Chapter 152: 137.2

Yeah, it's my notes for the volume.

However, for readers who believe that how they feel and the impression they gained is all that matters in determining "this is the kind of story this is," I would suggest not reading this.

Though I called it notes, some key points may have been left up to the readers' imagination, so do keep that in mind.

This time, there were some limitations due to the use of the first-person narrative, such as the place names of other places appearing and the timeline being confusing. As such, let's start with a brief overview of the history.

But before that, there's just one thing. First, an explanation for the sake of making the later explanations more clear.

The naming of years, countries, and places in the alternate world is done by the rulers of the time.

The names, left continent, center continent, and right continent, are an indication that there has never been a ruler capable of gaining control over any one continent.

Also, the world simply isn't seen as round. The undeveloped maritime exploration technology and the existence of scurvy are some of the causes for that.

If this world had sauerkraut or lime juice, things might have been different.

However, it's also a fact that the center continent is effectively under the rule of Elysium, and they're using it as a hub from which they dominate the right continent and invade the left continent.

So why isn't the center continent called the Elysium Continent?

Elysium, the city of white and the capital of the country headed by the beast hunting princes was originally built by the elves and subsequently seized by the Hemu.

They could easily have renamed it, but the usurpers thought it would be more humiliating for the elves, who had their city stolen from them, to keep the name as is. The story that the country was founded by Lyridias (Silent Duin) is also more or less bullshit, or perhaps it's better to say that it came about as a result of the history made up by later generations becoming entrenched.

To further complicate matters, after the death of the King of Hemu, Ra・Varuzu・Duin・Gargantua,

A variety of reasons, including internal strife among the princes, the political vacuum, and the popular beliefs of the people, combined to make it impossible to separate themselves from that city, leading to the idea of just exploiting the current situation rather than starting from scratch.

And that's why the name Elysium is still in use, despite the fact that the insides have been completely replaced.

Over time, even the elves forgot that the city of white was something that had been seized from them. Naturally, few among the Hemus know that it was stolen.

In the main story, the description of the throne room is as follows.

On the ceiling, glistening mountains and giants resembling beasts.

On the right wall, elves and dwarves engaged in battle with those giants.

On the left wall, elves presenting ears of wheat to Hemus.

On the far wall, a crowned Hemu defeating the giants.

This means that the ones who were fighting the old beastkin initially were just the elves and dwarves.

Hemus only joined the fray later.

As for the elves presenting ears of wheat to Hemus,

That’s a story for another time.

【A simple timeline of the right continent】

Note: Writing the year might confuse people, so I will simply write the number of years from the present. This information only covers the countries involved in this volume.

【1100 years ago】

Neomia was founded.

【600 years ago】

Rossian was founded by Lord Blue-Scale.

【500 years ago】

The assassination of the royal line of Rossian by Deimos・Zamongrea (Barfuru).

Lord Blue-Scale went mad. Without the dragon, Rossian was destroyed by Elysium's army.

【495 years ago】

The bountiful city of Neomia was destroyed by winter. The infestation of vampires.

Elysium's invasion, and the last stand of the Endguard.

Elysium's army was wiped out by the Lycans.

Barfuru was born.

Next,

To elaborate on the various reasons and purposes.

【The reason why Elysium destroyed Rossian】

It was a stepping stone for the invasion of Neomia.

The thing that Elysium found most troubling was the history that Neomia possessed.

Neomia was a country founded by those whom Elysium had exiled.

They had carefully preserved many secrets that Elysium would rather never see the light of day.

They were used as leverage to extort money from Elysium.

That was why Neomia was so culturally and economically developed despite being a remote part of a rural continent.

It was all thanks to the money from Elysium.

【What are the Endguard?】

They were the descendants of the ones Gladvain had called the "old warriors of long past".

They had come to Neomia from the left continent in pursuit of vampires, only to fail to defeat the source of the vampires after it had fled into the dungeon.

At the behest of the then king of Neomia, they settled down outside the city.

In truth, the king of Neomia knew the exact whereabouts of the source of the vampires and could have had it defeated if he so wished, but he hid its presence because he was scheming to use the Endguard's strength to defend the city.

【Why did Lord Blue-Scale do what it did to Neomia?】

Let's start with the reason why Lord Blue-Scale was covered in wounds when it first appeared before the young king, Fon.

Angered by Lola eating the corpse of Lord Rot-Scale, Lord Blue-Scale attacked Velsvain's martial arts school.

However, Velsvain's disciples, who had Gladvain's blessing of the dragon slayer, fought it off, causing it to flee to the right continent.

Velsvain's school also took heavy casualties and was later destroyed in the ensuing war.

The reason why it approached humans was because it had become interested in them after suffering a defeat at the hands of Gladvain and the others.

In the end, the wish of the Lord Blue-Scale who had gone mad after the murder of its family was, oddly enough, the same as Lord Rot-Scale's: its own death.

It had gone to Neomia for the Endguard, who had the same scent as Gladvain.

In the hope that they would kill it.

But when faced with the last of its blood, the lady, it regained a bit of its sanity and Lord Blue-Scale went into a long slumber.

After the dragon went to sleep, winter came to Neomia and turned it into a capital of death infested with vampires, as per the main story.

In a sense, Neomia was already as good as destroyed, but in order to erase the history it had preserved, Elysium sent an army to destroy it, along with the Endguard.(ostensibly to exterminate vampires and slay the dragon).

【With regards to the Lycan's curse】

This was a curse that the old warriors obtained when they contracted with the "old ones", the black wolves of the left continent.

Thought this curse was originally a means of combating the curse of the vampires, in the end, the nature of the curse changed in response to their wishes, and turned them into white wolves that devoured their enemies.

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The only explanation for why the Endguard gave their lives for Neomia is that that was simply the kind of warriors they were.

【The story of the Endguard told by Barfuru and the presence of Toto】

The story about the Endguard that Barfuru told in volume 1 is mostly bullshit.

The reason why he spread this story was because he was looking for people who had a connection to the Endguard and Neomia.

He had no way to get past Lord White-Scale's barrier, so he was playing the long game, trying to gather information on secret paths known only to the locals, curses, magical means, or anything else that could circumvent the barrier, as well as getting interested adventurers involved.

One of those who fell for his approach was Tyutyu's mother, Totomeranje.

Toto's ancestors were adventurers in Neomia, and Barfuru looked into the possibility of using her in some way.

Later, Toto died from illness and Barfuru fulfilled for her the wish that had been passed down to her from her ancestors, the wish to return to their homeland.

He buried her body in the snowy fields of Neomia, where it was recovered by the lady who made her into a resident of the dream.

【The Neomia in the dream】

The Neomia that Souya went into is not the real Neomia.

The question is, whose dream was it?

Lord White-Scale said in the main story that it was Lord Blue-Scale's dream, but that wouldn't explain the corpse sitting on the skeleton throne.

In other words, it's a dragon's dream, but it's not solely the dragon's.

The reason why Lord White-Scale put up a barrier is not to protect anything inside. It's because without the barrier, the realm of dreams would expand and encroach on reality. There was a real danger that the dream would eventually consume everything and reduce the world to nothing.

The ever-lasting winter centered around Neomia had also been gradually encroaching on the right continent.

Although there is a backdoor entrance known as the great bell tower of Rossian, it housed the soul of Lord Blue-Scale and destroying it could wake up the crazed dragon, so Lord White-Scale had no choice but to leave it be.

The reason why Lord White-Scale tours the continents and interacts with humans is out of her interest in them and also because she believes that humans will be the ones to find a way to overcome this situation.

【Barfuru & Deimos・Zamongrea】

The heroes' spearhead are shadow knights who work to hand glory to the heroes.

This was basically meant to be a way to absolve a former knight of great prowess of his or her crime.

As for Zamongrea's crime, simply put, it was a woman.

He slept with the Pope's mistress, impregnated her, and was captured after trying to flee, and then made to serve as a shadow knight.

There was essentially no record of a shadow knight ever being absolved of their crime.

It is, in effect, a sentence of being exploited until death.

In response to the absurd order of bringing down a country,

He caused Rossian's downfall, and by extension, Neomia's as well, but in the end, he and the king of Neomia ended up killing each other in combat.

Then, he attained godhood as a nightmare of a dragon and became a beast-headed man.

That appearance is a mixture of the abominable blood, the Lycan, and the nightmare, blending together into a degenerate form.

He returned to Elysium as Barfuru, but was defeated by the hero his descendant, Zamonglass, described as "terrifying", and was denied the chance to see his wife and child.

The hero said that if he brought back the head of Lord Blue-Scale, he would allow him to see his wife and child. He obeyed.

He returned to the right continent, but was unable to go back to Neomia because of Lord White-Scale's barrier.

The fact that the last of his descendants, Zamonglass, became a beast that looked like a white wolf is both a manifestation of the connection between Zamongrea and the Endguard, and plain irony.

This concludes the notes.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to leave your comments.

Follow-up notes below.

【The death of Barfuru & Deimos・Zamongrea】

The two corpses in the throne room.

One was the king of Neomia and the other was Deimos Zamongrea.

What's up with that? Is where I'll begin.

Here is a simple timeline of events.

Lord Blue-Scale arrives in Neomia and dreams.

↓

Winter sets in.

(The reason why winter sets in when the dragon sleeps is because of the stagnation of cold air in the skies above the alternate world. This is the reason why there are no migratory birds. The reason why winged rabbits exist instead and so on is something I'll talk about in future if I get the chance.)

↓

Lord Blue-Scale's dream slowly consumes Neomia.

↓

Neomia's inhabitants become vampires.

↓

The Endguard invokes the curse of the Lycans and wipes out Elysium's army.

↓

Bearing severe wounds, Zamongrea breaks through the Lycans' defenses and fights the king of Neomia in single combat.

He defeats the king, but dies from the wounds inflicted by the Lycans.

↓

Both of them died and were then pulled into Lord Blue-Scale's dream.

↓

When Lord Blue-Scale realized that the person it had taken into the dream was the one who had murdered its entire family, it spat him out of the dream as a nightmare.

↓

Barfuru was born.

What Souya did was destroy Zamongrea's body in front of Barfuru (Neomia's nightmare), forcing him to recognize his own death, thus causing Barfuru to disappear.

That's what happened.

In the first place, Zamongrea had died a contented death when he fought the white wolves single-handedly.

What had lingered was the shadow of the abominable blood and the obsession with going back to a place where there was no longer anyone waiting for him.

By destroying the body that was the source of these, Barfuru was vanquished.

By the way, this goes without saying, but the author isn’t going to be answering the questions posted here lol. But feel free to post any questions/discussions in the comments or Discord.

So, Zamongrea had already died but became a beast of abominable blood bearing his obsession and that was what killed the king, huh? Or at least, that’s how I’m taking it. But this really gives you an insight into the gods of this world, doesn’t it?

And yeah, did you think that everything Lord White-Scale said was 100% true? By reading this, I hope you’ve realized that NO ONE in this story knows the whole truth, no matter who they are, and it’s not that they’re intentionally lying, just that they don’t know/are misinformed as well, which is incredibly realistic… And can you imagine the incredible amount of effort required to keep such things straight and logical? This is why I really respect this author’s planning of the plot. EVERY character’s telling of events is colored by their biases, their motives, and their knowledge in this story.

Still, I have to admit I would never have made the connection that the “old warriors” that Gladvain said Souya was similar to were the Endguard. But when you read this, did you go, “Of course!”? And this also explains Souya’s affinity with the old ones, the black wolves on the left continent, as well as the golden eyes they share. The Lycan curse he possesses is a mutation of their powers. Small things like this are the difference between good and great stories, imo. However, what’s Misuranika-sama’s link to all this?

So, even in the afterword and notes, there are still many secrets, huh? The elves and the Hemus. The “terrifying” hero that Zamonglass said Souya resembled. All these plot points have many hints and foreshadowing already in the main story. Can you spot them? And of course, if you hadn’t guessed already, the secrets Neomia was using to blackmail Elysium are what’s depicted in the throne room. Including the fact that the previous king of Neomia lied to the old warriors in order to use them and the fact that they were the invaders of Rossian, no one side is truly innocent in this, isn’t it? Except maybe Rossian…

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this unique peek behind the screen that the author has provided! See you next volume!

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