A weird screen appeared right in front of Ken's face as he muttered,
"Message log"
There on the screen, it was written,
'Three moons, monsters disappear, disease, dark mage, sarpagandha and time. These are important.'
The reason why I could see this message was due to my second ability, 'time conversion'
When I came into the world, I saw a message in a screen like this saying, "time conversion allows you to travel in the past by erasing the present. It's the second condition but you can pre-write it."
Which seemed absurd at first but after realising this world is more absurd and realistic than the fantasy world, I accepted this reluctantly.
I feel like Someone who's in his mid twenties should be resting instead of going into this type of world with this type of skill but I guess I'm the only one currently thinking like that.
Now coming to the topic of my skill, let's break down how I think my skill functions.
The condition to activate this ability is either to write something a message or die.
Since my future self has already gone through this, he should have guessed what is condition no.2.
So it's normal to think that it is by death.
I think I'll refer to them as first and second because it feels a bit weird to call my other self my name for some reason.
Now moving on, I probably already died around 3 times. The first time was probably to test the mechanism for the second but he decided to come to a conclusion and kill himself after explaining the function of the message. If that wasn't the case then I would be second so why don't I have the message first I was supposed to give?
Also the recent message I got also proves that I'm not second but I'm fourth.
Considering how the worlds were extremely simplified, the message probably has a limit to how much you can type in it.
Pre-write means probably to write a message beforehand if you suddenly die instantly.
Basically it's a system that allows you to still change the past even if the information is not new.
Now that I have a general understanding of how the skill functions, it's time to analyse the new message.
The three moons are obviously referring to the three moons we saw soon after we came into this world.
According to a book I picked up in the library yesterday, the three min is a phenomenon that only appears every 10 years and during this time of day is when magic is enhanced to its best.
Even the monsters take time to rest in the moonlight, slowly absorbing the dense mana while looking at the moon.
Ken was roaming around the streets thinking about this when he saw a young man approaching a small restaurant where he just stared at the food for a while before moving along on his way.
That kid really wanted to eat that food didn't he?
He had decently long black hair and wore dark clothes that had become ragged.
Unfortunately Ken didn't see the young man's face so he couldn't really describe his face but that was fine for Ken, he didn't care too much about it.
Ken began to think and think as he walked and walked.
Monsters disappearing…dark mages…they definitely are connected.
The dark mages are definitely going to either use them as a sacrifice to summon something or use them to attack the city directly but…
Ken took another step and stood still
What is this disease? And how is Sarpagandha related to it? Sure I can make some assumptions but even those assumptions are just half-assed assumptions.
After standing for a while, Ken turned around and started to walk back.
I can focus on those two keywords later. I need to first deal with these three keywords.
Ken body stiffs even more as he continues to walk
The thing that makes me uneasy is why I got this message. Getting this message means that I either was backed into a corner and died or something bad enough happened to my friend or new companions if I made any, that made me want to kill myself to change the past.
By the time Ken Became aware of his surroundings, he realised that he had already roamed past the adventure guild.
Well I can always visit it tomorrow since I'm currently feeling like it's going to last for some reason.
Ken walked and walked and soon reached the house where Ken and Kelvin were temporarily staying.
I don't know why she's helping us but she definitely doesn't have bad intentions. If she did then the message would have included her too.
A sigh left Ken's mouth as he went back.
He went straight to te( library and took out a book and started to read it from where he left off.
Pg-117 ch-16 'a dragon's nest.'
The book name was 'the hero'
It was a popular book that apparently almost everyone in This world has heard about.
The book is definitely good. Apparently it's based on the true story of a mysterious hero who saved the world from the seven great demons.
But I can't fully trust that.
As he read, the night slowly approached and he stopped reading the book for a while to see the beautiful sunset.
After a while, he went to check up on his friend.
He walked and walked and soon arrived at a large open field underground. This was the training ground.
Kelvin could be seen trying to catch his breath as his training started to wrap up.
Although it's a good idea to train, I don't have that much time to train for a full day. He needed to figure out what's happening and only then could he focus on his abilities.
The reason why Kelvin hasn't given up is probably because of two reasons. He has a strong will and second, without electronic devices or pocket money he had nothing really to do.
As Kelvin laid on the floor with sweat covering his body, a shadow was casted above him, It was Ken.
"So…you good?"
"Does it look like I'm doing okay?"
"Nope"
"Then why did you ask that question?"
"Because I wanted to"
A deadpan look could be seen on Kelvin's face from hearing Ken's answer.
"Well I'll be going back to finish reading my book."
"What book?"
"A story book. It's called 'The Hero' . Wanna read it?"
"Sadly I don't understand the language of this world properly."
"Just admit that you are illiterate."
"Hey I'm not."
Kelvin stood up and the muscle cramps made him immediately
Iie back down on the ground.
"Well we ya later."
Ken said as he walked away from the place.
Ken arrived at the Library and read till the sky got darker and darker till It was pitch black.
A half moon could be observed that day. Seeing this, Ken put the book back and marked the new page in his head.
Pg-132 Ch-19 'Old tales'
He then walked outside the place into a garden.
The moon somewhat shining on his face as the cold and Fresh air blew.
There Ken found a nice and comfortable place to sit down as he started to meditate.
Breathe in hold… breathe out… Breathe in hold… breathe out…Breathe in hold… breathe out…Breathe in hold… breathe out…
Ken continued this until it felt natural.
He now focused on his four senses instead of his breathing.
He heard the wind blowing.
He felt the cool wind touching his face,
He could smell the extremely calming and fresh air.
The air which had very subtle magic particles present in it, The air which was more rich in oxygen than the air in his old world.
As Ken got used to the feeling of the fresh feel of the air, he slowly and slowly started to feel something inside his body.
His heart knew peace as he accepted the change in his environment.
Slowly and slowly mana began to accumulate in his medium sized mana pool.
He began to slowly spread the mana through his nerves but by it.
The mana soon reached his brain as it fused with the oxygen. As he exhaled, the carbon dioxide and the excess mana left his body.
After a few minutes of doing this, he opened his mouth, rubbing his hand together and putting it on his face to feel the Marty of his body.
His head cleared up as he looked at the moon shining.
It's the same that the three moon days did not happen today.
I would have loved to stare at the moons at this moment.
He stood up from the ground as he walked inside and went into the kitchen.
There 2 chefs Were working. Since Daila doesn't really eat a lot of food the chef has quite a lot of free time and often goes back home after making food then coming back after 3-4 hours. This process continues till they finish making dinner.
Daila is generous enough to allow this so it isn't a big problem.
Seriously though, she's too generous.
I mean she is the one who picked us up while not knowing if we were demons or not and she even allowed us to stay after hearing our stories.
Ken walked over to the chef that we're about to head home.
The chefs immediately greeted me with respect which was something I wasn't used to.
"Could you tell me where some Ingredients are? I want to cook something."
They soon showed me where all the ingredients were and as they were about to leave, one of them asked, "Just out of curiosity, what are you making?"
A smile slowly appeared on his face as he answered, "A steak."
Hearing the answer, the chefs soon left the place.
Ken heated up with oil and added the seasoned steak after the oil got hot.
He then flipped it every 30 secs and after a while basted it with garlic and butter. He used a different type of herb as a substitute since he rosemary was considered a luxury near This location since most new small herbivorous animals ate that.
After that he cut open the steak and it was between rare-medium rare.
It's good but I really wish It was medium rare but ovens aren't used in This kitchen since you can just use fire magic as a substitute for an oven. It actually works out batter the oven in most cases so I can't blame them.
After finishing my steak I washed my plate and hands. Normally servants would wash them but I told them that I'll cook it and wash it myself so that they could sleep early.
I still am weirded by her generosity but it's not causing any harm so let's ignore it since I have to focus on more important things.
Ken started to walk towards his room soon after.
When he reached the room, he saw Kelvin fast asleep. He probably fell asleep quickly because of his training.
Well then I should also sleep. It's better to think about things in the morning when your mind is fresh and healthy, not when it's tired.
As he laid down on his bed, he thought about the weird personality of Daila.
Most servants would stay nearby the building and a few trusted servants would even stay in the house.
The chefs were also like that.
The chefs who lived near the locality would occasionally go visit their families while the chefs staying in the building would just keep working. The advantage they did have was that their work finished quicker. Like 9pm. Others had to work till 11 pm.
The one in the building had to start working from 6-7 am depending on the person's role while the one who was not in the building had to start working from 7-8 am depending on the person's role.
The system was quite unique and complex from the normal system of how servants work but overall it was efficient and the servants were more happy to work in this type of environment rather than the old environment with the old system.
I should really sleep instead of reflecting about this world.
After 6 minutes of trying to sleep, Ken finally fell asleep.
The night finally felt cold and the bed finally felt just right and hence Ken finally fell asleep.
-
It was a calm Sunday morning with little wisps of brilliant white clouds hanging motionless in the sky.
Even on this nice morning, someone's day wasn't calming down.
Daila over the course of these 3 weeks has been trying her best to prevent an attack from the dark mages.
So far she has been able to capture a few dark mages but all of them haven't been able to give us information.
Most of the dark mages when captured die due to the poison they hid in their mouth and even when they capture them, they don't talk.
These guys literally destroyed their pain receptors so physical torture is useless and whenever we try to weaken them mentally using magic their head literally explode.
These guys literally put a low grade stone inside their head with a large amount of evil and good mana. So when we put any man in them, the balance gets disturbed and since the low grade stone is already overcharged with mana, that distribution causes a small explosion to happen and their brain is fully damaged and they die.
Essentially it's a stalemate.
Daila has tried to communicate using communication stones but the main connection is cut so they tried to use pigeon carriers but they have all failed.
They haven't sent their men to give information since they are afraid of losing men and also they are afraid that the dark mages seeing that reinforcements are coming might lead them to attack quicker.
Since this particular city of the empire is on the edge of the empire where forests surround it, no enemy countries attack from here due to the disadvantage which also leads to the empire putting low amounts of soldiers here.
It also takes about 1 week to reach the capital on horseback.
It'll probably take 2 weeks for reinforcements to come.
1 week for Them to be informed and 1 week for the reinforcements to reach here so it really is a stalemate.
They definitely are preparing to summon a demon and they already have gathered all the necessary monsters and mana to summon it.
They only need a suitable sacrifice now. A sad soul is probably required. A soul that requires a person to be depressed.
We have been preventing infiltration but it's getting more and more difficult to stop them. They are slowly finding gaps in our abilities and will probably soon succeed in infiltrating.
A sigh left Daila's mouth as she walked inside the adventure guild where she took out a bottle of alcohol and asked the person in front of her for a cup.
Adventures have started to die more often since the monsters have disappeared near here and most places so people have to dive deep into the forest where they probably encountered an enemy too strong for them to face and died.
As she got the glass, she poured some of the alcohol in the glass and slowly started to drink it.
She began to remember the events that happened yesterday.
When Ken barged in and started to negotiate with her.
It was an interesting situation to say the least.
A sigh left her mouth as she couldn't help but think about the situation.
The moment we send some of our men personally, the dark mages might attack us early in hopes to distract us long enough to capture the sacrifice and summon a demon. There's also the possibility of them running away but I don't want to risk it.
I hope he does his part of the deal by exposing the dark mages but that'll be difficult.
As she stood up, she felt a presence approaching my location and after a minute, there was a man standing in front of me wearing a top hat and a typical suit.
He looked at me with a smile and said, "I'm here to start doing my part of the deal."
After a brief silence Daila spoke in a more serious tone, "And how do you expect to do that?"
The smile on Ken's face didn't change as he spoke, "Just let me talk with one of the dark mages, I promise to make them confess."
"And just how do you expect to do that when even we failed at that?"
Ken's smile turned into a grin as he said, "It's something simple called mind games."