Chapter 303

A coronation was taking place at a large, blue lakeside in the center of the Spirit Land, located in the six o’clock region of Together. Small fairies filled the skies, their eyes fixed on the red carpet road.

“Wooooo!”

“Echo! Echo! Echo!”

“Long live the Queen!”

“Thank you, everyone!” shouted Echo as she fluttered along the red carpet.

Her blonde hair was bright as if each strand was made from sunlight, and her golden eyes were as warm as the sun itself. Her twenty-four wings flapped as she flew toward her First Knight, waiting for her at the end of the carpet.

“Echo—no, Lady Echo,” Gilder said respectfully and seriously, unlike his usual self. “This is the keepsake of someone I wanted to protect forever, but failed to.”

The Queen’s Crown in his hand, which he had received from Dryas, shone faintly with a silver light. His eyes were hazy as he recalled Dryas, whose hair had turned white after using all her strength, smiling as she turned translucent and was on the verge of disappearing.

“I... failed again. I couldn’t... protect you.”

“That’s not true, Gilder. I would have given up on life long ago if it weren’t for you.”

It felt as if Dryas’s golden eyes were still consoling his reproaching self.

“Fairy Queen, in the name of Gilder Roy, the First Knight who was granted the rights of the Agent of Succession,” Gilder said as he raised the Queen’s Crown, the words of Dryas endlessly repeating in his head.

“You protected my heart. Thanks to you, I strived for the future without breaking down.”

He then brought his hands holding the Queen’s Crown toward Echo’s head and continued, “I declare that the fairy, Echo, is selected as the next Fairy Queen.”

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. In my millennium of life, you were my first lo...”

Gilder’s right arm shone with a golden light. Dryas’s last light particle had seeped into this prosthetic arm, which had transformed it from the Prosthetic Arm of Sin to the Prosthetic Arm of Conviction. Her final word, which only he had heard in full, echoed inside his head as if pacifying his soul.

“Love!”

Gilder placed the Queen’s Crown on Echo’s head. Just then, something happened to her wings. The twenty-four blade-like wings flashed with a rainbow light and started to shine blindingly.

“Ah!” Echo shouted, feeling immense joy from the overpowering wave of Harmony Force.

A silver light shot straight up toward the sky from the Queen’s Crown, penetrating the Spirit Land’s atmosphere, and marked itself in the sky. Echo felt the entire world changing and found herself floating in the night sky.

[You arrived in the Aether Plane.]

[The Regulator detects an act of cheating.]

[Dryas has already disbursed the price of causality instead.]

[Releasing the causality of the Harmony Stone, stored within the Queen’s Crown.]

[The Readers review the probability.]

[Eligible.]

...

[Echo connects to the Akashic Records, the memory of the world.]

[Granting reading rights.]

[Granting recording rights.]

...

Incomprehensible Akasha Messages appeared one after another, but she was too mesmerized by the iridescent light particle before her to notice them. It was a star that resembled a soft and mushy cotton ball.

“Wow!” Echo shouted, realizing everything from the moment she saw the iridescent star shining with a rainbow light. “This is Echo’s star!”

[Echo recognizes her star.]

...

[Resonance

Description: A star that contains a voice that is certain it will be answered.]

Magnitude: 10

Star Power: Resonantia.] 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

It was her star—her echo that would always be answered.

Echo, overjoyed after discovering Resonance, made a trumpet with her hands and shouted, “Ya—hoo! Yaaa—hoo! Is anybody there?”

Thunderous answers immediately called back to her simultaneously.

“We’re here!”

“You will always be with us, my Queen!”

“Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo!”

“Yeaaahhh!”

Echo opened her eyes, and tens of thousands of fairies who had been waiting for the birth of their queen were cheering in delight.

“Ehehehe!” She raised her arms, unable to suppress her overflowing joy, and shouted, “I’m a happy Echo!”

***

“Hah... Yet another Recorder is born among us,” Bafor said, stroking his dark grey beard in admiration.

“She looks... happy,” Elementum remarked as she stared at Echo, various phenomena occurring in her eyes.

“Irura Hod, and now Echo... Haha! There have been nothing but good things happening ever since Underground was established,” Bafor said as he nodded.

Elementum stared at him and said, “I don’t know about that.”

“Hm? What do you mean, Elementum?”

“You must have forgotten what that human named Lee Bong-Seong said.”

Bafor scratched his head and replied, “That nonsense about Seong-Hwi dying? Do you seriously believe in that prophecy, or whatever it is?”

“The humans seemed to believe it quite deeply.”

“That’s because they don’t know about Recorders. What use is a prophecy to those who can write their own history in the Akashic Records?” Bafor mumbled as he shook his head.

The Union had contacted the embassies of each race before Echo’s coronation. Bafor had gone to Omphalos, where the embassies were gathered, wondering what was going on.

The human named Lee Bong-Seong said with a hardened expression, “Seong-Hwi is in danger at Gurzes! Please send reinforcements to him!”

Bafor had asked why Bong-Seong was so certain about it, to which Bong-Seong replied that a credible human prophet had foretold his death.

“Cheon Seong-Hwi will not die. I can’t even imagine him dying,” he said firmly with a smirk.

He was certain that Seong-Hwi would return alive even if he were dropped into Hell. No, not only would he return alive, but he would have also made the souls of Hell his allies and set out for his next prey.

“I feel the same way, but... What if it’s true?” Elementum asked. Bafor remained silent as she continued, “We’re at least sure that he will be in grave danger.”

Bafor frowned. He did not know how trustworthy the human’s prophecies were, but if they were true, it meant something extremely dangerous would occur at Gurzes. He imagined what would happen if Seong-Hwi died there.

It would be devastating. It won’t end with Underground simply losing one of its pillars. Seong-Hwi is practically the interface between every race of Underground, he thought.

The loss of their primary method of communication would be fatal to a confederation that had only just taken its first few steps.

“Then... do you suggest we send him reinforcements? But who?” Bafor asked.

“You and I cannot leave,” Elementum said.

Bafor nodded. He and Elementum needed to protect Together. He was in charge of defense, and Elementum was in charge of interception.

“Taidzu left a week ago because he said there was a dungeon he needed to explore... and Chiron and Irura are away to clean up our surroundings.”

The situation was quite disordered because Together had only just landed in the fourth and fifth zones. They were so busy with identifying the surrounding terrain, excavating dungeons, clearing out the surrounding Chaos monsters, and so much more that they lacked personnel.

“Sending a non-Recorder wouldn’t be of much help... and we can’t ask for help from the fairies,” Bafor mumbled, thinking about various ideas.

Elementum stared at him intently and said, “You already know the answer.”

“What do you mean... by that?”

“I can go to Gurzes if you protect Together by yourself.”

Bafor stared back at Elementum, who did not avert her gaze.

She continued, “Why do you hesitate? I already know that it is possible for you, as long as you make up your mind to do it.”

“What do you—”

“Do not try to fool me, of all people. I know you know what I am saying.”

Bafor couldn’t help but remain silent, feeling as if Elementum’s flickering eyes were looking into him. His hand unconsciously went to the handle of his Ustrina’s Hammer.

But that’s... he mumbled inwardly.

His lips quivered, but he couldn’t answer. Just then, someone approached Bafor and Elementum.

“Keke, it appears there is something on your mind,” an old man said with a smile.

He was Ozenta, the bald, old elf with brown eyes and age spots all over him.

“Elder Ozenta Binah,” Bafor greeted.

“Please omit the Binah and Elder, Master Bafor. Just Ozenta is enough. This is about the reinforcement request that the human mentioned at the embassies, is it not? Underground is currently short in manpower, after all.”

“It... is.”

“I have a good idea.”

“You’re not suggesting that you will go to Gurzes, are you?” Bafor asked, scanning Ozenta from head to toe.

The World Tree had taken most of Ozenta’s stats and powers, excluding his unique caliber. He had also used the power he had been accumulating after establishing Viridis when he had kept Remus, the birdfolk World Ranker, in check while the Capital was under attack. He had not even fully recovered from his internal injuries from back then.

“Keke, of course, not. My old self will only be a nuisance,” Ozenta remarked.

“Then, what? Do you have a Recorder you are acquainted with?”

Ozenta smiled meaningfully and slowly nodded.

***

“Fascinating,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he opened and closed his fists, then air bubbles rose from his mouth.

He was currently in Gurzes. There had been emergency alarms blaring throughout the city when he had arrived, since the ocean had split in two all of a sudden, and a human holding a sword enveloped by a storm had intruded. It was only natural for the Gurzes guards to mobilize, and Seong-Hwi had to do his best not to kill them.

After much effort and persuasion, he managed to convince them that he was an envoy sent by the Sēmen. After that, he was guided to the reception room of the Ocean King’s Castle, located in the center of the Central Merfolk Town.

“The water pressure is insane. This will take some time getting used to. No wonder people say it’s suicide to fight a merfolk underwater.”

Seong-Hwi looked around the reception room as he got himself used to the ten thousand meters’ worth of water pressure. The table was made of seashells, the candles were made of shining corals, there was a mirror created from a giant pearl, and the chairs and hammocks were made by weaving seagrass.

Although the room was filled with exotic and fascinating things he had never seen before, he was more focused on practical things; for example, the most efficient ways to kill the merfolk.

“Muka was right. Thrusts should be more effective than cuts,” he said to himself as he repeatedly tried cutting and thrusting with his hand, noticing that thrusts were freer from the water pressure than cuts.

Pneuma’s Ring on his hand shone with a light blue light. Just then, he heard someone pounding on the door made of oyster shells, and the door soon opened with a creaking sound. Two male merfolk covered in hard, glossy, diamond-shaped scales entered the room. Each was holding a Do Sanga, a spear with a forked head.

“Sir Cheon Seong-Hwi, envoy of the Sēmen.”

“We will guide you to the banquet hall.”

“Let’s go,” Seong-Hwi said.

The two merfolk turned around and took the lead. Seong-Hwi examined them and noticed that each time they stepped off the ground, they momentarily floated in space, letting the flow of water carry them forward.

That must be how the merfolk walk underwater. Interesting, he thought as he tried imitating their gait for the rest of the way down the hallway.

A few minutes later, they arrived at a giant door made of an unknown metal.

Pwoo? Bulgasal expressed.

Seong-Hwi patted the squirming Bulgasal in his hoodie pocket and waited for the door to open. Once the metal door opened, giant air bubbles shot out from inside.

“Here enters Sir Cheon Seong-Hwi, envoy of the Sēmen!” a merfolk soldier shouted.

Then, the other soldier grabbed a conch from his pocket and blew on it. Seong-Hwi imitated the gait that he had just learned to enter the banquet hall. The banquet hall was quiet, which made the air bubbles made by the dozen merfolk in the hall even louder. Each looked a little different from the others, but their diamond scales were all the same. Blowholes appeared to be on their backs, because air bubbles were being released backwards. They all examined Seong-Hwi.

“Welcome, envoy of the Sēmen,” said a muscly man, roughly three meters tall, standing in the middle of the group.

His entire body was covered in white scales, and his blue eyes and blue cloak made him look majestic.

He must be Natantes! Seong-Hwi shouted inwardly, immediately inferring the man’s identity because of the mana filling the hall and the caliber that surrounded him like a whirlwind.

A white five-meter two-handed sword floated behind him like a cross, making him look even more majestic.

“I am Natantes, the White Whale,” said Natantes, twenty-second in the world ranking, as he stared intently at Seong-Hwi.