As Abigail, I caused trouble in infinite space.

La Ting, who was explaining in a great mood, stopped.

Seeing Pest suddenly turn her face away, Larin, somewhat surprised, peeked at Pest's face.

Pest puffed out her cute cheeks, looking sulky.

"Master? What's wrong? It's rare to see you react so cutely."

"You're just as infuriating as ever, Lating."

After her outburst, Pest sat down on a bench in the exhibition hall and vigorously swung her legs. Latine wasn't stupid; although she understood why Pest was throwing a tantrum, she was ultimately quite happy.

"Oh, Master! We only love you now!"

“That’s right. There is no other Demon King who can live up to the title of the Magical Tome of Fantasy. So we will be loyal to the end. That’s the only thing I can guarantee.”

They made a pact, and even if it was an evil path destined for destruction, they would remain loyal to it until the very last moment.

"Black Death Demon King" silently savored the meaning of this sentence through the slightly swaying dragonfly.

......

"Hey, White Demon, how are you doing?"

Abigail wandered aimlessly to the arena's grandstand.

What do you think?

White Yaksha said irritably.

"Now that four days have passed, the next competition is only halfway through, so you'll have to endure at least another four days. Tsk tsk tsk, that's really miserable! At least I don't have to be locked up here like you."

"Are you here to laugh at me?"

"That's right."

Abigail readily admitted it, leaving White Demon speechless:

"You're really quite boring."

"Yeah, mainly because these past few days have been really boring. The area we can only move around in is so small. The festival was also interrupted because of this game. Just thinking about having to go through four more days like this makes me want to flip the table."

"Hey, don't be impulsive! It's only four days, just bear with it and it'll pass."

White Yaksha said with a slight panic.

"Don't be so tense. I wouldn't use that power so casually over such a small matter. I still have things to do, and I don't want to provoke those corrupt old fogies up there yet."

As she spoke, Abigail pulled out a chessboard from somewhere.

"Since there's nothing else to do for the time being, let's play a game of chess."

Chapter 292 The Truth

Boundary Wall, Stage Area. Grand Festival Operations Headquarters, Isolation Room.

Kasukabe Yō woke up in the room filled with a relaxed atmosphere.

My head was so sluggish from the fever that it felt like it was shrouded in fog, and my consciousness was unclear.

Uncomfortable, Kasukabe Yo turned over in bed. Now, all she could be sure of was that there was someone else in the room besides herself.

"Izayoi?"

"Oh? You're awake. How are you feeling?"

Izayoi Sakamaki turned his head around; he was sitting on Kasukabe Yō's bedside reading a book.

Although Kasukabe Yo didn't know what was written in the book she had opened, it was probably for reference data to solve this game.

Six days have passed since the negotiations. Among the nameless comrades, only Kasukabe Yo has contracted the Black Death, and he is still confined to the isolation room, separated from Black Rabbit and the others.

Seeing that Izayoi Sakamaki had completely ignored the fact that this was an isolation room and leisurely slipped in, Kasukabe Yo could only dumbfoundedly ask:

"Have you found a clue to cracking the game?"

"Well, although we have a general understanding, we haven't yet uncovered the core."

Izayoi Sakamaki turned the page and shrugged as she answered.

The game will resume tomorrow evening, but the participants' opinions have not yet been consolidated.

Seeing comrades falling one after another and being isolated made it difficult to maintain high morale. Although Kasukabe Yo was able to use a single room thanks to Sandra's special arrangements, almost all the other sick people were crammed into the dormitory.

The most significant problem is that the participants have yet to reach a consensus on the meaning of the victory condition: "Shatter the false tradition and establish the true one." This is one of the reasons why opinions cannot be reconciled.

"Although the general research has been completed, subsequent interpretations have yielded differing results, and that's the feeling we have now."

"Specifically?"

"Take it."

Izayoi Sakamaki handed a piece of paper to Kasukabe Yo, which was a notebook with his research notes.

Latine = Devon's Rat. An incarnation of a demon who manipulates rats and people's hearts.

Weser = a demonic incarnation originating from natural phenomena such as land catastrophes, river floods, and land subsidence.

Shutrom = German for storm, derived from the demonic incarnation of weather phenomena such as strong winds and torrential rain.

Pest = The basis for this speculation is that the Spotted Clown can manipulate the "rats," the source of the Black Death. A demonic incarnation originating from the Black Death.

It is speculated that "false inheritance" and "true inheritance" refer to the fact that must be chosen from among the aforementioned demons, which occurred on June 26, 1284, in Hamelnden.

"Having understood so much already..."

"Well, even though I understand so much now, but..."

Izayoi Sakamaki became somewhat hesitant, as if he was trying to figure out how to explain, and began to speak haltingly:

"Do you remember the theory of three-dimensional intersecting parallel worlds that Black Rabbit talked about when he summoned us before?"

"Yes, I remember."

"To put it simply, although different things happen on different parallel worlds, there is a point where they converge to a certain result. In this incident, the intersection is the death of 130 people recorded on the Hameln Inscription, followed by the rats, the storm, the Weser River, and the Black Death. Among these, the one unrelated to the death of 130 people should be the false inheritance."

There is no specific truth to the lineage of "The Piper of Hameln".

However, we can discuss which one is the most compelling evidence.

However, it remains unproven that this research is the truth. At least, Izayoi Sakamaki doesn't know what the truth is.

Kasukabe Yao coughed a few times, sat up despite feeling quite unwell due to the fever, and asked a question.

"So, let's not worry about the truth for now. Which one do you think is the imposter?"

“Pest”.

Izayoi Sakamaki answered immediately. His expression showed that this was the only thing he could be so confident about.

"Disappearance, storms, natural disasters... While every other cause of death is instantaneous, only the Black Death is described as a chronic cause. Yet the Piper of Hameln had to kill 130 living sacrifices within the limited timeframe of the 26th of 1284."

John and Paul Feast Day, June 26, 1284

130 children born in Hammern were lured out by pipers dressed in colorful clothes and eventually disappeared at the execution site near the hills.

The incubation period for the Black Death was two to five days. Unless the children developed the same symptoms together and then died together, it would not fit the inscription of "The Piper of Hamelin".

"Since the Black Death Demon Queen is a false successor of Hameln, then all we need to do is defeat her, right?"

“I did consider that point. However, that would overlap with the first condition. Although it no longer exists, it must have been meaningful to write it down in the first place.”

There are two conditions for victory: defeating the Demon King of Hameln, and retrieving that phrase. While it would be easy to dismiss that phrase as a massive smokescreen and leave it unattended, it would be far too risky.

"Although I have been reading books about the Black Death... it seems there are no clues about the pathogen."

Izayoi Sakamaki threw the book against the wall. He must have been incredibly frustrated by the logic that seemed almost unsolvable yet remained unsolved.

"The phrase 'breaking the false tradition and establishing the true tradition' has already been partially studied and its meaning has been deduced. It can be inferred that the so-called tradition refers to a pair of items that have the same shape and can be broken and erected. Therefore, the only possible object is the stained glass window of the Pied Piper displayed together with the inscription in Hameln."

Kasukabe Yo stared wide-eyed at Sakamaki Izayoi.

"Stained glass... So, could it be that their method of infiltrating the festival was...?"

"That's right. In this game, even if you are neither a participant nor an organizer, you can still use another spot to participate in the festival."

"Those with organizer privileges must identify themselves upon becoming participants. Participants cannot use organizer privileges, and non-participants cannot intrude into the festival area. This does not contradict these rules, and the participation slots that allow for independent will are..."

"An exhibit of arts and crafts. I think the true form of the grimoire 'The Piper of Hameln' is likely a stained glass-like object composed of multiple parts. And those guys used the grimoire to infiltrate the festival area."

Jack is another example. As someone who displays the gifts, he also participates in the Dragon Birth Festival with his own independent will.

After Sandra went to check, she learned that in addition to Izayoi Sakamaki and the others, there were more than a hundred stained glass pieces exhibiting under the name of another "nameless" community.

Seeing Izayoi Sakamaki present his reasoning one after another, Kasukabe Yo looked at him with a mixture of admiration and surprise.

"Izayoi, what exactly is inside your head?"

"Hmm? Do you want to see?"

"I want to see it, I want to see it."

"How can I show it to you!"

Hahaha! Izayoi Sakamaki burst into laughter.

"But that's it for now. Well, to be honest, I really don't know what to do. I guess we should smash the fake stained glass that's on display and establish the real one... But the criteria for judging authenticity are still unclear, and I don't know which stained glass to smash and establish besides Pest. After all, there are more than a hundred pieces in total. In the end, I guess I can only leave it to fate and figure out how to defeat the Demon King in tomorrow's game."

Izayoi Sakamaki gazed at the sky, a bitter smile on her face. Less than twenty hours remained before the game restarted.

The deadline for Sandra to formulate a strategy to unite the communities is fast approaching.

"Does true art reside in the inner universe...? Oh dear, that makes a lot of sense. For example, the inscription in Hameln has a similar aspect. The act of exploring various textual research and speculations can stimulate people's imagination, which is why stories like Grimm's Fairy Tales are created... But what we need now is the truth, White Demon."

Recalling their previous conversation, Izayoi Sakamaki couldn't help but laugh.

Kasukabe Yo looked at the somewhat self-deprecating Izayoi Sakamaki and suddenly chuckled softly.

"Hey, Kasukabe. What's the point of laughing at me when I'm down on my luck?"

"I'm sorry, I just thought it was rare for you to be so stubborn. To see you like this, Sakamaki Izayoi, who is always so confident, arrogant, self-centered, and doesn't care about causing trouble for those around you, is honestly quite refreshing."

"You're really bold to say so many truths in one go... Humph, I actually worried that you'd be lonely in a single hospital room by yourself, what an idiot."

Huh? Kasukabe Yō looked at the reverse Izayoi.

"I've heard that all illnesses originate from the mind, and physical discomfort can affect one's mental state. I thought it must be very difficult for you to be in such a lonely single room with your body being ravaged by illness, so I came to see you, but I was met with such harsh words."