Upon my return to Jean's place, I saw Elea. I was relieved upon seeing her being perfectly fine but back in the prison... I wonder how many died. This prophecy doesn't make any sense to me. I caught them up to speed.
"So, there is a liquid that can turn people into monsters?" He wondered, maybe questioning everything he knew so far. "People say that whoever enters this principality doesn't leave. Gabriel and Warsha have ways of keeping them locked up here and I think this might be the truth?"
"I doubt someone can do something so heinous. Turning humans into monsters sounds so farfetched." I said.
"You have no idea how cruel humans can truly be. Especially when their lives are on the line. Kara, you go to Gabriel's place and we will enter the place in secret. Keep his attention and we will try to find something out about this liquid you mentioned."
...
Upon entering Gabriel's mansion, I was asked to wait for a few minutes, since, he had some urgent matter to take care of first. I assumed it was related to the prison and the prophecy.
After a while, he entered the room and sat on the sofa in front of me. He was a man in his late forties or early fifties but I could tell he was taking good care of himself. He was quite well built but outside of that he appeared a bit more unassuming compared to nobles in general.
"You must be the outlander. Duke Durfort sent me a letter and I'm grateful you helped with the jail incident. If it wasn't for you, many lives would've been lost."
"I will be honest, the political power I have is not something you can ignore. My disappearance in your principality would be noticed by two dominions. Tell me what secret you're hiding. And don't try anything funny."
"Haha... I like that young man. But to be honest, we don't know much about the liquid either. All texts are in language we do not understand. Especially context behind them. So we tried putting everything in the basement of the prison."
"I doubt that. You do know that if you hide anything from me, your life would be in danger too because of the prophecy. I need to know all the secrets to find the truth."
As I finished talking, I heard a subtle static noise.
"Haha... I like that young man. But to be honest, we don't know much about the liquid either. All texts are in language we do not understand. Especially context behind them. So we tried putting everything in the basement of the prison." He repeated himself?
There is something going on and I can't put my finger on it.
He continued by mentioning how the jail was being repaired and that they found some more documents and placed them on the table for me to read.
Title: __________ using holy water.
.
.
.
Result: The control group responded as expected but the experimental group kept ________ words and expression given to them with 100% accuracy.
Conclusion: As no error was spotted, it might be possible that certain substance derived from the holy water is capable of controlling living organisms.
As I read the paper, I wondered if it was truly mind control. Second was a piece of newspaper dated march 23rd, 2029. Finally!
The monsters are upon us as the gate opened and governments around the world have given up any hopes. There are rumors that ____ will be ____ to fight off the monsters. _____ ______ ______ are capable of _____ and civilians are advices to not open their doors for anyone. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR. ____ only enter homes when ____. Other types of monsters are directly attacking humans. A 247 ft. tall orc was seen holding a _____. There are sightings of undead in _____
There were holes in the paper and it was torn off. The article was incomplete but from my understanding, scientists found this holy water and began experimenting on it. It seems like this is what gave humanity 'magic' but this also brought about the calamity and complete eradication of earlier version of humans and only those with magic survived and repopulated the Earth. But what does that have to do with the prophecy?
But on top of that, I think Grand order knows a lot more than I gave them credit for. It fair to assume that Kuaishwa already knows all of this but somehow wanted me to discover it by myself. The truth of my summoning might be related to the prophecy.
"So I'm guessing that your basement that is currently locked away also contains this liquid?" I asked.
"To be honest, yes." He stood up. "Follow me."
The two of us alongside some guards and maids walked over to the basement door and he unlocked it using some sort of magic. It was a rather complex circle.
Upon entering, I saw a little pool of similar looking liquid.
"Lady Furrina asked me to specifically build my mansion on this pond to keep it from the public. To bear such burden, I sometimes do pity her." He sighed.
I took a sip of the liquid and nothing happened.
"This is the purest form, right? It should've turned me into a monster too but it didn't." I wondered if I was 7065. None of it made sense to me.
"A-Are you okay?" Gabriel asked.
"Let's go. I think I know what is actually going to happen." I said as I left the basement. This opens up a lot more possibilities. Maybe there was a disaster in Scofinia too and it may have turned people into monsters. Something similar may happen here as well but given it's a liquid that exists everywhere, I think bombs are not the main issue but instead it will cause bigger catastrophe by blasting locations with this holy water. A nuclear bomb may not exist. But cluster bombs existence makes sense too. People of my time would've considered this the best way to get rid of this liquid and also the monsters created from it.
But why now? It's been centuries since the last disaster so the bombs should've been detonated long time ago.
"Gabriel, I'll be on my way. I would suggest moving people over to Scofinia for now."
...
I was finally back in the city of Furrina after a few days of travel and people were preparing to leave the city.
I noticed Celine with her guards helping people. There were more people by her side now. I walked over and waved at her with a smile.
"Lord Kara? You should leave too." She rushed over to me.
"Don't worry." I patted her shoulder. "Just get people to leave. I'll be on my way to Furrina's castle. Move them towards principality and get Gabriel to help you with everything."
"We did receive a letter from him and so all the nobility has listened to them."
"Beastfolks are helping humans?" I noticed some guards with beastfolks searching the area.
"Last few days were tough but a significant amount of people have decided to side with beastfolks. Seems like this catastrophe has done something good... I guess." She smiled softly. "You look rather relaxed. Did you find something?"
"You can say that. Also make sure you leave too." I said as I ran towards Furrina's castle. I think detonating bombs might not be the best idea for now.
...
"Miss Furrina, please... You have to step in and save people from the prophecy." Durfort was begging Furrina to do something. He was legit on his knees but Furrina seemed troubled as well.
"Furrina, you are weak, aren't you?" I asked. "I doubt you're even the grand order of this dominion." I was making things up to get her to act up. My hunch is that she is using all her powers to keep the prophecy from being fulfilled.
"What are you saying?!" Furrina shouted in a defensive tone. "I AM the grand order who was recognized by others."
"Lord Kara, I understand you're an outlander but you shouldn't cross certain lines." Durfort stood up all confused.
I understand now. The voices I was hearing ever since I entered this dominion was of Furrina's and I have certain connection to this liquid and this world.
"I finally understand the true purpose of my summoning." I said. She... and maybe other members of grand order... they all wished for someone who could take care of their biggest issues. Aisha, Kuaishwa and now Furrina, I can hear their wishful thinking but because they're the strongest, the wish was fulfilled. That wish decided I was the most appropriate for them.
I explained what had happened and what conclusions I reached.
"It looks like I was teleported to the future and back then, my parents were involved in some sort of human experimentation and I was immune to the liquid which holds true even now. When king of the sun and goddess of forest tried to input magic, my body rejected it altogether. Even now when I drank the liquid, it did nothing to me. Furrina, tell us the truth."
"Truth?" She had tears in her eyes. Maybe she was really scared of everything. "I'm the god of this dominion. That is indeed true. In reality... others were replaced over and over again but not me. When the war ended, I took the throne of Kaam. But then the catastrophe struck. Everyone turned into monsters. I didn't want those outside of the dominion to die so I created a time loop. I used up all my powers as a god to create a perpetual loop where outsiders think time is flowing as usual and inside the loop, people die over and over again. I'm the only one who retains the knowledge and for all these years, I've been trying to find the solution but now... this seems to be the last loop. I've used up all my powers and the throne is in fact empty. Other grand orders know but they're keeping it from the public. I..." She finally broke into tears. "I'm not a god anymore... I was not able to protect even a single life... I was given one purpose... just one and I failed.