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Chapter 401: The Purifying Sapling, and [White].

“A golden palace, huh.”

True, it does look somewhat like one. In terms of shape, it looks like a “凸” symbol. (Note: lifted that out of the raws cos it’s usable like that. That’s actually a kanji character with meaning, fyi.)

I clicked my tongue as I watched the footage Bastet’s group brought back on my smartphone. I knew this is going to turn into something troublesome.

“Is the evil god inside that, I wonder?”

While peeking at the images, Yumina asked.

“If Karen nee-san and the others are right, then probably. On that day when the meteor shower happened, that thing dropped down in Eisengard, and together with the other poisoned thorns, it spread [Godslaying Poison] throughout the country. In order to prevent us from approaching it. Looking at the current state, I don’t think it’s woken up yet, but…”

“Those golden skeletons are most likely people who had their souls eaten, aren’t they… They’re different from the ones before. Guess they’ve also become variants, or something like that?”

Leen placed a hand on her chin and sank into thought.

The variants predate on the souls of people who hold strong negative emotions, and send the spiritual energy they gain from that to the evil god. The people who had their souls eaten become crystal skeletons, or crystal zombies, and would then go on to attack other people.

And those crystal skeletons have now taken on a gold coloration. Most likely, they have turned into something very close to the variants.

It should be correct to assume most of the people still remaining in Eisengard had their souls eaten. The corpses Bastet’s group saw should turn into crystal skeletons and join that army of golden bones before long, I guess.

“And just what are these guys doing-no ja? They only seem to be loitering about to me.”

“Those golden skeletons, maybe they’re being used as an army… They’re probably defending that palace. Since while we cannot approach that place due to the [Godslaying Poison], other people can get close without problems.”

While answering Suu’s question, I was inwardly relieved that I didn’t send unrelated adventurers or mercenaries to that place in my stead. That’s a bit too much for them to deal with, after all.

“If the capital is like that, then the number of people escaping Eisengard would only keep on increasing, wouldn’t it.”

Just like Yumina said, the number of people leaving Eisengard for its neighboring countries, Raze Martial Kingdom, Strain Kingdom and Garudio Empire, have been rising.

Since the capital of Eisengard, Eisenbrook, is situated in the south, the northern regions have not become too chaotic yet. However, the people who are escaping from the south would inevitable cross through the northern area before leaving the country via sea.

It’s very likely that some of the people living in the north would try to leave the country in fear after hearing about the situation from those coming from the south.

Also, within the refugees, many of them are on the more affluent side.

It’s impossible for Raze, Strain and Garudio to just accept refugees left and right.

Since living would necessarily require money, the villages and towns would be willing to accept rich people like nobles, but the same cannot be said for the less fortunate.

Even if they went to other countries for refuge, they’ll most likely either starve to death, or degrade themselves to banditry. Compared to that, staying in Eisengard sounds like a better alternative.

If this situation further deteriorates, there’s gonna be a lot of bad things that can happen…

“How’s Kousuke ojii-sama’s research on a countermeasure against the Godslaying Poison coming along?” (Note: author stopped using brackets for Godslaying Poison from this point on. Don’t ask me why.)

“It seems like he’s making progress, but…”

I’ve actually passed some rocks and dirt that were polluted by the Godslaying Poison, brought back by Bastet’s group, to Kousuke ojii. He says he’s going to run tests with those, but I wonder if it’ll be alright.

When I tried holding a piece of polluted rock with my hand, a severe disgust and paralyzing sensation assaulted my entire body.

It’s not bad enough to make me collapse, but, if I have to compare it to something, it felt like putting rotting animal entrails in your hands, or thrusting your hand into a human brain; an utterly repulsive feeling. In any case, the experience was horrible.

If I felt that way, shouldn’t the damage to Kousuke ojii—who’s a pure god unlike me—be even greater?

Since I felt a bit worried, I decided to head to the east of the castle, where Kousuke ojii had set up a research facility recently. Well, calling it a facility is an exaggeration; it’s just a vinyl house made with thin membrane taken from magic beast materials.

Inside the vinyl house, several saplings are planted, and notes with some symbols and numbers written on them were stuck on each of those saplings.

Kousuke ojii was in front of a sapling further in.

“Yaa, Touya-kun.”

“Heyyo, King-sama.”

At Kousuke ojii’s feet, the figure of a black dog—Anubis, who had returned from Eisengard— could be seen.

“Why’s Anubis here?”

“I’m helping out-ssu.”

“It’s hard for me to handle the rock that’s polluted by Godslaying Poison, after all.”

As I thought, huh.

There’s a sapling that’s around 30cm tall besides Kousuke ojii’s feet. Is this the one that can purify Godslaying Poison?

“Touya-kun, you know about photosynthesis, right?”

“Eh? Yes. Etto, it’s the process where plants take in light energy and use it to convert water and carbon dioxide into organic matter and oxygen… Is it?”

“Well, simply put, that’s correct. This sapling has a power similar to that… Basically, it has something like a filter, which takes in the Godslaying Poison present in the earth, and convert that to harmless magic particles.”

Ooh! That can indeed be called purifying the poison. So we finally have a method to reverse the pollution by Godslaying Poison!

“However, we still face some problems… Anubis-kun, please do it again.”

“Got it-ssu~”

As Kousuke ojii distanced himself slightly from that spot, Anubis activated the [Storage] enchanted onto his collar, and a fist-sized rock flew out of it. The rocked rolled to a spot right next to the sapling.

I can tell even from a distance. That rock is one which had been polluted by the Godslaying Poison. I feel uncomfortable even by just looking at it.

“Look at it closely with [Divine Eyes].”

Following Kousuke ojii’s instruction, I activated [Divine Eyes], and closely observed the rock and the sapling.

I can see something like an impure aura clinging on the rock, but it’s gradually becoming thinner from the top down.

In exchange, the sapling next to it began accumulating the same impure aura within itself from the bottom up. It’s probably taking in the Godslaying Poison present on the rock. Eventually, something glittery was released into the air from the sapling’s leaves. Those are… Magic particles? So that’s how it converts Godslaying Poison into harmless magic particles.

“This is amazing, isn’t it!? If we plant these in Eisengard…!”

“No, not quite. Look closely at that sapling.”

“Eh? Ah…”

The sapling had wilted. Some Godslaying Poison still remained inside it. After a while, the sapling became completely withered, and the ground on which it was planted began releasing an impure aura.

“If it cannot completely convert Godslaying Poison to magic particles, then there’s no meaning in the endeavor. At worst, there’s even a possibility of the Godslaying Poison becoming more concentrated instead. This is still far from complete.”

Anubis dug up the polluted dirt, and stored it inside [Storage] together with the withered sapling.

When I tried picking up the rock that contained the Godslaying Poison at first, I didn’t feel anything. Seems like the Godslaying Poison in this has been purified, at least.

“Do you think you can complete it?”

“I believe I can. Although I can probably finish this in an instant if I use my power as a god, it’s not something impossible to do by human hands. Although, it’ll take some time.”

If Kousuke ojii used his original power, he can probably complete it in a flash. However, now that he has taken on a human form, he has no choice but to repeat trial-and-error.

Together with the spirits’ power and the equipment available in the [Alchemy Building], I hope he can finish the sapling and begin purifying Eisengard as soon as possible.

“It’ll be troublesome, but I trust you can do it.”

“No no. While it may sound impudent, I find it fun to be able to raise and test various things like this. Such enjoyment cannot be found back in the Divine Realm, after all. I shall gladly undertake this endeavor. Please leave it to me.”

Kousuke ojii nodded with the same soft smile as always. Sorry for the trouble… To the gods, this world is only one of many others, and furthermore is a world that has left the hands of the World God; it wouldn’t be strange for them to abandon it. I’m thankful for their help.

After I spent a while talking with Kousuke ojii about the purifying saplings and other agricultural stuff, the smartphone in my breast pocket rang out. The screen showed the words “Belfast king”. Oro?

Please don’t be another Prince Yamato boasting session… Stuff like him turning over in his sleep, or playing together with his dad; I mean, I know you’re happy, but it’s seriously getting annoying these days… Still, I can’t just ignore the call.

“Yes, hello.”

“Oh, Touya-dono. Sorry, but could you come to the castle right now? We found something strange that we’d like you to see.”

“Something strange?”

“You’ll know when you see it. This is probably… In any case, please come as quickly as possible.”

What is it? It didn’t sound like it was something dangerous, but…

I don’t really know what’s going on, but in any case, let’s head over to Belfast Castle.

Opening a [Gate], I arbitrarily transferred over to the inner courtyard of the castle.

The king’s younger brother as well as Suu’s father, Duke Ortlinde came over to receive me together with several guards.

“What happened exactly?”

“Well, rather than ‘what happened’, it’s more of a ‘why is this thing here’ kind of situation, really.”

Duke Ortlinde filled me in as we walked.

Belfast Castle sits in the capital, Alephis, which is surrounded by the castle town on its east, west and south, and Lake Palette on its north.

This Lake Palette serves as the water source of the capital, and access is forbidden to normal people. The wide lake, which spreads out behind the castle, is treated as a royal possession.

A while ago, a shark monster named “One-horned Shark” had made its way into the lake by accident. Apparently, something like this happens once every few years.

Since there’s no way they would allow it to rampage as it pleases in the lake, the knight order sent out a boat and subjugated it. During that process, the precious horn of the one-horned shark broke off and sank into the lake.

And since it’s a waste to leave it, one of the knights who’s confident in his diving skills dived into the lake to retrieve it, when…

“We found ‘that’. We would’ve never guessed that something like that could be sleeping deep within Lake Palette.”

“Just what did you find?”

“You’ll understand when you see it.”

While saying that, Duke Ortlinde opened a door in the back of the castle.

That door led to the north of the castle, and once we crossed through, the beautiful Lake Palette, with its surface sparkling from the sun, spread out before our eyes.

I can see several people gathered at the bank of the lake. His Majesty the King is there as well.

“Ohh, Touya-dono! Over here!”

His Majesty the King beckoned at me with his hand.

As we approached the group of people, I could finally make out the thing that is laid down on the ground, and once I did that, I immediately quickened my footsteps. Oi oi, that’s…!

“Can’t believe… That we found it in this kind of place…”

I managed to squeeze out my voice as my mouth became dry.

The “thing” lying on the ground beside my feet had the side of a child, and was a humanoid- shaped, yet non-human thing—a golem.

Its figure made me remember the characteristics of a certain group of golems I’ve met before.

I crouched down and lifted the chin of the golem, and confirmed that a certain mark exists on its neck. The proof of being a [Crown].

“No doubt about it. This is… The white [Crown].”

Its form is also strikingly similar to Norn’s [Noir] and Nia’s [Rouge], so there should be no mistake. Although due to the dirtiness, it’s hard to call its current color white.

“So it really is. Still, why is something like this present in our country, and furthermore in the lake behind the castle?”

“That I do not know either. However, a thousand years ago, there’s a possibility that the Phrase attack on Belfast Kingdom was repelled by the [Black] and [White] crowns. It’s possible that it may have shut down back then.”

The ruins under the old Belfast capital, which contained pictographs made by the Arcana tribe. The “black and white knights” written in that could very likely be references to Noir and this guy.

For now, I guess I’ll confirm if it can boot up?

I put a hand on the golem’s chest, and sent in some of my magic power.

“Open.”

The people around me took a step back when they heard the *pashu* sound of air escaping. You guys, this isn’t that scary right…

Inside the opened chest area, there was a softball-sized glass-like (to be exact, it’s a lump of gel) container, inside of which the golem’s heart, its G-cube slowly rotated around itself while letting out green phosphorescence.

I tried to take the G-cube out, and extended my fingers into the glass-like gel container; the moment I touched the G-cube, that happened.

“Contact by an incompatible individual. As current state is sleep mode, R sequence is initiated. Self-defense system activated.”

“Wha—”

Together with that mechanical-sounding voice, a blinding white light robbed me of my sight in an instant.

.

.

.

.

“Mu…?”

“Eh?”

“What happened? Why’d the two of you go quiet all of a sudden?”

When I came to, Kousuke ojii and Anubis was in front of me.

When I looked around, the inside of Kousuke ojii’s vinyl house greeted me. I was holding a fist- sized stone in my hand. Isn’t this the rock that was polluted by Godslaying Poison…?

What? What just happened? Was I… Forcefully teleported away?

“Fumu. ‘Changed’, is it. Well well, Touya-kun. First, please calm down.”

“Eh? Ah, yes.”

“Changed”? What does that mean? Does Kousuke ojii know what just happened?

Why am I here, anyway? What happened to the white [Crown]?

My head is so full of questions that I can’t arrange my thoughts well enough. I should probably do as Kousuke ojii had said and calm down first.

“Just now, the ‘truth’ had been overwritten by someone. Do you have any ideas as to who that is?”

“Eh, uh, I don’t really understand, but it’s probably…”

I told Kousuke ojii the things that I had experienced just now. I might still be a bit unsettled, as I couldn’t explain it really well; still, I somehow finished my explanation, and asked Kousuke ojii for some answers.

“I see. Without a doubt, this is something done by that white [Crown], I suppose.”

“What exactly had happened?”

“Let’s see… To put it simply, I guess it ‘became nothing?”

“’Became nothing’?”

I can’t understand that. First, what is the thing that “became nothing”!?

- Pixel