Southwest of Tivian, north of Shield Hill, Barret's villa.
In the basement of the villa, Dorothy was controlling the male servant Corpse Puppet to search Barret's secret room. On the wall of the laboratory, she found a rather ancient cloth painting.
To deepen her understanding of this world, Dorothy had read many mundane books in the Crown University library, including mundane history and even art appreciation. Therefore, Dorothy recognized that the coat of arms on the cloth painting was typical of the feudal period on the Main Continent. This type of coat of arms generally represented a family or even a force. When feudal lords fought on the battlefield, this coat of arms would be printed on their shields, armor, and banners.
Dorothy had once flipped through a book called 'A Study of Prit Noble Coats of Arms' and had seen the coats of arms of many families and organizations, but this Four Knights coat of arms on the cloth painting was the first time she had seen it.
'Four Knights... Could this be the so-called Shadow Moon Four Knights on Arthur's statue earlier? Arthur is the Wind Knight, and there are three others?
'Blood Knight... Wind Knight... Dream Knight... Spirit Knight... These correspond exactly to the four branch paths within the Path of Shadow, and seem to have the same structure as the Fertility Goddess Church.'
In the carriage several kilometers away, Dorothy used the male servant Corpse Puppet's vision, thinking to herself while looking at the ancient cloth painting. She had seen similar paintings before. In the An Yin Bureau's evidence department, in Davik's research materials, Dorothy had once seen a parchment scroll painting that seemed to depict the objects of faith of the Fertility Goddess lineage.
'If the crescent moon behind the coat of arms is seen as the Mirror Moon Goddess, then the structure of that painting of Davik's and this coat of arms painting are very similar. Both are monochromatic main gods and their four colorful subordinate gods. These four knights likely correspond to the four colorful gods within the Path of Shadow, the colorful gods during the Mirror Moon Goddess sect's strong period.'
'The Wind Knight is undoubtedly Arthur, Prit's great hero, and the source of the current Prit Royal Family's bloodline. It seems the Despenser family are descendants of gods. Their Storm Path also originates from Arthur. According to the legends seen before, this Arthur is very likely to have fallen, and perhaps no one is yet on the divine seat of the Storm Path.'
'As for this Dream Knight and Spirit Knight... apart from seeing from the coat of arms that they are both female, there is no other effective information. Unlike Arthur, the connection between the other three knights and the land of Prit does not seem very deep, so the information I can know is not much. I only know that Little Fox's Dream Eater Path in the dream might have some connection with the Dream Knight.'
'Finally, that Blood Knight... Strictly speaking, this should be a deity of the Blood Darkness Path under the Mirror Moon Goddess, but his gender is male. This means that this Blood Knight and the female Spider Queen are very likely not the same being. The current deity of the Blood Darkness Path should be the Spider Queen, so the Blood Knight may have fallen as the previous deity of the Blood Darkness Path. Of course, all of this is likely speculation. The Blood Darkness Path can easily change appearance, and for a deity, changing gender should not be difficult either.'
Sitting in the carriage, wrapped in a blanket, Dorothy carefully analyzed the content on the cloth painting. Finally, she shifted her analysis to the annotations from Barret on the cloth painting. This annotation clearly stated the source of the cloth painting, and this short annotation also contained a lot of information.
'According to Barret's annotation, this coat of arms was drawn during the Wind King Rebellion period, drawn by the so-called 'Reverence for Antiquity Faction'. That would be during the Great Civil War of Prit over 500 years ago, a flag used by one of the warring parties, a flag that does not exist in mundane historical records.'
'According to the content in Barret's previous 'The Shining Light Church's Influence on Prit's Traditional Culture', the war conflict of the Wind King Rebellion was not about the various parties vying for the throne as in mundane history, but rather the resistance of some of Prit's local forces to the Shining Light Church's cultural and religious invasion. This so-called Reverence for Antiquity Faction was very likely established by some nobles who were dissatisfied with the Shining Light Church's influence at the time.'
'These Reverence for Antiquity Faction members might have followed ancient customs, which is Prit's traditional culture centered around the Mirror Moon Goddess faith and the legend of Arthur the Wind King. Therefore, they drew this Four Knights coat of arms as their symbol. In their era, the Mirror Moon Goddess faith should still have had some remnants. They extracted elements from this remnant culture they wanted to protect, and finally drew this coat of arms.'
'There were several hundred years between the era of the Wind King Rebellion and the time the Mirror Moon Goddess Church withdrew from Prit. They might not have fully understood the meaning of this coat of arms, but it was enough to unite people. However, judging from the current results, this group of Reverence for Antiquity Faction members should have lost. Prit's current faith culture has been influenced by the Shining Light Church in all aspects, and Arthur's legend has also been altered beyond recognition. Only in remote small villages can one occasionally hear some stories of the Lake Fairy.'
Looking at Barret's annotation on the cloth painting, Dorothy analyzed and thought to herself. Suddenly, she thought of the message carved on the wall in the ruins under Crown University, suspected to be left by a cleric of the Mirror Moon Goddess Church.
'The Wind King Rebellion broke out in Prit due to resistance against the Shining Light Church's faith and cultural invasion. Although Prit's local nobles raised the banner of the Mirror Moon Goddess faith to resist the Shining Light Church, these were merely spontaneous actions by these nobles and seemed to have little to do with the Mirror Moon Goddess Church itself.'
'In the message in the ruins, the Mirror Moon Goddess Church voluntarily withdrew from Prit due to some 'agreement' and then went to the East. The Mirror Church's withdrawal was long before the Wind King Rebellion, and there seemed to be no conflict. I wonder what the content of this agreement was? And was the other party of the agreement the Shining Light Church?'
Recalling the message found on the wall of the ruins under the school back then, Dorothy thought like this. Based on the information she currently had, Dorothy could barely piece together a rough timeline of the decline of the Mirror Moon Goddess faith in Prit.
The message on the wall of the ruins under the school was in empire language, so the time the Mirror Moon Goddess faith left Prit must have been around the beginning of the Shining Light Era, which is around the beginning of the Fourth Epoch. At that time, the influence of the Third Epoch Empire of the Light King should still have been very deep. The time of the Mirror Moon Goddess Church's departure was not far from the time the Shining Light Church was introduced to Prit, so the other party of the Mirror Moon Goddess Church's agreement could have been the Shining Light Church. I wonder what kind of agreement the Shining Light Church and the Mirror Moon Goddess Church reached that made the Mirror Moon Goddess Church directly give up the entire Prit.
In the long several hundred years that followed, the Shining Light Church began to spread extensively in Prit, aggressively removing the influence of the Mirror Moon Goddess Church. The image of the Mirror Moon Goddess changed from a deity to the Lake Fairy in folk legends. Afterwards, the Shining Light Church did not even want to leave the Mirror Moon Goddess with the status of a folk legend. Under further suppression, even the legend of the Lake Fairy was gradually modified and replaced by the Shining Light Church's Three Saints. This cultural genocide-like modification activity by the Shining Light Church aroused the resistance of Prit's own conservative forces. Under the leadership of some nobles and the royal family, the Wind King Rebellion was launched, and the final result was the rise of the current Royal Family, supported by the Shining Light Church, leading to the situation today.
"In terms of faith propagation, the Shining Light Church is truly overbearing. This current Fourth Epoch can be said to be the epoch dominated by the Shining Light Church. Fortunately, I don't have the need for large-scale missionary work, otherwise, being targeted by the Saint Knight would be troublesome."
Sitting in the carriage, Dorothy, who had finished organizing the timeline of the decline of the Mirror Moon faith in Prit, said with emotion. Then, she had the male servant Corpse Puppet in the secret room put down the coat of arms cloth painting and turned her gaze to the desk and bookshelf piled high with texts around her.
"Barret's research materials are truly abundant, I've already found so many valuable materials so far. If I can finish reading them all, it should be a great harvest."
Dorothy murmured with a smile. After speaking, she continued to control the male servant Corpse Puppet to search around, hoping to find more valuable materials.
...
Just as Dorothy was controlling the Corpse Puppet to continuously look through various materials in Barret's secret room, inside Barret's villa, Kenk was still leading a group of subordinate assassins searching everywhere for the entrance to the secret room. However, after rummaging through everything and searching every corner of the scene, he still hadn't found any clues.
"Damn it! Where exactly did this Barret hide the research room!"
Standing in the entrance hall, Kenk couldn't help but say resentfully as he looked at the messy scene before him. He and his subordinates had searched every corner of the mansion, even starting to tear wallpaper and pry up floorboards, turning the entire villa into a demolition and moving site. However, they still hadn't found the entrance to the secret room. In his anxious anger, Kenk glanced at his watch and saw that it wasn't long until dawn. Continuing this fruitless search would only become more dangerous.
'There's no other way. If I really can't find it... I can only burn this place down, creating some trouble for the Black Dog's work...'
Kenk thought this to himself. Just as he was about to order his subordinates to set the villa on fire, his arm suddenly felt a slight sting. This was the Spider-Man inside his clothes biting him.
"This location is..."
Feeling the bite of the Spider-Man, Kenk's brows immediately furrowed slightly, and his expression became extremely serious.
With a grim expression, Kenk opened and extended one hand. Subsequently, an unusually colorful Spider-Man crawled out from his sleeve and onto his palm.
Seeing this spider, which was more vividly colored than a regular Spider-Man, Kenk's expression froze for a moment. He then placed the Spider-Man on the table in front of him, and immediately knelt down on one knee, lowering his head and speaking to the Spider-Man with utmost respect.
"Spiderfang Priest..."
The anger and impatience on his face instantly vanished. Kenk spoke to the colorful Spider-Man before him in the most humble posture. The patterns on the Spider-Man twisted, emitting a hoarse, low elderly voice.
"Barret's research materials, have you found them?"
"Reporting, Priest... because, because there was a problem with Jade's soul summoning, Barret's soul wasn't summoned. I lack crucial information here... so I haven't found the research room yet..."
Swallowing a mouthful of saliva and calming his nervous heart, Kenk spoke to the Spider-Man before him. Listening to Kenk's words, the Spider-Man continued to speak unhurriedly.
"Without information from Barret's soul, you can't find anything?"
"Uh... this... I'm very sorry, Priest! This is my incompetence! It is my dereliction of duty that I haven't found the materials yet! Please, Priest, grant punishment!"
Hearing the Spider-Man's response, Kenk immediately said to the Spider-Man in fear. His head was momentarily lowered even further, and his body couldn't help but tremble slightly, as if he were facing some powerful pressure.
"Alright... Although you are indeed a bit incompetent, the responsibility for this matter cannot be entirely blamed on you. We were targeted tonight, and there are many people who had bigger problems than you. But now is not the time for punishment, it is time to solve the problem..."
Saying this in a steady tone, the vividly colored Spider-Man continued to stare at Kenk with its many eyes, and continued to speak.
"No matter what, Barret's materials must be destroyed. Since you haven't found any clues after spending so much time, then it can only be me..."
"Captain!? Priest... Is, is it necessary for Captain to personally come?"
Hearing the Spider-Man's words, Kenk immediately spoke in extreme alarm, while the Spider-Man continued to respond unhurriedly.
"Of course... For this operation, we have exposed too much, even the Nightmare has been used. If Barret's materials cannot be completely destroyed, then the future troubles will still be endless."
"But... but... if Captain takes action near Tivian, Captain will be sensed by the Light Worshipping Zealots' Archbishop..."
"Don't worry about that. The location of this villa is far from Tivian's Church District. Francesco's Rank Vision is already very weak here. I will use some of my collection to shield the interfering derivatives.
"I need a Shadow Masked Man as a 'medium' now. Without further delay, act quickly. You should have 'blood', right?"
The Spider-Man said this to Kenk, and then fell completely silent, lying motionless on the table. Kenk swallowed a mouthful of saliva at the sight. After taking a deep breath, he stood up.
Kenk, who had stood up, walked to the front of the Spider-Man. He then took out a luxurious small box from his clothes. After opening the box, what appeared was a specially crafted syringe, filled with dark red blood.
Putting the Spider-Man into his sleeve, Kenk took the syringe out of the box and removed the protective cap from the needle tip. Then, holding the syringe, he walked from the entrance hall stairs to the second floor of the villa. After looking around, he found a subordinate who was searching for something, and spoke.
"George, come here."
"What is it, Mr.?"
Listening to Kenk's words, the assassin named George walked up to Kenk and spoke respectfully. Kenk, after sizing him up, responded.
"Take off your mask."
Following Kenk's words, George took off the mask covering his face, revealing a young and handsome face. Seeing George's action, Kenk nodded, then patted George's shoulder and spoke.
"Good kid... I'll remember you..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Kenk swiftly plunged the syringe in his hand into George's body, and immediately pushed the dark red blood inside. George, injected with dark blood, let out a painful howl and stumbled back two steps.
With a pained expression, George clutched the arm where he had just been injected, and continuously let out heart-wrenching screams. Because of the pain, he fell to the ground and began to struggle incessantly. The surrounding assassins rushed over upon hearing the commotion. Some were about to help George but were stopped directly by Kenk.
Just like this, under Kenk's cold gaze, the fallen George's body changed amidst his wails. His face changed as it contorted, his body began to shrink, and his hair rapidly turned white and fell out.
After a short while, George's screams stopped. The hunched-over George on the floor slowly stood up again. After he stood straight, the person who appeared before Kenk was completely different.
An old man with sparse, balding hair, bulging eyes, deep wrinkles, slightly pointed ears, a pale complexion, and a thin figure, a hunched old man like a monster. He looked at the scene before him with an indifferent expression.
Facing the entire old man, Kenk immediately knelt down on one knee, lowered his head, and spoke respectfully.
"Priest..."