Chapter 221: Heart in Chaos, Heart Stirred (Part 3)

  "Actually, as long as we make this matter clear, we might be able to find a better way to resolve and deal with it. Mr. Sandro is in the Empire's Magic Academy after all, and he still has to rely on the help of the Paladin Order. Continuing to conceal things like this is indeed of no benefit to our cooperation." Regiment Commander Roland also looked at Ethan and said.

  Ethan sighed, his gaze sweeping across the faces of the three: Regiment Commander Roland, Sedros, and Sophia. He could not feel any aversion towards these three people, nor could he blame their motives and actions. From their standpoint, it was beyond doubt; even he himself might have thought the same way before knowing the truth. After all, Sandro did indeed seem like a strange old man who didn't know the gravity of things and completely disregarded worldly consequences. To tie the safety of the Royal Capital and the Empire to his own obstinate course was indeed something no one could accept.

  But the truth truly could not be told. Even if he told them for real, it wouldn't be of any help. Regardless of whether they believed it or not, it would only add to their troubles and dangers.

  "Rest assured. Although I still won't tell you, nor will I convey your intentions to Sandro, I can give you a guarantee on Sandro's behalf." Ethan slowed his voice, saying word by word. "From now on, that thing will absolutely no longer bring any trouble to you, to the Empire, or to Oufu."

  "My words can only go this far. Whether or not you will risk angering Sandro to go see for yourselves is up to you to decide." After saying these words, Ethan only felt a sense of complete powerlessness, and also loneliness. He closed his eyes.

  Sedros and Regiment Commander Roland exchanged a look. Both their expressions were somewhat strange, but neither of them spoke.

  Sophia, however, stared at him blankly, her expression even stranger.

  "The beautiful Miss Vedenina is in the meditation chamber a mile away in that direction." Stephen pointed in a direction far behind him. "What's trapping her is a top-tier sealing magic array with five Magical Jades as its core. To others, it might be difficult, but I know you must have a way to help her break it from the outside. If you want to go and release her, it is your freedom. I will absolutely not stop you, and I guarantee that no one in Diya Valley will stop you either." He leaned his face forward slightly, looking at Sandro with a smile in an inquiring posture, and asked softly but clearly: "How about it? Are you going to release her?"

  Sandro looked into the distance, and after being silent for a long while, sighed: "Forget it. I think it's better to let her cool down by herself."

  Stephen smiled faintly. It seemed this was all within his expectations. He said: "Aiden and those few youngsters' actions were indeed somewhat inappropriate, but they didn't truly make a move. They just used a sealing technique together as a group of four to restrain her, that's all. Most importantly, it is indeed necessary for Miss Lich to calm down there alone. You also know that some of the things she has done have gone too far... Now I ask you again, if you were still the Acting Guild Master. Would you stand by and do nothing?"

  "No." Sandro answered expressionlessly.

  "Rare, rare. It seems your judgment is slowly returning. Do you know? Your originally lucid and lofty heart started to have cracks and become chaotic from over twenty years ago, when you met Vedenina."

  "It's like a crack in a dam; even if it's small and weak at the beginning, it will eventually cause a collapse. At first, it was just a stirring of the heart, a heart in chaos. But it slowly developed to the point where you actually resigned from your position as Acting Guild Master and took away those treasures, the Meditations on Truth... Even Agrael was implicated, resigning from his acting position and leaving Diya Valley." Stephen took another sip of tea, sighed, and said. "Haven't you realized? Once this knot in the heart starts, it will only grow bigger and roll up more, until today, when your basic judgment is actually obscured by the voice derived from that knot, and you even thought that Teacher Valthor and I came to join forces against you. Want to make a move against us in Diya Valley? Are you crazy?"

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Sandro did not speak, and the expression on his face didn't change much. It's just that his complexion became more and more unsightly.

  "But now, since you can still come to your senses, you haven't truly fallen into complete chaos. You still have a bit of the dash of the former Acting Guild Master of Diya Valley." Stephen raised his teacup as if toasting, and smiled. "I congratulate you."

  Sandro was silent for a moment, then suddenly turned his head to look at Stephen and said fiercely: "Do you know? Before meeting this fellow who dared to act against me, you were the person I most wanted to kill for the past thirty or forty years."

  "Do you know why I most wanted to kill you?" Sandro strode up to Stephen and looked at him, as if he wished to bore holes in Stephen's face with his eyes. After a slight pause, he sighed instead. "Because every time you provoke me and make me want to kill you, I can't find any reason to make a move at all."

  The Necromancer drinking tea remained seated, still looking at the furious Sandro with a slight smile. "Sit down and have another cup of tea with a calm heart?"

  Sandro glared at him for a good while longer, and finally sat down on the stone chair beside him.

  "I'm very glad that you finally haven't completely lost that lucid and lofty heart." Stephen smiled as he refilled Sandro's tea, then continued.

  "The Necromancer and the guarded The Black Star are one, already a part of this continent's destiny. Whatever fate may be, we can only be bystanders. We must transcend the gears of fate; this is the origin of the lucid and lofty heart. Once there is ambition and desire, that is the beginning of corruption. Nimbus, Asri, Eschol, Norbolin... they have already replaced the heart of the Necromancer. I feel that their deaths are not a loss to Diya Valley, but a cleansing."

  "They brought it upon themselves." Valthor, curled up in his chair, coughed out a few short phrases. "So I never paid them any mind. And then there's Vedenina..." Valthor coughed harshly a few times, as if he needed to get it out of his system first, and only then managed to say the rest in one, barely smooth breath: "Twenty years ago, I firmly opposed her joining. Although becoming a Lich is indeed the greatest magical feat since the great Archibald, in terms of aptitude and determination, she was qualified. But I could feel that what was in the bottom of her heart was incompatible with the sacred The Black Star and did not align with the teachings of the great Archibald. Everything from twenty years ago can be said to have been caused by her, and twenty years later today, she is still stubbornly unenlightened... She has not just deviated from the principles of a Necromancer; she is simply going in the opposite direction. Although it is not ambition, nor desire in her case, it is the most dangerous thing: faith."

  "Faith. That is the most terrifying thing, far more terrifying than desire and ambition, especially for a Necromancer."

  "Although Aiden and those few fellows were also blinded by desire and ambition, they did a good job in this matter. Vedenina should indeed rest quietly there for a period of time."

  "Now Diya Valley is finally peaceful. We few old fellows should rest well."

  "Yes. No matter what happens, we should just observe quietly and not get involved. This is the true stance a Necromancer should have..." Sandro nodded thoughtfully, as if answering Stephen, and also as if talking to himself.

  "I can feel that your heavy killing intent is not just because Inham provoked you, but more because you are in conflict." Stephen's gaze wandered over Sandro's face. He asked, "Is that so?"

  "Yes." Sandro answered woodenly. "I was just guarding that thing, letting everything around me happen naturally. Even as I watched those seemingly impossible coincidences happen before me, I still insisted on not interfering, letting it develop naturally... But such things kept happening, making me truly unable to bear it anymore... However, I also don't know if what I'm doing is to resist that damned prophecy, or if I'm simply moving along with its flow..."

  "It is your heart that is moving." Valthor, because of his coughing, usually spoke in very concise phrases. "What is to come, will eventually come; what is to go, will eventually go."

  Stephen chuckled and said: "If there really is fate, then no matter what you do, you are just a part of it. If there isn't, then what are you worrying about?"

  Sandro didn't speak, just frowned and pondered, his gray-white eyebrows looking as if they were about to be twisted into a hemp rope by himself. Finally, he seemed to sigh unwillingly, looking at the two Necromancers and said: "Damn it, why do I feel as if I've been persuaded by you?"

  "We didn't persuade you. Who can persuade whom? It's just that you've come to your senses a bit. Perhaps it's because you haven't completely lost that lucid and lofty heart, or perhaps you've been troubled enough and don't want to be troubled anymore." Stephen patted Sandro's shoulder and laughed loudly. "I understand very well that a person who has been troubled by one thing for a full twenty years would indeed be quite tired. Especially when it seems their own efforts have had no effect at all."

  "That's right. I am indeed tired. Watching those things happen one by one, I really don't want to interfere anymore, and probably can't anymore. Perhaps everything is truly fated..." Sandro cast his gaze towards a distant direction, talking to himself. "Not fated... I can only do this much... Young man, you must look out for yourself."