Chapter 456 – Use Value and Trust

000

“Then… I’ll tell you something I know first, so listen up.”

As Schrödinger says so, he turns to the three humans sitting in front of him.

Both Raila and Artis were smirking, thinking about how to disassemble and study Schrödinger until now, but when the story is about to begin, they look at Schrödinger with a serious expression.

You can be relieved of that part, because the two of them are not idiots.

“Including Maxwell, who created me, there are four executives in the Regressor. Since Maxwell died, there are now three of them.”

“Maxwell, Laplace. And… Descartes. I don’t know the name of the last one.”

When Layla responds, Artis narrows her eyes and waits for Schrödinger’s next story.

“The last one is a woman called ‘Darwin’. I don’t know if that’s her real name.”

“Darwin… Darwin. She’s a name I’ve heard of somewhere.”

As Layla muses on Schrödinger’s words, Artis responds by adjusting her own glasses.

“Darwin is her real name. Her first and last name is Darwin Sleinen.”

“Slainen…?”

When Cleon turns to Artis for her answer her, Artis nods her head.

“Yes. That’s right, a scholar from the same family as me. About 700 years ago. For me, my grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather’s eldest aunt.

“That’s right! Darwin Slinen…! A genius from the Academy who studied evolution!”

“But, 700 years ago. Could she be an elf?”

When Cleon asks that question, Artis shakes her head.

“Unfortunately. She’s a pure human being. If she was a half-race or half-life, I could have lived a little longer.”

“…”

She shrugs her shoulders and answers, and Cleon shuts her mouth for a moment before asking her again.

“Did she know anything about her?”

“Of course. Darwin Seinen was the greatest scientist ever from the Slainen family before me. As a bonus, it seems that he was a great beauty, so I think he received a lot of sponsorship offers from aristocrats. Well. Thanks to that, we The family lives happily ever after.”

Whoops, Artis adjusts her glasses once more, but the corner of her mouth her doesn’t smile at all.

“You know her, Cleon. You, I suppose, asked if I knew she was a regressor of hers?”

“Ah. If she knew, I just wanted to hear why she did n’t tell me.”

“Then I’ll tell you. Did she know that Darwin was a member of the Regressor? Of course she did. Then why did n’t she answer? Because she really did n’t know that.”

Artis is so imposing, she replies that she did n’t tell me because she did n’t know anything about her.

“Don’t get me wrong. I know as much as everyone else knows, but even so, it’s from 700 years ago. The Slainen family have cut ties with her after finding out she’s a regressor. I’ve never met them myself either He is like an ancestor who comes out. For me, he is.”

After saying that, he talked while looking at Cleon quietly.

“So, please don’t doubt me. I hate regressors too.”

“…Ah. Of course. I didn’t doubt it. I just had my doubts.”

When Cleon replies, Layla clears her throat, dissolving the strange tension between the two.

“What, what, anyway. It’s amazing that Darwin is a regressor. It’s even more amazing that he’s alive now.”

“Did you say evolution? It’s the first study I’ve heard of.”

To that question, Lila nodded her head in response.

“Yes, of course. To be precise, evolutionary science is the study of Darwin alone in history. Its purpose is to study the forced evolution of humans, physically and mentally. The study of changing humans from humans into something higher. Will.”

“…Something suspicious. Is it like a ritual from a previous life?”

“Right. But usually those who study such things are science if it’s science, magic if it’s magic. Compared to relying on one side, she said she repeated human experiments that combined science and magic. Now, she’s completely out of it… But then… Was a time when such things were allowed.”

As her fellow researcher, Darwin, who repeated research that ignored human ethics and morality, Lyla frowned as if she felt disgust for her.

“That’s why she doesn’t appear very often in superficial history. She’s a name that inevitably catches the eye once in the part of biology if you’re interested in academics.”

“Well. It was a name I had never heard before entering the academy.”

When Lila agrees with Artis, Schrödinger looks at the two and talks.

“That, she was such a great grandmother… That old woman…”

“I know about Darwin, but that’s not all, is it?”

“Muh, of course!”

Schrödinger answered with a trembling voice, as if he thought it would be taken care of if it was judged unnecessary by Cleon.

“I was in the ‘Coffin of Return’, the home of the regressors where Maxwell was. So, I know where it is.”

“Finally, some eye-opening information has come out.”

Lila’s eyes lit up when she heard Schrödinger speak.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard of the name of the Coffin of Return. Where is it and how can I get there?”

“Did you know that there are many mountains in the Eastern country? Among them, there is a legend that the corpse of a giant earth dragon became a mountain range, ‘Saryong Mountains’.”

At Schrödinger’s words, Artis immediately moved on the table and, as before, floated a map made of illusions.

Previously, only this area was displayed, but if you change the magnification, it will change to a map of the entire Eastern country.

And even in that eastern country, to the north of Asteris, the capital, there was a mountain range that was so curved and rugged that it was difficult for people to step into it.

Its length began at the border of the East and the capital, and continued all the way north of Eratus. In other words, it goes to the eastern end of the eastern country.

Artis speaks while pointing at the mountain range with the pen she was holding.

“This is the Dragon Mountain Range.”

“Here! It’s the heart part!”

While saying that, Schrödinger pointed with his tail to the northwest of the royal road.

Even from the dragon’s body, it was near the heart.

“I think, aren’t they aiming for the Dragon Heart buried in the Dragon Mountain? With the Dragon Heart’s tremendous magical power, you can do anything.”

“I see… That makes sense.”

At Schrödinger’s words, Lyla nodded her head as if it were plausible, but Artis spoke while narrowing her eyes.

“It is not the corpse of the ‘dragon’ that is buried under the Seryong Mountains.”

“…So, are you saying the legend is wrong?”

“Yes. Legends can sometimes be a great clue to archaeologists, but sometimes they create prejudices and get in the way of finding out the truth.”

At some point, she took her cigarette out of her pocket on her chest and put it in her mouth, as if searching for her lighter in her pocket her.

He watches as the tip of his cigarette catches fire with a spark that says, “Hwareuk.”

A small spark from Cleon’s index finger lit her cigarette her, and Artis continued her story with a smirk.

“The thing buried under the Seryong Mountains is a machine. A mechanical structure built in the primeval world. Over the course of countless years -or, artificially. Stones and soil piled up on top of the wreckage, turning it into a mountain.”

“Um, what’s buried there, is it a machine?”
Not to mention Cleon, she couldn’t believe even Lyla.

That would be the case, too, because if what was really beneath it was a machine, it was a very gigantic structure.

Even in the kingdom of the Sun King, which was the most technologically advanced of the ancient civilizations of the succession world, it was impossible to create a structure of that level.

“The Dragon Mountain Range is the most untouched place in the East. Of course, the number of buried artifacts must be the largest… There are plenty of elements that archaeologists can keep an eye on. The stakes are too high, most of them fail.”

After Artis said that, she inhaled the smoke deep into her lungs once, then exhaled loudly as she spoke.

“My father also lost his life while researching the Dragon Mountain Range. At that time, what he inherited from me was my father’s note that the people in the same investigation team had barely saved.”

“…”

Cleon looks at Artis for a moment at her words, and Artis smiles and replies.

“Well. I think a little bit that there might be a regressor involved. It was a place where people’s lives became as light as a feather, so I think they prepared for death. That person too. Anyway, in my father’s notebook, my father risked his life. There was information about the Seryong Mountains that I found out. A giant mechanical snake exists under the piled rocks of the mountain range.”

“Huge, mechanical snake… It’s made for what purpose…”

When Cleon says that, Artis blinks her eyes and asks Cleon.

“… Wait, you can laugh at this now. What an archaeologist believes is the notes left by his father his, and not confirmed by himself. Is it the general consensus that what’s still buried down there is the dragon’s Corpse?”

When Artis reproached herself, Cleon looked at her and replied.

“…Do you want me to smile?”

“…”

At Cleon’s answer her, which had no hint of laughter at all, Artis shut her mouth for a moment.

“I believe what you said. Because you believe so. Besides, as a regressor, a relic from the primordial world would be more meaningful than a dragon corpse. If you think so, it makes sense that their base is there.”

At Cleon’s answer, Artis quietly adjusted his glasses to her.

“What. That’s right.”

Her short reply her, but for some reason, seeing her averting her eyes a little, her Lila spoke with her sigh.

“What are you ashamed of?

“No… Yes. I’m sorry.”

When Cleon tilted his head at the story of the two, Schrödinger opened his mouth.

“Uh, anyway! I’m judged to be useful with this, right?”

“Well. That’s right. At least I think it’s important to know where the home base of the regressors is. Once the work here is over, we can attack directly.”

When Layla responds to Schrödinger’s confirmation, the stuffed toy homunculus breathes a sigh of relief, then gets cold when the cotton comes out.

“But don’t you know more? Talking about it now gives a better impression than talking about it later thinking ‘Come to think of it!'”

Let’s talk while Lila presses her fan through Schrödinger’s gap, Cleon picks up Schrödinger and talks to her Lila.

“Stop it. We have to leave this guy to Quon to fix it.”

“Without letting me investigate inside!”

“There’s no way that repair and investigation are the same.”

When Lila cries out in displeasure, Cleon responds briefly as if it were natural and gets up from her seat her.

“Are you digging the wilderness starting tomorrow?”
“That’s right. I’ve prepared everything for him. It’s thanks to the map you brought.”

After answering Cleon’s question, Artis gets up from his seat and approaches Cleon.

Although Cleon is a little uneasy, he quickly steps away from her before she slams her in the face.

As if the act was amusing, Artis burst into laughter.

“Don’t be so wary, Cleon. I won’t do anything rude like that anymore.”

“… Is it.”

When Cleon or Artis stopped quietly and smiled, probably feeling that he was not lying, Artis extinguished the cigarette he was holding in his mouth with a portable ashtray and spoke.

“Thank you.”

“Is it a map? Well, I thought it would be over sooner than that.”

However, contrary to Cleon’s expectations, Artis shook his head from side to side before talking.

“No. For believing in my story.”

“…”

“I became an archaeologist. I jumped out of the academy and came to the eastern country… All to prove that my father’s notes were not wrong. Exploring the Dead Dragon Mountains is dangerous, so I still have to ask for permission from the Beauty Painter. I didn’t get it… But if it’s this, it might be possible.”

As Artis said, she held out her hand to Cleon.

She must have felt that she was asking for a handshake, so when Cleon held her hand her, Attis responded with a smile like Cleon did.

“At that time, I really want you to help me. To check what is buried in the Dead Dragon Mountains… And to stop the regressors.”

“—Of course.”

The two hands swayed slightly up and down.

Layla looked at her with her chin on her chin and spoke.

“No. It’s not like you’re kicked out of the academy, you’re really kicked out.”

“Well- that’s what it is!”

And, at the same time, she tugged at Cleon’s arm her.

Atis’s lips touched Cleon’s cheek, which had been pulled by a sudden betrayal.

As soon as the bitter scent of her cigarette her brushed her nose her, Cleon looked at her with a blank expression on her face.

“Ah~ Ti~ S~!!”

With Lyla’s hellish voice, Artis speaks as she falls away from Cleon.

“This is a kiss of thanks!”

She, like her mischievous laughing girl, runs away from Lila.

“Magic swordsman hyung… You… You’re pretty.”

Schrödinger, with a slightly respectful tone, praised it while holding it in Cleon’s hand.

001

Both Sasha and Amelia were asleep early, probably because today’s expedition was a little tiring.

If Layla is still chasing Attis, she must be returning to the tent.

Cleon and Quon sit side by side quietly inside the tent, watching Quon sew for Schrödinger.

“Hey, there’s a homunculus like this. For some reason, it reminds me of Innis, which Lyla made at the academy.”

“Ah. Me too.”

When Quon smiled and talked, Cleon also nodded.

By now, I wonder if the academy is doing well while protecting the mansion without Layla.

That she was living while helping Beatrix was a story she had heard from Layla and Bea herself.

It’s popular with male students, so there were some who approached me even knowing that it was a homunculus, but it couldn’t be because all of them had ‘Papa’. It seemed like he was vehemently refusing it.

“…Besides Innis, I met and broke up with a lot of people… I think I met a lot more people than when I was living as an ordinary adventurer in Elessia.”

“No matter what you do. Elessia is a rural area. There were few opportunities to go far.”

“Yeah. …But, if this kind of trip continues in the future, you’ll meet and break up with other people again, right?”

At Quon’s words, Cleon could only nod once more.

The relationship at Elesia, the relationship at the academy. And a bond in the royal capital. The fact that all those ties could not be together forever, now Quon knew very well.

It wasn’t that I hated it, but it was a bit sad that we couldn’t avoid the breakup that started from meeting.

“…Ah, sorry. Cleon. Ahaha…”

Quon smiled wryly as if he was worried that he might have said something to calm the atmosphere.

However, Cleon shook his head as he saw such a Quon.

“No. It’s okay. It’s always possible to listen to such a story. It’s a colleague.”

“—Yeah. Thank you. But it’s really okay. Just a little bit, how are the friends I made at the academy… I wonder if the Sisters of Elessia are in good health… I just thought of things like that .”

Sending a letter to confirm their safety would be a way, but the current Cleon and Quon party were in a state where the kingdom had issued a wanted order.

Of course, if you send a letter to those in the capital, you will be caught on the way.

In a situation where there is no way to do this, if Cleon is thinking hard-

“Okay. Are you going to be okay with this?”

At some point, Quon, who had finished sewing, lifted the Schrödinger in his hand.

“Ohhh! I’m fine! The cotton doesn’t even come out!”

Schrödinger flapped his wings and soared happily.

“Thank you priest sister! With this, I’m completely resurrected!”

“What is possible for you who have been fully resurrected?”
When Cleon asks Schrödinger such a question with pure doubt, Schrödinger blinks and answers.

“…Can you catch mice and bugs…”

“Is it a cat…”

Cleon shakes his head while smiling bitterly at Schrödinger’s answer.

“Shall we make a torso later when the time comes? Then maybe we can really move like a cat?”

When Kuon talked like he had a good idea, Schrödinger also spun around and got on top of Cleon’s head, then nodded to him.

“That’s a brilliant idea! But I’d prefer a humanoid if possible…”

“Eh? But the cat is cute.”

Schrödinger secretly expressed his wish to his, but Quon tilted his head and replied as if she was talking about something.

“…That’s right~ Cats are cute~”

“Yes, yes. Well then, I think it would be best for us to take a break as well. I said that we will be doing excavation work from early in the morning tomorrow.”

Saying that, Kuon and Cleon got up from their seats and glanced at the main camp.

‘…It seems like you’re always up late, camp assistants… When are you sleeping?’

When you think about something you shouldn’t think about, you shake your head at the fact that you can’t help it even if you think about it.

Cleon gets up from her seat and heads for his tent with the Schrödinger on his head her.

“Wait. Am I sleeping with you!?”

“Of course. Don’t go somewhere else even by mistake.”

After Cleon nailed Schrödinger like that, she decided to change her clothes and end the day.

002

“Mr…Mr. Brother!”

Late at night, Cleon opened his eyes after tossing and turning at the sound in his ears her.

I naturally frowned at the fact that his sleep was disturbed by her, but I saw Schrödinger staring at me with a quiet, serious expression right in front of me.

“…Someone’s outside the tent. I don’t need to sleep, so I’ve been watching for a while… I guess no one noticed.”

“Which one is he?”

“…Well, I don’t know. Human or not… Maybe an artificial creature… I was walking around the camp looking at something.”

Cleon stands up at those words.

When it comes to artificial life, the first thing that comes to mind is the one that Laplace controlled, called the Bhopal Rabbit, whom they dealt with two days ago.

After Cleon nodded, he left the tent with Carly Burn, who was sleeping softly, around his waist her.

Then- there, as Schrödinger said, someone was seen wearing a robe and trying to look inside from the outside of the tent.

The figure of Robe stiffens Cleon as soon as she sees her.

However, when Cleon approached like the wind and grabbed his arm her to prevent the figure from escaping, the aftermath blew the hood of the robe off.

-The moment he saw the person inside, Cleon’s eyes widened.

Red-brown hair, dark blue eyes.

The long hair hidden under the robe came loose and came down to the ground.

“Ah♡ It’s been a long time since we met, so it’s intense. Papa♡”

Wearing a cute frilled maid outfit, she was talking to Cleon while smiling.

And the face of her was expressionless.