Helios Orb Chronicle – Chapter 623

The purge of the Divine Emperor and the Evil God Abaricia eventually came to be known as the Gradia Great War.

It also became widely known that the Gradia Continent was a continent summoned from another world by the Evil God Abaricia.

At the same time the Gradia Continent disappeared, the two continents that originally existed within the Helios Orb, the Rival Continent and the Erev Continent, emerged. Many countries existed on these continents, and no one realized that time had been frozen for 200 long years, continuing their lives as if nothing had happened.

However, from the perspective of the Philia Continent, it was a New Continent Discovery, so many Hunters and Scholars boarded ships to explore it.

Well, we went too.

As for those two continents, we’ll talk about them if the opportunity arises.

After returning to the Philia Continent, we became swamped with work as nobles rather than Hunters.

The greatest threat, the Gradia Continent, literally vanished, and we were freed from the fear of annihilation, which led to progress in pioneering and development.

Occasionally, there were damages caused by monsters, and Demise Species started appearing about once every ten years. Fortunately, all of them were subdued, and we suffered little major damage.

The development of our territories went smoothly. The Fraydlancia Baronetcy, which I was granted, and the Lapis Lazuli Heavenly Baronetcy, which Mana was granted, each had their capital cities completed, and a steady stream of immigrants arrived.

Other territories also seemed to be managing their lands smoothly, and apart from monsters, no major problems occurred, so the past 100 years passed peacefully.

When our children turned twenty, we passed on the head of the family. After Yuri’s youngest daughter, Tenki, inherited the Esmeralda Baronetcy, we officially resumed our Hunter activities.

It was around that time that we began to regularly travel to the Rival Continent and the Erev Continent.

We had visited before, but we were mostly acting as nobles, so we couldn’t move around freely.

So for a while, we often entered the labyrinths of the Rival Continent and the Erev Continent to reacquaint ourselves with them. By then, our levels had surpassed 150, and we had evolved into the Grand Class, which is thought to be the stage just before the Arc Class.

Honestly, I didn’t expect there to be a class before the Arc Class, but it can’t be helped. So, until everyone evolved into the Grand Class, we diligently focused on leveling up.

After everyone evolved into the Grand Class, we set out to conquer the Sky Tree Labyrinth, which the Father God had told us about. The Sky Tree Labyrinth itself had been accessible for some time after our triumphant return from the Gradia Continent.

However, its difficulty was so high that it was considered impossibly difficult to conquer. We even tried entering it, but with an absurd number of floors, we had no idea how long it would take to clear. The highest floor reached at that point was the 603rd floor, attained by several Raids that had formed alliances. It was clear that there were many more floors ahead, and terrifyingly, monsters between An and Catastrophe Species reportedly attacked in swarms. The floors were also quite vast, so they retreated due to the danger.

Incidentally, the Sky Tree Labyrinth, with its seemingly endless floors, has shortcut magic circles for moving within the labyrinth called “Tenryōjin.” The condition for using them is to defeat the guardian of the boss area, which exists every 100 floors. Proof of subjugation is recorded in the title registry in the Library, so forgery is impossible. It seems that the Sky Tree Labyrinth has a system where only T-rank monsters appear from floors 1 to 100, and only I-rank monsters from floors 101 to 200, with the monster rank changing every 100 floors. So, if this assumption is correct, Demise Species should appear from the 601st floor. However, what appeared were An Species, and they possessed magic power and strength comparable to Catastrophe Species. The reason for their retreat was a judgment that it would be better to investigate floor by floor rather than trying to clear it all at once. The problem is that investigating each floor isn’t easy either. Therefore, very few Hunters currently enter the Sky Tree Labyrinth to conquer it.

Conquering the Sky Tree Labyrinth took us, even with our abilities, decades, so it was truly arduous. With the Tenryōjin, it was this difficult, so without them, I doubt conquering it would have been possible. Each floor was vast, and on the upper levels, the monsters that appeared were fixed by rank. From the 801st floor upwards, it was truly Demise Species only. I honestly thought it was insane. However, even among the Demise Species, those from the 901st floor and above were clearly more formidable. Still, a swarm of Demise Species is nothing short of a nightmare, and I have no desire to go there. Well, my level did exceed 180 thanks to it, so if I aim to evolve into the Arc Class, I will have to go.

A little over 100 years since the Gradia Great War, everyone still maintains their beautiful youthful appearance in their early twenties. Since the Grand Class does not experience decline due to aging, my wives remain beautiful, which makes me happy.

Although the thirteen of us struggled to conquer the Sky Tree Labyrinth, surprisingly, the labyrinth core did not appear even after defeating the guardians. Instead, a passage to the inner depths opened up, and the door in the inner area was also ajar, so we decided to head towards it. It seemed to lead to the outside, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was safe to emerge from here. However, I remembered that the Father God had said he would be waiting, so I resolved myself and was the first to step out of the labyrinth.

“This is…”

“What’s wrong, Yamato?”

“Everyone, come here. It’s alright.”

“Really? Then…!”

“No way…”

Everyone followed me out of the labyrinth, and we were all astonished. It was understandable. Before our eyes, a vast sea stretched out, and we were greeted by numerous Dragons. Later, we discovered that the labyrinth’s exit led to an island slightly larger than Alka.

“We have been waiting. We welcome you who are connected to the Father.”

As the Dragons transformed into human-like forms, we realized they were all Dragonians. Still, there were fewer than fifty of them. Beyond the prosperity of their lord, weren’t they a number facing the threat of extinction?

“Um, who are you?”

“We are the guardians sent to protect this tree. Our race, like yourselves, is Dragonian.”

So they are indeed Dragonian. They are a race with a longer lifespan than other races and can become exceptionally powerful beings by transforming into dragons, so appointing them as guardians seems fitting. But this island isn’t that large, and isn’t its location difficult for everyday life? Or am I mistaken?

“I know you’re Dragonian like me, but can you live here? There’s a labyrinth, but if you enter from here, only Demise Species come out. You can’t possibly hunt anything there.”

“Demise Species? Ah, this is the exit, so you cannot enter. The entrance is a little to the east, and only normal species emerge from there, so you won’t have trouble with food.”

Hmm? Something feels off…

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It is said that the Sky Tree Labyrinth connects to the heavenly realm, Tenju, located underground.”

“Tenju? No, we came from the Helios Orb.”

“Yes. That Tenju.”

Is this conversation making sense? It doesn’t seem like we’re on the same page.

“Sorry to interrupt. I’d like to ask one thing, does this world, if I can call it that, have writing?”

“Of course. It’s the Sea Orb common language, used throughout the world. By the way, the characters for Tenju are these.”

The characters the Dragonian woman wrote were, surprisingly, kanji. I hadn’t seen them in ages, but I definitely remembered them.

“Ah, so that’s how it is…”

“Mako?”

“What’s wrong?”

Everyone looked at Mako with concern as she covered her face with her right hand and looked up at the sky. I was also shocked to see kanji here, so that was a bigger shock for me.

“This is probably the character representing the Helios Orb. My memory is getting hazy, but ‘Helios’ is a term for the sun god on Earth, and ‘Orb’ also means a sphere or orb. Since the sun shines in the sky, it’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s possible.”

Hearing that, I remembered too. Helios was indeed the sun god from Greek or Roman mythology. I think Orb meant a jewel, but since a sphere-shaped jewel was called an orb, it’s a stretch, but it’s possible to read “Tenju” as Helios Orb.

“That’s right. Wait. I can read these characters too, what does that mean?”

“Eh?”

“Ah, I can read it too.”

“Me too.”

“So can I.”

Even more surprisingly, all of us could read the characters “Tenju” perfectly. Kanji didn’t exist in the Helios Orb, so it was strange that we could read it… Ah, the Helios Orb has a common language, so maybe a translation function automatically activated.

“W-wait a minute! You can read it?”

“Yes. Doesn’t it mean ‘jewel of the heavens’ and read as ‘Tenju’?”

“That’s right… but hold on. Then, do you know what this reads?”

Mako, this time, started writing characters on the ground. The characters were… Hihishirokane and Lapislaz.

“It reads ‘Hihishirokane’ and ‘Lapislaz,’ right?”

“I can read it that way too.”

“Besides, I can’t read it any other way.”

“I was right.”

Mako clutched her head again, but what on EARTH did she figure out?

“What if the language of the Helios Orb was actually based on Japanese? We thought we were hearing Japanese because we were transported, right?”

“Well, it’s a different world, and auto-translation is a common trope in stories.”

“Exactly. Stories are fictional, not reality. I didn’t doubt it either, but what if translation wasn’t happening from the beginning?”

“What do you mean, something like that…”

Thinking back to what she said, I remembered that when I first met Prim, it was a desperate situation. Despite that, we were able to communicate without any problems, so I just assumed it was the typical auto-translation for isekai transfers. But what if that was my mistake, and we were speaking Japanese all along? Is that what Mako is trying to say?

“I understand what you’re trying to say, but what about the writing? Kanji, well, we used them normally, but if even those weren’t being translated, then it would mean that Japanese is also used as writing in the Helios Orb?”

“That’s why I’m troubled. Well, not exactly troubled. And what Yamato-kun is trying to say is probably how to explain that Hihishirokane has another name like Flare Light, right?”

Yes, that’s right. The guild ranks are actually displayed that way, so if the language, or at least the writing, isn’t being auto-translated, it’s inexplicable.

“It’s not necessarily so. How many words do you think there are for ‘knight’?”

“Ah…”

Oh, right. There are many words for ‘knight’ in the Helios Orb. Order and Ritter, as well as Father and Beastar, are examples. So, Flare Light could simply be another way of reading it. Yeah, this is giving me a headache.

“Well, let’s save the verification for when we get back. For now, prioritizing this person’s story is more important.”

“Ah, indeed.”

Though I’m getting a headache, the verification can wait. More importantly, as Mako said, we should continue the story. I didn’t expect that story would give me even more of a headache, though.