Translator: Meh/TransN Editor: â â
The witch left the hall as soon as she was finished talking and gave the two men no time to explain.
Roland turned his head slightly. âCan you tell whatâs going on?â
âBoth sides are telling the truth,â Nightingale whispered in his ear.
Roland pondered this for a bit and quickly guessed what had really happened. What was spoken truthfully wasnât necessarily the truth, but only what one thought was true. It seemed that the issue lay in their family history book.
âSince you came all this way from Longsong Stronghold, donât go back so soon. Stay in Ferlinâs house for a couple of days and tour the scenery of this town.â Roland turned to the confused Duke. âIâll try to reason with her, and maybe you will get to talk again.â
âIs that⌠is that true?â The Duke was shocked, but he bowed his head and said, âThen I must trouble Your Highness.â
âBy the way, where are the Magic Stones and ancient books that you brought?â
âThereâre more than ten boxes on our boat.â
âGreat, letâs bring them all to the castle,â Roland said, nodding. âI think sheâll soften up a little after seeing all of her things that survived for over 400 years.â
After dinner, the Prince called Elsa to his office.
âYou should give Duke Eltek a chance to explain himself.â He told her the Dukeâs entire story. âNo matter what your housekeeper did, this man is trying to return your belongings to you, and he may even be trying to right his ancestorâs wrongs.â
âMy housekeeper deceived his descendants, so this man doesnât owe me anything.â Elsa pouted. âAlso, witch families mean nothing now. They belong to the nobility of the Western Region, right? If I accept them, it would make things difficult for you, because you want to seize all the ruling authority of the Western Region for yourself, donât you?â
Roland was shocked that she even considered this issue, and he shook his head with a smile. âAlright, that makes sense. But you donât seem to blame them.â
âI shouldnât place my anger towards a mortal from 400 years ago onto his descendants, especially if they donât know what happened.â
âSpoken like a true enlighted member of the witchesâ kingdom!â Roland thought. âWhether it is towards mortals or accepting new things, she always has a positive outlook. To me, this is no doubt an outstanding mindset, but it was probably a rare one in Taquila, so itâs no surprise that she was rejected by other witches in the Quest Society.â
âIn that case, Iâll explain it to them,â he said, smiling. âDo you have any interest in going through your belongings?â
Elsa rolled her eyes and scoffed, âTheyâre not mine. Theyâre the Quest Societyâs belongings.â
All the boxes were brought to the castle basement. Beside Elsa, Roland also invited Tilly, Silvio, and Anna.
The boxes were opened one by one under Silvioâs watchâten out of the fifteen boxes contained Magic Stones. Roland picked up a fist-sized crystal and clicked his tongue. âYou said that they were all transformed from Godâs Stone of Retaliation, so a stone this big must be worth 200 or 300 gold royals.â
â200 or 300 gold royals?â Elsa said, unimpressed, âMagic Stones can only be produced by Chaos Beasts, so every piece is practically priceless.â
âWhat kind of Magic Stones are these?â Tilly asked. âThey donât seem easy to carry.â
âStones of Light.â Elsa pressed on the stone in the Princeâs hand and channeled her magic power into it, causing a pale yellow light to stream out of it, which quickly exceeded the light of a torch. When the blinding light became too much to bear, she finally lifted her hand. âMore than half of these are Stones of Light. Besides the ones produced by the Chaos Beasts, the rest were all battle spoils we gained from attacking Devilâs Towns.â
âHow were the Magic Stones made into different sizes?â Anna asked curiously. âIf they were all Godâs Stones of Retaliation, then they couldnât be cut with magic power, but the block of Godâs Stone of Retaliation was extremely hard and couldnât possibly be cut with knives either.â
âAn entire block?â Elsa was stunned. âAre you talking about the Godâs Stone of Retaliation vein?â
âItâs right under Border Townâs mines.â Roland explained the story of the treasure map. âIts surface is very hard, and even a flintlock can only leave a tiny dent in it.â
âI see.â She couldnât help but smile. âYou used this map to find my laboratory tower. Yes, it really was used by the Quest Society to mark the Godâs Stone of Retaliation vein and was a chosen location for the next Holy City.â
âHoly City?â Everyone asked surprisedly in unison.
âWhy else do you think there would be hundreds of cities on the Fertile Plains, but only three Holy Cities?â She lifted the corners of her mouth. âThese supposed Holy Cities are all built on top of Godâs Stone of Retaliation veins. We needed a lot of Godâs Stones of Retaliation to research the relationship between magic power and Magic Stones, and also to prevent large-scale damage in conflicts between witches.
âSo you were planning to build a New Holy City on North Slope Mountain?â Roland asked in surprise.
âYes, if we werenât defeated so quickly in the Battle of Divine Will.â Elsa sighed. âIt was the same case with the Barbarian Ridge in the Impassable Mountain Rangeâyou now refer to it as the Hermes plateau, which is where the churchâs Holy City is now.â
âThe church also continued using the term âHoly Cityâ,â Tilly said with a frown, 'so it is even more possible that they are descendants of the Union.â
Thank goodness they didnât build the churchâs Holy City in Western Region. Roland sighed quietly in relief.
âAnyway, the Godâs Stone of Retaliation is basically indestructible, so cutting it requires a special solution,â Elsa continued to explain. âIt contains the blood of witches with magic power⌠or the blood of demons.â
âBlood?â Sylvie couldnât help but gape.
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âYes, and the amount of blood needed depends on the Stone,â she said, spreading her hands. âIn the Holy City, all adult witches were required to donate blood. Once it leaves the body, the blood lost magic power very quickly, so it must be used on the spot. Every two or three years, eligible witches would be ordered by the Union to go to the mines and donate blood, and any captured demons would also serve this purpose.â
âHave you done this as well?â Anna asked.
âOf course,â Elsa said, nodding. âEven the Three Chiefs of the Union were no exception.â
âWhat about demonic beasts?â Sylvie asked. âSome demonic hybrids also seem to have magic power.â
âYes, but the levels of their magic power are very low, so their blood can only be used to deal with shattered stones, and they have no effect on the actual veins,â Elsa replied. âAfter the Godâs Stone of Retaliation is cut, its hardness will greatly decrease with its size, and its range of impact will shrink as well. For example, the Godâs Stone of Retaliation that people carry around with them can be easily smashed with a hammer.â