Walker Of The Worlds

2780  Clues About The Language

Ashy wandered for two days, her frustration growing with each passing hour.

”What kind of humans are these?” she muttered, her feathers ruffling with irritation. ”They barely talk, and they donʼt gossip at all! What a waste of perfectly good ears.”

She had never encountered such uncooperative humans before. It was as if they had taken a vow of silence—except they hadnʼt, because they wouldnʼt even gossip about that. The last two days had been a drought of entertainment, and all her enthusiasm had withered away like a forgotten fruit left in the sun.

All she had managed to glean were the most mundane of details: the cost of bread, the names of a few places, and the identities of a handful of people. Hardly the earth-shattering intelligence Lin Mu had hoped for.

Ashy sighed dramatically, fluffing up her feathers.

”What do I do now?” she lamented, before finally giving in and contacting Lin Mu.

”Master! These people are worse than Monk Hushu!” Ashy squawked into their mental link. ”They donʼt do anything fun at all! They just walk, and pray, and pray, and pray all day! Itʼs like their brains are stuck on repeat!” If she could cry, she would have drowned in her own tears of boredom.

”That bad?” Lin Mu, who had been patiently awaiting her report, was surprised.

”Yeah!” Ashy whined. ”If I hear one more chant, I might start praying myself—for a little bit of chaos.”

Lin Mu frowned. ”Hmm… then did you at least hear what theyʼre praying about?”

”Yeah, but itʼs in some weird language. I donʼt understand a word of it.”

”Can you mimic it?” Lin Mu asked. ”Just repeat exactly what they said.”

”Oh, thatʼs easy.” Ashy cleared her throat and, with a perfect avian rendition, recited: ”Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper.”

Lin Mu listened carefully, repeating the words in his mind.

ʼDefinitely not a language I recognize,ʼ he thought. He turned to his companions. ”Daoist Chu, Monk Hushu, by any chance do you know what language the Osteri people use?”

Daoist Chu rubbed his chin. ”Hmm… I believe itʼs referred to as the Divine Script.”

”I have heard the same,” Monk Hushu confirmed.

”I see…” Lin Mu mused. ”This might be the key.”

He turned back to Ashy. ”Did the people speak this language normally, or only while praying?”

”A mix of both,” Ashy replied. ”The ones in fancy robes speak it all the time, while the regular folks only seem to use it in prayers.”

”Huh… so itʼs more of a ʼnoble tongue,ʼ” Lin Mu noted. His mind whirred as he considered their next move.

”Ashy, I need you to find a book. Something that can translate or teach this language. Can you do that?”

”Iʼll try,” she said, puffing out her chest. ”I did see some places with books. The churches have a ton! At first, I thought they were libraries.”

”The churches will likely be well-guarded. Start with bookshops instead,” Lin Mu advised.

”Alright, leave it to me!” Ashy chirped before setting off on her mission.

Navigating the cityʼs labyrinthine streets, Ashy soared above the towering marble structures. The city was a sprawling maze of white stone and sandstone, a testament to grandeur and uniformity. Churches and cathedrals dominated the skyline, their countless spires piercing the heavens. They were everywhere, so densely packed that no matter which way she turned, she encountered yet another place of worship.

Even stranger was their uniformity—every church, every building, every edifice bore the same architectural design as if the city had been sculpted from a single mold. It felt unnatural, an eerie level of order that set her instincts on edge.

Ashy shuddered. ”Creepy…”

She spent the day slinking through bookshops, using the shadows as her cover. She had long mastered the art of ʼcollectionʼ—a skill refined through years of swiping tributes unnoticed. Compared to her past heists, this was childʼs play.

Each shop was sparsely populated, with just a handful of customers and a single shopkeeper manning the counter. It was almost too easy.

She carefully chose books from the back of stacks, ensuring their absence wouldnʼt be immediately noticed. Shop after shop, she repeated the process, amassing a collection before finally making her way back to Lin Mu.

With a proud chirp, she landed before him and unfurled her wings, revealing her loot.

”I brought them, Master! I took any book that had both the weird language and Dao Script.”

Daoist Chu blinked in astonishment. ”Well, thatʼs… quite a harvest.”

08:44

THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.

Stacks of books tumbled onto the floor around her.

Daoist Chu blinked in astonishment. ”Well, thatʼs… quite a harvest.”

”117 books,” Lin Mu counted. ”That should be a decent start.” He turned to her with a curious look. ”And no one noticed you?”

”Nope! The shops barely had any customers, and the guards donʼt seem all that interested in patrolling. Itʼs like they think crime doesnʼt exist here.”

Daoist Chu nodded. ”The people of Osteri are known to be some of the most devout and law-abiding in existence. They believe that sin is the root of all misfortune, so they avoid it at all costs.”

”Perhaps that is one aspect I can respect,” Monk Hushu admitted with a rare note of approval.

”Theyʼre really that ʼgoodʼ?” Lin Mu asked, still skeptical.

”Good enough that even the Immortal Court leaves them alone,” Daoist Chu explained. ”Since they technically havenʼt committed any major transgressions, thereʼs no justification for intervention.”

”I see…” Lin Mu mused. He reached for the nearest book, turning it over in his hands.

The cover bore two titles—one in the Divine Script, the other in Dao Script. He read aloud:

ʼThe Divine Tenets of the Supreme God.ʼ

He opened it and began flipping through the pages. It took him just fifteen minutes to absorb its contents before he handed it off to Daoist Chu.

”Well?” Daoist Chu asked.

Lin Mu smirked. ”Letʼs just say, I think Iʼve found some clues, or at least the string that will lead to it.”