Chapter 276
“Wait a second… You said you know what that is?” asked Luke.
Meredith crossed her arms. “I literally don’t know, I just remember reading that in some of the books I read. I believe I can look for something in the books we brought in your inventory, but how about we set up our camp here first? I’m freezing.”
“Okay, let’s spend the night here.”
The half-wolf looked at the fallen white-haired man lying on the ground, who appeared to be fast asleep.
Since there was no firewood in the middle of those ridges, Luke had to prepare himself for this cold. Luckily, he had learned in the past that sets of items can be stored in his taking up a single space if placed in a compartment. Thanks to this discovery, Luke had an idea when they were about to start the climb up the mountain ranges. He felled three trees with the Behemoth Axe, split the logs into dozens of cylindrical pieces, and thus managed to assemble three bundles of firewood, taking up only three places of the ten in his inventory.
The was difficult to cut and burn, so Luke would only try to use wood from its roots or branches as a last resort, not least because they withered quite quickly after Luke deactivated the ability.
So, in that cold and mysterious chamber in the village, they set up a small camp, as if they were in a forest. Luke set up the campfire, and lit the fire, using his Obsidian Sword and a sturdy stone as a makeshift flint. Also, Luke didn’t forget to make sure that their hostage was securely fastened to one of the pillars of the chamber.
While Luke roasted some of the meat from the deer he slaughtered before the climb up the ranges, Meredith was eagerly searching for something about the Tuner of Gods in her books.
Since most of the half-fox’s current collection was part of Ayumi Yamazaki’s library books, they were all very complete and well-written, so there were a lot of pages and information.
At one point, Meredith was so focused on her task that she would read the entire pages of the books in a matter of seconds and already turn to the next one. Thus, even the thin sheets of old paper were able to cut the tips of some of her fingers a few times, evidencing the young woman’s persistence.
After a few hours, when the wood from the fire was already about to run out, and Luke was taking advantage of the lull to rest a bit, the half-fox finally found it.
“I found it! I can’t believe I found it! Uhhh!” she exclaimed in excitement and delight.
Luke opened only one eye, showing that although he was resting, he was awake the whole time.
“Luke, I found it, come look!” Meredith pointed to a thick book in his hand, which the half-wolf had not yet had the opportunity, nor the time, to read.
He stood up from his corner on the other side of the campfire, and sat down next to Meredith.
“It’s literally the same name!” She stated.
Although Luke was a little skeptical that they would even be so lucky to find the answer they were looking for right in one of the books that was already in his inventory, Luke agreed and took the book in his hand to read with his own eyes. “Excuse me.” He asked.
In the middle of the yellowed page, there was a brooch drawn, only the appearance of the illustration seemed to try to mimic the figure of a bear’s face. Text surrounded that drawing across the page.
[In the past, there were religions, peoples and whole nations that worshipped gods, lost gods. The world has not changed much since then, but back then people believed faithfully that everyone should choose at least one god, to dedicate their entire lives, soul and often body, thus becoming an avatar of that god, a son.
Some people believe that the lost gods still live on, even if the society of people devoted to them has long since collapsed.
People who still believe in the lost gods today have only one clue, a single piece of evidence, that separates them from the scythe of stigma: The Tuner of Gods.
Legend has it that when the ancient gods notice something of great potential latent in mankind, they can come out from wherever they are, from any hole, cave or tomb, to present that noble person with the key to their home.
However, of all those who followed the path laid out by the God Tuner, only one returned. Hazor is his name, or at least it was before he gave in to madness and retired to a city in the Melki Empire called Stahurt].
When Luke finished reading, he almost couldn’t believe that he finally had a concrete clue to the mystery that had plagued him for so long.
At the same time, he opened the old map of the Melki Empire, given to him by Emperor Callant, to check if he was too far from the city mentioned in the texts.
“Dith, come here for a second, please. Do you think we can change the route we set?” He spoke, already with pencil in hand ready to alter. “I believe it is crucial that we at least check this clue.”
The half-fox crossed her arms. “I know, I know. I don’t even know what to think about all this stuff that happened to you, it’s not even mentioned in the book. However, Stahurt is literally on the opposite side of the road to which we intend to go, and which we agreed with the Shadow leader.”
Luke thought and thought and thought some more, but he couldn’t substantiate enough arguments that could convince Meredith to go against the initial plan. “Fine, we will go to Yukiat, but you must promise not to go into the Dungeon with me.”
“Erghhh! That’s not fair! Why should I promise something if you are the one trying to go against the plan we drew up together?” She protested.
“Now, there are three possibilities for ending our mission. First, by causing extreme destabilization in Melki’s rear, that is, in the Dungeons, thus giving time for perhaps the remaining Sensory-Mages to be convinced to fight this war for Broteforge. The second option is to kill the First Servant, which is almost impossible for only two people, because we don’t even know his location like we know that of the other demons. The last option would be to convince Lescar to tell us everything he knows and is hiding from us, but I feel this is even more impossible than the second. Therefore, we cannot fail at the first possibility, least of all Yukiat.”
Meredith dared to open her mouth to retort him, however, she didn’t think of anything that could contradict him, after all, she knew that all she wasn’t as strong as him, at least not yet.