<h4>Chapter 557.1: The Truth (1)</h4>


    In the dim room, Roel looked at the orange-haired girl seated in front of him with an earnest but anxious gaze.


    Edavia blinked in curiosity. Her impression of Roel was that he was aposed and cautious individual. His heart hadn’t even wavered much when she revealed that she was an evil god. That was why she was surprised by his current emotional turmoil.


    It was unfortunate that the Mother Goddess had hindered her ability to perceive the outside world, so she was oblivious to most of the happenings outside. She gave the situation some thought before beaming a smile at Roel.


    “You look desperate. Something must have happened. Does She resemble Sia a lot?”


    “I don’t know. I’m just perplexed by Her attitude, but it’s not just Her. I want to know about the Savior too.” Roel dove straight into the point and revealed his request.


    Edavia blinked herrge eyes. She looked unustomed to how Roel was suddenly relying so much on her. She rested her back against her chair and pondered.


    “I can fill you in on the details—it’s not that big of a deal—but I should first put out a disimer. While I am able to ess countless lives here to alleviate my boredom, that doesn’t mean that I’m an omniscient being. For instance, I don’t know everything about Sia.”


    <i>ess countless lives?</i>


    Roel keenly picked up on those three words. He instinctively nced at the towering rows of bookshelves behind him. Taking in his reaction, Edavia’s lips curled upward with a hint of mischief.


    “Omo, did I give myself away? You’re right. Those books are my way of killing time. They are soul records containing memories of the deceased.”


    “Soul records? How could something like that be made? Not to mention the quantity of them…”


    Only then did it btedly strike Roel that he had never seen the <i>walls</i> of this room. The two times he hade here, he had instinctively followed the light source and headed straight for Edavia’s table. He had never bothered taking a proper look at this room due to its low visibility.


    But now that he thought about it, it was possible that the reason he had never seen the walls of this room was not its poor visibility, but that it was simply too big.


    Roel’s heart began beating faster as he stared into the darkness of the room, wondering how far the darkness stretched. A new question surfaced in his mind: <i>If this is my Inner Sanctum, where did these bookse from? </i>


    With more questions than ever lingering in his head, Roel turned to Edavia for answers. Thetter had released her braids at some point in time, transforming into her evil god appearance.


    “Surprised? Fufufu. You must be curious to know what’s going on. Rest assured, these books aren’t your records. They are my private collection.”


    Edavia floated upward andnded on the table. She picked up a book that looked awfully bulkypared to her petite frame and passed it over to Roel. Roel hesitated for a moment before he took the book and examined it.


    The book had no cover. It had a wondrous texture—not in the sense of off-putting materials like human skin or whatnot, but it emanated a warmth that felt as if the book was trying tomunicate with the holder. Its content was even more amazing.


    This book was an autobiography of a dwarf named Holmes Jinn. It contained plenty of pictures that had the remarkable effect of immersing the reader into the situation they depicted, allowing the reader to take on the first-person perspective of the protagonist, which was, in this case, Holmes Jinn. It was simr to the Witness State, just that it was viewing another person’s story.


    “Holmes Jinn was a Dwarven master craftsman living in Sia’s era, known for having once constructed a pce for Sia. Fufufu. What do you think? Feels not too bad, right?”


    “Yes, it feels not bad, but… I can sense fragments of a soul. How are these books made?” Roel asked with a deep voice that sounded almost like a growl.


    His wariness was swiftly on the rise.


    If Edavia was truly an evil god who plundered the souls of others to forge books, he wouldn’t contract her no matter how much power she could bring to him. This was not just a matter of principles but the underlying risks as well.


    Contracting a being whose values differed too much from his posed atent danger to him and those around him as well, not to mention that it would be hard to work together when they couldn’t establish mutual trust.


    All in all, he would rather not keep such a ticking time bomb by his side.


    Roel and Edavia looked intently at each other, the flickering candlelight causing shadows to sh across their faces. After a moment of silence, Edavia suddenly revealed an irrepressible grin and startedughing nonstop.


    “Hahaha! Who could have thought that a day woulde when I would be questioned in such a manner? What an arrogant fellow you are! Rest assured, I am above such crass actions. You can think of these books as a byproduct I receive from assisting Sia.”


    “Byproduct?”


    Roel was surprised by the unexpected answer. Edavia nodded affirmatively before borating.


    “All things aside, it’s too much trouble to deal with powerhouses of the caliber of Holmes Jinn. Even I wouldn’t kill him over something as minor as this… These books are indeed made out of souls, but to be more exact, it is only the portion that contains their memories.”


    “This means that you’re taking away the memories from the souls?”


    “That’s right. Granting deceased souls a fresh start in the world was my responsibility back in Sia’s era. These books are thepensation I receive from Sia for my work.”


    “…I see.” Roel nodded.


    He thought that there was some credibility to her word, especially since Holmes Jinn, the Dwarven master craftsman depicted in the book, was an Origin Level 1 transcendent.


    .


    Edavia would be making an enemy of the Dwarves by attacking someone like that, regardless of whether she won the battle or not. It was unlikely that Sia would condone her actions if she went around wreaking havoc like that.


    Taking a step back, if each book truly represented a life, the sheer amount of effort required to amass this hulking collection of books was unthinkable. It would have been impossible for even the Spiriteer Sovereign to take the lives of so many individuals.


    This conclusion took some of the tension away from Roel. He passed the book back to Edavia, who received and hugged it.


    “Let’s cut the idle talk and get back to the main topic. You anxiously came looking for me here because you want to know the rtionship between Sia and the Mother Goddess. Fufufu. You have asked the right god.”


    “Do you know the reason behind Sia’s departure?”


    “I’m afraid not. That secret is beyond me. However, I do have some guesses in mind.” Edavia’s lips curled into a sinister smile. It looked as if she had thought of something interesting.


    “Let me dive into the conclusion. I suspect that Sia has split.”


    “Ah?”


    Roel’s solemn face instantaneously plunged into confusion, and a dumb noise escaped from his throat. His moronic response had Edavia clutching her stomach and guffawing.


    His cheeks twitched at her mockery, but he chose to focus on deciphering the meaning behind her words instead. Edavia had looked and soundedpletely serious when she revealed her conclusion earlier, so it didn’t seem like she was pulling his leg, but…


    <i>Sia has split? What does that even mean? Does She have a personality split, or what?</i>