"Judith?"
Recognizing the newcomer, Adrian and I were surprised. We hadn't expected it to be her! Speaking of the devil, we had just been talking about her, and here she was appearing before us soon after.
"You're still alive?" Adrian asked hesitantly after a long pause. Even though the four-winged Apostles hadn't been defeated and the "Judgment of Light" hadn't actually fallen, he had experienced resets multiple times and knew Judith's fate when left unintervened - attempting to mediate between the two Star Glory knights and the Apostles, only to be caught in the chaos and lose her life.
Then again, this round of events had played out differently. After all, we had warned Judith about the Apostle threat in advance. She must have heeded our advice and avoided that fate.
"Heheh, I didn't go provoking those Apostles you mentioned. I was just observing from afar. Why wouldn't I be alive?" Judith adjusted her glasses smugly, but her eyes were shamelessly fixed on the sour fish stew on our table.
"Looks like you've got some good grub there!" she exclaimed, eyeing us hungrily. "I haven't eaten in days. The rations I carried are all gone, and the villagers' stockpiles were meager with little flavor, so..."
In other words, she wanted to mooch off our food. I didn't mind, since the fish was large enough for several people. However, Adrian shook his head in refusal.
"That wouldn't be proper. We don't have any spare utensils here. If you had shown up earlier, we could have made some extra from wood."
His implication was clear - she couldn't join us.
"No worries, I've got my own utensils covered. I don't need you to provide any. In fact, I can even share some with you!" This brazen woman promptly plopped herself down in front of us, producing a spoon from thin air.
"What kind of stew is this? It looks quite substantial! I've never seen this cooking style before. Did Feliciana make it?"
"Sour fish stew," I replied with an eye roll. Even the cook hadn't had a proper taste yet, and another mouth had suddenly appeared to feed. These large lake fish didn't seem to have too many small bones either. Hearing Adrian's praise of the flavor, I couldn't help but feel my own mouth watering.
"I never imagined angels would cook! This is a first for me in all my years," Judith remarked shamelessly after devouring a few bites of fish. She scooped up a full bowl of the stew broth and downed it in one go, immediately revealing a satisfied expression.
"Ahhh—refreshing! Excellent, angels really live up to their reputation. You even cook so deliciously!"
"Heheh...glad you like it!" I chuckled awkwardly.
That level of sourness, Adrian stood by dumbfounded, his facial muscles twitching involuntarily. But she didn't seem fazed at all.
Was it really not sour if you just chugged it? I doubted that. Pouring a small amount into my own bowl, I tossed it all into my mouth as well.
"Hey, Feliciana, why are you squishing your eyes, nose, and mouth all together like that? Girls shouldn't make those kinds of faces, it's not cute at all!" Judith looked at me in surprise at my reaction.
"Pah pah! You've got some nerve!" I retorted indignantly.
She must have cheat codes enabled or her taste buds had completely malfunctioned.
Not satisfied with one bowl, Judith helped herself to a second serving. Adrian glanced at her, seeming to have lost his own appetite due to her behavior. He finally spoke up to ask, "How did you find your way here?"
"Well, I was hungry, so I came searching for food in these woods. Then I caught a whiff of that aroma and followed it here," Judith mumbled through mouthfuls of stew, clearly ravenous.
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"So what were you up to in the days before this?" I asked curiously. Although excessively sour, the stew did have an underlying sweetness that lingered after the intense sourness, adding a unique flavor to the dish.
This could be attributed to the Romnian Sour Grass. While overly sour, it couldn't mask the other positive qualities - the complex blend of flavors not found in authentic pickled greens.
"Investigating the village, of course!" Judith's response left Adrian and me puzzled. The villagers had basically all become mentally incapacitated by the light pollution. How could any meaningful investigation take place?
"Heheh, that's what you don't understand! Sure, you can't get any useful information from those villagers directly. But you can freely enter their homes! Based on their personal belongings and everyday items, we can gather a lot of valuable intelligence!"
Unfazed by our skeptical looks, Judith confidently took out a small notebook and a scroll, placing them on the table without further explanation as she continued devouring the sour fish stew.
"This is..." I picked up the notebook and flipped through a few pages, realizing it was actually a diary, recording many firsthand experiences of its owner's former life.
Most of the content consisted of mundane daily events, nothing particularly noteworthy. There were even places where pages were missing or torn out. However, towards the end, I suddenly came across records related to the light god Beluto and the Saint angel Cyra, immediately capturing my full attention.
"Year 25 of the Ouil Era, August 16th. It was an overcast day, and the gloomy weather seemed to match the feeling brought by the bad news from the central city. After multiple failures in testing the beta energy, the project was finally forced to be suspended a month ago. This means we may have to settle here permanently. Perhaps that wouldn't be so bad..."
"Year 25 of the Ouil Era, November 30th. We had an unexpected visitor at home today, and I couldn't help but indulge in a few extra drinks. It had been over a year since Reginald and I parted ways in the central city, and he had not been in contact at all, so his visit truly surprised me. However, his demeanor suggested he was preoccupied with something. It wasn't until the third round of drinks that he finally revealed the truth - there had been a major incident in the southern regions of the continent!"
"Due to the impacts from the beta energy experiments, a series of unanticipated chain reactions occurred. Many areas affected by the beta energy testing sites suddenly experienced an unexplained phenomenon of collective decline in biological intelligence. The cause is unknown, and the situation is only worsening, progressing into irreversible outcomes like memofade and vegetative states. After several sleepless nights, the central research institute preliminarily suspects this may be an anomaly caused by the loss of control over the alpha energy accompanying the beta energy. They have issued a notice stating that rumors of 'people turning senile' are merely hearsay, and the situation is completely under control. They're urging everyone not to panic! Reginald, however, does not trust their attempts to downplay the severity and has decided to leave the central city. Fortunately, we're quite far from there. Hopefully, as the central city claims, the situation really is under control!"
"This alpha energy..." I couldn't help but inquire. Based on the diary's description of 'memofade ,' it seemed to be referring to light elements. But it struck me as odd that I had never heard light elements referred to in such a way before, leaving me uncertain.
"Heheh, of course it means light elements!" Judith guzzled down another mouthful of fish stew without even looking up.
"It's actually a very ancient term that's rarely used nowadays. If even angels like you are unfamiliar with it, then the generational gap must be quite severe!"
"According to legend, around ten thousand years ago during the ancient era, there was an extremely powerful civilization that spanned the entire Eldoria Continent. For unknown reasons, it suddenly went extinct, leaving behind only scant remnants that survive to this day..."
Adrian had been examining the scroll, but my words immediately piqued his interest. He leaned in to join me in inspecting the diary.
"So you're saying the term 'alpha energy' originated from that civilization?"
"I'm impressed, you seem quite knowledgeable!" Judith nodded in affirmation.
"You're right, most of the details about that civilization have been lost to the ages, but one thing we can confirm is that it was likely destroyed by the light pollution at the hands of the Light God Beluto tens of thousands of years ago."
"I see!" I immediately recalled that Elara had told me how humanity had nearly gone extinct from the light pollution back then. Under such circumstances, even the mightiest civilization would inevitably fall into ruin.
This diary seemed to be an extremely rare historical artifact. Without further ado, I continued reading:
"April 11th, Year 26 of the Ouil Era. An urgent evacuation notice came from a nearby town today, urging everyone in our village to swiftly evacuate the area within a short period of time. Excessive alpha energy has spread to within a few hundred kilometers of our location. Unfortunately, most people are unwilling to actively cooperate. After all, this is our home - how can we just pack up and leave? Moreover, excessive alpha energy isn't immediately fatal. There are even rumors that high concentrations of it can actually slow human aging and promote longevity. Karina says we'll be fine as long as we don't linger in it for too long. Unable to dissuade her, I could only agree to stay for the time being, as such situations aren't without precedent."