Super Righteous Player
Chapter 882 - 419: The Cheater and the Lost One

Chapter 882: Chapter 419: The Cheater and the Lost One

"I must tell you, Your Highness Prince Philip’s death was indeed unrelated to me."

Crown Princess Elizabeth said with certainty, "We’ve already obtained some clues and captured the individuals connected to them. This involves some more complex matters."

"Oh?"

Annan showed just the right amount of appropriate curiosity, "Can you tell me about it?"

She couldn’t—

Crown Princess wanted to say that, but she couldn’t.

Indeed, she didn’t want to explain, but she had to satisfy Annan’s curiosity... or rather, she had to convince Annan that this accident was not a manifestation of hostility towards him.

If she were dealing with a mature ruler—even Annan’s father, or his brother, Dmitry Winter, who bore the name of Winter but not its power—Elizabeth would dare to plan at this time to gain some advantage for herself, for Noah.

But when facing Annan, she dared not act too rashly.

Because she was worried Annan wouldn’t understand her implications, nor know how to concede and exchange benefits.

Simply put, she was afraid that Annan was a hothead.

In Noah, such a hothead wouldn’t be able to maintain a stable throne; but in Winter, no matter how young Annan was, as long as he held the tri-colored scepter, he was the Duke of Winter.

—That was the power of "Tradition."

Negotiations were inherently a form of warfare.

International negotiations, like those reached so simply last night, were the exception. They had just happened to have aligned interests... by a fortunate coincidence, what Noah had in excess was precisely what Winter lacked.

Their relationship was like a tenon fitting perfectly into a mortise.

Winter was short on money and a lot of materials. They didn’t have enough labor, nor did they have the Holy Nation’s advanced technology...

Winter Duchy’s greatest advantage lay in their "legitimacy."

Yes, legitimacy.

Among all nations at present—even including the Holy Nation, they were essentially rebuilt from the ruins after the collapse of Aesirland Empire.

But only the Winter Duchy was different.

During the Empire, the Duke of Winter was still a duke, and the Winter Duchy was still a duchy. Even their territory hadn’t shrunk much... and it was for this reason that there were attempts to reuse magic energy.

In any other country, they could dig underground all they wanted and never find an Elven relic.

As it happened, the deity worshipped by the Winter Duchy was the Grandmother.

The Grandmother was the God of Tradition, the inventor and manager of all "cultural norms" and "legal statutes," and the supreme overseer of "law"—the highest form of order as a tool and the most ultimate form of violence.

Violence used to uphold the law.

The Silver Baron’s powers also included elements related to "contracts." But contracts themselves were a part of "Tradition"... The Silver Baron’s ability to judge contracts was actually derived from the power granted to him by the Grandmother.

—And since the Grandmother could grant the Silver Baron such authority, her church could naturally bestow similar but narrower powers upon the church of the Silver Baron.

For the merchant nobles of Noah, they lacked neither money nor people, territory, nor resources... What they lacked was a little technology, because they still couldn’t produce the "Holy Nation’s technology."

Whether it be the colossal tower that reached from the ground to the clouds, or the airships capable of stable flight and carrying cargo, as well as the newest invention of internal combustion engines—the Holy Nation, within less than five years after inventing the internal combustion engine, had already made the next advancements... That was the new mode of conveyance called the "internal combustion engine car."

Noah’s court scholars had already replicated a simple internal combustion engine, by conceptually mirroring the steam engine designs they possessed.

But to their regret, this seemed unlike the internal combustion engines made by the Holy Nation... They not only required a toxic gas created from a "green flame" as fuel for operation, but also its combustion efficiency was not higher than their current efficient steam engines.

Meanwhile, the Holy Nation had perfected the internal combustion engine at least twice over. They were even beginning to prepare for its practical application stage.

Ordinary people might think this was because the priests of the God of Fire had transcendental scientific knowledge.

But Crown Princess Elizabeth knew they had just cheated.

"The Sixth Volume of Past Worlds Book" allowed individuals of this era to travel directly into the future—not in the manner of the School of Prophets’ spells that only allowed one to see parts one would come to know, nor as vague and changeable as the future seen by the centaurs.

It was truly entering the "future."

——Of course, it couldn’t be their real bodies.

If they were to be cast into the future by the "Sixth History Cradle" in their actual bodies, it would have been a banishment. And not just any banishment, but the highest form of exile from which there is no return.

They were actually projected into the future in the form of thoughtforms. Unable to communicate or interact with people of the future, they could only "observe" like specters... It was as if they had dreamt a dream, witnessing events that were to occur in the future.

It can also be understood that the Sixth History Cradle cast a part of their "thoughtforms" into the future and then did not reclaim them—this part of their thoughtforms "experienced" what would happen in the future, and the School of Prophets’ spells could then calculate this portion of the future.

Through such relentless scrutiny of the future, they were able to rapidly perfect their technology.

——Although after being projected into the future, they could not stay too long or communicate with people. But The Holy Nation of the future knew of their existence... Thus, The Holy Nation would make "inspiration points" for some important technology and knowledge, crafting them into something like tablets, and placing them in the room where the "Sixth History Cradle" was stored.

They could read these "future tablets" and instantly overcome some of the scientific problems they currently faced.

This form of cheating undoubtedly made things blurry—was a certain technology invented in the past or was it because the people of the future told the people of the past, leading to its invention?

The answer is quite simple.

——Because the future is uncertain.

Destiny is like ruts made by the heavenly chariot... The "future" that the heavenly chariot has not yet traversed is uncertain.

Almost all gods have the ability to peer into the future, varying only in degree. But the future they see is not absolute—any person or god who can see the future, if they choose to change it, can alter what is yet to come.

Therefore, the banishment by the Sixth History Cradle is absolute.

Because the banished might not even enter their own future.

But be cast into "a future that doesn’t exist."

The cheaters of The Holy Nation relied on the "Sixth History Cradle" to accelerate the scientific process exponentially, like rolling a snowball.

But after founding her nation, Noah almost never used the "Fourth Historia" for her country’s benefit — she didn’t even know the name "Fourth Historia" until she heard the court scholars from the United Kingdoms mention it.

For her to be a princess, a future queen... and not to know the name or purpose of her own nation’s Great Calamity Curio was a disgrace.

It was also one of the reasons why she harbored animosity towards Philip.

Philip didn’t know she was actually familiar with the "Fourth Historia." But neither had the Eldest Princess revealed this fact.

Now everything was different.

Because Philip was dead.

Furthermore, there was one better piece of news——

"The church confirmed through a ritual that a fallen one from the Nicholas School was responsible for killing Philip."

Elizabeth answered, "Moreover, we suspect it might have something to do with Philip having killed the Blood Demon in the past."

Of course, she and Annan both knew——it was actually the "Blood Demon" who had failed to assassinate Philip and was killed in return.

But who cared about that.

"Thus, Kafney must temporarily cease her excursions and await the investigation by the Three-Eyed Crow and the Silver Baron Church."

Elizabeth said seriously, "Of course, please do not misunderstand. It’s just an investigation; it’s a procedure. If we ascertain that she has no connection to this matter, the investigation will end.

"Because the Silver Baron has returned. Through questioning the Silver Baron, we have come to know... to whom Philip’s ’head’ now belongs."

"...Who?"

Annan slightly furrowed his brows.

He already had a guess in mind, but he still hoped that Elizabeth would vocalize it.

The answer, indeed, did not surprise him.

"——It’s Nicholas II."

Crown Princess Elizabeth replied slowly, "His real name is... Nicolas Flamel."

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