"After Jeffrey's death, the Ancient Worship faction fell apart, and civil unrest resumed. Without Jeffrey's leadership, the Wind King rebels began to suspect and even resent each other. In the subsequent war, they fought independently and even attacked each other, losing all power to resist Baldrick.
"Eventually, Baldrick led his army to pacify the entire territory of Prit, ending the Wind King Rebellion and becoming the sole King of Prit. The vast majority of Ancient Worship lords surrendered and converted, and Baldrick accepted them. However, except for a few families like Devonshire who surrendered very early and made outstanding contributions in the subsequent war, most other Ancient Worship lords were stripped of their titles and ranks, and most of their extraordinary inheritances were abolished. Only a few stubborn resisters were executed.
"Finally, Baldrick officially changed his surname to Despenser, establishing his lineage as the legitimate Wind King. He was thus given the title 'Legitimate Successor'. After Baldrick's death, his son Edward III succeeded to the throne, moved the capital to the Moonflow River estuary and expanded the new city of Tivian there, becoming 'the Builder' Edward. Thus, the Wind Faith Dynasty's inheritance officially began and continues to this day."
In the dim room, John sat on the bed, continuing to recount the historical story he knew, as if giving a lecture to his students in a classroom. Ed also sat in the corner of the room, listening quite seriously as he finished telling the entire history, and then after some thought, he slowly opened his mouth to ask.
"So... at the end of the Wind King Rebellion, the final fate of the vast majority of the Ancient Worship faction wasn't too bad, they all survived? If I remember correctly, the Church's policy towards heretics at that time wasn't as lenient as it is now. You could just change your faith, and everything before would be cleared..."
"That is indeed an interesting point... Generally speaking, the significant lenient adjustment in the Church's policy towards heretics happened after the Iweig Turbid Current War. The Turbid Current War only began nearly a hundred years after the end of the Wind King Rebellion. During the Wind King Rebellion, the Church was still in a period of being extremely tough on heretics. It is indeed somewhat incredible that they didn't tie all the surrendering Ancient Worship followers to the stake."
"I believe this might be because Baldrick played a role in coordination and mediation. However, there are also many signs indicating that the Church did not show much hostility towards the Night Sky Empress faith throughout the entire war."
"Although they also destroyed or rebuilt and replaced old faith relics discovered during the war, confiscated all related books, and erased legends, just like they did with other heresies, they provided a path for conversion and survival for the old faith followers and clergy who emerged during the war. The inquisitors did not interfere too much in the affairs of Prit. Compared to the large-scale religious tragedies that occurred in Iweig during the later Turbid Current War, the situation in Prit after the Wind King Rebellion was much better."
After hearing Ed's words, John thought for a moment and responded. And after John finished speaking, Ed changed the subject and spoke.
"You said before that Ampere Devonshire took the secret of some temple into his grave. Do you know where this grave is now?"
"I don't know... My research at the time had not progressed to this point. If you want to delve deeper into this, perhaps you can find someone from the Devonshire family and look for clues from them." John continued to respond to Ed's words, and Ed immediately asked again.
"One last question, regarding the information that Ample knew the temple's secret, does anyone else besides you know about it? Did Duke Barret also participate in the translation of this secret transmission? Does he have any related records?"
"Ah, about that... After Ample's secret transmission was discovered by us, I was the one who had been translating it. Many of the words on the secret transmission were extremely illegible and blurry, and the language used was an ancient local dialect from a relatively remote area of Prit from five hundred years ago. It took quite a lot of effort to decipher it. Since my linguistics are stronger than Richard's, I was doing this work. After I finished translating, I found that there was important information inside, and I couldn't find Richard for a while, so I left him a note in the library specifically mentioning this matter."
John said as he recalled, and just as he finished speaking, Ed breathed a slight sigh of relief, but John's subsequent words made his expression change again.
"However, although I was the one doing the translation of these secret transmissions, to be safe, both of us kept copies of the content. The original is with me, and Richard kept photographic copies in case the original was damaged."
"Photographic copies, huh..." Listening to John's words, Ed's tone couldn't help but become more serious, and John, noticing this, also asked curiously.
"We have a habit of keeping photographic copies of precious documents. Is there a problem with that?"
"No, nothing... Thank you, Professor Machison, for your selfless sharing. Your information is very helpful to us." Ed responded to John like this, and as he spoke, he slowly stood up from the seat in the corner.
"Since you saved me, sharing this is also my obligation." Looking at Ed who was standing up, John continued to say calmly, and at this moment, Ed responded politely.
"All right, it's about time, I should take my leave. Mr. Professor, you stay here and recuperate well, someone will take care of you. In the eyes of those guys, you are already dead, so for a while, as long as you don't appear in public, you will be safe."
"Farewell."
After speaking, Ed finally waved goodbye to John on the bed, and in the other party's peaceful eyes, he walked towards the door of the room, opened the door straight out, and after turning around and closing the door, Ed looked towards the corridor in front of him, and then saw a familiar female figure by the corridor wall.
"Hello, Miss Adele, are you also interested in history?"
Looking at the tall, beautiful, and glamorous woman leaning against the wall, wearing a red dress, with a cigarette between her fingers, Ed said with a smile, while Adele glanced sideways at Ed, then spoke.
"As for those hidden historical knowledge that can poison one's internal organs, I am neither blessed to receive it nor interested in it. I came here to see someone who borrowed my territory to hide people but hasn't even shown their face once~" Adele said this, then after taking a puff of her cigarette, she slowly walked up to Ed, placed her hand on Ed's chest, then leaned her delicate face forward, and continued to speak softly.
"You've been traveling outside for more than half a year before coming back, and you ask for my help without even showing your real face once. Don't you think that's a bit unreasonable? Miss Detective?"
Looking at the charming face that was very close to him, Ed smiled slightly, unmoved, and then continued to speak.
"I'm very sorry, Miss Adele, as soon as I returned to Tivian, I got entangled with troublesome people and have been busy with important matters, always having no time. After I finish handling the urgent matters here, I will come to apologize. If you want to drink again, I can accompany you."
"Real body or puppet?"
"Of course, the real body."
"That's more like it~" Listening to Ed's words, Adele lowered her hand from Ed's chest, took two steps back, and then after examining the man in front of her again, she continued to speak casually.
"I can tell now, Miss Detective, you are completely different when you put on another skin. This kind of calm confidence combined with a steady and wise temperament can charm a large number of naive young girls without much skill. You seem to be very good at being a man. I have met enough men... None of them are as attractive as you."
"So, Miss Adele, are you also interested in me in this male guise?"
"Interested, yes, but this little interest is not worth mentioning compared to my interest in your cute real body~"
"Cute..."
Facing Ed in front of her, Adele finished speaking lightly, then turned around and slowly walked away, no longer paying attention to Ed.
"Alright, busy Detective, you go ahead and be busy. Remember to be careful, the Deep Web Queen's tendrils are not easy to deal with, don't get stuck on the web..." After speaking, Adele left without looking back, and Ed also silently watched her leave.
...
During the daytime, at a street corner in Tivian, on a carriage parked by the roadside, Dorothy, wearing a black silk-trimmed dress, with twin ponytails, and small leather shoes, was sitting in the carriage seat as usual, using her mind to control the distant Corpse Puppet Ed to complete the communication with Crown University Archaeology Professor John. Machison. From the other party's mouth, Dorothy learned many secrets from the Wind King Rebellion five hundred years ago.
'The Wind King Rebellion of that year... actually had such secrets. The last king of the Howling Spear Dynasty, who was originally the legitimate Despenser, turned out to be a lunatic suffering from madness. His final suicide led to a succession dispute, which in turn caused the dynasty to become extinct... becoming the fuse for all subsequent turmoil...
'Did this family of the Mad King have a genetic predisposition to madness? The struggle for the throne in the capital quickly escalated to a life-and-death situation, and finally even ended in mutual destruction, directly burying the entire dynasty...'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. In her opinion, if everything John said was true, then this family of the Mad King either had some hereditary mental problems, or there was something fishy going on.
'And then there was the subsequent Wind King Rebellion. At first, I thought the Wind King Rebellion was simply a war triggered by the indigenous Ancient Worship faction in Prit, who adhered to their original faith, resisting the invasion of Shining Light Church faith. But now it seems it wasn't that simple. Although there were conflicts between Prit's old cultural beliefs and the Shining Light faith, it wasn't the only factor that caused the Wind King Rebellion.
'The main contradiction at the beginning of the Wind King Rebellion was essentially a power struggle between the lords of Prit. Because the Church wanted to take this opportunity to further expand its influence and supported Baldrick, the remaining lords united to resist, using the symbols of the old faith to rally people...'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. In her opinion, the involvement of the Night Sky Empress, or rather, the Mirror Moon Goddess, in Prit's faith five hundred years ago might not have been as high as she previously thought, not strong enough to spontaneously organize a war of resistance against the Church. The remnants of the Mirror Moon faith might have been used more as a rallying tool by that group of lords who were dissatisfied with the Church's intervention, at least at the beginning, until the appearance of that so-called witch divine envoy.
'Black Worship King Jeffrey... the man who integrated the entire Ancient Worship faction and became king. Compared to those lords who simply used the old faith of the Mirror Moon Goddess as a tool, he seemed to have reached the point of truly worshipping and believing in the Mirror Moon Goddess. And all of this was because of the appearance of that witch divine envoy, who brought him so-called miracles, making him excavate the ruins of Prit to seek the so-called gods' forgiveness and gain the blessing of the Night Sky Empress to resist the Light.
'To be honest, this witch divine envoy feels a bit suspicious. According to the information I obtained from the Mirror Moon Goddess ruins before, the Mirror Moon Goddess faith actively left Prit. They seemed to have signed some kind of contract with someone at the beginning of the Fourth Epoch, abandoning their presence in Prit. Judging from the situation of the Shining Light Church spreading its teachings northward to the Three Islands of Prit afterwards, the party they signed with was very likely the Church at that time.
'This means that the entire Prit was very likely obtained by the Shining Light Church from the Mirror Moon Goddess faith through some kind of agreement. The fact that Light and Mirror Moon could reach an agreement with each other, and the Church's handling of the Mirror Moon faith during the Wind King Rebellion was not as extreme as with other cults, proves that the relationship between the Mirror Moon faith and the Shining Light Church might not be too bad, at least not as bad as the Placenta and Light, or the Savior Sect and Light...'
'And at this moment, the sudden appearance of this divine envoy is a bit suspicious. Prit was actively handed over to the Light by Mirror Moon. It seems that the two families didn't have a life-and-death conflict. Why would the Mirror Moon Goddess suddenly send a divine envoy back to Prit and organize people to overthrow the Church? Did she regret the agreement back then? Or were there several other reasons?'
Sitting on the seat of the carriage, Dorothy thought this. In her opinion, the war five hundred years ago that John described seemed to hide other deeper secrets.
As for the secret transmission obtained from John, which was clearly based on "Shadow" Spirituality, Dorothy did not rush to extract the Spirituality or exchange knowledge, but saved it for later use when "Shadow" Spirituality was lacking. After a simple analysis of these secrets, Dorothy shifted her attention to the most important part, which was the whereabouts of the so-called 'temple'.
Dorothy took out her magic box, and from it, she took out """wen hai hang zhi""". After turning to Misha Devonshire's communication page, she began to write words on it.
"Excuse me, do you know Ampere Devonshire?"
After finishing writing, Dorothy began to wait patiently. Finally, after waiting for half an hour, the responding text appeared on her page.
"Of course I know, he is a very important ancestor in my family. In a war long ago, he led the family to make important contributions to the founding of the dynasty, laying the foundation for our family's prosperity for hundreds of years to come."
"Then, do you know where Ampere's tomb is?" Looking at Misha's response, Dorothy immediately wrote again, and new text quickly appeared.
"Ample's tomb? Naturally, it's in our Devonshire family cemetery, right below the Loyal Guard Church in the suburbs of Tivian, buried with some other distinguished members of our family."
'The Church's family cemetery, and it's near Tivian?' Looking at Misha's response, Dorothy's eyes lit up, and then she quickly wrote.
"Then, is your family cemetery easy to get into? I mean, we might need to go in and check something, quietly, without attracting any attention, and preferably quickly."
"The Loyal Guard Church's cemetery, ah, that's not an easy place to enter. Normally, it's directly sealed with boulders and is not open year-round. There are blood ritual protections inside the cemetery, and there are gravediggers around. To enter without opening the tomb, you can only dig a tunnel or forcibly blast open the gate, and it's impossible to do these without making a sound."