Chapter 97
“Right? Thorns, heart, that can only be the Imperial family, right? Could it be that the village chief and the young men were taken by the Imperial Palace? But why? Does that mean the Imperial family is also involved in the Order’s affairs?”
Though Haley fired questions like a machine gun in disbelief, Angelina shook her head.
“The entire Imperial family won’t be involved.”
“Then?”
“Probably…”
Angelina let her answer trail off.
‘To think I’d find the connection to the Empress’s involvement here.’
What had only been speculation was now confirmed. It felt satisfying.
“This is just my guess, but His Highness the Crown Prince probably knows nothing about this. He’s not the type to do such things. Though he’s a bit foolish, he fundamentally cares about the Empire’s people.”
That was emphasized multiple times in the original story. That’s why he hated Blake more, who was loved by the Empire’s people.
Though he thought himself superior to them as Crown Prince, he didn’t look down on them.
If asked what was most important in the Empire, he firmly believed it was the people.
“Then who could it be?”
“That’s for later. I’ll tell you when I’m certain.”
Angelina avoided answering with an apologetic expression.
‘The reason why brother had to wear the mask of Magic Tower Master must have been partly because of the relationship between the Empress and Flaubert.’
If so, it would be better to be careful about mentioning the Empress.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Haley and Laura, but there was no harm in being cautious.
‘To think it’s really the Empress. What a headache.’
It was hard enough to take down just the Order, but now the Empire’s Empress was involved.
‘In the end, internal division is the only answer.’
She could only hope Catherine and her brother in the capital were doing well.
At that moment, Yansen’s voice was heard from outside their lodging.
“Are you awake?”
“Yes, I’m up.”
Laura opened the tent flap, and Yansen greeted her with a bright face.
“I prepared breakfast over there.”
“You’re early.”
“Since I didn’t know when you’d leave, I wanted to tell you as much as possible before you go… Was I too hasty?”
“No, it’s perfect.”
Angelina actually liked Yansen’s proactive attitude.
“Let’s go.”
She headed toward that house from yesterday, praying they could hear all the remaining stories today.
***
Blake’s group was already there.
They exchanged light morning greetings as they sat in the same spots as yesterday.
“This reminds me of when we went to the Magic Tower.”
“It seems more luxurious than back then.”
“Come to think of it, Your Grace had a hard time fighting many monsters then.”
“Thanks to that, I met Lady Flaubert, so looking back, I should probably thank the monsters.”
Angelina laughed at his somewhat glib remark.
After finishing breakfast while exchanging small talk, Yansen brought out that book from yesterday again.
“I plan to continue our discussion with this today, but before that, I have something to confess.”
“…?”
The atmosphere instantly grew heavy at Yansen’s words.
“I was planning to organize everything I saw and knew first to tell you together. So I checked this yesterday, but…”
Yansen let out a long sigh.
“It was somewhat damaged.”
“Ah.”
“You remember how parts were faded and some pages were burned when you looked at the book? That ended up having an effect.”
“Yansen, you’ve done more than enough. It’s inevitable that things deteriorate with the passage of time.”
“I’ve failed as the person in charge.”
“What are you saying? If it weren’t for Yansen, who could have told us all these stories when we came here?”
“But…”
“You’re doing well now. So don’t worry about such things. Tell us everything you know.”
At Angelina’s consolation, Yansen’s slumped shoulders lifted slightly.
“Yes, I can tell you everything I know.”
“Good.”
“Then shall we start with this?”
Yansen, having regained confidence, turned the book over to show its back cover.
However, before taking any further action, Blake interjected.
“Before that, I have a question.”
“Yes, please ask.”
Yansen paused and looked at him.
“I’ve been thinking about it all day, but I can’t understand the Order’s actions.”
“Which part?”
“If this book has been protected since the time of the last Saint, doesn’t that mean this village has existed since then?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why did the Order leave it alone until now and suddenly act like this?”
“They didn’t completely leave it alone. They’ve attacked several times over the years and sent many spies. The system of having multiple guardians like me protecting the book is one of the measures we developed after experiencing such incidents.”
“So you were always prepared.”
“Yes. Of course, the frequency decreased over time. It became an era where it didn’t matter whether the last Saint was falsely accused of being a witch by them or was actually a witch.”
“If they could have kept leaving it as an irrelevant matter, why did they attempt such actions this time?”
“Probably because of the sacred object.”
“Sacred object?”
Blake glanced slightly at Angelina. Her eyes began to sparkle. After all, the sacred object was their ultimate purpose for coming here.
“The holy power has weakened as much as it could, and the lineage of the Magic Tower Master they thought they had eliminated has reopened, and as the sacred objects began to breathe life again, preparing to welcome a new Saint, they became anxious.”
“Preparing to welcome a new Saint?”
Angelina cut in with a question.
The weakening of holy power was common knowledge, and she knew about the Magic Tower Master’s identity, so the only unknown elements were the stories of the sacred object and the Saint.
“The last Saint, who was accused of being a witch, divided and sealed her power into several pieces with a heavy heart at seeing how the Order had become corrupted. For the sun that would rise again someday.”
Yansen spoke while showing the last page of the book again.
“The timing would be determined by the sun, and the sacred objects fell asleep waiting for that time. But about 20 years ago, the sacred objects began to awaken.”
“Did the Order notice these signs?”
“Yes. At first, even the current Order didn’t know the locations of the sacred objects. After all, the last Saint had hidden the power from the Order.”
“Well… the riddles were quite unfriendly.”
Considering how the Blue Rose’s location was exposed because of those ‘signs’ and the Crimson Thorn was next, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the Black Lake sacred object would be discovered too.
“That’s also when magical power and holy power began to split. Because the Saint had to protect the remaining believers and power from the Order.”
“Wait, magical power and holy power split?”
Angelina asked in surprise, and this time Haley, Sean, and Mason’s eyes all grew round.
As users of magical power and holy power, they couldn’t help but react sensitively.
“Hmm… I think it would be better to show you directly.”
Yansen placed the book on the table with its back cover clearly visible and took out the stone hanging around his neck.
Then carefully inserted that stone into the groove engraved on the back of the book.
As soon as he did, a soft magical power emanated from the book cover, and mixing with the different power coming from the stone, it began to transform the book.
Mason was the first to react.
“Huh? Wasn’t that just holy power?”
The surprised Haley added.
“Did it just mix with magical power? No, how can magical power and holy power mix? The two are clearly…”
Holy power and magical power had the worst compatibility.
Seeing them blend so smoothly shattered every theory they knew.
Yansen chuckled at their reactions as if finding them cute, then spoke.
“That’s because magical power and holy power are essentially the same.”
“Don’t say such nonsense. Everyone knows they have the worst compatibility.”
Haley reacted sensitively. It was because she had great pride as a magician.
“That’s not true, Miss Magician. Both magical power and holy power came from the same power of the sun.”
Yansen explained carefully, as if soothing her, while choosing his words carefully.
“Magical power is the ‘stagnant power’ that has been multiplied and passed down from the power first given by the sun, while holy power is the ‘fresh power’ that has been created by reproducing the power given by the sun in the same way.”
“What nonsense…”
While Haley wore an expression of disbelief, Angelina’s eyes lit up brilliantly.
‘Zeplictus!’
That story from the book borrowed from the library. It meant that containing both holy power and magical power was actually possible.
‘If holy power and magical power have the same origin, then that strange energy I felt in the tomb makes sense too.’
That feeling that was holy power, but not holy power, rather similar to Haley’s healing magic.
Perhaps it was a mixture of magical power and holy power.
No, maybe it was the power of the sun itself, their original source.
“So that’s why magical tools work even when holy power is put into them…?”
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