Chapter 217

"Regarding the serial missing girls case...without contacting Sherlock Holmes, why do you think this case could develop into an unsolved case with a long time span?"

"…Because there are no bodies, no one knows their true fate."

"For the magician, the methods used and the murderer are irrelevant to the reasoning. All we need to know is the motive - but even if we just want to infer the motive, we still need clues. So the missing girl itself means the disappearance of a clue."

"But precisely because there are no clues, the fact that it only happened in Maple Stage also becomes a clue." Lansermello connected the two points on the white paper with a pen, explaining the information collected from Maple Stage to Kirshtalia and the servants who had just moved to the base, "Just like Renri Yaki - it itself is a murder of the world that makes people have no clue."

"I remember that there is a prophecy in Maple Dan that everyone will dissolve into the sea, right?" The White Saint confirmed the other contents with the two people and tried to sort out the information. "According to your previous speculation about this prophecy - if all the missing girls are local people of Maple Dan..."

"Does that mean that Maple Man can indeed be dissolved by some 'substance'?"

"I think so - but this is just a means. In a world where 'miracles' exist, motives are more important than anything else." Lansemello interrupted the discussion on this topic and glanced at Kirshtalia, who was taking notes densely. "But I don't intend to interfere with the operation of Maple Dan itself - so this topic ends here... I think you should have enough material for your thesis?"

"Well, next I plan to try to visit places with ancient ruins for field research..." Kirshtalia briefly explained her future arrangements. "Since the demon god has responded to this prophecy, even if it is unknown when this prophecy was spread to the Maple Dan people, this prophecy must have appeared earlier."

"Using 'Original Sin' as the starting point to write 'Dissolution' is probably the most appropriate thesis direction right now."

"By the way, why were the two Miss Zhende in the Summer Spiritual State the first group to come?"

"I discussed it with Fujimaru. They have other things to do besides vacation." Lansemero spread his hands and looked at Kirshtalia with a smile. "You should still remember the sixth area of ​​the amusement park during the North Pole Anomaly, right? This time we gave them priority to come here for this purpose."

"After all, the initial commission application was rejected by a group of writers who just wanted to have fun and didn't want to rush to finish the manuscript."

"so?"

“So there was a change of plans.”

"Originally, we wanted to tell a story in the form of a light novel with illustrations - but since the writers refused to work overtime, we had to change the plan to a pure comic." Lansermello added a summary of the previous situation to Kirshtalia with a little regret, "And this place... well, it's very suitable for telling a story like this anyway."

After Kirshtalia left the base, Lansemello, Jhené, and Jhené Alter, who were sitting at the round table, began to discuss the work of this adaptation. The outline of the story appeared on the screen of the Chaldean communicator, and the three of them had information about the local area of ​​Maplestage in their hands.

——The story to be adapted this time is a "revenge drama" that is well-known all over the world.

Maplestage already has French-related elements - but that was not the reason why we decided to use that story, but because Maplestage itself is quite proud of its judgment.

Although the Supreme Judge and the Cardinal of Decrees always seem to be impartial and detached from the frenetic atmosphere of the scene, the people of Maplestage undoubtedly enjoy the farces that take place in the opera house one after another - then this story of revenge will definitely attract their attention.

"So, will this story still use the same name?" Jeanne Alter accepted the commission with great interest, agreeing to the invitation based on the reason that he could freely ravage the character based on the prototype of the vengeful ghost. "You said that you want to localize it to suit Maple Stage... So, do you have a clear direction?"

"Of course we can't use the same name." Lansemero flipped through the paper documents at hand and explained to Jesse Alter, "The person involved is still here - although this was made just to make fun of him, it can't be so blatant... Not to mention that our culture is also a kind of pollution to the world today."

"So only the plot of the story is the same - the protagonist has a different name, and the names of the places are completely different..."

"But I think, since we want to show the connection with the count, wouldn't it be better to use something he said as the title of the work?" asked Gentleman.

"Huh? That guy always mentions the Master." Jean Alter curled his lips, apparently impressed by the new records from New Chaldea in the database. "Heh, it's divided into two parts: 'Nostalgia' and 'Determination' - in the end, both spiritual bases are quite tolerant of their Master."

"I think it would be nice to use some classics in a place like this." Lansemelo blinked, his eyes falling on the paper document that recorded the rumors about Prisoner Melo Petersburg in Maplestadt, "For example, 'Wait and Hope', although I don't intend for the story I'm describing to have the same ending as Dumas'."

"In other words, this is a story about a revenge ghost from beginning to end?" Jean Alter leaned back in his chair and began to think about the plot of the comic. "Once the fire of revenge is ignited, it cannot be extinguished... Although it fits the characteristics of us avengers - but as a story, this ending is not good, right?"

"No reader would like such a story - what they want to see is a man obsessed with revenge being saved by a woman with love and kindness, rather than him being obsessed with revenge forever. Although such an ending is cliché, since people have always liked to see such a happy ending..."

"That is why, in a land where this story has never happened before—" Lansemello answered Jyn Alter, "this is the only chance for the story to be told in its original form."

"So, what should the protagonist be called?" asked Jeanne, who had been watching the two of them with a smile on his face. "Also, the name Monte Cristo has a meaning - although we can't simply change it to Monte Funina or Monte Fukaros, we have to prepare a place name with the same meaning."

"It all depends on what Kirsh's exploration of the ancient ruins can bring us back." Lansemero smiled and looked out the window. "After all, Father Faria is also a very important person."

"...Sure enough, this prophecy has been circulating since the time of the first water god." Kirshtalia stepped into a certain ruin and read the murals in the ruins. "But according to the historical records of Maple Dan that can be found, there were two periods of rule by the first water god Egolia, and obviously, the Lemurian Dynasty sandwiched between these two periods..."

"The demon god Remus should also be looking for a way to get rid of the prophecy... but looking at Fengdan's current appearance, it is obvious that he has failed."

"For a prophecy to have been passed down from such a long time ago...it is indeed similar to the Day of Judgment, not Noah's Ark."

"Fatuna... Fatuna... is destiny!?" After chewing over the records of the Lemurian Dynasty several times, Kirshtalia suddenly realized the thoughts of the fallen demon god in the distant past, "When everyone can control their own destiny, the originally unshakable destiny will change."

"Just as we, Chaldea, followed the flow of destiny in the past, but at the same time deceived destiny itself - relying on many blank spaces, infinite possibilities, we turned around the future that should have been unshakable and changed the destiny that was supposed to come."

"The Lord said at the beginning that the current God of Water is trying to cheat fate... So that's how it is, that's how it is." Kirshtalia looked at the mural in front of her, recording it with the communicator, and sighed, "If people cheat fate by relying on countless tiny miracles to accumulate enough power to shake fate, then the gods directly created such power..."

"Ah, in this case, the usefulness of the Law Compensation Chaos Energy becomes clear at a glance." Kirshtalia stood in the ruins and began to revise his thesis outline directly. "Maple Danes have been carrying original sin since birth - then, if you want to be exempted from sin, whether it is a simple religion or a world where gods really exist, the things that sinners have to do are the same..."

Just as King David once offered his child as a sacrifice to atone for his sins to God - that child was later known as Solomon.

"Offer a sacrifice, state your sins - and then you will be forgiven." Kirshtalia walked towards the depths of the ruins, and the sound of footsteps and water drops echoed in the empty ruins. "Humans are born with sin because God created them like this - but the Demon God of Teyvat loves you."

"I completely understand what the Water God is going to do - although the details may not match, the core of the plan is probably correct."

"She wanted to offer herself as a sacrifice of atonement, in order to free her people from their predetermined fate. The Cardinal of Decree and Judgment had been accumulating legal confusion for five hundred years, probably in preparation for this sacrifice."

After receiving the data sent back by Kirshtalia, Roman, who was on duty in the control room, entered the data while discussing Kirshtalia's speculation about Maple Dan's future with Lansemello. Neither of them denied the speculation that the water god used him as a sacrifice, but they did not think that the water god sacrificed himself to the law of nature.

"Water is not the power of 'heaven'. She must be asking for forgiveness from a being that holds the power of 'earth'. The birth of Maple Man should be related to water, so the prophecy is 'dissolution'. However, more detailed content requires more clues to support our speculation... Maybe we should take this part of the content and put it in the database when we ask for the reward for this mission."