Chapter 195: Hildreth and the Sword in the Tree

The royal palace is located along the River Cam.

After Ye Zhi returned from hunting, he specially invited the blacksmith from the Knight Academy to the palace for a chat and handed him the skin of the pterosaur.

When the dwarf forger saw the pterosaur skin, he was like a merchant seeing precious jewels and couldn't take his eyes off it.

Being able to use this precious raw material to make protective gear is a rare opportunity for craftsmen. Therefore, the dwarf craftsman offered a very favorable price, then respectfully withdrew and prepared to start making scaled leather armor according to Yeats's requirements.

In the courtyard, Gray was trying out the new Azure Fire Dragon Bow. Her archery skills were surprisingly good, and two arrows hit the bull's eye. She caught a glimpse of Ye Zhi and said:

"Where's Beowulf and his cat? They disappeared so early in the morning."

"We are returning to Morning Frost Ridge with the Scorpion Lion Mercenary Group." Ye Zhi crossed his arms, "After traveling for a while, we will go home too."

Gray grinned, stretched out her hand and threw the longbow to Ye Zhi: "Here you go!"

Ye Zhi was startled, stretched out his hand to catch it, and said, "What are you doing for me?"

"You also need to practice archery." Gray put her hands on her hips and spoke clearly, "I definitely can't throw the axe and shoot arrows at the same time. If necessary, you can assist me from the side!"

Yeats made random associations.

The God of War and his old father, right? "Cran will come to visit later." Yeats drew his bow and arrow, and with the archery skills provided by his profession, he hit the bull's eye. "He will go with us to investigate the rumors about the sword in the lake."

Gray curled her lips and said, "If there really is a sword in the lake, it would have been taken away by the Golden Lion King long ago. How could the adventurers have a chance to take it? In my opinion, this is most likely a trap set by the witch!"

Ye Zhi put down his longbow and looked at Gray in surprise.

This analysis coincides with my own inference, but this reasoning actually came from Grey's mouth?

Gray chuckled and said proudly, "After being with you for so long, I have learned a little bit."

Yeats smiled silently.

According to the plot of the game, the Sword in the Stone has been broken, the Sword in the Lake is buried in a small plane far away from the Midgard, while the Sword in the Tree remains in the Midgard continent.

This giant sword, also known as "God's Wrath", was sealed in the "Ancient Tree of Asgard" in the Kingdom of Northshire. In the later part of the story, it was obtained by the Valkyrie Hildre, a descendant of the Red-haired King.

But now, Hildreth's fate has changed because of herself, and Ye Zhi dare not conclude whether she can still obtain the sword in the tree.

But one thing is certain... no matter whether she can become the king or not, the moment she sacrificed herself to block Remiel's claw attack, Ye Zhi's heart was bound to beat for her.

Looking up at the clear blue sky, Ye Zhi's thoughts drifted away, and he said to himself: "I will wait until I get the immortal flower, and then find a way to meet her."

*Northshire Kingdom, Sovngarde Fjord.

The waters of the fjord are crystal clear, and where the two currents meet, it's like emerald green melting into the depths of the azure, reflecting the white clouds.

The mountains on both sides are steep, sandwiching the lake between narrow and deep valleys, like a mountain giant guarding the lake. The roar of a silver dragon can be heard from the end of the mountains.

It was like a smooth cross section cut by a giant axe, with a thousand-foot-high wall and the silver luster of granite. A magnificent waterfall fell down with a roar, and mist rose up.

Songgaron Waterfall.

Legend has it that this man-made landscape was formed by a battle between the Red-haired King and a powerful orc.

At that time, the Northern Empire was at its most prosperous.

The seven seas were filled with black crow flags, and wherever the dragon-bow warships went, it was like a cold wave passing through. Both the Golden Lion and Roland were ruthlessly ravaged by the people of the North.

The Red-haired King not only made the Pirate King who dominated the Ice Sea surrender to him, he even forcibly incorporated the Orc Kingdom, which was mainly composed of orc tribes and wild beasts at that time, into the empire's territory.

The orcs, unwilling to accept humans as their emperor, rose up in resistance.

Among them, an orc swordmaster, using "flowing water" as his domain, challenged the Red-haired King to a duel in Sovngarde Fjord.

However.

Just one sword.

Both the Orc Swordmaster and the Orc Kingdom have become a thing of the past.

According to the bards, it was a sword that cut through the sky.

The flowing water was evaporated, the sea of ​​clouds was ignited, the snow peak was split in two, and Songgarde Waterfall was born.

The red-haired king looked down upon the battlefield, his hair dancing wildly like a lion. The huge sword that he had once pulled out of the tree was now in the king's hand, as if...

God’s wrath.

Not far from the waterfall, there is an academy building complex shrouded in a translucent barrier, standing on top of the towering fjord cliffs. As the sunlight shines, the runes on the surface of the barrier flow.

National Academy of Arts, Oslo.

It is the only arcane magician academy in the Kingdom of Northshire that can be compared with Jianhe University and Taim River University.

This academy only accepts human students, and the threshold is even higher than that of Jianhe University. The mages who come out of it often use frost and storm as their main means of casting spells.

The fourth-ring mage, Frostspeaker Philus, is an outstanding graduate of this academy.

He was currently working for the current King Harrag, and this trip back to the academy was for two reasons, one, to get some alchemical materials for the king, and two, because he had heard that a sensational event had occurred in the Mage Guild and even the entire mage world.

Philus, wearing a purple robe, flew into the academy's barrier and landed in front of a statue of an old man in tattered clothes and a hat. He took off his wizard's hood, revealing a face with a hooked nose, green eyes, and a calm expression.

Frost mages tend to be cold and silent, while fire mages are mostly extroverted. This is the "elemental personality theory" proposed in the paper "The Effect of Elemental Affinity on the Shaping of Mage Personality".

This theory holds that elemental spirits have different personalities and souls, and that mages can only attract elements that are similar to their own inner souls.

Philus has a strong affinity for the element of ice and frost, and he has developed a cold personality since childhood, so few things can move him.

The last time he was surprised, Philus thought carefully, was during the Aurora Festival.

A baron who was not even a transcendent at the time was favored by the goddess of art and became the chosen one of art...even Philus was extremely envious.

"Master Frostspeaker."

On the side of the giant eagle statue, a wizard apprentice came over and said respectfully: "Teacher is waiting for you in the Hall of Knowledge. Please let me lead the way for you."

Philus nodded slightly, glanced at the statue of the old man, and thought, even though the Mage Guild had asked so many times, they still hadn't replaced the statue with Minerva...

An unknown old man.

According to legend, he is a god of magic, whose wisdom rivals that of Minerva.

But this is just a rumor. After all, there is a question mark as to whether this person really exists.

In the outside world, there is no record of the nameless old man at all, and this only remaining statue can be seen in the Oslo National Arcane Academy, far away from the world.

Philus shook his head and followed the apprentice to the Hall of Knowledge.

Unlike the magnificent Cam River University, the architecture of this college is more tribal in style.

The so-called hall is actually a place with a fire pit in the center, where mages sit around benches to drink and communicate.

The floor of the hall was covered with precious beast skin rugs, and shields and tapestries were hung on the walls. Warriors in magic armor and holding swords stood guard in the corners of the hall.

A blind old man in his seventies sat on a bench, drinking mead from a horn cup. Sensing the arrival of Philosopher, the wrinkles on his face relaxed and he smiled:

"The frost elements around you are becoming more active, Philus, have you learned blizzard?"

"Not yet." Philus sat down and said, "The fifth ring spell is still too difficult. In addition, the number of times the goddess of winter responds to prayers has been decreasing recently. I'm afraid it will take another half a year for me to be able to use it freely."

The blind old man sighed softly: "You are right, Philus, the power of the Winter Goddess has weakened... I am afraid that in the divine realm, in a battle that we cannot see, the Winter Goddess has lost the duel."

Philus frowned slightly: "What will happen if I lose?"

The blind old man said, "In a war between nobles, the losing party gave up their claims, ceded territory and paid compensation. This is the case in a war between gods. The defeated gods would lose their divinity and their priesthood. In the worst case scenario... even their existence might be wiped out."

Philus frowned even more tightly. He was a native of the North, and he was influenced by his surroundings and believed in the Winter Goddess.

The power of the Winter Goddess has weakened, which is not good news for Philus. After all, he has many frost spells, which, in addition to the frost element, can only be cast with the help of the divinity of winter.

Please...collect 6...9...books...!

"The decline of the old gods is always accompanied by the birth of new gods. Even if the goddess of winter falls, there will be a new god of frost to take over her duties..."

The blind old man shook his head.

"Well, these things are too far away from us in the material world after all."

"You know, there is a sacred area between gods and humans that cannot be crossed..."

The blind old man had reached the age where he could face death calmly, so even if what he said was disrespectful to the gods, he did not think it was wrong at all and said calmly:

"I asked you to come here this time. In addition to giving you the materials the king wants, I also have a very important piece of news to share with you."

"Dean, please speak."

"The Magic Goddess's chosen one has been born in the trials of Jianhe University and Taimhe University." said the blind old man.

Philus sat up straight, his eyes flickering, and asked, "Who exactly is it?"

The blind old man whispered, "The one chosen by the magic god was not a human, but an owl."

Philus was slightly stunned.

"That is an owl with great magical talent. It is snow-white and is called the Snowy Owl. There is already news that the owl is the reincarnation of the sacred beast Minerva..."

The blind old man pondered and said, "So many talented mages competed for the position of God's Chosen One, but in the end, it was the Warcraft that won. Minerva's oracle is really hard to understand."

Suddenly, Philus remembered that the Chosen One of Art also seemed to have a contract with a snowy owl.

However, these two cannot be the same owl.

How can a chosen one of the gods of magic be the pet of another chosen one?

"Oh, by the way, that owl does have a trainer." The blind old man said, "It is said that he is a noble from a border territory."

Philus was stunned for a while, and asked in surprise: "Noble? Which territory exactly!"

The old man paused and said, "It's rare to see you lose your composure like this, Philus."

"I'm sorry, Dean, I just...thought of a possibility."

"It's okay. I have some old acquaintances with Principal Edwin. According to him, it was Baron Yeats of Morningfrost Ridge who contracted this snowy owl."

Suddenly, a huge wave rose in Philus' heart and his eyes were full of disbelief.

It turned out to be Baron Yeats!

So, not only is he the chosen one of God, but even his magical pet has the support of the goddess Minerva?

The blind old man asked, "Do you know that nobleman?"

Philles smiled bitterly and said, "More than knowing him, Dean, if you knew his origins, you would doubt yourself like me."

"He comes from the Bronti family, one of the three ancient bloodlines of the Golden Lion, but that should not be surprising to you?" the old man said.

Philus took a deep breath and said:

"No... Actually, he is also the poet laureate of the Aurora Poetry Society. While contracting a magic god, he is also an art god!"

The hall fell into silence for a long time.

The blind old man slowly raised his dry hands.

After drinking the wine in the ox horn cup, the old man calmed down for a while and said in a hoarse voice: "Do you remember who was the last noble who was loyal to the magic god?"

Philus was slightly startled, and thinking of the ancient legend, his eyes were full of surprise.

"You mean...Emperor Lorraine?"

Most of the chosen ones are directly loyal to the gods and rarely join another chosen one.

In history, there is indeed a combination like Yeats and Snowy Owl, that is, the Emperor of Lorraine and the Archmage Merlin.

As the chosen one of the Goddess of Magic, Merlin created the Mages Guild in one fell swoop, and Lorraine's legendary deeds are too numerous to mention.

The dean actually compared Yeats and Lorraine, which moved Philles, but he saw the dean made a gesture to keep quiet.

Immediately, the old man said hoarsely:

"How can a baron like Lorraine? At most, there are similarities... Recently, there are rumors that the Golden Lion has appeared in the lake. If the rumors are true, the countries will go to war to fight for the treasure, just like the search for the Holy Grail... The war is coming."

Philus frowned and said, "Sword in the lake? I'm afraid it's just a conspiracy of some witch. If the sword in the lake is so easy to find, the sword in the tree should have appeared long ago."

"Ever since the Red-haired King was recognized by the Sword in the Tree, everyone in the world believes that only the Red-haired King's bloodline is qualified to drive the Sword in the Tree."

The blind old man said with a hint of regret: "But the bloodline of the Red-haired King has been slaughtered to the point of almost dying out over the years..."

Philus said coldly, "If the sword in the tree named 'God's Wrath' is really obtained by the descendants of the Red-haired King, I don't know how much blood will be shed... Dean, I have already obtained the materials, so I will leave first."

The blind old man sat quietly in his seat.

Integrating the three kingdoms and restoring the glory of the Northern Empire is what many people in the North have dreamed of.

And nowadays, the only one who is qualified to be orthodox is that girl.

"The descendant of the Red-haired King... This is both a blessing from fate and a curse." The blind old man murmured to himself, "She is destined to get the sword in the tree, just like the vengeful prince got the dagger."

(End of this chapter)