“But Grand Minister, you are proficient in hundreds of languages. Couldn’t you interpret it yourself?”

“I tried, but it was difficult. So I was hoping the elder could lend me the language decoding device you possess.”

“That requires connecting to Muspelheim’s main cube… Ah, we can use the central communication cube. Come inside. The device is in there.”

As the elder pulled open the black velvet curtain occupying one wall of the room, bright light poured in, revealing a workshop converted from the airship’s bow.

Beyond the round glass window at the bow stretched a vast sky.

The sight of fluffy clouds spreading out below was quite spectacular, but Matian showed no interest.

Rather, what caught his eye was a round glass sphere suspended in midair.

Inside the sphere floated a black box-shaped metal, and whenever it flickered with five-colored light, a world map appeared and disappeared on the transparent glass.

“That is the central communication cube. It’s like a map of the world that accurately pinpoints the location of everything. It was made by compressing a giant magic stone thousands of times in the flames of refinement.”

The elder proudly pointed to the glass sphere.

“The inside of the glass is a vacuum, so no sound can reach it and only light can pass through.”

No sound can reach it and only light can pass through, huh. Matian stared at it quietly.

“So all information is converted into light’s ether formulas for transmission. Not just sound and scenery, but even souls, heh heh.”

“Even souls, you say.”

Matian raised an eyebrow as he listened to the explanation.

The dwarf elder couldn’t hide his pride, as it seemed the arrogant human who had been indifferent to everything finally showed surprise at their technology.

“We tried it and it worked. Only for extremely special souls though.”

The elder winked blatantly at the Grand Minister.

At this obvious hint that something had happened, the Grand Minister tiredly rubbed his forehead.

“Such a thing did occur, Young Lord Matian. Now, would you mind stepping out for a moment? It would be safer if only I knew the contents of the prophecy.”

“Understood.”

Matian left with a brief farewell, as if he had been waiting for this.

“It’s suspicious how readily he follows your words. Usually when elves react like that, it means they have some other scheme in mind.”

“Young Lord Matian is human, not an elf, Elder.”

“Well, he acts just like those folks, that’s why I said it.”

Tsk tsk. The elder clicked his tongue and called out to the central communication cube.

“Seri.”

「Voice confirmation complete. Hello, Elder Pui.」

As a brief voice leaked from the central communication cube, the elder wore a satisfied expression.

It was something he had created after seeing elves talking to objects imbued with spirits.

“Connect to Muspelheim’s main cube and interpret this.”

The elder pressed the prophecy he had received from the Grand Minister against the glass wall.

The black metal then emitted a beam of red light and scanned the document up and down like a scanner.

「Converted text information to ether signal. Connecting, bzzt, to Muspelheim. Information search, bzzt, beginning.」

“The machine seems a bit off, Elder?”

“Indeed it does. This has never happened before… Are you alright, Seri?”

「Error in text decoding process, cannot interpret, bzzt.」

The black metal box inside the glass tube flickered irregularly in five colors, showing signs of instability.

Then the previous red light shot out strongly like a beam, burning the prophecy, and soon after attacked the elder and Grand Minister.

The black magic trap in the prophecy had activated, corrupting the communication device.

“No, Seri!”

“Let’s get out of here first, Elder!”

The Grand Minister quickly deployed a barrier with holy power he drew forth to block the attack, and some of the light beams that bounced off the barrier burned through the velvet curtain and hit the wall.

With a boom, the wall collapsed, creating a round hole.

Through that hole could be seen a shabby warehouse, along with Rukna staring wide-eyed in surprise.

So Rukna had planned to question the Grand Minister about why he was brought here if they met again.

But when the situation actually arose, Rukna was at a loss for words.

That was because the Grand Minister suddenly knelt in front of the burned documents and began wailing, “Oh God, just burn me instead!”

‘Bisbi, is the Grand Minister crazy by any chance?’

「Master, please refrain from using aggressive language, he is still a high-ranking official.」

‘Just because he’s from this world doesn’t mean you have to be on his side.’

Meanwhile, the Grand Minister collapsed dramatically like an actor and clutched the floor, sobbing.

“Sob, this is all because of my greed in seeking a future not permitted by God. That’s why God burned the prophecy.”

Prophecy? Rukna looked at the pile of black ashes and charred paper scraps on the floor.

‘Was that the original work of this world? It’s a shame, I wish I could have known the contents.’

「Do you need the contents of the prophecy, Master?」

‘Of course! But can we get it?’

「There should be information left in the damaged central communication cube. I’ll try to connect to the device. Please stall for time here as much as possible.」

‘Got it!’

It was a rare opportunity to obtain the original work, that is, the ending of this world.

Just then, the dwarf elder slowly approached.

“Aren’t you that gnome who couldn’t control his anger?”

“I’m human, Elder.”

“Human? Human males aren’t usually that small… Well, never mind. Hey, take this gnome back down to the first floor!”

As the elder gestured with his chin to the soldiers, two dwarf airmen each grabbed one of Rukna’s arms.

‘No, Bisbi said to hold out longer!’

Unable to leave like this, Rukna racked his brains as much as possible.

Perhaps due to desperation, any anger towards the Grand Minister had long since disappeared.

“W-wait a moment, Elder!”

“What.”

“On the first floor, I saw dwarves communicating with people far away using some kind of communication device. There was a separate machine for playing music too.”

“Ha ha! That’s right. Thanks to our advanced scientific civilization, we live more conveniently than humans. Are you impressed, human?”

“No, I’m a bit disappointed actually.”

“W-what did you say?”

The elder’s eyes flashed at the unexpected response. This quick-tempered dwarf wore a terrifying expression as if he would pass judgment.

“Is there really a need for those two to exist separately?”

“…!”

A creative idea he had never thought of before. The surprised elder flared his nostrils at Rukna.

Just then, “Elder Pui!”

A soldier who had hurriedly run over on short legs temporarily tucked his long gun under his arm and whispered something in the elder’s ear.

At first taken aback, the elder muttered “Bah, it’s probably just an engine room error” as he brushed the soldier off.

“But Elder, the entire airship’s communication suddenly went down, delaying reports. Shouldn’t you go check now?”

“Wait. I just heard something truly amazing! So, human. Tell me more!”

The elder even wiggled his fingers as he urged Rukna to continue.

“If one device could handle both communication and music, it would be more convenient. Even better if it could search for information too.”

“Amazing! How can a human come up with such a genius idea?”

Over the elder’s exclamation, Rukna heard Bisbi’s voice saying ‘Master, I’ve collected all available information.’

Good. Rukna grinned and extended his hand as if requesting a handshake. The etiquette was similar to how Matian had once greeted Grand Sage Kuran.

“I’m not just any human, I’m Rukna Golden. It was nice meeting you, Elder.”

Rukna said he would go down to the first floor on his own without the soldiers’ escort and bid farewell.

The elder reflexively took Rukna’s hand and shook it, murmuring the name.

‘In this situation, it’s impossible to talk alone with the Grand Minister anyway.’

The priority now was to analyze the contents of the prophecy they had obtained. He could meet the Grand Minister separately at the temple later.

After a polite bow, Rukna left the room under the wary gaze of the soldiers.

As the footsteps faded, the prostrate Grand Minister asked the elder, “Has Rukna left?”

“That young man just now was Rukna? That soul from before?”

“That’s right.”

The Grand Minister, who had been wailing like a madman until just moments ago, wiped away his tears and got up from the floor after confirming Rukna was gone.

That appearance was as pure as a single lily.

“I knew it! He was so clever, unlike humans, because he’s from Ertha.”

“That’s offensive to humans who are listening, Elder.”

“But why Golden instead of Closet? Come to think of it, he’s not a woman either?”

“There are circumstances. Anyway, who am I talking to?”

The Grand Minister calmly answered while tidying his cloak and pulling up his hood, his expression nonchalant.

The elder gazed at the Grand Minister, who was now preparing to leave, with a strange look.

“Grand Minister, you were crying so much earlier, but you’re suddenly fine now?”

“Ah, yes, well. I had nothing to say to Rukna at the moment, so I had to let it slide.”

“Huh?”

“He’ll come looking for me at the temple at the right time. I can explain properly then. I can also hear the contents of the prophecy at that time.”

“Didn’t the prophecy burn up completely?”

“Rukna has the holy sword, doesn’t he? He must have grasped at least some small information.”

“Then was all that fuss earlier just an act?”

“No, I was truly sad.”

“…”

“By the way, don’t you need to go check on something, Elder?”

The Grand Minister said he sensed an ominous energy and left a warning to be especially careful before quickly disappearing out the door.

“If you sense an ominous energy, you should step in and help yourself, tsk!”

Muttering that humans and elves were both so narrow-minded, the elder belatedly headed to the engine room where the problem was said to have occurred.