Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 91 Appraiser

Tighten the black cloth tied around the nightmare doll's head.

Claire put aside the sealed artifact, whose power seemed to have been greatly enhanced, and asked Arianna:

"Your Highness Arianna, why won't you let me ask about the attacker?"

"Because 'what is said must be known,'" Arianna replied predictably. "Among the twenty-two sequential pathways, there is one that begins with 'audience.'"

Claire knew this knowledge: "Justice" was just an "audience."

Without mentioning any specific people or things, Arianna explained to Claire:

"This pathway sequence possesses the property of 'whatever is spoken, it will be known.' When you mention it, it will know and use its special abilities to influence your subsequent actions. Even a 'secret servant' like me, who possesses the goddess's hidden authority, finds this kind of ability a headache."

After hearing Her Highness Arianna's words, Claire recalled her time in Tingen. She had always felt a sense of coincidence when encountering certain events or people. The repeated attacks, in particular, felt like they were orchestrated.

Arianna handed over another bottle of potion, interrupting Claire's thoughts:

"This is the 'Appraiser' potion. After taking it, you will become 'Galadia'."

Watching the bronze liquid swirling in the magic bottle, Claire held the bottle in her palm, feeling deeply moved by the church's generosity. However, the price behind these gifts was unknown; how would she repay them in the future?

Putting aside her thoughts that were hinting at internal friction, Claire seized the opportunity to interact with a high-sequence expert, and said with a cheeky face:
"Your Highness Arianna, I haven't fully grasped the concept of 'archaeologist' yet. Could I ask you for some historical knowledge?"

Claire's sudden request made Arianna silent for a moment. After a while, she spoke, "What history are you interested in?"

Seeing that Arianna actually agreed, Claire combined her own knowledge and asked about the history of the Fourth Era, which she felt involved divine manifestations, and said:

"During a ruins exploration, I learned from the memories of an ancient evil spirit that the three empires of Solomon, Tudor, and Trunsost existed simultaneously in the Fourth Age, and even fought wars among themselves. Could you explain this to me?"

After hearing the question, Arianna became even more silent. She drew a crimson crimson shape on her chest before speaking:

"The Solomon Empire, the Tudor Empire, the Trunsoste Empire, and the Balam Empire of the Southern Continent are the four great empires that stood tall in the Fourth Era."

"Their emperors..." Arianna said calmly, "They are all gods."

The straightforward narration shocked Claire deeply, and at the same time, she suddenly realized something.

Claire had some suspicions that the emperor of the empire might be a god.

The emperors of the empires of the secular world, upon learning of the existence of extraordinary powers in this world, could not help but pursue them. These powerful creatures are inherently seeking power.

Since the twenty-two paths are very likely to be the path to godhood, the emperors will definitely find ways to open their own path to godhood.

But... Claire was surprised that the four emperors of the Fourth Epoch were all gods!
This also indirectly illustrates that the control of the Seven Gods over the secular world today, at least in the Fourth Age, was far less powerful than it is now!

But even so, the four great empires eventually fell silent in the thick fog of history, leaving only the kingdoms that believed in the Seven Gods.

Oh... no, there's another warlike empire, the strongest nation in the Northern Continent today, the Feysac Empire, which worships only the God of War. Its inhabitants are generally tall, claiming to be descendants of giants. While it's called an empire, imperial power is concentrated in the hands of the Church of the God of War. The Einhorn royal family's authority is even less than that of the polytheistic royal families of the Kingdoms of Loen and Intis.

However, the emperors and gods in the Fourth Age... must have had a very bad end, and they may have all fallen.

"Gods...will they fall?"

Claire thought of the mythical record of the Second Age in the canon: the righteous gods led humanity to defeat many extraordinary creatures.

Those extraordinary creatures may not necessarily have gods...

"The fallen god."

Claire felt the effects of the Archaeologist potion in her body and continued to listen to Arianna's speech:
"Therefore, the Fourth Age is also known as the 'Age of the Gods.' It was an age when the gods could walk the earth without the need for divine intervention."

"So the war between the four great empires was actually a war between gods. A world-spanning, protracted war, started by gods fighting for power and ended by..."

There was a word in the middle that Arianna kept secret.

"That period of history is called the 'War of the Four Emperors'." Arianna spoke in a very vague way, giving only the outline, as if she was fearing or avoiding something.

But just the confirmation of the words "Age of the Gods", "War of the Four Emperors", and "War of the Gods" made Claire immersed in a state of thoroughly digesting the "Archaeologist" potion.

When Claire completely digested the "archaeologist" and came back to her senses, Arianna had disappeared.

Disappeared along with Arianna was the Holy Coffin.

Holding the magic bottle in her hand, Claire's mind was still preoccupied with the "Four Emperors' War".

The four emperors were actually gods...

Claire thought of Emperor Roselle, a senior time traveler who also started out as a "universalist."

According to modern historical records, Russell, who invented the steam engine, first quelled the rebellion within the Kingdom of Intis as a colonel, and then took advantage of the situation to stage a coup, turning the Kingdom of Intis into a republic and becoming the consul of the republic.

Afterwards, Roselle officially launched the Industrial Revolution, enacted laws, encouraged inventions, opened up trade, and fought wars in the south and the north to expand the territory of the Intis Republic. He also forced the three major powers in the northern continent, the Feysac Empire, the Kingdom of Loen, and the Kingdom of Feynaport, to bow down one after another.

At the end of 1192, the powerful Roselle changed the republic into an empire and called himself Caesar.

Later, Russell also opened up a safe route to the southern continent.

Let all the countries in the northern continent compete to colonize the southern continent, either through trade or war.

Finally, he was assassinated by the former royal family of Intis, the Solon family, and other nobles, and died in the White Maple Palace.

"Caesar the Great..." This extremely familiar title, coupled with the thought of Roselle being assassinated, made Claire sigh that this senior had simply died according to his own destiny.

However, Roselle's behavior of declaring himself emperor in the later period made Claire wonder, does it mean that if humans want to become gods, they must first become emperors?
“This isn’t the only way, is it?”

Claire muttered as she held the potion.

Then, Claire adjusted her emotions and state, broke the narrow bottle neck, and drank the bronze-colored "Appraiser" potion.

Amidst the unwavering nausea and urge to vomit, and the ever-increasing tingling in her spirit, Claire's inspiration was strengthened once again.

There is knowledge being poured into the brain.

But for Claire, who had extensive experience, such mumbling was no longer painful.

Added several white bookshelves to the Memory Library.

These bookshelves were all categorized under the keyword "Twenty-two Paths," but most of the space was empty. These gaps existed because Claire had yet to gather the knowledge of all the pathways.

Among the twenty-two bookshelves, four were completely empty. Those were paths that Claire had never encountered before, and she didn't even know the names of the initial sequences.

The knowledge and information on the remaining sixteen bookshelves vary in amount.

"Generalists", "secret peepers" and "sleepless people" know more.

As for things like "monsters" and "tillers", we know very little about them, and they only have a few more pages than an empty bookshelf.

After taking the "Appraiser" potion, Claire had a vague understanding: the more and more detailed the knowledge of these channels, the more comprehensive and accurate the appraisal of magical items with corresponding characteristics will be.

Claire opened her eyes and tilted her head, the reflection of the nightmare doll appearing in her dark red pupils.

Claire looked at the nightmare doll placed aside.

She could see the special aura hidden in the nightmare doll's body. It was a dark black mass coated with a layer of light silver light.

　The title is wrong "appraiser"

　　
　
(End of this chapter)