Arc 2 - Chapter 29: Ahead of the Storm (1/2)

After leaving the police station, they had been directed by Headcommissar Floy to go to the courthouse to find out about the court date.

It didn't take them long; when they learned that the trial was scheduled for October nineteen, they asked Yu to sign a paper saying that he would attend the trial, and then they let him go.

"Why don't you write?" Yurine asked when she saw Yu staring at the paper.

He picked up a pen and was writing when he suddenly stopped and forgot where he was and what he was doing. Yurine had to tell her what they were doing all over again before he could continue writing.

"Just a distraction, no need to exaggerate."

He wanted to see it as a simple absent-mindedness, and he didn't want to bother himself with it.

"Of..." He sighed a long sigh. He had been feeling a heavy burden lately and his stress level was increasing day by day. That must have been the reason for his absent-mindedness.

"Don't you think the court date is too late? There must be more than a million people in the country, how many of them will be in court in the next fifteen days? Seriously, it's unbelievable that they postponed it to the nineteen."

"There are victory holidays coming up, maybe they are on vacation then."

"You mean the thing for the founding of Rolderhelm? Wasn't that the day of the tournament final?"

Twenty-six October was the anniversary of the founding of the Principality of Rolderhelm.

"The founding of Rolderhelm was a sudden event. There were a few battles won just before that, so a whole week was declared a holiday."

"Why wasn't any of this in the accelerated world history lessons?"

Yu leaned back. How much had Yurine not told him in class?

"Tch... That's a lot of lessons for free."

"Wait a minute, you were going to charge me?"

"Did you think you'd get a free education from the best teacher you could find, hmph! You should be thankful for my education so far, but you're being ungrafetul."

"Ungrafetul..."

"Ah! You! How dare you!"

Yurine slapped her seat with her hand as Yu laughed at Yurine's slip of the tongue.

"Even with a week of festivities, the nineteenth is a long way away, but I feel like it's good."

Their ship was still in port and they boarded it with half an hour to go.

The first time they traveled by ship, Yu had been stingy and chose to travel on deck instead of getting a room. The second time, he pooled his money with the others to get a room and got a somewhat comfortable room.

Today, feeling bad and unable to put up with the noise of people, he hired a cabin for two people to travel in.

Of course, he was not looking for comfort wherever they went, it was just something he had done to be comfortable for the day, and he still regretted his money.

"We're in the same boat again."

This was the same ship he had taken on their way to the Wizarding Academy. Their relationship had developed a lot since then.

When their ship left the harbor, Yu closed the curtain on the window. It frightened him that all he could see was the sea.

"The last time we were on this ship we were talking about Mora. You can tell me more if you want."

"What do you want me to tell you?"

"You said Azer was expelled from heaven. I don't know if knowing this will help me in the future, but I wonder why he was expelled."

It sounded like a background story in a play. It was nice, even if knowing the story wouldn't affect the gameplay.

"Ah... Your ignorance is killing me."

"Don't say such things, I don't like that concept."

He hated the concept of death itself, he would never accept it. Death itself was unjust, why give life if it could be taken away?

"The gods created creatures and endowed their creations with half their power. This was a rule between the gods, and each god was expected to follow it."

When Yurine's briefing started, Yu leaned his head against the wall and listened. Although he sometimes forgot real history, he never forgot this kind of information. In fact, he knew the history of some games and stories better than the history of some countries in the First World.

"Some gods created so many creatures that they had to divide their power equally among them, and because of the number of creatures created, each of them had a very small share of power. Humans are an example of this."

"Just as rare things are more valuable." The distribution of power sounded fair, but why were some people stronger than others? "So, who created the sword fairies?"

"They were not created, they evolved," she smiled and put her hand proudly on her chest. "Except that I was created by the one most worthy of being a goddess."

"It evolved... It sounds interesting."

Yurine had never talked about sword fairies before. He wanted to know something about her kind.

"And which god created human beings?"

As soon as Yu asked the question, Yurine's face fell, the proud expression from before gone. With a pout, she whispered, "Thea."

"Why is your face suddenly-"

"Let's go back to Azer," Yurine said. She pulled herself together and cleared her throat.

Yu was curious about the god called 'Thea', but Yurine didn't want to talk about it.

"The elves, for example, although they are of many different kinds, their numbers are small, so they have plenty of the powers of the gods. That is why elves live so much longer than humans, and why they are so much more powerful in magic."

Yu understood logic, in general things are connected to numbers.

"Azer created only two females, called them Daughters of the Storm and married them. Since Azer shared half of his power with the two females he created, they became demigods, the most powerful beings ever created, and when they combined their power, they were equal to one god."

"Then what happened?"

"The gods saw Azer and his wives as a threat to their authority and united to expel them from the Kingdom of Heaven."

It was a story of victimization, but it sounded like it was being told entirely in Azer's favor. To decide which side was right, it was necessary to look at the story from other angles.

"Azer said it was unfair. According to Azer, what he had done was not against the rules, but the gods would not listen to him. So Azer vowed revenge and set out to create bounties that would surpass even the powers of the gods. He intended to give them to his children, but then something unknown happened and they fell into the hands of people who are now called cardinals."

"But those people worship Azer too, don't they?"

"Yes, they do."

The leader of the Zodian Religion, which worshipped the storm god Azer, was the Pontifex, and below him, representing the sects, were the cardinals.

"Are there other versions of this story? If so, I'd like to hear them."

"Azer's sin was not to create a force that would threaten the gods," Yurine continued. "That is the story he told his own followers. Rhea tells a different story."

Rhea was the mother goddess of Rolderhelm, worshipped in most parts of the world, with the most followers.

"His sin was too grave, something that neither humans nor the gods could tolerate. The gods regarded their creations as their children, but Azer married them after calling them the Daughters of the Storm."

He knew this part of the story. Later, the generation that came from those girls was called the Children of the Storm and they are still on Earth.

"The gods are strictly against people marrying their own blood, and in every country except Mora, where Zodian Religion rules, it is forbidden to marry one's own blood. If a relationship between such people is discovered, they are stoned and in some places killed. Very rarely, but in some places there is a seven-generation law, where people are allowed to marry after their families have been traced back seven generations. This story sounds more plausible when you consider that it was not only in the Mora that marrying your own blood was forbidden."

"Didn't the Storm Kingdom also worship Azer?"

"That's another matter."

He knew that the Storm Kingdom also worshipped Azer, the Storm God, but there was a sea between it and Mora. So there might have been differences in the way things worked.