kscans

Chapter 66 - Little One and the Kodoku Curse

"Ah. My bad."

"‘My bad’ doesn’t cut it! What kind of names did you give the gods!"

He found out. How did he find out?

When Little One voiced her honest question, Romel told her what he had heard from Marquis Lombard.

"The ancient tongue? Chaos and Abyss are?"

At Little One’s stunned expression, Romel looked puzzled.

"Didn’t you know when you named them?"

"No, I knew. I knew the meanings when I chose them, but..."

It was the language of Earth. That was Arcadia’s ancient script?

Something she had been grasping at but couldn’t quite catch finally began to take shape.

Fragments of Earth’s world, glimpsed here and there in Arcadia. Furthermore, the contents of the old tale the Marquis spoke of. The incident where he tried to create a powerful monster through the Kodoku curse to use as some sort of vessel. An oral tradition not passed down to the royal family.

The content was as follows.

‘Long ago, the Noble One created the world and created man. He gave man wisdom, gave them fire, and built a civilization. Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Thus, by the hand of the great Noble One, people crossed the world and created nations. However, the Noble One was betrayed many times, and he offered his sacred body to protect the people. The Noble One swore to the weeping people. That he would surely return. It might take a long time, but he would surely reign over the world once more. He left them with the words to live strongly until then, and the Noble One was tragically lost.’

From this passage, various stories branched out. Tales of heroes who persevered as the Noble One had instructed, or founding chronicles of nations. What always came at the beginning was the aforementioned text. The royal family was the headquarters for worshiping the Creator God. Legends suggesting someone else created the world were denied and eliminated. The same went for the ducal houses connected to the royalty.

As a result, it seems that only the nobles of lower rank passed down this oral tradition as a preface to their stories.

Among the nobles below the rank of count, whose fortunes rose and fell dramatically, the oral tradition was lost over the long course of time, and only the prestigious and long, standing Marquis houses had passed it down to the present day.

But something was strange. It sounded familiar, somehow.

As Little One groaned in thought, she heard Romel’s dispassionate voice.

"‘Be fruitful and multiply’ is about having descendants, right? What does ‘fill the earth’ mean?"

"Ah, that’s not it. That ‘be fruitful and multiply’ means to learn and gain strength. ‘Fill the earth’ is what means to have descendants."

"Oh?"

Having said that much, something flashed in Little One’s mind. Among all the books she had read, there was one bestseller that stood out.

"The Bible!!"

"The... Bible?"

That’s right, it was similar to the contents of the Bible.

Little One held her head in her hands.

Someone who created the world, someone who promised to return, it was all just based on a certain religion!

Where and how did they intersect? There was undoubtedly interference from Earth’s world in Arcadia. Even the Kodoku curse, if you traced it back, was from ancient China. All sorts of things, a mix of Eastern and Western, were rooted in Arcadia’s ancient times. And fragments of it were still being passed down today.

Whaaaaaat? What is this? If you were going to pass something down, you should have passed down the Ten Commandments or something instead!

As Little One flailed about, Romel looked down at her and got to the heart of the matter.

"The problem is, Chihaya is being targeted for that vessel thing."

Little One’s movements froze.

That was right. Marquis Lombard had been trying to create a powerful monster to use as a vessel. And that someone had indeed revived and was now inhabiting Chihaya. Little One and Romel had witnessed the extraordinary situation with their own eyes.

Chihaya’s face and voice, as inorganic and cold as an insect’s.

Remembering it sent a chill down Little One’s spine.

Chihaya at that moment had been so alien that she had instinctively taken a step back. But for some reason, she felt a faint sense of nostalgia, just as she had then.

When was it? Has something similar happened somewhere before?

"Chihaya is being targeted. Marquis Lombard seemed to be convinced of a piece of it."

Further interrogation by experts had revealed Marquis Lombard’s stalking behavior. He had been astonished by the twins possessing all attributes at their baptism and had been watching them ever since.

The children who controlled monsters, received training from the knights and the covert unit, and grew stronger by leaps and bounds.

There could be no better vessel.

Convinced of this, he had unleashed the magic of the black, purple magic stone on the two when they visited the Tower of David for a class. But Chihiro repelled the magic. A golden light dissipated the black, purple magic. Chihaya, however, had swallowed the black, purple magic. A black residue had billowed around him, he said.

"And so, he concluded that Chihaya was the vessel for the Noble One, and that you were the living sacrifice to be its catalyst."

Apparently, the golden magic she used for defense had also revealed to him that Little One was the Golden King.

Aaaargh! I remember! That uncomfortable feeling and the stare from back then, that’s what it was!!

Romel picked up the writhing Chihiro and soothed her, looking at her with a sincere gaze.

"And so, I looked for the documents he claimed to have deciphered, but I can’t find them."

"Huh?"

"It’s supposed to be several old books, but they’re nowhere to be found."

Apparently, those books contained descriptions of the black, purple magic crystals and how to create powerful vessels. And also about the Noble One.

At Romel’s words, Little One suddenly tilted her head.

Created?

Never mind the Kodoku curse, weren’t the black, purple magic crystals a natural occurrence from the graveyard of magical beasts?

"That’s strange. Huh? What does that mean? If the black, purple magic crystals aren’t naturally occurring, then..."

Little One knew someone who was involved in that.

"Legion...?"

The Lord of the border forest. He should have been the one to designate the magical beast graveyard. And another shadow flickered in her mind.

Legion? Yes, that’s the feeling.

The young god who tried to kill Little One in the past. Remembering how she had instinctively distanced herself from the horrifying terror during that battle, she saw an overlap with her transformed brother.

Huh? Wait a minute.

Seeing Chihiro’s face turn deathly pale, Romel’s brows furrowed in concern.

"What’s wrong? Chihiro."

Oblivious to Romel, Little One’s mind raced.

Back then, Legion had been collected by some apostle of the higher beings. She had forgotten about it afterward, but what happened to him? Heizleep was destroyed, and its souls should have been reincarnated on Arcadia or Earth.

Do gods have souls too?

If so, it was possible that Legion had been reincarnated somewhere.

…Yes, just like the previous Chihiro, it was possible he was possessing someone.

A shiver ran down Little One’s spine, and she looked up at the second floor.

At her precious siblings who were likely sleeping there.

This is a job for the gods. Chaos, Abyss, you’d better show up in my dreams!!

As the little girl’s face contorted with frustration, Romel watched her blankly, a bad feeling growing in his chest. At times like this, this girl would never talk. She would act in secret and inform him after the fact. Knowing this well from their time together, Romel lightly grasped Little One’s hands with one of his and tickled her sides and stomach.

"Waha? What, Romel?!"

"Tell me what you’re plotting. Now!!"

Tickled with one hand, Little One arched back, laughing. Her slender wrists were caught in Romel’s grip, and she couldn’t resist.

"Nyaa! It’s nothing, I promise, ahahahaha!!"

The little girl was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. Drago and Sakura, drawn by her voice, came over and their eyes widened.

The two of them were tangled on the sofa as if playing, with innocent smiles on their faces. After a good long laugh, Little One was red, faced and catching her breath, and Romel sighed.

You’re a liar, aren’t you.

"Chihiro? Don’t hide things, okay? Really, you always try to do everything by yourself."

Gently wiping away her tears of laughter with his finger, Romel rested his forehead on Little One’s chest as if in prayer.

"Don’t you dare rush ahead, okay? You must take me with you. You must, you hear?"

"...Romel, you’re like nii-ni, nyo."

At the exasperated mutter, his expression went blank.

The same as that doting brother?

Frozen stiff, Romel staggered his way home. Little One saw him off, feeling happy for his warm feelings and smiling a little shyly.

Drago lifted his daughter into his arms, also looking worried.

"It’s not just what Prince Romel said, you really mustn’t act alone, you hear?"

"That’s right. We’re here for you. It’s a parent’s job to put their body on the line for their children, isn’t it?" Sakura said with a troubled half, smile.

Ah, I’m really blessed.

Soaking in a rare moment of sentimentality, Little One clung tightly to Drago.

"Yeah. I want us all to live happily together."

Rubbing her face against her father’s stubble, Chihiro felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her. Exhausted from laughing so hard and feeling safe in his big arms, she drifted off to sleep.

Chaos, Abyss!! You’d better come!!

Screaming only in her mind, the sleeping girl was carried upstairs by Drago.

"Gods do have souls."

At Chaos’s casual declaration, a vein throbbed on Little One’s temple, and she offered a cold smile.

"Oh, reeeally? That’s the first I’m hearing of it."

This was the Celestial Realm.

In a dream appearance after a long time, the little girl had a dark, menacing aura behind her as she glared at the gods.

"The souls of gods are outside our jurisdiction. It is something only the higher beings would know."

"We do not know what became of Legion after that."

"Huh? Is that so?"

The Creator Gods nodded.

In that case, the story changed. What should she do?

As Little One groaned in thought, Chaos muttered with a slight frown.

"The souls of gods are under the jurisdiction of the higher beings. Normally, I would think they are purified and born as new gods, but I am not certain."

"...And we cannot identify who it is that inhabits Chihaya."

"Wha?!"

The gods who rule the world could not identify it?

The two looked at each other in silence for a moment, then, as if they had made up their minds, they looked at Little One.

"For us not to be able to identify it means it is the work of someone more powerful than us."

"In other words, the involvement of the higher beings is suspected."

Which means...?

"It’s confirmed, isn’t it!!"

Right now, the only soul the higher beings held was Legion’s. And a soul that Arcadia’s Creator Gods couldn’t identify was possessing Chihaya.

There was only one answer that could be drawn from these facts.

"Person in charge, get out here!!"

Little One let out a roar at this unexpected disaster. Her voice echoed throughout the Celestial Realm, and it was a charming sight to see several gods look up at the heavens, wondering what was going on.

While dragging in even the beings above the gods, her long vacation came to an end, and Little One’s school life began once more.