CH 622

When will it start moving?

In a dark room, Roel Ascart stared at the glowing cage he had received from Antonio in distress.

The spirit guide was the only clue Roel had to Alicia’s whereabouts, but it had remained motionless even though several days had passed. It was as if it was a homebody locking itself in its room!

Roel wasn’t too surprised by this situation, since Antonio had already alerted him.

“According to Magaret, spirit guides have memories too, and we are banking on that here. However, it has been two years since Alicia bonded with the spirit guide, so there’s no saying when it’ll remember her and return to her side…” Antonio’s words had trailed off halfway.

Alas, Roel was immersed in his joy from having found a lead and hadn’t considered it much. It turned out to be a major problem, after all.

Magaret was a spirit who had governed Saint Freya Academy for centuries now in order to protect ‘Academic’ Astrid. As a spirit herself, she had a much deeper understanding of spirits than humans.

However, her words only left Roel thinking that the spirit guides suffered from senile dementia.

Who could have thought that senile dementia could be a racial trait too?

It was a frustrating situation, but there was nothing Roel could do. He wasn’t a psychiatrist, and he knew nothing about the spirits’ constitution and habits.

Antonio knew that, which was why he gave Roel the cage. While the cage appeared to be an enslavement tool to imprison the guide spirits, in truth, it was used to spur the spirits’ activities. In a way, it was similar to a recuperation facility.

Different mana had different effectiveness when it came to stimulating the guide spirits, which was why Roel had different people give it a try. Upon learning the use of the guide spirit, the members of the golden generation, who knew about Alicia, enthusiastically offered their help.

An inconceivable sight appeared in the new Tark Stronghold. Young distinguished commanders stood in a queue, humbly presenting like concubines to serve the guide spirit inside the cage.

Roel’s cheeks twitched.

He had no idea what extravagance meant to the spirit guides, but Alicia’s spirit guide was most definitely receiving the VIP treatment here.

However, he quickly realized that his mana was the best stimulus for the spirit guide, followed by the Blood Clan’s Juliana. Only when the two of them released their mana would the spirit guide emanate the brightest glows.

It did make sense.

The Blood Clan were the descendants of the Mother Goddess’ offspring, so it was normal for Juliana’s mana to complement Alicia’s well, whereas Roel was the Kingmaker who had inherited a fragment of the Mother Goddess’ soul, allowing his mana to resonate with Alicia’s spirit guide.

Roel touched the runes inscribed on the cage and gently infused his mana into it. In response, the spirit guide inside the cage emanated a comfortable glow. He could sense a hint of Alicia’s aura coming from the spirit guide, and that calmed him down a little.

He pondered for a moment before turning to the thick stack of documents in his hands.

Concerned about the final plan Antonio had mentioned, Roel had tapped into Rose of Dawn’s and the Ascart House’s intelligence network to gather as much information about the situation over at the Austine Empire’s side as possible. These documents were the result.

At a brief glance, there wasn’t anything valuable in the intelligence gathered. However, when Roel carefully read between the lines, he couldn’t help but notice some peculiar details, such as Paul’s and Emperor Lukas’ abilities.

Roel was familiar with Paul’s ability, having lived under the same roof as him for a long time. The latter had the ability to manifest legendary weapons with his mana and equip them.

It was easy to underestimate how powerful this ability was, especially with the prevailing mindset that good equipment was secondary to one’s intrinsic strength. However, Paul’s ability included constructing his equipment as well, which greatly expanded its potential.

His ability might have appeared lackluster when he was weaker, since the equipment he created and manifested was bound to be weak then, but things would change as he grew stronger. If he could construct correspondingly powerful equipment as he advanced his Origin Level, he could become exponentially more powerful.

Just imagine an Origin Level 1 transcendent dressed in ancient god equipment!

Furthermore, he could bring out different equipment to help him adapt to different environments and enemies, thus granting himself a decisive edge in a battle.

For instance, if Paul were up against Magician King Priestley, he could have manifested equipment that raised his immunity to spells, which would have practically guaranteed his victory against the latter.

Of course, there were many variables in a battle aside from one’s equipment, but Paul’s ability was definitely not to be made light of. It was not without reason that he was the protagonist of Eyes of the Chronicler, after all.

In contrast, Emperor Lukas’ ability had always been a mystery.

Emperor Lukas had never revealed his ability in public prior to the war against the deviants, and there hadn’t been any news regarding his ability either. Others could only fathom a guess based on the nature of his Kingdom Origin Attribute.

It was only once the war escalated that he finally revealed glimpses of his ability.

So far, Emperor Lukas had fought on the battlefield twice.

Once, he had summoned an army of blades to block the deviants’ assault team. The other time, he had cooperated with the united army to rain swords down on the deviants so as to create an opening out of the deviants’ encirclement.

These were the only two moves he had made, but they had a decisive impact on the battlefield. According to the records, his rain of swords had completely crushed the deviants’ morale.

Summoning blades was an extremely common ability arising from the Kingdom Origin Attribute. It was lackluster compared to Lilian’s ability to summon Ten Fortresses.

However, Roel couldn’t help but feel that something was amiss. It was just his conjecture, but he believed that Emperor Lukas’ ability was a special one, similar to Paul’s.

Back when he was making his way toward Hawe Desert to meet up with Nora, he had passed by one of the battlefields where Emperor Lukas had intervened. It was a plain with countless blades stabbed into the ground, and it looked like a forest from afar. It was only during sunset, when the blades gleamed under the orange sun, that he noticed that something was amiss.

An entire year had passed since Emperor Lukas made his move on this battlefield, which meant that these blades had been battered by the four seasons. Yet, they continued to shine under the setting sun.

Roel was too busy escaping to think much about it back then, but in retrospect, something was clearly amiss.

Swords manifested through the Kingdom Origin Attribute would usually quickly degrade after the attack. Roel could only think of one possibility for why the swords had remained in pristine condition even after a year had passed.

The forest of blades was actually a single, real sword.

What Emperor Lukas had unleashed wasn’t a true sword rain, but a magic sword with the ability to split into countless copies. As long as the main magic sword remained undamaged, its copies would remain pristine throughout the seasons.

Supposing this theory was true, Emperor Lukas’ ability would be extremely similar to Paul’s. This, in itself, couldn’t prove anything, but Roel’s gut feeling was telling him that it might have something to do with the recent peculiar movements in the Austine Empire.

After spending some time pondering this matter, Roel decided not to dwell further on it, since he didn’t have enough information to make an informed deduction.

Just then, he heard a series of knocks on the door.

“Come in,” Roel said.

The door opened, and Cynthia entered. She first bowed to Roel before sharing an unexpected piece of news.

“Milord, we just received news from the Ascart House that Lord Carter is about to arrive here.”

“My father is arriving here?” Roel exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes, milord,” Cynthia replied.

Roel quickly got up and rushed out.

…

Carter’s arrival caught Roel off guard.

Nora had told him that Carter had suffered significant injuries in the previous battle, when he worked together with Holy Eminence John to slay one of the deviants’ Race Sovereigns, and was currently recuperating at home.

Carter had caught wind of the news that Roel was trapped in Tark Prairie. Alarmed, he immediately rushed over to save his son despite having yet to recover. He traveled with such haste that he actually caught up with the Ascart House’s messenger.

Little did he expect the Battle of Scorched Earth to end before his arrival.

Carter was dumbstruck when he heard about how Roel had broken out of the deviants’ encirclement with the help of the united army and even destroyed the Deviant Sovereign. It was such a dramatic development that he wondered for a moment if he was dreaming.

“Roel defeated the Deviant Sovereign?”

“Yes, milord.”

“…Huh?!?!”

Never before had Roel seen such a silly expression on his father’s face.

Truth be told, Carter had come with the resignation that he would likely have to hold a funeral for his son, but it had somehow turned into a celebration instead. Were it not for his healthy heart, he might have popped a vein then and died from a stroke.

On the other hand, Roel was moved by his father’s gesture.

It was rare for an ailing father to rush to the frontline to save his son, especially in noble houses. Roel hadn’t had any expectations of Carter, but his heart felt incredibly assured when his father appeared before his eyes.

Regardless of their strength or standing, the appearance of kin during distressing times brought warmth. Roel was no exception to that rule.

Roel’s mood lifted after his long-awaited reunion with Carter, and Carter was finally able to set his heart at ease too. However, Roel’s face quickly turned solemn, as there was an arduous task he needed to embark on, and that was to update Carter about Alicia.

“Father, there haven’t been any official reports yet, but there’s something I need to tell you…”

Roel told Carter about his encounter with Alicia, and Carter’s smile slowly faded.

Carter had been through many ups and downs while managing the Ascart House for decades. He understood what Alicia’s appearance on the battlefield alongside the Six Calamities meant, and he was aware of the implications on the Ascart House too.

Nevertheless, he refrained from commenting on the matter.

“So that’s what happened. I see,” Carter replied with a nod before patting Roel’s shoulder.

“Father…” Roel hesitated. “How do you intend to deal with this matter?”

“What’s there to deal with? I don’t plan to excommunicate a family member before the official report comes out,” Carter said, shaking his head. “Our Ascart House is not so weak as to crumble from this. Besides, there’s still a chance that Alicia may return.”

Carter then reached into his pocket, took out an envelope, and passed it to Roel, saying, “This is for you.”

“For me?” Roel blinked in surprise.

He looked at the envelope, and his eyes immediately narrowed.

To my beloved Lord Brother—Alicia Ascart