“So... this is where Aurier’s inheritance is?”
Following the emblem’s guidance, Muen moved swiftly through the city. After avoiding large numbers of Kingdom soldiers who were slaughtering people in a frenzy, he finally arrived before a desolate estate.
Muen had not spent too much time, because this place was still in the western district.
Only, compared to some places Muen was more familiar with, such as the orphanage and the cemetery, this place was much closer to Saint Haze Palace. Under the reflection of the firelight not far away, Muen could even see the palace’s outline.
Anyone who could live here had to possess no simple status.
But this estate had been abandoned.
The gate was completely sealed shut with chains, and there were seals pasted over it. There was even the aura of magic on them. Hard-to-detect magical arrays were hidden deep within the gate, and anyone who intended to enter would be blocked outside.
“It’s locked down this tightly. Looks like there really is something good here.”
Muen took out the emblem and waved it in front of the gate.
Yet unexpectedly, the emblem did not open the seal on the gate.
“What does that mean? Aurier wasn’t the one who sealed this gate?”
Muen was somewhat puzzled, but he did not dwell too long on such a small issue. He took out Elizabeth and casually cut along the crack of the gate, slicing through the chains and the restriction on the gate together.
Judging from the style of the magical array, this was not some warning magic that would notify the caster. It was purely meant to block entry.
That, on the contrary, could not stop Muen.
Muen pushed open the gate, stirring up a heavy cloud of dust, which he casually dispersed.
He entered the estate.
Although, from the outside, Muen had already made some guesses about the interior of this rather spacious estate, after actually entering, he was still slightly startled.
This was no longer desolate. It was ruined.
Aside from the weeds growing everywhere because it had gone too long without maintenance, most of the things in this estate were in tatters.
Muen’s gaze sharpened. He keenly realized these damages were not traces left by time. Judging from the growth of the weeds, this place had only been abandoned for a few years. Time might be a butcher’s knife, but it was not yet so vicious as to butcher things this badly.
This damage... was man-made.
“A fierce... no, a tragic battle happened here.”
Muen walked into the courtyard and began combining those traces, reconstructing in his mind the scene that might once have occurred.
“The estate was invaded by a group of people. The estate’s owner led people into an intense battle with the intruders.”
Knife marks. Sword marks. There were even traces of arrows and crossbows.
Most absurdly, in front of a half-collapsed building, Muen deduced that this had probably been blasted out by a magic cannon.
After playing with magic cannons so many times, he was far too familiar with that thing.
“They dared to mobilize a magic cannon for an attack in an area this close to Saint Haze Palace, and judging from the traces, the intruders’ strength wasn’t weak either. Combining all these conditions, those so-called intruders were most likely...”
Muen lifted his head and glanced at the outline of the palace in the night.
“This is a little interesting. But here comes the question. Why did they attack this place back then, and... why would Aurier’s emblem guide me here?”
There was only a stretch of ruins here.
Could Aurier’s “inheritance” really be in these ruins?
“Hm?”
As Muen was thinking, he suddenly noticed that the emblem had grown warmer, even emitting faint motes of light.
He quickly carried the emblem around and moved from place to place. At last, he arrived at an area where the reaction was strongest.
“This is... a well?”
Muen looked down from the mouth of the well. Although it had been abandoned for several years, the well still held clear water, reflecting Muen’s face.
“If this was during that kind of intense battle, a well would be a pretty good place to hide. Isn’t that how they always do it in dramas?”
Muen smiled, then jumped straight into the well without hesitation.
Since the thing Aurier had left behind pointed here, he naturally had to go down and take a look.
Splash.
Muen entered the water.
The well water in late autumn was bone-chillingly cold, but of course, it had no effect on Muen.
He went downward, holding onto the smooth wall of the well as he continuously swam deeper.
The well’s depth quickly exceeded Muen’s imagination. Muen swam for several minutes before finally reaching the bottom.
“Reached the bottom.”
Yet this only made him even more puzzled.
Because an ordinary well had no meaning to him...
“Could it be...”
Muen took out the emblem once again.
Buzz.
The crown on the emblem glowed faintly, illuminating the darkness before him. Then the world before Muen abruptly flipped.
“Pwah...”
Muen surfaced from the water.
He had clearly been swimming downward with his head facing below just now, but after one brief daze, he had surfaced from underneath.
It seemed some exquisite isolation array had suddenly taken effect. There was not the slightest trace or aura of magic either. If not for the emblem’s existence, even Muen would only have thought it was an ordinary deep well.
This feeling... was inexplicably familiar.
“This place is...”
Muen looked around and found that he had already arrived in an unfamiliar space.
This place was not large. Rather than some underground space, it was more like an artificially excavated basement.
A narrow underground river, which was where Muen was, wound through this basement and extended into some unknown place. On the other side, Muen saw several crude long tables, as well as the dense mass of various papers pinned all over the wall.
It looked like some kind of...
“Intelligence analysis room?”
Muen first came before the wall. He was immediately drawn to a damaged newspaper at the edge.
“An estate on Duvis Street in the western district was attacked. According to explanations from relevant security personnel, the attack was launched by a certain gang in the western district after they became greedy for wealth. Under the cover of night, they raided the estate. At present, the confirmed number of dead and injured in the estate is seventeen, and the estate’s property was also looted.
“Viscount Rowe, Chief Security Officer of the western district, stated that the gang criminals will be arrested and brought to justice as quickly as possible, and called on the public to enthusiastically provide relevant information...”
“Duvis Street?”
Muen thought for a moment. “That should be here.”
Was what the newspaper described the incident that had happened before this estate was abandoned?
A gang attack?
“Heh. How could a gang attack drag in a magic cannon? And in a place not far from Saint Haze Palace, no less. No matter how I look at it, there’s something fishy here. And judging from this statement, the authorities were trying to cover something up...”
Muen continued reading. The rest were likewise old newspapers.
[His most favored Ninth Prince died young. His Majesty was grief-stricken and ordered a thorough investigation...]
[His most favored Sixteenth Prince died young. His Majesty was grief-stricken and ordered a thorough investigation...]
[His most favored Twenty-Third Princess died young. His Majesty was grief-stricken and ordered a thorough investigation...]
[His most favored little princess died young. His Majesty...]
“...That’s a lot of deaths.”
The corner of Muen’s mouth twitched.
So being that old thing’s son or daughter was also a high-risk occupation?
Whoever he favored died. It really highlighted a father’s love, heavy as a mountain... collapsing into a tsunami.
“But thinking carefully, that’s normal too.”
It was the royal family, after all. Open and hidden struggles for power always produced a few sacrifices.
Just look at Celicia’s family. There were only three siblings in total, and two of them died directly.
The death rate was as high as two-thirds, even more ruthless than that old thing’s family.
But one reason for that was also that the old thing was fertile. His children’s numbers had already reached the twenties.
“But none of that matters. What does it have to do with me how many sons that old thing lost?” Muen silently rubbed his chin.
It seemed Aurier thought the same way. That was why these newspapers had all been placed at the edges, without even a detailed introduction.
Nor was any detailed introduction needed. As someone who had experienced it personally, Aurier naturally understood far more than any outside report. Besides, regarding news of the royal family, these newspapers probably did not dare publish too many details. Those dead princes and princesses did not even have portraits.
Muen continued looking toward the central area.
Then his gaze sharpened.
“Here comes the important part.”
The pieces of information in the center of the wall had been assembled one by one, then marked in red ink. They outlined intelligence Muen absolutely could not have obtained through his own channels, nor through a short period of exploration.
It was the result of Aurier’s painstaking work.
[First, the control core of the grand barrier is not one, but two. Or rather, it consists of two separated from a single whole.]
The first line, and the first line marked in red.
“That makes sense.”
Muen nodded and was not surprised by this information.
The Empire palace restriction’s control cores were not limited to one either. That was a form of balance, meant to prevent one person from doing whatever they wished through the control core, or to prevent everything from being lost once the control core fell into someone else’s hands.
“So the grand barrier has two control cores, and that old thing only controls one.”
Muen remembered the old thing unconscious on the bed not long ago. What he had held had indeed only been a semicircular control core. Clearly, it had not been designed into that shape from the beginning.
The following words immediately confirmed Muen’s guess.
[Of the two control cores, one is controlled by Saint Peron V as King, and the other is controlled by his uncle, Duke Onlancien, guardian of Saint Haze Palace and possessor of a special bloodline. The two hold equal authority, and both can operate the grand barrier.]
[The most basic function of the grand barrier is to protect this city and the most central Saint Haze Palace. With the two of them jointly holding the control cores, there was originally peace. But one assassination attempt that nearly succeeded changed everything.]
[Saint Peron V began to fear. He began to believe that the grand barrier in its current state could not fully protect him.]
[Thus, he came up with that method of fusion.]
[Unsurprisingly, Duke Onlancien refused. He believed that the function of the grand barrier was not to protect a single individual, and even more so, he could not sit by and watch the grand barrier that had protected Saint Blancfazesiya for centuries be destroyed in Saint Peron V’s hands.]
[But he knew he was no match for the King’s authority. Thus, amid a chaotic incident, he disappeared without a trace while carrying the second control core. Saint Peron V searched for him like a madman, but never found any trace of him again.]
[After searching to no avail, Saint Peron V ultimately fused with the grand barrier anyway, because of his own selfish desire and cowardice.]
[But because the second control core was missing, this fusion was imperfect and left behind a flaw.]
“...”
Thump. Thump.
Muen’s heartbeat began to quicken.
Because upon seeing this, he finally realized that the “inheritance” Aurier had left him was very likely something even more incredible than he had imagined.
He looked around and found that there seemed to be no place to hide anything here.
Then he thought for a moment and tore away the papers on the wall that gathered all this information.
On the wall, behind the papers, was an extremely inconspicuous little hidden door.
The hidden door had nearly merged with the wall. It was extremely delicate. If not for the emblem’s reaction, even Muen would not have noticed it.
Muen took out the emblem again and brought it close.
With a click, this time the hidden door successfully opened.
Inside was a semicircular grand barrier control core.
