"..............." followed by a thicker silence than before. In the unbearable silence, Lin Yiyan's confused brain was trying to figure out what was going on. However, before Lin Yiyan came to his senses, Cardinal's faint voice sounded in the air of the large library.

"That's right...... That's ......"

Then, there was a long sigh

“…… That's what it means to be human. ”

For a moment, Lin Yiyan held his breath.

For Cardinal, who had never stopped thinking after two hundred years of solitude, if there was anything he didn't know at the end and wanted to know anyway, there was nothing but contact with others. The meaning of being human is to feel the contact with others and to interact with each other. Talk with words, intersect with hands, touch with souls.

However, the girl in front of her spent two hundred years alone with these books that couldn't speak. Lin Yiyan finally had a little sense of cardinal's passing years. The left and right arms moved at the same time, hugging the girl's back tightly.

“…… The sigh of ...... so warm" was a decisive difference from the cardinal voice I had heard so far. At the same time, Lin Yiyan felt a tiny but warm bead of liquid slide down Lin Yiyan's cheek.

“…… Finally...... It's paid off...... I'm here, two hundred years...... Didn't do anything wrong......"

One drop, another drop. Tears slipped down Lin Yiyan's face, and then dripped down his clothes and disappeared.

"Knowing this warmth...... I'm satisfied...... In return, it's enough ......"

How long has it been, and by the time Lin Yiyan realized the sudden flow of air around him, his hands were already empty. Cardinal, who had jumped out of his chair, turned his back, picked up the hat on the table, and put it heavily on his head. She pushed her glasses upward, and when she turned around, the atmosphere around her seemed to return to the otherworldly sage she had been.

"Hey, how long are you going to stand there stupidly?"

“…… Who would be like that......" For these words, as if the tears were just hallucinations before, Lin Yiyan retorted while leaning against the edge of the table, dinal stared at Lin Yiyan like this for a long time, and finally put forward the final question directly.

"So, is it concluded? Do you want to accept the old man's proposal, or do you want to reject it? ”

"Theoretically. I agree with your course of action. However......" Lin Yiyan said word by word, "However, I will not stop thinking myself." After that, in the process of fighting with the Administrator of the Fusion Knights, we will continue to explore possible ways to avoid the tragedy of the load experiment stage and continue to exist in peace in this world. ”

"Oh yes, what a hopeless optimist. But the old body has known this for a long time. ”

"Because...... I don't want you to just disappear like that. Rest assured, everything is fine! ”

"You're so confident!" Cardinal gave a wry smile, "I really don't know where your confidence comes from!" ”

"So...... I just want to tell you that although I understand the current situation, I will not give up my efforts. ”

"Thou shalt be the same...... One day I will understand the bitter ...... of the fruit called renunciation Not everything can be achieved with all your might. On the contrary, there are times when it makes no sense to even assume that such a possibility can be realized in the first place. Then go back. It's almost time for your companions to finish reading the chronicles. In the future, let's talk about the specific tactics when we call Yugeo over. ”

With the sound of a cane, Cardinal walked up the stairs and didn't look back at me once.

…………

As Cardinal said, as we stepped into the corridor of the history books, Eugeo, who was sitting on the stairs, had just closed the cover of the heavy cardinal on his lap. Lin Yiyan walked towards him, whose eyes wandered as if he hadn't woken up from hundreds of years of history, and said, "I've kept you waiting for a long time, I'm really sorry to leave you here alone." ”

Yugeo's body shook and blinked, and then he looked up.

"Ah...... Yi Yan. How long has it been ......? ”

"Huh? The ......" looked around in a panic. However, in this library, there is not even a clock or a window. Cardinal beside him coughed lightly and replied for Lin Yiyan, "It's almost two hours." The sun has risen. How do you feel about the long history of the human world? ”

"Hmm...... What should I say......" Yugeo, who was suddenly asked, kept licking his lips as if he was searching his stomach and scraping his stomach, and then said in a hesitant tone, "...... Is it all actually what happened in this book? It's like ...... In the past, there was a mountain, and there was a temple in the mountain, like a fairy tale that kept repeating itself...... Because,Most of the content,It's about where the problem happened.,And then integrate the knight to solve it.,After that.,All kinds of entries will be added to the taboo directory.,It's all like this.。 ”

"I can't help it, because that's history. Because the water leaks out when you use a bamboo basket to draw water, the mesh is plugged one after another, and the so-called Congregational Church is an organization that does this kind of thing. Hearing Cardinal's unpleasant lines, Eugeo's eyes widened. No way, Yugeo should be the first time to meet such a straightforward critic of the church, and the other party is still a girl much younger than himself, at least at first glance.

"That'...... That, ...... you? ”

"Ah, this is cardinal. That one...... He was exiled by the current High Priest Administrator, another High Priest before him. For Lin Yiyan's overly brief introduction, Yugeo made a wonderful sound of "coo" in his throat.

"Forget it, you don't have to figure it out. In short, she will help us fight the Knights. ”

"Help...... Help......? ”

"Ah, this man also needs to defeat the administrator for the purpose of restoring his position as high priest. So...... Well, it's a united front. After listening to Lin Yiyan's answer, his partner, who was like the embodiment of the concept of "honesty", looked at cardinal with undoubted eyes and showed a straightforward smile.

"That's right...... You really helped us a lot. If you were a former High Priest...... So, are Alice Synthesisthirty in Alice Fusion Knights and Alice Green Belk in Loulid Village the same person...... No, do you know a way to get her back to where she was? ”

Cardinal just closed his eyes silently in response to the Eugeo's barrage of questions.

"Excuse me...... The information that the old man can get in this place is really pitiful...... Basically, it's limited to what a few demons see and hear. Not to mention what is happening inside the cathedral or in the center of Santoria, even what is happening in the border area...... As for where the latest integrated knight named Alice came from, it is impossible to verify it now......"

Hearing this, Yugeo's shoulder fell slightly, but Cardinal's next words made him take a deep breath.

"However, the Knights of Liberation's Order Integration were born, no, it was the divine magic that created them...... I can tell you how to synthesize the secret arts. Cardinal looked at Lin Yiyan and Yougeo and continued with a somewhat difficult expression.

"Just get rid of the godly module that is implanted in their souls."

“jing…… moku……？ Eugeo was surprised to repeat the unfamiliar English no, which is a noun of the sacred language, and Lin Yiyan interjected to supplement the explanation.

"module, that, in the sacred language, means module. You see, didn't we see it when we fought in the Rose Garden and the Knight of Integration, Elderiya? That guy looked a little weird halfway through......"

"Ahhh......h Is it the purple crystal rod that pops out of his forehead? ”

"Well, that's it." Cardinal raised his staff in his right hand, drew a horizontal line in the air with the tip of his hand, and swung it down as if it were cut in the middle.

"The Worship Module was inserted in a shape that hindered the connection of memories. As a result, the Knight's memories of the Integrator's past are sealed, and absolute loyalty to the Congregational Church and the High Priest is strengthened. However, the stability of such a chaotic complex technique is not high. If you activate the important memories around the external stimulation module, you will have the opportunity to dissolve the procedure as you have seen. ”

That is to say...... If you want to unlock the technique, you just need to use the memories of the knight's past to shake them? Lin Yiyan asked impatiently, but did not get the answer he wanted to hear.

"No...... That's not enough...... There is one more thing that is absolutely necessary. ”

"What's that?" This time it was Yugeo who leaned closer.

"Something that exists in the place where the module is inserted...... In other words, the fragments of memories that are most important to the integration of knights. In general, it's all memories of a loved one. Do you remember the words that made the integration knights who fought with you react strongly? ”

Lin Yiyan began to retrace his memories at that time, but before that, Yugeo answered.

"It seems to be...... When I mentioned his mother's name. At that time, the crystal on his forehead seemed to fall off immediately. ”

"In that case, that's it...... Elderier's memories of his mother were retrieved, and the modules were inserted there. Originally, it was useless for the administrator to integrate all the memories of the knight's past, but the memory and ability are integrated, and if all their memories are erased, their strength as a knight will be forgotten, even the secret meaning of swordsmanship and the divine magic will also be forgotten. Therefore, she just blocked the patency of the memory circuit. It's the same with the old body, when he drastically erases past memories in order to prolong his life, he also gives up a lot of knowledge and abilities acquired during this time......"

Cardinal let out a short breath and continued.

“…… The old body repeated, all the integration knights were robbed of the most important memory fragments by the administrator. If you can't retrieve that, you won't be able to restore the memory loop to its original state, even if you remove the God Worship module. In the worst case, it can even cause fatal damage to the memory itself. ”

"Fragments of memory...... But...... If administrator discarded it......" Lin Yiyan asked tremblingly, and Cardinal slowly shook his head with a stern expression.

"No,...... The dministrator is an extremely cautious woman, and she will never easily throw away things that might come in handy. If she guessed correctly, she should have kept the fragments in her own room on the top floor of the central cathedral......"

Hearing such words on the top floor of the cathedral, part of Lin Yiyan's memory seemed to be stimulated by something, but before he could grab his tail, the faint thoughts had disappeared. Concerned about this wonderful feeling, Lin Yiyan took over the conversation.

That is to say...... In order to restore the integration knights, it is necessary to retrieve the memory fragments that were taken away, but in order to get those, you still have to break through the knights' defenses and reach the administrator's place, in which case......"

"The naïve idea of defeating them without harming their lives is not universal to integrate knights." Cardinal glanced at Lin Yiyan and said, "What the old body can do is at most let you and others reach the same level as the integrated knights in terms of equipment level, and after that, it will depend on whether you can fight your way out desperately." ”

"Huh...... Aren't you coming with us? Lin Yiyan, who was expecting the assistance of the guards who could have unlimited healing, asked back in amazement, but Cardinal only shook his head slightly.

"If the old body goes out from here, the Administrator will detect this, and she and all the Knights of Integration in the cathedral will come down immediately, and it will turn into a final battle in an instant. If you are confident that you can still win against ten integrated knights at the same time, it doesn't hurt to be old. How? ”

Faced with the other party's evil question, Lin Yiyan and Yugeo could only shake their heads desperately.

"But, even now, the Administrator still has a desire to turn you into Integration Knights. It's just that if the two of you fight, the other side should only send a few knights to try to capture you alive. There was no other way but to defeat the knights and make their way to the top of the tower. ”

"Hmm......"

It is true that when fighting an enemy with superior numbers, it is a basic tactic to use your own side as bait to divide them and defeat them individually, but even if you fight separately, your opponent is still the strongest integrated knight in the world. It's already so troublesome to use Elderier alone as an opponent, to be honest, as long as two people are opponents at the same time, Lin Yiyan really has no chance of winning unless he exposes his hole cards or uses some special abilities.

Lin Yiyan fell silent, and Yugeo took over the conversation, a determined gaze flashing in his eyes.

"I see, if I want to fight, I'll fight, if I have to kill the other party...... There's nothing that can be done about that. I had escaped from prison with this realization...... But what if Alice showed up......? I can't fight Alice, otherwise I wouldn't understand why I've been here for the past two years. ”

"Hmm...... That's right. O Eugeo, your purpose is understood. Well, if Alice, the integration knight, appears in front of you, then use this. Cardinal reached into his black robes and pulled two extremely thin daggers from his bosom.

The shape of the sword was very simple, as if it had only sharpened the tip of the long axis of the cross, which could be called ornamental, and Dinal handed the short sword with a deep reddish copper glow to me and Eugeo. I grabbed the slender hilt between my fingertips and took it, but I nearly fell to the ground because of its unexpected weight. The whole audience obviously didn't even have 20 centimeters, but the weight in his hand was not inferior to the unified saber in the Sword Cultivation Academy.

"Is this ......? Is there a secret weapon that kills in one hit? Lin Yiyan pinched the chain with his hand, raised the sword to the level of his eyes, and asked, while Cardinal shook his head gently.

"As you can see, this dagger has almost no attack power of its own. However, an inseparable passage will be established between the person who is stabbed by this sword and the old body located in the large library, that is, all the divine techniques used by the old body will accurately hit him, because this sword is a part of the old body. All you need to dodge is Alice, the integration knight, and stab this sword wherever she is. The Mandate of Heaven will basically not decrease, but at that moment, the old body can use the technique to make Alice fall into a deep sleep...... Until you retrieve her memories and are ready to synthesize and dismantle. ”

"Deep ...... Sleep ......" Yugeo stared at the copper-colored dagger in his palm with a half-believing look. I'm afraid, even if he uses a weapon that is thinner than a paper cutter, he doesn't want to hurt Alice.

Lin Yiyan gently patted the back of his confused partner, "Yougeo, believe this person." If we want to subdue Alice with a sword, not only us, but Alice will definitely be seriously injured. In comparison, just stabbing with such a short sword is like being bitten by an Onuma fly. ”

“…… That kind of bug doesn't bite. I don't know if it has returned to its usual appearance, Yugeo corrected Lin Yiyan's speech as if he was in school, and turned to Cardinal, "Understood." If you can't convince Alice anyway, let me use this. ”

While clutching the dagger tightly, Yugeo nodded as if to accept it completely. Lin Yiyan breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the cross-shaped short sword held in his right hand and hanging to the ground.

"Cardinal, you just said that this sword is a part of you, right? What does this mean? Lin Yiyan asked, and Cardinal shrugged, "Even the old body and administrator who can use divine magic to generate all kinds of props can't make something out of nothing. ”