Chapter 32 Preparation for the Promotion Ceremony
"Sulfur, salt, and mercury."
In the evening, Sherlock Hermes was in his room, confirming the materials for the advanced ritual to be used tonight.
He wore a monocle and tried to make out the words he had scribbled on the labels of his bottles and jars.
Sherlock murmured softly, his fingers skimming over the bottles and jars on the shelf. "Consecrated silver powder, blessed holy water. A bunch of dried black sage, unused rock crystal, six new red candles..."
On the other side, in the Hall of Silver and Tin.
Princess Isabel also paced nervously in her room.
She kept mumbling the names of the materials needed for the promotion ceremony, and she was visibly fidgeting.
"There's also clove essential oil, cinnamon essential oil, cypress essential oil, benzoin essential oil... there's also helichrysum essential oil, chamomile essential oil... and... and..."
Janis, the elf artist who was sitting nearby humming and writing music, put down her pen helplessly upon seeing this.
"—Also ginger, fragrant dill, and white bread. I say... Little Isa, why are you so nervous? You have to trust your court ritualist. The ritual they arrange is much more reliable than preparing it yourself."
"Yes, I know..."
Isabel murmured, not even emphasizing the phrase "Call me Isabel and not little Isa."
She felt a little short of breathing and gently grasped the collar of her white gauze dress, as if she wanted to lift the collar to fan some air in and relieve her tension - but considering the image and dignity of the royal family, she did not dare to make such a vulgar move in front of outsiders.
"It's very easy to advance for the first time, don't be nervous."
Janice patiently said, "You have to believe in yourself. You are very strong, and your foundation is more solid than most people. This is your first time advancing, and it's a full-moon advancement... There should be about six or seven people who can advance, so what are you afraid of?"
“…That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Isabel looked worried: "If six out of nine people can advance, but I don't - if this gets out, it will lose face for the royal family.
"Besides, someone will gossip about you, Teacher. Someone will say bad things about you. They will spread terrible rumors..."
She was able to embark on the path of beauty purely because of Queen Sofia's doting on her, because the royal family of Avalon, the "Du Lac", could only choose the path of authoritarianism.
But among the Queen's six grandchildren, Her Majesty's favorite is the second-youngest Isabella.
The only one younger than Isabel was her two-year-old brother.
Isabel showed her outstanding artistic talent at a very young age.
When she was only four years old, she accompanied the Queen to listen to the opera "Lulu's Magic Flute". Even though she did not understand Assyrian, she could hum the arias directly after just one listening.
Queen Sofia was delighted. Even before she became queen, she had dreamed of becoming an opera composer. After inheriting the throne, she even wrote a few operas in her spare time. She only kept them secret because of her status.
Among her many children, only Isabelle inherited her opera talent.
That's why she went against the majority's opinion.
This set a precedent for Isabel, allowing her to embark on the path of beauty and formally study "art."
The path of beauty is the path of harmony and art, of fluidity and eternity.
The key skill in the path of beauty is "art".
Opera, music, painting, sculpture, drama, dance, and poetry are all mysterious arts that belong to the path of beauty.
Art itself is mysterious. All great masters of art, without exception, are pioneers in the path of beauty.
Just as the key skill on the path to authority is "leadership" - the monarch's skill in controlling his subordinates and making others obey him is also mysterious.
If you want to increase the depth of your path, specializing in one skill is definitely not enough.
Perhaps because she is one-quarter elf, Isabel's talents lie in singing and dancing.
And since you have embarked on this journey, you must keep going with determination.
Once a transcendent begins the path, they are obsessed with rising higher—they become obsessed with drilling deeper, rising higher. The longer they remain in the same place, the more likely they are to go mad.
It's like the talented but not genius young people in a certain industry who often despair of their true talent—a soul-shaking chasm that can't be felt by those outside the industry and can only be understood by those who delve into it.
This feeling of powerlessness and shock, if it occurs on the path of transcendence, will drive a person crazy.
The path of beauty emphasizes perceiving the beauty of the world and understanding the harmony and eternity of the world...which makes it easier to become crazy.
Almost without exception, those masters of art who specialize in a certain field have gone crazy.
So the Queen specially invited Master Janice to teach Isabel the skills of painting, sculpture and arranging.
Because this is the safest route to promotion.
Isabel wouldn't be the next in line anyway. Since the Queen is happy, let the child have fun.
That's what others thought at the time.
However, the good times did not last long.
More than a decade ago, the royal family of Avalon suddenly began to fall ill one after another.
At first, they suspected poisoning, but later determined that someone was casting a powerful curse of extinction - a persistent and powerful curse that even the church's illumination magic could not completely dispel, and the holy bones of sages of past generations could not protect.
What cannot be dispelled or resisted by the power of a single country can only be a curse from another country.
Who else could it be?
It can only be the Xingti Kingdom.
Although Avalon had no evidence, common sense told him that a ritualist capable of using such power could only be found in the Star Antimony Kingdom.
Therefore, starting from a few years ago - when the first royal family was dragged to death by an incurable curse, Avalon and Star Antimony officially entered a state of hostility.
Today, Isabel's father is the only one still alive from her generation.
And half of her life has died of illness.
Only Isabel's eldest brother, Isabel, and her two-year-old brother were left.
She did nothing, but somehow she became the third heir to the Kingdom of Avalon.
——If she really inherits the throne, then there will be a big problem.
Avalon is a country that advocates authoritarianism, but its new queen has no compatibility with authoritarianism at all.
She is currently the third heir, but no one knows if she will suddenly become the first, because being the third is already a very dangerous position.
Isabel had done nothing wrong, and neither had Master Janice. However, due to the turn of events, rumors were circulating even among the kingdom's high-ranking officials that the Star Antimony Kingdom's goal was to have Isabel ascend the throne—thus plunging Avalon into chaos from within.
The entire kingdom's privileged class, all the extraordinary people in the government, and even the majority of the soldiers came from the Path of Authority. How could a queen from the Path of Beauty possibly gain their 100% loyalty?
So Isabel was under a lot of pressure.
Any mistakes she made would be magnified, criticized, and blamed.
But she didn't want to blame them either.
Because she could sense that they were under a lot of pressure and worried about the future.
She also understood that their concerns were correct—if she really became queen in the future, Avalon would probably be in long-term chaos. But she really didn't have the adaptability to the ways of authority... She tried many times, but she really couldn't learn.
All she could pray for was that her brothers would not die again.
But she couldn't do anything. She had no say in this matter.
She could only do everything according to the rules, silently and to the best of her ability - not giving others the opportunity to find fault.
Because of this, she did not use her privilege, but instead went to college and lived with other students.
She became a Transcendent through formal channels only after passing the comprehensive assessments during her first three semesters of college. Before that, she strictly limited her studies, only learning the more marginal aspects of "art" skills, the parts that ordinary people could touch... and then she constantly honed her basic skills, but never studied anything related to Transcendental Powers.
She was patient and practiced basic skills for thirteen years.
It was boring, meaningless, and painful enough to make her want to vomit. But she persisted.
Because she wanted to show that she would not use royal privileges at will.
She hoped this would silence the voices of discontent.
She tried to downplay the impression of herself as a "princess", hoping that people would see her as an ordinary person rather than the third heir to the kingdom.
Until now, she suddenly realized——
Perhaps I have never truly become an "ordinary person".
She is still being served, pampered and helped.
While other transcendents prepared their own rituals, she could only sit by and sip tea. The royal ritualist would take care of everything for her, so she didn't have to do anything—no need to worry about making mistakes in her ritual array, or buying inferior or counterfeit materials that would render the ritual ineffective.
"...I'd better do it myself."
Isabel made up her mind.
She bowed deeply to the ritualist. "Master Osborn, I'm so sorry... It's not that I don't trust you. I just thought... maybe it wouldn't be good for me to just stand by and watch."
Isabel didn't know how to describe the tension and anxiety in her heart.
But she always felt uneasy as she watched the white-haired ritualist preparing the ceremony for her.
It feels like it was my own fault, but someone else took the blame.
Her brothers and sisters loved her very much. Whenever she accidentally broke something, they were the first to admit their mistakes.
Although Isabel was not scolded at that time, she always felt uneasy.
——Just like now.
It feels like something is tormenting my heart.
"Please let me prepare the promotion ceremony myself."
Princess Isabel repeated.
Her voice became clearer, less timid than before: "You can assist me from the side, Master Osborne."
The white-haired ritualist beside him stroked his beard happily and nodded with a smile.
"Alright, my little princess. Indeed, this kind of thing...really needs me to be the one to do it, to make it more ceremonial."
"Remember this feeling, Princess. Your first time entering the dream world, your first time encountering the other eight great paths. Truly leaving behind the status of 'apprentice' and becoming a true transcendent—"
The other side.
In Moriarty Manor, Aiwass climbed out of bed with his hands covering his forehead.
He actually hasn't gotten enough sleep yet.
But his spiritual intuition told him that if he didn't wake up, it would be too late - so he forced himself to wake up.
The sun is setting outside.
Aiwass struck the match with trembling hands and tried several times before it lit.
He shivered and lit the white candle on his bedside - this was obviously the "cure" prepared by Oswald.
Aiwass grasped the flame, feeling the vitality flowing into his body from the candlelight, and then he slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately... because Aiwass is interested in the occult, he has all sorts of materials prepared in his room. There won't be any delays.
The so-called "poor students have more stationery."
Even though he didn't know how to use it, he bought everything he could.
...But he hadn't eaten for a whole day. He was starving.
Find a way to fill your stomach first, then come back and prepare for the promotion ceremony.
I’ve read over 5,000 words, and I’m very happy—so today’s update is over 8,000 words!!!
I said you won't be able to see this chapter after it's published today, but I can see it in the background, so if you want to complain, or if you see typos or grammatical errors, you can still say it! If nothing unexpected happens, it should be restored tomorrow~
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
