Chapter 14: The Year of the Shattered Moon

Salser walked over to her side where Jeanne leaned against the wall with her hands on her knees. This sitting posture was quite masculine, fitting his earlier remark—'I thought you inquisitors didn't distinguish between men and women.' He picked up the black cat and casually placed it on Jeanne's shoulder, then asked her:

"Is there any food left in your bag?"

"It's enough for now," Jeanne said as she took the cat, who called herself Viola, off her shoulder and held it in her arms, continuing as if to explain, "As long as the path to deal with the house Master ain't too long, it ought to suffice."

The cat nestled in her arms, rubbing its head against her bare right arm, seemingly quite accustomed to living as a cat. The oppressive silence around them was suffocating. Jeanne glanced at the end of the corridor, absentmindedly scratching the cat's chin, her light golden eyes glowing faintly under the spell, surprisingly serene and mysterious, quite unlike her usual demeanor.

Then, the Inquisitor untied the curtain cloth and handed him a piece of sliced salted meat. The food was a bit cold and smeared with Jeanne's sweat and dust, but at least the flavor was still there. For Salser, who had been in the military for a long time, salted meat was at least easier to swallow than military rations.

"Dark wizard, I remember you said before falling asleep that you only need a tiny bit of souls to get by, you gonna tell me now that was a joke?" Jeanne looked up at him and asked.

"Just a craving after waking up," he replied honestly.

"......If we weren't stuck in an Evil god's Warren, and if half this stuff wasn't yours, I'd have you whipped for sure," Jeanne cursed vitriolically, but she didn't make a move to take back the food, just pressed her temples hard, "And also,—are all of you dark wizards so undisciplined?"

"I haven't been in the military for over a century," Salser leaned against the wall, shaking his head, he had long since forgotten the discipline of past, the only vivid memories being the piles of corpses.

Jeanne pondered for a moment, then asked him:

"Did you participate in the war between the Romans and Moon's Spawn during the Year of the Shattered Moon?"

"Strictly speaking, it was a war between the Empire and the Federation of eleven Free Cities, bolstered by mage organizations," Salser nodded, not denying her question, and as if he had found a confidant, he recounted the situation at the time, "In truth, for a human nation, Caesar was on the brink of fully unifying the continent of Genabackis, with merely a handful of cities remaining. However, subsequently, those mages and the Dark Elf Lord of Moon's Spawn, Anomander Rake, forged an accord, leading to the amalgamation of the seven dark elf mage legions into the Crimson Guard. In the end... our Second Legion was ensnared in Blackdog Forest, the Third Legion was obliterated before the tundra of Cast City, with a mere ten percent survival rate, and the Fifth and Sixth Legions, alongside Moch Fortress, were transformed into what is now known as Pale Canyon."

Jeanne recalled her half-baked historical knowledge—from the Church's curriculum—and asked him, "I heard that your Caesar at the time contacted the Moranths of Cloudmist Forest, trying to form an alliance with them?"

Salser pondered for a while, then replied to her:

"According to the records of the Senate, there exists such a claim. After all, the non-magical warfare techniques of the Moranths are notably sophisticated—the Caesar of that era indeed contemplated the blood feud between the Moranths and the lords of Moon's Spawn, hence he endeavored to forge an alliance with them, yet the Moranths ultimately declined. I have not meticulously perused the documentation from the Year of the Shattered Moon, thus I am uncertain of the precise reasons."

"In the end, it was—the Caesar, the lord of Moon's Spawn, and the mage representatives of the eleven cities who signed the treaty, and the Year of the Shattered Moon concluded just as such. To this day, Moon's Spawn is still floating in the sky, and the giant crows continue to soar across Cast City."

"Dark wizard, do you think your Empress—could she start another war?" Jeanne asked him again.

"Who can say," he shook his head, "I certainly cannot." His tone was laden with displeasure, his lips forming a thin, pallid line, "When Nero first ascended the throne, I considered her an interesting empress; following the successful coup in the sixth year, I deemed Nero a madwoman. Historically, numerous Caesars have voiced discontent with the Senate, yet the one who successfully dispatched all those in power to the Colosseum—she stands alone."

"Thanks to the intervention of the Temple of Shadow," Salser said mockingly, "Perhaps Her Majesty the Empress is still entertaining notions of eternal life; the gods in this world are ever-changing, and if Nero seeks to stick her nose in, it's hardly surprising... By the way, do you still have any food? My appetite has returned."

"No."

"Are you kidding me? You just claimed that half of this belongs to me!?"

"I can tell how much food a person needs to get through the day, and you're a mage on top of that; you think I'm out here camping with you for kicks?" Jeanne glanced at him with a cold smile.

"I've been explaining matters to you for so long, not even a shred of gratitude from you?" Salser said, "Even wandering bards receive a few coins tossed their way."

"When we return to the Holy City," her eyebrows slightly raised, "I can give you a raise, but of course, not much."

"Thank you for the raise—should I say that?"

"You should show more respect in your tone, call me Lady Jeanne," Jeanne said calmly, "But right now, I ain't holding my hope for any of that."

"If there's not enough food..."

At this moment, Viola poked her head out from the Inquisitor's arms, speaking in a low, cautious voice, "I still know a few paths that lead to the garden."

Although he wanted to retort with 'there's also no hope for that in the future,' Salser couldn't be bothered to engage with Jeanne's topic. He sat back down, and after a moment of silence, he said to the cat, "That won't be necessary. Later, you can simply escort us to the top floor to locate your Master, and we'll address the food issue thereafter." Speaking of this, he organized his thoughts for a moment and reminded it, "Furthermore, until your Master is thoroughly dead,—when guiding us, the mind control and binding spells upon you must be maintained; I hope you understand this."

Considering that neither of the two present were the type to prioritize sympathy, it could only nod in agreement.

Jeanne watched as the Dark wizard lay back down on the floor.

"Dark wizard, what are you doing now?"

"I'm about to take a nap; could you refrain from staring at me as if you're a foreman wiping slaves in a mine? The concealment and alert spells I cast prior to sleeping will remain undisturbed for the time being."

"Is this how you always behave?" Jeanne said with a hint of mockery.

The Dark wizard yawned, not turning over, just lying there like a corpse, replying, "How do you expect me to conduct myself? Like a conventional dark wizard from folktales who kidnaps naive peasant girls and children, then leers at them like a besotted sot? Or like a traditional cultist who deliberately descends upon some impoverished, dilapidated village to perpetrate a massacre, merely to gather a minuscule quantity of souls from those wretched commoners? Please, I led a normal life prior to the Senate's destruction in the coup."

"......"

Jeanne didn't continue speaking, just closed her eyes with an unhappy expression—she had intended to accuse him of being too lax—but the Dark wizard didn't seem to understand. After that, she pressed her temples hard, used the cat in her arms as a pillow, and lay down on the floor to sleep.

...

The dream came.

They were standing in a narrow, enclosed, cramped and eerie corridor with blurred outlines. The corridor was collapsing towards them from both ends, the floor continuously falling into an unseen bottomless abyss, as if the corridor was floating in the sky—only that the collapse was slowed down dozens of times compared to normal speed, even slow enough to make one feel a bit nauseous. On both sides of the corridor, there were countless doors without ends. The doors were all engraved with bizarre patterns—patterns that had no logic, no symbols, and no specific shapes, like the doodles of a mental patient.

Jeanne's face was very gloomy, her appearance in the dream not much different from reality, with her clothes and armor intact. She stood in the middle of the corridor, her black half-armor, head ornament with unknown meaning, and short cape draped over her shoulders, like a grim banner dividing the corridor into two. Her light golden hair reached her waist, while her oppressive aura would make people exclaim in admiration.

"......Don't tell me this Warren is related to dreams, trekking through Ghost Town No. 1 while we're awake, and then we gotta do Ghost Town No. 2 in our sleep, what kind of sick joke is this?"

She turned her head—meeting the dark wizard's gaze—a gaze devoid of any discernible emotion.

"And who the hell are you?" she asked.

"This is my soul, Miss Inquisitor," Salser said with a nonchalant smile to the Inquisitor, though the smile was somewhat inexplicably fierce, "Our faction of dark wizards relies on demonizing our souls to resist the erosion of Outer gods. Following our reincarnations, our bodies likewise incline towards demonization, and the more demonized we become, the greater the doors we can open."

As Jeanne saw, his long tongue forked into two, his body covered in dark red scales, his black hair tinged with a blood-like dark red, his vertical pupils a light golden color; from his tailbone hung a shell-shaped, sharp tail about as long as his entire leg, and his facial features—surprisingly—were not much different from his physical appearance.

"You should count your blessings that the Church began to put up with demons two centuries back, instead of relentlessly exterminating them," Jeanne observed the half-demon before her, which could barely be called human. On the contrary, she did not show disgust, just shook her head and said, "......I have another question, when you slept here last time, did you also see that inexplicable doll?"

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