Chapter 206 Explain The Age Of Gods
The little girl jumped down from the sofa with a *thud*, looked around with a *wide-eyed* gaze, and seemed dissatisfied with something, so she got back up and started talking while standing tall, rather than sitting down.
...Someone, prepare a standing platform for her.
"To explain the secrets of the Chronosphere and the [Four Great Families of the Seals], I need to explain the Age of Gods first. What is an [Evil God], what kind of existence is a [God], and how the Age of Gods came to be..."
The conversation started without any issues, and everyone's eyes focused on the little girl standing on the sofa.
"And when it comes to explaining the Age of Gods, I'm the most qualified person to do so. Why? Because I lived during the Age of Gods."
"""――!?"""
The Guildmaster and the explorers from the guild were stunned, their eyes wide open in shock. However, the members of the Four Families didn't seem surprised at all.
I think it's because they knew about this information beforehand... If that's the case, it means the Four Families acknowledge the little girl's outrageous claim that she "lived during the Age of Gods".
And yet, Garon, who serves Kirke, was also surprised. It seems that this information was hidden from the outside world, but was well-known within the Four Families.
Meanwhile, the little girl continued talking calmly, unaffected by the shock around her.
"My name is Lucia Aron."
Lucia Aron... So she's a member of the Aron family?
"The founder of the Aron family, who had my body stolen by the [Evil God] during the Age of Gods."
"""――!?"""
*Whoosh*, an even bigger shockwave than before spreads out. However, it's only the people outside of the Four Houses who are surprised.
The story is too absurd and hard to follow. But Lucia doesn't seem to care about our understanding.
"In other words, my original body has become what's known as [God's Remains] in this world. The me here is just an existence that's borrowed another person's body..."
"...You're saying your body and mind are different people...?"
I couldn't help but interrupt, the content was too eerie.
Lucia, or rather, the little girl, looks at me sitting next to her and nods slightly.
"That's correct. However, the current me is strongly influenced by the memories of this body. In that sense, I'm already a different person from the original Lucia Aron..."
"......"
"The owner of this body's name is Ickle. Ickle Aron. She was used by the secret society Chronosphere and tried to kill you as Chloe Caduceus."
"――Whoa!?"
Chloe, who was listening to the story, let out a surprised cry. And judging from the subtle surprise on the faces of the other Four Houses members, it seemed like this was news to them as well.
I, too, was genuinely surprised.
If Lucia's body's owner was fake Chloe, then... but I remembered what happened at Temple. Back then, the fake Fiona who stabbed me was a different person from fake Chloe, I thought.
However, that thought was quickly dismissed.
"And the fake Fiona who stabbed you in the underground [Temple] was also Ickle. Ickle had a special ability to 'transform' into anyone who met certain conditions."
I could see Fiona's expression harden at Lucia's explanation.
If the fake Fiona in the basement was Ickle, the one who killed her was none other than Fiona. It was unclear how she was still alive, but it was understandable that she would be shocked to find out that the person she thought she had killed was actually standing right next to her.
Sensing Fiona's feelings, Lucia turned to face her and said,
"Fiona, you don't need to feel guilty. ...Even though Ickle technically had no choice, it's true that she stabbed Aaron and did other things. She also regretted stabbing Aaron and didn't hold any grudge against you. So, don't worry about it."
"...I see."
Fiona nodded, looking conflicted, and then fell silent. Well, it's not easy to just brush it off when someone tells you not to worry about it, especially for someone like her.
Speaking on Fiona's behalf, I asked,
"More importantly, if that body in the basement was Ickle, how are you still alive? Why are you in the form of a child? Shouldn't you have been cut in half?"
Even with the bizarre state of body possession, could a dead body still do that? Lucia provided an answer to my question.
"This body is the result of Ickle's upper half being reconstructed when I took over her body. Her original age was around seven, so I adjusted her physical age to match. ...Her weight had also halved. So, this form is Ickle's true self."
"......"
It's gotten to the point where I don't know what to do anymore. Rebuilding the upper body and all that, can humans from the Age of Gods really do that? Or are they even human?
Including me, everyone was staring at Lucia with a dumbfounded expression, and she continued, "Well, how I rebuilt this body isn't important right now, so let's skip that."
"First, let me explain the premise of our story from the creation of the Age of Gods. Just listen quietly."
And so, Lucia began to talk about the Age of Gods, which was far in the past.
* * *
Far in the past, during the era known as the Age of Gods.
At that time, humanity possessed advanced scientific technology and was about to embark on full-scale space exploration.
During that era, humanity discovered a new energy that would influence the entire future.
――"Phenomenon Alteration Energy"
Well, it's questionable whether they should even call it "energy". That's because it had the property of destroying existing physical laws.
As its name suggests, it's an existence that shouldn't exist, something that ignores physical laws and alters phenomena.
This energy was produced by the mental activities, or metabolism, of highly intelligent life forms.
It was originally discovered through research on special abilities, such as superpowers or sorcery, which only a select few humans possessed. Highly intelligent life forms were able to create this super energy that transcended physical laws through their mental activities.
Until then, the "Phenomenon Alteration Energy" was only used in a limited way based on individual abilities and talents. But with the development of technology, such as devices and machines, it became possible to reproduce this energy in a more stable form.
"Magic" and "Magic Machines"――the birth of what's known as "Magic Technology".
It brought about a massive shock to the civilization that had only relied on scientific technology until then. All the problems that had been deemed impossible to solve in space exploration, such as cosmic radiation exposure, the effects of long-term 0 gravity and low gravity on the human body, the psychological impact of long-term living in closed spaces, the cost of launching development materials, the communication lag due to the speed of light limitation, the social division caused by distance, the terraforming issues of other planets, the conflict between old and new economic circles, and the resource war――all these problems seemed to be solved at once with "Magic Technology".
However, "Magic Technology" had the potential to solve all these problems in one go.
But the "Phenomenon Alteration Energy" was too versatile.
At some point, a war broke out over a trivial resource dispute. However, this war was fundamentally different from those in the past.
For the first time in human history, "Magic Weapons" were used in war.
The "Magic Weapons", a hybrid of advanced scientific technology, had performance and destructive power that far surpassed modern magical tools.
It had exceeded the limits of what humans could control with reason.
The extremely powerful destructive weapons spread fear and hatred quickly, and the war soon involved other countries, escalating into a global war that utilized "Magic Weapons".
――As a result, the entire planet was engulfed in war, and humanity lost more than half of its population. The information network that relied on computer networks was destroyed, and many pieces of information, knowledge, and technology stored on electronic networks were lost.
Humanity experienced its first decline in civilization since the Industrial Revolution.
* * *
"――Is this okay so far?"
Lucia looked around the room to confirm.
"""......"""
Everyone had a serious or stern expression, and no one objected.
Of course, I understood all of this, but I also needed to explain it to my clan members later.
So, I wanted it to be explained in a more gentle way.
Therefore, I asked Lucia.
"Of course, I understand, but I need to explain it to the idiots in my clan later. So, could you summarize the key points in a more understandable way?"
"......"
For some reason, Lucia stared at me intensely before opening her mouth.
"A long time ago, humans discovered magical energy and became able to use magic. But magic-based weapons were too powerful. When magic weapons were used in war, humanity suffered huge losses, and civilization declined. It's terrible... and that's the situation now."
"I see..."
I nodded silently. Humanity was in a terrible state because of war. This was the main point of the story so far. I thought that was enough to understand.
"No, I already understood, but for the idiots in my clan, an explanation like this would be easier to understand. Thanks."
"...Okay. Then, let's continue."
Lucia was about to say something, but she opened her mouth, then shook her head loosely and looked away from me, continuing the conversation.
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