[Vol. 9] Chapter 4: The Change of the Revelator
Hearing their captain’s clear and logical analysis, the three teammates also realized the hidden meaning in his words, and their expressions became more serious.
“Could it be… this time we’re really facing some crisis that hasn’t happened in hundreds or even thousands of years? Uh, Captain, maybe we should…?”
Catching the faint hint in the middle-aged thief’s flickering eyes, Kairos immediately glared at him and spoke without hesitation.
“Don’t even think about it. As humans, there are some things you can back away from or run from, but there are also some bottom lines that can never be abandoned. We high-level adventurers are respected in the guild, especially after Her Majesty the Queen took the throne. We enjoy huge subsidies from the kingdom and take so many benefits. And now that trouble comes, you want to just pat your butt and run away?”
“Adventurers and the guild depend on each other. Right now we almost know nothing about the real situation, but with the kingdom as our support, we can still fight when needed or retreat when necessary. But if we choose to run away, we won’t just lose our reputation and be expelled from the guild. This whole huge kingdom will have no place for us anymore. Do you want to live like a stray dog for the rest of your life?”
“Uh…”
Seeing that rare anger appear on Kairos’s face, the thief didn’t dare say more. The other two quickly nudged him with their elbows to smooth things over.
“Ahaha… Captain, don’t be angry. You know what kind of person he is, his mouth is just cheap. But when it comes to the key moment, he knows what’s important.”
“Yeah, yeah, and the situation might not be as bad as we imagine. Haven’t we faced all kinds of big storms and dangers along the way? How could we be scared by this little thing? the Human United Kingdom is strong and full of resources, Her Majesty is wise and powerful, and even the legendary Saint-level adventurers have come to help. I don’t believe those so-called monsters in the rumors could be so strong that even all this can’t deal with them.”
“Sigh.”
Lifting the wooden cup in front of him, Kairos took a big gulp of ale. He stopped worrying too much and only nodded heavily.
“Let’s hope the ancestor spirits protect the Human United Kingdom, and that we can get through this crisis safely. In just these few short months, far too many things have already happened.”
…………………………………
Listening closely, she caught all the whispers and discussions from the nearby tables that had started up again because of their arrival. As the “Shadow Guard” acting as a waiter poured fruit wine for her, Violet turned her head, glanced around half the hall, and soon smiled playfully.
“Looks like morale isn’t very stable. Shouldn’t our clever Princess think of some way to fix it~?”
Now sitting between Fennar and Miss Flora, across from the Priestess and the other young woman, the blue-haired girl calmly shook her head, as if she had already expected this.
“These people are top experts from different forces across the kingdom. They respect the royal family, but they are not soldiers or shadow guards. It’s normal for them to have their own thoughts. Wanting them to follow orders perfectly is difficult and unrealistic. It’s enough to just guide and rally them to some extent.”
“That’s true.”
Answering casually as if she didn’t really care, Violet only turned her thoughtful gaze toward Menna, whose starry, dreamlike eyes had changed so noticeably that they drew everyone’s attention.
“It’s been a long time. What happened to your eyes? Didn’t you say before that you were already being careful to reduce and control your use of that power? Why does it look like not only did you not hold back, but instead it’s gotten worse?”
Miss Violet was best at healing and solving all kinds of difficult problems. She could even deal with the cost of artifacts like the “Daughter of Truth”, which normally had no cure. But that didn’t mean she liked to see people around her recklessly harm their own bodies.
Menna had always been the type to push herself too hard. To help her sister change fate, or to predict some big disaster coming in the future, she sometimes pushed herself until she fainted. Since even the Theo Province of the Holy Empire had her traces of preparation left behind using her [Revelation] ability, it was easy to guess there were even more places where she had secretly done the same.
All powers in the world always come with a price. Even Violet herself could not escape this rule. Menna might be a [God’s Favored], and her ability’s principle was different from Nitila’s [Book of Truth], but in the end, they were the same kind of thing. At her core, Menna was still only a mortal. If she used her power without restraint, accidents were only natural.
But what surprised the priestess was that Menna only shook her head at her words.
“You’re mistaken. Ever since I got Miss Violet’s warning, I’ve always been careful to control how often I use my ability. These changes shouldn’t be because of overuse. I think they started happening naturally after I turned sixteen, after I became an adult.”
“…Adulthood? Happening on their own?”
Catching the most important details in Menna’s words, the priestess raised her brows slightly.
The ability called [Revelation] might not be something only Menna Melchior had. According to the [Immortal Magician], the first king of the Human United Kingdom, Young Melchior, he too once awakened a similar power when facing the [Western Calamity] at the critical moment of life and death. This was… something very intriguing.
The power of a [God’s Favored] came from the fall of the gods. After they died, fragments of their divinity, representing their authority, would randomly attach to living beings and merge with them. This was something Violet now understood well. But if that was true, then the power of [God’s Favored] shouldn’t follow bloodline inheritance.
In history, no [God’s Favored] had ever passed their power down to their children. Their power always disappeared with their death. Maybe those fragments of divinity floated in the world and, decades or centuries later, randomly attached to some other living being, giving birth to a similar talent. But if it happened to attach again to a direct descendant of the original person, the chance was so small it could only be compared to finding a needle in the ocean.
So for Young Melchior eight hundred years ago, and Menna now, as ancestor and descendant, both to gain nearly the same [Revelation] power. It seemed less like coincidence, and more like an inevitable result of some hidden force interfering. They… might be different from ordinary [God’s Favored].
And if you thought about it carefully, both Young Melchior and Menna Melchior happened to live at times of great change. Both used [Revelation] to predict the future and brought huge influence to their eras. That couldn’t be a simple coincidence.
After everything with Young Melchior and the [Agent of Fate], Violet had already come back to the Human United Kingdom intending to carefully investigate this power. She just hadn’t expected that before she even acted, Menna herself would already start showing signs of it.
“…Interesting.”