Chapter 349: Star Admiral and the Mysterious Queen

Beiernadai frowned slightly and asked:

"Extremely high-level corruption? Does it involve matters Above the Sequence?"

This was not good news; corruption from Above the Sequence—even though he was already the Black Emperor—could very well corrupt him. Or rather, had he already been corrupted, which was why he had never returned revived?

Reydton nodded gently, confirming Beiernadai's question. He leaned back against his chair and spoke with a sigh:

"The corruption there belongs to the Original Moon."

"The Original Moon?"

"Is It an incarnation of some entity in the starry sky? Is that why nearly all orthodox and evil gods are hostile toward It? And similarly hostile to all orthodox and evil gods is the Mother Tree of Desire worshipped by the Rose School?"

Beiernadai seemed not particularly concerned about news of her old father, and instead began asking about information regarding the Original Moon and the Mother Tree of Desire.

Reydton nodded gently, then picked up the coffee on the table and took another sip, waiting for Beiernadai's next question.

After pondering for a moment, Beiernadai asked in a low voice:

"Can the 'Demon of Knowledge' resolve the corruption from the Original Moon?"

"The 'Demon of Knowledge'?"

Reydton rubbed his chin, murmured for a moment, then said:

"It should be possible, but the Wilderness of Knowledge is still sealed, and the characteristics of the Perfected are still on Steam. In the short term, It simply cannot appear."

"Sealed?" Beiernadai voiced her confusion, then asked again, "What is your view?"

Reydton looked at Beiernadai with some surprise, not expecting her to ask him so directly. He answered almost without hesitation: "The True Creator—if It could regain Its sanity and reclaim the first Blasphemy Slate, then It, mastering the Sea of Chaos, could resolve the corruption of the Original Moon."

"Or the Fool—after It reclaims Its authorities, It could likewise resolve the corruption of the Original Moon."

"What authorities does the Fool need to reclaim?"

Beiernadai pressed further.

Not considering the True Creator? Its reputation in this world truly is terrible, he sighed inwardly. Reydton chuckled and replied: "Mr. Door, A Meng, as well as Antigonus and Zarathu."

"..." Beiernadai fell silent for a moment. She even felt that this was more difficult than helping the True Creator regain Its sanity and obtaining the first Blasphemy Slate.

The Future, inside the captain's cabin.

Cattleya sat with a somewhat uneasy expression at a table laid over a nautical chart, a flat-bellied fountain pen still in her right hand. Beside her was a sheet of white paper covered in repeated doodles, as if she were deliberating over wording to write a letter.

My act of directly revealing information to the Queen might provoke the wrath of that gentleman, the "Fool." The wrath of a great existence is decidedly not something I can bear.

I hope it won't implicate the crew of the Future. Perhaps I need to make some preparations for possible contingencies.

Cattleya knitted her brows deeply and fell into thought. She did not regret telling the Mysterious Queen part of the information without having obtained permission; she was only worried that the resulting wrath would spread to the Future.

Just as she made a motion to put pen to paper, her inspiration was suddenly stirred. She quickly rose and looked toward the porthole nearby.

There, a radiance invisible to the vast majority of Beyonders surged in. This radiance had no physical substance; it seemed to be composed of stream after stream of vast, tangled information.

After surging into Cattleya's captain's cabin, these rays of light rapidly shrank and coalesced, reconstituting Beiernadai's body from within the vast, pure knowledge.

Cattleya stared blankly for a moment at the familiar figure before her. She even felt this scene was somewhat surreal. Her thoughts seemed to drift back to long ago, recalling those words she had never been able to forget: "Leave. Your fate is not with me."

Beiernadai looked at the somewhat dazed Cattleya before her, smiled faintly, and gave a small nod. As she slowly approached, she said, "You have grown a lot."

"Queen! You... you've been promoted to Sage?"

Cattleya pressed her lips together. The words of inquiry that had been lingering on her lips turned, the moment they came out, into a simple question tinged with concern.

Beiernadai nodded gently and replied:

"Yes. I participated in the previous Backlund Great Smog incident."

"The Backlund Great Smog incident? Wasn't that a tragedy created by a Witch of Despair? And this involved high-level powers as well?"

Cattleya asked in some confusion; this was far too different from the information she had learned.

"The Witch of Despair? She was only part of it. That incident was orchestrated by the Witch Cult in league with the Loen royal family and the Aurora Order. The purpose was likely to cover up certain traces."

"Their operation was very successful. The three great churches of Backlund have yet to discover any problems to this day."

Beiernadai spoke without any particular inflection in her voice.

Cattleya frowned slightly. She could roughly guess that the Mysterious Queen had participated in that incident and successfully resolved the parts involving the True Creator or the Primordial Witch. This must have been extremely dangerous, and she might even be resented or face retaliation.

After pondering for a moment, she spoke again: "It sounds as though that incident hasn't truly ended yet?"

"The surface-level problems have been resolved. As for the deeper issues, that depends on whether the three great churches can discover anything."

Beiernadai spoke with evident indifference, while simultaneously summoning an Invisible Servant from behind her. The servant held a bound book in its hands.

She reached out and took the book from the Invisible Servant's hands, rubbed the pad of her finger gently across the cover twice, then handed it to Cattleya before her.

"This is?" Cattleya reached out to receive it, looking at Beiernadai with a puzzled gaze.

"A diary. His diary."

"That gentleman, the 'Fool,' is collecting these diaries. I wish to use this to learn more information about him."

Beiernadai did not directly call Roselle "Father," nor did she use "He" to refer to him.

Cattleya parted her lips slightly, then quickly closed them. She had been about to ask how the other party knew these things, but connecting it to the letter she had written earlier, she quickly understood. The Queen had already gone to find Al, and only came to me after obtaining some information. This must be something that the gentleman, the "Fool," has already tacitly approved.

"Queen, I..."

"You have made great progress over the years. Though still somewhat immature, you can already be considered someone capable of standing on your own."

"In a while, come to Rasha. I have some things to give you. After that, I will head to the Fog Sea to search for a primordial island."

Beiernadai's voice seemed somewhat low, as if she herself did not know whether this was the right choice. He told me all this, hoping I could find that primordial island. Why does he think I can find a place that the Eternal Blazing Sun Church and the Steam Church could not?

As her thoughts drifted, her entire body suddenly became ethereal, dissolving into stream after stream of vast, tangled knowledge, transforming into a creature of pure information flow that surged away from the Future like a torrent.

"Can I..."

Cattleya stared blankly at the spot where Beiernadai's figure had vanished. The words she had wanted to ask—whether she could accompany the other party to the Fog Sea—ultimately never made it out of her mouth.

She pressed her lips together with some chagrin, then sat back down in her seat and opened the bound diary she held, beginning to read.

(End of this chapter)