Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
According to the announcements that were widely spread by Judge Academy, the entire city would be on a curfew at seven o’clock. Other than those approved by the officials, anyone who was out of their homes would be treated as a suspect and would be captured.
Song Junlang told Xiao Lin that curfews were not all that rare. Plenty of colonial territories maintained it in order to preserve order, but it usually applied only to the natives, not to colonists.
However, not only did New Washington apply the curfew to everyone, it was also the first time a curfew had ever been applied in the city that had only known peace.
“The Americans are really scared this time, but what are they afraid of?” Song Junlang could make no sense of it.
1
Department Head Song would make Xiao Lin recount the entire day’s happenings every time he came back in order to find a shred of a clue to understand what was happening, especially to find out what was recorded in those stone plates.
It was not only Xiao Lin; even Lolander and the other coworkers were filled with curiosity, despite their saying that they were not interested. All of them would subtly try and make their own translations while working, but their Ancient Normese was not up to par, and they were unable to solve the riddle.
Xiao Lin did not participate in the discussions, and no one bothered to ask him as well since his LV1 Ancient Normese would not provide any help whatsoever. Xiao Lin was biding his time as well.
The day his replication skill went off cooldown, he got to the palace hall especially early, before anyone else had got there. He knew that Professor Brown always arrived earlier than anyone else. In just a few short minutes, Professor Brown pushed open the door and entered. He was surprised when he saw Xiao Lin, but was quick to nod at him in praise. He gave a few encouraging words and headed upstairs.
[Replication skill, activated!]
[Ancient Normese MAX, replicated!]
Xiao Lin did not come early to gain Professor Brown’s praise; he was only there for the opportunity to replicate Professor Brown’s skill, and everything was going as smoothly as he anticipated.
All the copied notes were with Professor Brown, but it was not an issue as the stone plates that had been put together were all still neatly arranged in the wall. After using his skill, he hurried over to where the stone plates were.
Professor Brown’s maxed out Ancient Normese was something else; those indecipherable symbols suddenly became clear and meaningful. Xiao Lin could pretty much read ten lines with a glance, so he managed to quickly read through everything without pause.
“Mortals in the living world, heed God’s call. In this world filled with turmoil, a blood moon will rise. Then, the light of God will once again rise from the ancient ashes. In the cover of the fog, my prayers will cleanse all sin and impurities…”
There were over forty stone plates, and Xiao Lin read them very easily. However, the more he read, the more he was confused. He could recognise all the words, but when they were grouped together, he could not understand the meaning at all.
The contents seemed like poetry or prose, or even some form of litany. If the one who carved the stone plates was the high priest, then Xiao Lin doubted he would have been so idle as to write poetry to soothe his hatred.
Xiao Lin once again sped through the contents which were hard to understand, turning his gaze to the plates that had Ivanovich’s names on them. The appearance of the name of the man who established the Law of Immortality was also when Judge Academy started to act alarmed.
The state of that stone plate was worse than the others, even after Lolander and the rest of them restored it. There was still not much left of the plate. The words on the stone plate were also very blurry and hard to recognize.
They guessed that these stone plates were placed into the dark room at different times. The one he was looking at could very well have been placed there even longer ago, and the ones that were better preserved could have been placed there not as long ago. Thankfully, it was not prose written on that particular stone plate, and the meaning was easy to understand.
“… I spent several decades to finally understand that these evil demons come from a different point of time and space… The power they currently have is more horrifying than I imagined… Ivanovich; he used up all his powers and even went against God. God will not forgive him… God did not abandon us. Ivanovich, that heathen enlightened me. I finally found a way to defeat these evil demons…”
His replication skill had ended, but Xiao Lin remembered all the contents. He felt that his understanding of the New World was way too shallow, but there were no results, even after asking Department Head Song that night.
1
Song Junlang did not ask Xiao Lin where he got the translation, skipping straight to analysis. “The evil demons in this case definitely refers to us, but what does it mean by defeating us? That part’s too vague.”
“Maybe it means fanning the flames of rebellion.” Xiao Lin said.
1
“The problem is that these stone plates were carved who knows how many years ago, and were only recently excavated. If it was for a rebellion, then it would be way too late. Furthermore, who would stupidly carve all of that on the stone plates and wait for the Americans to find it so they could prepare themselves?”
The two of them discussed for half a day, but could not seem to find any headway. It only caused Xiao Lin to be even more confused. New Washington’s law enforcement grew stricter, since it was still a city the Americans had garrisoned in for a long time. Even if there had been a long peacetime, when Judge Academy really put their mind to strict investigation, they still managed to find several problematic areas.
Xiao Lin still maintained his routine of only going to the inn and the palace, and would occasionally try to get some news from Lolander and the others. Just the day before, they said that Judge Academy captured a few natives who were acting suspiciously. Those people called themselves merchants from outside, but they suddenly fought back when they were being questioned. They were quite skilled, even managing to kill a few Americans in the process.
Of course, under the influence of the resurrection tower, those unlucky eggs only lost 20 years of their life, but that was still enough to cause alarm.
“It’s definitely not possible for a rebellion to happen; the dragon-eagle knights are here and we have the resurrection tower. The New Washington’s defenses are impenetrable, but some might be trying to cause a scare, since it will be the Single Moon Festival in a few days,” Lolander said when they were resting.
“Single Moon Festival?”
“Planet Norma has two moons, and most of the time, both of them are in the sky. However, sometimes the two moons would completely overlap, making it seem like there is only one moon in the sky. The Normans think it a day of blessing, so they would sing and dance in celebration. The colonists call it the Single Moon Festival,” Lolander explained to XIao Lin.
Xiao Lin had been training every night at the inn in those days, so he had no time to look at the moon. Of course, he did not notice that the moons had some parts that overlapped. When they completely overlapped, it would be the Single Moon Festival.