Only God
Chapter 344 - 301 Reunion

Chapter 344: Chapter 301 Reunion

The Great Elder poured out all the heartaches of his life, and after that, he did not wish to speak anymore. For him, once all that needed to be said had been said, he had never felt such relief.

On the contrary, Catherine was the exact opposite. She was a music fanatic, fascinated by the harp since childhood. She knew the position of every string by heart. Because of this, she never thought too much about anything, nor did she wish to. Her life had always been carefree.

The words of the Great Elder troubled the music-obsessed Catherine too deeply.

For the first time, Catherine couldn’t sleep all night, and when dawn approached, she was still terrifyingly awake.

The True Believers of the Sects were roused, and under the organization of the Great Elder, began to gather one after another to start their daily prayers, but Catherine did not join this prayer, partly because she wasn’t a True Believer, and partly because... it stemmed from the Great Elder’s words the night before.

Catherine returned to the Music Academy, touching the familiar harp, and suddenly felt that what the foreign woman had said was utterly correct.

The Music Academy was her familiar harp, with every string’s position clear in Catherine’s heart, but outside... everything was strange to her, for instance, the Great Elder’s words from last night, which were completely unexpected...Alas, the world outside had far too many strings.

Catherine returned to her familiar bed, and this time, whether due to overwhelming tiredness or because her heart had finally calmed, she fell asleep as soon as she lay down.

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For over two hundred years, the Danschel Kingdom had enjoyed tranquil days, with the nation prosperous, the people safe, and the succession of the throne orderly. Aside from occasional harassments at the border by Beastmen, it had almost been untouched by war, and nobody expected that these peaceful days would one day come to an end.

Moreover, the end came very abruptly.

One day, the King of Danschel unexpectedly received an edict from another kingdom.

This edict was from a neighboring, more powerful kingdom that had fallen into civil war over the succession to the throne ten years prior. The King had heard rumors because of the weakness of his own nation’s power, he knew very little, only that the civil war lasted for seven years, ending with the ascension of Nesol to the throne.

In that edict, after the formalities of politeness, the King saw that Nesol demanded Danschel’s submission to him, offering annual tribute and swearing allegiance in the name of the Gods, and erecting statues of their worshipped deities within the city walls.

Nesol’s demands could not be more exacting, and behind this, the offer from the great kingdom’s Monarch was pitifully meager.

After reading through the entire edict, the compensation proposed by Nesol for Danschel’s submission amounted to no more than six hundred cattle and sheep, and a small coastal town.

It was not uncommon for smaller countries to seek protection from larger ones, but none of the Danschel Kings had ever faced such demanding conditions.

The King of Danschel was no fool. Having held the throne for many years and being accustomed to power plays great and small, he quickly realized that Nesol had no sincere intentions of making them a vassal. He offered harsh conditions just to provoke a rejection from Danschel.

And this edict was simply Nesol’s pretext for declaring war.

The King, who had risen to power through civil strife, needed to expand his borders and establish prestige to subdue his subjects and secure his hard-won throne.

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Dusk had passed, night had fallen, and the sky grew dark, with a canopy of stars visible overhead.

In a small remote country to the north, Solamus, dressed in a black robe and holding a wooden staff, looked around, as if searching for something.

"It should...be around this area,"

Solamus mused.

She was getting closer and closer to her destination.

Before long, Solamus’s vision was filled with a dense mist that entwined the surrounding flora.

With a few steps more, a stunning lake emerged within the low-visibility landscape, grass swaying beneath its water.

The grass undulated through the cosmos.

Solamus walked on air, the mist failing completely to hinder her sight, as she made her way to a small island at the very heart of the lake.

White lotus flowers grew on the island, along with an ancient willow tree, beneath which lay a well.

That very island in the heart of the lake was the subject of a thousand children’s dreams, with countless individuals attempting to locate it, yet the vast majority returned empty-handed.

Solamus passed through layers of mist and set foot upon Lake Heart Island.

She bent down and picked up a small stone from the shore.

Then, approaching the well, Solamus dropped the stone she held into its depths.

The ancient well was bottomless, and no sound of stone hitting water followed the fall.

"Who’s there?"

From within the well, a cry of surprise sounded,

"Is somebody there?!"

Solamus smiled and stepped back just as the well water surged upwards, and shortly thereafter, a woman dressed in a white gossamer robe burst out from the well.

"I am Bennice, the fairy of the lake. May I ask who you are... wait!"

The moment Bennice caught sight of Solamus, she became absolutely dumbfounded, her footing on the turbulent well water nearly collapsing, nearly sending her tumbling back into the depth.

"It has been a long time, Bennice,"

Solamus said softly.

It had been over a thousand years since they had last seen each other.

"Is it really you? The, the Holy Maiden! Is it you?

Oh, Water God Angel, look who I’ve found?!"

Bennice was overjoyed, springing from the mouth of the well and rushing forward, only to clumsily fall to the ground. She tried to get up, but her legs shook with excitement, draining them of any strength.

The fairy’s silhouette seemed somewhat ethereal, not quite solid.

As the leader of the great angels, Solamus, of course, understood what was happening.

Being a mere mortal, and even for the longest-living elves, a lifespan was generally only seven hundred years; Bennice could not have lived until now. Indeed, the Bennice standing before her was merely a spiritual body, persisting in this world through various secret techniques.

As Bennice neared adulthood, at a crossroads, she had encountered two goddesses. One was dignified in splendor, the golden-silver goddess among gods. The other was, indeed, Water God Angel. Both goddesses took a liking to Bennice’s talent, intending to choose her as their envoy.

And in the end, Bennice decided to follow the Water God Angel, becoming a fairy of the lake. Her soul and body were separated by the Death God at Angel’s behest. Not long after, her body transformed into the very island of Lake Heart, while her soul remained within the water of the well on the island.

In doing so, Bennice kept her soul and body in a state of near separation, preventing her soul from involuntarily drifting toward Holy Mountain in the land of Logos people. At the same time, through the immutable nature of her soul, she lingered in the world of the living.