Southwest outskirts of Tivian, north of Shield Hill, Barret's villa.
During the night, in the villa where the tragedy occurred, the Eight Point Nest assassins led by Kenk were still continuously searching the entire villa, trying to find the location of Barret's laboratory. Due to a mishap in the planned spiritual channeling step, they lacked effective intelligence and still had no clue about the laboratory's location.
Just as Kenk and his assassins were scurrying around the vast mansion like headless flies, deep beneath the mansion, in Barret's laboratory, Dorothy was having the male Corpse Puppet she had successfully infiltrated start searching for Barret's research materials, attempting to figure out what truth he had grasped.
Inside the secret room, the male Corpse Puppet controlled by Dorothy stood before the statue of Prit's legendary hero, Arthur. Through the Corpse Puppet's perspective, Dorothy looked at the old book pages found in the notebook next to the statue, observing the story on the old pages, which was vastly different from the legend Dorothy was familiar with.
'Agello, the bloodthirsty monster who died from eight dagger wounds, the witch who used her eight eyes to guide Arthur in eight pursuits, Arthur who drank eight eyes and fought eight times only to die from poison... This is truly an Arthur story completely different from what is usually heard. A story where Arthur ultimately dies like this probably wouldn't be liked by children.'
On the carriage several kilometers away, Dorothy muttered as she looked at the story on the old pages through the Corpse Puppet's vision. There were indeed many points in this story that piqued Dorothy's interest.
'In the currently circulating legend of Arthur, Arthur was guided to heaven by the Saint Child, but in this story, Arthur's final outcome is death. In a sense, the popular version's ending where he is guided to heaven might actually be hinting that Arthur ultimately died.
'Furthermore, it is worth noting that the bloodthirsty monster named Agello, in the story, loved fresh blood and could transform into a blood mist. After being wounded eight times and dying, the blood that flowed out could turn into a vast sea. This seems to have some connection with the Blood Darkness Path. And that witch with eight eyes and eight fingers, the frequent appearance of the number eight inevitably makes one think of the Eight Point Nest. Agello, Blood Darkness Path, Eight Point Nest, witch, Spider Queen... There should be a deep connection behind these things.'
Dorothy pondered this, then had the male Corpse Puppet continue to flip through other old pages to see what other stories were there.
While flipping, Dorothy found that these old pages, whose origin was unknown, seemed to record stories about Arthur's legend, but most of them were severely damaged and difficult to discern exactly what was written. Dorothy read through these few old pages, and besides the stories of Agello and the witch, there was only one slightly more complete story left. If the story of Arthur and Agello was the conclusion of Arthur's legend, then this story told the origin of Arthur's legend.
In the popular version of Arthur's legend, the story of Arthur begins with receiving a Stone sword from the Saint Child disguised as an old man. After that, the Saint Child also guided Arthur multiple times during his adventures. However, in the story version on these pages, there is no record whatsoever about the Saint Child. In the Arthur legend within these pages, Arthur's story still begins with obtaining a sword, but this sword was not obtained from the Saint Child.
According to the story on the pages, young Arthur had practiced martial arts and vowed to protect the innocent with his sword. He traveled with two companions who shared the same ambition, eliminating evil and slaying monsters everywhere.
They vowed to slay the monsters rampaging through Prit and bring stability to the people.
One day, Arthur and his two companions arrived at a lake as beautiful as a mirror and saw a monster preparing to pollute the lake water. The three immediately drew their swords and fought fiercely, engaging in a intense battle with the monster.
Soon, the monster was successfully slain by the three, but their swords were also damaged in this battle. As the three were feeling regretful about their weapons, the Mirror Lake surface, which was reflecting the bright moon, rippled, and from within, a beautiful fairy rose.
The Lake Fairy was grateful for the heroic actions of the three in killing the monster and offered to compensate for their losses. She took out three items from the lake and placed them on the shore.
The first item was a small bag of shining jewels. The fairy said that each jewel here was worth ten thousand gold.
The second item was a short, exquisite scepter. The fairy said this was a symbol belonging to the Lord of a fertile territory, and whoever obtained it could become the Lord there.
The third item was a Stone sword carved from Stone. The fairy said she had personally carved it from Stone.
The fairy asked the three to choose from the three gifts she had given. His first companion chose the jewels and later retired from adventuring to become a wealthy merchant. His second companion chose the scepter and later retired from adventuring to go to his territory and become a noble Lord. Only Arthur chose the unremarkable Stone sword.
The fairy asked him why. Arthur replied that although the jewels and scepter were good, what he had lost was a sword. Jewels were not swords, scepters were not swords, only this Stone sword was a sword.
Although it was Stone, it was also a sword. What Arthur lost was a sword, not anything else. Arthur did not want wealth, nor did he want power. He only wanted to continue his adventure, slaying monsters to bring stability to the people of Prit. Therefore, he needed to hold a sword in his hand, even if it was a Stone sword.
Seeing Arthur's answer, the fairy smiled and bestowed the Stone sword upon Arthur. After Arthur took the sword, he found it was not as heavy as he had imagined, but rather very light. He asked the fairy in surprise why. The fairy replied that it was because Wind was wrapped around the sword body. It turned out this was a divine sword that could wield the divine power of Wind.
As a reward for staying true to his heart, Arthur obtained the great power of Wind from the hands of the Lake Fairy. With this power, guided by the Lake Fairy, Arthur began to continue his adventures. With his powerful strength, he ultimately created one legend after another.
On the distant carriage, Dorothy looked at the legendary story on the old pages through the eyes of the male Corpse Puppet, her expression serious and solemn.
"The Lake Fairy who appeared in the Mirror Lake reflecting the bright moon?"
Looking at the description of the Lake Fairy in the story on the pages, Dorothy muttered. As soon as she saw this Lake Fairy, Dorothy immediately thought of the Mirror Moon Goddess.
In this allegorical legend, the Mirror Moon Goddess appeared in the guise of the Lake Fairy. It was she who guided Arthur and gave him the sword and power, not the Saint Child.
Seeing this Lake Fairy, Dorothy immediately recalled some local folk tales of Prit. In some remote places far from the cities, there were small stories about the Lake Fairy and similar figures. For example, when Dorothy was a child, she heard adults in the village tell stories like "The Lake Fairy's Treasure" and "The Lake Fairy and the Greedy Lord." Now that she thought about it, the prototype of the Lake Fairy in these stories might be the Mirror Moon Goddess.
While thinking, Dorothy began to control the Corpse Puppet to carefully flip through these pages, trying to find any valuable clues. After flipping for a long time, she didn't find any clues on the pages, but she did find something in the notebook that held the pages.
It was a line written by Barret at the end of the notebook as a memo. This line recorded the source of these old pages.
"Copy of 'Arthur Legend,' 524 edition."
'The 'Arthur Legend' from 524... This thing is a book from over eight hundred years ago... which means this book contains the Arthur legend from over eight hundred years ago. The difference from the current version is really big.'
Looking at the handwriting on the notebook, Dorothy thought this way in her heart. Then she had the male Corpse Puppet continue to flip through the pages and the notebook. After confirming that there was no other special information worth noting, she put it down.
Next, Dorothy had the male Corpse Puppet slowly walk to Barret's main desk and start rummaging for useful information on it. After rummaging for a while, he saw a notebook placed in the center of Barret's desk. When he opened it, he found it was full of Barret's notes, which seemed to be what Barret was writing before he was assassinated.
Dorothy controlled the male Corpse Puppet to start flipping through the notebook and then discovered that it was a record of Barret's research. His research project was titled, "The Impact of the Shining Light Church on Prit's Traditional Culture."
Dorothy read the research record and found that Barret's research was directed at the Shining Light Church. Using Prit's local folk legends as clues, he deeply researched how Shining Light Church culture had profoundly influenced Prit over a thousand years. In his research, he directly stated that traditional Prit beliefs and culture had been completely destroyed and distorted by the Shining Light Church.
In Barret's research, he found that the Mirror Moon Goddess referred to by the mirror moon statue was once a widespread belief on the three islands of Prit. Around 100-200 years of the Shining Light calendar, the Shining Light Church arrived from the mainland and quickly popularized its faith throughout Prit. The belief in the Mirror Moon Goddess rapidly dissolved over several centuries.
By around 500-700 years of the Shining Light calendar, the belief in the Mirror Moon Goddess transitioned from a goddess widely believed throughout Prit to the Lake Fairy existing in folk legends. After several more centuries, even the various stories of the Lake Fairy began to be replaced by the images of the Three Saints and even saints within the Shining Light Church. A typical example is the Saint Child replacing the Lake Fairy as Arthur's guide, and there are many other such plots.
In the latter part of this research record, Barret recorded the current situation of the Mirror Moon Goddess belief in Prit. Only in some marginal villages are there still a small number of sporadic legends of the Lake Fairy circulating. Many of Prit's local myths have been assimilated by the Shining Light Church.
At the end of this research, Barret left a comment to summarize his findings.
"For a thousand years, the Shining Light Church has been destroying and transforming our original beliefs and culture. Although during this process, spontaneous resistance and conflicts from our nation also occurred from time to time, it now seems that this resistance is very likely the biggest factor that bred the Wind King Rebellion."
Through the sight of the Corpse Puppet standing before the desk, Dorothy looked at Barret's research record before her with a serious expression. Barret's research corroborated some of Dorothy's previous conjectures. The Lake Fairy truly evolved from the image of the Mirror Moon Goddess. Dorothy had also guessed that the belief in Prit's Mirror Moon Goddess had gradually dissolved to this extent under the promotion of the Shining Light Church.
In this research record, what caught Dorothy's attention was Barret's last sentence, which was about the so-called Wind King Rebellion.
Dorothy also knew the term Wind King Rebellion. In the 'History of the Prit Kingdom' that Dorothy had read in the Crown University library, the Wind King Rebellion was recorded as a large-scale civil war that occurred over five hundred years ago, involving the Despenser Royal Family and almost all the Lords of the Kingdom.
Historical records state that the cause of this civil war was that the Kingdom's heir at the time was young and lacked legitimacy. To Fight for the throne (Fight for the throne - compete for the throne), several branches of the Despenser royal family with territories went to war. The various Lords throughout the country chose their respective supported legitimate lines, eventually escalating into a nationwide civil war.
And the ultimate victor of this war was the direct ancestor of the current Despenser Royal Family, Edward Despenser. Because he ordered the construction of Tivian, he was also known as "the Builder" Edward. This victor was finally crowned by the Archbishop of the Prit diocese with a very grand ceremony.
'Wind King Rebellion... No matter which history book you look at, it's written as a story of a group of ambitious people fighting to the death for the throne. The cause of the war was always the throne, but according to Barret, the main trigger for the Wind King Rebellion was the Prit nation's own struggle against the oppression of the Shining Light Church's beliefs and culture... Interesting...
'If the facts are truly as Barret said, the war at that time involved not only the Royal Family and the Lords but also the deep influence of the Shining Light Church. Judging from the current situation in Prit, the Shining Light Church is the side that won.'
After finishing the research record, Dorothy in the carriage evaluated and muttered in her heart. Then she had the male Corpse Puppet put down Barret's research record and continue searching for anything valuable around the desk.
After a while, Dorothy's attention was drawn to the wall next to Barret's desk. Under Dorothy's careful observation, she found that there was something like a scroll hanging on that wall.
Dorothy had the male Corpse Puppet walk closer to examine it. She found it was a roll of dirty rough cloth tied with thin threads. After carefully looking at it twice, Dorothy had the male Corpse Puppet take down the roll of cloth and unfold it.
Then, what appeared before Dorothy was a severely faded abstract coat of arms. Although many parts of the coat of arms were blurred and unclear, its general shape could still be barely discerned.
The coat of arms was divided into four parts, depicting four extremely abstract knight figures, two male and two female. Behind the coat of arms was a large crescent moon, and next to the knights were annotated ancient Prit letters that Dorothy could barely recognize.
Two of the male knights were labeled "Wind Knight" and "Blood Knight", and the two female knights were "Spirit Knight" and "Dream Knight".
A label was attached to one corner of this coat of arms cloth painting, with Barret's annotation on it.
"June 18, 1359, excavated from the Eisenk family cemetery, suspected to have been drawn by the Traditionalist faction during the Wind King Rebellion."