The world controlled by dice [Western Fantasy]

Monday, July 9.

It's the start of a new week.

As the God's birthday in October was getting closer and closer, Sirius felt a storm was coming, but it was hard for him to say where this feeling came from.

He arrived at the office ahead of time, waiting for Dorothea to come over, and at the same time he kept thinking about it.

Everything seems to have gradually become clear, about the past, about the truth, about the hiding place of the group of shadow believers, about the history and fragments of history in the past few decades or more.

...Of course, they still need to demonstrate many of the details, and some possible future developments are still in progress.

But, at the end of the day, they're edging closer to the heart of the Shadow Cultist's machinations.

The only problem is, they're not sure what the shadow worshipers are going to do on the god's birthday (or at that time).

... and the other thing is, "Shadow".

The news from the Praia family is still coming in a steady stream.They can be sure that the "shadow" is always looming around Fisher's world.

Occasionally when he approaches, it will cause some terrible disasters, just like the shadows hanging over the world in the true sense; occasionally when he stays away, Fisher's world will temporarily settle down and maintain a period of peace.

Anyway, he never really left.He may be waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity... a moment when the power of fate is highlighted.

In addition to the "shadow" problem, because Amoys' power has completely disappeared, the north has been quite unstable recently.There was some chaos in Middleton... This chaos was mixed with the chaos caused by "Shadow", and the two phases were superimposed, which was a headache.

Siles is still awaiting the results of Garrett Gielgud's investigation.He will still go to the Deep Sea Dreamland today, hoping to gain something.

The Land of Never Embers and the city of Ramifa.

The changes in various places have almost echoed each other.They were quite comfortable in La Mifa City, at least keeping up with the shadow believers, but in Land of Eternity and other places, they could only rely on the power of the Praia family to support them.

Kansas and Middleton are slightly better, at least close.But for those countries further west of the Never Emberlands, they can only do their best.

In fact, the No. [-] puppet and the several ghosts were not in Lamifa City recently.The No. [-] puppet went to a certain country west of the Neverland, while the ghosts were distributed in different corners of Fisher's world.

They tried their best to prevent certain tragedies from happening in the first place, and they did prevent many, although they could not prevent some of them.

...But after all, this is not a cure for the symptoms, the most important thing is the Outer God hovering around Fisher's world.

Siles has also been thinking about this problem-how to fight the "shadow", how to become a god-of course he has actually thought about this problem a long time ago.He plans to try it out sometime.

It can only be said that this is something that must be done by himself.Qin Duo couldn't help on this matter, rather, Qin Duo was afraid of making trouble for himself, and didn't want to know at all. After all, secrets, truth, and information were all within the scope of Siles' "authority".

Siles stared at the eight-petal rose paper in front of him, thinking about it.

"Shadow" is one thing, shadow believers are quite another.

Another problem he was thinking about was that it seemed that relying solely on him, Qin Duo, and their companions, with so many dozen or twenty people, it was impossible for them to fight against the large number of shadow believers.

According to some information obtained before, at least a few thousand shadow believers gathered in Lamifa City.

What he means is that they seem to have to mobilize and invite more revelators to participate.

The church of the past, the historical society, and more other hidden revelations, they all have to try to inform these people about a disaster that may happen this year, and then hope that they will also participate, at least help, and arrest those suspicious people stand up.

Siles didn't want any to slip through the cracks.

This is likely to be something they need to do in the future.

Of course, Siles actually hoped that before the shadow believers actually took action, they would have found the hiding place of this group of people and controlled all the shadow believers.

But this approach also has certain risks, because after the shadow believers are caught, they are actually unlikely to know what the shadow believers are going to do.

Therefore, Siles always maintains the illusion of dullness.He tends to lure snakes out of their lairs, and confirms the schemes of the Shadow Cultists.

… The calm of the past month has been somewhat unsettling.He couldn't help thinking that.

This is the status quo, and the past and the future are two very different things.

Those shadow believers who emerged because of the escape of the "shadow" are the problems they need to solve in the future.

However, this question is relatively easy. After all, the Praia family has been monitoring the overall situation in Fisher's world. They only need to focus on those places where problems have occurred.

As for the past, their current investigation progress is actually quite good.They slowly unraveled some of the mysteries associated with the Cultists of the Shadow, especially Ebenezer Const.

However, whether this answer will come in handy at the last minute is another unknown.

Exploring the truth and solving problems seem to be two parallel lines that have not yet intersected.

Siles was lost in thought.He's been used to thinking like this lately.

But not long after, five minutes before twelve o'clock, Dorothea Grant appeared.

"Good afternoon, Professor." She said, and then put the book in her hand in front of Sirius, "This is the collection of books from the Fillmore family. It is said to be from the Sardinian Empire in the Silent Era... I remember you Ever wrote a treatise on the wandering poets of the Silent Sardinian Empire?"

"Yes, last year." Siles said while flipping through the book carefully.

This is indeed an ancient book, and the Fillmore family is not lying on this point.The binding of this book is very old-fashioned, with gorgeous and complicated exquisite patterns all over the entire cover, which is a binding technique that will not be used in this era.

Siles noticed that the cover and spine of this book even use the gold process of pinching gold, which makes the whole book look more exquisite and expensive.

Dorothea explained: "Grandpa and the Fillmore family have inquired about this book. This book is a book that their family has collected during the Silence Period, and it was not published during the Silence Period. Therefore, they actually also It is not very clear what the content of this book is.

"...Of course, this book does appear to be very collectible, and the appearance alone is enough to fascinate the world. However, I am really curious about what is written in it.

"According to the Fillmore family, they got it from a private collector who was a resident of Tauchitia, the capital of the Sardinian Empire, and owed a huge debt for some reason. That's why I sold this collection of books.

"The writing here is not in Kansas, nor in any language within the Sardinian Empire. The collector claims that the language was lost when he got the book.

"... In the past period of time, Grandpa also found several linguists. They said that there may be a way to decipher this strange language, but it may take a long time.

"Honestly speaking, professor, I even suspect that this may be from the book of Shadow Chronicles, but what Kellogg said in the club before makes me think this guess is unlikely."

What Kellogg said at the club, that is, she discovered that the relics, historical materials, and documents related to the Shadow Age may be fake.

Kellogg had spoken privately with Herman Grove about the matter, and had also informed a professor of history about her findings.This is a huge scam.

He had even heard a professor raise the issue angrily when Siles went to Dean Hearst's private gathering.

The impact of this discovery has gradually fermented within the academic community. Kellogg also mentioned it to others during a certain club activity, which surprised other students.

Therefore, although Dorothea was a little suspicious that this might be an ancient book from the Shadow Age, she was not sure about it.

In fact, it cannot be said that all the literature records, books and materials from or related to the Shadow Period have not been left behind.

Some fictional literature of the novel type still remains.In addition, some of the joking, half-truth, and tabloid-like writings such as Jan Calder-Qiuqiu have been handed down.

The existence of these materials also allows people to have a glimpse of what happened in the Shadow Period.

... Siles stared at the ancient book in front of him.

He knew that the book Dorothea brought had completely unfamiliar characters, so he specially used the wooden body of the puppet today.And through the vision of the puppet, he did understand the content of the book.

Dorothea's guess was right, this book did come from the Shadow Period.

This is the inspiration manuscript of a well-known playwright in the Shadow Period. The content does not involve the specific things that happened in the Shadow Period, but simply writes his own thoughts, so he was lucky to escape and survives to this day.

... On the page that Siles turned to at random, the playwright mentioned that he once met an audience who came from afar and wanted to see his play, but this audience unfortunately missed the end. a show.

The title of that play was "Molten Star."

The young playwright at the time was sorry for this, and it haunted him in later years.

He originally planned to stop his creation and devote himself to other industries, but perhaps it was the regret of the audience and many other reasons that made him unable to forget his original dream and love for the drama industry.

"...Maybe I was born for this. Maybe I'm obsessed with this, with the chaos of the world, just because I try to record these things in my own way. That's all."

So the playwright, after working in various industries for a while, resolutely returned to his old profession in his 30s and once again wrote plays, and devoted his life to this .

He said that he was stubborn and extreme when he was young, and wrote many cynical scripts. When he started writing again in middle age, he would hardly change his passionate nature.

He always had a lot of prejudice against the gods, and the followers of those gods--"prejudice" he emphasized very simply and frankly, but he didn't want to correct it because "the goddamn believers deserve the prejudice."

Therefore, he does not like others to pay attention to himself, he only hopes that his audience pays attention to his works, because "any gaze may affect its essence".

In his old age he began to organize his manuscripts, and selected some of them for publication.The purpose of his publishing is not to make money, but just to "make a souvenir for his whole life", so the number of published books is quite rare, and most of them are given away by him.

And this one is the only one, the "Hardcover Commemorative Edition".

"...

"I thought about what is memorable about my life, and finally came to the conclusion that my life, like this era, is a pile of shit.

"But it's my shit anyway, so I honor it with a nice binding, and no one can blame me for wasting time and money on shit.

"...the best part of this era is that everyone has something to worry about, and human beings don't have so much compassion for others.

"So, everyone has their own little space, private and free, where they can do whatever they want—for example, mess with my shitty life. No one else cares about you anyway.

"But perhaps, this is also the worst part of this era.

"Because, we are becoming numb and indifferent. We are watching the death of this world with cold eyes, and no one is willing to lend a helping hand at this time.

"I hope that at some point in the future, maybe people will be willing to do this. But I'm just here, quietly collecting bits and pieces of my own life, indulging in my own little world and unable to extricate myself.

"... I glimpse the death of the world, and at one moment, I forget about it all, and pretend I don't know it. It's just that in some momentary, dazed moments, I think, maybe I should do order something.

"For our future.

"...I don't know who will see the contents of this manuscript in the end. To be honest, I may not be that curious about this. It's just a little curiosity.

"I imagined that I was like the audience I met when I was young, rushing to watch a scene, but missed the last chance when I didn't know anything about it.

"As for me, I think, I will not be able to see the scene I am most looking forward to. The future of this world, of human beings in this world.

"..."

Siles fixed his eyes on the last sentence, and then sighed softly in his heart.

He maintained a calm expression, not letting Dorothea see the turmoil in his heart.He closed the book again, pretending to regret that he didn't know what it said.

Dorothea also sighed regretfully.But she is not disappointed, after all, this strange text is difficult to decipher.

Rather, it was only because the book came from the Fillmore family that she paid so much attention to it.

They chatted about the recent events in Ramifa City, but they haven't gained any new information so far.Siles did tell Dorothea about the accident in the Theater District 34 years ago.

"...In other words, because someone was giving birth in the theater at that time, it happened to make that scene fit the elements of that past history?" Dorothea said in surprise, "Cannibalism, grandchildren, pregnancy Production...indeed, these three elements are already in place."

Siles nodded and said, "That's why they reproduced this ceremony. Otherwise, the power of the enlightener would not be so easily touched."

Dorothea sighed a little: "Who would have guessed this matter... The appearance of a child and the death of another person are actually accompanied by it."

"Death and life," Sirius whispered.

Dorothea sighed, then said goodbye to Sirius and left.Siles still has classes in the afternoon, so he can't spend too long on this issue.

However, even after class, he would inevitably think of the playwright's manuscript that he had just read.

The class in the afternoon is "Development of Modern Literature", which involves the history of literary development in the early period of Silence and Fog.And he had just read related texts from the more distant Shadow Age.

Some of Fischer's world historians believe that they are still under the influence of the Shadow Period, and the so-called "Shadow Period-Silence Period-Mist Period" is not very strict.

The Birth of the Gods and the Faith have a length of nearly ten thousand years, while the Empire lasted nearly 5000 years; in contrast, the thousand years of the Shadow Period, the 600 years of the Silence Period, and the 400 years of the Fog Period to the present, plus Only then will it be possible to compare with the previous three eras.

These scholars combined the three eras of the Shadow Period, the Silence Period and the Fog Period, and collectively referred to them as the "Dusk and Night of the World", or the Dark Night Period for short.

In fact, when Kellogg mentioned the Shadow Chronicle in the club not long ago, he talked to them about science. "Evening Night Period" is a title that only the historians of the Shadow Period will use internally.

They believe that Fisher's world has always been in invisible darkness, and it has not been able to get rid of this "shadow" since the Shadow Period... From then on, and until now, humans in Fisher's world have been in this so-called Twilight Period .

Of course, this statement cannot be recognized by everyone, but Siles believes that what they actually said is not wrong.

People always tend to cut the years close to the era they live in carefully and carefully, as if everything can have an extremely profound and complicated impact on history.

But in fact, when people are in the long river of time, they will find that the influence of some really important things is always brewing in the long years.

...For the people of the future, what will the 401st year of the Mist Age mean?

The beginning of a new era?

Siles hoped so.

At night, he came to the dreamland of the deep sea and glanced at the dream bubble on the isolated island.

... One thing worth mentioning is that after he has been to the dreams of many humans in more distant areas, there are already a lot of dream plants on the isolated island. I will go there.

But this time, after careful identification, he found two dream bubbles that he needed to go to—Hal Goss, and Garrett Gielgud.

The latter may have come to inform him of the results of Middleton's investigation, but the dream bubble of Hal Goss, a young boy living in Biddle City, surprised him a little.

Hal Goss, and some of his friends, elders, etc., will provide Mr. Ghost with some noteworthy information, or rumors circulating in the Everlands. Depending on the validity of the content, Mr. Ghost will provide some compensation give them.

In the past period of time, Mr. Ghost has also provided them with a lot of money.

What is Hal Goss here for this time?Those deaths in Biddle City?

He couldn't help feeling a little curious, and first touched Hal's dream bubble.

"...Ah! Good evening, Mr. Phantom!" Hal Goss seemed taken aback, but his tone soon became lighter, as if he was very happy to see Mr. Phantom in his dream.

"Good evening," said Mr. Ghost, almost gently.

"I happen to have something to share with you." Hal said, "Do you know what happened in Biddle City recently?"

"Heard. Many explorers died, didn't they?"

"Yes. A dozen or so explorers had accidents one after another in September and last month." Hal nodded again and again, and then he said, "However, in recent days, this kind of death seems to have stopped suddenly, and there has been no more deaths. There are more dead."

Mr. Ghost nodded thoughtfully.He raised his eyes and looked around, and found that they were in the square of Biddle City.But it was daytime.

Noticing Mr. Ghost's gaze, Hal explained, "There was a quarrel here during the day! That's what I wanted to tell you about."

"quarrel?"

"Yes, because... after the death of the last explorer, the matter seemed to end suddenly. Therefore, some people suspect that it was the last deceased who brought bad luck. The companions or family members of the previous deceased had a relationship with the last There was a confrontation between the companions of the deceased," Hal explained.

Mr. Phantom was stunned, and he asked with great interest: "So, did their quarrel come to an end?"

"No." Hal said, "...they seem to have pushed the matter to another person."

Mr. Phantom was slightly taken aback.

Hal showed a slightly tangled expression, and he didn't seem to believe what these people said: "That's right, the companion of the last deceased. They said that there was a man named Hurd Dreyson.

"They said it was this man who brought bad luck to their team and caused the death of the last man and the deaths of others. They also mentioned an incident that had happened before, saying that someone was even chasing this man named Hurd people.

"...So, if those people are looking for trouble, they should go to this Hurd.

"Do you think what they say makes sense?"

Mr. Phantom was silent for a moment, and then said: "You can't simply push one thing to a certain person and say that everything is his responsibility...it won't help."

Hal Goss nodded half-understanding.

Mr. Ghost didn't expect, or rather, he didn't even hope, that Howl knew that.

Going back to the matter itself, when Qindo went to Biddle City a few days ago, he had already learned a lot of relevant news from Hurd. However, the latest progress of the incident brought by Hal is also ironic. .

Hurd now appears to be a target, and his investigation in Biddle City may be struggling.This is indeed a problem.

At least Mr. Phantom is still very interested in the truth about the deaths of these people.

He thought for a while, then asked Hal: "About this matter itself, do you know any relevant information?"

"Well... the thing I know is that they've been dying since early September, and people didn't think the deaths were connected at first, thinking they were each messing with something not so good. President Biddle City That's what happens."

Mr. Phantom asked thoughtfully: "So, what is the opportunity for people to connect these deaths together?"

Hal thought about it carefully for a while, and then suddenly remembered: "It's because, when they died, they all had a hat around them."

Mr. Phantom couldn't help but narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Some people seem to think that this hat symbolizes something... special meaning. My father also complained to me that the shops have stopped selling hats recently, but the sun in Biddle City is still very hot. We usually only go out. Cover your face with a veil.

"...they say that whoever wears the hat might be chosen to be the next to die.

"However, these are some previous rumors...Because no one has died in the past few days, people have turned their attention to the last deceased instead of paying attention to the hat or not."

Mr. Ghost nodded, and he asked, "Are there any special personnel in Biddle City who are responsible for investigating these death cases?"

"Not really." Hal shook his head, "Because...you know, in Biddle City, death is the least rare."

Mr. Phantom couldn't help but sighed helplessly.

"Besides the hat, do these dead people have anything in common?" asked Mr. Ghost again.

Hal scratched his cheek, thought for a while, and said, "I'm not sure if this is true, but from my point of view... After those people died, my friends and I went to see them too." Turned around near the place of death.

"...Then, we discovered that the plants nearby seem to be growing very vigorously. There is a desert near Biddle City. I have rarely seen that kind of forest and plants, but...

"What impresses me the most is that one of the dead, that is, the last dead, died in the hotel, and there was a small dying tree next to the hotel.

"It was planted there by a friend of mine. He has been paying attention to the condition of the small tree. A day or two before the deceased died, he was still complaining to me that the small tree was dying, but the first few days God, he told me again, the tree has come to life.

"He still thinks it's unbelievable... In fact, I also think it's unbelievable. I thought the tree was completely hopeless."

Hal showed a puzzled expression, and he added: "But the grown-ups think it's normal, and think it's just because the weather has cooled down, so the saplings came back to life... I don't know if there is a reason for this relation."

Mr. Ghost listened quietly, then said, "That's a crucial detail, Hal, you're very attentive."

Hal was a little delighted to be praised, and he smirked a little embarrassedly.

For Mr. Ghost, he really found this information very interesting.Combined with what Alfonso mentioned before, the nameless forest in the southwest of the land of no embers, the whole thing is even more interesting.

Trisley's power (or Pessonari's power) is spreading across the Land of Eternal Embers.

This trend may have been around for a long time, but it's only recently that it really took off.With the escape of... "Shadow"?

Perhaps the "self-reincarnation" ritual also played a role, because with the help of this ritual, people are more willing and courageous to explore those dangerous areas, so they are more likely to be exposed to pollution.

Perhaps the most critical point of Trisley's pollution is that the god itself has a certain prejudice against humans, and his power also carries this subtle tendency.

...and this is not good news.Trisley's power is not as harmless as Akamala's power, which just makes people sleep well.

Mr. Ghost sighed slightly in his heart.

He bid farewell to Howl, left his dream, and asked the puppet to send him a reward before returning to the island.

He thought of Herd Dreyson, so he also paid special attention to Herd's dream plant, but Herd's dream bubble did not appear.So instead, he touched Garrett Gielgud's dream.

"Good evening," said Mr. Ghost. "Any progress?"

When Mr. Ghost appeared, Garrett stared blankly at the sea.It's hard to say what emotion was in his gaze, maybe it was just a habitual gaze, because Middleton people are too used to staring at the sea.

"...A lot of things have happened in Middleton recently." Garrett answered irrelevantly. "Many people went crazy, many people died, and many people were displaced... It seems that something happened invisibly."

Because Amoys has completely fallen.Thoroughly.Mr. Ghost said in his heart.

His soul will no longer protect this land, this country, this world.Like his brothers and sisters, he has returned to the original, to the nothingness and emptiness of the essence.

Perhaps he had fallen a long time ago, but the remains of his dead soul still lingered on the Sea of ​​Foley, trying his best to maintain that fragile and cracked shield.

He has stood silently in the cold sea and the howling north wind for so many years.And no one knows his merits.

... So Mr. Ghost blinked and suddenly changed his mind a little."Maybe something actually happened," he said.

Garrett froze for a moment.

"The ocean has never betrayed the world." Mr. Ghost said simply.

Garrett seemed to be hit by something at that moment.His expression changed suddenly, he stared at Mr. Ghost almost in astonishment, and asked in disbelief: "What do you know?!"

"I can't reveal more," said Mr. Ghost.

This seemed to irritate Garrett, who gasped twice, and said loudly, "You can't keep it that way!"

And Mr. Phantom—how should I describe his gaze, which seems calm, helpless, and contains more complicated and deposited emotions—he said: "But I can't."

Garrett suddenly calmed down again.His eyes once again looked at the sea, the sea of ​​Fuliou he was familiar with.The sea to the north.

"...The Sea of ​​Foley has changed recently." Garrett murmured suddenly, "Only old sailors and old captains can discover this. It's not that the shipping routes, sea water, or fish schools have changed in any way.

"It was a sudden, empty feeling, as if you were staring at the waves lapping against the cabin, but at some point, the amplitude, the regularity, the sound, suddenly changed and became...not the same as before. Same.

"... People seem to be crazy. They hate each other, as if they have lost something precious. But in a blink of an eye, they become normal again. Or, in this age, what is Is it normal?

"I don't know what you mean by that sentence... Or, I also know, I guess... But we can't do anything... This world..."

He seems to be planning to add something after this word, an adjective, or a complaint or a curse.But he just stopped there, continuing to look at the sea he knew—his sea—with that usual gaze.

Finally, he whispered, "This world."

When he was sailing in this ocean, there was nothing around him but only the waves and his boat to accompany him; When he was in the ocean, he realized with such astonishment...

The ocean of his dreams—his homeland, his world.It's the only thing he has.

This constitutes his soul, constitutes his life, constitutes his life... It has witnessed his birth, and perhaps eventually, it will also witness his death.

He looks at his sea.

"...and the Basil tribe betrayed Middleton."

Garrett said suddenly.

Mr. Ghost was slightly taken aback.Maybe he had expected this answer, but maybe... this answer made him feel a slight sigh.

"Is there any proof?" he said calmly at last.

That kind of calmness and composure seemed to be inlaid on Mr. Ghost's face.Garrett felt a little irritated, but he knew it was time to be calm.

He took a deep breath, and then slowly said: "Let me investigate the places where we were trapped, what ships passed by, or what ships came later... In short, those who obviously passed by, But there were no affected ships."

Mr. Ghost nodded.

The reason he asked Garrett to look into it was simply because it was a trap.

Garrett and the others knew the legends on the sea, and after they used the ritual of "returning themselves" to temporarily make themselves forget those legends, they really left the area shrouded in "shadows".

So, it is this "knowing" that traps themselves in it.

That leaves two possibilities, either someone is targeting them on purpose, or it's a random trap.

They knew that other ships on the Folio had experienced the same thing, so the former possibility could be ruled out.Then only the latter possibility remains.

And since it is a random trap aimed at all sailors and ships at sea (they must know the relevant legends when they go to sea), then those ships that passed the trap but did not have any accidents are very suspicious.

Don't these ships know the relevant rumors that happened at sea before going to sea?This is obviously not in line with Middleton's tradition, and it is very deliberate.

…Mr. Phantom originally did not expect to find out the culprit so easily, but the other party seemed to have clearly exposed his feet.

Garrett said: "The answer is simple, the boats that passed through those areas without being trapped were all Basil's boats.

"After the charts of the Sea of ​​Folio appeared, these tribes also participated in these explorations. Of course, their actions were bolder and tougher than ours, and there were some conflicts with each other.

"In contrast, the attitude of the Basil tribe seems a little vague. They did participate, but they didn't seem to be that enthusiastic. They just let their boats go here and there... In the end, it was so.

"They passed through those areas, but nothing happened, as if they were simply doing a patrol on the ocean."

Garrett's tone was ironic.

Mr. Ghost wanted to say something, but ended up keeping