Chapter 493

Chapter 375: Ethnicity

In the southwest outskirts of Tivyán, north of Shield Hill, lies Barret’s villa.

As night fell, the villa where the tragedy occurred was bustling with Kenk and the Eight Pinnacle assassins, who were frantically searching the entire building in an attempt to locate Barret’s research room. Due to a hitch in the preordained summoning steps, they lacked effective intelligence and remained clueless about the room’s whereabouts.

Just as Kenk and his subordinates ran around the vast manor like headless flies, deep underground in Barret’s research room, Dorothy had successfully infiltrated and was commanding the male zombie puppet to search for Barret’s research data, hoping to uncover the truth he held.

In the secret room, the male zombie puppet controlled by Dorothy stood before the statue of Hero Arthur of Prit, and through the puppet’s perspective, Dorothy observed as it flipped through the old pages found in a notebook beside the statue, noting a story starkly different from the legends she was familiar with.

“The bloodthirsty monster Aglo, killed by eight daggers, guiding Arthur to hunt the witch eight times, and Arthur, poisoned and dying after confronting the witch eight times… What a completely different story about Arthur compared to what I’ve heard before. A tale where Arthur ultimately meets his demise surely wouldn’t be favored by children.”

Several kilometers away in the carriage, Dorothy murmured to herself while gazing at the story on the old pages. The narrative contained numerous intriguing points.

“In the current version of the Arthur legend, Arthur is guided to heaven by the Holy Son, but in this story, his ultimate fate is d*ath. In a certain sense, the popular version suggesting he was taken to heaven may imply he ultimately died too.”

“Moreover, it’s worth noting that the bloodthirsty monster named Aglo, whose bl**d could transform into bl**d mist after being killed by eight wounds, this seems to have a connection with the bl**d Darkness Path. The frequency of the number eight and the witch makes one think of the Eight Pinnacle Nest. Aglo, bl**d Darkness Path, Eight Pinnacle Nest, the witch, the Spider Queen… There must be a profound connection behind these events.”

While Dorothy pondered, she commanded the male zombie puppet to continue flipping through the other old pages to see what other stories might be found.

As she flipped, Dorothy discovered that the old pages, whose origins were unknown, seemed to be filled with stories about Arthur. However, most of them were severely damaged, making it difficult to decipher what was written. After looking through several old pages, aside from the tales of Aglo and the witch, only one story remained somewhat complete. If the story of Arthur and Aglo represented the epilogue of the Arthur legend, then this story described the origin of the Arthur legend.

In the popular version of the Arthur legend, Arthur’s story begins with receiving the stone sword from the Holy Son disguised as an old man, with the Holy Son guiding Arthur on many of his adventures. But in this version, there was not a single mention of the Holy Son. The Arthur legend in the pages still started with the acquisition of a sword, but this sword was not obtained from the Holy Son.

According to the story on the pages, in his youth, Arthur trained in martial arts, vowing to protect the innocent with his sword. He traveled with two companions who shared the same aspirations, ridding the land of monsters.

They swore to eradicate the monsters plaguing Prit, bringing peace and stability to the people.

One day, Arthur and his two companions arrived at a lake that sparkled like a mirror and saw a monster preparing to pollute the water. The three immediately drew their swords and began a fierce battle against the creature.

Soon, they successfully slayed the monster, but their swords were damaged in the process. As the three mourned the loss of their weapons, a beautiful fairy emerged from the lake, its surface reflecting the bright moon.

Grateful for their bravery in defeating the monster, the fairy offered to compensate them for their losses, pulling three items from the lake and placing them on the shore.

The first item was a small pouch of shining jewels, which the fairy said were worth a fortune. The second was a beautifully crafted short scepter, which the fairy claimed was a symbol belonging to the lord of a bountiful land; whoever possessed it could become the lord of that territory. The third item was a stone sword, which the fairy said she had personally carved from stone.

The fairy asked the three to choose one of the three gifts. The first companion chose the jewels and then exited the adventure to become a wealthy merchant. The second companion chose the scepter and left the adventure to become a noble lord in his own territory. Only Arthur chose the unremarkable stone sword.

When the fairy asked why, Arthur replied, “Although the jewels and the scepter are enticing, what I lost was a sword. A jewel is not a sword, a scepter is not a sword, only this stone sword is a sword.”

“Though it is made of stone, it is a sword, and what I lost was a sword, not something else. I do not desire wealth or power; I only want to continue my adventure, slaying monsters to bring peace to the people of Prit. Therefore, I must hold the sword, even if it is a stone sword.”

Seeing Arthur’s answer, the fairy smiled and gifted him the stone sword. Upon receiving the sword, Arthur discovered it was not as heavy as he had imagined; instead, it was quite light. He asked the fairy why, and she replied, “Because the wind is entwined around its blade. This is a divine sword capable of harnessing the powers of the wind.”

As a reward for staying true to his heart, Arthur received the great power of wind from the lake fairy. With this newfound strength, guided by the lake fairy, Arthur continued his adventure, creating one legend after another.

In the distant carriage, Dorothy, seeing the legendary story on the old pages through the male zombie puppet’s eyes, revealed a serious expression.

“Is it the lake fairy appearing in the reflection of the bright moon on the mirror-like lake?”

Looking at the description of the lake fairy in the story, Dorothy murmured, and upon seeing this lake fairy, she immediately thought of the Mirror Moon Goddess.

In this fable-like legend, the Mirror Moon Goddess appears in the form of the lake fairy, guiding Arthur and granting him the sword and power—not the Holy Son.

Upon seeing this lake fairy, Dorothy recalled some local folklore from Prit; in remote areas far from cities, there were tales of the lake fairy and similar figures. As a child, Dorothy had heard adults in her village tell stories like “The Treasure of the Lake Fairy” and “The Lake Fairy and the Greedy Lord.” In hindsight, the lake fairy from those stories might very well be the manifestation of the Mirror Moon Goddess.

Deep in thought, Dorothy continued to command the zombie puppet to carefully sift through the pages, searching for any valuable clues. After flipping through for a while without finding any useful leads, she stumbled upon something tucked between the pages of the notebook.

It was a line written by Barret at the end of the notebook as a reminder, recording the source of these old pages.

“Copy of the 524 Edition of ‘Arthur’s Legend’.”

“524’s ‘Arthur’s Legend’… This is a book over eight hundred years old… The stories contained within reflect legends of Arthur from over eight hundred years ago, significantly differing from the current version.”

Observing the handwriting in the notebook, Dorothy mused, then instructed the male zombie puppet to continue flipping through the pages and notes. Upon confirming there was no other particularly notable information, she set them aside.

Next, Dorothy had the male zombie puppet slowly approach Barret’s main desk to search for useful materials. After a while, she came across a notebook placed centrally on Barret’s desk. When she opened it, she found it filled with Barret’s notes, seemingly composed just before he was assassinated.

Dorothy controlled the male zombie puppet to read through the notebook and found it was Barret’s research records, focusing on “The Influence of the Radiant Church on Prit’s Traditional Culture.”

As Dorothy flipped through the research records, she discovered that Barret’s study targeted the Radiant Church, using local Prit folklore as a thread to deeply investigate how the cultural stones of the church influenced Prit over a span of a millennium. In his research, he directly claimed that the traditional beliefs and culture of Prit had been utterly destroyed by the Radiant Church.

In his research, Barret revealed that the Mirror Moon Goddess, represented by the Mirror Moon Statue, was once a common belief among the islands of Prit. Around 100 to 200 years into the Radiant Era, the Radiant Church quickly spread its beliefs across all of Prit, leading to the rapid dissolution of the worship of the Mirror Moon Goddess over several centuries.

By around 500 to 700 years into the Radiant Era, the belief in the Mirror Moon Goddess transitioned from being a widely venerated goddess to being a fairy tale figure in folklore. Several centuries later, even the various stories about the lake fairy began to be replaced by the images of the Three Saints or even the Holy Son in the Radiant Church, with the Holy Son commonly replacing the lake fairy as Arthur’s guide, among many other similar plot points.

In the last part of this research record, Barret documented the current situation regarding the belief in the Mirror Moon Goddess in Prit. He noted that only in some marginal villages were remnants of the lake fairy’s tales still being told, and much of Prit’s native mythology had been subsumed by the teachings of the Radiant Church.

At the end of the research, Barret left a comment summarizing his findings.

“For thousands of years, the Radiant Church has been destroying and transforming our original beliefs and culture. Although there has been spontaneous resistance and conflict from our people during this process, it seems that this resistance may very well be the greatest factor that nurtured the Wind King’s Rebellion.”

Through the perspective of the zombie puppet standing before the desk, Dorothy seriously stared at Barret’s research records. This research provided evidence for some of Dorothy’s earlier suspicions: the lake fairy indeed evolved from the image of the Mirror Moon Goddess, and the worship of the Mirror Moon Goddess in Prit had gradually declined to its current state under the influence of the Radiant Church—a conclusion Dorothy had already guessed.

Within this research record, what caught Dorothy’s attention was Barret’s last comment about the Wind King’s Rebellion.

Dorothy knew the term Wind King’s Rebellion; in “The History of the Prit Kingdom” she read in the Crown University library, it recorded the Rebellion as a large-scale civil war that took place over five hundred years ago, involving the Despenser royal family and nearly all the nobility of the nation.

The history described that the war was sparked by the kingdom’s heir being too young and lacking legitimacy, leading to conflicts between various noble Despenser families over claims to the throne, ultimately evolving into a nationwide civil war.

The victor of this war was Edward Despenser, the direct ancestor of the current Despenser royal family. He was known as “Builder” Edward for ordering the construction of Tivyán and was ultimately crowned in a grand ceremony by the archbishop of the Prit Diocese.

“The Wind King’s Rebellion… Regardless of which history book one reads, it’s always a story of ambitious individuals fighting for the throne, with the cause of conflict being the throne itself. But according to Barret, the main motive for the Wind King’s Rebellion was the Prit people’s resistance against the oppression of Radiant Church beliefs… Interesting…

“If what Barret states is true, the war involved not only the nobility and lords but also had deep influences from the Radiant Church. In light of the current situation in Prit, the Radiant Church is clearly the victor.”

After finishing the research records, Dorothy reflected on her thoughts in the carriage. She then commanded the male zombie puppet to set aside Barret’s research and continue searching around the desk for anything of value.

Not long after, Dorothy’s attention turned to a wall beside Barret’s desk. Upon closer inspection, she found something resembling a scroll hanging on the wall.

She instructed the zombie puppet to approach for a closer look and discovered it was a bundle wrapped in dirty burlap and tied with fine thread. After carefully inspecting it, Dorothy had the male zombie puppet take it down and unfold it.

What appeared before Dorothy was a severely faded and abstract shield emblem. Although many parts were blurry, the overall shape was still discernible.

The emblem was divided into four sections, depicting two men and two women—four highly abstract knight figures. Behind the knights was a large crescent moon, and beside them were markings in ancient Prit letters that Dorothy could barely recognize.

The two male knights were labeled as “Wind Knight” and “bl**d Knight,” while the two female knights were marked as “Spirit Knight” and “Dream Knight.”

In one corner of this shield emblem was a tag with Barret’s note.

“June 18, 1359, unearthed from the Eisenk family tomb, suspected to be drawn by the Ancient Believers during the Wind King’s Rebellion.”