Chapter 131: Eternal Stone Slate

People said that going to the border of life and death could completely change a person. Some also said that after escaping death, a person would become much more open-minded. As for those two points, Gawain believed that Viscount Andrew had experienced it deeply.

When Viscount Andrew was placed under control with magic by the evil cult follower, he had always been awake. His consciousness was trapped in a constantly weakening body, and he had been receiving the unending corruption and torment of the evil cult follower’s hysterical thoughts. He watched as ‘he’ imposed martial law for the entire city; he watched as his family and servants were captured by the evil cult follower; he watched as the glorious clan castle sank into darkness and perversion. During these few days that felt like one hundred torturous years, he was aware that the king at the horizon couldn’t save him; the little church that was said to be blessed by god couldn’t save him; even the centuries of the Leslie Clan’s glorious inheritance couldn’t save him.

The person who finally saved him was the ancient duke from 700 years ago, who had rushed down the White River.

Fate was truly something that was never clear and defined. His bold ‘investment’ a few months ago had actually been repaid in a totally unexpected method… with his life.

In the meeting chamber that had a large hole, Viscount Andrew who had recovered some strength was seated in his spacious chair. He smiled bitterly and spoke the truth about what had invited the calamity. “A new crystal ore vein had been discovered in the mine. Therefore, I sent someone to excavate a new mining tunnel. During the process of excavation, the tunnel collapsed, and the foreman reported that there was a huge space under the mine…”

Gawain’s heart jolted as he heard until this point. It turns out that Viscount Andrew has discovered those secrets under my territory?

But Gawain’s previous judgment wasn’t wrong either. This viscount didn’t know about the existence of those Gondor ruins, and he had only recently discovered something new under the mine…

Viscount Andrew’s narration continued. “It is an ancient ruin. There are ancient, rock-like walls and support structures. Its spaciousness is like the corridor in the palace and isn’t like a narrow and cramped tunnel. Most of it had collapsed and had been buried, but there are places that are flawlessly preserved. I sent men to investigate the ruin, and they discovered a room that was tightly locked. The room’s magic seal had lost its effect. Therefore, my territory’s mages easily undid the mechanisms in the room. Afterward, we found some ancient relics… Among them was a shard of the Eternal Stone Slate.”

Gawain was familiar with the Eternal Stone Slate. It was said that all secrets in regards to the gods in this world had originated from that mysterious Eternal Stone Slate. During ancient times, when mortals had yet to get in touch with miracles, the Eternal Stone Slate was a complete piece. Afterward, the predecessors of humans and the other races had discovered the stone slate. The moment they made contact with it, knowledge of gods had surged into the minds of those people. It included theurgy inheritances, spirit tablet positioning, names of gods, clerical professions, and many others. The first batch of predecessors who made contact with the Eternal Stone Slate had become the first of the mortals to be ‘enlightened’, turning them into the first generation popes and saints.

Shortly after, the Eternal Stone Slate had been split into pieces. It was almost a divine blessing from the gods as they didn’t wish for the mortals to receive power more than what the mortals could endure. The stone slate that contained endless power had been shattered into countless shards and scattered in the mortal realm.

Years after the incident, a few of the major factions that sprang to power rapidly had found shards of the stone slate. Those factions included the strongest — Sect of the God of War, Church of Holy Light, and Church of the Three Goddesses of Fertility. They viewed the shards of the stone slate as sacred objects and preserved them in their respective sacred grounds. Only the highest-ranking members of the factions would be able to access the stone slate and have a chance to obtain enlightenment. Even though the stone slate was shattered, there was plenty of remaining power. When mortals touched it, they could comprehend knowledge that involved the gods. Furthermore, those orthodox and powerful factions were able to maintain superiority for hundreds or thousands of years, largely due to those shards of the stone slate.

According to each religion’s ability, the ‘sacred knowledge’ had been collected by the major factions. Most of the shards of the stone slate were within the control of the powerful factions. Gawain knew clearly that the factions had only collected the largest shards of the stone slate. Heavens knew how many little shards and fragments of the stone slate had been scattered in the world. A portion of those shards was secretly kept by those middle- or small-scale factions. There were also shards that were in the hands of kings, dukes, and even collectors. However, those smaller shards contained a minuscule amount of the ‘divine blessing’, and it wasn’t enough to increase the grade of a person’s theurgy or for someone to obtain a complete knowledge of god. It was also why they were allowed to remain among the people and weren’t desperately sought after by the various major factions.

Gawain didn’t expect for Viscount Andrew to actually be so fortunate (or unfortunate) to find one of the shards of the Eternal Stone Slate that was scattered outside.

Immediately after, he associated it with the ancient fortress in the Dark Range and also with the experiments mentioned by Nicholas Egg that were conducted a thousand years ago. He guessed that it might be those ‘locally excavated samples’ and something involving those ‘divine evils’.

It meant that the shard of the stone slate was discovered by the Gondor Empire’s Master Mages, and they had buried them in the underground ruin? Could it be that the locally excavated samples mentioned by the researchers were actually the shards of the Eternal Stone Slate? No, it shouldn’t be. The Eternal Stone Slate might be precious, but the Gondor Empire was at the pinnacle at that time, and the major factions wouldn’t dare to directly confront the authority of the empire. Gawain didn’t believe the emperor during the Meteoric Era would play with the shards of the Eternal Stone Slate like some collection walnuts[1]. Then it meant that the shard of the Eternal Stone Slate was only a portion of the things buried underground…

Gawain’s mind might be spinning rapidly with plenty of thoughts, but it was only for an instant. He revealed a perfectly surprised look and said to Viscount Andrew, “So the evil cult follower targeted the Eternal Stone Slate on your hands… It’s true. The Oblivion Association had transformed from the druid religion, and they have maintained their twisted convictions. It is normal for them to have a predisposition to these god’s artifacts. But how did they obtain this information?”

“My butler.” After staying silent for a moment, Viscount Andrew smiled bitterly and said, “I should have known when he looked for various magic medicines for me and from the display of his understanding of mysterious knowledge. He was already a member of the Oblivion Association!”

Gawain was startled for a moment before he quickly recalled who the butler was. Mainly because he recalled that Amber had stolen his watch that it had made a truly deep impression.

At the side, Amber rubbed her chin and muttered, “It seems like I don’t have to return the watch to him.”

Viscount Andrew didn’t have a talent for magic and didn’t have talent for any of the extraordinary professions like knight or warlock. Yet, he had to ensure he possessed the fundamental ‘qualification for the extraordinary’. As such, he had always been very interested in magic medicine, mysterious rituals, and anything that could increase extraordinary power. His butler who had served him for many years was someone erudite in mysterious knowledge. During normal times, he would always be able to locate effective magic medicines, and that had allowed him to obtain Viscount Andrew’s trust. Who would have expected that the butler who never revealed any flaw for decades was actually a lackey of the Oblivion Association?

It was a pity that this lackey had already fled. Before the evil cult follower had gotten the initial control of the castle, the butler had already vanished.

According to the fragments of information, Gawain guessed that the ‘butler’ might be an ‘external member’ that was specially nurtured by the Oblivion Association. They didn’t possess extraordinary talent but had knowledge of the mysteries. It would allow them to obtain the trust of nobles easily, and the nobles would be less vigilant toward them. Once the followers of the Oblivion Association made their move, these external members would flee rapidly. They might change their faces to infiltrate other nobles or might be switched over to deeper ranks within the association…

Gawain was truly worried that such a scenario wasn’t a special case.

Viscount Andrew wasn’t from a prestigious noble clan that could affect the kingdom’s situation, but the Oblivion Association had developed to such a massive scale that it spread throughout the kingdom. This evil cult wouldn’t specially plant a spy at the borders of the Anzu Kingdom for decades. The only explanation would be that planting spies in noble clans was a norm.

What kind of monster had this corrupted druid faction developed into since ancient times?!

Soon enough, Gawain found out why the evil cult follower had controlled Viscount Andrew — to proclaim martial law.

“I told him that the Eternal Stone Slate had been delivered to the King as a tribute and had already been transported out of the castle.” As Viscount Andrew spoke slowly, he revealed a pleased smile and said, “His sorcery could control my body and my tongue, but he couldn’t control my mind. He could make me read the speech he had arranged, but he didn’t have any method to make me say what I knew in my heart. Therefore, he didn’t know where I hid the stone slate and had no choice but to proclaim martial law and make use of my name to search through all the houses. However, before finding the stone slate, he didn’t dare to let me die…”

So that was the reason… Gawain nodded as he understood what had happened. The corrupted druid indeed had sorcery to control people’s movements and words, but it wasn’t the spirit control spell but the superficial nervous-system control spell. It was a variant of the druids’ animal control spell. When facing such a spell, as long as one had a tenacious willpower and resisted it, the evil cult follower wouldn’t be able to extract any information.

Gawain just didn’t expect Viscount Andrew who looked like an overdosed sick person would possess such tenacious willpower.

“So that evil cult follower had buried everyone in the castle at the central courtyard to extract their thoughts and also to find out the location of the stone slate shard…” Amber had also reacted and looked at the sickly viscount with astonishment. “But those people didn’t know where the shard was, and you were the only person who knew about this matter, meaning that… Did you not send out that thing at all?”

“Of course I didn’t send it out.” Viscount Andrew struggled to laugh. Even though he was weak, he still raised his head and said, “I am the heir of the Leslie Clan. Even if I starve to death, die in a foreign place, or am thrown out of this place, I will not yield to an evil cult follower!”

Although this statement had a subtle familiar feeling, Gawain still looked at this weak traditional noble with respect. This was a noble of this era. He was indeed cliché and lagging behind and acted foolishly in the eyes of his god, but at the same time, he possessed the so-called ‘noble spirit’. This spirit supported a near unreasonable pride, and the pride didn’t allow him to lower his head to the evil cult follower even if he was afraid of death.

“Where exactly did you hide the shard of the Eternal Stone Slate?” Gawain couldn’t help but ask curiously.

“Ha… Haha…” Viscount Andrew laughed delightedly, so much so that he coughed violently. “It had always been under the eyes of that fellow! Right underneath his eyes!”

While speaking, the viscount struggled to stand from the chair and lifted the thick seat cushion.

“That fool had opened up my treasure vault, rummaged through my magical material room, searched my bedroom and attic, pried open every single locked chest and cupboard, but he never ever expected me to just put it under my ass and sit on it!!”

When the thick seat cushion was lifted, Gawain immediately saw it.

It laid quietly on the seat and was only the size of a palm. The thickness was less than half a centimeter… and it was completely different from Gawain’s imagination. This so-called Eternal ‘Stone Slate’ wasn’t a piece of stone slate at all.

It was an extremely flat, smooth, light-golden metallic plate that had mysterious patterns on it.

[1] collection walnuts – Chinese collection walnuts are like things to play around that are said to improve blood circulation

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep