Episode 105 - Dark Speculation ‘Secrets of Promissum‘

Last chapter: A homeless-looking man tried to warn people about the forbidden room but was instead beaten in public. Everyone seems to know who this man is. Commander Kal quickly arrested the man and he was brought into the Royal Palace.

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Day 3…

The moment Eugene woke up, she sighed yet again…

‘Two days left’ As if she was stuck in a wheel of deja vu cycle, her back wanted nothing but to stay plastered to her bed. It has been 3 days since she stepped foot into Zene yet it felt as if she has been living here for over 3 months. For the first time in a long time, everything felt heavy and chaotic.

Turning her face away from the light shining through thin sets of curtains, her eyes laid upon a peaceful face of a sleeping Euria. For the past 2 days, Euria went from a cheerful little child to a child nervous at everything. Sure, she was still smiling, but sometimes when an unexpected situation occurs, she was first to get anxious. Any negative deemed event will leave Euria feeling nervous and scared which was not exactly in her ‘naive- I-don’t-see-anything’ character.

Eugene watched attentively as Euria’s blanket slowly rose up and down. She watched her for a while before rolling out of bed to get ready for the day.

-

“I see. So, it’s been found.” Serious but quiet mutterings belonging to Louis could be heard through the door to the dining room.

Eugene paused for a moment before knocking on the big door. It was then that the discussions inside the dining room paused and permitted the person who knocked on the door to enter.

Eugene entered the silent dining room and carefully greeted, “Good morning.” She mumbled, greeting Duke Rodriguez, Louis, and Ron before walking directly to an empty seat.

Her eyes shifted briefly to Duke Marleigh who went missing after yesterday’s archery assessment before averting her eyes. Though it has only been half a day and one full night, to Eugene, it felt as if she was meeting Duke Marleigh after a long time.

“Good morning.” She nodded her head to Duke Marleigh and climbed up her seat.

Duke Marleigh nodded, “Good morning.”

Eugene glimpsed at Duke Rodriguez who looked at Duke Marleigh in warry and poured herself a cup of warm water.

‘What is it? Why does everyone look so serious?’ Just as Eugene was about to take her first sip of warm water, Duke Marleigh spoke.

“We found it.” His voice was low and serious as he stared at Eugene.

‘Found it?’ Eugene’s eyes met with Duke Marleigh’s.

Seeing her puzzled reaction, Duke Marleigh chuckled. “You hid that quite deep. Truthfully, we almost couldn’t find it.”

Eugene blinked before moving her eyes to her cup, “...oh.” she muttered, her lips forming a thin line.

“Though it has yet to be examined by an expert, you are most likely right. It’s a real hand. Judging from the hand’s size, it should belong to a female.” He continued.

Eugene nodded lightly, “I see.” she whispered emotionlessly.

The reason why she went out of character yesterday was that she had left her guard down. Her mindset was filled with money and treasures that coming across a hand was too shocking! However, because it's a new day, her emotions are as stable as they can be. Even if she was to encounter a decapitated hand she doubts she would blink twice.

But, that didn’t mean she wanted for the hands to be real. She had hoped to be wrong...

Duke Marleigh continued, “You made the right decision to stay quiet and go straight to Louis. ” He commended Eugene with a complicated expression.

Duke Rodriguez sighed, “Zene isn’t as peaceful as everyone thought it would be. Not only are Zene’s internal relations a mess, but Zene’s citizens also aren’t as magnanimous and harmonious as everyone thought they’d be. How bad must it have been before if citizens say that today’s Zene is peaceful? Why are the reports on Zene different from the actual situation?” He lamented whilst frowning.

Not only was Xenperia fooled into believing that Zene was doing well and was one of the most peaceful countries, it was most likely that every country in the United West Liasel was also fooled to believe these so-called ‘facts’. But how?

To have successfully hidden away these matters from United West Liasel’s higher up and envoys from many powerful countries was absurdly impossible and odd. Not only that, the borders between every country in United West Liasel are opened to enter and exit. Everyone in United West Liasel was free to move around as they pleased, yet, why was it that no one realized Zene’s actual situation?

Eugene sipped on her warm water and thought quietly, ‘The situation yesterday with the Nameless Musician is also suspicious. Yes, he acted insanely, however his eyes showed sanity. But after he was dragged outside, his eyes somewhat changed…’ the more she thought, the more her smooth forehead started forming creases.

Duke Marleigh noticed this and asked, “What’s wrong?” His voice immediately brought everyone’s attention to a frowning Eugene.

“Yesterday..” she trailed off, unsure of what to say.

“Yesterday?” Duke Rodriguez repeated, “Was there anything else?” his voice sounded jumpy, worried that there was something he had missed.

Eugene pursed her lips, “The Nameless Musician.” she dragged again as she was still unsure.

Louis frowned, “What’s with him?”

Eugene tilted her head. “Well...”

Seeing her frowning and hesitating unlike her usual character reminded Ron of Eugene’s unusual behavior yesterday. He couldn’t help but snort and interrupt Eugene’s train of thoughts, “You know, I didn’t realize this until yesterday, but now I am truly convinced.” he cut in.

Eugene glanced at a serious Ron.

“Eugeneia. When you are scared, you become cute and innocent.” he nodded to himself as his voice sounded full of seriousness and conviction.

“.....” Eugene’s lips twitched.

“.....” Duke Rodriguez who was thinking of all the odd situations he encountered these past three days almost slipped off from his chair. ‘.... Now? Must you say this now?’ He stared flabbergasted at Ron.

Duke Marleigh and Louis too, blanked out.

The room turned cold as the gale-force wind hit their frozen bodies.

Nevertheless, Ron continued, “You got scared and ran to your brother didn’t you? Your usual straight face and nonchalant behavior are to cover up your true face right? Right? I’m right, right?! You love your brother, right?!” the more he spoke, the more excited he got.

Bombarded with his so-called ‘facts’, Eugene became speechless and unable to mutter a single word back.

It was Louis who sighed, “Ron…” he shook his head. ‘You’re digging your grave…’ he thought quietly.

Ron eyed Louis and smirked, “Why? Am I not right? Didn’t you say that every night Eugene will without a fail, check under the bed and closets to chase away supernatural beings?” his eyes looked at Louis up and down as if keeping him in check.

“.....” Louis stared blankly. ‘You forgot to add the word ‘being forced’. Being forced by Euria!’ he thought quietly.

Eugene’s lips twitched, her eyes couldn’t help but narrow. ‘Childish. Don’t play into it, me.’ she sighed, shook her head, and turned to Duke Rodriguez.

“Will we still train today?” she asked.

“About that…” Duke Rodriguez looks at Duke Marleigh.

Duke Marleigh nodded, “Yes. Although Zene is suspicious, it’s impossible for Zene to touch us. If they do… it’ll put them at a high risk.” he affirmed.

Eugene couldn’t help but frown as she listened to Duke Marleigh speaking with seriousness. She understood why Duke Marleigh said that ‘It’ll put them at a high risk.’, but him adding the word impossible to the sentence sounded wrong and suspicious. Why couldn’t they touch them? If they wanted to, they could!

Eugene hesitated but asked anyway, “Why is it impossible?” No matter how much she thought about it, using the word impossible in this context was a bit ambiguous.

Duke Marleigh turned to Eugene and asked, “Have you heard of the book ‘Promissum?”

Eugene frowned again, ‘Promissum?... Promise? Book of promise?’ The word somewhat rang in her ears as if she has heard of it before. No. More than hearing of it before, as if she had seen the word physically? A word that sounded close to her and very familiar to her.

Eugene pressed her thumb into her index finger as she thought quietly. ‘Book.’ She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. ‘Book.’ she repeated.

“Eugeneia?”

A voice snapped Eugene out of her thoughts. She paused before shaking her head, “I don’t know.” she replied hesitantly.

Louis raised a brow, “Didn’t you buy the book?” he asked.

“Book?” Eugene turned towards Louis.

“‘The binding promise of United West Liasel’, you bought that book.” he reminded Eugene.

Eugene’s eyes slightly widened, ‘Ah. The binding promise of United West Liasel? Isn’t that what I bought the last time I went to the capital?’ she nodded.

Eugene turned to Duke Marleigh and said, “I didn’t have time to read it.” Suddenly, she frowned, ‘Wait. Somethings wrong.’ before Eugene could pinpoint what felt wrong Duke Rodriguez interrupted.

“You can already read those books?” he asked as he stared at Eugene in awe.

“.....” Eugene blinked but nodded.

Ron scratched his head and sigh, “Even I have a hard time reading those books…”

Duke Marleigh shook his head, “No matter.” turning to Eugene, he asked, “Do you know what promissum means?”

Eugene nodded. ‘Promise.’

Duke Marleigh nodded, “It’s a long story but, Promissum is a book that was discovered in World War II.”

Eugene blinked and carefully listened.

“Because of the aftermath of World war I, countries began to attack West Liasel. Back then United West Liasel wasn’t united. We were one continent, but we didn’t work together. Hence the name was without the word ‘United’.” He explained.

The 1st World War devastated many nations and destroyed the countries that lost the war. Because of this, people who were no longer able to live in their scurried to West Liasel, the continent that won the war. Because of the pouring amount of people coming into the country, West Liasel soon became depleted of money and food. Before World War I, West Liasel would have mini spats with one another, however after settling down from World War I, nations in West Liasels began seriously fighting one another for resources to support their nation.

The devastated countries who lost World War I noticed the internal fight in West Liasel, and united. Together they attacked West Liasel who didn’t think much of them. Yet, what they thought were futile retorts became bigger and bigger until it led to World War II. It was West Liasel against 4 continents that were located far away from the West. The 4 continents risked their lives for one another and attacked as if they were one united force.

When West Leisel was at its tipping point of losing everything, nations in West Liasel united and fought back the 4 continents with all they had. West Liasel's few hundred years of discord suddenly disappeared and their strong teamwork suddenly appeared to fight against the world. Through many deaths and sacrifices, West Liasel won. Through World War II, West Liasel united together from fear and defeated the world.

“......” Eugene listened seriously to Duke Marleigh. She couldn’t help but wonder why he was giving her history lesson out of nowhere when he suddenly questioned her.

“Nations from all over the world lost World War I. Yet, instead of fighting and stealing resources from one another, why do you think they chose to unite and attack West Liasel? More importantly, how were they able to trust each other to the point where they could show their backs to their allies without worrying that their allies won’t betray them? After all, their allies are from other nations and other continents. How were they so confident?” he asked.

Eugene carefully listened to Duke Mareligh and frowned when she realized something was amiss. ‘That’s true. How could they trust each other to that point? It should be hard to even trust your comrade from your nation, but they trusted their allies from another nation without a worry?’ she thought deeply as her frown deepened.

Eugene hesitated, “Maybe... they held something against each other?” she guessed.

“There must be something holding them together, making them unable to betray each other... “ She mumbled as she rubbed her thumb and index finger together.

Duke Marleigh breathed in loudly and nodded. “There was indeed something that held them together,” he confirmed Eugene’s words.

Eugene mumbled, “Held together… a true cooperation.”

“Hm.” Duke Marleigh nodded.

Eugene bit her inner lips and thought quietly to herself.

‘What can hold them together to unite as one and travel to another continent? Their resources should be depleted in World War I. In wars, winners take all. And why join together after World War I and not during?’

She tilted her head, ‘They’d have a better chance at winning during World War I when their resources were still high than World War II when they had almost nothing.’ she sighed as she hit the end of her intelligent wall. A wall that she can’t overcome with basic knowledge.

Jokingly, Eugene shrugged, “God must've been helping them.” she said in an ‘I-give-up’ kind of way.

Duke Rodriguez laughed hearing Eugene joke for the first time, “That’s probably what our ancestors thought.”

Louis sipped on his tea, “Tables were flipped when it should have been impossible for the table to be flipped.” he said quietly.

“Yes,” Duke Marleigh chuckled. “ Like you, people thought god was helping them.” he shrugged his shoulders and continued.

“In the beginning and middle of World War II, other continents, as well as West Liasel wondered how the 4 continents were able to play ally so well. They wondered how they were able to fight alongside each other well enough to almost destroy West Liasel. Then, just before West Liasel was about to lose everything, they discovered the power behind the 4 continents.

That which made West Liasel and West Liasel allies tremble with fear was a book called Promissum. An essential element that bound the 4 continents to one another, temporarily united, unable to betray one another until West Liasel was destroyed.

The reason why they fought well with each other, why they fully trusted one another. It was because they were temporarily bound and unable to break free until West Liasel was destroyed. Therefore, their united front was carried out without any setbacks.”

“.... What?” Eugene frowned as she stared at Duke Marleigh’s serious eyes. ‘A book?’

Duke Marleigh nodded, “The 4 continents were bound together. They weren’t allied because they threatened each other. They were simply just bound together as one.” He broke the truth.

Eugene couldn’t help but raise her voice slightly, “How’s that possible?!”

Duke Rodriguez sighed, “It just happened out of nowhere, after World War I.”

Eugene frowned, ‘But? Wouldn’t that be magic or some sort? What sort of otherworldly thing is that?!’ she bit her inner lips hard.

Just as her brain was hit with this surprise, she suddenly realized something, “Was this how West Liasel united? Because of this book?”