Terra Nova Online: Rise of The Strongest Player

Chapter 312: Dilemma

“Our estimate is that the demons have come across a human that can speak ‘Demon Tongue’ and that he is now teaching the demons the method to read our maps…

This is a cause of major concern for us, because historically, it’s only the unorganized nature of the demon army that has given us humans the edge against them in warfare.

If the demons become organized and learn how to use terrain to their advantage, then I fear for the future security of the Unity Empire” Nysa said, as her words caused everyone present inside the room to shudder.

“Hmmm, this is indeed a cause for great worry…” Julien said, as he finally understood the reason behind the emergency meeting.

“Historically, Demons have indeed been our biggest challenge.

In the demon society, it’s only might that makes right and hence only the strongest demons ever survive to adulthood.

Compared to the human army, the demons are much more tenacious and blood thirsty by nature and it’s harder for us to intimidate them, since they have all experienced the roughest of climates ever since they were born.

The only reason behind us being able to beat back the demons during the first great war was because of the First Emperor who was a Grandmaster level fighter.

And the reason behind us being able to hold on-to our lands is because of the chain of fortresses that we have constructed towards the northern border of our Empire, turning it to the most secure frontier of them all.

For years we have believed that the demons do not understand how to read maps, which makes it difficult for them to traverse through the Eastern Forest and the Western Desert, however, if the estimate of the Information Chief turns out to be correct, and the demons do indeed learn how to read maps, it will prove to be challenging for us to hold them out of our lands” Commander Thalion said, as he expressed his view on this situation.

“But is it even possible? Can a human even learn how to speak Demon Tongue or can a Demon even learn how to speak our language fluently?” Julien asked, as all eyes turned towards the Master Mage Zephyr at this moment.

It was a known fact within the Empire that the fanatics at the Mage Association often tried to study the forbidden magic of the demons and that there were some fanatics within his organization who had spent years trying to learn how to speak ‘Demon Tongue’.

Hence, when the Emperor posed the question of whether or not it was possible for humans to learn demon tongue, all eyes naturally turned towards the master mage.

“The problem with Demon Tongue, is that it’s a visual language and not purely an audible language.

You and I can understand the words coming out of my mouth even with our eyes closed, however, the demons cannot.

The same sound can have different meanings depending on the gesture that accompanies it.

For example, the word ‘Hu’ can mean ‘death’ , it can mean ‘kill’ and it can also mean ‘dying’.

So based on the context and the gesture accompanying, the sentence expressed by the demons can change from

The enemy is dying.

The enemy is dead.

Or

Kill the enemy.

This makes the demon language especially difficult to learn, as the available material to learn their language is far and few, while there exists no official written records of the precise tongue that they speak.

So for a human to perfectly learn Demon Tongue, I say it’s a feat that’s next to impossible, as unless they were brought up as a demon since they were a baby, they won’t understand demon tongue at all.

However, if they were brought up as a demon since they were a baby, then they would not know how to speak the human tongue either… or learn how to read our maps, so for me the situation that the information head is proposing is a little hard to believe” Master Mage Zephyr said, as he expressed his disbelief in Nysa’s theory.

“With all due respect to Master Mage Zephyr and his expertise, how does he explain the sudden understanding of our ways by the demons then? Because for generations prior to today, they showed no comprehension, yet now they seem to have made significant strides in decoding our methods within a short timespan” Nysa protested, posing a challenging question that made the master mage frown.

“I do not know…. And I do not think that it matters how the demons have become more intelligent.

I think that the more important question that we should all focus on right now is what are we going to do about this new and more intelligent enemy…. And how are we going to defend our borders against them?” Zephyr said, as he flipped the question asked to him to a question for the wider council.

For a while, the room was enveloped in pin-drop silence which was eventually broken by the up-start prince Nathan.

“Father, may I?” Nathan said, raising his hand quite anxiously, as all eyes immediately turned towards the young boy.

“I have allowed you to sit…. But I haven’t allowed you to speak, boy.

This is not a stage where you can express your views.

You are yet to earn that right” Julien said, as he refused Nathan his chance to speak, shutting him down in front of all the high ranking government officers.

Shrugging back sheepishly, Nathan receded his hand as his head turned beet red.

He was embarrassed at being scolded, however, he wasn’t deterred.

Him being able to sit inside this meeting was already a big bonus for him, as he had half expected to be kicked out before the meeting even started by his father.

‘I shouldn’t have pushed my luck too far–’ Nathan thought, as he regretted his decision to raise his hand in this council, when the masters were sitting back silently.