Episode 1007 Arcadium (2)
The conversation of the attendees was also heard by Verden.
The third guest of honor?
Verden did not avoid the gaze directed at him by the masked figure. He exercised insight.He attempted to intuitively discern the emotions and thoughts surging beyond that gaze.
… … !
Just then, a thought flashed through his mind, and Verden’s innate sixth sense was restricted. Tearel, perhaps also exercising his own insight, showed signs of discomfort and twitched his temples.
The environment has changed.
To use a metaphor, it felt muffled, as if water had entered my ear. As soon as Istopped the insight, the foreign sensation disappeared.
The host pulled a fast one. Does this mean the Transcendental One’s insight is cheating here?
The masked figure set the glass down on the railing and stepped back against the wall.He did not approach immediately.If he was truly the third guest of honor, a situation would arise where they would have to face each other, whether they wanted to or not. After all, there was no way he would have granted the title of guest of honor to someone who was not special.
if.
If the first guest of honor is ‘you’, andthe second guest of honor is the first Demon King.
Who exactly is the third guest of honor?
Under countless eyes, Verden and his party walk toward the center of the banquet hall.Their gazes followed him in unison.
“Oh… every single one is a delicacy. At any other time, these would have been the main course at a banquet.”
Before anyone realized it, Luzak was holding finger food and wine of unknown ingredients in his hand, whetting his appetite. He was quite skillful despite having only one arm.The intellectual, who had experienced banquets firsthand, enjoyed the atmosphere.
Tearel stared down at the nearby dining table.
“I guess it’s best not to touch it, right?”
[No. No.]
The host said.
Eating and being eaten by one another for the sake of knowledge.What could be more noble than that?
The bizarre intellectuals attending the Arkadium devour one another. The female VIP who glanced at Luzak had coveted half of his brain.Since they are not ordinary humans, it cannot be described as cannibalism, but it is a behavior that is infinitely close to it.
If we connect knowledge and eating, these dishes served at the banquet… … are highly likely to have used ‘intelligent beings’ like humans as ingredients.
According to Ruzak’s explanation, ordinary food is served more often, but the problem was that there was a possibility it wasn’t just food.
The mere thought of it is utterly disgusting.
I never imagined there would be monsters worse than Gluttony in this realm. To think they serve as a banquet the very person I was just conversing with right next to me.
It was then.
widely.
The light went out.
The venue was engulfed in darkness.
In the empty darkness, something squirmed and passed through Verden’s party.It had a texture like a tentacle.The host finally revealed his presence after confirming that all scheduled attendees, including the guests who were practically the decorations of the banquet, had assembled.
The light from the ceiling illuminates only the stairs.
O intellectuals who doubt the origin of existence. O arrogant intellects who reject ignorance.
A host dressed in a strange and unique tuxedo featuring a black ribbon appeared halfway up the stairs leading to the gallery on the second floor.
{This mansion you have entered, this banquet to which you have been invited, is an dissection table of endless thought and an organ that digests perception────Arkadium.}
The host placed his long hand on his chest.
I am the host of this banquet, the concept that grants permanence to all knowledge, and the one who governs the cycle in which questions and answers destroy one another.
A shadow slowly descending the stairs.A silent hand sweeping the railing.
{What will now be offered to you is not merely the dregs of fleeting emotion. It is an opportunity to grasp the wreckage of intellect. You shall savor the fragments of truth once pursued by others and discuss your qualification to possess them. Chew, and swallow. Obsessing over knowledge is the very duty of a noble intellectual. If the world despises you for this, consider yourself proud instead.}
The host moved toward the center of the mansion.
{If the world is the question, the Arcadium is the answer. You have already been invited, and the fact that you have been invited by me is the only proof that your profound intellect sets itself apart from other intelligent beings. Now, O Feast of Knowledge.}
He picked up the champagne glass placed on the butler’s silver plate, hidden in the darkness.
The loser will be recorded and remain forever, while the victor will become a superior intellectual, refuse extinction, and create eternity.
The entire mansion became bright.
{It is truly a joyous moment. The third guest of honor, ‘Magion’, the fourth guest of honor, ‘Asher’, and the first distinguished guest, ‘Blodia’, have gathered in one place. There has never been a more splendid Arcadium than this. O sentient beings, raise a toast to the noble intellectuals who have joined us.}
Arkadium uses pseudonyms.
The host raised his champagne glass above his head. With the exception of a very few, many intellectuals raised their glasses very high in their own ways.
The voice of the host, facing Verden head-on, was heard from the sea.
Praise your knowledge.
For brilliant intellect.
{Starts the arcadium.}
As the shouts and applause of noble intellectuals echoed through the deep sea, the true banquet of knowledge finally began.
* * *
The dinner resumes.
The upper-class guests, who have survived in the Arcadium for a very long time and climbed the ranks one by one, make their way toward the two guests of honor.Some of the guests were looking for the first guest to attend the Arcadium for the first time in a long while.
A glint in the eyes as if looking at prey.A trembling as if facing a predator.
There were many intellectuals who desired the unique knowledge of the guests of honor and the first distinguished guest. For it was special knowledge that no one had ever glimpsed…
The intellectuals who challenged them were instead stripped of all their knowledge and reduced to specters of knowledge, yet these people showed no hesitation. Theywere filled only with a mad thirst for knowledge. “I am different!”The towers of knowledge each of them had built over a lifetime made the distinguished guests regard themselves as special. For the sake of fine dining, the upper-class guests were willing to willingly have their own possessions taken away.
At that moment… a single-digit number of VIPs paused.
As soon as he appeared, the host finished his brief opening speech and walked past the distinguished guests. It was an unspoken command not to approach them carelessly.With that, the host approached the fourth guest of honor with leisurely steps.
It was a brief speech for first-time attendees. How was it? Did it resonate with you what Arcadium pursues?
Verden said.
Are you talking about the speech that no action is sordid if it is for the sake of knowledge?
You understood correctly.
Tearel, wearing a dress that shimmered with the colors of the deep sea as usual, crossed her arms. She looked around at the guests and dignitaries who were gathered in their respective groups.
“So, is that all for dinner?”
{This is merely a prelude to the opening ceremony. The essence of the Arcadium is a game. It is a contest of knowledge to determine the winner and loser, with the winner acquiring the knowledge possessed by the loser. You must already know this, having heard it from Luzak Paltein.}
I asked even though I already knew.
Luzak, the sixteenth distinguished guest, followed the Host up to the continent on his orders to make amends for the offense he had committed against Verden.While staying at the Great Hall of Black Hour, Luzak provided a great deal of information. The procedures of the Arcadium were already in his mind.
Opening Ceremony.Games.Closing Ceremony.
Although the specifics differed at every arcadium, it always proceeded in this order.
Verden asked.
When is the game of knowledge scheduled to start?
{You are hasty. Enjoy the feast, Asher. It is made with ingredients specially selected for you. I brought them from the continent. Rest assured, it does not contain any high-level intelligent beings like humans.}
I’m not eating.
{What a guest who doesn’t appreciate my sincerity.}
The host stroked the tentacles on the octopus’s head with a look of regret, then subtly held out a bowl as if asking if I wanted to have a taste.
[Tsk.]
[Please clear it away.]
Alpha and Beta, perched on Verden’s shoulders, glared with one eye and tried to swat them away.Host said, “Do not try to cause trouble, creatures of Oldark,” and quickly placed the bowl of finger food back on the table.
{The foundation of the arcadium is food. Knowledge must also be acquired through intake. You will not get the answers you want through such independent actions.}
I told you I would figure it out my way.
That was definitely the case.
The host held up one finger.
{However, that is not good. If the intellectual who won the game—and the guest of honor at that—gains nothing on the surface, the atmosphere will cool down. This is something I cannot simply overlook as a host. So, I have devised an alternative to ensure a certain degree of fairness.}
The artificial golems tilted their heads.
[alternative plan?]
{Whenever you win a game, I grant you the right to ask me questions. There are three grades of questions. Defeating a double-digit VIP earns you ‘Low Grade,’ a single-digit VIP earns you ‘Middle Grade,’ and defeating the first VIP or the third guest earns you ‘High Grade.’ It is an extremely simple rule. As the grade increases, the level of the questions I must answer also rises.}
Those who do not eat the loser gain the right to ask questions in place of the knowledge the loser possesses.It was a new rule exclusively for Verden and his party.
Three for lower level.Two for middle level.One for upper level.
However, the number of questions per level is limited.
Tearel showed interest. She, too, had no intention of eating Arkadium’s food. Unless she were on the verge of starving to death.
“For example, what is the degree of the answer?”
{If you obtain the right to ask intermediate questions, I will explain why, as a transcendent being, you regarded me as the fear of the sea and came to pursue my death as an ideal.}
“……!!!”
To think that I would reveal the fundamental reason why a transcendent being came to harbor a unique ideal. That wasn’t a story limited to Thearel.
The ‘chosen’ transcendent being.
This applies to most transcendents, unlike those who made the choice, such as Verden and Adrian. In other words, the Host has declared that it will reveal the exact reason why these transcendents were chosen.
{And as for the right to ask higher questions… … .}
The host moved a little closer and limited the range of his voice’s spread so that it could be heard only by Verden, Alpha, and Beta.
{I will answer you about Oldark’s purpose, or the source of the destiny you created. The truth of this world hidden behind their taboos.}
“……!”
Verden was shocked. Alpha and Beta couldn’t help but be shocked, either. Their minds became a mess. Their questions about the host grew even more.
‘What is this guy…’
It was the first time I had faced such a difficult opponent.
Judging solely by their actions, I cannot tell whose side they are on. It felt as though there was no way to guess what the host, ‘your’ apostle, truly wanted.
The host took a step back.
{This seems to be enough motivation. However, it is still insufficient. Only when it overflows can the cup be filled to the brim.}
He raised his voice.
{Intellectuals, for the first time in this Arcadium, I have invited a ‘special guest.’ He is an intellectual whom I personally traveled to the other side of the world to bring back.}
The surface of the banquet hall ceiling was covered in the dark waters of the deep sea.It reflected the images of Verden, Host, and others like a mirror, and soon began to reflect a different landscape.
The cliff outside the Arcadium, the boundary of knowledge.
Beneath it lies the Landfill of Knowledge. A land of specters who lost even their very existence while excessively coveting knowledge. All specters of knowledge repeat the cycle of devouring the knowledge of sinners to regain their selves and crave knowledge once again.Luzak had one of his arms torn off and eaten for the crime of disrespecting Verden.
Bang───!
A powerful shock occurred at the Landfill of Knowledge. The underwater earthquake shook even the mansion. Immediately afterward, a human figure burst out of the landfill.Sweeping away the specters of knowledge with magic, it soared into the air.
The atmosphere of death was pervasive.
Soaring up the cliff, he looked around and spotted the mansion. Seeing him rushing toward him without hesitation, the host flicked its tentacles.
Gulp!
The mansion door opened.
A special guest entered the luxurious mansion, exuding an aura of intimidation. After briefly gathering his breath and magical power, the guest flashed a fierce glint in his eyes.
“A guy called a host, right in front of me…….”
The special guest, displaying murderous intent, glared. He looked at Verden. Verden showed a reaction no different from that of the special guest.
{You must have wondered why the Gring Arcanum was treated as a world forbidden book. Why is it possible to obtain all knowledge through the Gring Arcanum?}
The host grabbed Verden’s shoulder with a voice heavy with laughter.
“no way…….”
This is the answer.
The host introduced a special guest.
The special guest is a ‘servant’.
The concept of knowledge was born of intelligent beings.
Then, what should be done to prevent knowledge from being forgotten?
Since records are bound to change depending on interpretation, it is sufficient for the being who is the subject of knowledge to continue existing.In that sense, the body may perish, but the soul does not disappear.
As long as the soul exists, knowledge is eternal… … .
The Gring Arcanum can obtain knowledge directly from souls that have met their death.
{Information about the old king. Isn’t it necessary?}
“Why are you here…….”
Draven Lemarque, the first servant of the Glory of the Dead, has returned. Facing Verden, he showed bewilderment before activating the magic circuits throughout his body.
Mado
Draven charged toward Verden.
