Unedited*

"Hm?" Edward frowned. There was so much to ask about that statement.

But the most important question was...

"May I ask what year it was when you died?" Edward asked.

"Jared’s Calendar, Year 4830 of the New Mandate," Kikom replied.

"Before the destruction of the Empire...?"

"No. The destruction of the Lux Empire occurred long before our deaths."

Edward frowned and didn’t respond. His historical context was in shambles, but he couldn’t lose his composure in front of spirits he’d just fought.

According to the current Jared Calendar, the year 4830 was 1,050 years ago. In other words, the world is currently in the New Mandate, Year 5880 of the Jared Calendar.

According to history books, the Lux Empire fell between the years 5380 and 5500 of the New Mandate.

That means between 500 and about 300 years before the present.

"But these guys are telling you that’s not the case..."

Edward frowned and looked at them. "Are they really lying to us? Why would they do that? They have nothing to gain..."

"They gain a lot. They gain power. They gain control," Kikom replied, cutting him off.

"I don’t get it." Edward shook his head, clearly confused.

"Have you ever wondered why there’s been a Globally Recognized Calendar for about 6,000 years, named after the God Jared of the Theocracy?"

"They say the Lux Empire worshipped Jared and that’s why the Theocracy is his direct descendant," Edward replied. "Isn’t that right?"

"Haha, so that’s the story they’ve made up over the last thousand years. Though, I suppose the Republic has opposed it," Kikom scoffed.

"Yes. There are currently two calendars. They are both the same, but one is named after Jared and the other after Ancalagon, the Dark Dragon. The latter is the one we use in my kingdom."

"Linnava?" asked Czen, curious at his last words.

Edward nodded... He didn’t know why he felt they were lying to him about when they died.

Linnava was founded about 350 years ago—how did they know that? The thing is, the Republic and the Theocracy were founded, to their knowledge, approximately 700 years ago.

The idea that his superiors were lying to him echoed in his mind, so he didn’t respond.

"It makes sense. Linnava has always leaned toward the Mandate of the Dragons." Kikom smiled. "But, in reality, it’s the calendar they currently use that will make you realize they’re deceiving you."

"During the Lux Empire’s reign, they ruled the world and were like gods. There was a single calendar accepted throughout the entire territory under their rule: the Lux Calendar."

’Lux Calendar? I’ve never heard of it...’

"It was a calendar that was encrypted to a certain extent... It looked something like this." Anem waved her hand to show, beside her, the spiritual representation of a peculiar calendar.

It reminded Edward of the ancient calendars of the Earth’s empires. However, there was a strange sense of familiarity upon seeing it.

He felt like he knew something about it. He felt like he had seen it before... He sensed that this calendar had something to do with him.

’Where the hell did I see it?’ he wondered.

The calendar was depicted as a horizontal oval shape, with different sections perfectly divided.

"This is a representation of the latest version of the calendar. It reads as follows." Anem pointed to the outer section. "These are the outer years. They represent the first 10,000 years since the creation of the Lux Empire..."

"Although that might be false," Kikom pointed out. "If that represented the first ten thousand years, we could calculate a lifespan of 30 to 40 thousand years for the Lux Empire, which conflicts with historical records that place it at over 100 thousand years of history."

Anem nodded. "That’s why we believe there’s an additional calendar and that this..."

Edward approached the calendar, interrupting the spirits’ explanations. For a brief moment, he let his guard down completely. However, no one attacked him.

He had found something in his mind...

"It’s the Prophetic Calendar," he murmured, his words almost inaudible.

If it weren’t for the fact that Anem, Kikom, and Czen were spirits whose abilities had been honed over a thousand years, they wouldn’t have heard him.

At that moment, they frowned and looked at him.

"So you do know something, then?" they asked. The deepest voices at that moment belonged to Kikom and Anem.

Edward nodded, though only slightly. "The prophetic calendar spans 40,000 years..." he said, but then shook his head.

’How do I know that? Even though I feel like I’ve seen it, I still have no memory of it at all,’ he thought.

However, something inside him seemed to be emanating relevant information about it.

"The first ten thousand prophetic years recount the beginning of the golden age of the Lux Empire... The birth of the most powerful Lux Emperor, Jircniv I."

"The second prophetic ten thousand years recount the most impressive rise of the Lux Empire... The ascension of Emperor Jircniv I to the throne and the creation of the Table of Legendary Knights."

"The third cycle... is the inner cycle. No one knows exactly what it recounts, but between the inner cycle and the central cycle, a great calamity struck the Empire. They called it..."

"The Black Death."

Edward himself trembled at his own words.

Where on earth had all that knowledge come from?

Besides, when had he learned to read a calendar that he must have been seeing for the first time?

Even Anem, who understood the calendar better, was perplexed.

Not even she understood it so deeply.

In fact, many of Edward’s words were revelatory to her.

She had spent two hundred years of her life researching this. It had been her deepest desire to uncover its secrets, and now everything seemed to fall into place.

"Ancalagon... The Black Death... Jared, the Dark God... The fall of the Lux Empire... The Cursed Lands..." In Anem’s mind, many pieces fell into place.

"I see... So it was all part of a prophecy." She looked back at the Calendar. Then she looked at Kikom. "The prophecy..."

"The Prophecy!" Czen suddenly shouted.

Kikom was the last to react. "The Prophecy..." He stared at Edward, but the latter had no idea what they were talking about.

However, Kikom didn’t take his eyes off him until several minutes later, when he motioned to Anem to put the calendar away.

"That calendar ends in the year 50 before the New Mandate. Then come the Dark Years, when everything seemed uncertain, and finally Year 1 of the New Mandate begins—a calendar established by the Theocracy and the Republic during those years."

"And those years are..."

"Exactly the same number of years as the calendar."

Edward frowned. "You mean the Lux Empire fell about six thousand years ago?"

"At least, I think it must have fallen around that time."

Edward nodded... "You’re not sure?"

"It could have fallen four thousand years earlier, and perhaps the Dark Ages lasted longer than they tell us. All I can tell you is that the story of the 500 years has been around for five thousand years."

"I understand a little of what you’re saying now, but what’s the point of doing that? They gain nothing."

"They do gain something, my dear human friend of Royal Blood." Kikom laughed. "I told you before. They gain power and control."

Edward still couldn’t see the logic in it.

"They can practically control history as they please and make the whole world believe whatever they want. However, the best part of controlling this is that they can easily track down every royal descendant in existence. That way, they’ll never lose sight of them, and as long as things stay this way, they’ll be able to continue reigning."

"Royal descendants?" Edward frowned, curious about the term.

Kikom smiled. "Yes... the descendants of true royalty. The descendants of Lux."

"Don’t let it be a secret to you that they’re looking for you. I can see that your blood is very pure." Kikom continued, seeing that Edward didn’t respond.

Edward maintained his composure, revealing little in his expression.

"Don’t worry or be surprised. We are not descendants of Lux, but a thousand years ago we were their allies. At that time, there were numerous remnants. I suppose there aren’t many left now."

’So far, I’ve only met one—my father—and possibly another, Gideon. If I count myself, that makes three. But I don’t think they’re the only ones. Even so, there are very few of us,’ Edward thought, words he hadn’t intended to say.

"It’s hard to believe what you’re saying, but it carries some weight because of the things I’ve seen in my short life. For that reason alone, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. You are three spirits who control this region."

"In your own words, you died 1,000 years ago and were human. At that time, it was still said that the Lux Empire had fallen approximately 500 years prior. Only someone with extraordinary power could deceive the entire population with that. I think I can accept that, because I’ve met very powerful people."

"However, many of those powerful people are the ones who claim that the Lux Empire existed 500 years ago and that the Cursed Lands appeared at that time. So... I want to know what you know."

"Millennial Spirits, capable of enduring through the ages. I don’t trust you. But I want to know exactly who you are. And since you know the inner workings of those who rule the world, why don’t you reveal it to me?"

"As you well know, I am one of those royal descendants. I’ll need all that information now, as I find myself fighting dangerous people."