Myths Reawakened

Chapter 365 (1): Think of Something that Makes Me Happy

Living room.

Wayne had Seleucia explain what happened to her so that he could confront Ines about it. A detective couldn’t help but want to get to the bottom of things when there was a homicide in a locked room.

Seleucia’s story was simple: after her defeat in the War of Faiths, the loss of her Laws left her weak. She hid in the space she had created for survival. After some years, Vichy, the Darkness Knight, barged in, chasing after her. Seleucia was injured on top of her already weakened state and couldn’t put up any resistance at all. She shut the door for a pathetic retreat, trembling in her blanket.

Then, Wayne showed up. Seleucia was left with no choice. If she didn’t want to disappear, she had to take his body.

But she ended up finding herself a master.

Seleucia finished the story. She was now absolutely loyal to Wayne and was veering into the realm of a fanatic. Though she claimed that she wouldn’t cross her bottom line, she might just surrender if Wayne so much as beckoned at her.

Since she was passive by nature, she needed a push.

Ines’s eyes glinted with black light, and her lips curled into an indecipherable smile. “I don’t know. I don’t have all my memories. Maybe I sent Vichy to find Seleucia. Maybe she did it on her own volition. I know nothing about the truth of her death, in particular.”

Wayne frowned. “To my knowledge, the chosen knights were taking turns guarding the Frozen Land and wouldn’t leave without a divine oracle. If not for your order, why would she have headed to the Republic of Erland?”

Ines shrugged. “I don’t remember.”

“Then keep thinking!”

The matter was relevant to all three women present, Anastasia included. If Vichy hadn’t suddenly gone offline, and if Auston hadn’t refused to take over for so long, Anastasia wouldn’t have been forced to take the Darkness Knight’s place and lost her body, leaving her thoughts undergoing more than a decade of torment.

“Vichy was clearly after Seleucia if she had barged in by force,” Wayne speculated. “It couldn’t have been a chance meeting. You’d always known where Seleucia was. It had to be your order.”

“No, I only found out later.” Ines shook her head. After sensing her knight’s death, the goddess had manipulated things to make Auston, the new Darkness Knight, acquire Twilight Despair. That was the moment she learned of Seleucia’s whereabouts.

At that time, the goddess’s main target in the human world was Thoggua, the ancient god’s vassal. She had little interest in Seleucia and only thought of taming her old friend when she saw Wayne’s longcoming.

Seleucia was only entertainment to her. She wouldn’t have sent the Darkness Knight to kick down the door.

“And now you remember?”

Ines blinked. “Yeah, those memories aren’t gone.”

Wayne was certain that she had been corrupted and would do whatever he said, but the way Ines had been acting made it impossible not to suspect her. Had the Goddess of Darkness gained another vessel? Would She descend through Ines when She wanted?

Wayne frowned. If the goddess could descend, why hadn’t She taken the thoughts back? What did She stand to gain from letting part of Her thoughts openly make these shameful actions? Was every sadist a closet masochist, so She sent herself away to be tamed by others?

The more Wayne thought about it, the more absurd it seemed. He had no clue what the goddess was thinking.

“Though I don’t know what I was thinking, I must have looked into Vichy’s death after learning about it,” Ines said slowly. “Whoever was able to kill a chosen knight in the Chosen Land had to be formidable. I wouldn’t have let it go easily.”

“Shall I contact the Goddess of Darkness and have Her tell the truth?”

“That would be the most efficient solution, but I definitely wouldn’t tell you. I have a terrible personality.” Ines judged herself harshly.

Then she suggested, “There’s another possibility: Vichy hasn’t actually died. Her thoughts have simply gone elsewhere so that she is no longer my chosen knight in the human world.”

Things were getting messier the longer this discussion went on. Wayne waved at Seleucia and said, “I’ll leave the matter to you. Perhaps Vichy’s death is connected to the Lord of Storm and Thunder. Look into both. You have plenty of time, so take it slow.”

His current priority was to get stronger. Though the mystery was thrilling, he wasn’t going to take on the investigation himself. He delegated it to the new employee, claiming that it would be a chance for her to prove herself.

“Don’t you worry, Boss. I won’t disappoint you.” Seleucia nodded vehemently. Her supervisor had given her a hint. If Wayne said that Vichy’s death was connected to the Lord of Storm and Thunder, it had to be. Once she found the Lord of Storm and Thunder, she would discover the truth.

“Tsk, already addressing him differently?” Ines snarked. “What an obedient dog!”

Seleucia ignored her, insisting on carrying out Wayne’s order and treating the stranger as air. “Boss, I could sense through the obelisk that the Lord of Storm and Thunder is in the Chosen Land...”

She pointed northeast, where the energy came from.

Anastasia made a questioning sound. Seleucia was very likely pointing at the Rus Federation, where the headquarters of the Church of Darkness was located. If Vichy’s death was related to the Lord of Storm and Thunder, was the church involved, too?

“Interesting,” Ines said, smiling with narrowed eyes.

“Why are you happy about seeing heretics infiltrate your church, Goddess of Darkness?” Wayne huffed.

“Who knows? Perhaps I know everything and have been waiting for the show to begin.”

“...” x3

As expected of you. You truly do not care about the Church of Darkness at all.

Wayne found it peculiar. Based on the investment that the Goddess of Darkness had put into the Frozen Land, She cared about the Chosen Land the most among the goddesses. However, Her terrible personality was completely disconnected from Her behavior.

Women’s hearts were difficult to understand, and a goddess’s heart was even more of a mystery. Wayne scanned Ines with his thoughts and found nothing amiss. He put aside his confusion for now.

“Boss, I’d like to head back to the headquarters of the Church of Darkness,” Anastasia said.

“Why? It’s the middle of nowhere with nothing but snow. There’s nothing to do aside from harvesting potatoes.”

“My father’s there...”

Wayne fell silent. Remembering the Anastasia of the Inner World, he granted her request and told Seleucia to join her.

Seleucia could now rival a chosen knight. With her there, even if there was something wrong with the Church of Darkness, she could easily take care of it with Anastasia.

To be safe, the four obelisks had to stay.

Anastasia was a real woman of action. As soon as Wayne gave her the go-ahead, she made preparations for the trip.

Wayne watched the dark elf pack, reluctant to see her off. Ines seized the chance to cling to him and said derisively, “What should we do? The tainted Holy Maiden is leaving. I suppose I’m the only one who could bear the humiliation.”

“Who are you?” Wayne frowned at her.

“Your vassal.”

“Perhaps...” No matter how Wayne looked, she didn’t seem like a proper vassal. He thought for a moment and said, “You should head to the Rus Federation, too. After a successful mission, you can get one thing from me. How’s that?”

“Do you not trust me, Wayne?” Ines immediately broke into tears.

“If you don’t want to go, don’t.”

“I’m going.”

“...”

Wayne stared at her. She wiped her tears and broke into a bright smile. Her ready response meant that she had desires unrelated to her faith in Wayne. She wasn’t a pure vassal, and the manipulation of the Goddess of Darkness was more or less confirmed.

Controlling a goddess, even just Her partial thoughts, wasn’t something that could be done through simple corruption.

Troubled, Wayne huffed, “Sooner or later, you will become what I want you to be.”

“I’m already that, Wayne.”

“How wonderful.”

The three women set out late at night. Wayne gave the Shadow Cloak to Anastasia and said that he would wait for their good news in Londan. It should be fine. Ines wanted something from him. Even if she didn’t offer her help, she wouldn’t start trouble. Seleucia was enough to take care of everything.

Even if a significant problem occurred, the three existences who had evolved through the Void would be able to return safely.

Wayne didn’t want to set up a flag, but still, he had this in the bag.

***

Dark domain, Wayne’s residence.

Kristen changed into a patient gown and sat on the operating table, looking at the massive dark domain around her in shock. It was vast, even vaster than the dark domain of her master, Filomina. Filomina was a legendary mage, while Wayne had only just become a Gold-ranked mage.

Kristen was still stagnating at the Silver rank. Hearing that Veronica was close to ranking up, she felt a heavy pressure. She seemed to be no match for anyone but Vera.

Wake up, Kristen. Vera is a backup chosen knight. Once Leo goes to the Divine Realm to take up a post, she will be the next Sun Knight!

Wayne had only told Auston about the details of the Inner World, so not even Vera knew how powerful she was there. Kristen, of course, had no clue.

If she knew, she would be even more stressed.

“It’s going to hurt a little, Kristen,” Wayne said with the holy grail in his hand. “Believe me, I’ve practiced hard on others to help you overcome this bottleneck. I’m experienced enough that you only have to endure the initial sting before it’ll feel good.”

Kristen clicked her tongue, reprimanding him for speaking flirtatiously and teasing her even now.

She would like to hear more.

When she learned from him that her divine blood could be awakened, she immediately said yes. She had a terrible awakening experience that involved her wretched adoptive mother. It was a memory she didn’t want to remember, and she felt a strong aversion to her divine blood. But this was Wayne, her beloved and the man she trusted the most. Thus, she agreed to the operation.

Her trust moved Wayne. As expected of Veronica’s white moonlight.

He was telling the truth when he said that he was experienced with the awakening of divine blood. He had collected a large amount of research data by practicing on Juno and Alistair. Well prepared as he was, he skillfully led Kristen down the same path.

To be safe and to make the process less painful, he had stretched the operation out to seven days, taking on one thing per day. The patient’s well-being was the priority.

The holy grail hovered with swirling golden light, its intangible power lifting Kristen slowly. Her long platinum blonde hair fanned out, dancing in tandem with the moonlight she emitted like water.

Wayne took no time to discover the difference between her and Juno and Alistair. Her divine blood didn’t come from Heaven, where the strangely shaped creatures originated.

As her divine blood awakened, Kristen’s appearance changed gradually.

Elven transformation!