Miss Hebe Is Charging Through the Lostbelts! [12]

Early the next morning, Hebe found herself looking forward to the Secret Histories Simulator’s version update.

The moment the twenty-four-hour countdown on her desktop hit zero, a string of text visible only to her surfaced one after another.

[WELCOME TO SECRET HISTORIES SIMULATOR, KNOWER. CURRENT VERSION: 1.0.]

[THIS UPDATE ADDS NEW CONTENT AND NEW FUNCTIONS.]

[NEW CONTENT]: A NEW LOSTBELT IS NOW OPEN.

[LOSTBELT]:

[DREAM OF GOLDEN TRUTH: THE LOST KINGDOM OF THE SEA OF SAND]
THE GOD-KING WHO REIGNS OVER THE BURNING SANDS FORESAW DISASTER’S COMING, AND SO HE WILL DO ALL THAT MUST BE DONE TO PRESERVE HIS SOVEREIGNTY, UNTIL THAT SOVEREIGNTY GIVES RISE TO FOLLY, UNTIL THAT FOLLY TOUCHES TABOO, UNTIL TABOO BRINGS DISASTER DOWN, UNTIL DISASTER DEVOURS HIS KINGDOM.

On the dark green desktop, beside the card marked with roses and swords, there was now another one, this one depicting desert and pyramids.

The moment her cursor moved over it, the gilded words [DREAM OF GOLDEN TRUTH: THE LOST KINGDOM OF THE SEA OF SAND] quietly surfaced.

The sight of those words alone left Hebe dry-mouthed and breathing faster.

What am I waiting for? Bring it on already. I can’t wait any longer.

She tried clicking it, only to find a line of smaller text below the new Lostbelt.

[THE SIDE GATE LEADING TO THE LOSTBELT STILL REQUIRES TIME BEFORE IT CAN QUIETLY OPEN.]

[ESTIMATED WAIT TIME: 48 HOURS.]

“Gwah!” Hebe threw herself back in agony, clutching at her chest as she collapsed into her chair with a twisted expression.

How on earth was she supposed to survive these next forty-eight hours?

After that violent emotional whiplash, Hebe slumped there with a long face and kept reading the simulator’s update notice.

[FULL-ACCESS USER FUNCTIONS ADDED.]

[FUNCTION: FOUND A SOCIETY]
ACROSS DIFFERENT AGES AND PLACES, ESTABLISH SECRET SOCIETIES DEVOTED TO DIFFERENT BEINGS AND DIFFERENT DESIRES. RECRUIT THE CAPABLE, ELEVATE THEM INTO YOUR DISCIPLES, AND MAKE THEM YOUR STUDENTS, TOOLS, AND FOLLOWERS. AT ANY TIME, YOU MAY DESCEND INTO THEM THROUGH THE CORRESPONDING CARD.

[VISIT THE WASTELAND]
THE WASTELAND IS A WORLD THAT LIES ABOVE REALITY, REACHABLE ONLY THROUGH DREAMS AND RITUALS. NOW, INSTEAD OF LUCID DREAMING OR CUMBERSOME RITES, YOU MAY USE THIS METHOD TO EXPLORE THE WASTELAND DIRECTLY, QUICKLY, AND CONVENIENTLY.

[SECURITY PROTECTION]
TIRED OF ENDLESS DREAM ASSAULTS, DIVINATIONS, AND COUNTER-DIVINATIONS? NO PROBLEM. TURN ON THE ‘STARLIGHT’ FIREWALL WITH ONE CLICK, AND ENJOY A SECURITY EXPERIENCE BEYOND YOUR ERA!

[SUMMONING PROTOCOL]
A QUALIFIED SECRET SOCIETY CANNOT ALWAYS RELY ON APPRENTICES DOING EVERYTHING THEMSELVES. CAST SPIRITUALITY INTO THE WASTELAND TO RANDOMLY SUMMON DENIZENS FROM IT. THE RESULTS MAY NOT ALWAYS BE TO YOUR LIKING, BUT THE PROCESS IS GENUINELY ENTERTAINING.

[WHISPERS IN THE WOODS]
WHISPER INTO THE DARK WOODS AT THE OUTERMOST EDGE OF THE WASTELAND, AND TRADE ONE OF YOUR SECRETS AT RANDOM FOR ANOTHER. IT MAY BE KNOWLEDGE FROM A HIGHER EXISTENCE—OR MERELY MEANINGLESS BABBLE.

Hebe fell silent for a moment.

Not because any of it was hard to understand. Quite the opposite.

“Isn’t this just setting up group chats, surfing the web, a firewall, cyber fishing, and message bottles?” Hebe’s eye twitched slightly. “This simulator is a little too…”

In the end, she still failed to find the right word for it.

She tried opening the [Found a Society] function, and a new card appeared out of thin air on the dark green desktop.

[ACQUAINTANCE “MOSTIMA”]

[A COURIER. A WATCHMAKER. A SENIOR INSPECTOR IN THE SPECIAL PATROL BUREAU. AN APPRENTICE WHO HAS INHERITED GREAT GLORY IN HER BLOODLINE. CAN ALL OF THESE REALLY COEXIST IN THE SAME PERSON? BUT AT THE VERY LEAST, SHE HAS NEVER DENIED HER INTEREST IN TIME AND HISTORY.]
(YOU MAY BE ABLE TO RECRUIT THIS ACQUAINTANCE AS YOUR FOLLOWER.)

Against the deep violet background of the card was a portrait of Mostima smiling with narrowed eyes—yet somehow, even smiling, she gave off a distant feeling.

“A senior inspector in the Special Patrol Bureau?” Hebe froze.

She knew nothing about the bureau’s internal hierarchy, but even from the title alone, it was obvious that Mostima was no minor figure there.

So the watch shop Mostima ran on Church Street… might really just be a personal hobby?

“All right, all right,” Hebe muttered, moving the mouse and clicking on the card marked [Acquaintance “Mostima”].

“Even if I don’t recruit you, it’d still be good to see what’s going on—”

The moment Hebe clicked the card, a translucent window silently popped up, with an empty card slot in the center giving off a faint glow.

She dragged the card into the vacant slot.

At once, the entire desktop refreshed, and Hebe’s consciousness crossed a vast distance in a single instant.

When she opened her eyes again, her senses had already synchronized with Mostima’s.

Of course, Hebe also confirmed that she could switch the viewpoint to third person at any time.

This was a flat patch of land near a river. At its center stood a circular ritual ground built from piled broken stones.

They were standing right in the middle of it, and around them were already several dozen crude braziers, all unlit, as though some sort of ritual was about to begin.

A gentle male voice came from up ahead.

“Are you ready?”

…

“—Are you ready?” The silver-haired man in a priest’s robe turned around and asked his teammates.

Lemuen, with her long pale-pink hair and gentle bearing, raised an arm to show that she was fully prepared.

On the other side, Fiammetta—tall, wearing a work jacket, with hair as red as flame—let out a sigh and pulled a lighter from her jacket pocket, wrapping her fingers around it.

His gaze swept across the team before finally falling on Mostima’s slightly dazed face.

“Mostima, you don’t seem to be in the best condition. Do you need a bit more rest?” he asked with concern.

“No. Better to make haste,” Mostima answered, rubbing at her brow. “This is the best possible moment for the ritual.”

“She’s right, Mr. Andoain.” The man who had remained silent in the distance finally spoke. “We must hurry. The gate to the Frontier will not remain open forever.”

Andoain nodded. “Very well. Since Sir Bedivere has already made his judgment, we should delay no longer.”

“Lemuen and Fiammetta, please light the braziers around us. Then Mostima will invoke the power of the Ninth Consul, Skyflint, and forcibly break open the gate leading to the Frontier, Cape of Birds.”

Throughout all of this, Hebe remained silent.

Her gaze swept quickly over Mostima’s companions, then settled on the blurry figure in the distance.

That must be the current ‘Bedivere,’ Hebe thought.

Then she saw Andoain unhook the horn hanging at his waist, raise it to his lips, and blow a deep, far-carrying note.

The instant that low horn call rang out, Mostima’s voice rose out of nowhere.

It was sharp and high, forming a layered contrast with the horn’s low note. “I! Hereby invoke Skyflint!”

The words were keen and unbroken, like tightly meshed gears. Each syllable should have been impossible to make out clearly, and yet Hebe understood every bit of it.

“Lord of Great Deeds, Ender of Eternal Night, King Who Forged the Stars! He changes all things, accomplishes all things, destroys all things! Every order of the old world shall be shattered!”

As Mostima chanted, the flame on the torch in Fiammetta’s hand suddenly blazed far brighter, its temperature surging in an instant.

“His change shall come like dawn, impossible to delay! To Him, change is as longing and remembrance passionately pursued! Those who follow Him today shall tomorrow become flame, and that which cannot be burned within the flame is Great Deed!”

Fiammetta swung the torch, and the fire traced strange lines through the air, swaying violently without going out.

“With the secret history sealed in this place, with the countless tangled secrets here, I forge the key that opens the Frontier! The road I seek is the road to Cape of Birds. Holy is the great Skyflint!”

With a roar, Fiammetta hurled the torch straight toward the open space at the center of the ritual ground!

The flames swallowed the torch at once. They hung there in the air in eerie suspension, then spread with astonishing speed, carving bright, dazzling trails through the air.

“Quick! Get in! The gate’s open!”

Andoain took the lead without hesitation, charging straight through the ring of spreading fire. His figure vanished into the night at once.

The rest of the team followed him through the circle of flame in quick succession. Only the “Bedivere” standing deep in the shadows of the brush remained where he was, and then began issuing orders with calm precision.

He did not seem in the slightest worried for the safety of the Special Patrol Bureau team that had charged into the Frontier, Cape of Birds.

Fiammetta

andoian

leumen

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!