Chapter 93
curse……
curse--
curse!
Earl Lamb suddenly awoke. The ground floor was still bustling with activity, and no one noticed his unusual behavior. To be precise, the entire auditorium was incredibly lively. The deans took their seats one after another, and many mentors who had come to attend the ceremony stood on both sides of the platform.
His Majesty the King was chatting and laughing with Dean Soldas on the other side. It wasn't their first meeting. Who would have thought that the young man who squeezed between Soldas and Copperfield that day would become the king above all living beings in just one month?
Soldas was somewhat apprehensive.
There was a subtle but undeniable pressure from that day, but today, with the crown and magnificent robes of Lortheran, his aura is not suppressed at all. Soldars had only felt this pressure from Garcia—the archbishop who had briefly served as king—but Garcia's pressure could only be described as the youthful exuberance of someone who held absolute power.
Lortheran was a tyrant who had been immersed in royal power for many years.
He asked about the current academic system at Soldas Royal Academy, the approximate number of students enrolling each year, the number of graduates, and the percentage of students who die each year due to accidents.
Soldas's initially relaxed mood grew increasingly heavy, and finally, with a drooping face, he tried hard to recall, but at least he answered all the questions correctly.
His heart was in his throat as he watched the young king, who was frowning slightly and looking thoughtful.
Then His Majesty the King sighed, “When the Royal Capital Academy was first established, it was a two-year term. When the First Emperor died, it was changed to three years. However, I remember that the minimum requirement for the Royal Capital Academy was that students should stay on campus for two years, and the maximum was no more than five years. Now it has been extended to ten years.”
Soldas chuckled awkwardly.
As he listened to His Majesty the King recount the history of the Royal Academy more than two hundred years ago, he realized that there were many things he would have forgotten if the King hadn't mentioned them. He couldn't help but feel fortunate that he had already thoroughly studied all the historical scrolls of the Royal Academy.
At the same time, he also cheered himself up, realizing that this king was different from the previous kings, no, even from Garcia's father, who was irritable in his later years.
They place great importance on the education provided by the Royal Capital Academy.
Lortheran then inquired about the percentage of students from noble families at the Royal Academy.
Soldas said it was probably close to 60%.
It's not that the Royal Capital Academy deliberately refuses to admit commoner students; it's just that over the centuries, while there are still talented commoners, most resources are now in the hands of noble families. For a commoner to gain admission to the Royal Capital Academy is a testament to their exceptional talent—one in ten thousand. After all, the academy's admission standards have been gradually rising.
After thinking for a moment, Soldas added, "Most of the commoner students, especially the talented ones, tend to choose district academies, where the environment is relatively more favorable to them. Some students whose talents have reached the standards of the Royal Academy will even give up their places at the Royal Academy and choose district academies instead."
After listening, Lortheran squinted and smiled, "It seems I'll have to go and take a look at those district academies."
The layout of the seats on the first floor is quite interesting. The area directly facing the high platform is the Magic Academy.
The first row, the seats facing Lortheran and the others, remained empty. There were six seats in a row, and no one had sat down.
Seeing how nervous the old man was, Lortheran very considerately changed the subject: "Why are there no seats in the row in front of us?"
Soldas answered quickly this time: "As is customary, that row is reserved for the best students in the academy. The magic academy has three spots, and each student can bring one companion."
As soon as he finished speaking, people started walking towards that row of seats.
"This year's outstanding students of the magic academy... wait, why are they sitting in the second row?" Soldas knew a lot about the top students of the various academies, and after taking a closer look, he wondered.
The next second, two figures arrived at the first row. There were six seats in the first row, but they were not connected. Instead, they looked like a small table with two chairs on each side.
Soldas spotted Sylvain immediately… That’s more like it, the Holy Son should be sitting in the very center. He was pleased that Sylvain had actually given him the honor of attending the graduation ceremony.
However, he saw Sylvain carefully pull out another chair for the young man next to him to sit down before pulling his own chair over and sitting down next to him.
Suddenly, the visual focus of the two previously well-balanced positions shifted to the other side.
Lortheran, who witnessed everything, exclaimed "Wow!" and was about to whistle at any moment.
The first row of seats in the Magic Academy is naturally similar to the first row of seats in the two neighboring academies, except that the two academies on the left and right are not at the very front.
On the left was the Beast Taming Academy, and on the right was the Alchemy Academy. People on both sides curiously looked towards the Magic Academy area, only to find that there were only two people sitting in the first row. Upon closer inspection, they realized it was Sylvain!
That violent mage, despite being fragile, managed to smash the head of the senior student from the neighboring warrior academy with a single punch, leaving him bleeding profusely!
The Holy Son is so handsome that even on a bright sunny day, he can make people shiver!
This is normal—Sylvain sits in the front row, and no one else dares to sit with him.
But! Something's not right! How come he has companions!
The Beast Taming Academy is on the left. I didn't see what Sylvan's companions looked like, but it was already quite surprising that Sylvan brought companions to the ceremony.
The Pharmacy Department was on the right, and they finally got a clear look at Sylvain's companion's profile. They tried to hold back their jealousy, but couldn't help but grit their teeth in envy: Was Sylvain just too lucky? All his friends were so good-looking!
And that holy son, who looks like a demon, is clinging to them like that—doesn't he have any dignity?!
The students on either side didn't know Veris's identity, but the deans sitting in the first row—Soldas, Copperfield, Fekris, and the others—recognized the Pope's unreal face. They all seemed to have nails in their butts, their faces long and silent, praying that the ceremony would end quickly.
Being watched by His Holiness the Pope is truly pushing their limits!
As for Lortheran, he was already immune to Veris's face; his only thought was—he absolutely mustn't laugh for a moment.
Veris, in particular, was staring at him.
Damn it! I really want to laugh, why is that! In such an important occasion, Veris is looking him up and down. What if he makes a face at him and he can't help but laugh? That would be incredibly embarrassing...
Veris turned and smiled as he said something to Sylvain, who finally gave Lortheran a look.
...They're clearly talking about Lortheran!
Lortheran glared at him.
Veris flashed a bright smile and chatted even more enthusiastically with Sylvain.
Lortheran: "..." If he had known that Veris was sitting down below, or even facing him, he wouldn't have come. No, he would have squeezed into the second row.
Meanwhile, in the audience, Veris and Sylvain were saying, "If you look at him, he'll definitely glare at you."
Sylvain blinked and looked at Lortheran, and as expected, received a glare from His Majesty the King.
Veris: "Hahaha, see for yourself!"
The Holy Son and his companions took their seats, which obviously sparked a lot of discussion among those around them, but soon the ceremony officially began.
The graduation ceremony at the Royal Capital Academy has remained unchanged for many years, and Veris estimates it will take two hours to finish.
However, he did not expect that Lortheran would appear before the dean's speech.
As Lortheran solemnly read from a piece of paper, the entire Great Hall fell silent. This king, who had only recently ascended the throne, was a complete stranger to these young people.
They also urgently need to understand His Majesty the King's personality and attitude.
Veris wouldn't tease Lortheran at this moment, so he listened attentively. More than two hundred years later, he was sitting in the Great Hall again, listening to Lortheran's speech. Every word was an expectation of the students of the Royal Academy, which made the young people below the stage, who were not yet adults, feel excited.
Lortheran's last address in the Great Hall was delivered while he was half-slumped in his seat, saying he would rest every now and then. Veris was afraid that he might suddenly stop talking.
The doctors and pharmacists were all incredibly nervous, waiting behind the counter on the side.
Veris was sitting next to Lortheran and even patted the old man on the back.
Perhaps sensing his melancholy, Sylvain suddenly grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
Veris snapped out of his daze and smiled at the other person.
As the newly enthroned King, Lortheran could not possibly stay for the entire event. After his speech and listening to several other deans, he got up and left.
While the audience was focused on Lortheran, Veris stood up and led Sylvain out through the side door of the Great Hall.
The two were behaving intimately; even a fool could see that their relationship was unusual.
As soon as they left the Great Hall, Lortheran caught up with them, followed by his secretaries.
However, Lortheran was there to ask serious questions. He gave his secretaries a wink, and the three of them stood in a corner with the secretaries standing guard not far away before Lortheran spoke: "Is there something wrong with that Earl Lamb?"
Veris raised an eyebrow: "Which Lamb are you referring to, the previous one or the current one?"
Lortheran: "Both."
He wasn't stupid. The boy on the second floor looked at him with such shock. He glanced at him and looked back, but the boy didn't react. He was obviously lost in thought.
Garcia followed his gaze and frowned, saying, "That's Earl Lamb."
Lortheran knew the nobles in the capital like the back of his hand, and he certainly remembered the old Earl Lamb, who was a hero of the previous generation.
But clearly, the young Earl Lamb recognized him—no, he recognized this body, even though Veris had sculpted the body's face to look almost exactly like his original appearance.
Veris: "Did I forget to tell you? This body of yours comes from the Earl of Lamb's mansion, and you are the Earl of Lamb's adopted son... Although he claims to the public that he is his biological son, no one believes it."
Lortheran's eyes widened: "So, I have two sons?"
Veris shook his head: "No, Arnold is indeed the son of this body, and as for Earl Lamb, he has quite a talent for astrology." He left it at that.
The young king still had doubts on his face.
Veris then explained a few more things about the rumors surrounding the Earl of Lamb's mansion, including the fact that his body was supposedly born in the Demon King's Forest, and that Arnold appeared after his body went to Amberley.
Demon King Forest, Amberley...
A child with a good talent for astrology...
The brave men of the previous generation——
In a flash, Lortheran opened his eyes wide and looked at Veris: "Lam already knew who the future hero Arnold's father was?"
Veris tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying, "I'm not so sure because I wasn't with that group back then, but I have to tell you, the entire hero team from back then is now dead."
Lortheran's face contorted. Who was Lamb? Who was this body? Who was that Earl Lamb? His mind was about to explode!
"I should go back and check again," Lortheran thought, taking a deep breath.
With a mountain of unapproved documents and a bellyful of questions, Lortheran bid farewell to the two men and hurried toward the king's carriage.
As he watched Lortheran walk away, Veris's expression softened slightly, while Sylvain watched him. After a long while, Veris sighed and said, "Let's go back."
The two walked through the buildings of the Royal Academy, sunlight filtering through the gaps between them. Sylvain suddenly spoke up: "Is that Hill?"
Veris slowed his pace and turned to look at Sylvain.
He laughed: "Why do you think that?"
Sylvain said seriously, "Although Lortheran's face has been modified, his body is not something that can be faked. Hill studies puppets and has touched countless bones, so he knows the shape of bones best."
“Lotheran traveled back in time and had contact with Hill.”
“Arnold is a hero, and the body of Lortheran is related to Arnold as father and son. Even though Lortheran’s face looked only eighteen years old at the time, his body was already over thirty.”
"This is nothing but a smokescreen for Hill."
"If the path to godhood is through faith, Hill is revered as the god of alchemy, the object of worship for countless alchemists, and the benchmark for the profession. It's possible that his reincarnation might regain his memories..."
Veris suddenly interrupted him: "Alright, alright, you're not allowed to say anymore."
Sylvain stopped.
He looked at Veris with concern.
The young man lowered his eyes and said in a low voice, "This makes me seem very incompetent, not even able to recognize that my partner has been reincarnated."
“No,” Sylvain grabbed his hand and said seriously, “the schism faith, do you remember?”
“Individual consciousness still dominates the body, but the awakened memories are only presented in fragments, and the memories will be passed on through reincarnation. This is how the ancient consciousness judged demigods.”
The half-body carrying the power of faith is reincarnated through Hell, and its memories may be severed, or they may be passed down through blood or a more suitable soul. Sylvain, as the god who governs Hell, knows all too well the intricacies of this matter. Even if Veris had inherited his godhood, he might not have noticed some of the details.
Veris's pupils contracted as he realized something.
“Lam has acquired altered memories,” Sylvain said softly, “so he chose to bring Arnold’s father back to the capital.”
“How did Arnold’s father happen to be run into by Lamb?” Veris frowned.
Sylvain frowned: "It's the curse from back then. The curse between Lortheran and Vesper."
As everyone knows, heroes do not inherit their titles; they are born suddenly on the continent and have almost nothing in common.
Ordinary people may not understand curses at all, but the elf Hill had risked his life several times in the Demon King's Forest. If the trajectory of fate had been altered, then he must have witnessed Lortheran's battle against Vesper.
The Curse of Lortheran and Vesper...
While Veris was lost in thought, Sylvain quietly took his hand again and led him to the lion-beast carriage. Not far away, the students from the Beast Taming Academy were still dutifully standing guard.
Once seated on the carriage, the lion beast departed from the Royal Academy. Veris pressed his forehead, leaned against the cushion, and looked at the carriage with a complex expression.
“I’m thinking about something. If I have saved the dragon and it has survived to this day, what would be the arrangement for Hill…” Veris said in a low voice.
He was certain that he had no connection with Lamb, and that he was merely acting as a bard, spreading untold news when Lamb passed through a small town.
It's simply to help the hero team better seal Vesper.
“The rules cannot be contradictory, Veris.” Sylvain gently stroked the back of his hand.
"Perhaps it's not that you didn't notice something, but that Hill is stopping you."
Veris was speechless.
Sylvain looked at him and said, “We will meet again someday. Maybe soon, maybe for a while. Hill, with all his scheming, could not have imagined this day. In the time that has yet to come, you have reached a consensus. Veris, for three hundred years, you have not been fighting alone.”
Hill may already be standing at a crossroads in the future, waiting for his companions to take him home.
Changing a predetermined fate, while troublesome, is not considered difficult for the gods.
However, if the opponent is a figure who can influence an entire period of history, then there is almost no chance of success.
Dragons are, Hill is, Lor'theran is, and even Sylvain himself is.
Resurrection is against the laws of nature, and even if Veris absorbed the divine essence of the seven gods, and even if he staked the unbroken faith of hundreds of millions of people over three hundred years, it would be almost impossible for him to achieve it.
It wasn't that he could casually bring people back to life; rather, it was a meticulously planned scheme spanning three hundred years across different time periods.
The rebirth of Lortheran was the starting point of this scheme.
Veris pondered for a long time, going through his memories of the past fifty years again, and many things he hadn't paid attention to resurfaced.
He recalled the remnant soul of the celestial being, secretly plotting and causing trouble behind the scenes—if he wasn't mistaken, Yannis played an indispensable role in this scheme.
Furthermore, Yannis will play an even greater role in the future.
Thinking about it this way, Veris instantly felt much happier, realizing that Yannis's little tricks were nothing. After all, if someone sees a lame fly, they can just kill it if they want, and leaving it there for a few days of probation is nothing.
He perked up again and began to plan what he needed to do. First, he needed to quell the rebellion in Phoenix County and rebuild his faith. Then, he would visit the ruins of the God of Love along the way. This would take at least several months.
Lortheran said he wanted to conquer other counties, so let him fight.
And the church...
Veris said seriously to Sylvain, "The Church's power should be reduced, and its doctrines and such should be rewritten by suitable people after a while."
"Give them the authority," he declared decisively.
Sylvain naturally had no objection.
All he could do was manage the entire church so that Veris could have no worries.
Although it was previously said that Sylvain could come along, after consideration, Sylvain decided to stay at the Grand Papacy for the time being. Lortheran is about to make a big move, and he needs to deal with the corresponding possible events.
Veris returned to the High Papacy, spent half a day with Sylvain, and then left via the teleportation array.
Salem's main city seemed quieter than yesterday, especially the Duke's mansion, which was closed. However, the city administration was still operating normally, and the Duke's departure did not cause much of a stir.
Only those who were loyal to the Duke of Salem were very uneasy.
The army continued north, and Veris once again arrived at the church in Salem's main city.
The cardinal thought Veris wouldn't come back, but when he heard that the Duke of Salem had been punished last night, he led his men south back to the capital almost overnight... Some even said that the Duke of Salem would never return, which made the cardinal very uneasy.
But as the night passed and day was drawing to a close, the young man still hadn't come knocking. The cardinal breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed that the man wouldn't be coming back... right?
When the cardinal saw the familiar figure appear in the church, he turned pale with fright.
The Duke of Salem has already run away, why should he still work for the Duke of Salem?
But once he confesses to what he did, the church will definitely not let him off the hook!
The cardinal gritted his teeth and decided to do everything in his power to fool this man.
Veris sized up the man, threw the book in his hand onto the table in front of him, and said, "Is the three-year timeline I asked you to prepare ready? Circle the parts that conform to the doctrine."
Cardinal: "..."
The priests and pastors standing nearby dared not utter a sound.
A young pastor had a sudden inspiration and hurriedly ran to the back study, bringing out the files that had been organized overnight.
The cardinal wanted to glare at the young priest, but when he saw the file, his expression changed drastically—it was a file he hadn't had time to modify!
Veris raised an eyebrow, picked up a book casually, marked as being from January of last year, and flipped to a random page to take a look.
The next second he laughed in anger: "For the New Year, the Duke's mansion is holding a banquet, and the church is spending 100,000 silver coins."
"You better explain yourselves properly. What does the Duke's banquet have to do with the Church?"
The cardinal trembled, unable to understand why he was so terrified by the young man's words. He stammered, "Yes, it was the Duke who forced us..."
"What about the 250,000 silver coins that the Duke's mansion gifted on the Church's New God Day?"
Veris closed the booklet, threw it on the table, and sneered: "The entire Fourth District doesn't even collect 250,000 silver coins in taxes a month. That includes the taxes paid by the major merchant guilds. The taxes paid by ordinary people are less than 120,000 silver coins. But you, on a New God Day, which happens every month, collected 250,000 silver coins from the Duke's mansion."
His eyes turned cold: "But the conditions at other churches aren't much better. Where did all the money you collected go?"
The church was completely silent. The cardinal was deathly pale and his lips trembled as he couldn't utter a single word.
Veris continued, "How much is the church's tax?"
For a moment, no one spoke. The young priest who had initially been quick-witted, sensing something was amiss, shrank back and after a long pause whispered, "Ten, eleventh tax..."
"eleven?"
Veris repeated, "Tithing? The church only decided last year to increase taxes to twenty-one, previously it was thirty-one. You're levying tithes?"
The fact that the people of Salem didn't rebel against the church shows they have a good temper.
The young pastor added, "It was only decided the year before last..."
The year before last, when the cardinal began to take charge of the Salem Papacy.
Veris sneered. If Salem, so close to Lortheran, is like this, what about the other places?
His eyes were icy cold. "Salem is indeed quite far from the Papacy. How do you manage to cover up the Papacy's annual dispatches of envoys when you are so audacious?"
The cardinal dared not hide it any longer: "We made false ledgers."
Veris felt that he hadn't been wrong at all in calling the people of the High Papacy incompetent every day.
He was too lazy to ask anything else, and he didn't want to wait for the High Holy See to send someone to handle it. He simply raised his hand, and a huge magic circle appeared. Everyone present stared wide-eyed as a terrifying pressure descended upon them.
At the same time, a sheet of paper outlined in golden light and shadow appeared in mid-air, with strokes flying across it, and lines of text appearing one after another.
"Salem Cathedral, forcibly levied taxes, falsified accounts, distorted doctrines, colluded with sinners, the main culprit is a cardinal, and there are seven accomplices. The Execution Department is specially authorized to investigate overnight and must close the case within three days. Holy Son Sylvain is in full charge of this matter and will be given all necessary assistance."
Veris didn't even intend to hand the matter over to Uther, but instead passed it on to Sylvain.
The light from the magic circle disappeared, and the cardinal who had collapsed to the ground in terror, along with the equally pale-faced and trembling priests, vanished without a trace.
The young priests who were still standing there were also quite frightened.
Veris frowned as he looked at the group of young priests. He would have to stay here for a while until the Papacy sent someone to take over Salem Cathedral, or until a suitable bishop was found in a church within Salem.
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Author's note: See you tomorrow! [Sprinkling flowers]
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