Kevin was curious about the credibility of the legend about an ancient magical civilization destroyed by the goddess's wrath. He always believed that legends weren't groundless. Even if they were distorted by later generations, myths should have a verifiable basis. Even if the ancients fabricated them, they needed inspiration, right? Earth's myths and legends may seem so mysterious today, but weren't there real aliens behind them? Vivian knew Odin...
So, he suspected the existence of an ancient civilization in this dream plane was real. These talking wolves, which seriously violated the theory of evolution, were probably related to the biological modification experiments of that time. However, the question of "the goddess's wrath destroyed the world" remained unanswered.
He wondered if this ancient civilization would be of any help in uncovering the mysteries of the dream plane. Kevin discussed the current intelligence in his head with his data terminal; it was quick and would be invisible. "I remember Raven 12345 saying that the Dream Plane and the real world evolve synchronously, meaning that history here is also linear, and time flows at the same rate as on Earth. There was a major catastrophe here between a few thousand and ten thousand years ago. If we can find some traces of it at the corresponding time on Earth, we can probably determine some mapping relationship between the Dream Plane and the real world."
"Major events on Earth ten thousand years ago?" The data terminal flipped through its database. "Humans were walking upright, werewolves and vampires were fighting, Odin's second cousin ran off with a cripple, a witcher named Caesar stewed Fenrir's brother-in-law, a small meteorite struck near the equator and years later became a source of iron for the local primitive tribes... Well, the rest is more trivial, not worth mentioning."
Kevin: "...What kind of nonsense is in your database?" "This machine doesn't know. Commander Raven entered this machine's database. How would this machine know where she downloaded these pirated materials?" the data terminal shoved it clean. "So you're crazy to discuss this kind of historical event with this machine."
Kevin: "...I'd better wait until I get back and ask Vivian. See if anything major happened on Earth back then."
"Are you so sure that the major events that happened in the Dream Plane ten thousand years ago will be reflected on Earth?" The data terminal was curious about Kevin's perceptiveness and confidence this time. "You're usually a pretty slow-witted guy."
"It's just a hunch," Kevin replied internally. "Raven 12345 said there's a mapping between the Dream Plane and the real world, but I still haven't grasped the connection. The biggest event to happen here in the past ten thousand years would have been the fall of an ancient civilization. If such a major event didn't affect Earth... then I misunderstood from the beginning and didn't understand what Raven 12345 meant."
The data terminal thought for a moment. Feeling it wasn't within his scope of responsibility, he said, "This machine is just a PDA," and went into hibernation. Becky stared at the wolf king for a moment, then nudged Kevin's arm with the hilt of her sword. "Would you like to leave? Or do you want to catch up with your wolf friends? I think you can find a human town with them leading the way."
"I'm not going to a human town," the wolf king said, taking two steps back. "You guys eat everything. What if you stew me?"
Kevin gave Becky a look of "Look, that's what it is." "Well, you saw it, and you still need to take me for a ride."
As he spoke, Kevin's attention suddenly fell on the large bag Becky was carrying. "Speaking of which... uh... herbs, I'm partly responsible for that, right?" "Oh yeah, I'd forgotten if you hadn't mentioned that!" Becky suddenly realized, grabbed her pocket, and was about to share some with Kevin. "Mercenaries believe in fair trade, so I'll give you half. But your fighting style is truly unique. This is the first time I've ever seen a melee mage. Did you really break your brain?"
Kevin didn't bother correcting the girl's stubborn misunderstanding. He simply waved his hand vigorously. "I'm not interested in these bone plates. I'm just trying to make a deal. How about using my share of the spoils as a reward for leading the way? Well... uh. I actually have a use for the music box."
Kevin had a good idea. The data terminal would eventually return on its own. He'd been tricking the girl by using it to lure her in. Initially, he had no other choice. But now, he could repay the favor with a bunch of bone plates he had no interest in, which would ease Kevin's conscience a little. However, Becky's stubborn temper wouldn't give Kevin the chance: "No! I want your music box!"
Kevin: "...Think about it. This thing has no other use besides playing songs. Your half-bag of bone plates is worth much more than a music box."
"Who said your music box can fly!" Becky was quite stubborn. "Girls like beautiful things. That's unreasonable!"
The wolf king suddenly said quietly, "You guys keep chatting. I'm taking the cubs hunting somewhere else. Seeing you haggling over wolf cuts feels strange..."
"Don't you always consider these clueless creatures your own?" Kevin was surprised the wolf king cared about this. If he had known, he would have taken Becky out of the way. "Besides, your own men have killed more wolves than Becky has."
"It can't be helped. They look too similar. You'd be sick to your stomach if you saw a wolf pack devouring a human," the wolf king muttered. Then he turned and howled to call his pack. He said goodbye to Kevin and scurried off into the distance. "An interesting species," the data terminal commented in Kevin's mind. "Caught between beast and man, possessing two ideologies simultaneously, using human wisdom to consider life as a wolf. It must have felt incredibly awkward watching you two haggling just now."
"I was inconsiderate," Kevin apologized. "It's mainly because it spoke so fluently that I almost forgot it was a wolf."
"Living with monster girls for so long is like that."
Kevin: "..."
Finally, Becky still stubbornly demanded Kevin's music box and, without further ado, stuffed half a bag of bone fragments into her hands. Kevin realized he had little power over the woman's thought process, so he gave up.
If we meet again in the dream plane, I'll bring her a real music box...
Thus, the two strange companions set out on their journey once more. Everything went smoothly for them (I wonder if the wolf king, leading his pack, helped them clear out the surrounding beasts, but Kevin thought he saw a few black wolves in the distance as they passed over a few grassy hills). Soon, Kevin could vaguely see the outline of a town in the distance. "That's the town of Rembert," Becky pointed with her whip at the faint outline of a city wall emerging from the undulating sea of grass in the distance. "Don't be fooled by it being just a town, it's quite large. Look, there's even a city wall!"
As the two of them drew closer, Kevin could get a clearer look at this "town of Rembert." He saw a grayish-white wall surrounding it. The material didn't look like rock, perhaps some kind of man-made material. Towers and sentry posts could be seen on the wall, perhaps to protect against herds of beasts on the grassland or some other enemy. Because he was descending a slightly elevated mound, Kevin could still see inside the wall. He saw the town's buildings were neatly arranged, mostly two stories high and with sloping roofs. The houses were square, with roofs sloping southeastward, a typical local architectural feature. The taller buildings were mostly located in the center. One of them, with its spire and stained glass, caught his eye, but now seemed not the time to ask questions, so he didn't.
The town looked close, but that was due to the wide view across the prairie. Actually, it took quite a while to get there. When they finally reached the town entrance, Kevin suddenly heard a notification from his data terminal: "Attention, you're about to wake up."
"Give it a while. Have Y'zaks and Nangong Wuyue wait. I'm trying to close my eyes." Kevin said, feeling his senses dwindle. It was as if the connection between this body and the dream plane was becoming unstable. This was the first time he noticed this detail.
"We're here," Becky pulled Kevin off the horse. "Would you like me to show you around?"
"Um, I'll try, I'll try," Kevin mumbled, his voice distorted. He saw Becky greeting the guards at the town entrance with familiarity. A young man passing by looked at him, a stranger in strange attire, with curiosity. In this situation, Kevin could only strain his eyes, trying to gather as much useful information as possible before escaping the dream plane. He could already faintly hear the crashing of waves, and Nangong Wuyue seemed to be singing some strange ballad. His vision slowly wavered, blurring...
In the final moments, he turned and saw a decorative pattern on the wall of a house beside the road. It looked strikingly familiar.
It was the Leta rune.
Becky heard a few exclamations from passersby behind her. Turning to look, she found that the strange magician who had followed her was gone, and only half the bag of black wolf bone plates she had given him lay on the ground.
"That's impossible! He'd teleport away just for a music box?" Becky was stunned. "I didn't force him... Sure enough, he must have damaged his brain when he fell."