"A long time ago, an ancient ...... older than the wizards' time"

"My lord, what era was before the wizarding era?" asked Ponyville curiously, the easy-going attitude of the Furious Wind Sword Saint made him feel kind, like an experienced big brother returning from a long journey, and the strangeness would be liked when the strangeness faded.

"Mavi, don't interrupt again, or I'll punish you to brush the stables. Lady Melissa warned Mavi and picked up another piece of snack and stuffed it for Kaisha.

The little girl was so absorbed in the pastry that she forgot to express her opinion. She actually wanted to go to the stable with her brother.

"The story is fictional, and you have too many questions, so I won't tell them. Victor smiled at the two little ones and continued:

"There is a family in the remote countryside of a human country, where the father and mother live in the mountains to raise sheep for the village chief, and their only son works in a mine outside the village. In the rainy and snowy season of one year, the son who had been working outside for a long time finally came back to reunite with his parents, but he was not alone, and there was an uninvited guest. ”

"It was a man over half a hundred years old, with a sparse gray beard, and eyes of the same gray, and he looked haggard, but he was tall and strong, with blood stains on his clothes, and a two-handed battle axe. Father and mother were afraid of this man, it was a bad thing to live in a remote place, except for a pitchfork, they could not get timely protection from the militia, and if this strong man was a robber, the whole family would be killed by him. ”

The son explained the situation in time, and it turned out that he had encountered a pack of wolves on his way home, and it was the adventurer who saved his life from the mouth of the hungry wolf. After the son showed the carcasses of the two wild wolves, the father and mother let down their guard and invited the adventurer into the house to take shelter from the rain and spend the night. ”

In gratitude to the adventurer for saving their only son, the shepherds and his wife entertained him with warm mutton soup and bread, and brought out home-brewed fruit wine. In the season of cold and wet water, there's nothing more desirable than a warm cabin, and if anything, it's a hot meal and a jug of wine. ”

The full eaten, and three full glasses of home-brewed wine, the adventurer, satisfied, sat in a chair near the fireplace and talked eloquently, and the shepherd's family of three, interested in the adventures of the guest, gathered around him to listen to him talk about his adventures in the wilderness and his own heroic deeds. ”

"This older adventurer has a lot of experience, or maybe he's a braggart. He said that he had traveled to faraway Inhuman lands and met the Lotles...... It was a tall, inhuman, intelligent species with blue skin, four arms, and four sharp scimitars capable of easily chopping a male bison. The adventurer and his companions inadvertently break into the temple of the Rotel and steal a sacred artifact enshrined in the temple. ”

"Under the interception of the Rult Four Sword Samurai, the adventurer and his companions fought hard and fought bloodily, and finally broke through the siege and returned to the human realm. ”

"The shepherd's son listened attentively, and could not help but ask the adventurer, Are all your companions dead in battle, and why are you alone in the vicinity?"

The adventurer did not speak, and his expression became unnatural. The shepherd was sure at this time that the guests were bragging, and the mighty adventurer would not be as downcast as he was. However, the story he made up was so wonderful that the shepherd and his wife were willing to listen to it, they felt lonely in the mountains all year round, and longed to hear about the outside world. The shepherd changed the subject and asked the adventurer, what is the relic of the Rotts?"

The adventurer was silent for a while, then took out an inconspicuous stone from his pocket and told his master that this was the sacred object enshrined in the temple of Roalte. ”

At this time, even the shepherd's son began to suspect that his savior was a man of big words. Out of politeness and fear, the shepherd's wife asked, "What is the use of this holy thing?"

When Mavi heard this, he lowered his head, put his hands over his mouth to prevent Madame Melissa from seeing him, and said in a very low voice, "I guess that the adventurer is not a liar. ”

Everyone couldn't help but laugh, Victor smiled slightly, and continued: "The adventurer told them that the holy relic of the Rottes is the wishing gem of the fairy king, which can fulfill one of anyone's wishes, as long as you hold the wishing stone with both hands and make a wish silently, the wish will come true. ”

Little Mavi quickly hid his hands behind his back, and secretly glanced at his grandmother, and saw that she didn't notice her small movements, so he listened to the story with confidence.

The adventurer's glaring eyes made the shepherd's family realize that their chuckle was unpleasant. The shepherd's son wisely asked, "What wish did the adventurer make?"

He only wanted the conversation to continue, even if the shepherd's family was ready to listen and marvel at the adventurer's penchant for bragging, but the adventurer's face began to turn pale, and he calmly said that he had made a wish and was no longer willing to talk about it. ”

This in turn piqued the curiosity of the shepherd's wife, who rounded up to ask if anyone else had made a wish, such as a companion in the mouth of an adventurer. ”

"'They're all dead. The adventurer was silent for a long time, and a hoarse voice squeezed out from between his teeth, and his face was very strange, and his expression was calm, but it gave people a sense of loneliness, regret, and fear. ”

"I know that the adventurer must be a high-ranking knight. Little Pony cried out, and this time Lady Melissa did not offer the punishment of brushing the stables.

Victor continued: "The adventurer suddenly threw the Wishing Stone into the fireplace, and the shepherd's first instinct was to clip it out with iron tongs. Before they knew it, the shepherd's family began to believe a little that the Wishstone was real, perhaps because they had unfulfilled wishes. The shepherds said that if the guests didn't want a wishing stone, it would be better to give it to them. ”

The adventurer did not speak, but quickly took his leave, ignoring the politeness of his master, and the darkness and freezing rain outside. Before leaving, he told the shepherds that the wisest option was to throw away the stone. ”

After the guests left, the shepherd's family of three breathed a sigh of relief, and they laughed in various ways at the adventurer as a liar, and that they could not make up the story, so they had to run away. However, the wish-making thing grows in the heart of the shepherd like a spring weed, and he jokingly says, 'I want a bag full of gold,' while his hands are clutching the wishing stone tightly. ”

"And then, a bag of gold appeared?" Ma Wei asked curiously, looking intently at the Furious Wind Sword Saint.

"No, nothing happened. Victor shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and added, "At least that bag of gold won't magically appear on the table, in the cupboard, under the bed...... The shepherd's family soon forgot about the wish, and the following year, when the son returned to work in the village mines, their lives seemed to have changed as in previous years. ”

However, more than ten days later, the village chief came, and he told the shepherd couple that while the town mayor was inspecting the mine, he accidentally fell and was in danger, and their son fell to the bottom of the mine in order to save the town mayor, and died of his injuries. The shepherds were grief-stricken, and the village chief comforted them, dropped a bag full of gold, and left the shepherds. ”

This is the end of the story. (Note 1)

The room fell silent for a moment, and little Kaisha, who was sitting on the Pope's lap, said crisply: "This story is not funny. ”

"It's not fun. Mavi muttered under his breath and shook his head like an adult.

"Marvi, have you forgotten my warning, go and clean the stables!" said Lady Melissa, standing up, taking the little boy's ear, and walking out the door.

Four-year-old Kaisha jumped off her grandfather's lap and laughed happily as she ran: "Brush the stable, go brush the stable......"

Only Victor and Clement were left in the living room, and after a moment's pause, the Pope commented: "A wonderful story..... the changes caused by a wish are unknown. ”

Victor smiled silently, his eyes reserved, and the Pope pondered for a few seconds, and finally said, "I confess that the Great Prophecy about the Blackhoof tribe was performed by me...... But I can't see the changes that this has caused, and I can't stop them, including the fall of Ryan August...... I don't want this to happen, but there's nothing to regret...... Gambis has one less king and one more Fury Swordmaster. ”

Victor stood up, stroked his chest and saluted, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for telling me the truth and relieving my confusion." The Auguste family had always believed that His Majesty the Pope had conspired with Nakhtigar to perform a great prophecy spell, which led to the fall of the first king. ”

Clement bowed his head and asked, "Your story describes the change of fate, and you want to know about the last Great Prophecy, whether it was for Auguste, or for the Furious Wind Sword Saint himself." ”

Victor said solemnly: "For myself." ”

"You're not a legendary priest, so it's hard for me to explain to you what the Great Prophecy looks like?"

Clement frowned, the Sun Elves were originally legendary creatures with high status, and they had their own fate, but for the Raging Wind Sword Saint who was unwilling to bear the fate of the Elven race, this was a huge burden. Clement was not optimistic about Victor's resistance before, even the church's great prophecy could not help him solve the problem, the personal will of the god knight could be suppressed for a while, and after Sylvia's fall, Victor would inevitably follow the example of the sword saint Ravin and go to the Everfree Forest to pursue his elven kindred.

However, Victor's bizarre ability to control the color of his eyes speaks to his will, and it paid off. Clement couldn't understand the mystery and was willing to help him.

"Wish and fate...... This has cut to the heart of the great prophecy. The Pope nodded, and continued: "Wishing things to change in the direction of wishes will inevitably come at a cost, even if it is something as simple as drinking water, you must first pick up the cup. ”

"Simple wishes are easy to come true, and the more difficult the wishes, the greater the change in fate. Just drink the water and pick up the cup, and let the servant fetch the water, which he brought back may have been mixed with poison. ”

Victor blinked his eyes and said, "Your Majesty is saying...... Vulnerability?"

"It's a crack. Clement added: "The rift of fate...... The Great Prophecy is not a divine art in the ordinary sense, it is a ritual, and the whole process may take more than ten years to complete. I cast a great prophecy on the Blackhoof Centaurs, with the initial desire to bring them to a downturn. First of all, I need to see the changes in the future so that the ritual can be completed step by step and fulfill the original wish. The future I see is like a river full of ice cubes, and each ice cube represents a possibility for the future. When I see the ice floe of the declining fate of the Blackhoof Centaur, I have to carefully choose the path from the crack to reach the ice floe, but no matter how I choose, the other ice floes of fate will collide with each other due to the change of the rift, and thus change. ”

"All I can do is minimize the impression of change. Even so, I don't see all the fate ice floes, such as Adam Neowest's sneak ascension to the realm of legends...... This in itself was not a bad thing for the original wish, and the Great Prophecy did not reveal to me the ice of fate. ”

"The burden of wishes is enormous, and I only predict the decline of the Blackhoof Centaur tribe, and I will never directly predict the death of Orogar, which will make it more difficult to fulfill. In the Great Prophecy, I saw the inevitability of the Battle of Whitewater Fortress, the price to be paid for prophecy. As a result, Sylvia's identity was revealed, and fortunately, otherwise, the Auguste family and Sylvia would most likely take the opportunity to annex the kingdom of Dodor, and Lord Sarsan would have no intention of entangling with the Blackhoof Centaurs. ”

Victor pondered for a moment and asked tactfully, "Your Majesty, Orogal died in the end...... Died at the hands of the Knights of Radiance and Tournans. ”

Clement shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I cautiously advise the Knights of Radiance not to hunt down Orogar. After all, this is the first time I've performed a Great Prophecy spell, and I didn't predict the destruction of Orogar and the Blackhoof Clan. However, Testil believes that the ritual of the Great Prophecy is now complete, and that the Knights of Radiance and the Lord of Sassan need a glorious victory. ”

Victor's expression became grim and he asked, "Your Majesty, will the Great Prophecy be interfered with or used by outsiders?" Soon after the death of Orogar, the Whitetail tribe of the Sidon Khanate produced two centaur gods, one of whom was soon promoted to the rank of Legendary Orc. And this abrupt orc war...... You must be skeptical about these changes that have taken place. ”

Clement said, "There are indeed people who can interfere with or exploit the Great Prophecy...... The one in the church in Pinghu Town. ”

Victor's expression froze, this was not the answer he wanted to hear, so he asked bluntly, "What about His Majesty the Pope? Can he interfere with the Great Prophecy?"

Clement replied slowly, "I don't know more about the papal lineage than the Trigovars. But in the realm of Great Prophecy, I can tell you unequivocally that His Majesty the Pope did not use Great Prophecy to interfere with my Great Prophecy. ”

Victor asked, slightly surprised, "Your Majesty already knows about Judge Trigovar's favor for me?"

The Trigovars spread the word about it, and the cardinals who wanted to take back the religious law from Trigovar began to hesitate again. Clementa nodded and said calmly, "This makes my situation embarrassing...... As you should be aware, I have taken the lead in raising the issue of the establishment of the tribunal. ”

Victor crossed his left leg to his right leg, changed into a comfortable position, and said indifferently: "I will make the Cardinal Council rerealize that the alliance between His Majesty and the Centaur Hills is unbreakable. However, as for the Trigovars, I think it would be nice to have them owe me a favor. ”

The strategy of access to the sea required Victor to control the coastline of the Eastern Alliance, and at least find a natural harbor. With the Centaur Hills secretly cultivating power in the Eastern Alliance, and the Trigovar family and the Pope's line helping at the same time, things would be much easier, than it would be better to put all the bets on Clement alone.

Of course, if Victor wants to keep the Trigovar family, he must also agree with the Pope.

Clement asked, "Many people have come to me to inquire, and I would like to know, what are you and Sylvia going to exchange for the rock bricks?"

"How's the gold?"

"What?"

The Pope looked at the leisurely Victor with a stunned face.

Note 1: The short story in this chapter is taken from "The Monkey's Paw" by the British writer Jacobs.