Chương 45: Ember.
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It was unknown how much time had passed, but by the time he finished, it was already dawn with gentle light shining on his face. Feeling the sand beneath him and the mist of sea water hitting his back, Richard finally realized that the only girl who hadn't scattered was still lying on his chest, sleeping peacefully.
Seeing her body, now healed but still missing her right wrist, he opened the program to try and restore it completely. But he had no data of her alive and well before all the tortures she endured upon arriving in this wretched world. Like the three girls already in limbo waiting to be reborn, whom he couldn't save completely since their souls were broken beyond belief, the elven girl in front of him was also broken and unable to be fully healed.
Luck might play a part in giving her a new life, but this knowledge alone made Richard let out a breath of sorrow over his inability to restore something to its perfect state, especially knowing he had the tools to do it.
Looking at Huginn and Muninn floating peacefully atop Tor Gvalch'ca as if telling him that he could do it if he just had patience, Richard finally stood up after gazing at his newborn creation for quite a while. He brought Ember along, who snuggled into his body, undisturbed by the movement.
Passing many simple square stone houses that were clearly created out of magic, Richard just nodded to the many Kitsune who were waking up to start their daily lives of studying Aon and forming this island into something more beautiful that they could call home.
"Wait, is that? Is that Ember? Wait again, Ember who? Argh, this Conjunction is so confusing. And my research, my notes, my Great Encyclopedia Golarionnica. And Kenabres, yes, Kenabres—there was this invasion, what was her name again? Minagho. We were supposed to fight her, then… then. Yes! The Wardstone! The Wardstone and the Purple Knife before we, we… Mythic… Argh, damn it! I know I should not have created those amnesia. But, without those, Areshkagal will… Argh, now it's all in ruins, everything in ruins, I don't even know a single thing about this world. It doesn't even make sense, doesn't make sense."
Passing the Kitsune who was talking in a confusing manner, jumping from one topic to another without stopping, Richard suddenly halted, turned around, and scrutinized every detail of this very, very old lady.
"What are you looking at? Oh right, I remember now. Are you the one who created this Aon? Then that's great! Now, see this. I want to know why you created these specific logographic runes and symbols. Is there any specific meaning? Is this created by the geographic shape of this island? Will there be a change when you move it to another location? If there is, then…"
On and on she went, nonstop, without any respect like the other Kitsune who remembered living in the land named Tian Xia, like the Xian Xia people in the fantasy-fiction section of the database. Richard then stopped the lady—no, the anomaly—by directly asking her identity, "Why have you taken over someone else's body? Are you some kind of Transmigrator?"
"Huh? D-did you figure out my identity?! Tell me, tell me! Am I this Transmigrator like you said? Or am I simply like them, as my clansman, but with a bit of confusion inside my head? Because I don't know everything, even something as simple as the history of shoes! I have no recollection whatsoever! Are they made out of leather because it is comfortable? Or is it because of affordability for those unable to purchase it? Speaking of…"
Watching the Kitsune lady look at her sole foot while talking nonsense on and on, Richard noticed Ember slightly stir from her sleep because of the one-way conversation. Flipping his watch, he edited the data of this lady so that she couldn't talk unless it was something both parties agreed upon, resulting in instant silence.
Richard then turned toward the lady again after finishing editing the data. Seeing her confused, tilting her head, and wondering why he did this and what his motivation was behind having such a program purely out of scientific curiosity, not concerned or even angry in the slightest about the treatment, Richard answered.
"You are the first person who was able to get past Huginn and Muninn's detection for someone classified as a risk of uncertainty. Because of that, I decided to give you different treatment."
"Oh, I see!"
Seeing the lady try to continue talking but only able to utter three words, making the conversation between them pleasant and satisfying, Richard nodded after observing the effectiveness. After thinking for a bit, Richard continued, "Not only that, for now, you will be under the constant supervision of the Herald until a decision has been made about what to do with you."
"Got it! Examine me, torture me, or anything really—it's okay. Just don't kill me, please. Because there is so much knowledge, so much insight, so much information that I don't know about!"
Seeing her begging face, a typical crazy scientist willing to do anything just to exercise her brain, Richard nodded, deciding he wouldn't go to the extreme anyway. After reading all of her data from atom to atom, he concluded that this lady was not dangerous at all. In fact, his instinct told him that he had found one of the gold mines that would advance his Sun Breathing to the extreme of Planck Temperature, like Ciri's Absolute Zero.
So, looking at this untapped gold mine once again, Richard said to her, "Come. I will introduce you to Margarita, the supervisor of this island and the warden of Huginn and Muninn."
"Okay, boss!"
But stopping after just a single step, Richard looked at the sleeping Ember on his chest, who only had a blanket draped over her body—a blanket given to her by Moiraine sometime after he started creating the reincarnation program. Turning around, he then asked her, "Do you have any extra clothes lying around? If you do, bring them along, and I will put in a good word for you with the other Heralds."
"Right away, boss!"
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