Chương 348: The Days of Old

"In the old days, while the four essences were still limited, it was far more plentiful than it was now," began my father, as he looked into my eyes. It almost seemed like he was trying to figure out how much of his words I understood. <So mana has always been a limiting factor in this world, > said Felix, as he watched the 'story' through my eyes. <Interesting. I wonder if this was a natural part of this world's magic system even before the Market turned this into a Garden world, or if it was added in later.

> <I think the Market probably added it in later, > I said. <It just… lines up too well. It gives almost everyone from the Market a huge advantage, since most of us don't rely on any sort of local resource to give us essence regeneration. I guess it could have appeared by coincidence, but I wouldn't bet on it. > Before Felix could reply, my father sighed, and ruffled my hair. He smiled at me.

"Back in those days, we hadn't been #($* from the continent yet. Instead, the world existed in a constant state of #$*&. The flying islands were made to serve and memorialize the heroes, rather than to serve as living spaces for millions of people. Every time a hero #$*&#@, if they wished, they could retire here with whatever men or women agreed to join them as #%*#&.." <Banished from the continent? > Felix asked. <Is that what that word meant? > I asked. <I suppose it makes sense. > <Either way, your father's words imply that these giant islands were basically retirement homes. Heroes would show up, probably from the Market. Then, they would… do whatever it is they were supposed to do. Defeat the demon king? Or something? And then they would retire here to relax with their harem, if they wanted to. I suspect that's the 'normal' way this world functioned. > I thought about the incredibly abnormal state of the people in this world - no matter what, every single person here seemed attractive. I was inclined to agree with Felix's assumptions. <So what happened? > I asked. <Well, most likely, too long went by without a hero. So the demon king won. Or, well… whatever threat the Market set up here. Probably, some sort of hive-mind monster that now inhabits the main planet? > Felix said. <Or something like that. > I thought about what Felix had seen last time a maid had taken him outside of his home to observe the world. When he had looked at our surroundings, all I had seen below us was a layer of writhing, oddly sentient mist. Had this world's planet turned into that? That was… horrifying. But it also made some amount of sense. If the creators of this world had set up the 'Heroes' from the Market to have an overwhelming advantage of some sort, then it made sense for people of this world to fail without that advantage." Papa! Banish?" I asked, hoping he would elaborate a bit." Yes. They say that a long time ago, we lived down below, in a giant, flat world. As far as the eye could see, it was endless soil, with blue skies above us, and the #*$&#$ confined to the #*$&#$@ beneath our feet." My father sighed." But too many years passed, and no new heroes were born. Nothing worked - and eventually, the ##$*&@# escaped. At first, it was manageable, but the outbursts grew worse and worse. Eventually, those that survived fled to the skies."" World gone?" I asked my father, hoping that he would fill in the blanks. My father laughed." Yes, you're right. We can't survive there anymore. You're so smart for someone who hasn't even turned four yet, Miria!" My father stroked my head, before he sighed." The world still exists, but… well, it would be better if it didn't, honestly. At least then, there would be no more raids where #($*#@ fly to our islands and try to kill us." Then, he ruffled my hair." Not that it matters much for you. I wish you could have been born before these times, back when heroes were still common. But… well, life isn't so bad these days, either. There is always hope, even after the end of @#*$&#@." Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. <So the air raids are the enemy, trying to deal with the last survivors, > said Felix. <I wonder why it's taking so long for it to win. You would think, logically, that with an entire planet of resources, it would be easy for it to finish off the last survivors. > <Maybe it's contained, somehow? > I said. <Or perhaps the people who turned this world into a Garden had some sort of backup plan. One that kept the enemy from being likely to wipe out the last survivors. After all, I imagine it would be annoying to rebuild a stable ecosystem in this dimension if something went wrong. > <Maybe. > Felix's voice sounded uneasy. <I can't help but feel like we're living in a soap bubble, though. If anything goes wrong, the bubble will pop and we'll plunge to our deaths. This world is in far worse condition than I was hoping for. > I also scrunched my face up in frustration. This situation was far less stable than expected. The good news was that our deaths didn't seem imminent - but I couldn't help but feel that if the hive-mind on the planet ever wanted to, we would all die within a week. My thoughts wandered back to the 'maintenance needed' I had seen in my first Status Screen after reincarnating. I shivered. Now that I thought about it, there was also some chance that something 'outside' of this dimension had interfered, sprucing up the power of the enemy. I really hoped that the weird hive-mind monsters were part of the 'original design' for this world. If they weren't, we might be in even more danger than we thought. <Ask your father about heroes, > said Felix. <Let's see if we can learn anything new about how the Market actually managed this world. People from the Market have natural essence regeneration, but I don't understand why that made them such a critical part of this world's survival. It doesn't seem like it should have played such a huge role here. Maybe we can learn more? > I blinked. I hadn't actually noticed that, but Felix was right. Having natural essence regeneration was a huge benefit - but it seemed odd that heroes were so significant in this world's history. How would essence regeneration help against the massive monster that had swallowed a whole planet?" Papa! Heroes?" I asked. My father blinked. He seemed to be starting to realize I was a bit more… thoughtful than most children. I decided that should be my final question for the day. If I kept asking coherent questions at my age, my father might realize something was up." Long ago, heroes were constantly born into this world. They were born better. Stronger. Each of them had a 'blessing' that allowed them to regenerate at least one type of essence #(%*#, without any need for external supplies. Only this allowed them to survive the long, difficult journey into %*#&$#, where the could collect #$*#&$#@. Combined with #%*&#$, this allowed the world to stave off the threat of %*#&$," said my father. <Difficult journey into %*#&$#? > Felix sent me the mental equivalent of a frown. <Interesting. It looks like there is something else to this 'hero' business, but we're missing a few words and some context here. I don't know what that word means either. > I sighed. Not knowing the whole language was frustrating." When heroes go?" I asked, forgetting my earlier resolution not to ask any more questions. This one was on topic, at least, and my parents seemed like very loving parents so far. I felt I could push a little more." The heroes stopped appearing over 7, 000 years ago, give or take a few years. Historical records of that time are a little unreliable, because during the flight to the sanctuaries, a lot of #*&$# got lost. But as far as most @#($*&@#$ can tell, that's the time heroes stopped appearing." My father gave my mother a look, and she smiled knowingly at him. My father cleared his throat." I think that's enough storytime for now, sweetheart. Look, your sister is already sleeping," he said, as he gave Anise a kiss on the forehead. True to his words, Anise was already happily drooling onto her side of the pillow." I love both of you. Sleep well." With that, my mother and father left the room. After my parents left, I sighed. At least we had confirmed a few of our earlier ideas now. We knew how the market had handled things in the past, how things had changed, and even had a rough timeline when the Market had disappeared from this world - about 7, 000 years ago. I wasn't sure exactly how time worked from one dimension to another - the soul fragment we had met in the last world had briefly mentioned that time passed at different rates in different worlds. However, it still gave us some context for the fall of the Market, however limited that information might be. My father's bedtime story had also told us that heroes were, for some reason, inextricably linked to the rise and fall of this world. I wasn't sure how the Market had accomplished that, but we would need to investigate that in the future. For now, the information we had gained would have to do. Felix and I spent nearly an hour bouncing ideas and theories off of each other, before my own eyelids started to droop. Before I knew it, I also fell asleep.