In any case, Kant had to go, and Gawain had to go in person.

The system of the Ansu Kingdom is loose, the royal family's protection of the remote areas is as low as the rule of the country, and the southern region has been peaceful for a long time, and the military family with strong combat effectiveness will slowly decline in this environment, so it is almost impossible for Gawain, who is in the extreme south, to count on any support from a third party (this environment is probably one of the reasons why the cultists were able to carry out large-scale erosion of this area), and the inability to wait for support is only one of the factors why Gawain decided to take matters into his own hands, and the other reason is that he was in the "dream realm" I saw something in .

He mentions to Hetty and Pittman that the Sleepers have left behind an evil object in Kant's castle, but he doesn't say what the "evil thing" is, but in fact, he has seen it and recognized it.

Located in front of the ornate stone pavilion in the center of the underground hall, it was placed on a small altar like an "artifact" to be enshrined, and it was an elaborate magic lantern that Gawain Cecil had given as a gift to Selena Gelfen, who was a chaplain in the Pioneer Corps more than 700 years ago.

She was once a gentle and quiet lady, a dream goddess who was deeply trusted by the pioneers and used dreams to heal the wounds of countless warriors in the dark and panicked ages, and her pious faith and outstanding contributions made her a dream bishop in the Northern Pioneer Army before the age of thirty, and if fate had not played a bad joke, then she might even become one of the candidates for the Pope of the Dream Church, and become a famous pioneer hero like Gawain Cecil.

But during that mysterious ritual to try to communicate with the gods, she went to the Ancestral Peak with the Pope of the Dream Church at the time, and no one knew what happened during that ceremony and the subsequent meeting, Gawain only knew that after that fateful day, several sects, including the Druids, the Dream Church, and the Storm God Church, became enemies of human society.

There was no openly declared rupture, no debate in the religious courts, several sects rushed out of the meeting hall of the Ancestral Peak as if they were going crazy at the same time, and then their believers scattered all over the continent also left their respective churches and assembly halls at the same time as if they had received some kind of order, and a huge invisible web of mind seemed to envelop every member of the dark sect from that day, and in just a few days, several major churches fell one after another and completely disappeared from the eyes of the world.

Since the entire Ancestral Peak was blocked by the armed clerics of the Church of the Holy Light and the Church of the God of War, no one knew what the truth was that day, and the spokesmen of the Great Righteous God later explained that "a small number of extreme churches could not accept the conditions of peaceful coexistence with other faiths, so they chose to defect", but in the hearts of Gawain Cecil and later Gawain, he always had doubts about this explanation.

As for Selena Gelfen, she has not been seen since that day, she used to soothe the pain of the warriors with dreams, and the gentle goddess who was trusted by the pioneers disappeared, she may have rushed into the Gondor wasteland like a part of the fallen druids, or she may have become some more twisted and darker existence, Gawain didn't know what the final outcome of that old friend was, he only knew that today, seven hundred years later, a relic of Selena Gelfen appeared here, It was placed in the ancient castle of the Kant family as the centerpiece of some evil sacrificial ritual.

He thought it was necessary for him to recover the thing, which might help him figure out what had happened on the Ancestral Peak seven hundred years ago, or at least what had happened to the original clerics when they had fallen into cultists.

The evil forces that have grown and transformed in the Castle of Kant have not yet entered their full state, and according to the progress sensed in the dream, Gawain can slowly prepare to arrange an opportunity for himself to enter the Castle of Kant without arousing the vigilance and suspicion of Viscount Victor Kant - he does not intend to enter it with full armament, but to find a chance to stop it before the event breaks out.

It is very troublesome and noticeable for a duke to visit a viscount, but it is not so complicated for a duke who currently only has a name and is essentially just a pioneer lord to visit his "neighbors", Gawain knows that a large part of the grain and herbs produced by Kant will be sent to Tanzania Town, and then purchased back by Cecil Collar, and not long ago Cecil Collar also purchased a batch of slaves from Tanzania Town (which are regular slaves sold by slave traders), which means that the two territories actually have a lot of trade, That's a reason to visit.

He prepared a set of arguments and told Hetty to do it: "Send a messenger and say that I will visit and discuss the purchase of food and medicinal herbs for the coming year—Cecil will see that there are a lot of supplies to be purchased, and these things will not only increase in price but also delay the efforts of the market in Tanzania, and we can establish a new trade route between Cecil and Kant, and we are ready to develop the north bank of the White Water River anyway, and this matter is worth talking to him." ”

Hetty nodded: "I see." ”

After arranging this matter, Gawain rubbed his eyebrows and turned his attention to another matter.

"Have you two ever heard of the 'Eternal Dark Sea'?"

Hetty and Pitman were stunned for a moment, looking at each other.

And when Gawain saw the expressions of these two people, his heart suddenly sank: It seems that there is not much hope.

Hetty is a mage who has received an orthodox aristocratic education and has a lot of occult knowledge, and should be regarded as an expert in orthodox history and naturalist knowledge, while Pittman has received a social education, and has ordered a lot of jokes about abduction and deception, and is also an expert in wild history anecdotes and bluffs. Then he probably wouldn't be able to inquire about this in the knowledge field of normal people.

"It sounds like a term made up by superstitious sailors," said Hetty, frowning and guessing, "the sea is shrouded in magical whirlpools and storms all year round, and few ships dare to challenge the deep sea, and occasionally daring adventurers go out to sea to try to find a way out, and few people come back alive...... Ancestor, where did you hear this name? ”

"Also from the memories of the Cultist of the Eternal Sleeper," Gawain did not hide this, and then looked at Pittman, "You seem to have something to say?" ”

Although the old druid was at a loss when he first heard the words "Eternal Dark Sea", he gradually showed a thoughtful look when Hetty told the superstitious stories of those sailors, so Gawain asked him curiously.

"Yes, my lord, if you are interested in some wild historical tales, I can tell you those stories that have been circulated among the people and cannot be put on the table," Pitman nodded, "I have indeed heard of 'Eternal Darkness', but it is not a word coined by humans, in fact it is derived from the Silver Elves, and it is a story that circulates among the elves - so I didn't think about it for a moment. ”

"The wild history of the silver elves?" Gawain was suddenly surprised, he didn't expect that the "Eternal Dark Sea" mentioned by an Eternal Sleeper cultist was actually a word derived from the Silver Elves, "Those super capable long ears would still pass on this kind of thing?" ”

"The silver elves living in the south of the continent established the oldest civilization on this land, tens of thousands of years earlier than the rise of humans in the middle of the continent, and now although the original elven empire has been lost in history, the new silver empire has inherited many historical documents of the ancient elf empire, but because the age is too old, coupled with the various elemental creatures and beasts that were active in ancient times, it is easy to mix with myths and legends, so those historical documents also have a large number of errors and omissions, It's not uncommon for them to evolve into wild legends, after all, elves are just mundane species," Pitman laughed, "and the Eternal Darkness Sea is the most bizarre of all the elven legends. ”

Then he cleared his throat and continued, "Ahem. In the legend of the Eternal Dark Sea, the elves talk about the origin of their own race - it is said that there were no silver elves in the world, and there were no gray elves, dark elves and other elven subspecies, only one kind of 'primordial elves' who were born with great power and lived forever on another continent far away.

"One day in antiquity, a disaster struck that continent, and a group of primordial elves fled their ancestral continent on the 'ark' that could hover above the sea. These elves encountered a miscarriage on the endless sea covered by a vortex of mist and magic, and after half a month of being lost, they suddenly broke into a sea area that was forever dark and forever shrouded in starlight, and in the center of that sea area, there stood an extremely grandiose and extremely tall tower, which had a mountain-like posture, and its top went straight into the starry sky.

"The Lost Primordial Elves were touched by the tower and the starry sky, so they prayed earnestly under the starlight, hoping to find a new habitat, and their prayers were heard through the tower to the ears of the gods among the stars, so the starlight sent down a blessing, and the tower opened the door for the primordial elves to step into.

"All the primordial spirits went into the tower, and they saw in the tower endless wonderful things, the projection of the cosmic starry sky, and the evolution of all kinds of animals, all kinds of minerals, and all kinds of plants in the world, and they realized that this tower contained incredible knowledge, so they were greedy - they were no longer satisfied with taking shelter from the wind and waves in the outer layer of the tower, but tried to enter the inner and upper layers of the tower and touch that knowledge.

"So the Great Tower was punished, and a light filled the whole tower, and the primordial elves who tried to steal knowledge were shrouded in light, and according to the degree of their invasion, they were transformed into life forms in the light, and became dark elves who were afraid of the sun, gray elves who were short in stature, sea elves who could not leave the water for long periods of time, and silver elves who had the least flaws—because the silver elves were afraid of the power of the tower, and did not set foot in the forbidden land too much, so they received the least punishment.

In this way, the immortal and powerful primordial elves became a subspecies of elves with various flaws, and these subspecies escaped from the tower in terror, returned to their ark, and left the mysterious place they called the 'Eternal Dark Sea', forever shrouded in night and starry sky, with a huge tower, and they drifted to what is now the continent of Loren, after that. ”

Pitman gasped and stroked his beard, "My lord, this is the legend of the Eternal Dark Sea. ”