A Barbaric Proposal Chapter 110

※The First Map※

[Liene] "So that was it..."

She spoke while still holding Black’s hand tightly.

[Liene] "I should have asked sooner."

[Manau] "My lips would not have opened back then."

Manau explained that he had intended to bury the past forever. Just as Black had not returned under the name Fernand Gainers, Manau saw no reason for the name Gainers to be resurrected in Nauk.

He had planned to bury both the tragedies of the Gainers line and the sins of the Kleinfelters along with it. He believed that was the only way to protect Nauk.

[Manau] "I realized far too late—that no sin simply vanishes."

A sin left unpunished never learns that it is a sin. The fact that Ternan had once again defiled the Temple was proof of a failure to settle those old debts.

Twenty-one years later, Manau finally understood. The time had come to clear all debts.

[Manau] "I intend to return the Temple to a sanctuary untouched by any secular power. I believe this is why God has stubbornly kept this old life of mine clinging to this world."

[Liene] "I believe that as well."

But his long narrative did not end there.

[Manau] "Then, must there not also be a reason why the power to manipulate water, long held by the Gainers line, has lost its lineage?"

His one remaining eye stared deeply and solemnly at Black.

[Manau] "It was a power too great for humans to possess. God likely reclaimed it. I pray that you return that power to Him as well. The fact that illness was passed down alongside the Power of God, in the end, God's will to reclaim the stolen power."

[Liene] "That makes no sense."

She shook her head.

[Liene] "How can you say such things, Cardinal? You know how many people have died or fled Nauk over the past twenty years. Land without water is land where people cannot survive. You say God reclaimed it? Does that mean God wants Nauk to wither away and die?"

[Manau] "Humans cannot measure the will of God, Your Highness."

[Liene] "I cannot accept such a will. It is no different from telling us all to die."

[Manau] "If even that is God’s will, then it must be followed."

[Liene] "Where is there such a God!"

Her voice cracked as she cried out. It was laden with the anger and resentment that had dried up alongside the river for twenty years, was painful to hear.

[Fermos] "Indeed, there is no such God."

Unexpectedly, it was Fermos who gave the firm answer in place of Manau.

[Fermos] "A God would make it rain; He would not build mechanisms and hide them. It was the Gainers Royal Family who built those. In that sense, I believe I know exactly what that so-called 'curse' actually is."

[Liene] "What?"

His eyes widened. Black gripped her hand with renewed strength. His hand, usually so warm, had turned icy with tension.

[Black] "What is it?"

His voice was hoarse and fractured.

[Fermos] "It is likely the Genius' Malady."

Liene had never heard of such a disease. Neither had Weroz nor Manau.

[Fermos] "It is a disorder found in humans whose minds are far too brilliant. I knew someone once... well, there is no point in hiding it. My uncle suffered from it. I heard my grandfather died young of the same thing."

Most members of Fermos’s family were exceptionally brilliant. He himself had been considered remarkably smart since childhood, yet he had never surpassed his uncle.

His uncle’s framework of knowledge was vast; he moved freely through fields of study that others would spend a lifetime trying to grasp.

However, such immense knowledge was easily tangled. At some point, his uncle's mind became a chaos where everything was entwined.

[Fermos] "It is because they see what others cannot, and hear what others cannot."

Fermos had watched his uncle die a little more each day. His uncle’s death had been bitter, but understandable. For a person living with an entire, incredibly complex world shoved into their mind, it was only natural for the physical body to find the burden too heavy.

[Liene] "Is that illness... incurable?"

She asked urgently.

Fermos smiled at the two of them, whose faces looked strikingly similar in their distress.

[Fermos] "I cannot say for certain. But one thing is for sure: My Lord does not have the Genius's Malady."

[Liene] "Can you guarantee that? Can we believe your words?"

[Fermos] "Yes, you can. This is not a disease that appears suddenly one day. It is something one is born with, and the symptoms worsen as one grows. If My Lord had this disorder, I would have noticed it long ago. And to be honest, am I not more brilliant than him? If I don't have it, there is no way My Lord could."

The final remark was a jest, intended to soothe Liene, who looked as if she were about to break into loud sobs.

[Black] "...I’d rather not hear such things in front of the Princess."

He played along with Fermos’s humor.

Liene, however, shouted out in a burst of emotion.

[Liene] "What on earth are you saying! Even if Sir Fermos is ten times smarter than you, we should be happy!"

He pulled her into a tender embrace.

[Black] "Don't cry."

[Liene] "What? I'm not crying."

[Black] "If you will accept me, I don't mind being a foolish man. So, please, don't cry."

[Liene] "I told you, I'm not... And honestly... being 'foolish' is much better. It's so much..."

Liene, who insisted she wasn't crying, burst into tears at that very moment. Black patted her back as if he had expected it.

[Black] "Yes, I agree."

[Liene] "It's much... so much better. I'm so glad..."

There was likely no one else who could cry so loudly while saying how happy they were.

[Black] "I am glad as well."

He meant it. Black used his sleeve to wipe the face of Liene, whose nose had turned red from weeping.

Weroz watched the scene in silence.

---

There was another reason Fermos had wanted to see Manau.

The Temple held the oldest map in Nauk. Instead of getting angry at the suggestion that there were no divine powers or curses, Manau led them to the map.

It was stored in a stone chamber located in the very center of the Great Hall, revealed only after pushing aside the altar.

It wasn't just a map; it was a map known as a sacred relic. It was said to preserve the original form of the land that God had granted to Nauk.

[Manau] "Before I present the sacred relic before human eyes..."

He spoke at the entrance of the stone chamber hidden beneath the altar.

[Manau] "You must promise me. What I am doing is not turning my back on God."

Fermos nodded without the slightest hesitation.

[Fermos] "It will be proven that neither Nauk’s prosperity nor its drought has anything to do with a divine curse. However, one thing weighs on my mind.”

[Fermos] "My Lord, are you comfortable with the secrets of the Gainers line being revealed?"

Black did not hesitate either.

[Black] "It is a secret that should have been revealed long ago. It was absurd for a single family to monopolize the water. It was because of such deeds that rats like the Kleinfelters were allowed to thrive."

[Fermos] "Mm... I find it a bit of a waste, personally, but I cannot deny the truth of your words."

As long as the secret was kept, the Gainers line's right to rule remained absolute. But reality was different. There were no eternal secrets, and there was no eternal glory. There were no eternal gods, and no eternal kings. Therefore, all one could do was choose the best path in this fleeting moment.

Liene reached out and took his hand.

[Liene] "I believe you are right."

Black pressed his lips to her forehead, as he always did.

[Black] "Whatever is good for the Princess is always the right path for me."

[Liene] "Oh, honestly..."

Liene muttered something. Everyone pretended not to hear her small whisper:

"You shouldn't say things like that just anywhere."

[Manau] "Then, I shall open the door."

Creak.

With his frail hands, Manau struggled to open the stone door. No one stepped forward to help. This was a door that only the Cardinal was permitted to open.

[Manau] "Please, enter."

Manau led the way. The stone chamber was not very deep; the ceiling was just high enough that Black had to tilt his head slightly.

[Manau] "This is the first map."

Manau opened a chest in the chamber and took out a large map. It was not written on paper but embroidered on cloth with thread, making a dry, rustling sound as it was unfurled layer by layer.

[Fermos] "What an incredible map."

His eyes sparkled.

[Fermos] "To have made such a map in those ancient times... the glory Nauk once enjoyed was no coincidence."

Everyone held their breath as they looked at the map spread across the floor.

Fermos sat down and leaned in close.

[Manau] "What is this thing you say the Gainers made?"

[Fermos] "Here."

Instead of answering, Fermos pointed to the area beyond what was drawn on the map.

[Liene] "There’s nothing there."

[Fermos] "Is this not the East?"

[Liene] "That... ah, yes. That is the East."

[Fermos] "Is there not a mountain range here? A massive one, I suspect."

The others, who had lived only in Nauk, widened their eyes.

[Liene] "How did you know that?"

[Manau] "He is right. The Erendira Mountains, known as the Land of God, are located there."

Fermos grinned and nodded.

[Fermos] "I thought it could only be here."

[Liene] "What could?"

Her words quickened with excitement.

[Liene] "Is the mechanism there? No, was it not behind the waterfall? How could it be in the Erendira Mountains? It’s too rugged; no human can travel there."

[Fermos] "That is likely true."

His response quickened in tandem. Now that the theories he had only held in his head were taking shape, he couldn't help but be excited.

[Liene] "Then?"

[Fermos] "As the Princess discovered, Nauk is not a place with much rain. The place with abundant rain is likely here, the Erendira Mountains."

The Erendira Mountains, which divided the southern part of the continent into East and West, were staggeringly high—so high that clouds clung to the mountainsides.

[Fermos] "We all know that clouds bring rain. Since the clouds cannot cross the mountains, the rain cannot either."

[Liene] "Ah..."

[Fermos] "Then these mountains must hold a staggering amount of water. If the mountains are roughly here, and we look for the path that connects them to Nauk..."

Fermos moved his finger from where he had pointed outside the map into the map itself.

[Fermos] "...it connects to the Nine Waterfalls."

[Liene] "My goodness!"

Her voice was loud enough to echo through the stone chamber.

Manau and Weroz were equally unable to hide their excitement.

To those born and raised in Nauk, water was the thing they craved most desperately.

[Fermos] "My Lord, are you familiar with the legend of the Aliham Palace?"

[Black] "I am."

Liene also had a vague knowledge of it. It was a story as old as the First Map.

[Fermos] "Aliham is a castle built atop a mountain. Because the region was hot and arid year-round, they had no choice but to build the palace at the summit. But there was a problem: it was a Herculean task to haul the immense amount of water needed for such a vast palace every single day."

Fermos] "So, the master of Aliham Palace, King Abbas, offered a sacrifice to God, and God sent an envoy. That divine envoy performed a miracle, drawing water from the river at the base of the mountain all the way up to the palace, before vanishing."

It likely wasn't a miracle. It was something that, at the time, could only be described as one.

[Fermos] "The legend of Aliham Palace long precedes the founding of Nauk. I suspect, somehow, that the name of that divine envoy was Gainers."

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