Goddess's Manuscript (II)

Goddess's Manuscript (II) is a Quest Item obtained during the Event World Quest Narration Footnotes in Summertide Scales and Tales.

Text[]

...
Wise Antonio, in the basement
of the crumbling house,
began reading the ancient book
he had found. His oil
lamp shook from time to time
as the swaying structure above-ground
collapsed.
The village was to be symbolically razed
by the dragon, and he
had been chosen by the dragon,
for he had not returned home. But
Antonio did not care.
He only wished to study
the book the old lady had given him
on the bridge he passed today.
This book was titled the
"Radiant▉C▉arter," and within
was re▉or▉▉d all the rules that
every bei▉▉▉in Simulanka
must follow. It was written in the language
of world's creation at the very start,
and if Antonio was not possessed of
extraordinary wisdom, and deciphered this
primordial text, there would have been
no study to be had.
This book recorded no solutions
as to resolving the difficulty
that Constellation Satellite
presently faced, nor did it contain
any hexes that could aid
Antonio in repairing his own home.
But he knew
that wisdom was the mightiest thing
in the world.
The morning light shone through
the ruins of his home, and the neighboring
blacksmith and chubby chief took
great pains to get rid of the house's
wreckage, which blocked the basement hatch.
With dark circles about his eyes,
Antonio said to the chubby chief:
"I shall defeat the dragon.
I will return soon."
"Are you sure you're alright?
You don't look like you got any sleep."
"Just smoke from the oil lamp.
Don't worry about it."
...
The dragon sat atop a mountain
of treasures, gazing down
at insignificant little Antonio walking
closer. Flames gathered
in its throat, preparing to burn
the area one centimeter before him,
all the better to scare this puny,
foolish creature away.
"Halt! I'm a qualified 2nd-class Meister!
The 'Radiant Charter' states that
should I refuse a duel, you cannot
use force."
This restriction did indeed exist,
and so the wicked dragon
swallowed its flames whole — ah, how it
dreaded going to the toilet tomorrow.
Antonio, for his part, had not expected
that the 2nd-class
rust-clearing Meister qualification exam he
had taken on a lark would come in useful.
"And since I am a 2nd-class
Meister, I propose
a duel of riddles. You cannot refuse!"
Now, Simulanka had just such a law, mainly
for the benefit of sphinxes, old sages, and
princesses who wished to make life hard for
others. The evil dragon had not expected
this rule to catch up with it.
"I shall ask the first question:
My house sold for 8,000 Mora yesterday
But I thought there was room
to raise the price, so I
bought it back for 9,000,
planning to sell it for 10,000.
How much Mora did I lose in the end?"
The dragon laughed in contempt.
"What's so hard about that?
You could have waited until
it hit 10,000 to make your move,
But you sold for 8,
and bought for 9, so you
lost 1,000 Mora, that you
could have earned instead!"
"Wrong. You burned my house
down yesterday, and I couldn't
sell it in time, so I've lost far more."
"S—Sorry. I mean,
I do have to burn a house, and you
happened not to be home,
so I might as well hit one that doesn't
result in any loss of life."
"Now that you've lost this
contest, I have the right
to loot of the same value
as your life, minus 1 Mora.
And considering that
you've burned my house, I can
seek damages. Let's assume that
my house is worth just 1 Mora...
Well, then, wicked dragon,
you know what to do with yourself."
"P—Please spare me. I'll give you
anything!"
"Your words, not mine," Antonio said
as he pulled out a contract
he had written long ago.
...
Thus did Antonio use his
wisdom to take all the evil
dragon's treasures.
The dragon, devastated, would never
again return to attack
Constellation Satellite,
where Antonio lived.
Many years later, a child asked Antonio:
"You sold your place for 8,000
and spent 9,000 buying it back,
so it looks like you actually
did lose 1,000 Mora?"

A.A.

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