Chapter 10

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 10

Chapter Title: The Fraudulent Stele

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Turba was a legendary merchant who had risen from being a slave of a fallen kingdom to dealing with great nobles, earning the respect of the common folk.

But after getting caught selling a forgery, it came out that he'd pulled off several scams before that.

'This feels off.

This item might be real, but knowing Turba, I couldn't relax.

Turba opened a certain box that had been sitting on the floor.

Inside the box was a pure white stele, and what was inscribed on it was...

'Ancient script.'

Turba spoke in a confident tone.

"This is a stele upon which an oracle from the ancient gods descended."

The retainers standing beside the duke and Nos reacted with great delight.

"If it's a stele with a divine oracle, doesn't that make it as valuable as Nyuite?"

That was spot on. A stele bearing an ancient oracle would now be classified as a holy relic.

"But ancient script is a language no one can decipher. How can you be sure this is a stele with an oracle?"

Turba opened his mouth with a triumphant expression.

"It's recorded in the histories as a similar item, and it's been verified to hold powerful holy power."

"Hmm..."

As the retainers nodded in agreement, Turba smirked, lifting the corner of his mouth.

"This was unearthed with great difficulty from the ancient highlands. A horde of terrifying monsters attacked me and my caravan, but I never backed down."

Then he thumped his chest with a kung! and extended both hands clasped together toward the duke.

"It was surely meant to help someone one day. I couldn't give up on the stele! It seems this Turba threw away his life for Your Grace today."

But the duke merely pressed his temple with a impassive face.

"Cut the theatrics and just state the price."

Turba showed no sign of offense. Instead, he grinned as if he'd been waiting for those words.

"If Your Grace purchases it, I'll make the deal for 100 million francs."

The people gathered in the grand reception hall gasped in silence.

'Million?'

The unit is in the millions?!

Millions was a unit used for national budgets.

The retainers and even Nos let out low groans as they looked to the duke.

As the duke's sharp gaze swept over the stone tablet, I shot my hand up high.

"Lemme see it up close, that thing!"

Turba, who had narrowed his eyes at me, soon smiled.

"You must be the Child of Destiny I've only heard about. It's an honor to meet you."

"Show me."

Lea called out to me in panic. "Ah, Little One."

Nos looked troubled too. He was probably worried I'd smash the stele like I did with the Nyuite, making it impossible to clean up.

But I had a reason to inspect that stele closely.

Turba chuckled and nodded.

"As expected of the Child of Destiny, you're interested in oracles. Yes, come take a close look. But no touching."

The retainers shouted, "W-Wait!" but I hurried over to Turba.

I squatted down on the carpet and peered at the stele with a face full of curiosity.

"Do you feel the power of the gods?"

People from House Duvered and even those from Turba's caravan tried to stop him.

"Enough. What if the child touches it wrong?"

Turba waved his hand magnanimously, pretending to be bold.

"She's the Child of Destiny. She might even read the ancient script for us."

"She can't even speak the imperial tongue properly yet. How could she decipher ancient script?"

"Of course that's a joke. Who could decipher the lost language of ancient script—"

"A lifetime devoted to family, Noto rests here."

"Pardon?"

At the sudden words, Turba and the others blinked in surprise.

I smiled brightly and pointed at the stele.

"Uncle dummy? It's written right here."

This stele with a supposed oracle inscription? Bullshit.

It was just a gravestone.

And I felt no holy power at all.

'This con artist.'

Good thing I'd checked it out.

I can read ancient script.

No one can now, but in a dozen years or so, a living decoder of ancient script would appear.

'Mina.'

Mina could read ancient script right after arriving from another dimension.

Thanks to her, they started deciphering the neglected ancient texts one after another, and others learned it too.

Of course, it was so difficult that only a few mastered it.

'Right up to my death, only three people had learned ancient script.'

The Crown Prince, Yohan—the eldest son of Duke Duvered—and me.

I shook my head inwardly and looked at Turba.

'Saying it was unearthed from the ancient highlands was a lie from the start.'

The only ancient nation that erected steles for the dead was Calysis.

Calysis was on the exact opposite side from the ancient highlands and didn't worship the Neriad god. Oracles could never descend there.

'How bold is this guy?'

Well, he must have thought he'd never get caught. He didn't know I existed.

The retainers rushed over to me in a fluster.

"You can read ancient script?"

"Is that really what's written? Right?"

They pressed me from both sides.

Of course—for 100 million francs, if it was just a gravestone, that'd be a disaster.

I nodded.

Then Turba's face flushed red with panic.

"W-What nonsense—!"

He frantically waved his hands and made excuses to the duke.

"No, this is definitely a stele inscribed with an oracle. A holy relic! How could a child this young read ancient script?"

Turba glared sharply at me. "Children who lie get divine punishment!"

Nos, who had come to my side, knelt on one knee to meet my eyes and asked.

"Do you really know how to read ancient script?"

"Yeah."

"How? Did someone teach you?"

I was ready for that question!

I tilted my head and said,

"It just shows up."

'That's what Mina said when they asked her the same thing.'

Everyone was shocked but accepted it with a "Oh, right."

That's when I learned—the 'Child of Destiny' title was for moments like this.

I giggled inwardly, and Turba shouted, "Lies!"

Then he desperately made excuses to the people.

"I have proof that this is an oracle stele. But the Little One doesn't. How will you prove you can read ancient script?"

One of the retainers, Viscount Dubos, let out a "Hmm..."

Indeed, Turba had the upper hand with the holy power appraisal document.

'Probably faked.'

The people hesitated to decide, and Turba smirked, shrugging with both hands raised as if holding up the air.

"Since history began, the only one who could write in ancient script was the founding emperor."

That was the moment.

I stretched out my index finger straight and pointed to the tapestry behind the duke, embroidered with ancient script.

"Blessings before the one bearing the mission."

"...!"

"...!"

All eyes focused on me.

Nos drew in a sharp breath, the retainers silently screamed with hands over their mouths. Even the duke rarely widened his eyes as he stared at me.

And I drove in the final nail.

"Fried Enisis Sheimon Calierad."

As I read the name embroidered at the end of the tapestry, the duke gripped the armrest of his chair tightly.

"The founding emperor's true name..."

At his mutter, the people flinched and looked at me.

"True name?!"

"That's Fried I's true name?!"

The middle name 'Sheimon' was proof of descent from a certain tribe.

The tribe called the evil god's creation was now taboo even to mention.

The imperial family had erased his true name from all records to hide the founding emperor's tainted bloodline.

Only the imperial family and a very few knew it now. And naturally, Duke Duvered was among that handful.

'Not in the future, though.'

Mina had once publicly read the founding emperor's true name from that very tapestry.

Even the Empress Dowager, who adored Mina, had been at a loss and glanced nervously at the emperor.

So me reading the founding emperor's true name from the tapestry now was proof I could really read ancient script.

Nos let out a hollow laugh.

"Guess we have no choice but to believe it."

The retainers swallowed dryly, clutching their foreheads.

"Impossible, how could..."

"As expected of the Child of Destiny."

"I thought she was just a bit clever, but this is on another level..."

Everyone was floored.

I smirked inwardly and looked at Turba.

'How you gonna talk your way out of this?'

It'd be better for him to just confess.

As expected, Turba couldn't speak easily and just stammered.

His face turning blue, hands trembling, he soon bellowed.

"I've climbed to this position today by the will of the gods!"

'Idiot.'

Bringing up divine will here? Bad move.

I shook my head, and the duke scoffed.

"You demand proof from her, but when it's you who can't answer, you invoke divine will."

"Th-That's..."

I shook my head inwardly.

'Just give up. You're done.'

He'd seemed disinterested from the start, so the duke had probably suspected it too.

He slowly rose from his seat.

"Looks like I've been too lenient lately."

"...Pardon?"

"When even flies are trying to crawl up to me. Nos."

Nos bowed his head at the duke's call.

"Yes."

"Take this overflowing-with-divinity merchant to the dungeon."

The shocked Turba yelled with a pale face, "Y-Your Grace!" The duke looked at him and spoke dryly.

"Bring me definitive proof about that stele. Even if you have to gut him and check if his vaunted divine will is inside."

Nos replied ominously, "Yes."

Turba's face went ashen.

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