NOVEL NEXT Chapter 44 - Letter
Chapter 44: Letter
Translator: CKtalon
Going back to the Walde family’s lineage, its ancestors could be traced back to the ancient King of Blackwater who triggered the Rotten Moon Tide of the Undead 1,000 years ago. Be it the King and Rebel or the Eternal Gift rituals, they were all legacies secretly handed down by the Walde family over the years, so that they could restore the former glory of the Blackwater Kingdom one day.
It relied on the King and Rebel ritual to obtain the authority and strength of the ancient mythical God King, Oka, and then on the Eternal Gift to create an immortal army of the dead that didn’t rest while being absolutely loyal. This was the plan Simon had proposed to Vincent in the Silverstream Mine more than 20 years ago to build the foundation of the new Blackwater Kingdom.
This plan was supposed to be executed back then, but Simon and Vincent found seven seals that sealed the Rotten Moon wraith when they went to the deepest depths of the Holy Sepulchre. From the stone plaque in front of the seal, they learned the history of the two Judges, the Black Swordsman and Jackdaw, who died there a thousand years ago to seal the Walde ancestor’s wraith.
The last sentence of the plaque warned future generations that the seal here couldn’t be released for a thousand years. Otherwise, no one would be able to control that power.
Sensing the powerful power in the seal, the two of them chose to leave and decided to make plans.
Today, the deadline described on the stone plaque was here…
“So, help me like you used to, okay?” Duke Simon requested Vincent.
Vincent reminded, “But can it succeed? The King and Rebel ritual setup under the Silverstream Mine has been discovered. The Presiding Judge will likely come and destroy it halfway through the ritual.”
Regarding this, Duke Simon said confidently, “The ritual arrangements under the Silverstream Mine are only secondhand preparations. Now that I’ve been discovered, it can be used as a smokescreen. I’ve already prepared the location of the ritual.”
“Where?”
Vincent asked in confusion. He had never heard of a second ritual being prepared.
“In the deepest part of the Holy Sepulchre, in the chamber with seven seals,” Duke Simon replied frankly.
That was also the location where the Eternal Gift was planned.
“Could it be that you plan on holding the Eternal Gift and the King and Rebel ritual together?” Vincent asked in disbelief.
Even a mage apprentice knew that because magic of different natures would interfere and convert between each other, powerful spells of a certain scale couldn’t be carried out together.
However, Duke Simon nodded and replied, “Once the Eternal Gift begins, magic power will gather from the millions of corpses in Thorn City’s graveyard and resonate to form a miniature Netherworld. This way, even without the Skull Temple’s energy supply, the magic power fuel needed to complete the King and Rebel ritual will be sufficient. Believe me, I’ve made all the preparations.”
“Then, how are you going to balance the conflict between the two powerful spells? The rituals are held in the same tomb,” Vincent asked.
“There’s a way. With the help of the three goddesses, the magical power of King and Rebel’s ritual magic can be adjusted to a level similar to the Eternal Gift…”
As Simon spoke, he slowly pushed away the magical medium that had been blocking his connection with the Moon Realm spirit.
“Are there any other questions?”
Vincent fell silent for a moment before asking, “Then who’s the sacrifice for the King and Rebel ritual? Is it the cripple you’ve been raising in the dungeon?”
Ten years ago, Duke Simon had secretly brought an unknown illegitimate son of the Empire’s royal family to the Rose Palace’s dungeon. Back then, Vincent had thought that Simon planned on using this illegitimate son as a wedge for the complicated royal faction struggles in the Platinum Palace.
However, over the years, other than raising the child in the dungeon, Duke Simon had never done anything else. He didn’t nurture him as an heir, nor did he use him to secretly contact the royal family.
It was a long time before Vincent realized that this child with the bloodline of the Empire’s royal family could barely satisfy the requirements of the King and Rebel ritual offerings because he had a very small chance of inheriting the Empire’s throne.
However, just as the Presiding Judge had said, ritual magic focused on the reproduction of myths. How much effect could an illegitimate son who only had a slight chance of becoming the Empire’s emperor play the legendary God King?
“He’s part of the ritual.”
Simon gave a curt answer; he didn’t explain further.
Seeing his confident expression, Vincent hesitated for a moment before finally nodding slowly.
“So, what part do I play in all of this?”
“Time is tight now. We have to complete the ritual before the Divine Realm mage reacts. Go to the Astral Lighthouse’s Astral Observatory now and ignore everything else that ensues. All the rituals will be completed tonight. After that, I’ll tell you how the guardian opens the Astral Lighthouse. You have to advance to Legendary before the Astral Council reacts. It’s that simple.”
“In other words, I don’t need to do anything other than be used as a hostage?” Vincent asked.
“If you don’t do this, that old turtle won’t dare to go to the Holy Sepulchre. He won’t have a chance to react once the ritual begins, so you just have to wait there for my news,” Duke Simon replied.
Every Astral Lighthouse needed a Legendary or at least a magic chanter close to a Legendary to be the tower guardian and be in charge of managing the local magical power network.
The authority of the tower guardian was granted by the Astral Council and was adjusted every five years.
As the Astral Observatory at the top of the tower led straight to the Astral World, it was the best holy land for magic chanters to edify their powers. The Astral Council would also specially transfer magic chanters close to the Legendary domain to be the tower guardians to help them break through to Legendary.
The tower guardian was allowed to temporarily leave the Astral Observatory during emergencies, but he had to find someone of the same realm to hold down the fort in his place. If a non-authorized personnel entered the Astral Observatory to manage the magic network in his place, that person’s life and death were at the tower guardian’s whim.
Vincent looked at Duke Simon and fell silent for a long time before finally nodding.
It was very dangerous, but he had done countless more dangerous things in the past 20 years.
“But this time, I have a condition,” Vincent said.
In Duke Simon’s impression, this was the first time he was raising conditions, but Simon still nodded and said, “Tell me. I’ll agree to anything possible.”
“Protect my daughter, Liliana, before this chaos ends.”
Duke Simon looked into Vincent’s eyes and replied solemnly, “You have my word.”
…
As he watched Vincent leave, the star that symbolized the Nightmare Maid in Simon’s ether domain asked him, “Since you’ve promised him, why didn’t you give him that letter? Then, tell him that his daughter’s soul has fallen into the Nightmare Swamp?”
Simon shook his head.
“If he knows about this, do you think he would still go to the Astral Lighthouse as I planned?”
“So you lied to him? How heartless. Not long ago, you clearly said that his value far exceeded others.”
The Nightmare Maid’s laughter sounded.
“It was your subordinate who pulled his daughter’s soul into the Nightmare Swamp. Did you do this on purpose?”
“How is that possible? It was just a coincidence… Moreover, didn’t you say that as long as his daughter isn’t around, he will become a warrior again? I’m helping you recover your former warrior.”
Simon closed his eyes when he heard that. After a long time, he said, “There’s no need… The Blackwater Kingdom doesn’t need warriors like him in the future.”