Some people say that life and death can completely change a person, and some people say that people who escape from death can see it very openly. Regarding these two points, Gawain believes that Viscount Andrew at the moment has a deep understanding.
During the few days when he was controlled by the cultists with magic, Viscount Andrew was always awake. His consciousness was trapped in a weakening body, and he was eroded and tortured by the cultists' frenzied thoughts all day long. He watched helplessly. "I" promulgated the order of martial law throughout the city, watched my family and servants in my castle being taken away by the cultists, and watched this glorious family castle fall into darkness and distortion day by day. In the sky, he realized that the king far away in the sky couldn't save him, the small churches in the town that claimed to be blessed by God couldn't save him, and even the hundreds of years of glorious inheritance of the Leslie family couldn't save him.
The one who rescued him in the end was the ancient duke seven hundred years ago who came from the lower reaches of the Baishui River.
Destiny is really an inexplicable thing. A bold "investment" a few months ago has now received an exceptionally rich return in a completely unexpected way, a life.
In the lord's meeting room where a big hole was broken, Viscount Andrew, who had regained some strength, sat on his wide chair and told the truth that caused the disaster with a wry smile: "Because a new crystal vein was discovered in the mine, I sent someone to dig a new mine tunnel, but the mine tunnel collapsed during the excavation process, and the supervisor reported that a large space was found under the mine tunnel... "
Gawain's heart moved when he heard this: So this Viscount Andrew discovered the secrets under his territory
However, my previous judgment was correct. The Viscount did not know the existence of the Gondor ruins before. It was only recently that he discovered that there was another universe under the mine...
And Viscount Andrew's narration continued: "Those are some ancient ruins, with ancient, stone-like walls and supporting structures. They are as wide as the corridors in the palace, rather than narrow and cramped tunnels. Most of them collapsed and died. It was buried, but there are still some well-preserved places. I sent people to investigate in the ruins, and later they found a tightly sealed room. The magic seal in the room was invalid, so the magician in my territory easily released it We discovered the mechanism in the room, and we later found some ancient artifacts in it... including a fragment of the Eternal Tablet."
Gawain is no stranger to the Eternal Slate. It is said that all the secrets about the gods in this world come from the mysterious Eternal Slate. In ancient times, when mortals were not exposed to miracles, the Eternal Slate was a complete piece. Later, the sages of humans and other races discovered that slate, and at the moment of contact with it, knowledge about the gods poured in. The heads of those people include the inheritance of divine arts, the distribution of gods, the name and clergy of gods, etc., and the first batch of sages who came into contact with the eternal stone slabs became the earliest "revelators" among mortals, and became the first popes and gods. Holy See.
The Eternal Slate fell apart shortly after, as if the gods did not want mortals to be exposed to the grace beyond their capacity, the mighty Slate became countless fragments and scattered into the world.
In the years since then, several major sects that have risen rapidly among mortals have found some fragments of the slate. The stones are regarded as holy objects and kept in their respective holy places. Only the highest-level members of the church have the opportunity to touch the stone tablets and receive enlightenment. Although the stone tablets have been broken, there is still a lot of residual power. They can comprehend the knowledge related to God, and half of the reason why several orthodox powerful churches have been able to maintain their strength for thousands of years is due to these fragments of stone slabs.
According to various churches, those "sacred knowledge" have been collected by major sects, and the slate fragments are currently under the control of several powerful churches, but Gawain is very clear that what the church has collected is only the largest ones. The stone slabs are just fragments. God knows how many other small fragments are scattered in this world. Some of them are secretly collected by those small and medium-sized churches, and some small fragments fall into the hands of kings, dukes and even big collectors. It's just that the "divine grace" contained in these small fragments seems to be very little, which is far from enough to improve a person's level of divine arts or enable people to obtain complete knowledge of gods. Desperately find it back.
Gawain just didn't expect that Viscount Andrew would be so lucky (or unlucky) to find a fragment of the Eternal Slate scattered outside.
Immediately afterwards, he thought of the ancient ruins in the Dark Mountains, and the experiments Nicholas mentioned a thousand years ago, the "local unearthed samples", and the conjectures about "abominations".
So, that fragment of the slate was discovered by the magister group of the Gondor Empire and buried in this underground ruin? Could it be that the local excavated samples mentioned by those researchers back then were fragments of the Eternal Slate? No, probably not. Although the Eternal Slabs are precious, the Gondor Empire was at its peak back then, and several major churches did not dare to confront the authority of the empire. Gawain did not believe that His Majesty the Emperor in the Spark Era would have few pieces in his hands. As Wen Wen played with the walnuts and rubbed the eternal slate, the fragments of the eternal slate buried deep in this land may only be part of the excavated objects...
Gao Wen's thoughts changed sharply, but it was only for a moment. He looked at Viscount Andrew with just the right amount of surprise on his face: "So the cultists are eyeing the eternal slate in your hand... that's right, everything will eventually die. It is transformed from the Druid Church, they maintain distorted beliefs, and it is normal to be paranoid about these gods and objects, but how did they get this news?"
"My butler," said Viscount Andrew with a wry smile after a moment of silence, "I should have known, when he brought me all kinds of potions, and when he showed his understanding of occult knowledge, I should have known that he had He is the person who will die at the end of all things!"
Gao Wen was startled, and then remembered who the housekeeper was. Mainly because he remembered that Amber stole a watch from him, which was really impressive.
Amber next to her also rubbed her chin and muttered: "Then I don't need to return the watch to him."
Viscount Andrew's own talent for magic is not high, and he doesn't have any talent for extraordinary professions such as knights and wizards. However, as a nobleman, he must ensure that he has basic "extraordinary qualifications", so he has always been interested in potions and mysterious rituals. He is very interested in things that can improve the extraordinary ability of human beings, and the butler beside him has followed him for many years. He is a knowledgeable person who knows a little about occultism, and he can always get all kinds of quite effective potions on weekdays. Viscount Andrew trusted him, but who would have thought that such a butler who had not shown the slightest flaw for decades would be the minion of the Death of All Things Society
It's a pity that this minion escaped earlier. After the cultists initially took control of the castle, the butler disappeared from everyone's sight.
Based on these sporadic information, Gao Wen guessed that the "housekeeper" might be a "peripheral personnel" specially trained by the Death of All Things Association. He does not have any extraordinary talent and has a certain amount of mystic knowledge, so he can obtain it relatively easily. Nobles trust and are not guarded against, and once the believers of the Death of All Things Society take action, such peripheral personnel will quickly evacuate, and may change their disguise to lurk beside other nobles, or they may go deep into the organization...
What Gao Wen was really worried about was that this situation might not be a special case.
Viscount Andrew is not a famous family who can control the situation of the kingdom, but the Death of All Things is a behemoth that has grown to multiple countries. It is unlikely that this cult organization will specially place a lurker next to a Viscount Ansu border for decades The only explanation is that it is normal for them to place eyes around nobles.
What kind of monster has this fallen druid order seven hundred years ago developed into now? !
And soon, Gao Wen knew the reason why the cultists controlled Viscount Andrew and issued the martial law.
"I told him that I have ordered the Eternal Tablet to be dedicated to the king, and I have already arranged for people to transport it out of the castle," Viscount Andrew said slowly, with a happy smile on his face, "His magic can control my limbs." , can control my tongue, but not my mind, he can make me speak according to his lines, but he can't make me say what I know in my heart, so he has no idea where I hide the slate , the whole city can only be under martial law, and then use my name to search from house to house, and before the search finds something, he dare not let me die... "
That's it... Gawain nodded clearly. Fallen Druids do have the sorcery to control people's words and deeds, but it is not the mind control technique of the Necromancer faction, but the more superficial limb nerve control technique. Rui's spell "Animal Domination" was distorted and transformed. Facing this kind of spell, as long as you have a tenacious mind to fight against it, you will not be forced to speak out by the cultists.
Gao Wen just didn't expect that Viscount Andrew, who looked like a sick child after taking too many drugs, would have such a tenacious mind.
"That's why the cultist buried the people in the castle in the atrium to extract their thoughts, in order to torture the whereabouts of the slab fragments..." Amber also reacted at this time, looking at the weak Viscount in surprise, "But they didn't know that the fragments were Well, only you know about this, which means... Could it be that you didn't send that thing out at all?"
"Of course I didn't send it out." Viscount Andrew laughed hard, and although he was weak, he still tried his best to hold his head up. "I am the heir of the Leslie family. May succumb to a cultist!"
Although he felt the sentence pattern was slightly familiar, Gao Wen still looked at this weak traditional aristocrat with some admiration. At the same time, he also has a so-called "aristocratic spirit", which supports an almost unreasonable pride, and this kind of pride makes him not bow to the cultists even if he dies.
"Then where did you hide the fragments of the Eternal Slate?" Gawain asked curiously.
"Ha...haha..." Viscount Andrew laughed happily, even coughing violently, "It's always under that guy's nose! Right under his nose!"
While speaking, the Viscount struggled to get up from the chair, and then lifted the thick cushion.
"That idiot opened my treasury, rummaged through my magic material room, searched my bedroom and attic, broke open every locked chest and cabinet in the castle, but he never, never would have guessed that I Just sit it under your ass!!"
After the thick cushion was lifted, Gao Wen saw it.
It lay quietly on the seat, it was only the size of a palm, and its thickness was less than half a centimeter by visual inspection. What was even more different from what Gawain had guessed was that this so-called eternal "slate" was not a slate.
It is a pale golden metal plate with an extremely flat and smooth surface and mysterious lines.