Chapter 214: The Hero Summoning

"Speaking of that, could it be that the Divine Sword Velikorya has some kind of Space-Time Magic enchantment placed on it?" Viktor directed the question not toward Shangguan Wan’er, but toward Prince Lucien.

"Space-Time Magic? I’ve never heard anything about that..."

"But Xiao Tao has used teleportation magic at least once since obtaining this sword. Teleportation magic is a form of Space-Time Magic, and it is said that those who master Space-Time Magic can eventually transcend time itself. If the Divine Sword Velikorya has been enchanted with Space-Time Magic, that would explain why he ended up skipping ahead three years in time."

The prince nodded thoughtfully. "I see."

Shangguan Wan’er, however, still looked displeased.

"I can use Space-Time Magic too, but I’ve never heard of anything like that. We know that this sword has at least one powerful magical enchantment that increases various abilities, but beyond that, we know almost nothing. It seems that the sword itself conceals its information, so even when we had an appraiser examine it, we could not determine the details. In fact, until you pointed it out just now, we did not even know that this was the Divine Sword Velikorya."

"Furthermore, we only met Xiao Tao yesterday. Other than having him explain the circumstances himself, there is no way for us to know exactly what happened. Therefore, I believe the best course of action is to listen to his story first."

After Viktor finished speaking, Shangguan Wan’er finally seemed willing to listen.

She quietly sat down on the sofa, turned her face away with a huff, grabbed several cookies from the plate on the table, stuffed them into her mouth, and began sipping her tea.

Once she had finally calmed down, Xiao Tao began explaining what had happened, little by little. He went into considerably more detail than he had the previous day.

Xiao Tao was not particularly good at explaining things, so parts of his story were difficult to follow. However, whenever there was something Xiao Tao himself did not understand, the prince provided additional explanations, making the overall situation much easier for everyone to understand.

The first place Xiao Tao and Shangguan Wan’er had been taken after arriving in this world was a room inside the royal palace.

The men Xiao Tao had described as several middle aged men turned out to have been the king of the country and several other important figures involved in governing the nation.

As they had already explained, Xiao Tao and Shangguan Wan’er had been summoned through an ancient Hero Summoning ritual for two purposes: to stop the Monster Stampede and to defeat the Demon King.

One of the ministers had given Xiao Tao the Divine Sword Velikorya because they believed that a sword capable of choosing its own wielder would be able to identify the true Hero. If the sword recognized someone, it would serve as undeniable proof that the person was indeed the Hero.

However, the Divine Sword had originally been carefully guarded and stored by the Church, so there was no way the Church would simply hand it over. Apparently, the sword had actually been taken out in secret under the king’s orders.

The reason for this was that the queen had apparently been reluctant to proceed with the Hero Summoning in the first place.

Although the Hero Summoning ritual had been passed down as a legend since ancient times, almost no detailed records of the ritual remained. There was even a risk that attempting to summon a Hero from another world could instead summon some unknown and potentially dangerous entity.

Her position was that she could not understand why they should take such a risk when there was no guarantee that summoning a Hero from another world would actually solve anything.

However, the kingdom had been pursuing the defeat of the Demon King for hundreds of years, and the three hundredth year was fast approaching, when the Monster Stampede was expected to occur again.

The king had grown increasingly concerned that if they continued as they were, the Kingdom of Velikorya might eventually be destroyed by the Demon King. As a result, he decided to carry out the Hero Summoning in secret, without informing the queen.

Unfortunately, no detailed instructions for performing the Hero Summoning ritual had survived.

However, at that point, someone stepped forward and claimed that they had once witnessed the ritual themselves.

"Can you guess who this is? It is someone you know very well." Prince Leonhart suddenly said this and looked toward Viktor.

Viktor’s expression immediately became one of extreme displeasure. "Don’t tell me it was my father?"

"Correct." The prince smiled. "I heard that this Hero Summoning ritual was conducted under the direction of Cassian, the Minister of General Affairs. And he was also the one who gave the Divine Sword Velikorya to the Hero, Xiao Tao."

Ah, that made sense. Xiao Tao had previously said that the person who gave him the Divine Sword Velikorya was an elf, and that he somewhat resembled Viktor. Qiu Nuoya had wondered if they might be related, but of course they looked alike. They were father and son.

If that was the case, did that mean Cassian, the Minister of General Affairs, was also the one who had placed the protective mark on Xiao Tao?

When Qiu Nuoya mentioned this possibility, Viktor fell silent again, his expression becoming slightly more severe.

"Viktor, is something wrong?"

"It’s still only a possibility, but my father may have been the one who threw Xiao Tao out of the castle."

"What? Why?"

"My father was the one who told me that mastering Space-Time Magic could allow someone to transcend time. He can use Space-Time Magic just as I can, and his level is probably even higher than mine."

Qiu Nuoya had previously heard that Viktor’s Space-Time Magic was at level eight. If his father’s level was even higher, it was entirely possible that he had already reached the maximum level of ten.

Still, Qiu Nuoya could not understand why Cassian would summon Xiao Tao in the first place only to throw him out afterward. Especially after giving him the Divine Sword Velikorya.

"Could he have deliberately placed only a marker on Xiao Tao before throwing him out?"

"I cannot rule out that possibility."

Viktor’s expression was as bitter as though he had just swallowed something unpleasant.

Qiu Nuoya wondered if there was something more behind his reaction.