Chapter 514: The “Hypothesis of the Spirits”
Nightingale appeared from behind him the moment Yorko left the study.
“Who are Mrs. Rother and Miss Kingfisher?” Her voice was careful, precise. “What’s the famous stunt?”
“That is a genuinely difficult question.” Roland walked to the window and stood with his back to her, pretending to think—actually preventing her from reading his expression. “Two women I was acquainted with. I don’t know them well, didn’t know their real names. That’s how noble society works—everything for show, everyone hypocritical, and it’s all forgotten afterward.”
“But he said both of them are missing you dearly.”
“They’re not missing me.” Roland kept his voice even. “They’re missing my gold royals, my status, my title. I was still a prince then. After I was sent to Border Town, the contact simply stopped. If they actually missed me, they wouldn’t have gone cold so quickly.” He paused, then added: “As for the famous stunt—it’s somewhat complicated. Yorko can make women fall for him through technique—the skill in his hands, which is why they call him Magic Hand. I used to be curious. I don’t need any of it now, do I?”
He turned around. Nightingale looked away quickly. A faint blush had crept across her cheeks. “I… I suppose not.”
Safe. He let out a quiet breath. He could have asked Nightingale to wait outside from the start, but that would have wounded her trust—and Sylvie was still conducting a sweep of the entire palace, the gem list was still missing from where it should be, and he’d rather keep her close than have a gap in his guard.
After dinner, Roland finally met Thunder, the great explorer of the Fjords.
The man had wrapped himself from head to toe—hood, gauze around the neck, coat layered over coat. The guards might have refused him entry altogether if Nightingale had not gone to retrieve him and Margaret personally.
Inside the study, Thunder shed the outer layers and bowed to Roland. “I’ve heard your name from Margaret and Her Highness Tilly for some time. My respected Roland Wimbledon, Your Majesty—thank you for taking care of Lightning.”
“I’d like to thank you for taking care of Tilly as well.” Roland watched him as he spoke. “I heard you helped her considerably after she moved to Sleeping Island.”
Thunder had the short blonde hair typical of Fjords locals—the same as Lightning. Brown-skinned, stocky, with rugged features and thick sideburns that blurred into the stubble covering half his face and chin. He carried energy in his voice; a man who spent most of his life at sea. The silent, cautious figure who had crept into the room bore no resemblance to the one speaking now.
“Don’t mention it. She was a great help to my expeditions.” Thunder smiled. “Without her, I doubt the fleet would have pushed past the Shadow Islands. And I wouldn’t have reached the sea beyond—or seen the Sealine.”
“The Sealine?” Roland leaned forward. “What’s that?”
“A wall formed by seawater that boats can still cross freely.” Thunder described it without embellishment: seawater that defied gravity, forming step-like height differences that allowed ships to sail vertically upward and pass over smoothly.
The image was incredible. Roland felt something turn over in his chest—a slow wave of disorientation that he had to work to suppress. He would have dismissed the claim from anyone else. But this was the most famous explorer alive.
What it implies: gravity here is distorted. A localized gravitational field—unique, asymmetric. But I can’t reach any conclusions yet. The principle of gravity formation is still unclear. Given that magic saturates this world, it’s possible magic causes the Sealine. But I sense the answer is deeper than that.
The planet looked like Earth at a glance. He’d been using that resemblance as a working hypothesis—carbon-based organisms, similar atmospheric conditions, recognizable biology. The laws of matter appeared broadly compatible. Not metaphysics. Life traces back to the speed and direction of atomic spin, so precisely calibrated that any change in the constants would unravel everything. As a wise man once put it: life is a hand of flush—it ceases to exist the moment the cards are reshuffled. He’d even speculated that the previous world had contained magic, simply undiscovered for lack of witches as terminals.
“I heard you can build steam-powered boats without sails,” Thunder said, after giving Roland time to process. “Faster than any sailing ship. I want to ask you to build one for me—so I can sail against current and wind both. Money is no obstacle. Name your price.”
Roland was quiet for a moment. “Gold royals aren’t the issue. No—I’ll use the best technology available and charge you only the cost of production.”
“Your Majesty, you don’t have to—”
“Listen.” Roland interrupted. “This is no longer a private matter. Exploring the unknown is as significant as changing the fate of mankind.” He held the explorer’s gaze. “I’ll support your work completely. One condition: send word immediately whenever you find something new.”
They worked through details for another half an hour, until Thunder seemed to notice that Roland’s concentration had drifted. He took his leave politely, setting a time for their next meeting.
Roland remained at the desk, frowning.
“What’s wrong?” Nightingale’s voice held concern. “You’ve gone pale.”
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “A bad feeling.”
“About what?”
“Do you know about the spirits?”
She considered. “The tiny glowing beings in the epic biographies? The ones that bring moisture and healing to all things?”
“No—the ones with pointed ears and human-like bodies. Elegant, long-lived, forest-dwelling. Fading from the world.”
Nightingale thought longer. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“I’ve only read about them in a storybook.” Roland spoke slowly, working through the shape of the thing. “A fictional race that once spread across the entire continent. But as mankind rose, they were driven into the deep forests—on the verge of extinction. Intelligent, ancient, and utterly outnumbered. Facing a human coalition a hundred times their size, they seemed defenseless. They retreated into desolate mountains. They fell behind. Their own technology was eventually taken over by mankind, and they became… remnants.”
He stopped, then said it plainly: “We’re just like the spirits now.”
He had always thought of himself as part of mankind—and mankind, in his thinking, was the ascendant species. But the framing only held if you stood at the center of history and looked outward. Shift the vantage point, and the picture inverted. Humanity was the minority here. They were cornered by the demons into one sliver of continent, oblivious to what lay beyond their walls. What had once seemed like a dominant species looked, from the outside, exactly like the spirits of that old story—retreating, falling behind, becoming extinct.
That’s also why I will fully support Thunder. If mankind did not look beyond their corner—did not actively survey the world they lived in—they could only end like the spirits: diminished by circumstance and rendered irrelevant.
Both Battles of Divine Will had consumed nearly a thousand years. He hoped it wasn’t already too late.
Chapter 514: The “Hypothesis of the Spirits”
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Nightingale appeared from behind him once Yorko left the study.
“Who are Mrs. Rother and Miss Kingfisher? What’s the famous stunt?”
“Uh, this is a really tough question to answer.” Roland walked towards the window and pretended to be contemplating, but he was actually preventing Nightingale from seeing his expression. “Just two ladies whom I was acquainted with. I don’t know them very well, and I don’t even know their real names. This is the way of interactions among the nobles. They’re always hypocritical. Everything’s simply for show most of the time and they forget all about it after that.”
“But he said both of them are missing you dearly.”
“Ahem… about that, they’re not missing me, but my gold royals, status, and power. After all, I was still a prince back then. So they lost contact with me after I was assigned to Border Town. They would not be so cold to me if they really missed me, would they?”
Nightingale could only differentiate the truth of the statement, but she could not directly determine the truth of the matter. Thus, Roland decided to use the art of misleading and dispelled Nightingale’s doubt with winding statements. Not to mention that he indeed had nothing to do with this nonsense, so he was not at all stressed about it. “Regarding the famous stunt… It’s a little bit more complicated. Simply put, Yorko can make a woman fall for him with the skills within his hands, as he is named the ‘Magic Hand’. I used to be curious because I knew nothing about it, but I don’t need any of these skills now, do I?”
He turned around and looked at Nightingale. However, she quickly avoided the eye contact, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. “I, I guess,” she said.
“Phew… I should be safe now.” Roland silently sighed in relief. Even though he could always ask Nightingale to wait outside in the beginning, it would not only hurt her trust but also put him in potential danger. After all, Sylvie was still inspecting the entire palace, and the gem list was still missing; it was better to be safe than sorry.
…
After dinner, Roland finally got to meet with Thunder, the great explorer from the Fjords.
His body was solidly wrapped up, with his head in a hood and a gauze wrapped around his neck. The guards would probably not have let them pass with the way he was dressed if Nightingale had not personally picked him and Margaret up.
Thunder took off his coat and gauze after creeping into the study. He respectfully bowed to Roland and said, “I’ve heard of your name from Margaret and Her Highness Tilly a while ago. My respected Roland Wimbledon, Your Majesty, thank you for taking care of Lightning.”
“I’d like to thank you for taking care of Tilly as well,” Roland excitedly answered, observing him from head to toe. “I heard that you’ve helped her a lot since she moved to Sleeping Island.”
Thunder had the typical short blonde-colored hair of Fjords locals, just like Lightning. He was brown-skinned and had a stocky body, rugged-looking appearance, and thick sideburns that were conjoined with the stubbles covering half of his face and his chin. His tone was full of energy, and he clearly spent most of his time on the sea. He was completely different from when he first walked into the room without making even the slightest noise.
“Don’t mention it. She was a great help to my adventures. If it wasn’t for her help, I’m afraid that the fleet would have been limited to exploring the
Shadow Islands.” Thunder smiled and said, “And, of course, I wouldn’t have been able to reach the sea that I’ve never seen before and witness the existence of Sealine.”
“Sealine?” Roland curiously asked, “What’s that?”
“A wall that’s formed by the sea water that still allows the boats to cross over freely.” Thunder narrated what he had seen in detail. “It’s also what brings me here.”
Roland was shocked to hear that sea water could overcome gravity and form into ladder-like height differences, allowing boats to sail vertically upwards and cross over smoothly. It sounded incredible! He felt a great wave of emotion in his heart; it would be difficult for him to believe any of these if he had not heard them from the most famous explorer, Thunder.
It implied that the gravity here was distorted, forming a unique gravitational field. However, Roland was not able to make any conclusion at this time, as the principle of gravity formation was still unclear. Since magic power was everywhere in this world, he could only guess that perhaps magic causing the formation of Sealine.
However, he could faintly feel in his heart that the answer was more profound than he could imagine.
The planet looked very similar to Earth at a glance, so he quickly referred to the theories he learned as scientific enlightenment and guidance. This was not a surprise, since the existence of human beings and carbon-based organisms led to a rough judgement: The law of substances here was basically similar to the previous universe.
It was not metaphysics. The existence of life could be traced back to the speed and direction of atomic spin; it was so precise that none of the machines in the world could be compared. Any change in the constants would cause life to fall apart. Just like a wise man once said, “Life is just like a set of flush in hand, so it’ll no longer be there once the cards are shuffled.”
He even speculated that the past world might also contain magic, but it had never been discovered due to the lack of witches as terminals.
“I heard that you can make steam-powered boats without sails that are faster than any sailing ship,” Thunder continued after Roland completely processed the news. “Therefore, I’d like to ask for your help to build such a ship for me, so that I can sail against the current and the sea wind. Money is not a problem. Please feel free to state your price.”
Roland said after a while, “Regarding this matter, gold royals are indeed not a problem… No worries, I’ll put the best technology into the ship construction and charge you only the cost of production.”
“Your Majesty, no, you don’t have to…”
“Listen. It’s no longer your personal matter. Exploring the unknowns of the world is as significant as changing the fate of mankind,” Roland interrupted and said. “I’ll fully support your adventure with only one condition— remember to update me at once with any new discovery.”
The discussion of the follow-up details continued for another half an hour. However, Thunder probably noticed that it was very difficult for Roland to settle down and concentrate, so he left after setting the next appointment time. Afterwards, Roland continued to sit in front of the desk, frowning and feeling unsettled.
“What’s the matter?” Nightingale anxiously asked. “You look pale.”
“Nothing…” Roland shook his head and sighed. “I just have a bad feeling about this.”
“What feelings?”
“Do you know about the spirits?”
“Uh, do you mean those tiny, glowing, heavenly individuals that could bring moisture and recovery to all things on earth in the epic biography?”
“No, I’m talking about the creatures with pointed ears and human-like bodies, who are elegant, long-lived, and generally prefer to live in the forest.”
Nightingale contemplated for a moment and said, “I’ve never heard of them.”
“I’ve only read about them in a storybook,” Roland slowly explained. “These fictional species basically spread their footprints through the entire continent. However, they were forced to hide in the deep forest after the rise of mankind, putting them on the verge of extinction. As intelligent as they were, they were far less in number compared to the latecomers. Facing the Coalition of mankind that was a hundred times larger than they were, the spirits appeared to be totally defenseless, trapped themselves within the deserted mountains, and became increasingly outdated. Their technology was eventually taken over by mankind, and they ended up as pets… What do you think?”
He continued without waiting for Nightingale’s answer, “We’re just like the spirits now.”
As a member of mankind himself, Roland had totally neglected this, but now he shuddered at that thought. Although mankind was indeed a thriving race comparing to the spirits, it did not mean that they would always thrive the most among the intelligent creatures. Nowadays, mankind was actually the minority, and they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. They were trapped by the demons in a corner of the continent and were totally oblivious to the outside world.
He decided to fully support Thunder in exploring the new maritime space for this reason as well. If mankind was not more foresighted and did not actively assess their situation within the world they were in, they could only be eliminated like the spirits.
“Both Battles of Divine Will wasted nearly a thousand years. Hopefully, it’s not too late for all this,” Roland thought to himself.