Chapter 644: Act 6 – The Riddle in the Stone
“Sky Blue Spear… Aunt Tanyia, where did you get this news?” Brendel saw Princess Grifian suddenly tense up, as if her body had become as taut as a bowstring. She cautiously asked.
“It comes from a conjecture,” Tanyia adjusted her glasses, “I stumbled upon some things that inspired me.”
Princess Grifian let out a sigh of relief and sat back down. “I see…”
“I see?” Miss Faerie was quite displeased: “Shouldn’t you be asking what inspired me?”
“N-no… I’m sorry, I was too surprised.” Princess Grifian’s response was a bit awkward; she didn’t actually care. What mattered to her was whether anything had leaked about the events that took place underground at Ampere Seale that day. However, she understood the whimsical nature of the faerie and knew that if she didn’t go along with her mood, today’s conversation might never end. So she pretended to be very interested and asked, “So Aunt Tanyia, what exactly did you find? Was it those documents lost from before the Age of Dimming?”
“Of course not,” Tanyia looked startled, “The documents from before the Tower of Eternity collapsed are long lost to history. They were what countless wizards spent their lives seeking; how could I possibly find them?” She placed her finger to her lips, her expression serious as she reminded, “You must not joke about this. Have you ever witnessed the wrath of the People of Silver?”
“I understand, Aunt Tanyia, so what did you actually discover?” Princess Grifian asked helplessly.
“You will understand soon.”
Brendel saw Princess Grifian exchange a look with him, signaling him to wait. He could figure out how the princess felt at this moment. However, contrary to what Princess Grifian assumed, he was not anxious at all; instead, he was curious about why Miss Faerie was so certain. He sensed that this could be the original quest line about the Sky Blue Spear in the game.
At this moment, Tanyia clapped her hands. The little loli had already moved a chest from behind the hall—Brendel had originally thought that the so-called ‘jewel-encrusted chest’ was the size of a jewelry box, but soon realized he was mistaken. It was indeed a chest almost as tall as two-thirds of Carla, and the little girl had to exert herself to pull it out, her little face flushed with effort.
Tanyia stood up—she was only as tall as Brendel’s shoulder while standing on the exhibition platform—and then fluttered her gossamer wings to land on the chest. Brendel noticed that the crystals embedded on the chest were actually defensive runes. Tanyia placed her finger on those crystals, and the runes lit up one by one before releasing themselves.
Only then did she pull up the iron ring on top of the chest and open it. “What is this?” As the chest opened, Princess Grifian’s attention was inevitably drawn to the contents inside, which were three large and small dark metal discs.
But Brendel’s gaze narrowed slightly. He almost immediately stood up from his seat, but bit down on his tongue to calm himself; the sharp pain quickly jolted him awake.
This was the Earth Slate.
It recorded the creation epic of the Crusian people, the original text from the Poem of Azure. It was said to contain texts that unraveled all the secrets of the mortal realm, and in the future, it sparked a bloody war among wizards. This was the root of world conflict, and now it had appeared before him once again.
Although called a slate, the Earth Slate was actually a metal disc with a special texture. The lowest grade was a black metal resembling iron, while the higher grades were akin to gold and platinum. Regardless of which, the chest was undoubtedly filled with Earth Slates.
He suddenly understood why this unknown age faerie lady claimed to have discovered something that could indirectly prove the whereabouts of the Sky Blue Spear. The legendary Earth Slate was said to contain all the secrets of the world, and if what she discovered was related to the Sky Blue Spear, it seemed not too difficult to reach that conclusion.
“I don’t know what these things are,” Tanyia said, treating the metal discs like treasures as she patted the ones inside the chest, then looked up at Grifian to explain, “They were unearthed by me and a group of adventurers from some ruins to the north of the Gilded Flower Highlands. I traded them for other antiques because I found these things rather interesting.”
“Interesting?” Princess Grifian frowned and asked.
“I don’t know, but they are inscribed with some kind of script. After reviewing the literature, I found that they bear a striking resemblance to some ancient writing of the Crusian people.” Miss Faerie held up her right hand, and suddenly a gust of wind arose in the hall—people believe faeries are born elementals, and indeed they have extraordinary talent in this domain. Just like now, the wind that arose lifted several sheets of paper from a nearby desk, swirling them toward Princess Grifian and gently landing them in her hands.
Princess Grifian looked down and realized that the papers were all notes. She couldn’t comprehend them fully, but she could tell that the contents were an explanation and interpretation of a certain type of script.
She involuntarily raised her head to look at Brendel with a questioning expression.
“This is the ancient script of the Golongqi clan.” Brendel answered.
“Eh?”
Tanyia raised her head as if examining a rare treasure, scrutinizing Brendel. “Darus is a fool; I didn’t expect his descendant to be extraordinary. You’re much smarter than your grandfather, young man.”
“This isn’t intelligence; it’s just knowledge, ma’am,” Brendel replied begrudgingly.
“Close enough; to me, knowledge is also a part of wisdom. Most mortals are muddleheaded because they cannot see through their fate. Only those who possess true wisdom can grasp their destiny; do you agree, young man?” Tanyia lifted her head, asking, although she was still shorter than Brendel’s shoulder while standing on the chest, her words carried a certain authority.
This kind of momentum could only be seen in the prideful wizards. Though wizards wield magic, they held true wisdom in high regard.
Knowledge changes fate—this is the motto inscribed on the Silver Tower.
Brendel more or less confirmed her identity.
Princess Grifian was still looking through the notes page by page. She didn’t fully comprehend, but that didn’t prevent her from using her intelligence to understand the meanings. She asked, “Are these scripts related to the Sky Blue Spear? Did a tribe of the Crusian people once safeguard the Sky Blue Spear?”
“No,” Brendel shook his head, “the Golongqi clan has no relation to the Sky Blue Spear, but the documents recorded in similar language on these slates are related to the Sky Blue Spear.”
“Those are not slates,” Miss Faerie reminded from the side, tapping on the metal discs. They made a ringing sound.
But Brendel ignored her and continued, “This is a record of the ancient epic of the Crusian people, the Poem of Azure.”
With a ‘crash,’ all the manuscripts in Princess Grifian’s hands slipped to the floor.
Tanyia’s actions froze there.
In the vast lands of Vaunte, amidst the long river of history, the legends of the Poem of Azure of the Crusian people had been passed down through countless mouths since who knows when. Even no one had seen the main text of this grand epic; it was said to be inscribed on a slab originally, later scattered among Draglad, the Sacred White Plains, and Homan, and eventually leaving only fragmented history.
In darker times, the ancestors compiled those fragmented histories and carried them through the wilderness. This was the first segment of civilization’s history; later, that book was stored in the archives of the Temple of Fire, though it was said that one-third fell into the hands of Bud’s silver wizards.
But these were merely forgeries translated by the sages.
The real Poem of Azure—neither beginning nor end—began from the time the universe started and ended when the world ends. It recorded all the secrets of the mortal realm, the parts that the black iron, gold, and people of silver could understand were less than one in ten thousand.
“You’re saying this is the original text of the Poem of Azure?” Miss Faerie jumped from the chest as if pricked by needles. But she quickly calmed down, looking skeptically at Brendel, “How do you know that?”
“I certainly know,” Brendel replied, “Stam ti or osa— in the earliest of times, runes contained inherent magic. The oldest scripts were birthed from that; even today, witches still believe in the existence of magic within language, which they call word spirits.”
“The ancient Golongqi script is merely one derived from primitive texts; the earliest documents have records on this.”
In the mortal realm, there were fewer than ten people who could say such a thing. Especially that initial segment of the runes; the true original runes. While Brendel didn’t have a magical vibration when reciting it, Tanyia understood it completely.
She had no doubts now. Her eyes sparkled as if she had discovered a mouse, and she flew over to grab Brendel’s collar, loudly exclaiming, “How do you know this? Which documents did you see this from? Did you find the history records from before the Age of Dimming?”
Brendel nearly choked on her sudden enthusiasm. He quickly pushed the faerie away. He had known that he might encounter such a reaction before he opened his mouth. Not just her, even Turiman would likely react the same way.
Back then, he had only told Turiman about a primitive rune, and Turiman had already become overly excited. How much more so for a complete sentence now?
But he did this with his own motives.
He adjusted his collar and gave Princess Grifian a reassuring look. The princess was already stunned; while she might not understand the wizarding world, she knew that Brendel might possess some astonishing secret. Moreover, the matter concerning the Poem of Azure alone was shocking enough.
Seeing Brendel nod at her, she finally relaxed and bent down to pick up the manuscripts from the ground.
Brendel turned back, “Aunt Tanyia, I certainly haven’t found any historical records from before the Age of Dimming; you know that’s impossible. However, I happen to have done some research about primitive runes.”
“Some research, huh?” Tanyia snorted lightly, “In the entire Silver Alliance, there’s hardly anyone more qualified to say that than you, am I right? You telling me all this is merely so you can make a deal with me, isn’t it?”
That was the so-called cunning of wizards.
Brendel nodded. “Aunt Tanyia, I’d like to ask, did you find these slates in the Huse Ruins of the Gilded Flower Highlands?”
“Huse Ruins? No, it didn’t have a name at that time, but we did find some artifacts from the era of the Holy War there. There’s a massive palace.”
So it was indeed the Huse Ruins.
Brendel understood this meant that the slates Tanyia had were the first batch of Earth Slates ever excavated in history. However, why were they dug up so long before the recorded time? Or had they taken a long time to be recognized for their value after being unearthed?
Brendel leaned towards the latter possibility.
But that wasn’t important.
He considered for a moment and asked, “Aunt Tanyia, do you really want to find the Sky Blue Spear?”
“Brendel!” Princess Grifian suddenly stood up.
……
(PS: This relates to the main storyline; I spent a bit more time on it while writing, please forgive me.)(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit qidian.com to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
