Chapter 67
The Secret of Avalon
—Creak.
The sound of a wheelchair turning and stopping echoed.
Eivass, pushed to the podium by Lily, looked up with interest at the crowd before him.
The students were all looking at him.
Some were shocked, some excited, some curious, some frowning, some expressionless.
Some had just woken up and hadn’t figured out what was happening; others were explaining something volubly to the person next to them.
But there was no doubt.
Even the sleepiest students, those with the least interest in class, had at least looked up at Eivass, who had caused such a commotion.
Eivass stood in the center of their gazes, looking at them and smiling.
Facing their scrutiny and curiosity, he felt no trace of stage fright. Instead, he was brimming with enthusiasm, as if restless sparks flowed through his veins. His spine tensed almost unconsciously, as if brushed by a girl’s fingers.
For the first time, Eivass realized—and for the first time had the opportunity to realize—that he was so suited to being in the “public eye.”
He tilted his head back and flashed a bright smile.
He reached out and turned on the microphone. The amplifier, newly powered on, emitted a sharp buzzing sound.
“Hello, everyone. I am Eivass Moriarty.
“You may already know me… through others, through newspapers. Or perhaps you don’t know me—but that doesn’t matter. From now on, I am a classmate in the same academy, the same major, and even the same class as you.”
Eivass’s gentle voice, with a slight echo, spread throughout the lecture hall. “As you can see, my health isn’t very good. I’ve been studying at home since the beginning of the semester. And this is my friend Lily, who usually helps me get around.”
As he finished speaking, the maid Lily behind him bowed slightly to the crowd on Eivass’s behalf.
Then, Eivass smiled and said, “Professor Bard obviously wants to test me a bit. To see if I’ve been studying at home… and to see if I can keep up with everyone’s progress.
“So, I’ll talk a little. But after all, I am a student just like you. If I say anything wrong, please bear with me.”
As he spoke, he glanced down at the content of the lesson plan.
It all spoke of the same old things, mostly someone doing something on a certain date… It was no wonder the students were falling asleep.
If he were to talk about these things again, he could expect them to get bored once the novelty wore off.
Moreover, Eivass wasn’t familiar with the details; it would be troublesome if he accidentally revealed secrets he shouldn’t know.
So, Eivass quickly came up with an idea.
He looked up and asked briskly, “You’ve all learned about the establishment of the Star Antimony Kingdom, right?
“The Hrasal Empire split into the Star Antimony Kingdom, the Iris Kingdom, the Daffodil Duchy, and the Black Hawk Duchy—”
He said this, then suddenly changed tack. “So, I’ll share something interesting that’s not in the textbook, but that Her Majesty the Queen has allowed professors to discuss.
“…Do any of you know why the vast Hrasal Empire suddenly broke into four pieces?”
After a brief silence, someone raised his hand.
Eivass looked at him and nodded slightly.
A steady male voice spoke. “It’s because demonic magic of the Transcendent Path became popular in the Empire, eventually summoning powerful demons, leading to the slaughter of the royal family. After the royal bloodline was exterminated, various regions declared themselves kings. This was followed by the ‘War of the Shattered Land,’ which lasted for six years.”
So, this was the version of Avalon’s history. Eivass thought.
“Please sit down, sir.”
He nodded slightly, having gotten his bearings, and gave his reply. “What you said is correct, but not entirely.
“This was indeed the direct cause of the Empire’s fragmented lineage and the disruption of the bloodline, but it was not the fundamental reason for the Empire’s division.
“The fundamental reason lay in the struggle between Paths. Most civil wars, invasions, and divisions in mortal kingdoms are due to the struggle between Paths.”
With that, Eivass skillfully shifted the topic to his area of expertise.
Professor Bard stroked his chin, neither stopping nor correcting him.
Eivass’s explanation was not wrong, and it still pertained to the downfall of the Hrasal Empire and the establishment of the Star Antimony Kingdom. It just touched upon the content of another course… discussions and research on the wars of the Extraordinary. However, the Seminary did not teach this subject, so it was still good as supplementary reading.
When the students realized Eivass was starting to talk about the Extraordinary… they all perked up with interest and looked at Eivass.
History involving the Extraordinary wasn’t necessarily secret knowledge, but it was certainly as hard to obtain as secret knowledge.
Perhaps it was because he was “Moriarty” that he had the chance to come into contact with such secrets.
And it sounded much more interesting than dry history!
“All of us here, as long as we can step into the extraordinary, are fellow travelers on the Path of Devotion. The very few who cannot enter the Path of Devotion will transfer to “Individual Tactics Department” next semester and join the Path of Authority. And the Path of Devotion and the Path of Authority do not conflict, so you won’t realize the conflict between Paths.
“Just as the Path of Beauty encountered when learning art in the Sixth Department—art, as eternal and ephemeral beauty, inevitably draws close to the Twilight Path; and concepts like the Twin Mirror, when artists do not lean towards Twilight, they tend to lean towards Balance. Furthermore, those romantic souls will lean towards ‘The Path of Love.’
“But no matter what, there is a conflict between the Path of Beauty and the Path of Wisdom. The rationality that pursues truth and the sensibility that pursues beauty are ultimately incompatible.
“Similarly, the Path of Authority, which controls power, manipulates will, and leads others, and the Path of Transcendence, which rebels against superiors, seeks transcendence, and strives for higher realms, are bound to conflict.
“The Path Adaptation advocates conforming to nature and achieving unity with heaven and earth, while the Path of Balance requires understanding the world and controlling nature.
“Even we priests walking the Path of Devotion can’t do anything about those on the Path of Love. Because they are always greedy, always loving, always insatiable, like wolves that are never full and can never be fed enough. The light we emit disappears into them, like pebbles thrown into a lake, causing hardly any ripples.
“The Nine Pillar Gods are not monolithic either; their Apostles also have love, hatred, jealousy, and resentment among themselves. For example, a certain knight sheltered beneath the scales of the Silver Crown Dragon has an old grudge with a certain sage who followed the Great Philosopher; and that sage was once killed by a fairy of the Path of Love. The ‘Paths’ themselves are inherently conflicting.”
Eivass casually brought the topic up to the level of the Nine Pillar Gods, making listeners’ hearts pound.
He also knew… that compared to directly discussing the Star Antimony Kingdom, these people were clearly more interested in the secrets of Avalon.
Therefore, Eivass seized this opportunity to steer the conversation back to the royal family, to further excite the students. “And that ‘knight’ was the founding monarch of Avalon, ‘Lancelot I.’
“The sage chosen by the Great Philosopher as an Apostle and ascended to the Dream Realm was Merlin. He was actually an ‘almost impossible’ ‘half-phantom demon.’ His father was a demon of the ‘Succubus’ race, and his mother was a pure maiden of the Path of Love.
“She was exceedingly beautiful, and many suitors came to propose to her at the time. But this lady had a peculiar characteristic—she could not come into contact with any man she could see, so she hoped for a man she couldn’t see to love her. After encountering an intangible succubus in a dream, she knew this was the man she had been waiting for… Using her Path abilities, she obtained a seed that her beloved didn’t have. Yes, this sage was a “fatherless child.”
“After his birth, this sage had half demon blood flowing in his body and possessed extraordinary charm. When he was fourteen, he was loved by a Fairy of the Path of Love from the lake. But he knew that the ‘love’ of the Path of Love was fatal and kept his distance. Ultimately, however, he could not resist the persistent and passionate pursuit of this Lake Fairy and became intimate with her.
“Their pursuit was for vigorous reproduction. And during their final… ritual, the Lake Fairy killed him.”
Amidst murmurs of shock, Eivass continued, “However, this sage named Merlin, having half phantom demon blood, was, in a sense, immortal and indestructible.
“Therefore, he did not truly die. He merely fell into a deep slumber and didn’t truly awaken until much later.
“After her love as a maiden concluded, the Lake Fairy’s next great deed was the love as a mother—her heart filled with strong and pure maternal love. At this time, she became our esteemed… adoptive elven mother to Lancelot I.
“This was the relationship between the three Apostles when they were all mortals.
“After their great deeds in the mortal world concluded, they all ascended to the side of the Nine Pillar Gods and became Apostles. To this day, they still fight each other in the Dream Realm.”
Upon hearing this, the students erupted into excited discussions again.
But they weren’t bored—quite the opposite. They were thrilled!
This was undoubtedly a story they had never heard before—a secret concerning the founding monarch of Avalon, revealed in class!
It involved many passages that would make young people blush and their hearts race… full of both desire and violence.
—And the strict Professor Bard did not interrupt or make any corrections.
Professor Bard actually liked to have students come up and lecture, but usually, after a student spoke a couple of sentences, Professor Bard would interject with “Let me add something,” or “Let me correct that,” and then drone on endlessly.
The student on stage could only awkwardly force a smile and listen closely as Professor Bard lectured a large amount of dry, uninteresting, yet densely informative knowledge. They would stand there, as if being punished, until the class ended.
The fact that the professor hadn’t snatched the microphone back to add his own two cents meant he approved of Eivass’s narration!
To hear such a thrilling secret in a history class!
Such a tangled relationship—
The boys discussed it in excited, low tones, while the girls shyly pretended to cover their ears. Some gently covered their mouths, merely to hide their excitement and laughter.
At this time, many students finally understood why, although the Path of Wisdom and the Path of Authority seemed to have no conflict, they had never been legalized.
It wasn’t even related to disputes between Paths, but rather to personal conflicts of that esteemed monarch.
His descendants, out of respect for their ancestor who had ascended to become an Apostle, had banned the legality of the Path of Wisdom within Avalon.
“Admirable…”
Professor Bard’s eyes widened, and he clicked his tongue in amazement.
The bald, short old man paced excitedly, forcefully suppressing his urge to rush over and add a few words.
What Eivass was discussing were things that the Seminary would eventually teach. None of it was forbidden content.
It was just that these things were scattered across various texts: some in “Modern History of Avalon,” some in “Apostle Relations Studies,” and some in the elective “Ordinary Ritual Studies.” “Apostle Relations Studies” was a second-year course, and “Ordinary Ritual Studies” was an elective for juniors.
The mere fact that Eivass knew these things and could connect them and articulate them fluently was enough to prove that he had indeed studied diligently at home!
