Medinador was concentrating wholeheartedly on Delphina as she spoke, despite listening intently, it could be seen from his eyes that he seemed vaguely distracted, as if he too was deep in thought at her statements.
"To be perfectly honest, Delphina, I only gave you those two scrolls as I remembered that one mentioned the term 'system' and the other had a similar description. I didn't link the two as you have mentioned."
Delphina slowly closed her eyes as she heard what Medinador had to say. Perhaps she had looked into it too much, but there had to be a link between the two, especially now that she had said it out loud. It was almost too obvious a pairing to her, but Medinador didn't notice anything?
"Well, sometimes a third-party perspective on old information is needed," she thought. Opening her eyes once again, she was settled to defend her point if necessary. Only to find that Medinador was reaching for her face.
"I'm so glad you're such a smart cookie, sweetheart. I won't have to worry about the Family being in your hands as we go forward."
As he said this, he gently cupped both of Delphina's cheeks and gave them a gentle squeeze. Making her look something like a goldfish as her lips pouted out and her cheeks puffed up.
Needless to say, Delphina was crossing the boundary between stunned and mortified the longer he squished her cheeks up and down. She had to remind herself she was still viewed as a teen in this World and this kind of behaviour was probably normal. Probably… Maybe…
"Ahem, sho Fathr can you schtop ples".
Gently pulling his hands back, Medinador stopped leaning over the desk and sat fully back into his chair, similar to Delphina.
"I think what you've said seems to be very likely. But it does beg the question as to where this Hero got the system from in the first place…"
Putting her head down so she could subtly massage her cheeks, Delphina thought for a moment before putting forward her opinion.
"What about the Gods?"
Now it was Medinador's turn to tilt his head.
"What do you mean? I know your theology lessons were almost a decade ago, but you shouldn't have forgotten the basics."
This prompted Delphina to take a deep breath and shake her head.
"No, I meant that maybe a God gave him the system, there's even part of the passage that states 'For his Lord told him to do so'. And since no Noble Lord was telling him what to do… Isn't Lord also a term used for a Deity? Usually Male?"
As Delphina spoke, Medinador had leant forward and was rifling through some drawers in the desk that weren't visible to her.
"A lot of Heroes and even Villains stated that they were the 'Chosen One', so you may have a point, Delphina. If a God had chosen that Hero and communicated with him by a means such as that system. That would make sense."
"The system also not being able to leave this World would make sense. If it was created here, it likely can't leave without the God intervening again. Which the Gods can't right now."
"The Gods can't intervene right now?" Thinking of the potential origins of No.69, and her own transmigration, Delphina wasn't too sure about that particular sentiment. As she was pondering this, Medinador finally brought forth two small, square, sealed tins that he had been looking for. Placing them in the only free space left on the desk.
"Before I forget, here is the Calendar you were asking for earlier. One for yourself and one for your brother."
Raising an eyebrow, Delphina wondered at how these dinky pewter-looking boxes were supposed to be calendars. But it could wait for now; she wanted to wrap this conversation up sooner rather than later.
"Thank you, Duke. I think I agree with you in saying I've inherited Maria's system. But what if it does happen to be some ancient God-made creation?"
Withdrawing his hands from the calendars, Medinador sighed and sat back once again.
"Truthfully, Delphina, I don't think there's any point in talking about this further. We don't know enough. I will keep looking through the records as your Father. But as the Duke, I expect you to be testing that 'system' of yours and giving me reports back. Especially after the Imperial National Ball."
"If something changes, you need to let me know immediately. Do you understand?"
Sitting up straight in her armchair, she replied affirmatively.
"It is concerning that almost all nobility has had a system for the past 700 or so years, whilst yours is different. It's something I will have to personally discuss with the Emperor whilst we are in the Capital."
"I will speak to him on your behalf. You may be my heir-apparent, but a child like yourself isn't ready for the level of interrogation that might occur."
Okay, really now, even the Emperor would have to be notified? Delphina originally thought this would be a difficult, but one-and-done situation. Not a hey- just to let you know the country's governing leader is going to have to get involved too.
So much for keeping it in the family.
"Ah, I see. I was hoping to avoid that until we knew more, but… I guess there's not exactly another choice?"
Medinador looked visibly conflicted and uncomfortable to hear Delphina's opinion. Shifting uneasily in his seat, he explained himself. It was his duty as the Duke to inform the Emperor of such matters, and quite frankly, he had more jurisdiction than the Emperor did. So Delphina would never be in any danger.
"But I have to notify the Emperor of these findings, and those in the future. Highlighting the differences between your system and the other Nobles means we can keep a better eye as Hunters on any potential troublemakers…"
Delphina interrupted Medinador concernedly.
"Duke, would you not get in trouble for having withheld past information? We could just keep it hidden and leave the information with the Hunters, if you're worried about safety."
This caused Medinador to pause slightly before continuing.
"When I said we can keep a better eye on potential troublemakers, Delphina. Do you think that anyone who awakens a system similar to yours will react to the Past Liver detection devices?"
Delphina paled as she realised the information she had unwittingly overlooked. She thought picking the system as her red herring would have been the easiest to get away with. Instead, it had opened up an entire continent's worth of worms.
Then she began to calm down as she realised she was overthinking. Or more precisely, Medinador was overthinking. She didn't yet understand the cultural hatred for Past Livers, after all, she wasn't fully integrated with this World.
Delphina only awakened a system because of her transmigration, but had explained it away as being due to Delphina's insane hard work and, quite frankly, great genetic chances. Though Medinador had essentially come to that conclusion and confirmed it in his own way.
This meant the likelihood of someone else having the same thing happen was essentially nonexistent. Only if they didn't include other potential transmigrators, though. She'd have to ask No.69 what the chances were in regards to that.