Paladin of the End Chapter 3

Book01-Chapter03

Note: All of this was machine translated, there is no guarantee that the translation is 100% correct. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

TL:Uselessno4 TLC and editor:Silver

3

There was an angel in front of me.

He was a young Caucasian boy with a good complexion, deep emerald green eyes, and curly chestnut-colored hair.

“………. What the, is that me?”

In a desk located in the corner of the temple, I found an old hand-mirror.

I was glad that I could finally confirm my appearance, but I was cuter than I thought I’d be.

“Well,”

I’m still a child, so I didn’t know how much of this cuteness will remain when I grow up.

Everyone said that cuteness was at 100% when in childhood.

Even a man with a grim beard would look cute when you go over their baby album.

“…….Um.”

I put the hand-mirror back in its original place.

I proceeded to clench my hand and open it. Clench and open it.

This small, plump and tender hands.

It was my hands.

…… One year has passed since that incident.

I accepted my present name and body on that day, the conflicting feeling I had operating this body has rapidly reduced since then.

The feelings of moving my former body have faded away. These small hands and feet are mine now. This body and my consciousness gradually synchronized with it other.

Although I’m a little unbalanced, I learned how to walk. However, I was still having trouble speaking.

For the last year, I repeatedly practiced my walking, and I concentrated on the conversations between Marie and the others while trying to remember how to pronounce words.

Even so, I still fall down from time to time. I wonder if it’s because my head is a little heavy for my small body?

Perhaps it’s because my muscles, sense of balance, and field of vision have yet to mature.

In addition, my pain tolerance is still weak, and I  naturally cried 「Wah wah」 when I fall down.

However, I’m making progress little by little.

Though it’s only progressing as an infant, progress is still progress.

I need to advance from crying and crawling, to be ready for preschool and kindergarten.

Therefore, I’ll had to tackle the next issue soon.

I have decided to live in this world.

So I first needed to build up a strong body, and then start learning the necessary things one by one.

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“Fumu, you want to learn ….. letters?”

I was sitting in a small room somewhere inside the temple.

There was a small wooden chair, a somewhat decent writing desk, and an alcove carved into the wall, and a comfortable looking bed in the room.

In front of me was a grandpa with an aquiline nose and fiery-looking eyes, who was folding his arms while stroking his chin.

His  transparent body was covered by a loose-fitting robe.

His body was like a mist or gas that couldn’t be touched. Maybe you could call it a spirit body?

To put it simply, he was a ghost. The ghost.

“Yes. Please, Gus.”

He was called Gus. But, his real name seemed to be Augustus, but it was too long, so everyone just called him by his nickname.

Right now, I was asking him to teach me about the letters.

Of course, I intended to learn more about this world so I could compare it to my former one.

However, since I was currently a young child with a limited vocabulary I would most likely get an answer befitting of one

For example.

Hearing a child asking “Why does the sun shine?”, would an adult start speaking about nuclear fusion theory, astronomy, and physics?

Most likely the adult would respond with, “The sun does his best to shine warmly for the sake of everyone” with a jovial tone.

Actually, I remembered asking the same question about light, only to have the matter be bushed aside.

Basically, it’s still too early for me to be asking those questions.

With that in mind, I have to accumulate as much knowledge as I can from my conversation partners, so I straightened my seating posture in anticipation of Gus’s answer.

“Fuuーmu, letters. Letters. I think that it wouldn’t be profitable for you yet. In fact, you’re still too young to worry about them.”

“But, I’m interested in them.”

“It’s too early.”

「Shishi」, I fail my arms in a very bothersome manner.

Unlike the somewhat helpful Mummy Marie and the somewhat caring Skeleton Brad, the Ghost Gus was somewhat indifferent towards me.

He is extremely cold-hearted and uncaring, and whenever I asked for something he would always refuse in a really irritating manner.

He was arrogant, eccentric, and a little distant …. but, if you ask who was the smartest between the three, then it was certainly him.

I could gain more than just letters from him.

“But, I want to learn.”

“So noisy.”

“Neー! I want to learnー! P-L-E-A-S-E!!”

Therefore, I kept complaining like a little kid.

And throwing tantrums.

…… This childish behavior was similar to a child asking their parent to spoil them.

It was somewhat nostalgic and a little fun.

“Ne! Ne ne ne ne! Please, Gus! P-L-E-A-S-E!! P-L-E-A-S-E!!!”

My performance right now truly resembled a child’s, if I do say so myself.

There are many aspects of my spirit I can draw out with this body.

“……… Ahー, OK! I understand, I understand.”

Gus looks at me while sighing, while mumbling something about it being impossible to win against a fussy child.

“Yes!!! I really want to learn letters.”

“Uhh.”

I really didn’t understand the letters of this world.

“Umm, well then.”

As Gus extend his hand towards the alcove in the wall, causing one of the books to float towards us.

He had telekinetic powers?

Well, ghost exists here so I really shouldn’t be surprised by other supernatural phenomena

“First of all, you need to learn how to pronounce the letters.”

He turned to a page with that supposedly had the alphabet written on it.

But,

“Unn? Is this correct.”

“Correct? What are you questioning?”

“I already know this”

I could already understand this.

For over a year, I’ve been spending my time looking at the complex engravings, drawings, and scriptures in this temple, while listening in on the conversations of my three caretakers.

I was easily able to apply the various words and pronunciations from their conversations to the text in front of me.

Since the pronunciation of 「e」 appeared quite frequently in the language, I was able to guess the meanings of each l symbol.

So I was able to read.

“……….. Wha?”

Gus stares at me with his mouth agape.

“Capable of reading already……… this sentence, read it.”

“‘Fragrant petals, blown by the wind brilliantly scattering in the distance. This world changes, just as my life’ …..right?”

Nothing to it.

“…… Who taught you this, was it Brad or Marie?”

“That’s not it. I listen to everyone talking, as well looking at the writing on the wall, and I just come up with it myself.”

There’s not much to do living in this temple, so I had a lot of time to kill. Since I had the time I tried to figure out the puzzle that lined the walls.

“……. Will.”

Though Gus looked lost in thought for a moment, before he began speaking in a serious tone.

“What is it that you’d like to learn then?”

“I want to know about those complex and beautiful characters engraved into the wall.”

As I was deciphering the words on the temple wall, I came across the group of letters that I assumed were a part of this world’s alphabet.

I simply thought that they were the more complex symbols mixed in with the scripture.

I don’t understand. If they aren’t there to be read, then are they simply decoration…..

” Those are the 《Words of Creation》, the magic words of ancient times.”

“Magic, creation”

……. Did you just connect creation with magic?

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“Hmm. where should I start….”

“From the beginning?”

It’s better that he start from the beginning.

Fortunately, I was still young and my current body has a really good memory. If not, no matter how many times I heard it I probably wouldn’t be able to remember it all.

“Let’s see, this is gonna be a long story. A long long long long time ago, at the beginning of time, the world had not yet taken shape, and only a large vortex of mana existed. It was similar to an iron kettle and contained the forces of order and chaos within it.”

…… I didn’t expect him to go into the story of creation.

“D-Does it start that far back?”

“Yes, that is where it all begins.”

But, Gus was dead serious.

“In the midst of Chaos, the first God appeared. The God proclaimed 『There must be land』. Then, the mana in contact with the God’s feet became the earth. The mana above his head simultaneously became the sky. That was how the sky and earth were separated. Though the God’s name was never recorded, he was dubbed the God of Creation”

This mythos……  isn’t it kinda similar to the world creation of Greek Mythology.

“Then the God of Creation went on to forge the sun and the moon as a means to separated day and night. Next, he collected all the water and separated the sea and land from one another. Then fire, the wind, and the trees were born. In addition, animals, men, and other Gods came into being. Satisfied with the beautiful world in which he created the god spoke only one world 『Good』. If it is 『Good』 so to must there be 『Evil』. Thus, the heavens and the netherworld came to be, along with malice and the Evil Gods. Though the God of Creation tried to undo what was done, it was already too late as not even he could retract the words that were already spoken. The Evil Gods took the opportunity to fatally injure the God of Creation, resulting in the creation of the concepts of life and death. And so began the Era of Gods …..”

Gus stopped talking and seemed to take a breathe

“Engraved into this walls are the 《Words of Creation》, the magic language of ancient times.”

So everything is indeed connected.

“In other words, these symbols created the world?”

“Aye, that’s correct. This symbols ….. in other words these letters carry great power.”

Power. ….. Power.

“What are they able to do?”

“Fumu, well ….”

Gus carelessly moved his finger in the air.

A mysterious light appeared on his fingertip and left traces in the air that formed into a pair of unique symbols.

With a final flick of his wrist, the symbols were complete.

“Wow!”

I was taken aback by the spectacle .

The  symbols that were drawn in the mid-air, suddenly become a blazing red flame.

The flame burnt brightly in the air. The heat was also properly transmitted. It really was the genuine flame.

“See now?”

After saying that, Gus then muttered a phrase in a musical chant.

Causing the blazing fire to disappear completely as if everything had been an illusion.

I sat there intently watching as if I was in a trance.

Magic. Real magic, with no tricks.

In this world there is magic.

Wonderful. Amazing, you say?

….. There are ghosts, moving skeletons, and mummies, but I classified horror and fantasy in different categories.

“…… Do you understand? The characters that I draw were 『Existence』 and 『Flame』, thus causing a flame to burst into existence. To erase the flames I spoke the words 『Erase』『Flame』, and the fire went out.《Words Of Creation》, are popularly known as 《Magic》,  the 《Ancient Language of Magic》”

I was reminded of  《Magic》 from computer games, and of somewhat old-fashioned fantasy novels spook of  《Magic》.

Though it’s not something achievable by consuming a set amount of mana points, nor could you go about it carelessly as it surely contained many mysteries.

The  atmosphere in this dark stone room was suddenly appropriate for an aquiline-nosed ghost to speak of the mysteries of magic.

“However, these  《Words of Creation》 were deemed inconvenient. Since they are too powerful, they can’t be used in the general writings and conversations. Even the God of Creation lost his life to the Evil Gods due to a slip of the tongue.”

Aah, that’s for sure.

If every time I wrote a word a fire would break out, then I’d never be able to write again.

Forget developing civilizations, everyday life would be inconvenienced to the extreme.

“That is why Enlight, the God of Knowledge, thoughtfully picked 5 vowels and 20 consonants to form a new language. The 《Mortal Language》 was established and the 《Words of Creation》 were thrown out;  the letters and pronunciations were mostly destroyed as to prevent their power from being unintentionally unleashed.

I see.

If you compare it to Japanese, then the  《Words of Creation》 would be the Kanji. Kanji that could explode if you wrote incorrectly.

Therefore the Wise God destroyed it and created kana in its place….. Well, the  《Mortal Language》 lacked distinct syllabic characters, and its phoneme characters closely resembled the English alphabet.

Although the languages had the same root, the more symbolistic characters were left out of the causal conversation.

The Kanji and Kana were never mixed

“What you can read is the 《Mortal Language》, it’s impossible for you to read the 《Words of Creation》, which is the great magic language of ancient times, the symbol of the Gods. The words engraved in this temple were purposefully altered to negate any effect they might have.

I see. The original letters were purposely damaged to keep their power in check while they were carved into the walls.

After hearing the story, I somehow understand ….. the reason for the altered 《Words of Creation》.

“The 《Words of Creation》 and the 《Worldly Language》 are the closest things to the Gods. Since they are related to the gods, they were carved into this temple as a way to honor them. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

I gave a large nod.

It was quite the convincing talk.

“ー Fumu, well then , Will. Do you know why mere words carry such power?”

Gus asked that question with a large grin.

Hmm, Gus was probably expecting my immediate answer……

“Is it because language is the thing that defines all of life?”

I remember that I read that somewhere, it was an idea that came from my former world.

For example, 『Chair』 despite what shape may take or the material it’s made of isn’t considered a 『Four-legged Wooden Stool』. It still falls into the same category as 『Chair』.

In addition, we don’t recognize  『Four Rods』 with 『Circle Board On Top Of It』, as a 『Table』 even though it has a similar number of legs and a board.

Also, when we see a person sitting in a chair, it’s not seen as 『Unity Between Men and Wood』 neither do we recognize it as simply  『Man』 and 『Chair』.

Of course, if you intended to look at it from a different point of view, 『Four Rods』 with 『One Circle Board』, could also be described as a 『Assembly of a lot of wood fiber』.

It is possible to distinguish 『Chairs』 from each other, even though they came from the same category, by calling them  『That Chair』 or 『This Chair』.

In any case, we give labels to the ambiguous and chaotic things in the world and separate them so that they are easier to recognize. It’s not possible to live without doing so.

Just like in the Myth of Creation from before, words have the power to separate the world from ambiguousness and chaos.

Although it was rather long, it was the answer I decided to give Gus….

“Erm, although various chairs are not the same as one another, we still consider them chairs. Although a chair is made from wood, it is different from a desk that was made from the same wood. But, what is the difference between the desk and the chair? When you’re small enough,  a chair can be used like the desk. However, a chair is not a desk, neither is a desk a chair. The reason being that a word is used to divide the two. Therefore, the power to define the world exist within words……. Erm, something like that?”

Though the question was kinda vague, and I could have asked him to be more specific, I felt that that was the answer.

There were still various ideas inside my head, but I still can’t express them since my vocabulary was still rather lacking.

As I thought,

“…………..”

Gus seemed to be really surprised. He stared at me with bulging eyes and his mouth keep opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Chapter end