The world controlled by dice [Western Fantasy]

Forrest was a thin, gloomy, silent old man.

There is indeed a rather obvious arrogance of the elderly in him, as if his age makes him too lazy to talk nonsense with young people.

He also seemed very surprised to meet Sirius here.But he just glanced at Sirius thoughtfully, didn't intend to say anything, and left.

"Mr. Forrest." It was Sirius who stopped him. "I'm very interested in what's going to happen in May. If you..."

"What are you talking about!" Forrest interrupted Siles almost angrily in a low voice, "Here... look what is here!"

"Historical Society." Siles replied rather flatly, "Of course I know where this is, sir. But are you sure you don't intend to make some responses to my question?"

Forrest looked at Sirius in astonishment, and after a while, he suddenly sneered and said, "Come with me."

They came to a room on the second floor of the Historical Society.This seems to be related to the part of the Historical Society for ordinary people, and there are some really old files.Forrest took out the key and opened the door.

"I see why you know me," Forrest said darkly. "About that damn scribe I had to copy, huh?"

Siles nodded without saying anything.However, he conveniently put on [Akamala's Spectacle Frame], just in case.

Forrest sneered, "I knew no one in this world would be willing to keep a secret."

The Keeper of Siles World, Noel, was silent for a moment, and then said, "So you'd like to talk to me about this?"

Forrest was almost a head shorter than Siles, and at this moment he raised his head to look at Siles, with a very unhappy look in his eyes, and he said: "Otherwise, what about me, just watch you young man go to hell. To die? That doesn't seem to be impossible."

Siles thought to himself, this tone... seems to be different from what he imagined.

Forrest didn't wait for Sirius to respond, but said, "This is where I found the envelope."

"……here?"

"Yes, here." Forrest said coldly, "didn't think of it here, did you? Of course the enlightener doesn't care about the world of ordinary people. But you forgot—you yourself have been studying spiritual pollution all the time, didn't you? Didn't notice that ordinary people are immune to mental pollution?

"So, of course, they will collect some inexplicable things, especially places like the Historical Society. They don't understand the meaning of it, and they will not be polluted at all, so they just store these things randomly.

"If you stay in this place for a month or two and do nothing to study these collections of books, archives, documents, materials, and things from the past, you will be surprised to find that these ordinary people In this countless pollution, but intact."

Siles was a little surprised to hear Forrest say that.Indeed, Forrest is right.

Ordinary people certainly do not know the truth of the world, because their spirituality is not high enough.In a sense, they live ignorantly and happily.As for the Revelators, they just need to face the more complicated side of this world.

Siles couldn't say which made him feel more comfortable.He thinks there's only one situation where he'd be uncomfortable—becoming a revealer and still being ignorant of the situation he's in.

He was silent for a moment, then said: "Have you been here for a while?"

Forrest walked to the window and performed a series of tedious movements very skillfully in order to open the window for ventilation.He said: "The window locks here are broken, but in order to prevent theft, the Historical Society has sealed the windows, and the window can only be opened after the layer of glue is peeled off."

"...Since the glue can be peeled off, what's the use of this layer of glue that seals the window?" Siles asked.He realized what Forrest meant.

Forrest stood by the window, facing Sirius, his backlit face lost in the shadows."That's true," he said. "It's pretty ridiculous, isn't it? They're still doing it the old way when the methods are outdated."

Siles wanted to say something, but he felt that it was unnecessary.

"...Professor Noel." Forrest said in a low tone, "I have been thinking about whether it is necessary to involve you in this matter. I don't think it is necessary. After all, you are still young, but...

"From another point of view, your ceremony has also made you deeply involved. Some people will not let you go. They are not acting now, just because they need to do other things..."

"Resurrect 'Shadow'?" Siles' tone was quite calm.

Forrest jerked his head up.

Siles said: "I don't think I'm really doing any good by your wishful concealment of me. You just think I'm too young and too weak to take part in such things. In fact, sir, Maybe I already know a lot of things."

He said it quite matter-of-factly, but got a sneer from Forrest.

"You know a lot?" Forrest said. "And do you know why they do it?"

Sirius paused.

Forrest didn't seem to want to hear his answer, but he just said to himself: "The child of death and the stars was cursed by life and failed to be born. His corpse—that little corpse, became A small grave in the Never Ember."

Siles' expression remained unchanged, and he thought in astonishment, that little grave?

[Knowledge +1.Spirituality +1. 】

[You need to make a spiritual judgment. 】

[Spirituality: 94/77, success. 】

[Oh, unexpected harvest, isn't it?People thought it was the fall of Erkoo that kicked off the Silent Epoch, but perhaps it was the fall of Death and the Children of the Stars.Of course, He may not be willing to admit this. 】

Forrest's statement and the information given by the dice caused an uproar in Siles' heart.

... Uh, the spirituality that hasn't increased for a long time has actually increased a little at this time, which is enough to prove the importance of this matter.

It took him a second to calm himself down.

It didn't surprise him that the child of death and the stars hadn't been born.After all, rumors about this "child" appeared in the Shadow Era, which was quite a long time before the Silent Era, but until now, he hadn't heard much about this "new god".

This shows that "Shadow" has never been able to come to the stage and become a well-known god.

He was originally an Outer God, and since he wanted to use Ruthmi as a container to be reborn in Fisher's world, it meant that he needed a new identity.

...the dice say "Shadow" wants to get Fate.Perhaps only as a god in Fisher's world can one obtain destiny?Maybe that would be easier?

In short, the "Shadow" plan did not succeed at that time - the rumored life that broke with death and the stars prevented the "Shadow" from being born.

In fact, Siles was somewhat surprised by the incident.Not to the thing itself, but to the logic of what happened.

He had known about Pessonari's break with Thaddeus and Ruthmi a long time ago, but he never realized that since the break may be due to this child, the result of the break may be It also led to the death of the child.

After all, Pessonari holds the two godheads of reproduction and life, and he is directly related to "children".

So life cursed "Shadow".Siles thought.However, judging from certain details in the follow-up, Pesonari finally stood on the side of the "shadow" and devoured Trisley.

……What happened?Does the "shadow" of exasperation pollute life in turn?Siles was skeptical.

And what is the position of death in this series of events?

Thaddeus does seem to be on the side of the "Shadow", but in the Silent Era, Amoys saved one of his followers (Conan Fremont), which was already in the late Silent Era.

At that time, Amois was fighting against the "Shadow", and Sirius didn't think that Amois would be kind enough to rescue the enemy's believers.

After thinking for a while, Sirius couldn't help feeling that the relationship between these gods was too complicated.From the Shadow Era to the Silence Era, their positions have changed. Except for the few gods whose positions are known, it seems that every god is hesitating and hesitating.

He turned to think about the second piece of information revealed by Forrest - the small grave bag.

If Alfonso Carlyle had been here, he thought, the folklorist would have exclaimed "prophet" again.What a wonderful coincidence.

...Obviously, the small tomb in the desert oasis that also appeared in Herman Grove's dream is the unborn body of "Shadow", or in other words, "God"?

Siles has always been curious about a question, what kind of god is "Shadow"?Does He have a godhead, a god position, and a god name?But now it seems that maybe he was about to have it, but it fell short.

Now his believers want to reproduce the moment of his birth, trying to revive the gods in this way; however, the curse of life makes the "shadows" at that time completely die, let alone these ordinary babies.

Rather, it is precisely because these babies are ordinary enough to fail to meet the conditions of the "shadow" that they can be born; just like ordinary people will not be spiritually polluted.

In this world of strange power, power, truth, blood, pollution, they are ruthlessly intertwined, making it impossible to guard against.

Siles was silent for too long, causing Forrest to have a small misunderstanding.

He frowned, and couldn't help but say, "You're not scared, are you?"

Siles came back to his senses, shook his head, and said, "Thank you."

Forrest froze for a moment, and the gloomy old man frowned and said, "Thank you!"

"I have to thank you anyway, after all, you let me know some important information." Siles said quite calmly, not getting angry because of Forrest's attitude.

Forrest opened his mouth to say something, then shook his head boringly: "It's boring. I've heard that you are a little old-fashioned, and now it seems that you are more boring than I thought."

Siles was silent and didn't think that Forrest's evaluation of him would affect anything.

His soul is much older than this body, and he is quite aware that people always see the world from their own perspective.He has no intention of defending himself against the judgment of others, which is useless.

Forrest instead said, "Anyway...they want to bring back the gods they believe in. It's childish whimsy, but some people's childishness can always make a bigger mess."

"Aren't they worried about their actions being discovered?"

"How to be discovered?" Forrest asked sharply, "They select and kill the men who are dead and left alone, and then make the women who have long been trapped by their theories become pregnant.

"And even if they were discovered...they were originally people living in the shadows. If they changed their identities, cities, and groups of people, a new experiment would start again.

"As long as the concept of gods exists, these people will continue. They cannot keep up with the times and never will."

Forrest's tone was full of disdain.It could be seen that he might wish to expel those people from their membership, and would not even bother to be with them.

"...So, your goal was never to stop them from doing this." Siles said in a low voice.

Forrest looked at Siles, and after a while, he sneered: "It's useless. We all know this. If this is the case, is there any need to stop it?"

After all, Siles wanted to say, it was about a family, and a lot of families.But he also realized that this argument meant nothing to Forrest.

He wants to deal with the "shadow", so he has no dust in his eyes; perhaps, in his eyes, the lives of ordinary people are indeed as useless as dust, even an eyesore.

So Siles remained silent.

"Besides, it's not about you." Forrest said with a teasing tone, "You invented that ritual, and even though it made you a thorn in their side, it was indeed a useful ritual."

"But the historical society did not promote this ceremony in a very active way." Siles said.

"Since you have been in the Historical Society for so long, you should also understand the atmosphere of this place." Forrest's face gradually turned cold, "At least you succeeded, you invented this ceremony, from another angle Come fight those damned gods.

"And me, 14 years ago, I failed. After I failed, I couldn't have another chance to try.

"When I failed, I was thrown out to this place—to work among the common people. You may know that I got a job in Corridor [-] afterward, but that was after that.

"I got the key to this room, and some other rooms. From time to time, I can find something interesting in these places, and those things-ordinary people don't care, and the revelators don't notice.

"... I have to admit, I was a bit more arrogant than I am now. I never looked down on these ordinary people, but I did find something about the past here, which was surprising.

"The power of a god failed me once; however, it also accidentally made me realize...a god, hidden in the mists of history. Pretty fascinating, isn't it?"

Forrest let out a creepy laugh.

Siles realized that after so many years of continuous investigation, Forrest's spirituality may have been high, but his will may have dropped to a slightly lower state.He is afraid he is contaminated.

Forrest suddenly withdrew his smile, and said blankly: "So, Professor Noel," he said suddenly with some seriousness, "At least I have to thank you for showing up. At least you saved my soul .”

Siles stared at him silently.

Forrest sighed slowly, and he too fell silent.

Siles sorted out the information he got from Forrest today in his mind, and he looked at the skinny old man thoughtfully.

Judging from what Forrest said, his position may not be on the side of the "shadow".But from another point of view, I am afraid that he is not completely unified with Siles' position.

Forrest is on the opposite side of the gods, but not necessarily on the human side.It should be said that he is only on his side.

He helps Sirius - at least gives this information, only because the ritual of Sirius' "reincarnation" helped him.But he can't really act with Siles, or give more information.

...Even when he mentioned the past of "Shadow", it was with a malicious conjecture that it might pollute Sirius' soul, as if Sirius' knowledge of these things even made him feel uncomfortable .

He didn't care about the actions of the followers of the old gods, nor how much death such actions would bring; he knew it was futile, so even the death of humans was a trivial matter.

Just like the subject he was obsessed with, he wanted humans to master the power of gods—no, to be more precise, he wanted to master the power of gods.As for humans?That doesn't matter.

The subject 14 years ago was obviously a turning point in his life.They succeeded, or they failed; but it did lead his life another way: he became aware of a strange god.

From the tone of Forrest now, it seems that he did not know the existence of "shadow" 14 years ago.The reason why he and that mysterious young man chose to reappear the power of the gods is probably based on pure curiosity about power and displeasure with the gods.

. . . but Siles actually had doubts about that.Did Forrest really not know of the existence of the "Shadow" until after the experiment failed?

Why did they choose Trisley's power?

According to Jon, Forrest has been in that organization for many years and has a very important right to speak.He may still be withholding quite a bit of information.

Siles was suspicious, but there was no need to get to the bottom of it at this time.

After a while, Siles said, "You seem to know quite well about their methods?"

"It can be said that." Forrest was noncommittal, "I spent a lot of time collecting relevant information. Of course, it is more about that god. I have to say, some documents circulated in the hands of ordinary people, but recorded More subtle messages."

"Such as the Historical Society?"

"For example, the Historical Society." Forrest sneered, "Can you imagine? In this building, the enlighteners of the space behind the doors upstairs seem to be high above, but those downstairs can't even see the door." Ordinary people who don’t see them, they have more knowledge.”

There was a mixture of contempt and frustration in his tone.

He himself was aware of this.He changed his posture and tone, and said again: "People ignore those details. Their brains can't receive so much information at the same time, so they remember this and forget that.

"I did spend a long time collecting all kinds of information, but a lot of them are like riddles—perhaps because of this, they can stay here safe and sound.

"You know that nursery rhyme exists, and that's the clearest example of it. I just stumbled upon it last year among the seemingly endless pile of documents from the Historical Society.

"The nursery rhyme was a mystery...the lamb, the child, the fisherman, the drawing board...it was all confusing. The letter was from more than ten years ago, no one knew who wrote it, and no one knew who it was going to .You might think I would know, but I don't either.

"I've been fascinated by this nursery rhyme for a long time, thinking that there must be some secret hidden in it... yes, of course it is. But, it's still a mystery.

"Actually, the clearest message I've ever gathered - that one. Children of death and the stars, the curse of life, grave-bags of aborted fetuses . . . that's all.

"...I'm telling you this as a reward for the ritual of 'Reincarnation'."

He said the last sentence in a blunt tone, as if he didn't mention the word "remuneration" very often.

Siles was slightly taken aback, and then said: "So, you stopped me in the salon..."

"I'm hesitant to tell you, since you don't know you've helped me anyway," said Forrest. "However, now that you've learned something rashly, I might as well tell you about it." Let me tell you something, so that you have some vigilance.

"You don't need to get involved in what happened in the Shadow Era and the Silent Era. You might as well spend all day in the research department thinking about your own subject like some old men of the Historical Society expect - I heard that you have proposed another very interesting one. subject?"

Only then did Siles realize, dumbfounded, that the old man in front of him seemed to be deciding certain things with a rather arbitrary attitude.

He considered for a moment, and then said: "I am very grateful for your kindness. However, as you said, I have been very deeply involved in this matter, and I hope that this matter can be resolved."

Forrest froze for a moment, then sneered.He sighed, as if he was too lazy to argue with Sirius, and planned to leave.

"Do you know Marina Kellan?" asked Siles.

Forrest's movements immediately paused, he suddenly looked up at Siles, squinted his eyes and asked, "Where did you know this name?"

Siles thought for a moment, then said simply: "Brewer Darrow is my friend."

He didn't mention his connection to Brewer in more depth, arguing that those two names were enough.

Forrester looked at him intently, and after a moment, he whispered, "No wonder you're so persistent." He laughed, then said, "Then I'll add a final message."

Siles listened intently.

"They have conducted long experiments, several generations, and countless times. They are almost impatient. The choice of Brewer Darrow is not a random choice, they are specially so. Therefore, they are very interested in Marina Kailan. Considerable attention."

Siles couldn't help being startled, and subconsciously asked: "So, do you know something about their current situation?"

"It's not." A rather subtle and sinister smile appeared on Forrest's face, "It's just that I can imagine their current state."

He didn't say any more, but left the room.He also let Sirius come out at the same time, and then locked the door before walking away.

Siles frowned as he watched his leaving back.

Forrest was clearly suggesting to him that there was something wrong with the selection of Brewer Darrow.

Siles thought for a moment, and he could only think that maybe it was because the recent failures made this group of people want to further improve the relevant elements of this experiment. Therefore, Brewer Dar, who has the background of the Cremo family, Luo entered their field of vision.

The Cremer family is a nobleman from Kansas, and they have a tradition of believing in Ruthmi.After coming to the Duchy of Constance, they changed their surnames to Darrow, but this crazy belief may still flow in their blood.

Now Siles knows of six murders in the past century.From ordinary armor to female knight armor, from once in 20 years to once in ten years; obviously, this group of people is improving their scheme.

And they may think that the female knight armor is just an appearance related to Ruthmi; they also need to find a real man who believes in Ruthmi and is willing to join this plan and die in the end.

They also seem to have revealed this to Brewer Darrow; at least from Brewer's posthumous words, they learned the word "vessel".Brewer, however, was reluctant to join the plan.

So the gang killed Brewer in haste; they had to, because Brewer was on their side, and they had to get rid of the aftermath.

...is this what Forrest wants to reveal?But this was something Celeste already knew.

Siles fell into deep thought, thinking as he walked towards the space behind the door on the third floor.

Forrest's words did remind him, made him realize that they seemed to have been ignoring this issue.

Although the clues of the six suspicious cases in the past have been tormenting them, in fact, Brewer Darrow, the former companion, is the person they really know and understand.They are always a little distant.

...why not look into the Darrow family?He suddenly thought so.

Brewer Darrow may not know about the family's past; but judging from the archives kept by the Darrow family, it is difficult to say whether Brewer's elders knew about the family's history and what they once believed in Ruthmi .

And the young people Sirius came into contact with in the past, like Hed Dreyson, Alva Gillinny, Foster Runcie, Dorothea Grant, they didn't know much about their family's past. Understand, but their elders are keeping related secrets.

These ancient families in this world seem to have this tendency: only when young people grow up to a certain age, will they tell the whole story of the family.

in case……

Siles realized a terrible possibility; and one that wasn't impossible.

... What if Brewer's family knew what this marriage meant?

Hed Dreyson's experience has fully proved that for some followers of the old gods, their families are no match for their beliefs.They could grimly watch Heard go to the sea to the north to die.

So Brewer's family?

Siles stopped at the door of the salon.He thought of the massacre of the Darrow family's extermination—the extermination, he pondered the word carefully—and felt a completely different eerie chill than usual.

The Darrow family wanted Brewer to be this victim; Brewer didn't want to; so the entire Darrow family became a victim.

He held his breath suddenly, feeling as if he was walking into the icy sea water.The chill permeated his spine, and there was a damp, gloomy, and bloody smell, like an invisible but intangible malice hidden in the mist.

...Malicious.He used the word subconsciously.And how apt.

He sighed softly in his heart, then walked into the salon. Five minutes later, the croupier appeared in the meeting room of the Dawn Apocalypse.He was very surprised and pleased to find that the lady was also there.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Dealer." The lady seemed in a good mood, "I think I should thank you in person. I have already contacted their families..."

Having said that, the lady still paused, and then sighed.

Apparently, although she had recovered from her grief, the dire situation still made her sad.

She was silent for a moment, then said: "In any case, the uncertainty of life and death is even more worrying. At least we now know their specific situation."

They all couldn't help sighing.It was also rare for the newsboy to comfort her by saying, "The Land of Never Embers is such a terrible place."

"Yes." The lady whispered, then shook her head, "Forget it, this is over. We have to face the reality instead of immersing ourselves in the past."

The rest nodded in agreement.

The newsboy propped his chin in boredom, changed the subject and said, "However, there is nothing interesting in reality recently... By the way, next Saturday is the final of the group arena and the card competition. I'm still hesitating which one to watch."

"The finals of the card contest seem to require tickets?" the knight said hesitantly, "I'm afraid they can't be bought now."

The dealer also nodded.Of course, if he wanted to go, there would be arrangements for Langmire.But he thought he might not have time to go there.

The lady hesitated, then said, "Uh...if you don't mind."

Their eyes were all on her.

"I'm a businessman, so I also got a few tickets to the final. If you need it?" said the lady.

"But the next time we meet is next Saturday. You can only send us the tickets." The newsboy said, she didn't say more, but that's where the problem was.

They couldn't help being silent for a moment.

The lady said, "Okay! I mean, do we want to reveal our identities to each other?"

This question made each of them look at each other in blank dismay.

The lady sighed, and she said: "It was because of Mr. Dealer's help that I suddenly realized this. The four of us can communicate in a more efficient way, but we have to play charades here.

"Well, hiding our identities is the rule of the Dawn Revelation Society. But to be honest, we are not real members of the Dawn Revelation Society, so why should we abide by their rules. We have known each other for so long.

"...well, Mr. Dealer may have only known us for a few months, but the three of us, we've all known each other for ten years! We meet up here almost every Saturday, and we end up calling each other by code names ?

"I always feel like it makes me uncomfortable... Maybe it's because I just experienced the death of a few friends. And I thought, in the future, if something happens to any of you, I won't even have a position to stand up, maybe I don't even know what happened to you in reality..."

Saying that, the lady could not help but sigh.

The newsboy rolled her eyes, and she said, "Introduce yourself as long as you introduce yourself. Why are you talking so strangely? It seems like anything can happen to us in reality."

The noble lady looked at her blankly, and then said, "Do you want to?"

The newsboy's young body was huddled in the sofa, but his tone was quite mature: "Because you are right, we have known each other for ten years. We have been friends for ten years, but we still have to cover up here. It's pretty preposterous."

"But you didn't bring this up." The lady said bluntly, "I have to be the one in the end."

Newsboy: "..."

She looked like she wanted to refute this, but the fact that it was so made her a little short of words.

Knight habitually smoothed things over for the two ladies, saying, "I'm fine. So, Mr. Dealer?"

The croupier thought to himself, among the three people present, he already knew the identities of two of them...

So he nodded quite calmly and said, "I'm fine."

A minute later, he realized that he actually knew the identities of the three people present.

The newsboy said casually: "Dylan Mapa. ​​I opened a map store in the West Side. Seriously, if any of you want to explore the Land of Embers, tell me as soon as possible, and I will prepare a complete map of Embers for you." The map of the land will absolutely guarantee your safety."

Dealer: "..."

He opened his mouth in vain, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say.

...Well, he did realize from some details of the newsboy's past that the newsboy might be related to the "map" business.After all, she had mentioned what was going to happen to the Everlands map, or something like that.

But she is the proprietress of the map store in Mapa?

The croupier felt that fate seemed to have turned in a circle.He originally thought that he would not have any intersection with Ms. Mapa, but it turned out that things were more strange than he imagined.

The others paid no attention to his expression.

The knight was the second to mention his identity. He took off his metal helmet and said, "Carol Housman..."

Before he finished speaking, the lady yelled and said, "I didn't expect that we have an elder of the historical society here!"

The knight showed a slightly embarrassed expression, and he said, "It's just about to be."

The lady still couldn't help but looked at him in amazement, and said very seriously: "Mr. Knight, if the Historical Society needs any businessmen, please don't miss me." She didn't wait for the others to reply, and said, "Eugene Nia Beard, or Eugenia Clayton.

"However, my marriage has not been announced to the public, so you should remember the name Eugenia Beard."

The newsboy was stunned for a while, and then said sincerely: "So you are this businesswoman. It seems that you are richer than I imagined."

The noble lady brushed her hair contentedly and said, "Thank you for the compliment."

In the end, only the dealer was left.

The croupier said succinctly: "Siles Noel. Professor of Literary History at Ramifa University."

They all introduced their identities among ordinary people, so the croupier naturally introduced his identity as a university professor.But both the newsboy and the lady seemed to be preoccupied with something else.

"You invented the 'Reincarnation' ritual?" This is the lady.

"You invented Noel's card?" It was the newsboy.

Dealer: "..."

For some reason, the simultaneous mention of the "self-reappearance" ceremony and Noel's cards gave him a feeling of being caught off guard and dumbfounded.

The knight showed a subtle expression on the side, as if watching a good show.

"Yes." The croupier said, "But Destiny Cards didn't come from me, I just provided an idea of ​​how to play."

The newsboy nodded casually and said, "I hope you can invent more