The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 943

Chapter 942
Unsealing

The incomplete Holy Sword required another Holy Sword as material.
The first sword that Eivass thought of was Arondight.
After all, the Arondight Dagger preserved by the Royal Family of Avalon was no longer needed as a key to unlock the Shadow of Avalon ritual. Apart from its ritualistic and collectible value, it had no practical use. Surely, the Royal Family wouldn’t use a dagger for actual combat.

However, he soon abandoned the idea.
Haina currently possessed the other Arondight Dagger.
Although Viviane had placed it with her, it had accompanied Haina since childhood, a treasured personal possession and a part of her childhood memories, possibly even a piece of her soul. If Eivass had intended to borrow it, it would have been one thing, but he needed to shatter and meld it.

In reality, there was only one Holy Sword that legally belonged to Eivass.
That would be Mordred’s Holy Sword, Clarent.

Previously, when Eivass was still Alistair, he had used a mirroring ability to disguise himself as Beyad and meet with the first generation Red Phase Pomanach.
At that time, Pomanach had spoken of the essence of the Beyad family.
The Beyad conglomerate had indeed started from scratch, not belonging to any noble lineage. However, their wealth was not accumulated through commercial means, but through more violent and aggressive methods.

Specifically, it was “commercial warfare.”
The Beyad family were Curse Ritualist mages who simultaneously pursued the Transcendent Path and the Path of Love. They might even be the originators of the Curse Ritualist profession.
The Ritualists of Star Antinomy were originally pure Ritualists, just as Curse Masters were originally pure Curse Masters. Although prayer and curses were mixed into rituals and witchcraft, it didn’t mean they had mastered prayer and curse techniques.

However, the Beyad family deemed rituals too gentle, so they gathered more powerful forces from around the world. This was one of Eivass’s rare instances of hearing of a family that went to extreme lengths for stronger Extraordinary Power.
Within the cultural sphere of the Hrasal Empire, the general attitude towards Extraordinary Power was extremely cautious, yet reverential. On one hand, they were acutely aware of the consequences of path deviation and the loss of one’s true nature and humanity when reaching higher Energy Levels of Extraordinary beings. On the other hand, they viewed Extraordinary Power as a “noble power” for the elite, as if obtaining it could change their destiny. Or rather, their destiny could not change without it.

But the Beyad family’s philosophy was different.
They believed Extraordinary Power was purely a tool and a weapon. Therefore, if a tool was ineffective, more tools needed to be collected.
Regardless of the path. Ignoring the risks. Without regard for the price.
They spent many years collecting knowledge of curses, deception, and potions from around the world and integrating them into the foundational arts of Curse Ritualists. When they finally decided to act, using the Forbidden knowledge of curses, deception, and potions, they successfully rose to the top of the Hrasal Empire in just twenty years.

If anyone stood in their way, they killed them. If they found a weakness, they exploited it with deception.
Coupled with those peculiar potions—potions that could make one instantly fall in love, cause emotional outbursts and embarrassing displays, or induce deep sleep. Others could grant cold, mechanical rationality, enable tireless work, or protect against curses and poisons.

It could be said that not a single cent of the Beyad conglomerate’s fortune was clean.
It was precisely because they amassed so much wealth through such means that they offended so many people.
This was why, when Viness was young, her parents were consecutively murdered by their enemies. It was also why, as they were not the entirety of the Beyad family, and there were still many people named Beyad, Viness was successfully protected and raised to adulthood.

During the initial stage of primitive accumulation, they even peddled curses worldwide.
At that time, the House of Beyad was the most profound researcher of curses in the world.
Other countries always had people who wished to curse others to death, or had needs for revenge or punishment. Instead of hiring assassins who might be killed and exposed, hiring a Curse Master was the safest choice.

The successive deaths in the Royal Family of Avalon proved how terrifying an unstoppable, or even undetectable, curse ability could be. Their curse abilities were far stronger than those of Noble Red. Within the Beyad family alone, there were several witches—an advanced profession for witches specializing in curses and potions at the Fourth Tier.

Because Mordred’s biological son defected to the Giants back then, his adopted son, the first generation Moriarty, inherited the founder’s name.
In his old age, for reasons unknown—perhaps to prove he had no intention of usurping his adoptive father’s honor, or to prevent his descendants from repeating the ancestral calamity. Or perhaps he believed the surname Moriarty itself represented atonement and oblivion—he contacted the Beyad family to cast a curse of forgetfulness upon the “Moriarty Family.”

The content of the curse was: when they bore the surname Moriarty, any “Moriarty” born who achieved a certain level of accomplishment would be forgotten by all current Moriartys. Because of this curse, the Moriarty Family could not pass down their family business to their biological children and had to adopt promising adopted children.

According to Red Phase Pomanach, the curse was not permanent.
It was “until the seventh generation.”
Seven was the number of authority and power. The ancestor who brought calamity upon his family through treason and betrayal deserved atonement for seven generations.

Perhaps as a medium for casting the curse, or perhaps as collateral—though Eivass didn’t know why collateral was needed—Clarent was somehow handed over to the Beyad family at that time.
As a result, before the seventh generation arrived, the Beyad Group had already collapsed.

Although there were still many people named Beyad, there wasn’t a single Fourth Tier Extraordinary being among them.
After all, they had made their fortune through curses.
When their powerful family curse masters died off, their good times came to an end.
“I should ask the Night Demon about this later,” Eivass thought.
She would probably know where their family vault was.

At Eivass’s request, Merlin still unsealed the Red-Hilted Sword.
Its wooden outer casing burned and its wax coating melted. Soon, it was no longer a thick key but a beautiful ruby.
It looked like a short club, slightly shorter than a rolling pin. Just enough for Eivass to grip with both hands, one above the other.
Looking into it, one could see a peculiar golden hue.
At each end, golden dust formed two hourglass-like vortices. The tops of the vortices connected in a line, converging in the middle.
Its front end now had only a short metal piece—the hilt was about thirty centimeters long, while the “metal blade” in front was only about ten centimeters and was shaped like a faceted spike.
Rather than a sword or a dagger, it now resembled a short spear.
Its attributes had also subtly changed:

[Handle of Wicked Curses]
[Extraordinary Weapon (Deep Purple)]
[Short Spear, Extremely Lightweight, Sharp, Durable, Light, Cursed]
[Extraordinary Trait: Holder gains Curse Vulnerability LV5. Those struck by this weapon suffer the same effect for ten minutes.]
[Extraordinary Module – Flame Holy Sword: Pay 33 Fire Mana to activate the Blade of Flames.]
[Extraordinary Module – Light Holy Sword: Pay 33 Light Mana to activate the Blade of Sacred Energy.]
[Extraordinary Module – Gale Holy Sword: Pay 33 Wind Mana to activate the Blade of the Unseen.]
[Spell: Sacred Sword Technique (Once Daily)]
[Requirements: Light 11 + Fire 11 + Wind 11, or Light 33, or Fire 33, or Wind 33]
[Instant, Contact, Immediate Effect]
[Effect: Sanctifies this weapon, transforming it into Holy Sword · Red-Hilted Sword (Holy Weapon – Two-handed Sword, Heavy, Exorcist, Sharp, Durable, Light, Holder temporarily gains Curse Vulnerability LV7) until the next sunset, while retaining activated module effects.]
[“—The broken sword ‘Wicked Curse’s’ handle from Galahad has had its seal preliminarily opened. Holding this sword at sunset seems to allow one to hear a certain voice.”]
(End of Chapter)