Novel Full Chapter 67 - 61: Two Reliefs
Chapter 67: Chapter 61: Two Reliefs
"This is one of the reasons I asked you to come over," Shire said to Agatha, patting the wall.
In the room where the Heart Stealer had kept its chests, there were two bas-reliefs on each of the side walls. The reliefs were massive, several meters long, and looked ancient. A few spots were damaged, but on the whole, they were fairly well-preserved.
Agatha stood in the middle of the stone chamber. She didn’t reply, instead carefully observing one of them.
The composition of this relief was divided into two parts, upper and lower. The bottom showed a lush, green forest with some birds carved in the middle. The upper half depicted a city—a city situated upon the clouds.
"I’ve never heard of any city that floats in the sky." Agatha’s tone was serious. She then leaned in for a closer look and noticed that the relief had no color, or perhaps the paint had all peeled off.
"Light Technique." She extended a slender finger, summoning a small, glowing orb of light beside her.
Agatha caressed the relief, carefully examining every detail. After a few minutes, she turned and told Shire, "For now, I can’t determine if it’s real or fake. Perhaps this is just an artistic expression."
"Do you think," Shire began slowly, stroking his chin as he offered his idea, "that this could be the Heaven-Reaching Tower you mentioned before?"
"I don’t think so. This carving is clearly a city. If this city really existed, the Heaven-Reaching Tower might be one of its buildings." Agatha’s pale fingertips traced the carved clouds, a trace of longing on her face. "However, maybe this is just a fantasy of the ancient peoples—a fantasy of building a city in the sky."
"Besides, judging by the content of the relief, this city floats above a forest, but no one has seen it for thousands of years." She retracted her hand, her gaze shifting to the lower half of the relief. "It’s possible it never existed at all. Or maybe it fell long ago, hidden by the trees of the Nightmare Forest."
"Alright, let’s leave this one for now. Let’s look at the relief on the opposite wall," Shire said.
The relief directly opposite was carved in even greater detail. Its lower half showed many bodies lying on the ground—humans, Dwarves, Elves, and various other humanoids. The middle and upper portions formed the main subject, depicting four things. There was a rolling pool of liquid that stretched nearly the entire length of the relief. Behind it floated several swords. Behind the swords were birds, so numerous they blotted out the sky, mirroring the pool of liquid in the composition. Finally, on the other side of the birds, a giant, crawling skeleton was carved.
"This carving is quite thought-provoking," Agatha said, scrutinizing the entire piece. "It doesn’t align with anything I’ve ever studied."
She cast Light Technique again and moved closer to inspect it, offering her opinion at the same time. "What’s carved here ought to be four powerful beings. They can kill all sorts of creatures at will, but I don’t know what these four things are. They don’t look like the Elemental Ancient Gods, nor do they seem to be the Seven Great Demon Lords."
"Could they be the sealed Evil Gods?" Shire asked.
"I don’t think so. Although the Evil Gods are powerful, they wouldn’t be depicted as *this* mighty," Agatha said, shaking her head in disagreement.
"I have a bold idea, though," Shire said tentatively, choosing his words carefully. "They are the Four Gods."
Hearing this, Agatha’s eyes widened, completely disbelieving what he had just said. "How could they be the Four Gods? They look nothing like them."
"They’re the only thing that matches the number four," Shire said with a smile.
"Light and Justice, Battle and Glory, Earth and Life, Night and Fate. The Four Gods are completely different from what’s carved on this relief," Agatha said, waving her hands, unable to accept Shire’s point of view.
"Perhaps, far back in the river of history, their identities changed," Shire added after a moment of thought.
"No, impossible. There’s no record in history of evil becoming sacred," Agatha disagreed.
"Agatha, history is written by the victors."
"No, Shire, you don’t understand what this means. It doesn’t just subvert thousands of years of historical understanding, it subverts the sacred faith of the people! Many are taught from birth that the Four Gods are holy, but this relief depicts them as malevolent fiends who slaughter the innocent. If the people of the four great Churches found out, it wouldn’t matter if you were a goblin or even a nobleman. They would charge in, shouting slogans, tie you to a fire stake, and burn you to ashes along with this relief," Agatha said gravely.
"Alright, we’ll talk about this later. I believe the answer to this mystery must be somewhere in the forest." Shire ended the argument. He then pointed to the other side of the passage and said, "There’s another large room over there with a lot of interesting things. Let me show you."
The two of them passed through the corridor and arrived in a huge stone chamber of over 700 square meters. Two corners of the chamber were buried in dirt, and the entire space was piled with a large quantity of components and materials of varying sizes and compositions.
"I haven’t sent anyone to clean this place yet. I was afraid their clumsy hands would break something." Shire stood beside a stone component and wiped away the thick layer of dust on it.
"Look, there are strange patterns carved on it," he said, pointing to a palm-sized symbol.
Agatha frowned and crouched down, her interest piqued by the pattern as well.
"I’ve never seen this kind of pattern before. It looks a bit like the writing of an Alien Race," Agatha said softly, stroking the pattern.
"I’d like to ask you to come by often and help me figure out what they’re for," Shire said sincerely.
"I still have to make potions, watch the shop, and run my own alchemy experiments every day," Agatha said after some thought, voicing her concerns.
"You could teach my subordinates how to prepare the herbs. I’ll have Little Claw help you brew the potions," Shire said.
"But the journey itself will take up more of my time," Agatha said with a frown.
She stroked the pattern, fell silent for a few seconds, and finally nodded. "Alright. I’ll come over often."
She simply couldn’t let go of these history-related artifacts.
"Great. I’ll leave you to it, then," Shire said with a wave, preparing to leave.
"Wait," Agatha called out, her expression serious.
"Hm?" Shire looked at her face, a little wary. ’Has the bookworm finally realized I never mentioned her cut of the future profits from Drink Undying?’
Agatha pulled a book from her pocket and started flipping through it. Shire felt like he’d seen it before.
"Here it is." Agatha flipped to a dog-eared page, then looked up directly at Shire. "Did the Countess, Sofia, really elope with a Minstrel?"
"Sofia?" Shire blanked for a moment, then said, "Oh, I know who you’re talking about. Yes, she eloped with him. But she also beat the hell out of him. He barely had a single intact rib left in his body."
"Why?" Agatha pressed, her eyes sparkling like little stars.
"Because that morning, she discovered the number of people eloping was a bit off. Three ladies showed up at the same time. That idiot Minstrel underestimated the young women from these big houses. They just yearn for a free-spirited love; they’re not stupid."
"Also, the Baron..." Agatha started flipping through the pages again, ready to ask for more.
"I have other things to do! You can start your research." Shire fled in disarray.