[173] 1. Kergo Autonomous District (5)
My friends' expressions were tense too. The only ones who showed no change were Canis and Arin.
"This is why the Kergo district cannot be opened. Only someone who has inherited an angel's power can unlock the gate beneath the ground. That is why we have been waiting for you."
A gate to Heaven. It wasn't sheer nonsense. Shirone had once traveled into Miro's space-time via the Immortal Function.
But this was on a different scale. A world made by a mage is not the same as Heaven. Kadum was talking about a place where a god dwells.
"For ages, angels have been intermediaries between gods and humans. They transcend time and space to carry a god's will. I understand that an Unlocker is someone who inherits an angel's power. Please. Restore Kergo's glory. For that, the tribe is prepared to pay any price."
Shirone couldn't answer. Meet a god—what could one possibly do on a star floating in the sky?
"Kergo has suffered countless crises. Volcanic disasters struck, and civil war followed. We've been humiliated by outsiders. The tribe is on the verge of annihilation. Our people are starving. Yet we believe the angel's heir will revive Kergo."
Amy jabbed a finger and snapped, "Why don't you just buy food? Relying on faith when you can be self-sufficient is gambling with people's lives. We know the smuggling profits from loops are unimaginably large."
"Kergo's situation is worse than you think. The income we share with the Galliant government from the ruins can't feed twenty thousand people. Even if we survive by selling loops, we'll be swallowed by outsiders again like a hundred years ago. As chieftain, I prayed for the god's blessing and stockpiled a fortune."
"Still—money and women? Did you really think you could persuade the divine messenger that way?" Amy sneered.
"I don't know. I only searched the records for methods. According to Kergo's history, one messenger demanded one hundred million gold as the condition for going to Heaven."
Shirone was stunned to hear someone had already gone to Heaven. Not only had they gone—someone had been asked for one hundred million gold. You wouldn't agree to that unless you valued money over your life.
No—maybe they were so powerful they weren't afraid of going to Heaven. But was that even possible?
"What happened to that person? Did they come back safely?"
"Of course. Two hundred years ago a messenger of God departed for Heaven with companions and returned, claiming to have heard Ra's great will there."
"How did they return? Through the gate?"
"That's impossible. As you might guess, Heaven's gate is tied to the Immortal Function. The gate's existence is what enables the Immortal Function. But Heaven doesn't have a medium that lets the Immortal Function operate, so to return they had to use another method."
"What method?"
"I don't know. Records only say it wasn't a profitable venture for them."
Silence fell.
To call a journey to a place where a god exists "not a profitable venture" implied that even those powerful enough to go couldn't come back by their own strength.
Canis's words finally made sense. Not being able to return was, in some ways, a fate worse than death.
This wasn't taking a ship to a far country. It was passing through space-time to arrive at a star somewhere.
A fierce curiosity rivaling his fear of death rose in Shirone. He thought for the best answer and, without needing to ask his friends, said, "I'll think about it."
@
Left alone at the altar, Kadum stared at the stars.
The servile demeanor he had shown to Shirone's group was gone. As lord of Mount Toa, he stood with his chin raised; sensing another's presence, he turned his head.
An old man coughed as he walked through the altar's entrance. Elder Hashid.
"Are you really going to send them?" Hashid asked.
When Hashid used honorifics, Kadum's face twisted. "Father, that tone isn't appropriate toward your son."
"Son? You know my son is gone from this world, do you not, Father?"
It was strange—the two of them calling each other "father." Even stranger was Hashid, white-haired and frail, calling the brawny Kadum "father."
Kadum's true nature showed. A sharp light flashed in his eyes—the experience of someone who'd lived over two hundred years.
"Hmph. Still clinging to that misunderstanding? Kadum's death was an accident. I didn't kill him."
"Of course you'd say that. But if my son hadn't died, someone named Kang wouldn't have needed to borrow Kadum's name to claim the chieftainship again."
Kadum turned to face Hashid. "What are you getting at?"
"Father, they won't succeed. Even if that boy is a messenger of God, he won't return with what our tribe needs."
"Even so, it doesn't matter. The wealth stays here. If he brings back what we want, we'll pay anything. If he fails, we'll deal with him. Everything is for Kergo."
"Is that so? Two hundred years ago you gained three hundred years of life through a messenger of God. That has nothing to do with Kergo, does it?"
Hashid glared at Kadum with contempt.
His own child had grown old and could barely walk, yet the man calling himself "father" enjoyed youth with solid muscles and a trim body.
Since obtaining those extra years, the chieftain had run rampant. He searched for Unlockers across the lands and spent vast sums. As the tribe's assets dwindled, he even began selling loops to outsiders.
On the other hand, Hashid understood the temptation.
Eternal life. Endless youth. If one could obtain that, what in the world would be too costly?
"Isn't it enough now? Since that day many Unlockers have left, but none have returned. Obsession with immortality strips one of humanity. Miro realized that long ago and warned us."
"Shut up! There's no one who can lead the tribe as strongly as I can. Have you forgotten how miserable Kergo was when you were chieftain? You were a failed leader. Kergo needs me. I am Kergo itself!"
Kadum howled at the sky. Hashid had no answer.
The man before him was formidable—a wily, two-hundred-year-old veteran with terrifying power. He might, as he boasted, raise the tribe again.
But perhaps…Kergo would vanish from the world with him as its last herald.
@
Shirone and the others headed to their lodgings.
The caves stretching northwest from the square were complicated, but to Shirone—who came and went in Istas like it was his home—they were merely an annoying maze of forks.
The room was large, and there was a bed they hadn't expected. Beside it stood a wardrobe.
A room for outsiders only. How many people had stayed here? Had they departed for Heaven? Or had they simply disappeared from the world?
Kadum's words had been so shocking that no one spoke even after they reached the room.
Those who unpacked and put their things in the wardrobe looked to Canis. It was time for him to reveal what he knew—about the messenger of God, Heaven, and Kergo's plight.
"I kept my promise. So explain," Shirone said.
"It's as I said. You heard everything, didn't you?" Canis replied.
Amy sat beside Shirone and glared at Canis. "Heaven—does such a place actually exist? Since when did you know?"
"To be honest, I'm not certain either. For that question it might be quicker to hear from Shirone. Hashid asked what you saw in Miro's space-time."
Amy turned to Shirone. "That's right. Shirone, tell us. What did you see?"
"Not what, but where," Canis cut in.
His guess had been right. Shirone nodded and continued.
"Yes. It was a place."
There was an ocean and a forest. In the center of a city ringed by a circular wall stood a spire.
Shirone had been drawn into the light atop that spire, and when he came to, he was back at the altar.
"That's all I saw. If that place is Heaven, Kadum's story might not be nonsense. Before we decide, I want to hear more from Canis. How much did you actually know?"
Harvist, who had been posted as a guard at the door, returned to Canis. Usually he never stopped spouting crude words, but now he kept silent.
"My master Arkein… seems to have gone to Heaven before," Harvist said.
Shirone stood from the bed.
Arkein had been holed up in a dungeon for fifty years after being betrayed by Alpheas, so the timing must have been much earlier.
"Arkein came to the Kergo ruins too?"
"No. It must have been elsewhere. As Kadum said, ruins around the world seem in some way connected to Heaven. Of course, they're controlled by their states, but eighty years ago those places didn't even seem to be known. In that sense, the Kergo ruins are unusual."
Eighty years ago Arkein would have been only sixty. Not a young age by human standards, but given Arkein's strength at one hundred forty-nine, his magic then was likely at its peak.
"What's in Heaven? What kind of place is it?"
"I don't know that either."
Shirone narrowed his eyes.
Not knowing made no sense. If Arkein had experienced Heaven, Canis should know about it—Arkein's knowledge would have passed down to Harvist.
Harvist added, "Canis's words are true. Arkein erased his memories of Heaven. The only fact we know is that he went there."
"He erased his own memory?"
"Yes. He wiped it out completely. So we don't know what he did there. Perhaps he didn't want the story of Heaven to be made public."
Knowing Arkein's character, Shirone found it hard to believe. What secret could a world-recognized third-tier great mage hide so deeply that he erased his memories?
"Canis, what exactly is Heaven? Is it really where a god lives?"
"Nothing is certain. That's why I want to go. I need to see it with my own eyes. So take me there."
"No. I've changed my mind. You were right—it's too dangerous. It's not a place you go out of mere curiosity."
"No, your opinion doesn't matter. The deal I proposed was for you to send Arin and me there. No matter what happens, we will enter Heaven."
"To be honest, I don't want to send you either. You said once you're inside, you can't return through the original gate. Besides, if I don't go, they won't permit anyone to use Heaven's gate. The chieftain looked desperate."