The world controlled by dice [Western Fantasy]

"Dear mother, Zhan Xinjia.

"...it's been a cold winter. I heard that the rainy season will last for many days. I hope you can take care of your body. I bought a nice wool scarf at the October market. I hope you like it. It should help you resist Invasion of severe cold.

"...I'm sorry, I can't go home to accompany you during the winter vacation, because a friend invited me to travel to the Land of Never Embers. You know, my profession makes me full of curiosity about that mysterious land.

"I will pay attention to safety. When the time comes, I will write to you to share my experience in Land of No Embers. I hope you will also be happy for me, because I just escaped the tiresome rainy season and cold wave.

"...A friend of mine mentioned an empty shop under his name, and we might start a business together. At that time, you don't have to worry about my livelihood in Lamifa City.

"But we haven't decided what business to do. Perhaps you can give us some advice?

"...The rest of life is going on as usual. The school and the historical society have come to an end. I hope that the next two weeks of life in the Land of Embers can bring some fresh insights.

"...

"I hope the warm sun in winter can shine on your soul."

Siles sat quietly on one side of the sleeper compartment of the train, looking at the scenery outside the small window.

It's Thursday, October 10st.He stepped on the train to Malz.

What the crazy believers of Temiafa and Brown Carney have done has come to an end at this time.Yesterday, Siles went to the God's Birthday celebration to watch the ceremony, and then heard that Dominique explained their findings.

Boleyn Elgar.This follower of the old god was born in the 350th year of the Mist Age, and he is exactly 50 years old this year.He came from a wealthy family, and his family originally owned a restaurant with a good reputation.

Therefore, at an early age, Elgar had already dealt with many foods and diners.

It is impossible to say when he went astray.Maybe it's some rare ingredient of unknown origin, maybe it's a diner with other plans, maybe it's some rare and wacky recipe.

In short, when Elgar was about 30 years old, he had already become a restaurant chef. He suddenly chose to close this old shop that had been in business for decades, and instead had a relationship with some mysterious businessmen, eccentric explorers, and some strange organizations. members hang out together.

According to the results of Dominique's investigation in Elgar's home, this organization seems to be the gathering place of contemporary "addicted eaters".The Church of the Past has been investigating this organization more deeply based on that information.

Most of the information they obtained came from Elgar's correspondence with others, including Elgar's correspondence with business partners, with other conspirators, and with Clarence Dwight.

The first correspondence between Elgar and Clarence appeared in 380, 20 years ago.

Elgar had just closed the family business and joined the organization.

His spirit was in an extremely excited and intense state.This mental state made his family very worried, so they found a psychiatrist to diagnose and treat Elgar.

And that psychiatrist happened to have some connection with Clarence Dwight.Indeed, Browncarney's related beliefs have a strong presence in the fledgling field of psychiatry.

Mental illness is thought to be the result of an extremely impious, blasphemous state of mind, a punishment from the gods—even though the old gods have fallen—or something too eerie and eerie about itself.

In other words, in this era, when humans do not understand enough about brain diseases and mental illnesses, people will take it for granted that they are related to mysterious powers.

Moreover, there is indeed a mysterious force in this world.

Therefore, self-discipline, self-reflection, and self-discipline have become the treatment methods for many mental patients, and even psychiatrists will use this diagnostic process.

As a result, Elgar was recommended by the psychiatrist to Clarence Dwight, hoping to take this opportunity to treat Elgar.

It was a curious thing, at least when investigators uncovered the contents of Elgar's early correspondence with Clarence.

At the time they did not know that each other's beliefs were in some way diametrically opposed to each other, so they discussed only the topics of spirituality, self-improvement, asceticism and indulgence.

From a certain point of view, Temiafa and Browncarni symbolize spiritual satisfaction and abundance.Whether it is asceticism or indulgence, they all lead to the same goal—at least in the eyes of these believers, this is indeed the case.

Thus, as Elgar and Clarence corresponded more and more frequently, they seemed to gradually absorb some elements of each other's ideas.

For example, asceticism can actually be said to be a kind of spiritual enjoyment and satisfaction; while eating greedily may be a kind of torture in the physical sense, which indeed destroys health.

They don't realize that their thinking seems to have gone into a misunderstanding to some extent, and they are walking in an extreme but diametrically opposite direction without looking back.And at this time, no god will come to correct their thinking and show them the way forward.

Finally, in a letter 14 years ago, Elgar and Clarence made a bold, almost "blasphemous" move.They redefine Temiafa and Broncani, arguing that the two gods are essentially interlinked and one.

They are two sides of the same body, not opposites.

They seem to have obtained some evidence from some unorthodox materials and ancient books, and vaguely mentioned these sources and some scattered words in their correspondence, such as the saying "born from the same source".

Before Elgar's death, he also said to Siles, "They are one after all... They have been so, and they will be so", and he seems to believe in this idea very much.

But unfortunately, during the follow-up search of the incident, they were not able to find the source of these claims.

In short, when Elgar and Clarence came to this conclusion, they rejoiced, thinking that they were like the gods in the Faith Period and the Empire Period, and they were promoting the ideas and power of the gods to the world.

This strong, uncanny emotion motivates them and makes them want to do something "big."

They further deduced that in the past, the reason why people could not wake up and revive Timiafa and Blancarni was because the information received by these believers was dated.

They believe that people in the past did not know that the two gods were essentially one.Every attempt, therefore, is confined to one of these aspects and is therefore futile.

Only by resurrecting these two gods at the same time can they be "consummated" and truly wake them up.

... To be honest, when Siles heard about these ideas and "ideas", he actually felt for a moment that Elgar and Clarence were really incredible.

They have achieved logical self-consistency, but they did not expect that all their logic is based on a wrong foundation, and it is only based on their own wrong and one-sided understanding of the world.

In any case, based on such thoughts, Elgar and Clarence started their own actions.

Elgar had become a vital part of that organization 14 years earlier.At that time, the new Grand Duke came to the throne, and there were frequent changes on the Revelation side. In short, it was a chaotic time, and it was an opportunity for Elgar and Clarence to take advantage of.

Therefore, Elgar became the internal affairs officer of the palace through the relationship within the organization-that organization has good influence in food, luxury goods, pleasure, etc., especially among certain nobles.

At that time, Clarence officially became a member of the Presbyterian Church of the Historical Society.

When Dominique talked about this to Siles, his tone was quite dissatisfied. Most of them thought that the Historical Society did nothing and let a crazy and devout follower of the old gods become the top of the society.

But Siles thought, maybe it was because the Dawn Revelation Society broke with the Historical Society at that time, and Mr. Xia disappeared, so there were some changes within the Historical Society?

Some more conservative and stubborn elders became the helm of the Historical Society, and Clarence just happened to be there, not specially promoted by the Historical Society.

Thus, Elgar and Clarence began their respective actions.

From their correspondence, it can be seen that their actions—including Grayson Foods and torture seminars, including Clarence's some crazy projects within the Historical Society—all actions have a purpose, and the ultimate goal is It is to awaken the gods they believe in.

To Siles' surprise, Elgar didn't think of promoting food to the general public at first. He actually wanted to start from top to bottom, starting with the food of the grand dukes and nobles.

He probably hibernated for a few years, safe and sound, making sure that he was not suspected, that he had gained the trust of the Grand Duke, and then he started to do it slowly.

He will replace part of the food with something with "spiritual pollution", or add some god elements to the food making process.

At some point, perhaps seven or eight years ago, the correspondence between Elgar and Clarence was filled with restlessness and restlessness.They feel that their actions are moving too slowly, and they don't know when they will be able to achieve what they want.

Then, they decided to speed things up.

It was at this time that Grayson Foods was born.However, this family's ordinary food at that time did not become as popular as they expected, but developed tepidly.

There was also a slight element of discouragement in the correspondence between the two of them during this time.

If it's just like this, then they may not be able to do anything that will cause a sensation in the city.Their lives may be consumed in mindless madness.

However, at this time—to be precise, at the beginning of this year, someone in the organization where Elgar was working suddenly discovered a strange item.

In the letter, Elgar said in an almost ecstatic tone that they could use that thing to transform all disgusting and cheap materials into delicious and very tempting food.

what is that?A portrait from the Never Embers.

Under the watchful eye of the strange man in the chef's hat, any food that's prepared—and doesn't even have to be—is automatically prettified into a delicious, appealingly good meal.

The only problem is, that doesn't have a very long shelf life.

That's like a deception—to deceive the human senses of sight, smell and taste, and also to deceive people's stomachs.At least when Grayson's food hadn't been exposed, people didn't hear anything about eating bad stomachs.

And this kind of food is exactly in line with the ideas of Elgar and Clarence.

Isn't that a kind of torture if the food is gorgeous on the outside and rotten on the inside?Isn't that a treat?Isn't that just two sides of the same thing?

Elgar paid a premium for the portrait and spent some time studying its use.There was only one portrait, so they couldn't start work on a large scale at first.

Until... At the same time, the Research Department of the Historical Society, under the leadership of Clarence, started a less eye-catching research topic-replicating time tracks.

When Edward Bellow explained the subject led by Clarence to Siles, he said that the subject of replicating the time track did not yield reasonable results that could be applied on a large scale.

However, judging from the correspondence between Elgar and Clarence, the project was actually successful, but its effects were not taken seriously because it could only be used to reproduce books, paintings, writings, etc. The time track of "writing by people".

It seems that the researcher did not resist the pollution carried by the time track at all during the ritual time, but actively accepted the attack of the pollution, and felt that state, thus creating a similar time track——tracing, it can be described as such.

Therefore, such a duplication process is extremely dangerous and there is no room for redemption.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this that Edward said that it was not a "too reasonable result".

But for Elgar and Clarence, they don't need to care so much.They themselves are enlighteners who have been severely polluted, and even rejoice in being polluted, because it is the imprint left by the gods.

So, after copying a large number of portraits (and consuming a large number of revelators at the same time), their plan officially started in the middle of this year.

In their correspondence, the source of ingredients of Grayson Foods was also mentioned.Mainly the unclaimed corpses in the Lamifa City Police Station.And the reason why they can do this is because of Clarence's relationship.

Just as Elgar's family suspected that he had a mental illness, and he was able to know Clarence because of this, even many crimes these days are considered to be related to "blasphemy" and "impiety". Questions to people like Clarence.

Therefore, Clarence asked for the unclaimed corpses on the grounds of "researching whether mental illness and blasphemy will affect the physiological state".

There you go, everything is ready.

What happened after that was all that Siles knew—from the crazy expansion of Grayson Foods, the spin-off of the food town, the small tricks of the October Fair circus, and the activities of the torture seminar.

The recipe Bertram Finn's friends brought back from the Never Embers came at just the right time.In fact, Siles didn't think there was any problem with the recipes themselves, but after Grayson's processing and transformation, the final product may not be "clean".

In fact, the torture seminar has been secretly cooperating with Grayson's actions.Many members of this organization are residents of the West City. After all... In general, life in the West City is much worse than that in the East City.

Therefore, the members of the Torture Seminar also made great efforts to promote Grayson in the West Side.From another perspective, they also need such cheap but "delicious" food very much.

Aside from these behind-the-scenes stories, the one thing that made Sirius most curious was the "ceremony" at the end of it all.

Apparently, Elgar and Clarence regarded that portrait, it should be said, the original portrait, as the incarnation of Temiafa (and Brown Carney), that is, in the concept of followers of the old gods, "God's Legacy".

It's hard to say where exactly they got the confirmation from.

After purchasing the portrait from a member of the secret society, Elgar set out to search for the specific source of the portrait.That member bought it from some explorer in the Everlands.

Therefore, all investigations must start from the Land of No Embers.

However, in the investigation of the case after the incident, Dominic did not find their investigation results from the numerous letters, or whether they really conducted a very in-depth investigation.

It seems that Elgar and Clarence, in the process of investigating and searching for information, acquiesced that the portrait was the trace of the past left by Temiafa, and it was the time track they needed.

Perhaps the two have destroyed some of the letters they exchanged, or perhaps their investigative records are preserved somewhere, with someone, in the Everlands.

In short, their investigation of this portrait seems to have brought only one result-they have a connection with the mysterious circus.

After the event of the banquet on the eve of God's birthday, Dominique also sent people to find the circus.However, the circus at the October Fair has disappeared without a trace, which really makes them feel sorry.

After all, this made their investigation process missing an extremely important link, that is, why did Elgar and Clarence have anything to do with the circus in Never Embers.

Of course, they also got some information from Billy, the manager of Grayson Foods.

For example, it was Elgar who gave him the contact information of the circus, asked him to contact them, and asked the circus to do some illegal activities in the city of Ramifa.

For another example, during the contact process between Billy and the circus, the circus itself didn't seem to know how Elgar knew of their existence, nor did they know that Billy would contact them.

Elgar seems to have learned about the existence of the circus from another place, but what this "other place" is is very confusing.

All in all, Elgar and Clarence, who regarded this portrait as the incarnation of a god, chose to sacrifice to this "god" in their infinite madness.

Their original idea came from a "runaway time track", the so-called "mental inactivation" of humans.They decided to "nurture" the activity of the portrait.In the process, they "used" countless revelators.

And after the portrait really gained some "activity", they began preparations for a large-scale sacrifice.

In Fisher's world, sacrifice is indeed an extremely grand event, and it has lasted for many years.Every year, the celebration of the birthday of the Anti-Num god can be said to be a kind of sacrificial activity, but the meaning of sacrifice is weaker, and the meaning of celebration is stronger.

The early sacrifices came from the worship of gods by people in the Faith Period and the Empire Period. This worship activity was very single and one-sided.Humans at that time could not even imagine the power of gods.

In the later period, especially the sacrificial activities around the Silent Era, without exception, they came from the worship and awe of the power of the gods, and the human beings also longed to obtain such power as the "protector".

The sacrificial activities have also changed from the initial unilateral sacrifice to a subsequent process similar to equivalent exchange.Of course, only for believers.

At a certain stage, the gods seem to intend to give back some of their power to their followers.

...These contents were written in the correspondence between Elgar and Clarence, and indirectly contributed to their thoughts and ideas for the large-scale sacrifice.

Since the gods used to respond to the sacrificial activities, shouldn't they be able to use this method to wake up the sleeping gods?

At least, they hope to get a response from the gods, hoping to confirm that the gods still exist in a certain corner of this world.

They think so, after all, in their opinion - the old gods are just sleeping, not falling.

And their sacrificial activities did awaken something... something.But that cannot be said to be the gods, or even the will of the gods.That's just the power of the gods.

Based on Grenfell's previous explanation of the "pure power" of the gods, Siles believes that they may have attracted the power of Temia just because of concepts such as dinner parties, food, and violent desires.

...Yes, only the power of Temiafa, Sirius thought so.The sacrifice did not draw Brancarney's strength.

When they attacked Elgar, all attacks were blocked by a red mist.Elgar seemed to think that it was the protection of the gods for believers during the sacrificial process, but in Siles' view...

If the scene of "red fog connecting Elgar's brain and the portrait" is combined, then Siles believes that this is just a manifestation of something "protecting food".

It regards Elgar as its food, and those attacks are acts of predation.

...the instinct of divine power.

Just as the power of Akamala will immerse people in dreams, the power of Temiafa will instinctively devour and eat.

When Siles realized this, he couldn't help taking a deep breath.

At that time Dominique was very frantic with endless questions.

He wanted to know where the portrait came from, who had secretly supported the activities of Elgar and Clarence over the years, and he wanted to know... Grand Duke Const, do you know the relationship between these two people? Conspiracy?

At the God's Birthday celebration, even though he had experienced such a complicated and terrifying conspiracy the day before, Grand Duke Const still announced the development plan of the Withered Wasteland with a serious face, as if nothing had happened.

Dominic was also unable to conduct more investigations on the Grand Duke, except for some routine interviews.Even if the questions raised are too detailed, they will be reprimanded by court officials and other nobles.

In the end, Dominique also thought that he might not be able to get more information from the Grand Duke.

However, the Grand Duchess unexpectedly provided them with a piece of information.She said that the food in the palace sometimes made her feel unpalatable and disgusting, and hoped they could investigate the source of these ingredients.

Dominique knew what Grayson's ingredients were—the unclaimed bodies at the Ramifa City Police Department—but it was Elgar who had "turned waste into treasure" after he got the portrait. ability to do so.

In the past so many years, where did Elgar get those problematic ingredients in the palace?

This question made Dominic think about it.He told Siles that I'm afraid it will be a long investigation.Even though Elgar and Clarence's conspiracy has been exposed and solved, there are countless places in their past that need to be investigated.

The source of the portrait, the source of the ingredients, the disposal of the participants...

Speaking of the disposition of the participants, certain executives at Grayson Foods, the sponsors, and most of the members of the torture workshop have of course been arrested and are in the process of being reviewed.

But for Elgar and Clarence's family, that's a different question.

They may have known, or guessed, what the two men were up to, but they hadn't really been a part of it.Therefore, whether and how they should be convicted has become a difficult problem.

The main investigator of this incident is the Church of the Past, so the Church of the Past has also controlled these people, but it is only an interrogation and investigation, and there is no next step for the time being.

Siles also meets a distraught Horatio Dwight at the Church of Old Days.

This young student who looked calm and rational in the past, now has dull eyes and a gloomy expression.When he looked towards Siles, his eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had suddenly found someone to turn to for help.

He looked at Siles so imploringly, and asked, "Professor, do you think they are wrong?"

Siles thought of the letter to Horatio that lay in the office drawer.In the letter, he was looking forward to the final paper of the Suffering Chronicle Society, and thought about picking a time to send it out.

But now it seems that this letter cannot be sent.

Siles' final answer to Horatio was: "Any idea taken to an extreme is terrible. We live in a real world, not a world of ideas."

Horatio murmured the words, seemingly lost in thought.

Siles said nothing to Horatio.He was able to see Horatio because he had a good relationship with the church in the past, so he came here privately.

He hoped that this student had nothing to do with this incident, but the figure with blue light blocking the door of the cafeteria... seemed to have dashed Sirius' hopes again.

Even if Horatio himself had no intention of helping the tyrant, his behavior seems to have done so.

Apart from Horatio, another person who appeared that day and attracted Sirius' attention was the mysterious gray-haired figure who appeared at the kitchen door.

He didn't know who it would be, but that person probably saw the judgment made by Siles.

Siles reviewed the people who might have appeared in the palace and the kitchen door that day, and finally came to a conclusion: that might be someone from the Apocalypse of Dawn.

Siles had written to the Dawn Revelations, hoping they would do something about the dinner event.

However, that night, Siles did not find members of the Dawn Revelation Society at the dinner party, and he did not hear from Dominic that mysterious people helped them.

According to the style of the Dawn Apocalypse that Sirius heard about, it is impossible for them to be unresponsive to the actions of the followers of the old gods.They should have done something to stop this from happening.

Therefore, the figure who arrived late and appeared at the door of the kitchen was very likely to be the helping hand they sent.However, the opponent's action was a bit late, and in the end, Siles directly used the judgment to save the game.

This made Sirius a little worried.

Did that person notice his verdict?Siles' voice was quite soft at that time, but the whole kitchen was also very silent.

In addition, even if the other party did not hear the content of the judgment he said, but Siles simply solved a follower of the old god and prevented the resurrection of the old god, which is also very strange and suspicious .

Can an ordinary professor of literary history who has just become a revelation for only a few months be able to turn the tide like this?

... Siles had to have a headache for this.

Of course, there is also good news.

Clarence Dwight did discover that Sirius was a member of the Order of the Dawn, which was mentioned in Elgar's correspondence with him, and Clarence did investigate Sirius' past.

Fortunately, however, Clarence did not think that Siles had anything to do with their plot. He believed that the "three elements of gods" proposed by Siles were just a symbol of the dawn revelation.

Therefore, in the letter, Clarence only said that he would solve "this new member of the Dawn Apocalypse" within the scope of the Historical Society, and did not need Elgar to intervene, and did not even mention Sirius in the letter His name.

Siles suspects that he may have talked about himself with Elgar on other occasions, but in any case, now that the two have died in the meat grinder, he seems to be able to let go of his worries about his identity being exposed for the time being—the dead Best kept secrets, aren't they?

Even if this world has the ability to make the dead speak, no one would think of asking Clarence such a question.

... Siles warned himself not to worry too much.

Clarence is dead.He might as well worry about that, the culprit who sent someone into his office.If Clarence agrees with that person, maybe he will know that Sirius belongs to the Dawn Revelation Society?

And that guy is very unruly.Siles thought.

In short, this time things seem to be over.Although there was a lot of drama and some people died quietly (Sileus always sighed because of this), but on the whole, at least they didn't let the more grim situation arise.

The biggest impact may be that many residents in La Mifa City are not very happy to taste delicious food these days...

In this rainy and cold season, the residents of Lamifa City really endured a lot.

Follow-up investigations are still ongoing, but Sirius doubts what the Church of the Past will find out.After all, judging from the current situation, all clues seem to come down to Never Embers.

...that is the destination of his journey.

Dr. Chester Fitzroy finally decided to join Sirius on his journey.He temporarily asked for a leave of absence from Ramifah University, but Ramifah University was already on winter vacation at the moment, so his vacation application was quickly approved.

Because this decision was in a hurry, when Dr. Chester wanted to buy a train ticket to Maltz, all the seats on the train that Cilles was on were sold out, so he could only choose a slightly delayed one. shift.

Siles didn't pay much attention to this matter. He comforted Chester and said that he would wait for Chester at the train station when he arrived.

But Chester seemed quite worried about this.He hoped that Siles would be safe, at least not in an accident on the train.

...This gentle doctor seems to have a tendency to be overprotective.Siles thought so.

In any case, Siles agreed to him, and then on the morning of the 21st, carrying his travel bag alone, he came to La Mifa Railway Station and boarded the train to a foreign land.

He had some strange feelings in his heart.

The trains of this era are similar to the trains of the nineteenth century on Earth in Siles' impression, with locomotives, dining cars, carriages, and not-so-clean toilets.

Siles frowned involuntarily, but thinking of the usual hygienic conditions in this era... In the end, he could only sigh, thinking, it was just a day's journey.

About half of the cars on this train are sleeping berths.Siles found his own compartment and berth according to the number on the ticket.At this moment, there was no one in the box, and he didn't know who his roommate was this day.

He breathed a sigh of relief, because the environment of the sleeper car here is better than he imagined, about seven or eight square meters, with two single beds on the left and right, and it looks quite clean.The box has a hinged door on one side, a window on the other side, and a table that can be lowered.

Siles looked at his ticket, then sat on the bed on the left, and heaved a sigh of relief.He realized that the distance between the two beds was about one meter, and he was relieved.

... Seriously, he's not someone who's used to traveling long distances by himself.Even if he does make such a trip, he will try to keep himself in a solitary environment as much as possible.

He knew that such a thing could not be forced.It's better to count on your "temporary roommate" to have a more easy-going personality.

Siles quickly calmed down, put his backpack away, and then thought about what to do on this long journey to pass the time.

He brought a few books, mainly gifts from Alfonso and Emmanuel.He was very interested in a few of them, so he specially brought them with him, just to pass the time.

However, he was waiting for the departure of the train and the arrival of the owner of the opposite bed, so he couldn't read the book.

After thinking for a while, Siles took out the map from his backpack, looked down and began to think.

He took out several maps, and first looked at the train track map of the Principality of Const.From the city of Ramifa to the border city of Maltz, they had to go through several train stations, including some cities that Siles had heard of or hadn't heard of.

But generally speaking, the border of the Principality of Const is not that big, and there are about twenty cities in the border.Even, some cities are separated by fog.

Such a strange scene and country would probably only appear in Fisher's world.

Of course, we are talking about cities here, not villages.At the junction of cities and cities, there are many villages and farms.Most of the people living here are old-fashioned and don't have much contact with outsiders, but the internal connection is very close.

The train that Siles took will pass through many such villages and cities all the way, and finally arrive at Malz.

After arriving in Maltz, Siles needs to re-purchase the train ticket to the land of no embers—to be precise, Galsworth, and then change to other means of transportation in Galsworth to go to the final destination : House of Hales.

Siles put the railway track map of the Principality of Const at the bottom, and then observed the railway map of the Land of No Ashes.

Galsworth is a larger area and also has different cities.Cilles finally wants to go to Hales House, which is located in the southeast direction in the middle of the withered wasteland, so his destination is also Biddle City, which is located in the southeast direction of Galsworth.

Maltz