Chapter 103: Wander less
Edgar’s eyes narrowed. "...Extinct?"
It was hard for him to wrap his mind around the thought of an entire race being gone.
"What do you mean... extinct?"
Semele looked into the dancing flames of the Unbroken Fire. "They no longer exist."
Edgar frowned. "You’re saying an entire race simply disappeared?"
"It wasn’t simple." She gently folded her hands over her lap. "A very long time ago, before the Roselle Kingdom was founded, these lands belonged to the elves."
Edgar’s heart skipped a beat. He had considered the possibility, but he wasn’t sure.
"Were they strong?"
Semele nodded and looked at the burning fire with her orb-like eyes.
"It was one of their greatest kingdoms. They didn’t build cities from stone like humans did. The forests themselves were their walls, their roads, and their homes."
Edgar immediately remembered the murals inside the cave. "...The giant trees."
Semele looked at him with unhidden curiosity. "You’ve seen something."
Edgar avoided her eyes. "I’ve heard stories."
Semele smiled knowingly but didn’t press him.
"The elves were gifted by nature. They possessed powerful spirits and lived far longer than humans. For thousands of years, they flourished."
Edgar looked at her. "How did they go extinct?"
"The dragons."
Her answer came without hesitation.
"They came from the western continent. No one knows why the war began. Some say it was greed, while others claim it was revenge."
"There are even stories saying both races were manipulated by someone else." She shrugged lightly. "The truth disappeared with history."
Edgar leaned forward. "Who won?"
Semele looked at the fire. "No one."
Edgar’s curiosity only grew.
"The World Tree... what exactly was it?"
Semele remained silent for a moment before answering. "It was the elves’ greatest treasure. A tree that kept the Eternal Night away."
Edgar froze in place. With trembling lips, he mumbled, "...It what?"
"It repelled the Eternal Night. The darkness couldn’t cross into the World Tree’s domain."
Edgar’s pupils trembled, but he kept his composure as best he could.
’So that’s why the murals showed everyone praying beneath it...’
"They ruled the continent with the help of the World Tree, but the dragons reached it."
"And they burned it..." Edgar finished her sentence.
"Yes."
Edgar remembered the mural.
Everything he had seen there wasn’t symbolic. It had all happened.
Semele’s voice remained calm. "Without the World Tree, they simply vanished."
"Some believe they all died, while others think they fled across the sea."
Edgar quietly stared into the flames.
If the murals were inside that cave, then that place had once belonged to the elves.
Which meant the ruins he had found could be one of the last untouched remnants of their civilization.
Semele suddenly looked at him. "...Why are you asking about elves?"
Edgar met her gaze without changing his expression. "I was curious."
"Hm."
She neither accepted nor rejected the answer.
Instead, she simply smiled. "I heard they’re really good at sex."
Edgar stared blankly at her. "...What?"
Semele nodded and even doubled down on her words.
"The elves could nourish themselves without food. So every hole in their body could be used as a--"
"Alright, that’s enough talking." Edgar quickly cut her off. "Time to go."
He stood up and could tell Semele was enjoying his flustered expression.
"Come to me if you want to know more about elves." Semele said, waving her hand. "I can help you."
"...."
Edgar looked at the woman for a few seconds before walking away.
He was tempted to ask about the runes but decided against it.
’I can’t trust this woman, no matter how trustworthy she seems.’
Taking a deep breath, Edgar stretched his body and looked around.
Most of the people had already gone inside their houses, as no one liked being outside during the Eternal Night.
Only a few soldiers remained on the ground and atop the patrol paths.
The ⟨Watch Towers⟩ were doing their job without any problems, killing any Nightmare unfortunate enough to wander into their range.
’...I need to work on making more effective weapons and the steam engine.’
Edgar rubbed the back of his neck and turned toward his house.
The Soul Guardians silently patrolled beyond the walls through the Soul Network.
He wasn’t needed anywhere, so he planned to spend the rest of his free time studying the runes and refining the blueprint he had in mind.
Edgar returned to the main hall of his house and lit another oil lamp.
The rolled parchments were still resting where he had left them.
He carefully spread them across the table once again.
"...Let’s see."
His fingers traced one of the runes.
He tried rotating the parchment, then he compared similar symbols to one another.
Some shared identical branches, while others differed by only a single line.
’Maybe they’re built from smaller components...’
It reminded him of programming.
A single mistake could completely change the outcome.
’Or perhaps they’re more like mathematical formulas.’
Either way, randomly copying them onto equipment would be asking for disaster.
Edgar wasn’t eager to accidentally blow off one of his own hands.
"...I need more information."
He reached for another blank sheet of parchment.
This time, instead of copying the runes, he began organizing them into groups.
Runes with similar shapes and repeated patterns. Runes connected to the image of the World Tree.
If he couldn’t understand their meaning, he could at least search for patterns.
Hours passed in silence.
The only sounds inside the room were the scratching of his quill and the occasional crackling of the fireplace.
He rubbed his tired eyes before setting the quill aside.
From all the information he had gathered, Edgar finally identified a single rune that appeared more frequently than the others.
’...From my understanding, this rune is like a binder... or a connector.’
He kept staring at the rune for a long time without thinking about anything else.
’What if I...’
Edgar cut out a small piece of parchment and drew the rune on it.
Then he took a deep breath and slowly channeled the power of his Solar Heart while touching the rune.