The black-haired maid heard her mistress's words and widened her eyes in surprise. "The mausoleum of the ancestors? But Whitsunday is already … "
"It's not to worship the ancestors." Victoria exhaled. "Go and prepare, Maggie."
Maggie looked at her mistress quietly and did not ask any more questions. Instead, she lowered her head slightly. "Yes, I understand."
Just like Gwen, who was eventually buried under Cecil's Castle in the Southern Territory? Like Cecil, the mausoleums of the founding dukes of the four territories of Ansu were eventually set up in the land they guarded. Snow, the "Winter Duke" who guarded the mountains in the north The Snow Duke of the Snowy Mountains in the Northern Territory was buried under Winter Fort Academy, which stood on the peak of the mountains in the Northern Territory.
After passing through the cellar at the lowest level of Winter Fort Academy and walking through the deepest and most solemn black corridor, one would arrive at the oldest and most solemn mausoleum area of the castle. The heads of the Wilde family had built their magnificent fortress on the peak of the mountains with enormous manpower and material resources. Nearly half of the manpower and material resources were used to maintain the mausoleum buried deep in the mountains.
Were the ancestors of the Wilde family not like Gwen? Cecil was once favored by the power of the elements. The mausoleum under Winter Fort Academy was completely stabilized by generations of powerful human mages using manpower to cast elemental blessings. That was why it had survived for seven centuries without any damage.
Victoria? Accompanied by Maggie, the maid, Wilde walked into the underground palace. Other than that, he did not bring any extra attendants.
The magic stone lamps inlaid on the wall were infused with magic, emitting a dim and constant light. In order not to disturb the ancestors, the magic stones in the mausoleum were specially designed. Its brightness was only about half of that of a normal magic stone lamp. Under such a slightly dim light, the downward slope of the underground palace extended into the depths of the hazy darkness in front of the Duchess' line of sight. It looked vague and frightening.
But Victoria did not care about the gloom, and she stepped forward.
The walls made of Soul Calming Stone bricks receded around her, and the solid stone stairs and boots made hollow echoes that echoed in the oldest corridor of the fortress. Victoria had a feeling that she was going against the track of time. Every hundred meters she advanced in this ancient corridor was a hundred years back in time. She walked through the civil strife of the Moon Mist, the last heyday of the Ansu, the reform of the dynasty, the years of plenty, and finally … she arrived at the beginning of this country and this family seven hundred years ago.
They arrived at the main hall of the mausoleum. The maid, Maggie, silently walked to the stone pillar next to the entrance of the hall. She pressed her hand on a metal disc on the surface of the stone pillar. As she infused her magic into the disc, the magic stone lamps inlaid in the hall lit up one by one, illuminating the originally dark hall with a layer of light.
The portraits of the heads of the Wilde family were hung on the walls on both sides of the hall, from the first generation of "Winter Duke Snow Wilde" to the Wilde family. From Wilde to Victoria's father, everyone had the same silver hair and solemn face. Their eyelids were slightly lowered, as if they were looking at the visitors who walked into the hall with solemn eyes. Victoria? Wilde calmly welcomed the gazes of these pairs of eyes and saw the ancient motto inscribed on the wall:
"We are the last barrier of the Ansu."
Victoria's gaze slowly swept across the faces of her ancestors before finally landing on her father. Her gaze lingered on the dignified old duke for a long time before she said in a low voice, "Father, just as you expected, the hidden danger of the Second Dynasty has finally erupted … But I'm afraid you won't be able to predict where the biggest variable in this chaos will come from …"
After a moment of silence, the Duchess raised her head and ordered the maid beside her, "You go out first. I need to be alone."
The black-haired maid left the hall in silence. Victoria Wilde? Wylde took a step forward.
She came to the stone platform at the end of the hall. The platform was about half the height of a person, like a wide table. A circle of mysterious runes and patterns were engraved around the platform, but the surface of the platform was as smooth as a mirror, without any trace of decoration.
After hesitating for a moment, the Duchess put her hand on the platform and whispered an ancient incantation.
The magic in the air surged, and the runes around the platform lit up one by one. The smooth mirror-like surface of the platform began to ripple like water. Accompanied by a milky white glimmer, a silver-white metal plate about a foot square floated up from the rippling surface of the platform.
This metal plate was actually sealed in a dense stone.
Victoria picked up the metal plate. It was not heavy, and it was very thin. Hard decorative lines could be seen on the edge of the metal plate, which was typical of Gondor style. She stroked the surface of the metal plate, and the words appeared on the metal plate.
Charlie? Moen, guide, leader, protector, founder of the kingdom, we respect him as king.
Gwen? Cecil, master of Knight, pioneer, protector, founder of the kingdom, we respect him as the Guardian of the Southern Territory.
Snow? Wilde, Frost Grasp, guardian of knowledge, pioneer, founder of the kingdom, we respect him as the Guardian of the Northern Territory.
Anthony? Loren, master of warriors …
The Duchess of the Northern Territory, who had always been cold and distant, like an ice queen, could not help but show a look of awe when she saw the metal plate. Her eyes slid across the glorious names. Behind each name, there seemed to be an indomitable mountain. They represented the foundation of the kingdom, the power to overcome the disaster that almost destroyed human civilization seven hundred years ago, and also … the first law of the kingdom.
This was a list of all the founders of Ansu at the beginning of its establishment. It was arranged according to merit and rank, but it was more than just a list.
Victoria turned the metal plate over, and on the back of the metal plate, a paragraph of words appeared clearly on it:
"… In the event of a disaster that could destroy the kingdom, or an irreversible event, resulting in the death of the king or the inability to continue protecting the kingdom due to various reasons, in the absence of a suitable successor, the person on the list will inherit the throne and take charge of the kingdom …"
Seven hundred years ago, it was a turbulent era.
It was probably difficult for people who lived in stable and peaceful times to imagine what it was like when humans first broke out of the wasteland and established a kingdom in a barren land. Even Victoria? Wilde could only read about the records of that period from ancient books, or hear some fragmentary descriptions from the mouths of a few long-lived races, but he could not empathize with it.
But every time she saw this list and the words on the back of the list, she could still imagine how dangerous the kingdom was when the Ansu Kingdom was first established.
The aftermath of the demonic wave continued to invade the country, and until the Great Wall was completed, the monsters that rushed out of the Gondor Wasteland were still attacking the human world. Even when the demonic wave was at its thickest, the hinterland of the Holy Spirit Plains would be eroded on a large scale out of nowhere. To this day, on a section of the city wall in the inner city of Saint Sunil City, there was still a black rotten brick that silently recorded that dangerous time.
In that era, the king could die at any time, the guardian dukes could die at any time, and everyone could die at any time.
That was why there was this list, as well as the 'emergency succession rules' behind it.
But just like how no one had ever thought that the honorary 'permanent development rights' would one day come back into effect, the people who knew about this list probably never thought that someone on the list would suddenly come back to life …
Victoria? Wilde looked at the metal plate in her hand quietly. After a long time, she sighed softly, put the metal plate on the stone platform solemnly, and reversed the spell to seal it again.
After doing all this, she took two steps back, left the stone platform, and turned to look around the entire hall.
There were many stone doors lined the walls on both sides of the hall. Behind the stone doors were corridors that led to different tombs. One day, she would also lie in one of the tombs, and one of her children would stand where she was standing now and look around.
But maybe they would think about different things.
After standing there for a while, the duchess seemed to have made up her mind. She glanced at the closed door, and through the faint aura, she knew that Maggie was still guarding outside the door.
In fact, even if there was no one guarding, no one would dare to trespass.
Victoria turned back and looked at the stone platform from before. Then, she walked around the platform and walked to the door behind it.
This door was the most special. It occupied one of the walls of the hall by itself. There was no corridor behind the door, only one tomb.
From this structure, the layout of this tomb was not much different from that of Cecil's ancestor.
With the creaking sound of the magic mechanism, the duchess opened the door of the special tomb in the deepest part of the tomb. She stepped in and lit up the magic crystal lamp in the deepest part of the tomb.
The magic crystal lamp illuminated the spacious hall, and the furnishings of the hall could be seen at a glance. A large number of stone slabs with mysterious runes and magic curtains were arranged around the hall. In the other open spaces, there were bookshelves, planetary instruments, and miniature models of mage towers arranged in seemingly random but actually orderly positions. And on the highest platform in the center of the hall, there was a black iron coffin quietly placed.
"Ancestor, your descendant is here to visit you."
Victoria? Wilde said softly with a solemn expression. Then, as if she swallowed softly, she stepped toward the iron coffin.
She came to the front of the platform and saw the stone slab leaning against the iron coffin. On the stone slab, the ancestor of the Wilde family, Snow Wilde, was engraved. The last words of the Wilde family to this world:
"Old friends, I've lived longer than all of you. How boring."
It was probably hard for outsiders to imagine that the ancestor of the Wilde family, who only had a frosty and serious expression in all kinds of official portraits, would leave such a sentence at the last moment of his life. But Victoria was no longer surprised by this sentence.
She shifted her attention away from the stone slab and stared at the dark iron coffin in front of her. Her face showed a struggling and hesitating expression.
She hesitated for nearly ten minutes before she finally plucked up the courage to reach out her hand and gently knocked on the lid of the iron coffin.
The iron coffin did not respond.
After hesitating again, she reached out her hand again and gently knocked on the lid of the iron coffin. She quickly turned her head and looked around.
Of course, there was no one here. So the Duchess of the Northern Region took a breath and approached the iron coffin. "… Are you there?"
Three awkward minutes passed. Duchess Victoria could only hear her own breathing and heartbeat.
The Duchess' face seemed to be covered with a layer of frost. She quickly straightened up, took two steps back, and whispered to herself, "… Damn it, what a stupid thing I've done …"
She quickly left the tomb and the hall of the underground palace. When the maid Maggie saw her, the Guardian of the Northern Region had regained her cold, distant, noble, and steady appearance.
"Vicki, you've been in there for a long time."
"To confirm something," Victoria said lightly. "Let's go, Maggie. This time, I really want to go back to my room and rest."
"Okay."
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