The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

“That was my sister’s own choice, and you don’t need to feel guilty about it.”

Her Highness the Princess lowered her head slightly.

"I am sorry for your loss."

The believer looked away and gave Jiang Xue, who was standing to the side, a wink. Jiang Xue understood and gestured for the two of them to sit down and have a long talk.

After serving tea to the three of them, the maid excused herself and disappeared behind the curtain once again.

"Hearn, tell me why you've come."

The proprietress in the cloud was as generous as ever, good at enlivening the atmosphere, and understanding.

"Well, I had a prior agreement with Miss Jiang Xue in the clouds. In exchange for the safe escort of several distinguished guests from the Far East to Silver Harbor, I would receive a guarantee of trust from Miss Jiang Xue or another influential figure for a nobleman from Rosetta who had fallen on hard times. Now that the deal is done, we are even."

"Yes, I have already provided a credit guarantee for that illegitimate son of the Yagokoro family named Eirin through Yunzhong's channels. He can use Yunzhong's credit to post bounty requests in the mercenary guild in exchange for guards."

"Since Miss Jiang Xue has confirmed, then I have nothing more to say. I'll take my leave now, and you two can continue your conversation."

The believer, Hearn, rose, bowed, and made as if to leave.

"Wait, Hern."

"Lord Hern, please wait."

"?"

The believer turned around, her brows furrowed slightly, as if troubled.

"You guys, haven't you misunderstood something? About me."

“I think so.” Jiang Xue seemed to have come to her senses. She recalled the equally strange thought processes of this strange clansman in the past and nodded.

“Lord Hern, you are truly a… person who knows when to advance and retreat.” Salome seemed somewhat surprised, and at the same time, a little amused and exasperated.

“I am just a Gozan living in Thranheim. I know nothing about my ancestral land across the ocean, and I have never set foot there. I am even further away from the Sons of Earth who have long been extinct. You are right. I am a person who knows when to advance and when to retreat. There is undoubtedly a huge vortex between you, a vortex that will shatter you to pieces if you are not careful. So, my choice is obvious.”

For Mr. Hearn, who is always talking nonsense, it was easy to assume the identity of a wanderer now living in a foreign land, and he didn't mind continuing to play a Gozan native who grew up in Thranheim.

Especially after he noticed the pair of white jade-like dragon horns on the princess's head that were never there yesterday.

Hey, I've met someone in the same line of work.

"It's just a trivial trick. More than half of the survivors are the Sons of Earth who followed me back to Thranheim. Such a large number appearing on the continent of Thranheim will only cause unnecessary panic, or even war, which is not what we want to see now."

Seemingly noticing the nude woman's subtle gaze, Salome was happy to answer her question.

"Now, all the children of the earth have dragon horns and tails just like the Gozan people, except for their hair and skin color."

"So, you've returned to reclaim Thranheim, allied with the Gozan in the Far East, and the main force is still at sea?"

The believer offered a hypothetical scenario, admitting that he had become curious about the reasons for the return of these Sons of Earth.

The allure of going home is always irresistible.

"I think most of them embarked on this westward voyage with this kind of awareness."

His Highness Reinhardt seemed indifferent to this, but the maiden keenly noticed the dim look in his eyes.

In a murky mood hidden beneath the surface, the believer Hearn returned to his seat, carrying with him his initial questions.

"Your Highness Salome Reinhardt."

"Yes, Your Excellency Hern."

“I admit that even though I had no intention of getting involved in the deal between the Sons of Earth and the Gozan, I did come with doubts, and these doubts may concern the secrets of your Sons of Earth.”

"So? What is your choice?" Salome looked at her with hopeful eyes, her gaze intense.

“I don’t seem to lack an adventurous spirit, just like the profession I chose, don’t I?” The believer shrugged as if mocking herself.

“Then, Salome believes you may speak freely.” The princess of the Far East nodded slightly. “Even afterward, you still have no intention of getting involved in the ‘transaction’ between the Son of Earth and the people of Gozan. This is my promise to you, and also my personal way of repaying you for your kindness the other day.”

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. Your words and actions have corrected most of my past... outdated views about noble ladies like you."

"But we are all just a minority, aren't we?"

"Yes."

"Then I sincerely hope that I can answer your questions."

"I hope so."

After speaking, the believer pulled out three sketch papers from the subspace. Both of them had witnessed his methods of interfering with space, so there was no need to hide it anymore. He gently placed the plain-colored papers on the table and then moved them to each other. Each paper had a different portrait drawn on it.

As the princess from the Far East took the sketches, her delicate brows furrowed slightly, and she pondered for a moment, the believer asked softly.

"Your Highness Salome, may I ask if you know her?"

After a brief moment of contemplation, Salome Reinhardt raised her hand to remove the black veil she was wearing on her head, placed it on the table, and then took out the central portrait from the three portraits, placing it to one side of her cheek, facing the believer.

Jiang Xue's gaze swept over the three sketches, and she was slightly startled.

They were three still-fresh portraits, drawn by the artist's superb skill, lifelike and vivid. They depicted the face of a woman at three different stages: childhood, adolescence, and youth.

The one Salome chose was for a woman who was around 18 years old, a time when she was at the peak of her youth and beauty.

The girl in the painting is dressed in a simple white dress and wears a monocle. Her eyebrows and eyes exude a scholarly air, and she reveals a weariness that can be easily read even by those who view the portrait. She has unkempt gray hair that is casually draped over her shoulders, and her eyelids are half-closed, as if she is not very interested.

Judging from the portrait, she is not an outstanding young woman who is unforgettable. Instead, she looks like a young woman who has lost her youth due to the heavy workload in the research room—if you ignore the fact that her appearance is more than 80% similar to the Far Eastern princess in front of you.

Salome Reinhardt clearly noticed these things as well, which is why she placed the portrait of someone her age on one side of her face, as if to make it easier for the believer to compare.

"Your Excellency Hern, when was the last time you saw this woman?" Salome's expression was solemn, as if she was suppressing some unreadable emotions.

"In my dreams," the believer replied earnestly.

"..." Salome seemed to be taken aback by his answer. She was silent for a moment, then looked puzzled, "Lord Hern, I hope you are not joking with Salome."

“It’s true.” The believer nodded with a touch of melancholy. “I painted these pictures last night in the middle of the night. They originated from a dream I had last night. It’s worth mentioning that I have no talent for painting and have never made any effort in this area in the past eighteen years of my life.”

"Your painting skills are commendable," Jiang Xue commented after examining the other two portraits, "except for the content, which is somewhat puzzling."

“Those are not mine, they are hers.” The believer shook her head in denial, then pulled out several sheets of paper.

Their gazes then converged.

Those were no longer portraits, but distant views, cruel distant views.

A church perched on a cliff, a priest proclaiming judgment, a frenzied and disorderly crowd, a woman bound to a cross, an old woman weeping in the crowd, an angry but helpless youth, and torches being tossed into the air from the crowd...

It was an out-of-control execution by burning, filled with unspeakable slander and cruel atrocities, much like the witch hunts of the Dark Ages. They were finally frozen in one image, frozen in the raging fire—black dragon wings unfurled from the heart of the flames, blotting out the sky.

Salome examined the paintings for a long time, comparing them one by one. Finally, she put down the paper and sighed softly.

“Your Excellency Hern, I trust your character, so these paintings are not a prank you made on a whim.”

“So.” The believer raised an eyebrow.

"Therefore, I can only give you an assumption, a more reliable answer."

"All ears."

"We cannot determine which era these images you recorded in your dream came from. Perhaps it happened last night, or perhaps it ended long ago. Yes, without a doubt, it is a story that has ended, an unchangeable tragedy. Its heroine, if I'm not mistaken, should be a descendant of the Reinhardt family, in other words, my blood relative."

"Why do you say that? Is it simply because she looks like you?" the believer asked.

"Lord Hern... I don't know if you understand this term, but in the Reinhardt family bloodline, there exists a... very strong [dominant gene] that is inherited only through the maternal line. As a result, all the female descendants of the Rhine have an appearance that is highly similar to the source of that [dominant gene]—that woman."

“Wait, wait, [genes], okay, I understand that word. I’ve discovered that I have some fundamental misconceptions about the Earth Children civilization of the Tertiary period. Now, Your Highness Salome, please tell me exactly how far the Earth Children civilization of the Tertiary period had developed before its decline.”

"We're just one step away from astral colonization," the princess from the Far East replied succinctly. She was no longer worried that the young dragonman wouldn't understand the relevant vocabulary; he was far more knowledgeable than she had anticipated.

"understood."

The "believer" refers to the fact that he finally understood why the other fourteen divine creations of the Third Age were almost wiped out by the Son of Earth.

This technological gap is so huge, it's something the other fourteen factions can't catch up to by sacrificing lives.

However, even with the capability to explore extraterrestrial worlds, this civilization of the Earth Children ultimately went extinct in less than a century.

The day the heavens weep.

The day of revelation.

Recalling that pivotal moment in the history of this planet, the fog surrounding the official history of the Tertiary period grows even thicker.

"second question."

Coming to her senses, the believer held up two fingers and spoke softly.

"【Omnisiah】, what exactly is it?"

"...You really do know many secrets of the Yale Empire."

Salome seemed quite surprised this time, but she quickly suppressed this emotion and turned it into a sigh.

"Archaeological findings."

The believer answered truthfully, saying that it was indeed the result of archaeological research.

"...Now that you are familiar with the term 'Omnisiah,' with your abilities, it's only a matter of time before you figure out its origin."

"I focus more on results, and it would be good if some of the iterative trial and error process could be eliminated."

"Lord Hern, the term 'Omnesia' originally referred to an ancestor, a pioneer who lived and died at the end of the Second Era. He was one of the founders of the Third Era's industrial civilization. After the Day of Crying Heaven, the term came to represent a system, a system secretly developed by countless successors of Omnesia beneath the surface of the Third Era. It originated from a series of papers published by that pioneer during his lifetime, and it was a concept he advocated. It concerned the evolutionary direction of the entire Earth Child civilization, but because it was too horrifying, it was not adopted by the Rhine Royal Family during the Second Era, at least not during the Second Era."

"In other words, the Rhine royal family secretly adopted this theory and invested resources to put it into practice during the Third Age." The believer raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Salome readily admitted.

"for what?"

"Lord Hern, you should know the origin of divinely created species."

"Yes, fifteen creators, fifteen divine creatures, and we are their subjects on earth."

"But that pioneer did not think so. He devoted his life to studying how to sever the connection between the Creator and the divinely created species. In the end, he believed that the only way for the Children of Earth to break free from the shackles of the divinely created species was for the entire race to transform from carbon-based life to silicon-based life. In his published academic works, he called this evolutionary method 'Mechanical Ascension'."

……

Chapter 94 Clues

"Judging purely from the results, your research ended in failure, while the pioneer's ideas were the salvation of civilization."

The believer calmly asserted.

Facts speak louder than words. Numerous archaeological findings had already roughly reconstructed in his mind the process of the decline of the Earth Children civilization at the end of the Tertiary period.

Whether it's the chain reaction triggered by the cataclysmic crustal movement, the various viruses that have resurfaced from the genes of the Earth Children, or the sudden increase in the infant mortality rate... if we truly act according to the ideas of that Second Era pioneer named Omnesia and transform the entire race from carbon-based life to silicon-based life, then most of the disasters that followed the Day of Heavenly Cry could be easily resolved through scientific means.

The Earth Children civilization, which was just one step away from extraterrestrial migration, might not have perished at the end of the Third Age if it had accepted the Omnesian doctrine earlier and invested more resources.

"However, any pioneer's idea, if it is to be put into practice, requires a long process and bloodshed and sacrifice. Isn't that how all of our history has been written?" Salome replied calmly.

"Yes," the believer replied, neither confirming nor denying it.

"I don't think Lord Hern is interested in learning about the bloody history of a fallen mortal empire, buried between divine authority, royal power, and reformers. So I'll just gloss over it. You only need to understand that the Rhine royal family played the role of a balancer among these three. In the long history of the Third Age, the followers of the Omnesian doctrine gradually formed a new religion different from the faith of the Lord of Light. This is probably something that Omnesian himself never imagined when he was alive—he dedicated his life to leading civilization out of ignorance, but after his death, his doctrine, in an ideology that he was hostile to during his lifetime, was integrated into the civilization of the Sons of Earth."

"The Cult of Machines".

The believer picked up her teacup and took a sip. The image that flashed through her mind was of a group of metal clappers she had encountered deep in the northern border a few days ago when she was using the young police officer's corpse as a vessel. These clappers clearly had their technology skewed.

Steam technology is truly awe-inspiring.

The believer pondered whether or not to reveal this information to the Far Eastern princess before her—that a group of Earth Children still lived in a large ice cave in the northern border of Thranheim.

They may be the last group of Earthlings to survive the natural disasters at the end of the Tertiary period, and, sheltered by the harsh geographical conditions, have thrived in the world of Thranheim to this day.

Let's wait a bit. Her Highness the Princess clearly has more to say. He's always been good at reading people.

"Yes, the Mechanicus. In the long history of persecution, the successors of Omnesia eventually formed an ideology similar to that of their persecutors and began to rival the fundamentalists who believed in the Lord of Light. The Rhine royal family saw the enormous energy contained in the Industrial Revolution triggered by Omnesia's doctrine and began to secretly allocate resources to the Mechanicus, so that the emerging Mechanicus could gradually stand in opposition to the fundamentalists. In fact, among the direct members of the Rhine dynasty, there were both fundamentalists and Mechanicus believers."

"Princess Salome must be a faithful follower of the Radiant Lord."

The believer guessed casually.

"However, no, you are referring to my sister, Olivia Reinhardt, who is a true saint, while I am merely a less pure pan-fundamentalist."

Salome denied it with a wry smile, her expression somber.

The believer began to recall her memories, searching for information about Princess Olivia Reinhardt, but to no avail. She looked puzzled, wondering why the other woman spoke of her sister's name in that tone, as if she were referring to someone they both knew.

"You had actually met her before, and it was she who told me about your rescue of those sailors on the high seas during that storm."

"..."

The believer hesitated for a moment, then spoke softly.