Realising she had gotten sidetracked in her thoughts. Delphina had been staring at the old book for a while now, and Medinador himself hadn't seemed to say anything.
"Apologies, Duke. I was just thinking about why Maria and Donovan changed over from the scrolls to the metal books."
But Medinador simply looked at her with affection, nodding at her statement, and moved on as if he understood what she had been thinking.
"This book, in particular, was a diary of sorts created by Maria to document their interactions with Heroes and Villains whilst they were hunting them. Now, I know you're smart enough to understand that the contents of this book can never be known outside of us two."
"The part that brings me concern is that a similar system to yours was mentioned to be created by a sect of Heroes who all believed themselves to be aligned with good. So they weren't the type of Heroes our Family was originally ordered to hunt. However, shortly after their interaction with Maria and Donovan, they disappeared. Alongside a large organisation of Villains."
"After listening to what you said earlier, you are correct in saying that skills are specifically inherited depending on the bloodline. But it seems the system in a diminished form has also been inherited, something that shouldn't be possible for all of the Nobles."
"Delphina, you have the assumption that your system is the 'original system'. And from what you've described to me, I have come to think you have somehow awakened the system created by that sect Maria met."
Medinador's confusion was apparent, but she wasn't sure what this had to do with his original concern of a system 'speaking' to her alone.
As he placed the book back down, he opened it part of the way through. Tracing his finger over the words engraved in the metal pages, clearly trying to find a specific word or passage.
"Here, Maria documented the sect's location and their technological prowess that was being used to raise their city to a better standard of living. The system was only given to direct members of their sect and not to those who lived in the city, however."
Slowly turning the page, Medinador kept his eyes down. Wholly focused on what he was reading.
"Maria mentions that the system was supposed to be used as a form of monitoring and strengthening for their disciples. I think that is a different term for protégé."
With this, it immediately clicked for Delphina. "Wow, so I was right with my guess about the Heavenly versus the Demonic realms. This is so classic 'a Heavenly sect elder creates something that ends up being detrimental for its disciples, but benefits them'".
Nodding to herself as her inner monologue ran on, "That means the elder was probably harnessing the energy created by the disciples using the system, or did the elder build them up then suddenly drain them dry once they reached a certain level of core formation?"
"Because of this, the sect split, and they fought amongst themselves. The latter were then dubbed Villains as they turned against the general populace of the city."
Delphina had once again missed important information due to her musing. However, she was convinced that Medinador had described something similar to what she was thinking, and so it didn't matter too much this time around.
"As such, the sect gifted Maria a new version of the system they swore would only work for her benefit, as payment for helping them. It was after this that both the Heroic sect and the Villainous organisation that had formed simply disappeared."
Medinador then closed the book completely. Brow furrowed slightly as he digested what he had just read.
"Did Maria go on to describe her newly gifted system at all, Duke?"
Nodding in response to her question, Medinador followed up by rearranging some of the opened scrolls and placed two of the ones he had partially opened directly in front of her, facing them in her direction so she could read them.
"It's only a brief mention in that particular book, but she mentioned that her system was based on an older design that the sect hasn't altered to suit their needs."
"Instead, from what I just read, Maria's system would be similar to these descriptions."
Looking down at the scrolls that had just been placed in front of her. Delphina didn't touch them, as Medinador would have unravelled them to the key points she was supposed to focus on.
And thus, the Brave Hero proclaimed he would tear thy miscreants asunder. For his Lord told him to do so. He who whispered secrets unknown into his ear, and led him to bring his chapter to thy dimension. He who shared his wisdom through skills unknown and imparted his knowledge through heavenly divination.
Well, the first scroll was certainly old, judging by the nomenclature. From what Delphina could tell, some mysterious being was known to communicate with this hero that only he could see. But that didn't mean it was a system; it could have been someone else quite literally using a skill to share knowledge.
It was said that the young Duchess was given the gift of a 'system' by some of the Heroes both she and the young Duke had come across. It has been likened to 'an invisible friend' who assists her in her times of need. Her Ladyship has also mentioned in passing to myself and the Lord's butler that this 'system' often gives her information it shouldn't be able to know. This has made the Hunters somewhat happy as hunting the Villains and the Vain Heroes has become easier.
"Ah, I see." Delphina mused to herself as she leant back into the armchair. This was why Medinador had brought forward these two scroll parts specifically. There had to be a link between how Maria seemed to describe the system in passing versus that older depiction of a Hero who seems to have somehow had a system.
"So from these passages, it seems that the sect had the same system as this older Hero, and then passed it on to Maria. They must have created their corrupted version based on it."
Medinador stopped looking through the different scrolls still arranged on the desk as Delphina said this.
"What makes you think that?"
Tilting her head at him, Delphina continued, "Well, in the part of the older scroll, there is a passage specifically mentioning 'He who whispered secrets unknown into his ear, and led him to bring his chapter to thy dimension'."
"What is this chapter? Chapters are usually parts of knightly or religious orders. Doesn't it sound similar to the Heroic sect already? Especially when it comes to the sharing of wisdom, the sect was actively helping out commoners in the city they eventually settled in."
"Regardless of the corruption that happened later, they were very set on eradicating villainy or 'miscreants'. So if the sect was originally a chapter, it would make sense. Their progenitor in this World brought them here and had a system. Very likely, he would have given it to them upon his death so they could make use of it."
"Well, it eventually ended up in Maria's hands before they ended up disappearing. So it's likely the disappearance was deliberate, and they knew of this ahead of time. But left the system behind in this World for some unknown reason. Maybe the system had to stay here? I'm not sure."