Miss Hebe Is Charging Through the Lostbelts! [27]

The laughter dropped straight from the sky, striking everything in the world like a drumbeat and shaking even the dust on the ground into the air.

The moment he heard that voice, the King of Rams prostrated himself toward the pyramids, his posture more devout than that of even the most pious priest.

Only after that deafening laughter vanished did the King of Rams rise from the ground.

It was an oral edict only Hebe herself could hear.

Even the King of Rams heard nothing but the Red King’s laughter. As for the many nobles and priests prostrated on the ground, they sensed nothing at all.

It was as though their time had been stripped away the instant the Red King descended.

The King of Rams had already regained his calm. He glanced at Hebe and said in a muffled voice, “Come with me.”

He turned and passed through the crowd, who seemed utterly unaware of what had happened. He did not enter Memphis, but instead walked toward the towering cluster of the three great pyramids in the distance.

Hebe followed him in silence.

A full quarter of an hour after the two of them had left, the first person finally came back to themselves.

…

The royal road leading to the pyramids was empty, with only solemn stone statues standing on either side.

These magnificent structures stood outside the city’s protective barrier. By all rights, they should long since have been worn down into sand by the scorching wind. Yet as Hebe walked along the royal road, she could feel the searing gusts parting around the stone statues.

The King of Rams walked ahead in silence. He still held the scorched stone tablet in his arms, and even with the head of a ram, the solemnity on that face was plain to see.

Hebe openly studied this “Minister of Ministers.”

Khnum, King of Rams. His build was nothing like an ordinary person’s, standing as tall as three to five men. Before calling upon his great power, he looked like nothing more than a giant with a ram’s head.

In past simulations, this King of Rams had not exactly enjoyed a good reputation.

“Abuses his authority,” “executes at whim,” “brutal beyond measure,” “bewitches the god-king”… almost every ugly rumor imaginable could be pinned on the King of Rams.

Whether among the major schools or within the temples, similar whispers spread in the dark.

In theory, the King of Rams had more than enough power to stamp out such talk completely, but he did not seem to care. So long as no one spouted nonsense to his face, he treated it as though he had heard nothing at all.

The scorching heat baked the air, causing mirage-like illusions to appear along both sides of the royal road before the pyramids.

The King of Rams casually swept his sleeve, and those distorted illusions scattered.

“The seat of the Scarlet Ibis King differs somewhat from the other four.”

The King of Rams’ deep, muffled voice came from ahead.

“Though I do not know why His Majesty has favored you, since you were not reduced to ash by thunder and fire, it means His Majesty has already issued his decree to you… Therefore, I have an obligation to explain a little.”

“In the old days, Thoth, Ibis King, once shone with far greater brilliance than I. Yet the destiny of the beast gods fell into decline, and new gods known as ‘Consuls’ arrived.”

“They were powerful. They were learned. They laid a new blueprint for the world. The authority of the beast gods was seized, overshadowed, and subsumed. Their fate swayed according to the whims of those Consuls.”

“Sekhmet was defeated by the authority of Scar-Father, stripped of her wisdom and power, and reduced to a beast. After that, Scar-Father was widely worshiped in Egypt under the name of Horus.”

“The pharaohs of every generation inherited the divine blood of Scar-Father, and their conquest of monsters and foreign races has never ceased.”

“Thoth, Ibis King, melted before the ‘brilliant twins’… The honor-names of those twins are Mr. Day and Lord Twilight.”

“In Egypt, they were respectively regarded as Aten, the morning sun of Dawn, and Atum, the evening sun of Dusk.”

“Because of this, every apprentice who studies the secret transmissions of the Ibis King suffers an irresistible urge to chase the light, as well as the risk that their mind will dissolve from becoming too entranced… Ridiculous, isn’t it? The greatest danger does not come from outside, but from a lifetime’s worth of their own learning.”

There was not the slightest trace of laughter in the King of Rams’ words. What filled them instead was grief too heavy to dissolve.

“His Majesty’s tomb lies ahead. I can go no farther.”

He handed over the stone tablet in his arms. “Go on your own… and pay your respects.”

Those eyes, wavering like wildfire, stared unblinkingly at the girl.

Hebe took the warm stone tablet and carried it in her hand.

…

The instant Hebe stepped into the long, narrow passage, azure light shone from the distance, sweeping over her body with a rather technological air.

This light… is somewhat like the cobalt-blue light in the Wasteland, Hebe thought calmly.

The Red King’s intention could not have been more blatant. After ascending to become the red-crowned god-king, he had set up elements such as these within his own tomb, attempting to artificially simulate the environment of the Wasteland.

At the end of the corridor was a square stone platform.

When Hebe stepped onto it, the stone tablet in her hand emitted a soft blue glow.

The stone platform rapidly ascended. A transparent barrier of light shielded it, leaving Hebe unaffected.

She swiftly passed through layer after layer inside the pyramid, watching the man-made grasslands, mountains, oceans, and forests, watching those different sights gradually vanish beneath her feet.

She silently committed these wonders to memory.

At last, the stone platform slowly came to a stop. A golden royal road gradually rose, leading into a stretch of deathly, deep darkness.

Candle flames flickered, and smoke hung down like curtains. There was no throne for a king to sit upon.

So this was the palace of the Red King Ozymandias? Wasn’t it far too cramped?

The thought had only just surfaced in Hebe’s mind when she felt a faint tremor beneath her feet.

Pale mist suddenly surged forth, dyeing the royal road beneath her feet bright silver. A sensation of lightness rose through her body.

Hebe gently lifted her foot—and stepped onto the mist, climbing higher and higher.

Even the vast majority of those at Daylight could not “fly,” because the laws of the present realm suppressed non-real “truth.” In the past, however, the precepts had not been strict to that degree.

She passed through candlelight, through smoke, and saw a magnificent blue light descending from the pyramid’s peak.

That blue light emerged within the mist, turning into step after step beneath her feet.

Hebe climbed the steps and left the pyramid. Her vision abruptly opened wide—above the dense clouds was pure light, and that light in turn dyed the clouds until they seemed like a burning sea.

And above that empty sea of clouds stood an enormous, precise mechanical structure.

It was an existence far beyond this age, even beyond the later era Hebe came from. It resembled both a magnificent palace and a spire forged purely from metal, with countless gears operating intricately within it, cycling endlessly as they released thunder like a heartbeat.

Nine interlocking metal sun-wheels revolved around that vast matrix.

With Hebe’s arrival, the enormous matrix began to roar into motion. Then, at the heart of the gears, levers, and matrix, a scorching Radiance no less intense than the true sun lit up in an instant.

Hebe had already looked away before that, but the stone tablet she had been carrying suddenly flew up, forming an azure barrier around her.

The sun-wheels turned, and that blazing light drew back slightly, as if the fierce noon sun had become the evening sun of Dusk.

That vast, resplendent voice came from every direction, carrying an indescribable cruelty and tyranny.

“—Since you have come to see me, why do you not bow?!”

This is a fan translation of 赫柏小姐正在杀出异闻带！ by 青散人 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!