58 replies to this topic

[Mizura]

Well now! We're finally getting to one of the core mysteries of what the characters are up to, starting with Asha.

1. Timeline

We currently don't know the exact time of the murder trials, but we have the following dates:

• Asha's magic exam date: she took this around the 35th day of the 12th month of N11 (see date on Saha On's letter). So, close to N12, and she was denied access to the human search system soon after. We know that she was active for about a year after this, before disappearing for 3 years. So, disappearance around the start of N13.
• The dates Saha On entered into the human search system: he first entered the beginning of N11, then N13. Between N11 and N13, the number of searches went down from 35 to 19, so 16 deaths.

There are a few main possibilities I've considered:

Scenario 1:

• Both the 29 murders and the trial occurred before N11. Saha On later denied Asha access to the human search system because of her record.
• In fact, Asha had killed all the targets she could find on her own, and needed the human search system to find the remaining targets. Lacking access, she enlisted the help of another AA magician around the start of N12, and killed off more targets for the year after that. Thus, Saha On was able to deduce that she had gained the aid of an AA magician since then.

(if the murders and trials occurred before N11 and N13, Saha On would not be able to deduce that there was an accomplice, since Asha could have found all the victims on her own before being denied access to the human search system. He skipped N12 so...)

I used to think that this was what happened, but I've since realized that there are other possibilities.

Scenario 2.1 and 2.2:

• The murders started earlier and lasted until N13, and the trials were held near N13 (right before she disappeared).
• OR the murders all occurred between N12 and N13.
• In both cases, Asha disappeared for 3 years right after the trials

The first scenario implies that Asha was first able to find a bunch of victims on her own, while the second implies that she relied on an accomplice to find All of the targets. Both are possible.

In fact, she could have taken the exams at Rindhallow instead of Eloth for the following reasons:

• She murdered all the targets she could find around Eloth already (she may have stayed long enough to find targets on her own, since she was studying there), and moved on to Rindhallow. She needed a magic license, so she made a stop to take the exams. It'd make sense for her to not have killed many victims outside of Eloth by then, since she was studying (and I doubt she'd be liked by her teachers as much if she was skipping class)
• She didn't want to take the exams at Eloth for whatever reason. Maybe she wanted to hide her true Divine Affinity. Maybe she knew that she'd not be allowed to take the barrier exams there, or that Saha would deny her the AA rank, and tried her luck at Rindhallow. Maybe she was just avoiding all the annoying people hoping to take the exams with her.
• -Maybe- she was meeting up with an accomplice, in case she couldn't access the human search system herself. We later see Laila talking to Lorraine, so Lorraine was in Rindhallow... Hmm.

One would have thought that she changed her style right after meeting Brilith right before N12, but then again, she was active for a year, but everybody was surprised by her new style in her current timeline (Riche didn't recognize her at all). So, she could have kept her old style for a year after meeting Brilith. Another thing that supports the trial being held in N13 is Rana's attitude. She shared news of Asha's graduation with Ran, but we didn't hear any mention of a murder trial from her. I dunno, Ran should have at least figured something from Rana's attitude if she read news of the trials (though the trials could have been completely private).

2. Murder counts and location

In Saha's investigation, the number of dots decreased from 35 to 19 between N11 and N13, so... 16 deaths. That's less than Asha's 35 murder records, and less than the 21 Known to be using an alias. Either Asha started earlier than N11 and those cases were then found, or she had to kill a few extras (guardians and such), or she got a few targets wrong. She missed some targets in some locations, after all, so it wasn't perfect for her.


I've highlighted in red the targets that seem to have died in-between.

Of the 16 dead, 12 seemed to occur around Eloth, Rindhallow and Atera (there could be an extra one in Eloth, but it's unclear). This means only 4 more targets could have been killed in Mistyshore, Kalibloom or Aeroplateau combined (though she could have killed more later on). Some victims could have moved around, but all of Saha's searches probably used the same date, so the targets should all be in the same location (at home or at work, depending on time zone). Since none of the targets were properly registered with cities, they were probably all hiding in a same location and weren't free to run around.

Compare this to what the Sura have been doing, by the way:

• Ch. 6: a village was destroyed near Kalibloom, then one near Rindhallow, finally settlements near Eloth (4 were targeted, but maybe they didn't know which one was the exact one, it doesn't necessarily mean there were 4 targets)
• Ch. 29: Gandharva notes that he's been working hard, and only Atera, Eloth and Rindhallow are left.

Basically, after Asha disappeared, she must have gone after the more hidden targets Outside the cities, and to avoid detection, she avoided the big cities entirely, where her ID could be traced at the entrance (in theory, she could still be traced with the human search system. In practice, the human search system can only be used by each AA once a year, so I doubt even Saha could waste those few uses on keeping an eye on Asha personally). Thus, she must have stopped killing targets within cities.

A few things to note:

• If Asha really couldn't target victims within cities after N13, then there's the question of the targets in Mistyshore (1), Kalibloom (2) and Aeroplateau (1). Those could have been the 4 victims not accounted for besides those in Atera, Eloth and Rindhallow, but I find it hard to believe that she just killed the one target within cities and ignored the other ones nearby.
• Strangely enough, Gandharva and Sagara didn't mention Kalibloom, Mistyshore or Aeroplateau. Sagara decided to attack Kalibloom, but she was targeting God Kubera's items. So either those 4 people died some other time, or they moved and were killed elsewhere, or they weren't targeted in the first place, or the Sura just didn't bother to name them (this is also possible, like how we later learned that there were more causes to Gandharva's weakening, or to his unstable state).
• Asha picking up Leez: did she Just kill the other remaining target outside Atera?

On the victims' identities:

• I counted all 35 dots in Saha's first search, so there are no 'overlapping dots'. Thus, Leez' friend Kaz is probably not an extra dot.
• Agni noted to Brilith in ch. 84 that 5 people in Atera are called Agni.

We don't know by which criteria Saha made the search, but it likely didn't include the names of All the Gods (since Agni's must have been left out), though there's still the possibility of names other than Kubera (could just be Kubera though).

3. Accomplices

There are 3 possibilities for AAs: Claude, Lorraine and Laila. Of these:

• Claude only seems to have met Asha recently. Asha hates his guts so... I'm more inclined to suspect that he later investigated her, and started cleaning up her trail once he realized what she was up to.
• Laila seems to actually responsibly spend her time defending her city in Rindhallow.
• That leaves Lorraine as the most likely suspect, especially since Riche also listed her among those to whom Saha shouldn't divulge information.

There is then the question of whether she is doing this while working with God Kubera, or was actually in a race Against him. If she was working with him, then God Kubera would have basically located the targets thanks to her and her accomplice(s).

4. Motive

I've already theorized on the possible motive in my structure essay: Appendix B.12
http://vatoto.com/forums/topic/18622-essay-kuberas-massively-multi-layered-mysterydrama-structure/

Basically, it appears that there are multiple targets with the Power of the Name. Killing them causes an increase in power in the survivors. Asha planned to kill off a bunch, strengthen the survivor and use said survivor as pawn. She must have chosen Leez because she was the daughter of Rao Leez, whom she owes, and whom she Probably thought lived up to her father (boy did she get a nasty surprise).

5. More theories

Here are some theories (no certainty, just theories for now):

• Asha never went inside Mistyshore, thus why neither Rana nor Ran were able to meet her. She could have killed all the targets Outside it during her 3-years absence though.
• Ran may be the name holder in Mistyshore. He doesn't even realize this.
• Asha didn't necessarily insist on just one survivor, and may have decided to leave Ran among the survivors. She actually picked him up on purpose (and was mad because yet another one of her choices turned out to be a complete brat. Even Leez was surprised by how angry she was). Lutz knows Asha's choice, and supports Asha because of this. This is also why Asha makes sure Ran doesn't die.
• Lorraine, on the other hand, may be helping Asha because Asha will make the daughter of Rao Leez into one of the survivors. Lorraine is a fighter otaku, so she may have approved increasing the survival odds of Rao's daughter.
• Claude may have thought that Asha was just making as strong a hand as possible. He didn't realize that Asha intended for Leez to be among the survivors no matter what.
• The Power of the Name may affect different people in different ways. In Leez' case, the death of other name holders means a sudden increase in strength. However, in Ran's case, he experienced a surge in transcendental value (so the value measured by Riche's machine was actually his). He doesn't realize this at all, since Rana made him not use transcendentals.
• Perhaps Asha is the sole survivor of such purges on Carte, and in her case, she got a surge in Divine Affinity? (she also has increased strength, dunno about transcendental value). In this case, Ananta may have really been referring to Asha when he talked about the 'poor thing' who would 'lose again'. Even though Asha survived, she still failed... whatever her goal was on Carte.

If God Kubera is also involved, by the way, he could have agreed to let certain targets live, which is why some locations may not have been targeted.

In any case, it was really weird for Leez' mom to refer to Asha as a friend in Leez' dream. D:

Lessee... what did I miss...

[rak n' roll]

The Ch. 6 numbers are only tracking "red sky" incidents.  I suspect Gandharva wouldn't even need to rely on Maruna's unique and easily tracked transcendental to eliminate persons living nearby Mistyshore's ocean.

 

More likely, he could arrange for lesser sura to do that work and make it appear "natural" in order to escape notice longer.

Another thing of note -- the terms of Laila's permission included Asha not only escorting Brilith to Eloth to get the Staff of Agni, but also bringing her back to Atera, before use of the Human Search System would be allowed.

 

Since Saha On focused on the lost dots in the general vicinity of those three noted cities, it's likely that Asha traveled deliberately with Brilith to gain information (rather than making the best time), but "followed up" on that info only once Brilith was safely back home.

 

My best guess would be that Asha only went off-the-grid once she was finally denied use of the HSS, and that she spent the whole year of N12 escorting Brilith around, and then heading back to Eloth.

Then again, there's always simple math to consider.

 

29 = Asha's "accidents" 

+6 = Red sky incidents

35 = N11 HSS targets 

[popabogdan]

Btw, what do you guys think, did Saha manage to see what was left in N16(Most probably only one lovely dot inside Kalibloom XD)?

Edited by popabogdan, 05 June 2014 - 08:35 PM.

[Mizura]

rak n' roll: ooh, good one about Mistyshore! Gandharva could have directed the Gandharva Sura to drown a few villages.

And yes, come to think of it, it's interesting how Laila forced Asha to accompany Brilith. I wonder what reason she could have?

 

I don't think Asha traveled with Brilith in a way to gain information though. Asha thought she'd get access to the human search system, Finally. So in theory, she shouldn't need to delay her trip any further. I wonder if the higher murder count than what Saha found is due to:

- Asha starting earlier, but killing several wrong targets because of her limited information

- or Saha limiting the search too much, so some groups weren't accounted for (for example, he only looked for one name of a God, and missed a few others that could have been targetted as well)

- or Asha had to get rid of guardians and such

 

Well, we'll see.

 

popabogdan: I suspect he did. I think he must have seen a bunch of dots. We'll only get confirmation later.

[Mizura]

Hey... I just realized I made a mistake. Lorraine Was in Eloth back then. Laila was probably talking about Saha when she spoke about permission, but Lorraine was in Eloth as well, attending the magician fashion Bonanza (see flag in ch. 26). After that, she had to escort Brilith back to Atera. (wait, I just realized that Lorraine was even shown in the bonus chapter in the book 3. OMG WHEN CAN I GET AN ENGLISH VERSION?!)

So I think This is the simplified version of what happened:

• After graduating from Eloth University, Asha decided to get an AA rank at Rindhallow. Why Rindhallow? There are multiple reasons. Maybe she wanted to hide her Divine Affinity, and knew that Rindhallow had an inferior system. Maybe she was avoiding all her annoying fans. Or Maybe, it's because the exams in each city is held during the month of one of the Temples. The exams in Rindhallow were held in the 12th month, i.e. the month of Death. According to Currygom's blog, the exams in Mistyshore are held in August, the month of Varuna. This means that the exams in Eloth are likely held in either April (month of Brahma) or June (month of Surya). Asha didn't want to wait that long, so she headed over to Rindhallow.
• After her exams in Rindhallow, she took Brilith along to Eloth. While back in Eloth, however, she was denied access to the human search system anyway, because Saha On is one of those guys who stick to the rules no matter what. Lorraine happened to be in town because of the fashion bonanza, so Asha approached Lorraine and got information on the targets. What we Don't know, for now, is whether Lorraine was a knowing accomplice or not. Asha may have told her part of the truth though, else Lorraine could have easily ratted her out.
• Asha then proceeded to kill all the targets she could reach in Eloth. Then she started escorting Brilith back.
• Rindhallow is probably on the way, Eloth seems to be on the same side as Mistyshore after all. So Asha then eliminated targets in Rindhallow. She lacked time though, so she only managed to kill two.
• Finally, Asha took Brilith back to Atera, and then killed targets around Atera.

This may have gone on for a while (she could have gone and killed the 4 targets right outside Mistyshore, for example), but Asha was eventually caught (she wasn't caught immediately because she was traveling, so it was harder to trace her, plus there were probably investigation delays). To avoid the investigations, Asha then stopped going to cities entirely (because she could be tracked at the gates), and spent 3 years concentrating on targets Outside the cities. This would have made her much harder to track.

The above is the most simple, elegant explanation I can give to the murders and their distribution.

But this means Brilith was with Asha all this time, while Asha was committing the murders. O,O This seems coherent with Currygom's style though, because Brilith can thus provide a point of view of what happened back then. We've also seen during Sagara's attack that although Brilith cares about individual human lives, she is willing to give up on a few if it means protecting a larger number of people. Obviously, Brilith doesn't know the details of what Asha is up to, but she may know that something is going on because of her arm.

There are several possible variations to this:

• Asha could have first killed all the targets she could find in Eloth before going to Rindhallow, and killing a few targets she found there. After taking Brilith to Eloth, she killed targets without Brilith knowing, then escorted her directly to Atera, where she killed additional targets after they left one another.
• Or she could have escorted Brilith to Atera first, then killed targets in Atera, then went back to Rindhallow then Eloth.

Different orders are possible, in any case.

By the way, lol Ch.25:
"The Asha from four years ago was very different from today's Asha.
She was impatient and had a very violent side."

You bet she did. o,o;;

One last thing: what if she met up with Anna Haias when she was in Atera? Asha didn't necessarily see Leez herself, but she could have found and discussed with Anna. Since Asha wanted Rao Leez' daughter to survive, Anna could have made a deal with her. This may be why, in Leez' dream, Anna referred to Asha as a 'friend' who will accompany her.

Edited by Mizura, 07 June 2014 - 06:17 AM.

[rak n' roll]

I'd suspect the "Sorceress's Fashion Bonanza" was held in the month of Brahma, since it involved five different Creation Brands, and included an exclusive private exhibit hosted by Lutz and Lorraine.

 

That means Brilith and Asha reached Eloth from Rindhallow within three months of passing their exams.  Even without Hunter50x-assisted teleportation, that leaves a fair amount of time to explore (and cause "accidents" along the way).  But not an unlimited amount of time.

 

In my mind, Asha didn't eliminate all the possible targets during that trip, but left the more delicate cases for later (when Brilith wasn't around).

[Mattkun]

Spoiler

 

Well now! We're finally getting to one of the core mysteries of what the characters are up to, starting with Asha.

1. Timeline

We currently don't know the exact time of the murder trials, but we have the following dates:

• Asha's magic exam date: she took this around the 35th day of the 12th month of N11 (see date on Saha On's letter). So, close to N12, and she was denied access to the human search system soon after. We know that she was active for about a year after this, before disappearing for 3 years. So, disappearance around the start of N13.
• The dates Saha On entered into the human search system: he first entered the beginning of N11, then N13. Between N11 and N13, the number of searches went down from 35 to 19, so 16 deaths.

There are a few main possibilities I've considered:

Scenario 1:

• Both the 29 murders and the trial occurred before N11. Saha On later denied Asha access to the human search system because of her record.
• In fact, Asha had killed all the targets she could find on her own, and needed the human search system to find the remaining targets. Lacking access, she enlisted the help of another AA magician around the start of N12, and killed off more targets for the year after that. Thus, Saha On was able to deduce that she had gained the aid of an AA magician since then.

(if the murders and trials occurred before N11 and N13, Saha On would not be able to deduce that there was an accomplice, since Asha could have found all the victims on her own before being denied access to the human search system. He skipped N12 so...)

I used to think that this was what happened, but I've since realized that there are other possibilities.

Scenario 2.1 and 2.2:

• The murders started earlier and lasted until N13, and the trials were held near N13 (right before she disappeared).
• OR the murders all occurred between N12 and N13.
• In both cases, Asha disappeared for 3 years right after the trials

The first scenario implies that Asha was first able to find a bunch of victims on her own, while the second implies that she relied on an accomplice to find All of the targets. Both are possible.

In fact, she could have taken the exams at Rindhallow instead of Eloth for the following reasons:

• She murdered all the targets she could find around Eloth already (she may have stayed long enough to find targets on her own, since she was studying there), and moved on to Rindhallow. She needed a magic license, so she made a stop to take the exams. It'd make sense for her to not have killed many victims outside of Eloth by then, since she was studying (and I doubt she'd be liked by her teachers as much if she was skipping class)
• She didn't want to take the exams at Eloth for whatever reason. Maybe she wanted to hide her true Divine Affinity. Maybe she knew that she'd not be allowed to take the barrier exams there, or that Saha would deny her the AA rank, and tried her luck at Rindhallow. Maybe she was just avoiding all the annoying people hoping to take the exams with her.
• -Maybe- she was meeting up with an accomplice, in case she couldn't access the human search system herself. We later see Laila talking to Lorraine, so Lorraine was in Rindhallow... Hmm.

One would have thought that she changed her style right after meeting Brilith right before N12, but then again, she was active for a year, but everybody was surprised by her new style in her current timeline (Riche didn't recognize her at all). So, she could have kept her old style for a year after meeting Brilith. Another thing that supports the trial being held in N13 is Rana's attitude. She shared news of Asha's graduation with Ran, but we didn't hear any mention of a murder trial from her. I dunno, Ran should have at least figured something from Rana's attitude if she read news of the trials (though the trials could have been completely private).

2. Murder counts and location

In Saha's investigation, the number of dots decreased from 35 to 19 between N11 and N13, so... 16 deaths. That's less than Asha's 35 murder records, and less than the 21 Known to be using an alias. Either Asha started earlier than N11 and those cases were then found, or she had to kill a few extras (guardians and such), or she got a few targets wrong. She missed some targets in some locations, after all, so it wasn't perfect for her.


I've highlighted in red the targets that seem to have died in-between.

Of the 16 dead, 12 seemed to occur around Eloth, Rindhallow and Atera (there could be an extra one in Eloth, but it's unclear). This means only 4 more targets could have been killed in Mistyshore, Kalibloom or Aeroplateau combined (though she could have killed more later on). Some victims could have moved around, but all of Saha's searches probably used the same date, so the targets should all be in the same location (at home or at work, depending on time zone). Since none of the targets were properly registered with cities, they were probably all hiding in a same location and weren't free to run around.

Compare this to what the Sura have been doing, by the way:

• Ch. 6: a village was destroyed near Kalibloom, then one near Rindhallow, finally settlements near Eloth (4 were targeted, but maybe they didn't know which one was the exact one, it doesn't necessarily mean there were 4 targets)
• Ch. 29: Gandharva notes that he's been working hard, and only Atera, Eloth and Rindhallow are left.

Basically, after Asha disappeared, she must have gone after the more hidden targets Outside the cities, and to avoid detection, she avoided the big cities entirely, where her ID could be traced at the entrance (in theory, she could still be traced with the human search system. In practice, the human search system can only be used by each AA once a year, so I doubt even Saha could waste those few uses on keeping an eye on Asha personally). Thus, she must have stopped killing targets within cities.

A few things to note:

• If Asha really couldn't target victims within cities after N13, then there's the question of the targets in Mistyshore (1), Kalibloom (2) and Aeroplateau (1). Those could have been the 4 victims not accounted for besides those in Atera, Eloth and Rindhallow, but I find it hard to believe that she just killed the one target within cities and ignored the other ones nearby.
• Strangely enough, Gandharva and Sagara didn't mention Kalibloom, Mistyshore or Aeroplateau. Sagara decided to attack Kalibloom, but she was targeting God Kubera's items. So either those 4 people died some other time, or they moved and were killed elsewhere, or they weren't targeted in the first place, or the Sura just didn't bother to name them (this is also possible, like how we later learned that there were more causes to Gandharva's weakening, or to his unstable state).
• Asha picking up Leez: did she Just kill the other remaining target outside Atera?

On the victims' identities:

• I counted all 35 dots in Saha's first search, so there are no 'overlapping dots'. Thus, Leez' friend Kaz is probably not an extra dot.
• Agni noted to Brilith in ch. 84 that 5 people in Atera are called Agni.

We don't know by which criteria Saha made the search, but it likely didn't include the names of All the Gods (since Agni's must have been left out), though there's still the possibility of names other than Kubera (could just be Kubera though).

3. Accomplices

There are 3 possibilities for AAs: Claude, Lorraine and Laila. Of these:

• Claude only seems to have met Asha recently. Asha hates his guts so... I'm more inclined to suspect that he later investigated her, and started cleaning up her trail once he realized what she was up to.
• Laila seems to actually responsibly spend her time defending her city in Rindhallow.
• That leaves Lorraine as the most likely suspect, especially since Riche also listed her among those to whom Saha shouldn't divulge information.

There is then the question of whether she is doing this while working with God Kubera, or was actually in a race Against him. If she was working with him, then God Kubera would have basically located the targets thanks to her and her accomplice(s).

4. Motive

I've already theorized on the possible motive in my structure essay: Appendix B.12
http://vatoto.com/forums/topic/18622-essay-kuberas-massively-multi-layered-mysterydrama-structure/

Basically, it appears that there are multiple targets with the Power of the Name. Killing them causes an increase in power in the survivors. Asha planned to kill off a bunch, strengthen the survivor and use said survivor as pawn. She must have chosen Leez because she was the daughter of Rao Leez, whom she owes, and whom she Probably thought lived up to her father (boy did she get a nasty surprise).

5. More theories

Here are some theories (no certainty, just theories for now):

• Asha never went inside Mistyshore, thus why neither Rana nor Ran were able to meet her. She could have killed all the targets Outside it during her 3-years absence though.
• Ran may be the name holder in Mistyshore. He doesn't even realize this.
• Asha didn't necessarily insist on just one survivor, and may have decided to leave Ran among the survivors. She actually picked him up on purpose (and was mad because yet another one of her choices turned out to be a complete brat. Even Leez was surprised by how angry she was). Lutz knows Asha's choice, and supports Asha because of this. This is also why Asha makes sure Ran doesn't die.
• Lorraine, on the other hand, may be helping Asha because Asha will make the daughter of Rao Leez into one of the survivors. Lorraine is a fighter otaku, so she may have approved increasing the survival odds of Rao's daughter.
• Claude may have thought that Asha was just making as strong a hand as possible. He didn't realize that Asha intended for Leez to be among the survivors no matter what.
• The Power of the Name may affect different people in different ways. In Leez' case, the death of other name holders means a sudden increase in strength. However, in Ran's case, he experienced a surge in transcendental value (so the value measured by Riche's machine was actually his). He doesn't realize this at all, since Rana made him not use transcendentals.
• Perhaps Asha is the sole survivor of such purges on Carte, and in her case, she got a surge in Divine Affinity? (she also has increased strength, dunno about transcendental value). In this case, Ananta may have really been referring to Asha when he talked about the 'poor thing' who would 'lose again'. Even though Asha survived, she still failed... whatever her goal was on Carte.

If God Kubera is also involved, by the way, he could have agreed to let certain targets live, which is why some locations may not have been targeted.

In any case, it was really weird for Leez' mom to refer to Asha as a friend in Leez' dream. D:

Lessee... what did I miss...

 

This part I felt I'd like to point out. Do we really know if it's the survivor's powers who are raised or the god's themselves? Sagara implied after her attack against Atera that they would have known if they killed their target(Leez) since Kubera's power would have changed. So it seems that killing a target would change the god's power. I don't know if that holds true for all the targets or if it's just Leez herself but it's a thought to consider.  

 

Edit: Ah damn now that I read your essay I see that you did address the Kubera and Leez power thing. Just not on the bolded part on here. Well I've gotta say that essay was great and probably took a crap load of time. Reading through it it seems as though I saw all the things you saw as well but it's nice to be able to see it from someone else's point of view. Just glad I didn't miss any details throughout the story! 

Edited by ♫The Manta Rays-Alright!, 08 June 2014 - 04:25 AM.
Edited for length of quote.

[Paper]

Unless I've missed something in a recent edit, there's one other thing that I feel should be mentioned in regards to Asha'a murders.

 

It is about that time when Leez woke up to Asha choking her to death. Asha did not quite seem like herself, so perhaps she was subconciously attempting to dispose of the "target" in front of her. Along the same lines, Asha made it a point for the two of them to sleep in separate rooms, right from the start. Was Asha awake when her targets were eliminated? Or is there more at work here?

 

Gee, I understand this series already reads like a mystery, but now it seems to be going into the murder-mystery direction.

Awesome!

[Mizura]

rak n' roll: Interesting! That sounds like Really long trip, but it did get me interested in how long the trip should normally take. To start with:

• We know from ch.32 that the half-circumference of Planet Willarv is about 20,000 km.
• The distance between Atera and Mistyshore seems to be able less than quarter-circumference, let's say 10,000 km. (ch. 43)
• The distance between Atera and Rindhallow seems to be less than the above, maybe 6,000~7,000 km? (ch. 43)
• We don't know if the map for ch. 2-94 is scaled, but there is geography to take into consideration. The blog entry for Atera notes that Atera doesn't have a magic university, so students need to go elsewhere to study, however they are reluctant to go to Eloth because it is 'so far away', so they are more likely to go to Rindhallow or Mistyshore. So, it must be even further than Mistyshore to travel to.

I calculated Asha and Leez' daily travel distance before, but since it's a pain to find back, here is a recalculation:

• Leez met God Kubera on November 22 (ch.29), and she and Asha left the next day (so, Nov. 23). We see the two in Mistyshore on December 2 (ch. 58). That's with Hunter x50 though, and a bit of forced marching. Since there are 36 days in a months, that means about 15 days of traveling.
• Travel distance of about 10,000 km, so about 670 km / day.
• 3 teleports / day (ch. 43) + whole day of walking. Since Asha doesn't walk That fast, let's just randomly assume that they walk 40 km /day, leaving 630 km for 3 teleports, or 210 km per teleport.
• Asha uses Hunter x50 to increase her range, so normal vision range of 4.2 km. That's quite reasonable, considering that Asha probably also has above-average vision (she has above-average everything else after all), and there's no pollution on Willarv to reduce visibility (unlike where I like, Bah!).
• We can see from the above that without any visual aid, a traveling group with 3 daily hoti vayus would end up with a miserable traveling speed of under 60km / day, so just getting from Rindhallow to Atera would take over 100 days (nearly 3 months, yes). From 2-94, Rindhallow seems even further away from Eloth than Atera. So, yes, if Asha and Brilith only walked and used teleports without any Hunter devices, a 3-months travel time is actually possible.

Now, surely Asha wouldn't be traveling without any forms of visual aid at all. We do know, however, that even Hunter x20 is a rather new product (ch.27). The older version could have had lesser range, plus it caused nausea. Asha commented on the fact that the Hunter x50 made her dizzy (ch. 50), so she may not have used a version of Hunter glasses that caused nausea before (who knows what was available back then, after all?). 4 years ago, who knew how far the range went? x10?

All this to say, though, unless they had some sort of magical items, traveling between cities back then probably took one to several months (someone like Airi could probably manage a Bit faster since she's strong and can probably run fast, but Asha only walks so...). At the very least, while committing murders, Asha couldn't have easily run back and forth between all the cities, not within just a year.

Hmm. I'm starting to wonder though. Did Asha really bring Brilith back to Atera? Since she couldn't use the human search system anyway, the deal could be off, plus if Brilith parts from Asha, Agni can take her back a lot faster (speaking of whom, what was he doing all this time? Sleeping in Atera?). This doesn't change the murder trajectory though.

Huh, Lorraine noted in ch. 37 that Asha is used to traveling alone. That doesn't sound right if she were traveling with Brilith for several months. Well, she did disappear for 3 years...

By the way, somewhere else, someone noted that it was highly unlikely for Lorraine to have helped Asha without knowing what she was up to. I explained that although Lorraine most likely knew, there are enough 'if' scenarios for me to not dismiss the possibility that she Didn't know entirely. For example:

• Lorraine could have not realized at first, but found out what Asha was doing on her own later own (like Claude), and decided to play stupid.
• Or she confronted Asha, but was then able to tell that there was something else involved (I mean, this Is a world with Gods and Sura doing all sorts of things). Since unlike Saha, she doesn't seem like a 'justice-no-matter-what' type, she may have decided to leave Asha alone.

For example, I could imagine this scenario happening:
Asha: Lorraine, I need your help to find someone using the Human Search System.
Lorraine: The Human Search System is only for emergencies. Who do you need to find?
Asha: The daughter of Rao Leez. *knows that Lorraine is a fighter otaku*
Lorraine: What?! I thought she didn't survive the Cataclysm!
Asha: Yes, but I have reason to believe she might be alive. I met Rao Leez on Carte, and he told me her name there. He named her Kubera. I need you to find her.
Lorraine: ...

[much later]Lorraine: You! When you asked me to find the daughter of Rao Leez, did you mean to kill her?!
Asha: I can't reveal the full circumstances to you, but I promise this: everything I'm doing is for the sake of his daughter. I will make sure she survives no matter what.
Lorraine: ... (by now Lorraine may have seen enough from the investigation reports to realize that there is a massive cover-up going on, so Asha isn't doing this for the lulz)

Another possible scenario: Lorraine asked for permission, but the one who entered the search system is Asha (maybe she just let Asha sneak in, who knows?).

Paper: yeah, there's that. In the case of These murders though, Asha needed to use the human search system to locate them, so we know she doesn't magically 'zoom in' on other targets. She probably knows about her own condition, so... Also, Asha tried to strangle Leez. The others died of 'magical accident', supposedly. Overall, the scene seemed rather unusual. Asha seems to take precautions usually, so is there any reason why it had failed this time? It seems to be Ananta's influence, but basically, we still don't know enough to interpret the scene. xD

Edited by Mizura, 08 June 2014 - 06:59 AM.

[rak n' roll]

Actually, I think the hss map allows one to place mistyshore and atera on the planet's landmass as partially shown in ch. 15 (?).

Specifically, a lot of the blank area is likely oceanic. With mistyshore in the green "fingers" pointing west.

[Mizura]

Wait, I just realized that the blog entry for Rindhallow says that you can get from Rindhallow to Eloth easily by boat. xP But it says if you travel by land, then you have to go through the poles.

Let's see, the blog entries:
- Atera: Located in central Ananta continent
- Rindhallow: Northeast of the Ananta continent, leads to Atera Southwest by land and Eloth Southeast by sea.
- Mistyshore: Located at the tip of the Ananta continent, with Atera to the east, and the archipelagos at the tip of the Garuda continent to the west.
- Kalibloom: located where the tail of the Garuda continent and the tail of the Ananta continent meet (the tail of the Ananta continent is made up of archipelagos). Eloth is located Northwest by land, and Mistyshore is located East of the islands (or Water Channels).

So basically, Eloth is located on another continent compared to Atera and Rindhallow.

[Tierra]

lol ... just posted about topography XD

[rak n' roll]

lol ... just posted about topography XD

 

Great minds think alike!

Wait, I just realized that the blog entry for Rindhallow says that you can get from Rindhallow to Eloth easily by boat. xP But it says if you travel by land, then you have to go through the poles.

Let's see, the blog entries:
- Atera: Located in central Ananta continent
- Rindhallow: Northeast of the Ananta continent, leads to Atera Southwest by land and Eloth Southeast by sea.
- Mistyshore: Located at the tip of the Ananta continent, with Atera to the east, and the archipelagos at the tip of the Garuda continent to the west.
- Kalibloom: located where the tail of the Garuda continent and the tail of the Ananta continent meet (the tail of the Ananta continent is made up of archipelagos). Eloth is located Northwest by land, and Mistyshore is located East of the islands (or Water Channels).

So basically, Eloth is located on another continent compared to Atera and Rindhallow.

 

That data suggests to me that Brilith and Asha took an itinerary like this:

• Rindhallow (Pass Exams) --> Eloth (Retrieve Staff of Agni) --> Rindhallow --> Atera (Drop off Brilith)

Then after dropping Brilith off, Asha would have likely taken the same return itinerary (with, say, a goodly number of detours resulting in sad ends), to finally finish up with Saha On denying her use of the HSS on suspicion of magical murder.  If each leg took roughly 3 months, then such a journey would take approximately 15 months.

 

Plus, it would make even more sense that Asha first thought of taking Leez to Kalibloom via Rindhallow.  It'd be her best-known route by far.  Though I do wonder whether Asha would have risked taking Leez near to Eloth at all....

[popabogdan]

Well Asha did said that she was in the water channels before, so probably she was familliar with that place too.

[Random-Webtoon-Fan]

[quote name="Mizura" post="1274538" timestamp="1402116965"]Hey... I just realized I made a mistake. Lorraine Was in Eloth back then. Laila was probably talking about Saha when she spoke about permission, but Lorraine was in Eloth as well, attending the magician fashion Bonanza (see flag in ch. 26). After that, she had to escort Brilith back to Atera. (wait, I just realized that Lorraine was even shown in the bonus chapter in the book 3. OMG WHEN CAN I GET AN ENGLISH VERSION?!)/quote]

Well we have not seen any message type magics, but there could be...

(Personally I doubt such useful thing exists from lack of communications between cities that was shown so far, just pointing the idea out.)

[Marim]

One last thing: what if she met up with Anna Haias when she was in Atera? Asha didn't necessarily see Leez herself, but she could have found and discussed with Anna. Since Asha wanted Rao Leez' daughter to survive, Anna could have made a deal with her. This may be why, in Leez' dream, Anna referred to Asha as a 'friend' who will accompany her.

 

Now I think about it.. if your theory on that point is true then, what if 'become 16, so you can leave your village' actually means that Asha promised Ana there would be few targets left in 3-4 years, so Leez locked in her village would be able to survive massacres (by Sura and Asha) happening in these times? - Opposed to 'fully claiming the power of the name once Leez is 16' theory.

[Mizura]

^ True, the raws aren't clear yet but Maybe not all the targets need to be killed.

 

I also kind of wonder now if Asha didn't leave a few targets alive on purpose to distract the others after the Power of the Name, while she goes ahead and arms Leez. If that is the case, ouch! Well, this is just one possibility. Asha planned to go through Rindhallow at first, so that doesn't seem to be on purpose.

 

By the way, in Tierra's thread on WIllarv's topography, I just noted that travel time could be shorter than we thought, but that's in the case of deliveries. Maybe the courier usually spams hoti vayus or is some really fast Half or has a flying machine or something. On the other hand, Asha probably needed time to commit all those murders. Huh, I'm curious to see what Brilith will reveal about this.

 

Edit: Hm... I posted my theories at the KuCa as well, and one person basically deduced another theory, which is that Asha left those people alive on purpose as possible pawns. Claude knew that there were better 'pawns' still alive elsewhere for Asha to use, so he tried to make her get rid of the weaker ones.

 

I didn't read that person's full theory yet (the rest is in Korean), but if that's the case, Asha may have intended to pick them up by going through Rindhallow and Eloth. That became impossible because of the sieges. Perhaps Asha had been culling the weaker holders of the Power of the Name, and left the better candidates alive.

 

Unrelated: say... I find it strange that God Kubera didn't direct any attacks against Mistyshore, Aeroplateau or Kalibloom (though Sagara decided to attack Kalibloom on her own. I'm talking about the cities themselves by the way, not villages around them). Of course, it could be that they no longer had any targets, but I do wonder if it has to do with the temples?

• Seen one way, they were the places of the temples of Visnu, Kali and Vayu (throwing in Vayu because he seems to hava a connection to Rao Leez)

• Seen another way, in Sagara's flashback, we see the silhouettes of God Kubera, Varuna and Indra, so they were likely those who led the attack against the Ananta clan. They correspond to the cities that weren't targeted.

 

It's probably unrelated, but I just wanted to throw it in here just in case.

Edited by Mizura, 10 June 2014 - 04:02 PM.

[DemonSoul]

[Mizura]

Oh, wow, I can't believe I missed this (actually, yes I can).

I think I know what Brilith wanted to tell Asha now.

Ch. 42: http://vatoto.com/read/_/80445/kubera_v1_ch42_by_the-company
"If I could return to that day, I would tell her... I would tell my friend, everything that I had hidden from her. So many times, I have wished that I could do things over... but a day, once gone, can never return."

Ch. 78: http://vatoto.com/read/_/108278/kubera_v1_ch78_by_the-company
"I don't remember exactly who, but there was someone who was important to me. The last time we parted, I should have told her the truth... I have to see her. She can't be left all alone. If someone doesn't hold her here, she'll disappear."
Look at that last frame. Just look at it. The first two frames obviously refer to when Brilith was traveling with Asha, but that last frame... doesn't it look like Asha was standing in front of some burned down remains?

If I'm right about Asha committing the murders while traveling with Brilith, then I suspect Asha tried to hide it from Brilith, but -Brilith saw her.- At the same time, I suspect Brilith realized that Asha had a reason to do this (probably related to her arm), and that it pained her to do so.

However, Brilith never told Asha that she knew. And she won't get the chance to. Asha will die before Brilith has the chance to tell her. As a result, Brilith will forever regret the fact that she didn't help Asha share the burden.

I mean, think about it. What was so important that Brilith had to tell Asha? It doubt it's about Agni, that doesn't really concern Asha.

By the way, I made this for the KuCa:



Too lazy to make an English version again, it's basically what I've said already.

Edited by Mizura, 17 June 2014 - 03:16 PM.

[popabogdan]

It's an interesting theory, although I always thought of that being an image of a wasteland formed in Carte during it's destruction.

 

Btw the ch78 has link to 42 ^^