After bathing, all the tiredness of the body had as if flown away with that steam, and now I was feeling completely Fresh. Sleep was coming in the eyes, but the desperation to know the secret of that black diary was weighing heavy over that tiredness. I kept my towel and took out that diary from under the pillow of my bed.
And just as I am taking it in my hands and thinking about opening it, just then 'Den' is Summoned from the underworld. With a white flash in the room, he wrapped himself around my hands and began to stare at me with those smoldering red eyes of his. He was wrapped on my hands like some cold vine, but seeing him I did not React much. Now I had become somewhat used to this presence of his.
I took a deep breath and in a calm tone said to him, "Oh! Den, you came back from the underworld?"
Upon which Den gave a reply, "Oh yes! Actually today I was feeling quite a lot of fluctuation in your Aurum. And seeing your injuries it feels that you have done some dangerous fight today." His discerning eyes were reading those marks on my face.
I saw the thick darkness spread outside the window and slowly gave a reply, "Oh yes, you understood absolutely right. Today I have done a fight even more dangerous than my expectation."
Den loosened his grip a little and said with curiosity, "Oh good! So with whom have you fought?" A strange spark had come into his red eyes, as if he too desired to become a part of that bloody encounter. I gripped that 'Ovies Land' diary pressed in my hands a little more tightly.
Then Den said curiously, "Good! So tell me in detail about that fight."
I took a deep breath and then I gave him a reply, "Okay, I can tell you about it right now." Den was that companion of mine from whom hiding anything was not possible, nor was there any use in it. After which I told Den everything truthfully. I neither removed any information nor used a lie in my talks. Starting from the beginning, I narrated that entire scene to him—that kidnapper woman meeting us at the Harbor, where amidst the noise of the waves the shadow of death was hovering. Then the Giants suddenly arriving there and then my falling inside a pit in that open Space of the factory, where death was waiting for me. After which my facing the Undead there—those rotted bodies and the dread of their hollow eyes. Den was listening to my every single word very attentively. I gave him the full account of our last fight with that woman in the workshop of the factory as well. I told Den everything, this also that in what way I defeated that woman and how I and Historia came out safe and sound from that trap of death.
After hearing my entire story, a strange twitch came on Den's face. And then Den said, "Oh! So you faced all these things in my not being here?" He tightened his wrapped body a little more and said in a resonating voice, "To tell the truth, I should praise you for this brave work of yours."
"But are you not forgetting that you are an Illegal Paragon? You should not get entangled just like that in such things where the Church and Royal Knights are Involved."
Den's warning echoed in my ears, but I tried to reassure him with a faint smile. I gave a reply to Den, "Forgive me Den, but you do not need to worry. In the end, I belong to a Noble Family. For me this is not any very big trouble, the Situation can be handled for me." And I had full trust in that shield of mine.
Den narrowed his red eyes, as if he were laughing at my innocence. Den says, "Come on okay, if it is such a matter then. But this small diary in your hand... you told that you got this from that woman herself, so have you opened it until now?"
His question was directly on target. Upon which I gave a reply, "Oh no, I haven't gotten the chance to open it until now." Saying this much, both of us begin to look toward that diary, as if it were not some lifeless thing.
But just then Den notices something in my 'Noble Cut Diamond' ring on my Ring Finger. His sight had become fixed. He sees that inside the Red Noble Cut Diamond of my ring, a light like a small 'Red Dot' was coming out, exactly in the same way as the flame of fire is alive for a few moments over an extinguished lamp. That dim red glow was throbbing in the darkness like a signal of some danger.
Den told me about this thing and I too became surprised seeing this. After all, why did it suddenly start burning in this way? After all why? But after a few moments Den and I guessed it to some extent. Actually, because this 'Ovies Land' diary belonged to that kidnapper woman, so due to her being from the 'Void Pathway', some Essence of her Aurum perhaps must have remained in this diary. Even after death, some fragments of her energy were imprisoned between these pages. And according to our information, this ring of mine also is a Hallowed one that comes inside the Domain of the 'Void Pathway'.
So perhaps it Detected the Aurum of the Void Pathway present inside it and began to burn from its energy. Anyway, this is not happening for the first time.
Taking that red dim glow as an ordinary reaction, we therefore did not give it much attention. Then I moved my steps and went to sit on the chair attached to my Study Table. Amidst the silence of the room, I opened that diary. As soon as that leather cover turned, a strange odor began to float in the air. Its papers had turned yellow, which the papers of an old diary often indeed become.
I saw the first page with eyes full of hope, but I do not see anything written on the first page. After which I turn one more page and finally I see something written in the same language as the Language written on the cover. My heartbeats became fast. First of all, my sight falls upon the Heading present on that page, where it was written:
'The Seven Shadows of Malice'
Upon reading that word, my hands paused. And reading that thing I was being surprised, because just this morning Vyuk had told me about 'The Six Shadows of Malice'. According to Vyuk's information they were six, but here 'seven' was written. But after all what is this 'Seven Shadows of Malice'? To know this I read further down, where I see the names of 7 Clans written:
Sulan
Vane
Mordrake
House Valerius
Nightgount
Malcorvus
Rekwar
Upon reading those names, a lightning flashed in my mind. Perhaps these were the names of those clans which were connected to the Dark Lord. The puzzle was becoming more entangled. Vyuk had told me about only six clans, and even in that he had not told the names of all those clans. If the name of 'Sulan' were not here, then for a moment I could consider the names of these clans separate from Vyuk's information. But because of the mention of 'Sulan' clan in this, it was clear that the information given by Vyuk and the information present in this diary are one and the same.
Was Vyuk hiding the truth? But after all Vyuk had told me about only six clans, so does Vyuk too not have the full information of it? After thinking for some time I understood, perhaps it can be so that the existence of the seventh clan has been erased from the books of history.
But then I turned the next page. Beside me Den, who was present right near me, was not understanding the language written in the diary at all. For him those were only strange lines. Therefore he looked toward me and asked that, "Jona, do you understand this language?"
Without removing my sight I gave him a reply, "Oh yes, I understand this language."
In Den's red eyes was amazement. Den asks again, "Good! So from where did you learn this language?"
But I had no answer to this question of Den's, because the truth was just this: that after coming into this world, I had received the capability to understand the languages and writing here. This was not some learned skill, but my 'boon' in this world. Therefore I could read this language. But I could not tell him all this.
I said to Den, "Oh Den, leave it no, from where I learned this language." Then to distract his attention I tell him the Information given in the previous page. Hearing the names of the seven clans, Den also fell into thought. And then I begin to look toward the newly turned page. There in the very middle of the page, something was written again with a deep and black ink. I read it:
'Dreams Hung by a Rope'