Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

Just like Ashethelin had forgotten something, Lunisia shook her head, as if she had forgotten something too. Something seemed to have happened before the nightmare ended, and she seemed to have seen "someone", but she also seemed not to have. Her memory of the last moment always felt a little fuzzy, and she didn't know if it was because someone had intentionally concealed it, or if it was because of the confusion of time.

"Okay. Let's put this question aside for now."

Ashlee didn't dwell on it for too long. It seemed like she just mentioned it casually and didn't actually take it too seriously.

"Then, Lady Luna, do you have any idea about the being that brought down the final disaster?"

The next person to ask questions was Ella, and Lunicia smiled bitterly, as if to say, "Why are you asking me again?" - but after all, she was the only one present who knew what had happened, so this was understandable.

"This is even more unclear... Gears and clocks seem to be images of the authority of time. If I have to choose one that best fits this characteristic from the existence I am familiar with, then there is only one answer."

There is only one answer, and it goes without saying that even if it is not spoken out loud, the common sense in people's hearts will automatically call out the answer.

The god of time and judgment, the agent of time, judgment, and justice, the witness of the law, the defender of contracts, the patron saint of the court, the majestic god Alexander - this answer is impossible to say no matter what, and it seems that just using this as an alternative answer is enough to be called blasphemy.

Lunicia shook her head violently.

"This is impossible."

Her denial was firm and decisive. Although she said the previous words, she did not take them as an answer at all. In this regard, Ashlee and Ella Hepper did not speak. They stared at Lunicia, waiting for her next explanation.

“…Because I felt it.”

The smell, the shape, the sound, and, "that feeling" imprinted on the sixth sense, the bride and groom on the music box twisted each other's heads off, a rotten brain jumped out of the wall clock, ashes fell from one end of the hourglass to the other, corpses were stuck on the sundial, necks were broken on the knots, and countless corpses were hanging and swinging like the pendulum under the big clock. Ah, there was no mistake, that smell was not unfamiliar to Lunicia, not long ago, she had smelled something similar.

"I feel the breath of the dark kings."

The so-called "black" aura often has common characteristics.

Even if the essences are completely different, even if one is the representative of wind and the other is the eternal flame, the feeling imprinted in its breath is equally pungent and full of its characteristics for those favored by the gods. What is surprising is that the characteristics often manifest themselves in different ways, but they all remind people of the same kind, or the same type of things, those rulers who are not tolerated by the world, the enemies of the gods, the blasphemers, the filthy ones, the princes of darkness, some call them the source of everything, some call them the focus of everything, the kings of darkness.

Lunicia had "smelled" something similar to that scent once before, so she would definitely not make a mistake.

It was in the abandoned ruins of the waterwheel canal, across a distant time, from the ancient past, within the abyss, among the tombs, there were two beings called Nago and Yeb, the "Twins of Blasphemy".

It can be said that she knows almost nothing about the existence of the "Dark Lords". This does not mean that the Glorious Temple will not teach this knowledge to a newly-appointed paladin, but there is not much knowledge that people can know. If it is hidden from most civilians so that they can exchange for the coming of the Dark Lords through cheap rituals and calls and gain the favor of the Dark Gods, then the part hidden from the paladins is because that knowledge will pollute the mind and corrode the soul just by being understood. It includes forbidden spells, the true name of "God", and those blasphemous rituals and authority.

Perhaps, among those unknown beings, there is a "king" who possesses the authority of time similar to Alexander.

"So, this is the so-called 'divine disaster'?"

Ashlee looked as if she had remembered something bad, and her expression was quite grim.

"Yes, that should be the case. If the spell cast by the 'blasphemous twins' we encountered before was a fraction of their power, then the one 'three days ago' was like the direct arrival of the dark kings..."

I shudder just thinking about it. That feeling of powerlessness that is engraved into my bones is the fear that comes when facing a god head-on.

The statement that "the power of the righteous gods is far greater than that of the dark gods" is nothing more than propaganda to appease the people. Even though it is said that there are weak dark gods who can be defeated by mortals, there are still many who are comparable to or even surpass the gods. This is a fact that only those who have truly faced that kind of terror can understand.

The dark god descended here - it was called "Divine Disaster".

Chapter 39 Day 1: Reopening the Reasoning (Part 2)

"..."

Silence fell as the conclusion was reached.

For a moment, no one spoke, not only Lunisia who proposed this point, but also Asheselin was in deep thought and Ella was silent. They may have different reasons, but none of them made a sound.

The enemy of the gods, the blasphemer, the foul one, the lord of darkness, the ominous gods, the dark kings... What exactly do those names mean, what kind of power and terror do they imply? The more you understand their existence, the more powerless you will feel. If you are a person with a weak will, you will not even have the heart to resist. You will worship, surrender, and submit to them, becoming pioneers and sacrifices. They, or perhaps they, are such existences.

"No...that's not right."

Ella Heper shook her head heavily.

Even Lunisia was surprised. As the most devout believer in the true God among the three people present, she had no time to refute this conclusion. Ella, who did not seem to have much respect for the gods, was the first to deny it. It seemed that she also believed in something, fanatically and firmly, and thought that the dark kings were nothing but vulnerable in front of her.

"Even if it's the Dark Kings... No, 'one of the Dark Kings will descend on the third day' is not a law or truth. Ah, I'm not refuting what Lady Luna has experienced, but the 'descent of the Dark Kings' is actually just the result of a certain event. It doesn't matter if it's the wrath of the gods or a sudden natural disaster. As long as the result is reached, it actually means 'failure'.

Even the Dark Lords cannot descend upon this world at will. Only through a certain rigorous ritual or an unexpected passage can the Dark Lords have a chance to appear, which leads to the last scene in Lady Luna’s memory. In other words, we don’t need to consider how to fight against the Dark Lord, we only need to consider how to change the process so that this result cannot happen at all.”

“That’s true.”

Lunicia then became excited.

You are right, the enemy is one of the dark gods so there is no way to fight against it. This worry, this fear, this despair itself is unnecessary and will only have an adverse effect on thinking. In fact, no matter how powerful or unstoppable the dark god is, as long as he cannot appear at all, he actually poses no threat.

"Besides, even if it's true, if that filthy being is going to descend no matter what—"

I will never give up, I will never retreat, I will never compromise with fear, and I will never succumb to evil.

If you can't do any better, then draw your sword and face the enemy. This is the way of survival for a paladin.

"Well said, Lady Luna."

"Then I'll stop here with the big talk, 'A joke will become a reality if you repeat it 10,000 times'. Well, let's talk about something that works, just like a dream that ends when the dreamer finds out that he is dreaming."

"Why does it sound like you are mocking me..."

Lunicia smiled and shrugged, then continued, "That's roughly the situation. I haven't thought of anything to add yet. What do you think of this information now?"

Ella and Ashlee looked at each other, their blue and golden pupils meeting each other.

It seemed that although they often quarreled, they always had a high degree of consistency at certain moments, doing the same thing or coming up with the same idea, just like now.

"...If I had to say, the biggest doubt is actually the 'celebration ceremony'."

"Does Ella think so?"

"That's what Ashley judged."

Lunicia tilted her head hesitantly.

"At first glance, the ceremony seemed insignificant."

"Mister Luna, can you confirm the exact date of the 'Mulland National Founding Day'?"

Although the holiday lasts seven days, the Mulande Day will definitely only be a specific day among these seven days, rather than the entire seven days being dedicated to the founding of the nation. That would be too unbelievable and difficult to understand.

"Today is the day. It happens to be the end of the tour...ah."

Ah, yes.

The moment this matter was raised, even Lunicia, who had not paid much attention to this information, immediately realized that something was wrong.

In other words, the schedule of various activities during the seven-day holiday for Muirand National Day was so bizarre that it immediately made people wonder if there was something wrong. The first day of the holiday was the National Day itself, but there was no proper celebration on that day. Even the first couplet of "Sitzberg", which was the eve of the opening, was performed the night before the holiday began, not on the first night. The entire National Day seemed to be empty.

After that, on the second day of the holiday, which seemed to be an unimportant day, the opera singers in the theater had to perform the entire triptych of "Sitzberg" in one day, which almost took up the entire day for the actors and the audience. This is probably not the intention of the theater itself. For the theater, such an arrangement does not seem to have any benefits at all, and will only cause a lot of dissatisfaction. The famous actors who were originally used to add luster can now only be used to suppress the audience's complaints. It is hard not to wonder whether there is some irresistible force that arranged for the theater to make such a decision.

Next came the third day, and it seemed that there were no special arrangements for the third day either. Even the celebration site was being set up. This day really fits the definition of being ordinary. But on the fourth day, a day that was nothing special like the third day, a grand celebration was suddenly held in the Civic Square, as if the first day was not the National Day, but the fourth day was.

This arrangement seemed strange to the group of people who passed by here at the beginning. In fact, they didn't know Muirand at all, and they only learned the specific date of Muirand's National Day later, so they didn't have too many associations. But if it were seen by a local of Muirand, this arrangement could be called incredible and incomprehensible.

Lunicia didn't think of this at once, partly because she was so immersed in the matter that she forgot this most basic and obvious doubt.

"Indeed, this is very wrong."

"Luna has thought of it too, so we can move forward with our thinking."

"I can't say I've figured it out... If there's something wrong with the celebration ceremony on the fourth day, then the ceremony is not supposed to be held at midnight, but rather after nine in the morning. This 'celebration ceremony' is definitely not some evil ceremony of sacrificing the entire city. After all, the problem actually occurred on the third day, so the fourth day didn't exist, right?"

Although I have figured it out, I haven’t fully understood it. That’s probably the situation.

““It’s bait.””

Two different voices sounded at the same time, and Ashetherin and Ella looked at each other again, as if they were more like sisters than the similar-looking Lunicia and Ashetherin.

Ella smiled and gestured "please", and Ashlee Lin did not hesitate to continue speaking:

"It's not some mysterious method, nor is it some wise strategy. In fact, it's just a very simple inducement. Deliberately spread the news of 'what will happen on the fourth day', but the node of the event is actually the night of the third day. This can mislead people to ignore the third night and focus on investigating the celebration ceremony on the fourth day."

"Wouldn't that have the opposite effect and make people suspicious about the third night?"

"Why would that be?"

Ashlee tilted her head.

"Ashe, Luna, and Ella are certain about what will happen on the night of the third day, rather than what will happen on the day of the fourth day, because of the information Luna brought. This is a process of inferring the result. And for others, what is the difference between the third night and the other nights? For them, the fourth day is like a quatrain in an expected ballad, while the third night is ordinary. If you want to say which day is the most suspicious, the eve of a holiday, the day of the anniversary, and a whole day filled with operas are more suspicious than the third day."

"Hmm..." Lunicia pondered, "So, compared to the other six days of the holiday, even including the day before the holiday, only the fourth day has the most suspicious points, and the third day is not worth paying attention to in comparison. So even if others want to investigate, they can only start from the fourth day, and it is impossible to directly suspect the third day."

"That's right, Lady Luna understands very quickly."

Ella smiled and continued, "Among the three of us, only Luna has actually been there... the Cathedral of Alexandria. So, Lady Luna, can you tell me if there seems to be some kind of forbidden dark ritual being performed there?"

"Not like."

Lunicia answered with almost no thought or hesitation, she remembered it quite clearly.

"There is no special and eye-catching 'black' smell, nor is there any smell of blood, strange feeling or anything like that, and there is no sign like screaming, otherwise it would have been noticed immediately."

In fact, if you ignore the two strange things of the closed door and the empty gate, the entire Cathedral of Alexandria looks very normal. It can even be said that it exudes a sacred feeling that makes people calm and at ease. It cannot be associated with evil gods, darkness or the like at all. This is what Lunicia has been unable to understand.

"Could it be that the evil god's aura is being masked by the temple itself?"

Ella's view was not without reason. At first glance, the Alexandria Cathedral was the largest existing sanctuary in Alexandria. The long history, the appearance of gods, and countless prayers all brought a strong sense of sacredness to this place. In addition, the architectural structure of the Alexandria Cathedral itself was large enough, and its grandeur was even greater than that of fortresses and castles. It seemed that it could easily cover up those evil auras. However, Lunicia shook her head seriously.

"No, it's impossible."

Because she is an expert, she can make such an assertion immediately.

"To make the evil god descend directly, rather than just casting a trace of power like the 'blasphemous twins', the rituals and sacrifices required are probably far beyond the scale of the Shuichequ ruins. This kind of ritual is difficult to cover up for this reason... Moreover, contrary to common sense, when holding dark rituals in the sanctuary, the filthiness and the aura of the evil god will not be suppressed, but will be multiplied."

Hearing this, Ella and Ashlee were stunned. It was obvious that this was the first time they heard such a statement.

As for the knowledge about the Dark Gods, due to the harmfulness of that knowledge itself, even Lunicia didn't know much, but this happened to be one of the things she could know. As for why she knew this, it was because of the commonness of such cases. A senior paladin, as long as he often went out on field missions, would always deal with such incidents in his career.

"The principle is that the gods' temples are warning of similar behaviors. Therefore, the 'black' aura will not increase, and thus will not cause more serious pollution and destruction, but it will spread more widely and be easier to detect than before. In this way, ordinary people can easily feel that something is wrong and stay away from such dangerous places. It is also convenient for the gods' staff who come after hearing the news to investigate and find the whereabouts of the cultists. It is also for this reason that cultists often choose abandoned churches, temples, and altars as ritual sites. On the one hand, it is to satisfy their blasphemous psychology, and on the other hand, it is also to more conveniently please the evil gods they believe in, as if this will make it easier for their words to reach another world."

Therefore, even though it sounds contradictory, the realm of God will still amplify the sense of filth, which is exactly why Lunicia denied Ella's conjecture.

"Then we can temporarily rule out the possibility that a dark ritual was held in the Cathedral of Alexandria on the night of the third day."

"Well, that's true."

There was no evil sacrificial ceremony, and there was nothing that could be called a sign, but one of the dark gods still came. This matter was very puzzling.

Ashlee pondered for a moment, wrote down the words "temple" and "ritual" on a page torn from her notebook, and then added a question mark.

"Let's assume that all this is related to the House of Lords in Muirand."

"How to say?"

In fact, Lunicia herself knew why this was the case, but it seemed that she just wanted to use this opportunity to talk more with Ella.

"Mulland is an aristocratic republic. The nobles handed down from ancient Nasaland are as powerful as the royal family here. The four major families are almost the emperors here. The House of Commons seems to be in name only in comparison. Many operations in this matter would be almost impossible to achieve if they were not handled by the great nobles. It is even very likely that they were the work of the four great nobles."

"For example, the arrangements for the celebration ceremony."

"That's right." Ashlee continued Ella's words, "and the performance arrangement of the Muirand Theatre. Why did they ask the Muirand Theatre to adjust the performance time?"

Ella wrote the word "Grand Theater" on the paper again and marked it with a question mark.

"A deliberate attempt to confuse people?"

Ella shook her head and disagreed with Ashlee's opinion.

"Except for the celebration on the fourth day, adding other suspicious points does not seem to do them any good. The more suspicious points there are, the greater the possibility that the events on the third day will be exposed. If it were me, I probably wouldn't do that."

"These are indeed things that can only be accomplished by the four great nobles with such power."

Lunicia pointed her finger at the word "noble" written by Ella.

"And there is a question that cannot be avoided... Why do they do this?"

Chapter 40 Day 1: Exploration

There is one thing that all actions cannot avoid, which is "what can be gained by doing this".

For money, for fame, to realize ideals, to protect others... Even if a person seems to have no desire and acts simply because "I don't know why I should do this", he can be said to be acting according to his instinct and can be said to be doing it for satisfaction. Regardless of whether this satisfaction is healthy or pathological, it has not escaped the category of "for something".

Of course, people who "do it because it's fun" are not the kind of people who can be simply analyzed. On the scale of chaos and order, they tend to lean towards chaos. However, in Myoland, this situation does not need to be considered at all. Even if one of the four major families has such a crazy decision maker, it is impossible for all four major families to be such people. Otherwise, it is impossible to guarantee the stability of Myoland.

Or maybe they are actually all well-hidden lunatics, but if we take such low-probability events into consideration, the problem will become endless, so it is better not to consider it at all.

"If the source of this matter is the four major families, then trying to figure out why they did this is too much..."

Lunicia looked distressed.

That's right, because the intelligence is too insufficient, it is almost impossible to figure out this matter now. "Insufficient intelligence" is like a spell that is difficult to get rid of, always lingering throughout time, turning into a thick fog, making the details elusive.

“You can try to analyze it first to lay the groundwork for subsequent investigations.”

Ashlee tapped the armrest of the sofa with her fingers, producing a pleasant melody.