Chapter 1223: Lan
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Roland was a little surprised to see Lan, although he had sohow predicted that she would co. He asked, "Who are you exactly?"
"A person who needs help," Lan said while looking around. "I understand you have a lot of questions for . We can sit down and have a chat. Let’s sit over there by the window."
"Don’t we need to go to Room 302?" Roland asked as he watched Lan take the seat.
"The reason I asked you to et here is to avoid curious ears. Since nobody’s here, just take a seat you like," Lan said casually. "By the way, as this is a coffeeshop, can I have an ice coffee?"
"I thought you were disclosing a big secret to , so I’ve been very cautious, making sure that nobody will overhear us."
"A secret will only beco a secret when the eavesdropper recognizes its value. I monitor the Erosion underground every day and do need to take a break from ti to ti," Lan said gracefully. "One ice coffee, please."
Roland gazed at her for a second and then grumbled, "I only have instant coffee here."
"That’s fine."
Roland was a little frustrated to see Lan act as if she were the owner of the shop. He added so milk to the coffee and put two ice cubes in it. His eyes were glued to Lan during the whole process.
"Rest assured. I won’t disappear," Lan said while shrugging.
"I don’t know about that," Roland said, his eyes fixed on Lan resolutely. "I once asked Garcia to contact you and went to the Prism City twice, but you vanished. Why didn’t you talk to ? Why did you just leave a note?"
Lan lapsed into a short silence before she answered on a sigh, "Because we weren’t ready yet at that ti, child."
Weren’t ready? A little astonished, Roland pursued, "You an you’ve been waiting for to find out about the Bloody Moon, well, the Erosion myself?"
"You’re quite smart. I now expect more from you."
"Expect what from ?" Roland grunted. "You don’t look like a person who needs help."
"Then what should I do to convince you? Do I have to beg and cry for your help? Or you want a reward from ?" Lan said while shaking her head. "No, I don’t think you’d trust even I did so. That’ll only push you away."
Roland wanted to joke around, saying "You never know", but sohow the words abandoned him. Lan was much older than Garcia. She was the Chief Disciple of the Defendender of the Martialist Association, the senior of his senior. If she was really the person in the Reflection Church, she was probably 700 to 800 years old, a historical figure, so to speak. At this thought, Roland put up a more serious look.
"Alright..." Roland said as he sat down across the table, and went over the questions he had in his head. "Were you a mber of the Union?"
"I have nothing to do with your world," Lan replied. "I was born here and will also die here, although it’s won’t happen until many many years later."
"But I saw your portrait in the Reflection Church — "
"That’s nothing," Lan interrupted Roland. "It’s just a historical record that doesn’t really say anything."
"But what are the odds that you and the person in the picture look exactly the sa!" Roland argued while knitting his brows.
"If you think further, there are many coincidences in the history. Compared to dwelling on sothing in the past, you’d better focus on the present."
Roland knew Lan might be pretending. Without Nightingale, he could not tell whether she was telling the truth or not. There was no point in keeping arguing with her, so he imdiately changed his question.
"So, what’s magic power exactly?"
Lan’s lips curled into a smile. She said, "You probably have already known it. Nothing in this world could explain it because it doesn’t belong here. Low lives don’t have the capability to understand higher animals. What we know now is that we can use it. Therefore, you could view it as ’a power we obtain by accident’."
From Lan’s words, Roland judged that magic was like the Force of Nature, or perhaps simply another form of the Force of Nature. Because of magic power, the Dream World beca the way it was. Roland thus asked, "So the book, ’Raison d’être’, you ntioned in your speech during the orientation in the Prism City, and your deduction were all true?"
The most two pressing questions Roland had now were the nature and origin of the Erosion and the reason for the endless Battle of Divine Will.
"Not really, but you could think that way," Lan said quickly.
"I want to know the truth."
"It’s beyond the scope of your understanding, and it’s impossible to describe it in your language," Lan said after sipping the coffee. "Plus, everything I do is under God’s watch. If I give away any information that’ll potentially endanger Him, both of the two worlds will be destroyed. Hence, please rember that the truth is what you understand."
Roland twitched his lips in amusent. Lan could have directly told him that she would rather lie than tell the truth.
"He can destroy the two worlds?"
"That’s why we call Him God. It’s the closest word to describe Him in your language."
"What does He want?"
"To keep the Battle of Divine Will going."
"What’s your relationship with God?"
Lan fell silent and then replied hesitantly, "I betrayed Him."
"Betrayed?"
"Yes. The war will continue, and I don’t want to be stuck here forever. A new cycle ans another round of loss. God will eventually exhaust His power. By that ti, both worlds will be devastated."
Roland stared directly into Lan’s eyes before he asked, "So, why did you co to seek ?"
"I need your help, child," Lan said and gazed at Roland. "I want you to stop the Battle of Divine Will and put this cycle to an end."
"You an to win the war?"
"No, that’ll start a new cycle," Lan said while shaking her head. "I want you to stop everything and replace God!"
Roland was astounded. He had never anticipated that.
He took a deep breath and said, "Sorry, I’m afraid I can’t help you."
"Why?" Lan asked. Her expression finally changed.
"I don’t know whether you’re telling the truth. You admit that you could only give so evasive answers to avoid raising God’s suspicion. Sotis, one single word could mislead a person. What if you lie to ? You betrayed God once, and you can certainly betray ," Roland said while spreading out his hands. "I’m not good at taking risks. So, look for soone else to replace God."
"If you could help — "
"Don’t," Roland interrupted. "You said there was no reward. You told a reward would make things worse."
Lan fixed her eyes onto Roland for about 10 minutes before she conceded, "No, I changed my mind."
"I’m determined," Roland said as he rose and poured himself a coffee. "An empty promise doesn’t an anything, although it sounds pretty nice."
"You should at least let finish."
"I’ve told you — "
"I can bring Ashes back to life."
"Crash!"
Roland was aghasted. The glass in his hand slipped through his fingers, fell on the floor and broke into pieces.
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