A few minutes later, even after Daneel returned to his room in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, he still had a smile on his face as he kept shaking his head and laughing to himself.
The sovereigns were all present, waiting for him to explain just what was going on, but even though the seconds kept ticking by, the king only continued doing this as if he was so stunned that he needed some time to get back to normal.
However… All of their curiosities were piqued, too, so Elanev was the first one who lost his patience.
"Enough, already! We were going to die for you, you know!"
Direct as always, his words made Daneel step back to reality, but even after that, he let out a bout of hearty laughter and said, "Okay, I"m really sorry, but it was just too much! Fine, I"ll give you a summary. My master is one who likes to put things in a complex manner, but I found that I can strip away most of it and just give you the barebones details. Let me give you the most shocking thing, though, first - remember that Head who I spoke about extensively, and who I thought I should be wary about? He"s my junior disciple brother now!"
Daneel felt like laughing again when he saw the expressions on his sovereign"s s.p.a.ces, but he controlled himself.
They all looked like they had been struck by lightning, and that was exactly how he had felt after that man had appeared out of the blue in the cave.
It had been clear that he respected the one who had called upon him extremely, and that he was ready to do anything that was asked of him. Hence, even after being completely puzzled regarding what was going on, he had obliged, although he looked like he had a torrent of questions to ask.
What had happened after that was that he had been asked to leave and that he would be contacted later, and the Head had simply nodded with respect, without even asking a single question among the ones that looked like they were close to bursting out of his mouth.
Thankfully, Daneel did not have to control his curiosity like that, because his master had told him right away after that that the second duty of the one who was in this role was that they would tour the continent and pick out those that they felt had potential before training them and giving them a chance to change their fate.
The deciding factor would always be regarding their character, and what they felt about the land that had given birth to them.
The help given by Fenoras during this activity was in no means small. Anyone who had benefited from him would definitely want to follow him for life, and because of the skills of character a.n.a.lysis that were apparently given with this role along with the repertoire of spells in which the one that had saved him was present, there had been almost no case in history where this didn"t happen. No matter what forces these people joined later on, their most sacred bond would always be to that man who had helped them when they had nothing, and they would be ready to do anything, even if it meant giving up their lives, if he asked.
That was exactly what the Head had done, and Daneel slowly started to understand.
At that point, he had had to take a few moments first, because he had needed to consolidate everything that he had found out.
When he had done so, Daneel realized that Angaria was really like an onion whose layers kept popping up even though he kept peeling as many as he could find.
First, he had thought that the Central Continent was all that there was, and after that, he had been exposed to the Big Four.
Next, he had found out about the Church and the forces from outside the continent, and he had thought that that might be it.
After that, he had been exposed to the seed program which was hidden even in the Big Four, and even though he hadn"t really thought about it, he had a.s.sumed that it might be the last major secret he would uncover.
Yet… He had found the Order which was so well hidden that he had been quite shocked when he was exposed to it, and now, there was this place, which was even more secretive than the Order.
Why? Why were there so many? Why wasn"t stuff consolidated so that it would be able to output the best results possible? Why did there need to be so much secrecy?
Daneel got these questions as they were what anyone would ask whenever they got fed up of finding secret organization after secret organization no matter where they searched.
Yet… He got the answer himself, too, as it was pretty obvious.
Humans were complicated, and no one could really expect what anyone would do. Take the Order, for example. He had thought that it might be a perfect existence that was meant to protect Angaria, but the truth was that the one leading it had somehow hoodwinked everybody since the age of the Apocalypse.
And besides… The Order had so many people that there was a chance of even its safety rules being broken. A secret was always much more likely to be kept if the fewest people knew about it, and in this case, there were clearly much fewer people than those in the Order.
But… What still concerned him was the origins of these forces. The Order was also supposed to have always existed in the continent, and many even said that it had been established by the Will of the World when the continent had been formed. If so… What about this golden lightning thing? When he had first come here, Daneel hadn"t been expecting to find an organization. He had just thought that he would find some kind of safe house where someone familiar with his master might be present to give him some answers, but it now made sense that if someone like that existed who had concealed themselves even from the Order for so long, then it must mean that they should have some sort of backing behind them.
Everything was getting really complicated, but Daneel got the thought that in fact… All of it wasn"t important.
All he cared about was saving this continent from the Church, and for that, he was ready to use anyone he had to.
And as for this force, whatever it was… It was clearly prepared to give him much more than the Order, at least, because it had already placed the Head under his command.
He had still been quite surprised about that, but it was only after he made all this a.n.a.lysis that he finally prepared to listen to his master regarding the rest of what was going on, and the answers for all his questions.
After telling the sovereigns about what had happened till here, Daneel took a deep breath and then continued, saying, "Their name is simple: they are simply called "The Watchers Who Wait", and the reason behind them having such a vague name is partially to conceal their existence. It is of the utmost importance to them that whoever invokes the golden lightning is protected and taken to that place underground about which even they don"t know about, and that is the purpose that they devote themselves to. All of this is actually unimportant to us. No one knows how the golden lightning is induced, nor how it decides who to strike. So, we can stop thinking about it, and just think of them as another force that we can use in our mission to save Angaria. They have three tests, and the things that one can obtain from that place depends on which of the tests are pa.s.sed. One of those involves having loyal subordinates with potential who are ready to die for whom they follow, and it is only because you all proved that, that I was able to get the Head as my junior disciple brother. Ha, I still can"t believe that! Anyway, the purpose behind all this is that they have some sort of secondary objective where even if someone doesn"t appear in an age who can induce the golden lightning, they should have a method to help the continent, and these tests are meant to find someone for that. Even if the one who pa.s.ses these is not taken to that place underground, they will still be able to obtain a lot, and among others, these things include: a safe place which cannot be intruded upon by anyone, and can ever be found, a spot for one person to train with top-grade Energy which will not dry up no matter how much time pa.s.ses, and a large network of people who have all been helped by the Emperor, who can apparently regain his mental faculties for short periods of time. It is during these periods that he roamed the continent, and it was during one of those that he became your master and then departed, Kellor. But the pity is that whoever saved him during the apocalypse was a bit too late, and his mind was too fractured because of the craziness that came upon all those in the continent. This led to that person who saved him having to use a secret spell which wipes one"s mind while only leaving behind a few glimpses of whom they had once been, and this led to Fenoras living on with no memories. Due to this, more information that he should know about this Golden Lightning thing was also lost, and only that which is deemed most important was retained. Even when he is awakened, he only knows his name, and his purpose. He has to live with the feeling that there is a lot that he can"t remember, and even if it is told to him, it will slip past his consciousness which is simply like a broken ball into which countless holes have been poked. I wanted to help him, but… It is apparently impossible."
Daneel had been extremely sad, too, when he had found out the truth about the Emperor. Someone who had endeavored to do so much for the continent should definitely not have to suffer this kind of fate, but sometimes, life was just unlucky.
After a moment during which they all stayed silent, Daneel continued.
"Now, I"ll finally get to the answers that my master gave. The Church is quickly reaching a point where they will start a.s.sembling the Army that will invade Angaria. According to him, at first, it would have taken a few more years, but recently, there was someone who was newly appointed to this matter regarding Angaria who had made certain decisions which pushed everything forward. This person is also the one who sent that other guy from the Church to Angaria. The sad part is that he cannot tell me what is above the level of Hero, as that comes under information which cannot be disclosed to people freely, but he did tell me that even in the mainland, Peak Heroes are very well respected, even though there are two levels above which are common knowledge in elite forces over there. And as for the Mainland, itself… He gave me some general information, but the one thing that impressed me the most is that it is a land of much volatility. Struggles keep happening, and it is a place where strength governs everything. He remarked about how he actually misses Angaria, because it is much more peaceful here, but he did not tell me more as he did not wish for me to be distracted from our homeland which needs to be saved first. And now… Finally, this is something that I did not tell you because I was scared, but I can tell you now. The present Overseer is a fake. The original one was killed, and this one took his place discreetly. Master Jonah has given me a clear direction that I can take to discover the truth behind what has happened, and it starts with-"
"Hey, Sh*tlord! If you don"t want this cute thing that we found in your rooms to be harmed, then I suggest that you haul your a.r.s.e over here! She"s a pretty sweet thing, so I really wouldn"t want anything to happen to her, you know!"
A message suddenly reached him, and it was through the trinket given to everyone who entered the Order.
With a grim face, Daneel changed what he was about to say.
Understanding that something was up, the sovereigns all rose, and he said, "It starts with us beating up someone who was dumb enough to target Skrr. Let"s go. Our next steps are all in the Order, anyway."