Chapter 194: Letter (Part 1)

  "Is there really no solution at all?" Ethan asked.

  "Can you turn a zombie back into a human?" Sandro retorted, rolling his eyes. He held a steaming cup of tea in his hand. Who knew when he had developed this habit of drinking tea, occasionally taking a sip.

  "Isn't there a resurrection technique in the ultimate Forbidden Spell of White Magic in legends? I thought since it can bring the dead back to life, it should also be able to..."

  "Since you already know that's something from legends, why bother asking? That's just a theoretically existing magic, not something that can be accomplished by human power alone. And even with such magic, what can be resurrected is only a complete human body. No magic can create something from nothing, creating a human body." Sandro seemed to recall something, then smiled bitterly, "Even if this magic really succeeded, I'm afraid the result wouldn't be something good..."

  Ethan said: "But the Empress is still alive, and her body is still intact..."

  "That's a vampire's body. Completely different from a human's." Sandro impatiently took a big sip of tea, making a gurgling sound that echoed in the empty space of the library. "How have you been learning magic knowledge and meditation all these years? You worked for me for so long, how come you haven't even learned one ten-thousandth of my judgment? Completely different body structures, and the energy that maintains body movement is completely opposite, how can it be restored? This process is irreversible, just like a seed that has grown into a plant. You can cut it down and kill it, but can you possibly make it return to being a seed?"

  Ethan was silent for a long while, sighed deeply, and nodded: "Yes, I know it's probably impossible... I just didn't want to believe it."

  "Didn't want to believe it? It seems you've become more and more effeminate this past year... What's the big deal about being a vampire? Hide it if you can. If she can't hide it from others herself, that's her own business. Whether to kill or flee has nothing to do with others, hehe, even for that young Emperor, it's not necessarily a bad thing, out with the old and in with the new..."

  "I'm not talking about that... She will be heartbroken if she finds out..." Ethan looked at the nearby wall, muttering to himself. Only he knew the origin of this vampire, the detailed reasons for its creation, and he also knew that the blow this would be to her might be unimaginable.

  "Hmm?" Sandro didn't hear clearly.

  "Sigh..." Ethan sighed, giving this strange old man a somewhat reproachful look. "Since you had already noticed that person's scheme, why didn't you intervene to stop it? Maybe it wouldn't be so..."

  "You asked this question two days ago, idiot. I still say the same thing, it's none of my business what you young people do, as long as it doesn't affect me. By the way, I'll warn you, that Cardinal kid seems quite extraordinary, you'd better be careful not to get yourself killed." Sandro drank the tea in his cup in one gulp.

  "You young people go do your own things, don't bother this old man." With a gulp, Sandro swallowed the tea into his stomach, then buried his head and let out a sigh. "Good tea, but the water quality is a bit poor. Sigh, I forgot to have you bring some snow water back from the Sanderfirth Mountains for me..."

  "You..." Ethan shook his head in extreme frustration, but this wasn't the first time he felt helpless against this old man.

  After leaving the Magic Academy, Ethan rushed back to the inn where they were staying. Talise and Drow were waiting for his news. Whether it was because Jessica followed Ethan's instructions or Talise genuinely wanted to cooperate with them, these two hadn't fought each other while he was away, which was already the best thing that had happened today.

  Luya had already been sent away by Ethan to leave the capital for Whispering Woods after completing her negotiations with the Chancellor. First, because the matter of the elves' migration couldn't be delayed, and second, to let her leave the capital as soon as possible. After all, with her skills and abilities, she couldn't play any role in the possible upcoming changes, and might even become a burden, so it was best to let her leave quickly.

  Seeing Ethan return, Talise immediately stepped forward to ask: "How is it? Did you find any solution? Didn't you say there's a mysterious expert here who can definitely give us a good solution?"

  "That expert seems to be busy drinking tea, no time to help us." Ethan sighed, then turned to ask her: "Do you think there's any good solution to this matter?"

  "Naturally, it would be best to find a way to make this matter public. Even if we can't directly expose Javi and that Empress who turned into a vampire, we can still create trouble for them, making their conspiracy not so easy to succeed. For example, we could use paint to write on the walls at night..."

  "This method won't work... absolutely not..." Ethan immediately shook his head. "Remember, you must not leak any information about this matter."

  "Why?" Talise retorted with wide eyes. "Even if it doesn't have much effect, it won't do us any harm..."

  Drow sneered and said: "It's not good for his lover, right? That poor girl who turned into a vampire is the Chancellor's only relative..." She then turned to look at Ethan. "But do you really think this is appropriate? I think you should know this is not the time to talk about these idiotic feelings. Using the most reasonable and effective method to solve the problem is the most reliable approach."

  "Of course I know..." Ethan nodded, and after thinking for a moment, a flash of light passed through his eyes, and he sneered, "Right, there's actually a very direct method. I should have thought of it earlier. This method is the most direct... just capture that guy named Javi, wouldn't that work?"

  "Do you think that guy is a three-year-old child? You can capture him just because you want to? Don't deceive yourself when you're out of options. If you really had full confidence in taking him down, you wouldn't have stopped this Temple Knight that night."

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  "Why don't I lure Javi out?" Talise said. "With my identity as a Temple Knight, he definitely won't have any guard against me. We just need to set up an ambush and traps in a suitable place."

  "You probably can't..." Ethan shook his head with a bitter smile. Indeed, with her identity as a Temple Knight, it might be possible to restrain Javi, but whether it's Talise's scheming, her depth of thought, or her experience in dealing with people, she is pitifully weak. And since the other person is from the Necromancer Guild and has managed to infiltrate Celeste to this extent, their meticulous thinking must be absolutely superb. I'm afraid that with just one glance, the unnatural eyes and expressions of a Temple Knight would alert the other person, then within five sentences, they might see through her intentions, then be lured into revealing her purpose, and next would be to have their own plan used against them. So from the beginning of recruiting Talise, he never thought of using her Temple Knight identity. He just wanted to keep her in his sight to prevent her from messing things up, and to borrow her extraordinary skills.

  "I can't? Then what other way is there? Are you planning for us to storm the Magic Academy to capture a Cardinal?"

  "Our advantage now is that we know about him, but he doesn't know about us yet." Ethan pondered for a moment, then nodded: "Let me think... we should still have another person to help, also to lure that person out, but this person might be more suitable..."

  Talise hummed somewhat unwillingly: "I hope the person you choose won't waste this advantage you mentioned."

  "Definitely not." Ethan shook his head confidently. He was indeed very confident, confident in this candidate. He believed that this person, whether in terms of scheming or depth of thought, could absolutely compete with that young Necromancer.

  At this time, in the conference hall of Diya Valley, the members of the Necromancer Guild gathered once again.

  However, this gathering could no longer reproduce the grand occasion of the guild's peak period. In just this short year, three members had died unnaturally, one was imprisoned, one was on a mission outside, and now less than half of the thirteen seats were occupied. For an organization that undoubtedly stands at the very top of the continent, this was absolutely an unprecedented awkward situation. Almost every Necromancer's face showed a difficult-to-resolve gloom.

  "I think this will be a great opportunity to save the guild from its current situation." The fair and fat Norbolin played with the huge Magical Jade ring on his hand, looking at the guild members around him.

  "Save?" Valthor squeezed out these two words between coughs. His body was hunched, trembling in continuous coughs, his expression also appeared listless, as if just an old man who could die at any moment. His eyes were also dim and lifeless, casually sweeping across Norbolin's face as if dying. "Do you think our Necromancer Guild has lost something very important?"

  Norbolin's hand stroking the ring twitched nervously, and he answered: "Teacher Valthor, isn't that so? In just one year, we have lost three noble members. They were all at the peak of power, with enough strength to influence the situation of a country..."

  "What Diya Valley has is never worldly power... nor does it desire to have it... We don't need these things... Do you think Diya Valley is a place like your counting house?" Valthor's sentence was pieced together intermittently between dozens of coughs, sounding not just weak and feeble, but completely as if neither dead nor alive, but immediately, fine beads of sweat appeared on the fair and fat Necromancer's forehead.

  Inham stood up at the right moment, politely saying to Valthor: "Teacher Valthor, I believe Mr. Norbolin is just used to that way of thinking. The goal we are all working for has actually not changed from beginning to end..."

  Valthor neither agreed nor disagreed, continuing to cough lightly. After a long while, he sighed deeply and said: "Heart... A noble heart that a Necromancer should have... is it no longer there..." After saying this, he closed his eyes and curled up in that chair, no longer speaking.

  Inham glanced at Valthor, then turned to speak to the other Necromancers: "Everyone, regarding Norbolin's proposal, what do you all think?"

  "Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts..." Master Aiden said coldly while sitting upright in his chair.

  "This indeed needs careful consideration. After all, there has never been a precedent for such a thing in Diya Valley..." Two other Necromancers nodded to each other.

  "Why don't we first see what High Priest Tima himself has said." Norbolin took out a black crystal from his pocket and placed it on the table. This kind of jet-black but crystal-clear crystal is a rare specialty from the underground world of Nighon. And it can only be used once, even in Diya Valley, such things are considered rare goods.

  The black crystal infused with magical power slowly disintegrated, and a smoke-like light emanated from it, gradually forming a huge image in the center of the table.

  "Respected Necromancers, Tima, the High Priest of the dark world of Nighon, pays respects to you who stand at the top of the world." A figure in the light and shadow bowed to those around. As the light and shadow gradually condensed and became clear, this figure also became completely identical to a real one. On this body, taller and stronger than a human, was a strange but majestic and mysterious robe, like a golem from another world. And even more strange was the huge bull's head on his neck and a pair of eyes like ghost fire. Anyone who knows something about Minotaurs can see that this is the highest-ranking High Priest in the Minotaur tribe.

  The voice emitted by this strange and mysterious image, like a devil from legends, was rough yet gentle, like two very fine sandpapers kissing each other, and the tone was also very respectful and polite. "I have already learned of the message brought by the respected Mr. Norbolin. I am very shocked. I didn't expect that Moriel's messenger would actually leave Nighon and become your enemy on the surface. I feel very sorry for the trouble this has brought you all..."

  A Necromancer suddenly realized and nodded: "Although I privately saw Sedros with that person for the first time near Nighon, I never expected that person to be from the underground world. Mainly because that person is clearly a half-elf... how could he live underground?"

  "If Adela hadn't brought the news that that person is related to the Drow clan, we wouldn't have thought to investigate..."

  Adela shook her head and frowned: "Lancelot and Wilskey, those few Temple Knights who broke into Nighon back then, also seemed to know this person early on, but I don't know if it was His Majesty or Lancelot's intention, they never mentioned the battle in Nighon that day, otherwise I wouldn't have only vaguely known that this person was related to Nighon after I got there, and then asked Norbolin to investigate."

  "But if this person is really the messenger of the legendary dragon Moriel, it can be considered somewhat related to our Diya Valley..."

  Master Aiden's face turned slightly pale, and his voice was no longer so bleak and indifferent: "Moriel's seal was personally set by the great Archibald. Could it be that the dragon made an agreement with Sedros, so her messenger came to the surface to help him? If that's the case, then things might be much more troublesome than expected..."

  "But the Drow clan hasn't made any moves at all. I have reason to believe that this might not be Moriel's own intention, perhaps just the relationship between Sedros and that half-elf themselves..."

  Norbolin raised his hand to signal: "Regardless, let's listen to what High Priest Tima has to say..."

  At this point, the bull-headed High Priest in the image also got to the main point. Even though it was just an illusory voice, it still echoed with a curse-like aura. "Necromancers, out of utmost respect for Diya Valley, I hereby apply to join this most noble and greatest organization to become one of you. I guarantee this will be the strongest combination in the world, and your troubles can be solved effortlessly under our combined efforts..."

  A Necromancer sighed and shook his head, saying: "This is the most disgusting application in the history of Diya Valley... This monster is not human, but more disgusting than the most disgusting person. The smell of desire it emits can make even zombies vomit..."

  Master Aiden sneered and said: "This guy wants us to help him deal with Moriel, so that the entire Nighon will fall under his command."

  The laughter from another Necromancer was like two knives rubbing against each other: "Hehe... this is the first time I've heard of someone daring to use us..."

  Norbolin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said: "But at least the facts are as he said. After we join forces with him, perhaps all problems can be easily solved..."

  Although they didn't express agreement, traces of being persuaded appeared on the faces of two guild members. After all, if Nighon could fall under Diya Valley's control, it would be an unprecedented achievement, and now facing that messenger of Moriel, the originally omnipotent noble guild members did seem somewhat powerless...

  Master Aiden looked at Inham and asked: "What does the acting Guild Master decide?"

  Inham's eyes swept across the faces of all guild members, then after thinking for a moment, he said: "I think it's better to postpone this matter for now..."

  Aiden snorted coldly and said: "If Sandro were still the acting Guild Master, I bet he would rush to Nighon and use this priest's corpse to tell all the stupid bulls in the world what attitude they should have towards the noble Diya Valley."

  Inham didn't speak, and his expression didn't change at all.

  "Being this acting Guild Master is not an easy job." After a long while, Marquis finally let out this sigh.

  The radiance of White Magic illuminated the entire meditation chamber as if it were in broad daylight. In the center of the meditation chamber, the light emitted by five Magical Jades illuminated the ugly and terrifying face of the Lich in the middle, showing every detail. But Marquis's gaze towards this face was very gentle, natural, even very tender.