Chapter 304
Lancelot’s Soul Fragment
“That…” Haina remembered the small dagger.
To alleviate the cognitive confusion headaches, she recounted everything she could recall.
Upon hearing her story, Eivass raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk playing on his lips.
Like a fox that had caught a chicken, he displayed a smug and ambiguous smile.
Sherlock, standing by, immediately noticed the inconsistencies.
“Heh…”
Sherlock chuckled, lacing his fingers and leaning back. “You’re quite slow, Haina.”
“…What?”
“You said thewinding Elven Language was carved onto that beautiful dagger,” Sherlock countered. “Did your father give it to you?”
“Yes, he told me to keep it for self-defense,” Haina replied.
As she spoke, she suddenly realized something. “Are you saying…”
Sherlock cut her off. “Your father is a Dwarf Craftsman, right?
He’s an Extraordinary with a legacy, a blacksmith capable of forging Holy Weapons. Even if he wanted you to have something for self-defense on your way to school, why would he give you an Elven dagger? Or rather, if he wanted you to carry a weapon, why only an Elven dagger?”
Blacksmiths take pride in their creations, and Dwarves are generally confident in their forging skills.
Meanwhile, Dwarves are typically hostile towards Elves. Magnetic Hammer is a prime example of a Dwarf Craftsman.
In such a situation, for a Dwarf Craftsman to protect his daughter, why would he not give her any equipment he forged himself, but only an Elven dagger?
“And that dagger was lost later. But I forgot where I lost it, as if it just disappeared one day,” Haina recalled, continuing immediately. “I worried about it for a while. I was afraid my dad would find out I lost his thing when I went home… So for a time, I didn’t want to go home, or rather, I was afraid to go home. Because that dagger looked very expensive, and I was scared.
I had prepared lies. Either I’d say I left it at school, or that I lent it to a friend for self-defense. If he didn’t believe me, I’d say I hurt someone and gave the dagger as compensation.
But when my father saw my empty waist, he didn’t ask me anything. He never asked about it afterward…
I was relieved at the time, but still scared. I always worried that my father had forgotten this time, or was drunk, and that he might find out next time. So I was still somewhat uneasy…”
It was only much later that Haina slowly grew accustomed to it.
But the awe she felt for her father at the time was imprinted on her heart. It was the fear of knowing one had done wrong and worrying about parents finding out.
“Was it lost early?” Sherlock pressed. “Was it lost quite early?”
Haina pondered for a moment. “Now that you mention it… it probably was. It’s been too long, I can’t really remember. But I was particularly… lively back then.
I remember showing off that dagger to many people and even using it to carve tables. If I had kept it for long enough, I think I might have done other things. But I didn’t, so I think it was lost quite quickly.”
“Then I have a guess, Haina,” Sherlock said calmly. “Is there any possibility that it wasn’t your father who gave you this dagger?”
“But…” Haina instinctively wanted to refute Sherlock.
But as soon as she opened her mouth, she suddenly hesitated.
She clearly remembered her father giving it to her.
But later, her father seemed to have completely forgotten about it…
And just as Sherlock said… why would her father suddenly give her an Elven dagger?
After the “Trees Grow” incident, she wasn’t very confident in her memory anymore.
“Is my memory acting up again…?”
“I don’t think so,” Eivass said slowly, ending their discussion. “If I’m not mistaken, someone must have taken the form of your father and lent it to you. Or rather, her goal was to have you take it out of Eagle Cape Village.”
“Her?” Haina caught on to something.
“…Smuggling?” Sherlock also inferred something from this action. “Like someone using Haina to smuggle something out.”
Eivass nodded at Sherlock. “You could say that.”
“Do you recognize that dagger?” Seeing Eivass’s reaction, Sherlock finally understood why the fox had such a pleased expression, as if it had caught a chicken.
“Yes, I recognize it. I’ve seen it before,” Eivass nodded.
He said this as he removed the key to St. Genevieve’s Chapel from his waist.
He held up the key, which was as large as a short sword, and asked Sherlock, “You know what this is, right?”
“A fragment of the Red-Hilted Sword?” Sherlock crossed his arms, deep in thought. “Are you expecting me to say that?”
He paused, then his eyes widened. “Could it be…”
He suddenly remembered—
Because Sherlock had also seen that dagger—or rather, had seen another dagger of similar design.
“It’s just as you thought,” Eivass nodded.
He then turned back and confirmed with Haina, “You said the dagger had a lake-like blue-green blade, and when facing the sun, you could see a gradient from dark blue to dim yellow from the side, right?”
“…Yes,” Haina nodded.
Eivass’s lips curved slightly upward. “Then congratulations. You have obtained the acknowledgment of the Holy Sword Arondight.”
Haina remained silent for a moment, showing no reaction.
She hesitated, “What Holy Sword?”
“The Holy Sword of Lancelot I, the founding monarch of Avalon, Arondight. It’s a Holy Weapon on the same level as my Red-Hilted Sword,” Eivass said slowly. “Its characteristics are a radiance like a moonlit lake, and Elven script engraved on the blade. But just as the Red-Hilted Sword was sealed, Arondight was also split in two by Merlin, turning from a long sword into two daggers.
One of the daggers is in Queen Sophia’s bedroom, passed down as a national treasure. It will likely be inherited by Isabel later…
The other, as the true ritual array foundation for the Shadow of Avalon, was stored somewhere by Merlin.
It was intended as an anchor to guide Lancelot’s resurrection.
Eivass briefly explained the Shadow of Avalon ritual to the three of them.
The final step of the Shadow of Avalon ritual was to pierce the heart of a direct royal descendant with the Arondight dagger inherited by the Royal Family.
The other dagger, containing Lancelot’s soul shard, would resonate, and through the ritual, Lancelot’s soul would be completely absorbed into the shard, similar to the cursed dolls of The Path of Beauty. Then, using the ‘mirror’ principle of The Path of Beauty, the soul would be transferred to the other Arondight dagger.
It was like quantum entanglement.
—And now, that dagger has been stolen.
Haina was the medium.
“You mean,” Sherlock exclaimed in shock, “Eagle Cape Village is the foundation of this grand ritual?”
“It’s entirely possible,” Eivass nodded.
What was stored in St. Genevieve’s Grand Cathedral was only Lancelot’s dying “corpse.”
The basement there, which Eivass and Sherlock had just visited and even used for a ritual, also contained no ritual.
But a ritual must have a ritual site.
The Shadow of Avalon, a ritual that had been running for hundreds of years, must have a stable foundation. At the same time, it had to be sufficiently hidden to prevent others from interfering with it. Furthermore, as a large-scale ritual, it would require a considerable space.
In summary…
“The secret might be in that Fey cave,” Eivass said excitedly. “I suspect Merlin’s ritual is hidden there! And now it’s very likely been modified…”
After so long, he had finally grasped a corner of the truth.
If Merlin’s grand ritual was indeed set up in or near Eagle Cape Village… then everything connected.
Why there had been no development for four hundred years, why his grandfather, a Fifth Tier Curse Ritual Mage, chose such a small place to spend his remaining life, why the trees here grew so strangely yet were so incredibly sturdy, why Jacob could easily perform the “Swamp Dweller Ritual.”
And… why the villagers here sacrificed their names, living almost eternally to guard something.
Also, why Haina, as the child of Twilight and Devotion, possessed the traits of Authority and Transcendence—
Eivass looked at Haina.
If he guessed correctly…
Haina was not her parents’ biological daughter at all.
She was very likely a clone—a clone whose soul had been altered.
Not the primitive form of a Swamp Dweller. Rather, a new form born from the combination of the “Newborn Ritual” and the reactivated “Swamp Dweller Ritual.”
This could explain why, despite her appearance being very similar to her mother and younger brother, her Path Tendencies were so strangely skewed.
Transcendence and Authority.
Indeed, there was one person whose soul leaned this way…
It was Lancelot, the chief knight who once fought alongside Arthur against giants and the founding monarch of Avalon, “Lancelot.”
His Path attributes were Transcendence and Power. After Arthur ascended to the Silver Crown Dragon, the “Power” Path within him was washed away and replaced by the stronger “Authority” Power.
From then on, his bloodline inherited a strong Authority Power. With the help of the Silver Crown Dragon, he selectively removed the Power of Transcendence from his bloodline.
His queen, Guinevere, likely had an affinity for Love and Beauty. That’s why there were occasional natural inclinations towards The Path of Beauty in figures like Sophia and Isabel.
If Haina contained Lancelot’s soul shard, it would explain why she was so special.
The Dagger of Arondight was not something anyone could use.
It was essentially a royal weapon…
Yet Haina could use it.
But Eivass was certain she had not a single drop of royal blood.
From this perspective, the person who gave her the dagger must have been Merlin’s ex-girlfriend… Viviane, an Apostle of the Shadow Heavenly Envoy.
For someone on the Path of Love, changing their image and appearance would be very simple.
Thus, Viviane must have been Jacob’s collaborator!
“But, why…” Eivass frowned again.
He suddenly realized something else.
If Haina was necessary, why didn’t Jacob value her so highly?
Jacob even deliberately told Haina stories about Arthur. That was clearly to awaken Haina’s inherent tendency towards Transcendence!
What if Haina was an experiment?
An experiment to test whether “a newborn’s soul could contain another person’s soul shard”…
Thinking of this, Eivass fell silent for a moment.
He thought of himself.
Or rather, he thought of his own suddenly awakened, yet genuine…
—Otherworldly Memory.
Update complete! Today’s update is over seven thousand words!
