Mystic Dominator

"Nessus, do you remember the time correctly?"

"Big...probably..."

Against a starry sky completely different from what he remembered, Ronald stared at the smiling companion in front of him with puzzled eyes full of suspicion.

In the evening Naxos saw a gap in the forest from the treetops.

After trekking for more than half an hour, they arrived here even before the sun set.

The result was correct, a structurally sound railroad laid on the ground.

Following both sides of the road in the forest, they even encountered a temporary camp set up by railway maintenance workers.

Then......

Then there is no more.

From the sun setting on the mountainside until the stars in the night filled the sky.

Not to mention the steam train on the other side of the railway, the two of them didn't even wait for a ghost, and all they could see were nocturnal animals passing by by chance.

"Forehead......"

"It's impossible for me to remember wrong?"

Facing Ronald's questioning, Naxos could only begin to explain submissively, while trying to recall the memories in his mind.

"Wait, let me count the time."

"The train departs from Wolfman at four thirty minutes this afternoon."

"From Wolfman to our location, the straight-line distance is 170 kilometers."

"So after almost two hours and forty-eight..."

"Even if it takes three hours, the train will arrive here."

"We've been waiting since before the sun sets, there's no way we can go wrong!"

The hesitant tone at the beginning gradually became firmer.

Finally, he stood up abruptly from the seamless round wooden stool, and Nassus announced to Ronald confidently:

"In this season, the sun normally sets around 19:00 in the afternoon."

"The train has no wings, we can't miss it!"

"..."

Staring at Naxos expressionlessly, Ronald pointed to the starry sky, and only asked a very simple question:

"What about the car?"

"Where did the car go?"

"..."

Naxos, who just now glowed with confidence.

His face darkened instantly.

The air was quiet for a long time, until the hooting of an owl was heard in the distance, and Naxos forced an excuse:

"This... probably the train is delayed?"

"It's impossible for me to remember the date and time wrong anyway."

After a moment of contemplation, Ronald continued to ask:

"You just said that the starting station of the train is Wolfman. The train departs this afternoon, right?"

"Are there any stops in between?"

Naxos simply shook his head and said:

"Joyz Forest is not a place for humans to live."

"Departing from Wolfman, this train will arrive at each station one after another after passing through the big forest, and stop at the same time."

"This train..."

"You can't be a few hours late at the departure station...?"

"..."

The night wind blew across the earth, bringing moist air from the forest.

In the autumn night when the temperature gradually drops.

Ronald and Naxos looked at each other.

No one can guess why the steam train has not appeared yet.

It's not like they used to drive a horse-drawn cart to do business.

It can't be that a few savages jumped out of the primitive jungle, and then hijacked the train with a wooden stick, right?

In silence, nearly a quarter of an hour passed.

Watching Nassos spinning back and forth there, I still can't figure out the key.

Ronald spoke:

"We take turns keeping vigil, you go to rest first."

"The situation is uncertain now.

We may have to hang on for quite a while,"

"You have been opening the way during the day, and hunting and so on also consumes energy."

"If there is any movement, I will wake you up."

"Okay." Hearing Ronald's suggestion, Naxos got into the camp left by the railway maintenance workers without much hesitation, "If there is any movement, be sure to wake me up!"

"Get some rest."

"Um."

Soon, Ronald was sitting alone under the starry sky at night.

The stool under the buttocks is a tree stump directly cut off by the railway maintenance personnel, and it feels very bad to sit on it.

But even so, he still didn't pay attention to it.

Under the blowing of the autumn wind, his mood gradually drifted away——

It's almost a week...

From coming to this world to pass the trial of the illusion, to encountering a merchant team and crashing into the Black Mountain.

Just five days.

Among them are wonderful judgments that penetrate into secrets, and there are also secrets that have not been understood until now.

But in general, I encountered a completely different experience from my past life.

Sometimes Ronald also wondered if all this was just a big dream after he was buried in the ruins, and his colleagues were contacting various parties to rescue him.

But this kind of fantasy, as expected, still can't convince myself.

The cold wind blowing slowly in the night sky, Naxos resting in the camp behind him, and even the two classic level magic books hidden on his body.

All this reminds Ronald.

this is the truth!

"call--"

After a long sigh of relief, Ronald rubbed his somewhat cold hands, and then added firewood to the bonfire.

Looking up, it is different from the cloudy clouds in the past few days.

The sky is full of stars shining far away.

Equally dazzling, but I couldn't find those familiar stars.

Here, I am looking up at the starry sky that humans in other worlds have been watching for thousands of years; in my hometown, who is looking up at the magnificent universe?

A kind of loneliness of being alone in a foreign land arises spontaneously.

"Stars, are you also the origin of human civilization in this world...?"

Ronald, who does writing work, has always liked a saying.

A very romantic, but also very possible statement.

— That is, human civilization originated from the stars hanging high in the sky.

It's not an outrageous theory about the origin of aliens, but it points to the origin and cornerstone of civilization.

--Word.

A text that carries knowledge, is responsible for inheriting culture, and forms the structure of civilization.

When he traveled, among the archaeological activities on the earth, the earliest texts unearthed came from the ancient civilizations of the Mesopotamia.

And in the results of excavation.

The words 'star' and 'god' appeared most frequently on those slates.

Why are these two words?

Because 6,000 years ago, Vela X exploded as a supernova.

This is the largest astronomical event that can be remembered in human history, far exceeding all astronomical phenomena that can be observed today.

In that ancient era, the light released by this suddenly erupting supernova could reach the earth, and it was even as bright as the sun during the day, and it would obscure the moon's brilliance at night!

What did this unimaginable natural phenomenon mean to humans in that era?

Puzzled, confused, frightened, awed.

The unknown deep in the brain!

In the end, human beings' incomprehension and reverence for supernovae evolved into myths and religions. In order to record the greatness of this star, words based on the words "star" and "god" were also created.

Human civilization in this world will also be like this...

Woo--

woo woo——

Suddenly, Ronald was pulled out of his thoughts by a small sound from a distance.

Although he was mixed in with the night wind, he could indeed distinguish some subtle voices from the other side of the train passage opened in the forest!

"train......"

"It's the train coming!"

"Nessus, get up quickly!"