Tatakau Shisho

Let us go back to the past. Even before Ruruta’s birth.

It is the story of the time that will later become known as the Age of Paradise. Just like its name implied, it is the story of the period in which humanity lived in an unblemished happiness.

Let us go back 20,000 years in time from the final day of Bantorra Library, from the day of the second world destruction.

During that time there were still few people in the world, and they lived together in the center of the continent, in the warm region that would later become the Principality of Meliot and Rona.

People’s lives were simple. Their houses were made out of unglazed bricks. The only things they had to eat were barley gruel, flat bread and some soup. They would only eat meat and fruits when they could find them.

They wore dull linen clothes. They had neither jewelry nor gold, and the only thing that decorated women was beautiful pebbles and feathers that they could find. Speaking of entertainment, there was only the troupe of travelling performers known as the Singers that visited the villages.

If people of the later age that celebrated prosperity and knew of electricity and the steam engine were to see that period, perhaps they would think of their lives as shabby.

Perhaps they would even disdain them and claim that it was the Age of Paradise only in name.

But they should look at the faces of people who lived then. They would probably see unbelievable comfort there.

They were much more blessed than ordinary citizens of the later age. Since they had no need to worry about their future meals, they never knew about hard labor.

They were always calmer than the nobles. Since they had no property they weren’t afraid to lose it. They had no need to display themselves or their wealth.

There were no crimes or wars. There was no envy, opposition or discrimination. People of later periods could never understand or imagine it; there was true peace there. It was true peace because they could live without fearing that peace would crumble.

During the Age of Paradise there was a being that guided people. He was called the Future Overseer Orntorra. He was the World Overseer that gave people their proper future.

Orntorra was invisible to the eye. Even by straining one’s ears you couldn’t hear him. Even by looking around the world no one could ever find him. Yet he undoubtedly existed.

For example, on the dinner table of a certain household there were the best grapes from that year’s harvest. For the three children there their taste was happiness that couldn’t be compared to anything. They ate them one by one. However, they wondered if they weren’t wasting them.

At that time, Orntorra spoke to the children. It was neither a human voice nor Thought Sharing, but simply a mysterious feeling that created understanding without any sort of transmission.

‘The eldest brother has eaten six pieces so far. The middle brother has eaten seven and the youngest sister five. From now on, if the eldest eats three, the middle two and the youngest four it will be equal, but as a big brother he should pass his share to his younger siblings.’

The elder brother listened to Orntorra. He felt pride as an older brother that his younger siblings had a taste of delicacy.

Orntorra whispered only about small matters. He said what was needed to compromise in a married couple’s disputes or he would find common ground between quarrels of villages so that none of them would end up with losses.

He taught humility to the strong and encouraged the weak.

Orntorra whispered about commonplace, ordinary matters. However, repeatedly accumulating these small matters created a paradise.

The later era and the Age of Paradise – the amount of happiness in each one couldn’t be compared, because every person was happy. However, if you brought the people living then to the later age, they would have all shuddered and despaired.

The later times were a terrifying age. As deplorable as hell itself.

Let us proceed a bit further in time. It was about 3000 years before present time.

The world was as peaceful as always, but looking carefully one could sense omens of unrest.

Those who had plenty and those who had little were divided. What they possessed were decorations, luxury, food and land. Those who were rich scoffed at those who were poor who were jealous of them. Men sent vulgar gazes at the women and the women enjoyed it.

At some point people learned the pleasures of alcohol. They also began smoking grass. They did it despite it disturbing their normal mentality and harming them. They did it despite Orntorra not teaching them about it.

Please stop. Even when Orntorra whispered them this, they didn’t listen. It wasn’t like the world would stop being a paradise just by turning their backs to his orders once.

They only lived once. Wasn’t having fun the most important thing? Thinking so, they forgot all about Orntorra’s proper future.

Let us advance time further. It was about 2000 years before present time.

While people of later ages knew these well, they were things unfamiliar to the people from the Age of Paradise:

Crime. War. Nations. Races. Opposition and discrimination.

Using all sorts of frauds, people who referred to themselves as kings possessed much too fortune to be used by a single person and even took hold of people’s lives. Those known as aristocrats took care of the leftovers.

Some worked by stealing with whatever tricks they could. They would take away everything from people who had earnestly worked without stealing.

Some diverted the pain in their hearts by hitting other people. Some showed their strength by oppressing other people.

Everyone already forgot about the existence of Orntorra. Even though he was part of their knowledge, they thought of him as a distant being irrelevant to them. Even when they heard his voice none would lend him their ears and at some point they became unable to hear him without noticing.

One day after this continued for several hundred years…

It happened.

The place was the capital of the Meliot Kingdom that ruled the world back then. In its middle was the tall, large tower that held the king’s throne. Its eleventh floor which was the summit started suddenly shining. At first the people thought this was the king’s power. However, when they saw what fell from the very top they all raised cries of fear. The king’s corpse and his dazzling throne were thrown away as if mere trash.

There were winged women within the light. They were unbelievably detailed silver statues. These seven angels all held a different strange tool in their hands. A sword patterned like a spider; a dagger shaped like a caterpillar; the sculpture of a crouching fairy; a cup with the face of a monkey carved on it… All of them were unfamiliar tools.

This is a digression, but these seven tools will end up being called the Memorial Weapons later. They were all first brought to this world at the time. Since it was impossible to read the happenings of the Age of Paradise from Books, information about the Memorial Weapons or the Creator Deity were only passed along by word of mouth. There were many mistakes in the tradition, and since the Armed Librarians fabricated history the legend of the Memorial Weapons was passed along wrongly.

The seven angels with their seven Weapons overlooked the crowds. Their faces were beautiful and noble, yet their gazes were full of murderous intent.

At that time, Orntorra’s voice reverberated through the heads of all people living in the world. He spoke in a strong tone of voice that no one in history has ever heard before.

‘I am very disappointed.’

There was great anger hidden beneath these words.

‘Orntorra has decided to use violence in order to lead people to the proper future. The seven Punishment Angels will destroy all rebels from now on. And on the days to come, when the world is paradise no more, Orntorra will send forward the Beasts of the Final Chapter.’

The Beasts of the Final Chapter. When people of the world heard this name they understood what form they would take, how terrible they would be and how strong they would be. They knew they couldn’t do anything with human power. This was the power of Orntorra to grant understanding without any transmission.

‘There is still a fragment of paradise in this world. When that disappears this world will be heaven no more. That will be the end of the world. Until that day, at least live correctly.’

Saying just this, Orntorra’s voice disappeared. The seven angels also rose to the sky and vanished somewhere.

People started crying. None of them could do anything but cry. When the Beasts of the Final Chapter arrive everyone would definitely die. If the sun comes down from the heavens there would be no survivors. If it never rains again nobody would survive. They could understand this.

They realized that the power of the Beasts of the Final Chapter was synonymous to that.

The people kept crying sorrowfully.

A year passed. A lone man stood in the plaza of the royal capital. He covered his face with a hood and wore a cloak all over his body. He raised his fist and shouted a speech. Since everyone lost their wills to live, no one lent their ears to him. The man kept talking as if knowing no rest.

“The world will not be destroyed! If people combine their powers we can defeat even the Beasts of the Final Chapter!”

This incorrigible speech kept going for long, and gradually more people assembled. However, everyone all looked at him with pitying eyes. They all thought he lost his sanity from grief and was caught by delusions.

“What we need are 100,000 warriors! If everyone expends their powers to obtain Magic Rights we will surely gather 100,000 warriors!

What we need are the seven Weapons possessed by the Angels! If we gather brave warriors and resourceful tacticians we will be able to slay them!”

People were somewhat interested in this man who spoke with too much confidence. However, they were discouraged by his following words.

“And what we need are the Books of 100,000 warriors!”

That was impossible. People’s souls became Books and were then stored at Bantorra Library. People couldn’t touch Books. Bantorra Library which gathered Books blocked the approach of humans using the vast ocean, the deep labyrinth and a barrier employing the erasure of causality. Human powers couldn’t compete against the Librarian Angels who dug out Books. There was no way for anyone to get their hands on the Books of humans.

“How can we get Books?!”

“Even I do not know how to get Books. But there must be some way!”

“How can you tell?”

“Because I have seen it!”

The man raised his hood. Beneath it he had mottled hair in the colors of white, black and brown – meaning calico-colored hair. This was proof of the power everyone thought of as a legend, the power to predict the future.

“I have seen it! When people gather the Books of 100,000 warriors and obtain the seven Weapons, a single hero will appear!”

No one ridiculed him anymore.

“The hero’s name is Ruruta! Ruruta Coozancoona! The transparent-haired savior Ruruta will appear. ƒr𝙚𝙚𝘸e𝚋𝐧૦ѵ𝒆𝒍.𝒄𝒐m

I have seen him fighting against the Beasts of the Final Chapter!

Gather the Books of 100,000 warriors and the seven Weapons! If you do then the savior Ruruta will definitely bring about a miracle!”

The people cheered. A new era began. An era where people staked their lives fighting against the Gods began.

Let us move even further in time.

“…Kh.”

Someone’s calling. Thinking this, Hihak Yammo slightly opened his eyes.

“Hihak, you dead?! If not then stand up!”

Someone was calling him. What is it, I want to sleep. Thinking this, Hihak Yammo tried closing his eyes again.

The next instant he jumped up. A spear fell at his feet. He picked it up and looked around him.

There were more than 100 soldiers around. He could hear the sounds of spears cutting through air and the explosive roars of Magic. There were angry roars, shrieks and death throes.

Oh yeah. I was fighting. Fighting for Ruruta, for the world, to gain the seven Weapons. Hihak grasped his spear and ran ahead while enduring the pain in his head.

He was a thin man of about thirty. He was short, his face was narrow, his eyes were drooping, and even from his thin lips no strength could be felt. Yet even someone like him had to fight in order to save the world.

This was 1928 and a few months before the present. Using later terminology, it was the year 1 BC of human history.

Hihak Yammo and the other soldiers were in the area that later came to be known as the Mamelia Region of the western part of Rona.

The soldiers all wore bronze armors and shields with linen clothes underneath. Their shields were small and the armor was barely able to cover the area around their heads and chests. Although not very reliable, this was the best equipment of the era.

Their weapons were spears with only bronze tips. There were also people who wielded poles that didn’t even have any sort of blades attached to them.

“Don’t let the formation collapse! Surround it, surround it!”

Only the commander wore an iron helmet. He kept shouting to the soldiers from behind.

“You have to defeat it, do it!”

They all pointed their spears at a statue shaped like an angel. It was the statue of a beautiful woman, made of silver that made it seem as if her entire body was shining. She wore a thin cloth made transparent by light and silver wings grew from her back. She held two strange cups in her left hand.

She was a Punishment Angel sent by the Future Overseer Orntorra. The final one.

The female statue surrounded by soldiers tried flying to the sky to escape. However, soldiers who jumped into the air pursued her. Her shining, silver body was cruelly wounded. Another concentrated attack came when she had collapsed.

However, the Punishment Angel still kept moving.

The cornered Angel raised a voice that couldn’t be heard.

[Magic Beasts of the Final Chapter summon first section Jail King Snake Lancer Iron Jaw Mouse Elephant Soldier]

The soldiers tensed up. A black mud was born at the angel’s feet. It took the form of terrifying Magic Beasts. The produced Beasts assaulted the soldiers one after the other. Only one section of the Beasts of the Final Chapter had been called out. In a few years enough of them would be summoned to cover the entire land.

The commander shouted at the agitated soldiers.

“Don’t falter! Shout our savior’s name!”

“Yeah!”

The soldiers responded to their commander’s voice. They all shouted out.

“Ruruta Coozancoona!”

“Ruruta Coozancoona!”

“Our savior, hope of mankind, our Ruruta Coozancoona!”

These words inspired the soldiers. They stopped the attacks of the summoned Beasts with their shields and stabbed them with their spears from behind. They feared neither the Jail King Snake’s acid nor the large body of the Elephant Soldier.

However, the Magic Beasts had great powers. The number of soldiers reduced.

The Punishment Angel launched further attacks against them.

[Exercising Final Punishment Privilege activating causality erasure ability name: Binding Song executing]

The Punishment Angel’s right hand that hasn’t moved so far now moved. Her slim finger pointed at the commander’s chest. The next instant he grabbed his chest, turned a somersault and collapsed.

The causality erasing ability Binding Song. It was the Punishment Angels’ strongest power. They could unconditionally kill the person they were pointing at with their fingers.

“You cursed Angel!”

Even after losing their commander the soldiers’ morale didn’t go down. They swung their spears and kept raising shouts.

“Ruruta does not fear anything!”

“Ruruta will never falter!”

“Ruruta will never be defeated!”

“All of us will become like Ruruta! All of us will become like Ruruta!”

As if their very words themselves imbedded them with magical energy, the soldiers kept shouting Ruruta’s name. Everyone went on dying merrily, all the while calling his name.

An hour passed. There were only five soldiers left. However, all of the Beasts of the Final Chapter were annihilated and even the Punishment Angel was wounded. Hihak was also among the five left.

Amongst them Hihak’s abilities were mediocre. There was no other reason to his survival except luck.

The remaining five soldiers gathered and aimed to kill the Angel. One of them then spoke.

“Just a bit more. Only one of us needs to survive. If we defeat this Angel and bring the Weapon back to Ruruta it’ll be our win. If one of us survives it’s our win!”

“Yeah!”

The comrades responded with their eyes glittering.

“…Y-yeah.”

Hihak also responded in a delay.

The weakest among the five soldiers began a reckless attack. The Punishment Angel pointed at his heart and killed him.

“Keep going!”

He put his life on the line as a decoy. While he would be killed the remaining four people will attack. Even the Angel dulled in its movements; it wasn’t impossible for them to destroy her before she moved her finger. The soldiers pursued her and the Angel withdrew.

Hihak was the last in line of the four. The Angel pointed her fingers at them in the order of proximity to her and they died.

“Ruruta, save the world!”

The man who was running foremost died. Three people remained.

“Ruruta, please take my Boo…”

He died before he finished talking. Two people were left.

“Win, Ruruta, win!”

As another soldier died Hihak was left all alone.

With another step he would be able to reach the Punishment Angel. If he stepped and hit he would be able to cut apart the Angel. It was extremely tight whether or not he would make it in time.

If he had stepped ahead with no hesitation he would have probably made it in time. But Hihak did hesitate. The Punishment Angel raised her finger.

“R-Ruru-ta…”

It was a listless murmur. The Angel’s finger moved slowly. Hihak threw his spear away and turned his back. He raised a wail and ran away.

[Wicked beings, exterminated punishment over]

He heard the Angel’s voice from behind. Even so Hihak kept running. He left behind the corpses of the hundred soldiers who had fought for Ruruta, who had fought to save the world.

“…You idiot.”

Spat out Vooekisal, the Unified Salvation Chief. Standing in front of him Hihak Yammo merely bit his lips.

This was ten days after the fight with the Punishment Angel. Hihak returned to the royal capital in the western part of the Meliot Kingdom. It was obvious that a trial would wait for him.

They were in the large tower at the middle of the capital. The judge was the man in front of him. His name was Vooekisal Meliot, the King of Meliot. He was a distant relative of the king killed by the Punishment Angels before.

He was a young man with eyes like a hawk. He was as scary as his features indicated – no, much more than that. His ability to rule the populace was incomparable with previous kings. His will to lead the people was stronger than anyone in the world.

Also, since he was severe in reprimanding cowards, Hihak felt no relief for being alive.

“Being unable to get the seventh Weapon is not improbable. However, shamelessly coming back here alive is unthinkable.

Do you understand? This world is now heading for the annihilation decided by the Future Overseer. We must obtain the seven Memorial Weapons in order to defeat the Beasts of the Final Chapter.”

Hihak bit his lips. Blood spurted from within the gaps of his teeth. He knew it. He understood it, but had still lost himself to fear and ran away.

“There is no way I don’t realize that.”

“You were supposed to have taken an oath before your departure. You were supposed to live, fight and die for Ruruta’s sake. How will you defend yourself?”

He couldn’t. Living for Ruruta was a matter of course. Dying for Ruruta was the goal of all people. Being of use to Ruruta was the greatest virtue and having your Book Eaten by him and become a part of him was the greatest honor.

Looking at this from the moral viewpoint of the later age would be wrong. If Ruruta was defeated without being able to accomplish anything there would be no one in the world to survive.

Hihak wanted to squirm with regret. Why had he survived? Did he not realize what would happen afterwards?

“Call the barrier troops. After going through torture of the highest degree he will be executed.”

Vooekisal said naturally. Even Hihak realized that would happen.

“…A-at the very least…”

“Oh, it seems like you want to say something.”

Vooekisal’s face twisted and he sneered at him.

“Can you give Ruruta… give Ruruta my Book to Eat?”

“…Ka…ha!”

Vooekisal burst into laughter.

“Being eaten by Ruruta and becoming part of him is the proof of a hero, does the man here think he is a hero?!”

With his lips trembling, Hihak persisted.

“But my power might become of use to Ruruta, so please at least let it become part of him.”

“Become of use to him? You idiot. Show us your power here.”

Hihak invoked his Magic Right while trembling all over. His body morphed. His torso became a tree trunk, his arms turned into branches and his body hair into leaves. Hihak’s ability was to turn his body into a tree. It obviously had no use for battle. He had originally tried to obtain the power to control plants, but it ended in failure.

“What a stupid power! It is completely useless! Enough! Just seeing it is disgusting! Just get out of here, drop dead somewhere! You can just bury your Book in the ground and disappear!”

Vooekisal ranted about how he couldn’t even bear to look at him. However, words whispered from behind stopped him.

“Wait.”

He said but one word. However, everyone who was there prostrated on the floor faster than they could think.

At some point he was at Vooekisal’s back. The boy had a naked torso with a cloth wrapped around his waist and his lean and thin body seemed to be glowing in the dark room. He had transparent hair that reached to his back and an ivy-patterned tattoo engraved on his shoulders.

He was the world’s savior, humanity’s last hope.

The Book-Eater Ruruta Coozancoona was there.

“Ruruta. Have you woken up?”

Vooekisal said. He was the savior of the world but Vooekisal didn’t use any titles. It was because saying Ruruta’s very name was the greatest of honors towards him.

“A bit earlier.”

His eyes seemed to be looking at Vooekisal yet also seemed to be not looking anywhere. One couldn’t judge his intentions from that expression.

“I beg your pardon, Ruruta, but you are the world’s sole hope. You should not be wasting your time and efforts on commoners like us.”

Vooekisal said. Ruruta seemed like he heard him but also like he heard nothing.

“Right. Let us make it short. Don’t kill that man… don’t kill Hihak.”

Everyone including Hihak was astonished. Hihak himself was probably the most surprised. Governing the populace was left to the King of Meliot Vooekisal. Ruruta seldom interrupted him. Yet now he even told him to spare such a useless person…

“We cannot! That man has shamelessly deserted…”

“I’m saying that I need him. Is there anything else?”

Ruruta calmed down the Vooekisal’s argument with a few words. Was he so impressive due to his powers that far surpassed that of humans or due to something indescribable that he possessed inherently?

“When will the next campaign to obtain the seventh Memorial Weapon start?”

Ruruta inquired.

“Gathering the remaining warriors, procuring weapons and armor, identifying the position of the Punishment Angel… they should be able to head out in a month.”

“Let Hihak take part in that fight. Give him another chance.”

“…Ah… un…derstood.”

Hihak simply kept prostrating in front of Ruruta while not having a single clue about why he had saved him.

“Hihak.”

He never thought Ruruta would talk to him. He was so stunned no voice came out. ƒ𝓇e𝙚𝔀𝐞𝚋𝓃𝐨𝘷e𝙡.𝒄𝗼m

“You are strong. And you can become stronger. For the following month you will see Ruruta. You will come to know Ruruta and understand his strength.”

“…A-ah.”

He couldn’t even answer properly. Even just having Ruruta speak to him was an honor. He couldn’t believe that he had gotten so many words out of him.

“If you understand why I’m strong you will be able to become stronger. One month. I will wait no more than that.”

Since Hihak was prostrating he couldn’t notice, but it seemed that Ruruta left the room at some point.

Vooekisal rose before he did. He looked at Hihak disgustingly.

“…I have no idea what that person’s thinking about.”

Hihak too couldn’t understand. He couldn’t think of even a single reason for him to be saved.