684 – Utopian Ideal

Treant continues to read.

『God’s Voice was one of the Six Great Sages who sealed Foren, and a resident of the Utopian Ideal.』

The old world… the Utopian Ideal. I know that everyone was born somewhere, but it feels weird to hear about God’s Voice’s hometown.

『The Utopian Ideal possessed technology that the people of our world cannot comprehend, and so could partition the world into separate areas that did not intersect. The Six Great Sages were representatives of those partitioned worlds, while the Utopian Ideal is a term that encompasses all six.』

The six worlds… The description of the divine skills probably has to do with them.

【Divine skill [Human Realm]】
【Grants authority to rule the human world. Although the original power is lost, a great influence on the evolution path is conferred.】

I’m finally started to see how it all ties together.

But there’s one thing I’m curious about… How does the world I came from figure into this? It seems there’s no room for Earth in this story. I thought for sure it’d be connected somehow.

But there’s definitely something strange about this. God’s Voice appeared to understand my memories of my previous world, as well as the reason I had them. On top of that, God’s Voice professed to have come from the same world as me.

I guess it could have been a figure of speech… or God’s Voice could have been trying to mislead me. There’s no end to the amount of distrust I have for God’s Voice, but I also don’t know whether I can believe what Jornes wrote.

『The objective of God’s Voice is the destruction of the world through the revival of the Evil God Foren, and thus the revival of the Utopian Ideal. It seems the Utopian Ideal was used as a medium to seal Foren. For God’s Voice, the revival of Foren is secondary, and the true objective lies in the rebirth of the Utopian Ideal.』

In short, Foren was sealed away along with the Utopian Ideal…? Certainly, looking at the mural, it looks like Foren was ridiculously big, so that much might have been necessary.

『The Utopian Ideal is the land that God’s Voice yearns for. Since that is where their objective lies, it could be a weak point. If the rebirth of the Utopian Ideal were to become impossible, God’s Voice would have no reason to drive the world to destruction by reviving Foren.』

…This might be the most important information I’ve learnt so far. Until now, there had been too much of an imbalance of information that neither battle nor negotiation was realistically feasible. But, if I can obtain the last divine skill and use them to prevent the possibility of the Utopian Ideal being reborn, I should be able to bring God’s Voice’s plans to a deadlock. This could be a tremendous weapon.

『I am building a cathedral here, but this place used to be an ancient temple. The mural here depicts the Utopian Ideal, and is said to have been carved by the descendants of the Six Great Sages.』

Those descendants seem to have left ruins in a few places. Eldia’s castle on the Giant Tree Island was probably the work of one of those descendants too.

Like Jornes, Miia also recorded her information on God’s Voice on a stone slab. If I were to look around more, perhaps I could find more clues left behind by the Sages’ descendants or divine skill holders.

『Far below, at the bottom of the spiral staircase, lies the garden of God’s Voice. This garden is filled with monsters that have been created through the use of divine skills. God’s Voice has deprived those monsters of their intellect, and kept them in stock for a future era. If you need to level up or obtain special items, you may be tempted to break in. However, a minimum requirement to enter is to be able to fight Legendary monsters. Please pass this information on to the Saints of future generations.』

Oh, this was supposed to be the entrance? I have no idea how many thousands or tens of thousands of years this world or the Forest of Ngai have been going on. I guess God’s Voice has been using it the same way in every era. Though if God’s Voice found what’s recorded here inconvenient, then they would have any number of ways of destroying it.

『I am skilled in wit and combat. I am aware that I am a figure whose name will not fade even after countless years. Soon, I will lose my individuality and become a puppet of God’s Voice. I pray that the one who reads this will defeat me and set this world free.』

Having said that much, treant turns around to face me.

『…That is all, master-dono. Do you think it’ll be useful?』

『Yeah. I had thought that Jornes might have been a bad person, but I think it’s okay for us to trust her.』

The cursed armour she made didn’t give the best impression, but looking at her revelation stone, it seems she was trying to outwit God’s Voice in her own way.

…I can’t judge whether or not she was a good person by just looking at these two records. A hundred years later, I might be remembered as the evil dragon who slew the Hero and Saint.

A sudden memories comes to mind. It was when I first met Lilixira. She said that there was a place like this beneath her Holy Country of Liarm.

『In the underground sanctuary of my country, the most important secrets of Holy God-sama are kept. Once the matter of the fake Ardesian princess is over, I shall invite you to visit. You have a right to know. From the start, I planned to invite you there as part of your reward. You should find the answers to many of your questions in that place.』

『It was only one possibility. At that time, I was already planning to betray you.』

…It seems that Lilixira really was considering joining forces with me to try and outwit God’s Voice. However, no matter what you’re planning, once God’s Voice steps in it’s over. Overwhelmingly inferior in power, she was forced to play along with what God’s Voice wanted.

『I’ll definitely get revenge for you too, Lilixira.』

As I mutter that, a crashing sound resounds from outside. It sounded like a building collapsing.

This is probably a cathedral of the Holy Country of Liarm… Perhaps this place is under attack from one of the [Spirit Servants]. We should get outside as soon as possible.