Mysteries: Arcana Wars

"You mean... this person... is your eldest brother?"

Leonard flipped through the book and thought for a moment.

"But... it doesn't match!" He tapped the book twice, "I was an acquaintance of Sir Jacob, but the description you gave of your eldest brother last time doesn't match Mr. Jacob's!"

Leonard looked around and started chatting with Klein.

Sir Benson Jacob, the second Minister of Finance of the Kingdom of Loen in the Sixth Era, was an economist without a university degree.

After the [Apocalypse], the entire Kingdom of Loen was in ruins, and the population was decimated. The remaining churches and royal government actively organized reconstruction work, but the completely paralyzed transportation system, the nearly disabled basic industries, and the high incidence of small-scale extraordinary disasters kept the Kingdom of Loen in chaos for the first few years after the apocalypse.

No one knows how to rebuild an industrial civilization after the end of the world. Everyone is still groping in the dark. Before this, no human civilization could "survive" the end of the era without interruption. If they did, they did not have steam engines.

Finally, in the sixth year of the Sixth Era, due to the chaos and delays in the reconstruction work, the king ordered a complete reorganization of the cabinet government, and the mess of the finance minister was handed over to Sir Benson Jacob. It was not until the establishment of the new cabinet that the reconstruction work of the Kingdom of Loen was put on the right track, and Sir Jacob also made a significant contribution to the reconstruction work.

After his retirement, the Loen government repeatedly rehired Sir Jacob as a financial advisor or for emergency rescue. In his later years, Sir Jacob also wrote many books on the economic development of Loen's Sixth Era, which are still selling today.

“He was a funny, cheerful, and approachable knight. Even though he didn’t have extraordinary characteristics, he had a strong aura that made people feel at ease. Every time things were in a mess, as long as he came, the government employees would immediately calm down, and the stuck government machinery would start to operate again.”

Leonard commented.

"Sir Jacob's life was very much in the spirit of the time."

"He took part in the first unified government employee exam at that time, and then entered the government to work, handling affairs in the finance department, and was promoted all the way. He also experienced historical events such as the death of George III, the Backlund smog, the doomsday disaster, and the complete reshuffle of the cabinet. Judging from this resume, it is a miracle that he can live to the end of his life...

“But it’s also a contradiction.

"I am quite familiar with Sir Jacob. His family background is relatively simple. His family is a poor noble family with only a title. He is the only son in the family. He dropped out of college when he heard the news and took the unified examination.

“I didn’t know him at the time. I met Sir Jacob during the reconstruction work in the Sixth Era. Later, Sir Jacob said that his parents were shocked because he dropped out of college to take the exam, but since he passed the exam, they only scolded him.

"But in my memory, you only have your eldest sister Bella - if you replace it with your eldest brother here - then the identity of 'Eldest Sister Bella' and the identity of 'Sir Jacob' are contradictory in the Fifth Epoch, and they are both ordinary people without extraordinary powers."

After several tentative exchanges over the past few days, Klein discovered a reference loophole:

When he vaguely wants to express the concepts of "my brother" or "my sister", or uses a known and definite concept such as "Sir Jacob", "Sister Bella", "Phantom Guide", etc., to vaguely replace Melissa and others, instead of pointing out their names completely and accurately to accurately express the concept of "Klein Moretti's brother Benson Moretti", these substitutes and vague concepts will not be modified or blocked.

This alternative is useful in everyday communication, but it can sometimes lead to confusion and misunderstanding.

After listening to Leonard's description, Klein pondered for a moment, stacked a few books together, placed them on the display shelf, and took out a piece of gray mist paper from his pocket.

“Tell me, is there a possibility that the traces of my family’s existence have been [deconstructed]?

He tore the paper into pieces, put each piece in a different book, and then separated the books one by one.

“For example, the life of ‘my brother’ is likely to be cut into pieces, and then become different ‘people’ in your eyes, and become the ‘destiny’ of others.

"So my eldest brother's life fragment in the Fifth Epoch became the 'Sister Bella' you are familiar with, and 'Sister Bella' died in the apocalyptic disaster at the end of the Fifth Epoch. Then my eldest brother's life fragment in the Sixth Epoch was expanded and modified, and finally became the Sir 'Jacob' you know.

"So there is a conflict between the identities of these two people, because only part of each identity is real, and the rest... may have been grafted and confused onto the fate of other people, or distorted and modified.

"As long as we collect these true and confirmed fragments separately and put them together, we can get the complete life trajectory of my eldest brother!"

...can prove that Benson really existed in this world!

"Whether it's my sister or anyone else, if we continue along this path, we will be able to find those people who are related to it, and then find those [trace fragments] from their fates, and then piece together their fates, and use this to find the clues they left for me!"

Looking at Klein's burning gaze, Leonard was about to speak but hesitated.

This theory seemed too absurd to Leonard, and was completely different from Leonard's usual memory cognition.

Leonard now tentatively believed that in the Sixth Epoch, the people surrounding Klein were not doll clones or fake people, but real "living people".

But no matter whether it is "Sister Bella" or "Sir Jacob", in Leonard's cognition, they are all believers of the Goddess of Night, which has been confirmed by Leonard himself. Especially "Sir Jacob" who later held a high position, he is a safe figure stamped by the church. They are completely unrelated and independent people.

Moreover, Sir Jacob, who later held a high position, lived in seclusion and was strictly protected. So when was he affected by the extraordinary power?

Is it... an extraordinary power that even the goddess cannot observe?

"Could it be that... before the Fifth Epoch [Doomsday Disaster], they were... contaminated by extraordinary power?"

As soon as Leonard finished speaking, the loud cheers and music from the street poured into the bookstore like a tide, drowning out all the sounds in the store with an overwhelming force.

As if submerged under the waves, the bookstore actually reached absolute silence to a certain extent. Except for the hustle and bustle of the street, all other sounds disappeared.

The two were both shocked by Leonard's guess. They stared at each other in silence, and then Klein immediately reached out and covered Leonard's mouth.

That’s enough, Klein realized. We can’t continue discussing these things here.