47. Chapter 47 – Ventriloquist’s Glasses

Chapter 47 – Ventriloquist Glasses
“I see …… the empty house is Heine’s home.”

After a short exchange, Megumi was the first to confirm this.

“That was an uninhabited empty house when the service started, and it was basically emptied inside.

“There were two corpses in the cellar, with clothes and equipment specially made to circumvent the Shikoku Convention, and no source was visible.

“It wasn’t until later, when the Brotherhood split and some of the correspondence was made public, that I learned the men were two of George Albert Severn’s uncles.”

These two men are the present-day bodies of Sheep Catchers and Mr. Summer.

“And …… then what?” Mr. Sa asked.

He hadn’t dealt much with the koan party before, after all, we all had different paths.

But now listening to these back stories, there was actually a comfortable feeling of giving his brain a spa treatment.

“And then there was nothing, there were no clues to be found in the Scorched Valley at that time, instead there is something new now.

“According to you, the empty house is used for summoning, the manor’s spells are used to communicate with you, and the remaining three have yet to be found.”

Catch the Goat: “Who left this spell?”

Hui Hui said helplessly, “I don’t know. I always thought it was just an egg, but I didn’t realize the drama was actually this much.”

Although the words were helpless, her tone was filled with excitement.

She then asked, “If you can communicate, why don’t you guys showdown with him? Because of the language barrier?”

“We can only understand Heine at the moment, the language has to be learned from scratch. Also here’s what I think ……”

Catch the Goat moved to his theory of step-by-step.

After saying that he added:

“So you don’t understand Heine either?”

“I’ve been recalling the name from the moment I heard it, but came up with nothing. This house was abandoned and empty when the service started, and the plot has obviously been changed by you.”

“It’s just as empty this time.” Mr. Xia said, “Sheep and I were even cleaning in there when we first arrived, and dust was falling everywhere.”

He also added the experience of that night.

Megumi thought about it and then slowly said:
“I can probably tell that what happened in his house was actually pretty typical.

“In the background of the game, the people from the Lion King’s trading house have been relentlessly tossing around the local minor nobles, lending them money at their doorsteps once they realize they’re short of money, and subsequently slowly emptying them.

“The Heine family are mostly fallen nobles, and furniture and furnishings and such are definitely being targeted. In cities outside of here, especially places that have been heavily dumped by industry, these kinds of things can fetch a pretty penny.”

Mr. Xia: “For example, Pale Vault City, right? The old lords of the old Pale Vault City Positive Eagle Banner are good for it.”

Mr. Sa: “I often go back to the House of Eagles how do I not know?”

Mr. Xia: “Your place is just a farmhouse, it’s normal that you don’t know about high society.”

Mr. Sa: “You can fuck off! Huihui you continue, don’t mind him.”

“Okay.” Hui Hui continued, “Emptying the house is just the first step, the next step is to sign a sell-out agreement with the other party and send them to the Haunted Manor, the forest, the Burial Ground, and the Eagle Mountain.

“Whether or not the other party ends up coming back, they’ll be able to find a way to get the empty house and land at a low price.

“As of the fall of 772, the Lion King’s men held nearly a quarter of the land and property in the McCalla Hills with this set of methods.”

Catch the Goat: “But the place was leveled by railguns immediately afterward, huh?”

Megumi smiled, “That’s why Eternal Dawn split up ah.”

All three of them froze at that.

Mr. Sa: “Are you saying …… that Eternal Dawn’s separation has something to do with the Law Masters?”

Hui Hui: “It’s just pushing the envelope. Archbishop Ignacio finally lifted the table after holding back for years precisely because he couldn’t tolerate the Lion King’s people seizing such a large profit in the McCalla region.

“Although this is a relief, the price is that it angers the House of Truth behind it, and with the fact that the People of Gold already have a philosophical disagreement within themselves, the House of Veritas doesn’t need to do much to make Eternal Dawn fall apart.

“Perhaps you think this is too overbearing, but they always have. Any person or organization that affects the money the Veritas House makes doesn’t end well.”

Mr. Summer, “Like the Shadow Temple and the Brotherhood?”

“Yes. The Shadow Temple wants to get their hands on Possession and Void Sac technology, two of Veritas’ most central cards.

“The Brotherhood accepted the commission, so both were punished, with the former losing part of its elite and the latter disintegrating.”

General Sa said sharply, “Is the battle between the Cui Ye Court and the Mourning Wood Valley also ……”

“Yes. After the Lion King entered the Three Great Forests, the Third Queen Renee attempted to carry out economic reforms and drove the Lion King Trading House out while she was at it.

“When the House of Truth learned of this, they simply granted her wish and took the secret mages who were maintaining the boundaries with them.

“Thus came the outbreak of the second Blight Mark, the Battle of Mourningwood Valley, and Renee’s death in battle …… “The elves’ own rotten debts aside, this matter does have a lot to do with the House of Veritas.”

Once again, her words silenced the trio.

The events and episodes were experienced by everyone, but they were limited to where to go and how many to kill.

Players, knowing that was enough.

And the Veritas Yard always played the role of a guide in the process, so none of them thought much of it.

Who knew there were so many hidden games behind the scenes.

But then Huihui wondered instead, “These are all hot topics that have been discussed on the forums only in the last month ah? Have none of you seen them?”

Catch the Goat: “The month before the expedition my tweets were all Underworld boss skill speculation …… The most recent tweet was the time you guys were on the hit list.”

Mr. Xia: “I remember, someone called you guys crazy for shuffling the Underworld ……”

Mr. Sa: “Dude is different haha, dude often reads posts in the plot section, like the hidden past of Thanatos and Lady Mourning or something.”

Megumi: “…… That’s the homoerotic section.”

Mr. Sa: “Huh? It’s not the same? Hahaha ……”

The atmosphere eased up after his joke.

Megumi smoothly picks up the conversation and continues, “Without your presence, Heine might have left this place, might have died in the holy light that fell from the sky, and no matter what the future would have been silent.

“So as far as I’m concerned he’s just an ordinary, fairly lucky native, are you guys going to keep this up? You’ve already messed with Veritas, though the other side probably didn’t care much.”

Mr. Sa was shocked, “Holy shit, are you trying to rebel?”

“Really good, Mr. Sa, you’ve held it in until now before you’ve bared a foul language.” Mr. Xia smiled and said.

Mr. Sa: “Don’t interrupt, be serious!”

Huihui was busy explaining, “No, I mean we have to fight for the initiative.”

Mr. Xia was puzzled, “But didn’t you write that article? You’ve said that the Makara Mountains died at the will of the players, so how come you’re making a mistake now instead?”

Megumi: “Because we’re not ‘players’ anymore.

“Players are like locusts because in the end, they’re just passing through, and they all have to return to their real lives eventually.

“This time is completely different, since we’re highly bound to Heine, we naturally have to consider things from his perspective ……

“So for his own good, we have to decide some things for him instead of giving him all the choices.

“Well …… how do I put it, we have to act like Heine’s elders.”

Hmm?
Although Heine’s face was expressionless, he was muttering straight in his heart.

Why is this guy trying to take advantage of him as soon as he comes up ……

…

Mr. Sa: “What the hell? I can’t wait for Heine to be my father, why do you want to be his elder?”

Hui Hui whispered, “It’s just a metaphor ……”

Catch the Goat: “Although what you say makes some sense and your knowledge of the plot trumps ours, ……”

Mr. Summer: “But please believe in the wisdom of the aborigines! Right Sheep?”

Sheep Catch: “That’s so true. Yes, that’s what I meant.

“As I said about George, Heine wanted to summon a dead soul to read his memories, hence you two.

“I’ll admit that you’re the big plot guy and know more than we do, and there’s probably no one in the world who knows more about AGE than you do.

“But we are one now, and any anomaly in you will be covered by all of us, and that’s no small thing.

“And so far, Heine has been perfect and doesn’t need us to be ‘elders’ to tell her what to do.

“He will communicate with you one by one when we return to the manor, so I advise you to think carefully about it.”

Megumi was silent for a long time before speaking.

Her tone suddenly became lighter:

“Alright I’ll be honest, I just wanted to try to see if you guys are the kind of players who only mess around ……

“Now that I’m relieved, tell me about your past.”

(End of chapter)