally change.
‘But I have no plans on letting Lock and Raon get swept up in that flow.’
He would rather handle it himself than place the burden on two children.
As an adult, he could not allow two children under his domain to carry such heavy burdens.
“Ha.”
Cale let out a gasp-like laugh.
He looked at the old man in front of him and asked.
“So the Archduke’s House of Snow has been with the Wolves for generations.”
“Yes sir.”
“Then why are the Beast people called the dirty bloods?”
The House of the Archduke in a vast Empire had been with the Wolf warriors.
‘That means that Beast people were not considered dirty bloods until then.’
The moment the Beast people became dirty bloods-
‘Has to have been in the past 200 years after the fall of the House of the Archduke.’
Cale had a feeling he knew what happened but he looked at the old man to get a detailed explanation.
The old man’s face turned odd but he answered.
“…Around 200 years ago, the world faced a cataclysmic period.”
He was looking at Cale with a gaze that seemed to be asking how Cale did not know about this, but Cale just ignored that gaze.
“To give a brief explanation… Many of the foundational things in this world started changing in about ten years.”
The old man’s gaze headed toward the window of the reception room.
It had calmed down a bit but the snow was still pouring down.
“First, the weather changed.”
They started seeing abnormal climatic symptoms in the Empire and the entire continent before the weather changed in those areas.
“I heard that the snow was not this strong here either. However, it has become the land with the longest winter since the cataclysmic period.”
Originally, it was a bit barren because it was in front of a mountain range but it was still a decent area to live in with bearable weather.
However, this was now one of the hardest areas to live in.
“Second, mana and aura suddenly became not usable.”
Cale’s eyes clouded over.
The topic he wanted to hear about came up.
‘So, it wasn’t always like this. It suddenly happened.’
This was what he wanted to know.
“We were told that it was truly a terrible era. Maybe aura wasn’t as used, but magic was used quite a bit even in daily life, so it was extremely chaotic.”
The way the old man was talking made Cale immediately open his mouth.
“Are you saying it is not like that anymore?”
“Yes sir.”
The old man answered without any hesitation, but his tone was getting odder.
“Mana and aura started to return. It is a great thing.”
“…Started to return?”
The old man’s face did not look good despite calling it a great thing. He seemed to not look favorably upon it.
“Yes sir. It returned. It is quite a relief to know that people who can use mana and aura started to reappear one by one after the cataclysmic period.”
“Senior, your face does not look very happy despite the things you are saying.”
The old man flinched.
“Huuuuuu.”
He sighed before adding on.
“If we say there were one thousand mages in the past, now it has significantly decreased to one. It is the same with aura. That is why magic and sword arts are all quite shabby compared to two hundred years ago.”
The old man seemed to want to say more but was holding back.
Cale wanted to learn more about the changed society with the decrease in people who could use mana or aura, but he held himself back.
It was because the old man had to answer.
Dirty bloods. He needed to hear about the Beast people.
“And finally, the Beast people became violent.”
The answer to that question was finally here.
“We were told that the Beast people who successfully completed their berserk transformations apparently became crazed and harmed their surroundings. They supposedly looked like monsters in between the appearances of humans and animals.”
Cale recalled Lock’s first berserk transformation.
It was a state where he was relying more on instincts than reason.
“People saw those Beast people and became scared because it was a time they could not use mana or aura. The existence that appeared at that time is the Holy City.”
Not the Holy Empire but the Holy City.
Cale asked with a stoic look on his face.
“Did the Holy City face off against those Beast people?”
It seemed like an obvious story.
But if this was not a story but the reality, it would be quite a serious topic. It would become a big issue that was not so obvious.
“Yes sir. The Holy City was able to push the Beast people out with the help of the Dragons. I heard that quite a lot of Beast people died during that time. It was impossible to count the number of casualties. Nonetheless, a lot of Beast people remained and scattered throughout the continent to live in hiding. Beast people live in hiding here in the Erghe Mountain Range as well.”
Cale suddenly thought of a race in his world, Nameless 1.
The Dark Elves.
Necromancers.
Finally, the Church of the Sun God that tried to subjugate and erase them from the world.
Something similar was happening here in Aipotu.
Of course, that incident was in the past in Cale’s world, but it was still happening in this world.
Cale opened his mouth to speak.
“Then the Holy City must have grown through that cataclysmic period and risen to the position of an Empire?”
“That-”
“And the Holy Empire probably told people that the Beast people have dirty bloods and must be killed for everybody to be safe?”
“Yes, that-”
“And with the changing weather and issues with the different powers… Adding this threat to their lives probably made people want someone to blame.”
“…….”
“The Beast people ended up being the scapegoats.”
Cale finished and looked at the old man.
The Chief let out an answer with a sigh.
“That is … correct.”
The reason Cale could say such things to the old man was the fact that this old man and his people were showing positive demeanors toward this ‘Archduke’ existence.
That subtle feeling was not being hidden; people with such positive feelings toward the Archduke would never be hostile toward the Beast people with their relationship to the Archduke.
In fact, they were showing stealthy hostility toward the Holy Empire that was to come to capture the Beast people.
There was silence for a bit.
‘To organize all of this-’
Cale sorted the information he gathered.
1. The cataclysmic period made the weather change throughout the continent.
2. They became unable to use mana and aura, but a select few were now able to use them again.
3. The Beast people became violent and were said to have dirty blood, making them live in hiding.
– Cale.
An existence that had been at the corner of the reception room started talking to Cale.
That existence was naturally Eruhaben.
“You are able to get a sense, right?”
Cale nodded his head.
‘The cataclysmic period. The Purple Bloods must have done something at that time.’
The World Tree and this world itself were being ruled by the Dragons right now.
The start of that was probably around that cataclysmic period.
‘The Purple Blood Dragons probably suppressed the different energies of this world as they took over.’
The aftershock of that could have led to the weather change.
Or maybe it was because of the issue with the World Tree and the world.
‘And finally, the Beast people-’
The corners of Cale’s lips curled up a bit.
‘A world without mana or aura. Now that the Dragons have taken control of the World Tree and the Elves that revere it, there is only one existence for them to worry about.’
An existence that was skilled in different ways…
‘Beast people.’
The Beast tribes. They were strong even without mana or aura.
In Cale’s world, the Whales were not as strong as Dragons but were almost at their level.
And the number of Beasts easily outnumbered the Dragons.
‘Since the Holy Empire serves the Dragons as gods, they see the Beast people as a threat to their gods and believe they need to rid the world of them.’
Cale finished organizing his thoughts and asked the Chief.
“Have you ever seen a violent Beast person?”
“There have been eyewitnesses.”
“Do they become violent to the point they lose their sense of reason?”
“Yes sir. They become crazed and follow their instincts to destroy everything.”
Cale looked at the window of the reception room.
One side showed the village while the window on the other side showed somewhere else.
The snow-covered rough Erghe Mountain Range.
If there were Beast people hiding there…
“You can’t believe all of those eyewitness accounts.
Pfft.” Cale let out a laugh.
The Chief and the village people flinched.
Cale calmly continued to speak.
“Trying to live in a mountain range like that…especially in the winter, while they are hiding, must be very difficult. Existences that are so crazed that they destroy everything and only have their instincts left keep themselves hidden instead of coming down to the village?”
Did that make any sense?
A monster-like existence would, especially at times like this, come down from the mountains to cause havoc in the village.
However, the villagers in front of Cale seemed to show no fear toward the Beast people.
“There must be some violent Beast people but also nonviolent Beast people.”
Cale spoke as if he was certain.
“Like this sir over here.”
The middle-aged man who seemed to be the oldest of the four after the Chief…
Cale pointed at that person.
The middle-aged man’s identity was revealed the moment he stepped into the castle.
Clunk!
A chair was pushed back and the middle-aged man jumped up.
The moment the man, who was wearing the typical outfit of the village’s hunters, glared at Cale…
“!”
He flinched.
Screeeech.
There was the sound of another chair being pushed back and a person who had his head covered removed his hood as he stood up.
“What a half-baked Wolf.”
“!”
The middle-aged man’s pupils started shaking.
Cale smiled.
Of the 99 people in this group…
There was no way to leave these people out when it was a group of the strongest people by Cale’s side.
The future Whale Queen…
Witira looked at the middle-aged man while smiling.
“Why is it that you are releasing so much scent of a Wolf despite being in human form?”
The person next to her laughed out loud.
“Hoho. I definitely agree. I thought that the Beast people here were just a bit different from us but they must have experienced something during the cataclysmic period.”
Someone else removed their hood.
The head of the Tiger tribe…
Shaman Gashan was laughing. However, his laugh carried significant discomfort.
“Dirty bloods? Haha-”
These stories were annoying, no, angering Witira and Gashan, who held extreme pride in the fact that they were Beast people.
The Chief and the middle-aged man were unable to say anything.
It was the same for the other two villagers.
“Okay, okay.”
Cale motioned to the middle-aged man.
“Please take a seat. There is no need to be so nervous.”
A gentle smile was on his face.
“Senior.”
He still had many things to ask the Chief.
There were three things that were most important to him right now.
First.
“How did the Dragons end up as gods?”
Dragons could not become gods.
And the Hunters had a plan to create an omnipotent god, yet…
They had people serving the Dragons as gods?
This was an inconsistency.
The Purple Bloods. Cale was curious about their line of thinking.
“And when will the subjugation squad show up?”
Second, he needed to get some information on the subjugation squad the Holy Empire would be sending here.
They may be the first enemies for Cale’s group to face.
And finally…
“Do you happen to know someone named Choi Jung Gun?”
The missing wanderer…
This place was where the God of Death last heard from Choi Jung Gun.
Cale needed to find him as well.
Cale would start moving once he heard even the simplest of answers about these three things.
—
Translator’s Comments
Witira is angry. You do not want to anger the future Whale Queen…
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