Chapter 10
10
Turba was a self-made man who had risen from a slave of a fallen nation to a respected merchant sought after even by High nobles, earning him the admiration of commoners.
However, after being caught selling forgeries, it was revealed that he had committed fraud several times before.
'I'm uneasy.'
This item might be genuine, but knowing Turba, I couldn't be sure.
Turba opened a box that was placed on the floor.
Inside the box was a pure white stone tablet, and what was written on it was…
'Ancient Language.'
Turba said in a confident tone.
"It is a stone tablet on which a divine oracle was inscribed in ancient times."
At that, the retainers standing beside Duke Dubled and Noth were greatly pleased.
"If it's a stone tablet with a divine oracle, isn't it as valuable as Newt?"
That was true. If it was a stone tablet on which an ancient oracle was inscribed, it would now be classified as a sacred object.
"But Ancient Language is an indecipherable language. How can you be sure that this is a stone tablet with a divine oracle?"
Turba opened his mouth with a triumphant expression.
"Similar items are recorded in historical texts, and it has even been verified to contain strong Divine Power."
"Hmm…"
As the retainers nodded, Turba smirked.
"It was painstakingly excavated from the ancient highlands. The fearsome Monster hordes attacked me and my trading company, but I never backed down."
Then, he thumped his chest and extended his folded hands toward the Duke.
"Surely, there will come a day when it will be of help to someone. Therefore, I cannot give up the stone tablet! This Turba seems to have risked his life for Your Excellency today."
However, the Duke merely pressed his temple with a dry look on his face.
"Enough of that. Just tell me the price."
Turba didn't seem offended at all. Rather, he grinned as if he had been waiting for those words.
"If Your Excellency were to purchase it, I would trade it for 100 million francs."
The people gathered in the grand audience hall gasped silently.
'A hundred million?'
A unit used for the national budget was a hundred million?!
Even the retainers and Noth looked at the Duke with a sigh.
Just as the Duke was scanning the stone tablet with sharp eyes, I raised my hand.
"Let me see it up close, that thing!"
Turba, who was looking at me with narrowed eyes, soon smiled.
"So, you are the Child of Destiny I've only heard about. It is an honor to meet you."
"Show me."
Leah called out to me in embarrassment, "Ah, Little Master."
Noth also looked troubled. He seemed worried that I might damage the stone tablet like I did with Newt, which would be truly irreparable.
But I had a reason to take a closer look at that stone tablet.
Turba chuckled and nodded.
"As expected of the Child of Destiny, you seem interested in the oracle. Yes, please take a closer look. But you must not touch it."
The retainers shouted, "Wait a moment!" but I quickly approached Turba.
I squatted down on the carpet and looked at the stone tablet with a curious face.
"Do you feel the power of God?"
Everyone from Dubled and Turba's trading company tried to stop him.
"Stop it. What if the child touches it by mistake?"
Turba waved his hand, pretending to be generous.
"Since he is the Child of Destiny, he might even be able to read Ancient Language."
"How can someone who can't even speak the Imperial language interpret Ancient Language?"
"Of course, I'm joking. Who could possibly interpret Ancient Language, a language that has disappeared—"
"Noto, who worked hard for his family all his life, rests here."
"Pardon?"
People, including Turba, blinked at the sudden words.
I smiled brightly and pointed to the stone tablet.
"You're silly, mister? It's written right here."
A stone tablet with a divine oracle was nonsense.
This was just a tombstone.
Moreover, I didn't feel any Divine Power at all.
'This swindler.'
I'm glad I took a look.
I can read Ancient Language.
No one can read it now, but in about ten years, a living translator of Ancient Language will appear.
'Mina, I mean.'
Mina could read Ancient Language as soon as she transmigrated.
Thanks to her, the neglected Ancient Language was translated one after another, and other people could learn Ancient Language.
Of course, it was very difficult, so only a few people learned it.
'Until right before I died, there were only three people who had learned Ancient Language.'
The Crown Prince, Yohan, the eldest son of Duke Dubled, and me.
I shook my head inwardly and looked at Turba.
'In the first place, the claim that it was excavated from the ancient highlands is also a lie.'
The only ancient country that erected tombstones for the dead was Callisis.
Callisis was a country located on the opposite side of the ancient highlands and did not believe in the Neriad god. It was a region where oracles could never be delivered.
'Just how big is this man's nerve?'
Well, he must have thought he would never be caught. He wouldn't have known about my existence.
The retainers rushed to me in a flurry.
"Can you read Ancient Language?"
"Is that really what it says? Yes?"
They urged me from both sides.
Well, it would be a big problem if they bought it for 100 million francs and it turned out to be just a tombstone.
I nodded.
Then Turba's face turned red with embarrassment.
"What, what nonsense—!"
He quickly waved his hand and made excuses to the Duke.
"No, this is definitely a stone tablet with an oracle. It's a sacred object! How could such a young child read Ancient Language?"
Turba glared at me sharply and urged, "A child who tells lies will be punished by heaven!"
Noth, who had approached me, bent down on one knee to meet my gaze and asked.
"Can you really read Ancient Language?"
"Uh-huh."
"How? Did you learn it?"
I had prepared an answer in anticipation of this question!
I tilted my head and said.
"I just see it."
'That's what Mina said when asked how she knew how to read Ancient Language.'
Everyone was taken aback, but they just accepted it.
That's when I learned that the title of 'Child of Destiny' was used in times like these.
While I was giggling inwardly, Turba shouted, "Lies!"
Then he hurriedly made excuses to the people.
"I have a way to prove that this is a stone tablet with an oracle. But the Little Master is different. How will you prove that you can read Ancient Language?"
Viscount Dubois, one of the retainers, hummed, "Hmm…"
Certainly, Turba, who had brought a Divine Power appraisal certificate, had the evidence.
'Even if it's fabricated.'
People couldn't easily argue, and Turba smirked, supporting the air with both hands and shrugging.
"Since the beginning of history, the only person who could write Ancient Language was the founding Emperor."
That's when it happened.
I stretched out my index finger and pointed to the tapestry embroidered with Ancient Language behind the Duke.
"Blessings upon those who bear a mission."
"……!"
"……!"
Everyone's eyes were focused on me.
Noth inhaled sharply, and the retainers covered their mouths, screaming silently. Even the Duke looked at me with unusually widened eyes.
And I drove in the final wedge.
"Freed Enesis Sheimon Callierd."
When I said the name embroidered at the end of the tapestry, the Duke gripped the armrest of his chair tightly.
"The True Name of the founding Emperor…"
At his murmur, people looked at me, startled.
"True Name?!"
"Is that the True Name of Freed I!"
The middle name 'Sheimon' was proof that he was descended from a certain tribe.
The tribe, known as the creation of the Evil God, was now forbidden to even mention.
The Imperial family of the Empire had deleted his True Name from all records in order to hide the founding Emperor's flawed bloodline.
Currently, the only people who knew his True Name were the Imperial family and a very small number of people. And that very small number would naturally include Duke Dubled.
'It's different in the future, though.'
Mina had once said the founding Emperor's True Name, which was engraved on that tapestry, in a public setting.
It was an incident that even the Empress Dowager, who had adored Mina until then, didn't know what to do and looked at the Emperor's reaction.
So, the fact that I had just read the founding Emperor's True Name embroidered on the tapestry was proof that I could really read Ancient Language.
Noth let out a hollow laugh.
"I guess we have no choice but to believe it."
The retainers swallowed hard and grabbed their foreheads.
"Unbelievable, how could this…"
"Is he truly the Child of Destiny?"
"I thought he was just a little smart, but I never thought he would be this amazing…"
Everyone was astonished.
I smiled inwardly and looked at Turba.
'How are you going to explain this now?'
It would be better for your well-being to just confess.
As expected, Turba couldn't open his mouth easily and stammered.
With a pale face, he soon shouted.
"I have risen to this position today with integrity!"
'Idiot.'
What are you doing bringing up integrity here?
I shook my head, and the Duke chuckled.
"I told that fellow to provide evidence, but he's invoking integrity when he can't answer the question himself."
"Th, that's…"
I shook my head inwardly.
'Just give up, it's over.'
Seeing how indifferent and lukewarm he had been from the start, the Duke might have already been suspicious.
He slowly rose to his feet.
"It seems I've been quite lenient lately."
"……Yes?"
"Seeing even gnats trying to crawl up. Noth."
At the Duke's call, Noth bowed his head.
"Yes."
"Escort this merchant full of integrity to the prison."
Surprised, Turba shouted with a pale face, "Y, Your Excellency!" The Duke looked at him and said in a dry tone.
"Bring me a definite answer about that stone tablet. Even if you have to cut open his belly to see if there's any integrity inside."
Then Noth replied ominously, "Yes."
Turba's face turned ashen.
