Chapter 264: The Assassin's Memento

  Aimee, beside Talise, also let out sounds of amazement. It was a given that a Temple Knight would be knowledgeable, and knowledge and discernment were essential qualities for a knight. Naturally, the archives in Celeste had a comprehensive collection, so she could recognize most of these specimens and mementos.

  Not only that, she seemed to perceive the extraordinary value in these small objects even better than Ethan. The collections in Celeste were of the highest quality, accompanied by complete explanations from senior-level naturalists. All of this honed her discernment, allowing her to notice many details that Ethan was unaware of.

  "This Medusa's hair has red scales; it must be from a tribal chief at least... This should be a Wyvern's claw... These are all extremely rare items. An adventurer with a collection like this? I doubt even the Erathia Royal Collection has them."

  "Hey, come take a look." Talise picked up two items and beckoned Ethan over. Her voice had shifted from amazement to a certain kind of calm—the kind of composure that emerges when astonishment turns into shock and vigilance.

  "This is the eye of a Scale Ox from the Lizard Marsh, you know about it." In Talise's left hand was a fist-sized eyeball. After special preservation, it looked like a strange toy, its huge pupil reflecting a person's image with a black, oily sheen.

  "I know. And it's the eye of an old, prime-aged one." Ethan nodded. Only the pupils of old Scale Oxen would slowly turn black.

  "Not just old, but the eye of the strongest old Scale Ox, which means it should be the eye of a Scale Ox King. You see, the pupil has turned completely black, and there's a magical fluctuation emanating from it. It's said that such a Scale Ox King can use its gaze to produce effects similar to Necromancy... Their eyeballs are also a necessary component for creating grand Necromantic scrolls. A Scale Ox King is extremely difficult to capture. I believe even Celeste only has one."

  Ethan frowned. He recognized this as the same eyeball that had been lying here casually for over a decade, something any passing villager could have stolen by secretly opening the door while the owner was away. It was hard to believe it was a rare magical item that even the Church only possessed one of. But with his current perception, he could also sense the faint magical fluctuation on the eyeball.

  "Preserving an eyeball like this isn't as simple as just embalming it. It must be infused with magical power at regular intervals to ensure the Necromancy within doesn't fade... And what needs to be infused is also Necromancy..."

  Ethan's eye twitched. He could tell she wasn't talking nonsense, and Talise had no reason to do so.

  "And there's this. I'm sure this isn't something an adventurer should possess." Talise's voice grew even colder. In her right hand was half of a staff.

  "Hmm, this... it just looks like half of a very ordinary staff," Ethan replied. It was indeed just half a staff. Although the wood was of excellent quality and the workmanship was very fine, it had no magical fluctuations or any strange aura. As a child, he had played with it in his hands more than once, used it to scratch his back, and even taken it to poke at bird nests... It was familiar beyond words.

  "Let me tell you. In the display hall in Celeste, on the highest altar, the upper half of this staff is placed. This was the staff used by the previous Pope, His Majesty Dracon." Talise's voice trembled slightly.

  Both Ethan and Aimee were completely stunned.

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  "Could you be mistaken, sister?" Aimee asked. She also found it hard to believe that the staff of a former Pope could be found in an unlocked wooden hut in a small village.

  "The wood is the core of a thousand-year-old elven tree. The patterns on it and the grain of the break are completely consistent with the break on the upper half of the staff in Celeste. I couldn't be mistaken, because His Majesty Magnus used this very staff to tap on my forehead when he granted me the title of Temple Knight."

  Ethan forced a smile. "Oh, I never thought the thing I used to scratch my back as a kid would have such a history... Grandma's collection is really something..."

  "Do you know what another reason is why I remember this thing so clearly?" Talise interrupted Ethan, her face like ice, spitting the words out one by one.

  "The greatest ideal of every Temple Knight is to capture the assassin who murdered the previous Pope, His Majesty Dracon."

  The somewhat forced smile on Ethan's face completely froze. He knew it was unlikely that anyone would be willing to forge this thing. And now he knew why he felt a strange sense of discord upon returning here.

  Nothing here had changed. What had changed was his own perspective. Before this, even though he had spent more than ten years in this small cabin, he had never perceived its extraordinary nature. Or rather, back then, he didn't have the ability or the discernment to see it.

  The placement of the bed, the size of the room, the direction of the door, the distance between the two cabinets, their positions... The location and arrangement of everything in the cabin were actually the most rational and cautious, allowing the owner to react with the greatest speed from any position and in any situation. This couldn't have been deliberate; after all, it was just an undefended little wooden cabin. It could only be that the owner, when arranging things, was acting out of a habit formed over many years, like a wild beast that never lets down its guard even while eating or sleeping.

  If the current Ethan were to arrange his own cabin, it would probably be very similar to this one.

  "But I heard that the previous Pope, His Majesty Dracon, died of illness twenty years ago?" Aimee asked.

  "It wasn't illness. The night before His Majesty Dracon died suddenly, he had personally killed three assassins who came after him without using magic. Even without considering magic, his martial skills were enough to rank among the top ten on the continent at the time. However, he was assassinated on his way to the Ainfast Empire. But this fact could not be known to outsiders, so it was announced to the public that His Majesty Dracon had died of a sudden, acute illness."

  "Although this matter has passed for twenty years, it is still the number one unsolved case in the Church's history. I only know about these things from hearsay. But His Majesty Magnus has since used this half of Dracon's staff as the instrument for granting the title of Temple Knight. I believe that everyone, including myself, who was pointed by this fragment of the staff to become a Temple Knight, has long regarded this as their ultimate goal. This must also be His Majesty Magnus's intention."

  Talise's hand, holding the fragment of the staff, trembled slightly. The weight of this object was too heavy for her, or for any Temple Knight.

  "But I can assure you that if you tell Magnus you saw this thing here, the first thing he will do is kill you with his own hands."

  These words were not spoken by Ethan, and certainly not by Aimee. The speaker was a thin, clean-looking old woman with long brown hair. She was standing by the door, smiling at the three uninvited guests in her house, with a bag of bread in her arms.

  Including Ethan, no one had noticed how she had appeared.

  "I knew you would probably come around this time, but I didn't expect you to bring two such pretty girls with you." The old woman's gaze swept over Talise and Aimee. "One is a very talented water mage, and the other is actually a Temple Knight."

  The old woman walked over and patted Ethan on the back. "Kid, you've grown up."

  "Grandma, you're back." Ethan smiled and nodded.

  Although Talise did not draw her sword or make any defensive move, her aura was reined in, taut and tense. Although the person before her looked like an ordinary old woman without any threat, she knew this was also an enemy she could not handle.

  Even now, as she stared with full concentration, she felt her perception and attention could not be fully focused and locked onto this person.

  "Relax, little one. Would a Temple Knight draw her sword on an old woman who doesn't have the strength to truss a chicken?" Aunt El put the bag on the table, taking out the bread and some daily necessities from it. Her expression was relaxed and serene, truly that of an old woman who had just returned home from shopping.

  "I have reason to believe you are definitely not someone who lacks the strength to truss a chicken, but I also wouldn't dare to draw my sword against you..." Talise was telling the truth. Even at such a close distance, and with the other person so completely unguarded, she knew clearly that no matter how she struck, her sword would surely miss. This seemingly ordinary old woman before her was like an illusion condensed from shadow, or a monster existing in a separate, peculiar space, able to leap into the void and disappear at any moment. Of course, she could also reappear from anywhere to deliver a fatal counter-strike.

  "However, I hope you can tell me, who exactly are you? Why is this half of His Majesty Dracon's staff with you? And... what exactly did you mean by what you just said?"

  Ethan hesitated and did not speak. He also wanted to know the answers to these questions, and he knew Talise was no longer the kind of rash and impulsive person she used to be.

  "You don't need to know who I am. That thing is just a souvenir from the last commission I took. And I can tell you, Magnus knows this half of the staff is in my hands. And I believe he would never allow any Temple Knight to know the truth of this matter, so you'd better not inquire about unnecessary things." Aunt El smiled faintly at Talise, then looked at Ethan and asked, "What, did you not come to me for something important?"