Cycle of Destiny

But what Harry didn't know was that the truth was far more complex and more heartwarming than he had heard.

Laura and Edric did not actually die, and the goddess fulfilled her promise from years ago: if Laura ever needed the goddess's support, she would stand behind her.

After hearing Laura's fears, the goddess knew that the only way to free the unfortunate lovers from the torment of their nightmares was to make them "die." Only the dead could completely disappear from the sight of the newly ascended saint.

So the goddess helped them plan a "double suicide." But in reality, the goddess used divine magic to completely change their voices and appearances, helping them secretly leave the capital.

Today, in a small principality in the south of the continent, there lives a diligent and devout bishop of a local church, and his beautiful, elegant, and kind wife. No one would associate them with the protagonists of that tragedy in the capital.

The difference is that the goddess would personally review the official documents of that region. From those documents, she would learn how peaceful and happy her friend's life was, and the goddess would also share anecdotes from the capital with her friend in her replies.

The friendship between these two women lasted from their youth to old age, nearly forty years.

……

"But... Lord Odel, how exactly did he suddenly become a Holy Mage? What exactly happened that month?" Harry asked.

"This is something that I, and the entire church, still want to know the answer to." The goddess withdrew her distant gaze and looked at Harry again.

"The church conducted the most thorough and meticulous investigation at the time," she recalled solemnly. "We interrogated all the jailers who had contact with him, repeatedly examined every inch of the walls and floor of that cell, and even enlisted the help of several archbishops skilled in detecting traces and residual energy to use divine magic to trace back everything that might have happened there. The result... was nothing."

She spread out one hand, making a "nothing" gesture: "There are no residual fluctuations from hidden magic circles, no signs of external force forcibly injecting energy, and no known clues that can explain this drastic change in the nature of life. That cell is just an ordinary, dark cell with nothing but stone and iron bars. And according to the confirmation from the Grand Master of the Knights and the Cardinal who tested his talent before, during the comprehensive examination before his imprisonment, there were only traces of battle qi circulating in his body, without a trace of magic power."

"As for Odel himself," a helpless and confused smile appeared on the goddess's lips, "he has never answered this question either. His power is terrifying, but the magical techniques and knowledge system he uses are different from any known magical lineage, as if they are self-contained and completely independent of all the past knowledge of the continent."

She further explained how incredible this was: "Before him, mages were a loose and weak group, lacking a tight organization and systematic inheritance. The sixth level of mage was considered an insurmountable limit. But he not only broke through this thousand-year-old limitation himself, reaching the Saint level, but more importantly—he brought with him an unprecedented, systematic, and profound system of magical knowledge. It was this knowledge that allowed other mages to glimpse the path to higher levels, advance to the rank of advanced mages, and completely change the status of mages in the power structure of the continent."

Her voice was filled with confusion: "In just one month, he went from a level six warrior with no magic in his body, deemed to have reached the end of the warrior's path, to an existence that even the strongest divine mage at the time—His Holiness the Pope—could not understand or defeat. This cannot be explained by any known reason. It's as if... a vast sea of ​​magical knowledge, along with power comparable to that of gods, suddenly appeared out of thin air and poured directly into his body."

She sighed softly: "There have been many speculations about this. Some say he received the magical inheritance of an ancient lost civilization while in prison; some say he has been hiding his true abilities for many years; some even say that the one who walked out of the cell may not be Odel himself, but has been 'replaced' by some incomprehensible great being. But all of these are just conjectures and delusions lacking evidence."

The goddess looked into Harry's eyes and summarized, word by word: "The only certainty is this: before his imprisonment, he was Viscount Fairchild, a sixth-level warrior, who had never studied magic; a month after his release, he was the holy mage Odel, an absolute pioneer and supreme ruler in the field of magic. What happened in between, and how it happened, remains a complete and dark mystery to this day."

Harry was deeply shocked and bewildered. A miraculous encounter? What kind of miraculous encounter could achieve such a feat?

He subconsciously thought of another key figure—

Alexander.

It was he who pleaded for Odell, which led to Odell's pardon and release from prison. Is there some unknown connection between these two people chosen by fate?

Harry then recalled the connection the goddess had mentioned earlier: "You said that Duke Alexander... and Lord Odell, and Lord Cavill, all seem to have connections?"

"Yes." The goddess nodded.

"And what exactly is the relationship between Duke Alexander and Lord Cavill?" Harry pressed. How could that dissolute man with such a terrible reputation be connected to that legendary duke?

"You should know that Alexander's account in the 'Who's Who' is extremely brief," the goddess said, stating rather than asking a question. "The record only says that he won a place in the tournament, was made a baron, and later helped the church defeat the demons in the 'Crimson Invasion,' eventually being promoted to duke."

"I know all of that." Harry nodded, the suspiciously simple entry immediately flashing through his mind, along with the story his father had mentioned about Alexander losing to him in the tournament.

"Cavill had been with Alexander for a long time, long before he participated in the tournament," the goddess revealed the origin of their relationship. "At that time, the problem of reduced grain production in the southeastern part of the empire had continued to worsen. By the year Alexander participated in the tournament, the province of Roland and other places even experienced near-total crop failure. It was also in that year that the source of this strange disaster began to emerge—the entire province of Roland was shrouded in ominous clouds, and man-eating monsters began to appear."

Her expression turned solemn, as if she had returned to the moment she made that decision: "I organized the Order of the Church, vowing to eradicate this darkness. The day before I was to depart, Cavill... came to me with a letter of introduction personally written by Alexander."

Harry immediately understood. Given Cavill's terrible reputation—expelled from the Knights Academy, with a long list of misdeeds, and merely a low-level mage—it would have been absolutely impossible for him to pass the vetting process if he wanted to join the Church Knights who were fighting against darkness.

The key was Alexander's recommendation.

"I am not entirely unaware of Cavill's despicable acts," the goddess confessed, frowning slightly. "He was not a true knight, and his character was far from upright. At that time, his reputation stemmed almost entirely from a constant stream of scandals and the harm he inflicted on women. Allowing such a person to join a knightly order that upholds justice and faith would not only bring no benefit but could also tarnish the order's reputation and drag the entire order down."

She paused, as if recalling her predicament at the time: "I was very conflicted. Alexander spoke very earnestly in his letter, valuing Cavill highly. At that time, the church had long felt that Alexander was extraordinary and had been secretly keeping an eye on him. This was the first time he had made a request to me in his personal capacity, and it was for such a disgraced playboy... I didn't know how to respond."

"However, in the end... I can't explain why, but it was like an intuition beyond reason pushed me, and I finally nodded in agreement. I told myself that perhaps it was the will of the goddess to give this lost soul a chance."

"Unexpectedly," the goddess said with surprise, "that Cavill, who seemed to only cause trouble and was a mediocre knight trainee and low-level mage, completely changed after joining the Knights."

She described Cavill as completely different from the rumors: "Although he was expelled from the Knight Academy, his basic combat skills were quite solid. More importantly, he was exceptionally brave on the battlefield, always charging ahead without regard for his own safety. His fearless spirit moved many true knights. During breaks in battle, he was also very popular, always able to make the worried and exhausted knights laugh with his unique sense of humor in the heavy and oppressive atmosphere."

"At first, the members of the Knights rejected him because of his past," the goddess concluded, "but soon they were captivated by his fearlessness on the battlefield and the precious laughter he brought to the camp, and completely accepted him. When the Knights returned in triumph, the Church awarded him a medal for his heroic deeds. Many say that it was the goddess's calling that purified and redeemed this misguided soul."

Upon hearing this, Harry subconsciously pursed his lips and didn't reply.

A clear hint of doubt flashed in his blue eyes. The call of a goddess? He was skeptical of that explanation.

Based on his understanding of Cavill, he felt that what caused Cavill's change was more likely other very practical reasons, or... the influence of Alexander himself.

He prefers to believe that it was the very act of following Alexander that changed Cavill.