Chapter 397

Nemu, being a bard at heart, tells a wonderful tale of friendship, sharing, and kindness that makes the reality of Laura’s obsession with sugary treats seem like a minor side effect of her gentle nature and desire to share what she has with others. In fact, she tells it so well, that she brings many of the gathered acolytes to happy tears.

The senior clerics are no less happy to have the new story, and Cain can see that one of them took the time to write it down word for word, so they could tell it again later.

The next story the clerics tell is of the awakened zone just inland of them, a cautionary tale about the purple leopards and their love of hunting bunnies. It seems like one they tell often to keep young acolytes in line, but behind the story, Cain gathers detailed information about the region, how to avoid running into the beasts, and more importantly to him, how to find them. For he is not trying to avoid trouble like the gentle-hearted clerics, he is looking for adventure and a way to keep advancing.

Following that, is another tale of the Awakened zone. This one is a tale from the Great War between the species, a historical retelling of how the zone came to exist.

“Before the war, the forest was calm and peaceful, home to the children of the Great Bunny, and the children of the Goddess of Reincarnation. The children of life and those born again into a second body when they reach adulthood. The werewolves love to chase bunnies, it is in their nature, but before the war, they did not harm them, only chased them until they were tired and happy.

That all changed when the madness of the war began. The carnivores became increasingly aggressive until the werewolf leaders had to ban the ceremonial hunts altogether. It was a great loss for all beastkin, for it ended centuries of tradition and alliance in the name of safety.

The mighty armies of the Beastkin races went to war with the elves, leaving the forests empty and unguarded. That let the monsters loose, with nobody here to stop them but the children of the Great Bunny.

Then the Demon Armies appeared, seeking to put an end to all of the senseless battles and the madness that had befallen the world. Their Ancient King had a solution, but it was seen as madness to most others. Only the Great Bunny’s High Priestess and a single Seraphim Elder agreed with him that it should be tried.

But as the death toll rose, more and more leaders joined their side and finally, the great magic was cast, breaking the hold that the madness had over the world. But they alone were not enough, and the curse on the world didn’t fully break. Instead, it was concentrated, and the spots of greatest madness were trapped in a time loop. One single day from midnight to midnight, the time it took to cast the spell that was supposed to break the hold of madness on the world. Those spots became the dungeons that we know today.

The madness was strong in the awakened areas, as were the residents, but the awakened areas were too large to concentrate the curse into a dungeon. So the curse of madness never broke in the lands claimed by the Awakened, instead, the spell locked them away so that only those powerful or mad enough could enter, and none that were inside could leave.”

The cleric pauses his story to take a short drink of water, and Cain works to understand the story. It is different than what they had heard on the Central Continent. Similar, but not quite the same. If this version of history is correct, only a handful of people in the world ever knew the whole story, while the rest of the world just did their best to piece together what happened and come up with an explanation.

“So there are no dungeons inside the Awakened areas?” Cain asks, looking for more answers.

“I am told that there are now, but that they are not permanent. Great battles inside the Awakened areas can cause a time loop for a short time, usually only once or twice, before the region stabilizes again.”

That sounds a bit like the power level of the battles has gotten so out of hand that it is almost enough to destabilize the spell that lingers over the region, which would be very bad for the unawakened outside of the zones. Even a short breach that lets crazed monsters at the awakened level out would be on par with a natural disaster.

“Are there many cities inside the awakened zones?” Vala asks, finding the important point that they had all missed.

“Actually, yes. The demons know a way to keep the residents of their cities from going mad, so they have quite a few awakened cities, some of which are built around pre-war ruins. Nobody knows what they were looking for, but they searched the area for hundreds of years before the war while the madness grew without finding it before they seemed to give up and just settle into normal life.”

That one Cain does have an answer to. Aggron, the grandfather of the current Demon King Aggramor, was looking for him, after Cain finished his quest and was pulled back to this point in time, leaving the Demon King with an aging and very mortal Gnomish wife that he wanted to save. The old man had said that he searched the end of the world looking for Cain after he found that note in the ruins by old Muzz.

But that also means that the Puppet he freed from servitude, the one that has the contents of the Library from the fallen ruins, should actually be somewhere in this section of the Southern Continent. Even more than a quest to find an advanced class, finding her and the books on raising Ancient children would be amazing.

That is a lot of information for one day, even if they are all stories meant to teach acolytes about the world around them, and it is a relief when the next few stories are all just children’s stories and local legends about the past. They keep it up until it gets too dark to properly see the speaker, then they light a small brazier and begin telling ghost stories until the acolytes fall asleep, piled all over their guests.

“We’re fine here, you can come to retrieve us in the morning when the acolytes need to start their day,” Cain informs their hosts quietly, relaxing in the soft clover of the gardens, surrounded by the smell of hydrangeas and the herbal soap the bunnies use.