TN: And we're back! sorry for the week long hiatus, it was not intentional since I had to get my right leg in a cast after tripping 3 floors down a stairwell (like an idiot ://) and be unable to use my PC setup upstairs BUT I should be OK now.
Anyways, Thanks for Arcanic Madness, WeissAkumu and WolfWTF for becoming as Supporters!,
===BREAK===
"White Line, huh."
I figured it was about that time.
Hadn't Barbara Claudia, a member of the White Line's Lower House, approached me directly not long ago?
"I don't know for sure, but I suspect they'll make direct contact with you soon. I can't say with certainty what their intentions are… but I'm sure you'll handle it wisely."
Intentions...
In truth, there wasn't much need to speculate about what the White Line's true motives were.
Their goals had been practically set from the very beginning.
'They'll do whatever it takes to preserve the current system of the Ark.'
Any change that went against that system was nothing more than a threat to them—a variable they couldn't control.
To achieve that end, the White Line would go to any lengths.
'Eventually, they might even see me as one of those variables.'
Until now, my actions had aligned with the White Line's interests, but strictly speaking, I had no desire for the White Line to rule.
What I wanted was peace in the Ark.
If the White Line were to disrupt that peace, a clash of ideologies would not just be likely—it would be inevitable.
"I have something I want to ask."
"What is it?"
"Do you know anything about Project Noah?"
Gulshan Tripathi—the head of the Tripathi family and de facto ruler of the Rose Line.
Naturally, he had to know something about the grand secret the White Line had kept hidden for so long.
This seemed like the right time to ask.
"Project Noah… I've heard of it. I know it was a project conducted in the Ark a very long time ago… but why do you ask all of a sudden?"
"Do you know what it was?"
"As I said, it's been so long that I don't know the details. Even within the Tripathi family, information about it seems to have been treated as top secret. But I do know one thing—it changed the fate of the Ark."
Gulshan Tripathi continued.
"My father once called that project an unforgivable sin. And after that, he never spoke of it again. It was as if he didn't want me to hear the filth buried within that massive secret."
"I see."
The Tripathi family had once been close to the truth of Project Noah, but unfortunately, that thread was lost in Gulshan Tripathi's generation.
Of course, it was also possible that Gulshan Tripathi was simply hiding the truth from me—but even if that were the case, I had no means of forcing it out of him.
"Is that all you know?"
"If you're talking official records, yes. But there is one rumor I've heard—though its credibility hasn't been verified."
"A rumor?"
"There's a story that the Black Line was destroyed because they tried to uncover the White Line's secret."
"The Black Line…"
Officially, the Ark's record stated that the Black Line fell because a Grade-2 Phantasmal-class doppelgänger infiltrated during the largest Wave in history, breaching their frontline defenses.
But that was only what the records claimed.
'That's not the whole story.'
Thanks to what I'd heard from Isabel, I now knew the Black Line once served as the heart of the Ark.
There could very well have been a massive conspiracy behind its fall.
'I'll need to look into this more deeply later.'
Fortunately, I knew a few individuals who had lived through that time in the Black Line.
Notably, many survivors of the Black Line had joined one of the Ark's extremist factions—the Rose Cross Knights.
'And Tatiana Belov is also a survivor of the Black Line.'
…Whether a day would come when I could speak with Tatiana Belov about the truth of the Black Line remained to be seen.
There were still unresolved knots between us.
"This is all I know about Project Noah, but I do know something else."
I had thought I'd already extracted all the information I could from Gulshan Tripathi—but he didn't stop talking.
There was more.
"Something else?"
"Project Noah had a follow-up project. It was called Project Eve."
"Project Eve…?"
Was it just my imagination?
There was something strangely unsettling about that name.
"What kind of project was it?"
This was the first I'd ever heard of a successor to Project Noah.
Which meant what Gulshan Tripathi was about to reveal was no small secret.
"It, too, was treated as top secret by the White Line, so not much is known. Who participated, what its exact objective was… But based on several clues, one thing is clear."
"What is that?"
"The White Line sought to control the immense ether that resides in Mount Noah. Project Eve was their means of doing so."
"They tried to control the ether within Mount Noah?"
The ether waves radiating from Mount Noah were immense.
So much so that even beasts—the enemies of humanity—instinctively avoided it after sensing just a fragment of its waves.
And they wanted to control that?
"Did the project succeed?"
"Hard to say. But I doubt it. If it had, the ether waves at Mount Noah wouldn't still be as they are now."
"True."
If Project Eve truly had succeeded in controlling the ether in Mount Noah, it would have brought massive changes to the Ark.
But the Ark still lived under Mount Noah's shadow, and nothing had changed.
'And…'
There was something else that bothered me.
"If that project was a successor to Project Noah, then does that mean the ether in Mount Noah is an artificial creation caused by Project Noah?"
At first glance, it didn't seem like there was a link between Project Noah and Project Eve.
But if my earlier suspicions were correct—if the vast ether of Mount Noah really was a byproduct of Project Noah—then that theory started to make sense.
"Well, that's one of many theories. But there's no definitive proof. Project Noah happened so long ago, and no one involved is alive today."
Gulshan Tripathi added:
"But it's a plausible theory. Sometimes, what you see is all there is."
I had come here to discuss matters about the Machine Cult, but the trip to the Tripathi household had yielded more than I expected.
Especially this—Project Eve, the successor to Project Noah—was something I needed to investigate further.
Project Noah had occurred so long ago that hardly any information remained, but Project Eve seemed to have been much more recent.
"This is everything I know."
"I see. You've been a great help."
"I'm glad even this much helped. I don't know what you're trying to do, Carl Marcus… but perhaps it's just the course of the times."
Gulshan Tripathi spoke again.
"Everything is changing at a breakneck pace. Not just within the Ark—but outside it as well. That includes the recent movements of the Church of Morte."
"Something happening with them?"
"Hmm… I suppose there are still some things you don't know. Recently, the Church of Morte's branches outside the Ark have been noticeably declining. That means there's been a major shift in the power balance beyond the Ark."
"I see."
If beasts and monsters were the enemies of humanity, then the Church of Morte were its traitors.
In that sense, the decline of the Church of Morte was good news for the Ark—but change always brings unforeseen consequences.
Gulshan Tripathi's concern likely stemmed from that.
'Especially if the Church of Morte goes to extremes and initiates the Dragon of Delusion Ritual.'
That was something that absolutely had to be prevented, no matter what.
Which meant I couldn't take my eyes off the Church of Morte either.
"It seems it's time for both of us to get moving."
Before Gulshan Tripathi could finish his sentence, a warning light began flashing on the device on his wrist.
A Wave.
It had begun.
"Carl Marcus, I hope you make the right choice."
He didn't say what choice he meant.
But somehow, I felt like I already knew.
"No need to worry."
With that, I gave my usual reply and left the Tripathi household.
To do what I had always done.
* * *
Ice melted in the whiskey glass.
Left alone in his office, Gulshan Tripathi leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes in thought.
"So, he finally touches a fragment of the truth."
For Gulshan Tripathi, today's meeting with Carl Marcus held many meanings.
Despite being an outsider, Carl Marcus had become one of the most notable figures in the Ark, and the Tripathi family believed they'd secured that connection.
But they were mistaken.
Carl Marcus wasn't someone caught up in the storm—he was the storm.
Many things would change.
The White Line. The Rose Line.
No—perhaps the entire Ark.
Not all secrets are meant to be kept.
Sometimes, secrets are forcibly revealed by the blinding light of truth.
But Gulshan Tripathi did not believe that the great secret the White Line was hiding was one that should be revealed.
It was a darkness so dense that a half-hearted light would be swallowed whole.
"Preparations will be necessary."
Gulshan Tripathi quietly pressed the communicator.
"Bring Ganesha to me."
* * *
The soundless sirens—symbols of the Ark—flashed without pause.
Special forces and equipment, unseen in any other Line, moved constantly, proving this was the Ark's frontline.
But I knew.
This was not where I belonged.
I had grown too powerful to fight alongside Ark soldiers.
["Master."]
Just as I was about to pass the Rose Line and step outside the Ark, Esther called to me.
"What is it?"
["Um… there's something that's been bothering me."]
"Tell me later. I'm busy right now."
I didn't know what Esther was trying to say, but now wasn't the time.
Even though I'd been getting through recent battles more easily, the Waves were only growing stronger.
["No. I have to say it now."]
Unusually firm.
When I paused for a moment, Esther seemed to hesitate, then finally spoke.
["…Normally, I wouldn't say this, but I think you should know. It might be nothing, but… I can't ignore it."]
"What is it?"
["That name—Eve. I've heard it before."]
"…Where?"
Not something I could brush off.
Esther's lips moved again.
["A long time ago—back when Isabel was very young—members of the El family used to call her Eve."]
===BREAK===
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