Mage Manual
Chapter 534 - 434 Assassination of the Princess

Chapter 534: Chapter 434 Assassination of the Princess

The most highly weighted "Gospel List" astonishingly demands perfect, pure maidens!

Although Ash knew everyone adored beautiful maidens, even the Divine Lord was so superficial—it was just too much!

"Miss, let me see the maidens of past ’Gospel Lists’. I want to study the All-Knowing Weaver’s preferences in detail!"

"Can’t you spend points to look it up yourself?" Hanna touched her amethyst earring and said, "Besides, even if you could look them up, you wouldn’t see much—because the top Resonators from past generations have all been veiled maidens, with their features concealed."

"Ah? The All-Knowing Weaver hoards them all for himself?" Ash lowered his head to look at Liss and took out a twisted mask to place on her face, "Like this?"

"Where did this Demon King and little witch come from." Hanna said in annoyance, "Don’t even think about it. I’ve never thought of using Liss to deceive the ’Gospel List’. Not to mention Liss doesn’t fit the criteria, plus, as I said, the top name on the list is already decided before the Weaving Festival starts."

While Ash thought Liss was the cutest little girl, she was indeed far from ’innocent’ and ’kindness’ was also a bit out of reach. If she were to grow up, she’d surely be a beauty both beloved and resented for her skill in manipulating emotions—Ash always believed that Liss got her parents wrong. She should have recognized Aunt Bokin as her mother; that would have been a proper match.

Igula asked, "Then who is the predetermined top maiden of the Gospel List?"

"The next Empress Yisu."

Hanna scanned the crowd as she slowly said, "The top name of every ’Gospel List’ becomes the Empress Yisu for the next fifty years. The current Emperor residing in Imperial City Nabistin is the top maiden from the last ’Gospel List’."

"Since the founding of the Yisu dynasty, this tradition has had no exceptions, never changing."

Igula furrowed his brow, "Every single term?"

"Every single term."

"Has there never been an exceptional case? Is it possible someone else got on the list, but then the Yisu royal family claimed them as royal members before the list was announced—"

Hanna shook her head, "Believe me, when I first considered stealing the Divine Lord’s wish, my initial thought was to become number one on the ’Gospel List’. And it wasn’t just me—doesn’t everyone want the Divine Lord’s wish? Do you think the Belladett, Mercury, and Kesrei families haven’t thought of seizing it?"

"However, the fact is, the Yisu royal family has tightly held onto the top spot of the ’Gospel List’ for hundreds of years, never once slipping." She shrugged, "It is because of this list that I am so bold in leading you to commit a blasphemous gospel—the Yisu royal house has been desecrating the gospel for centuries!"

"How can every term of the royal family have the purest maiden in the whole gospel? The only explanation is that the Yisu royal family has mastered deceiving the gospel, stealing the biggest reward of the Weaving Festival!"

"Even if one were to nullify all the other lists, the ’Gospel List’ would remain valid—because no weaving is actually needed; the Yisu royal family has the answer prepared in advance!"

Ash felt Liss squirming restlessly in his arms. He rubbed the white hound’s head and asked, "But why does the Weaving Festival have such a strange list as the ’Gospel List’? A purest maiden, does she boost production, or fulfill the spiritual needs of the populace?"

If it were a one-off, no problem, but it’s strange for the list to be there every time, especially compared to other lists—"The Artistic List," fulfilling the needs for spiritual civilization; "The Family List," advising families on where to place their allegiances; "The Deceit List," predicting major incidents in the next fifty years...

The purest maiden, possessing neither achievements (regardless of good or bad) nor guiding societal life; occasional appreciation is fine, but surely that doesn’t necessitate a permanent place on the only ever-present list of the Weaving Festival?

Could it be that the All-Knowing Weaver is selecting a consort?

"The gospel has never replied to that point." Hanna said, "Currently, there are three main theories—the All-Knowning Weaver wants us to become innocent, pure, and kind, hence the list to encourage our imitation; the ’Gospel List’ is foundational to the other nine lists, changes to it would collapse the whole Weaving Festival, so the All-Knowing Weaver leaves it unchanged; the All-Knowing Weaver is female and likes women."

The first reason is easy to understand—the superior dictates tastes, but it’s clear that society’s customs cannot be guided by a single list, much less one accommodating only ten spots.

If the number of spots could be expanded to one hundred million, Ash might’ve indeed seen a Kingdom of Gospel filled with beautiful maidens.

The second is also very reasonable—it’s like a mountain of legacy code; you don’t know why it works, but if it does, don’t touch it.

"But why would they guess the All-Knowing Weaver is female?" Ash was perplexed, "Shouldn’t they guess it’s a man?"

Hanna asked, "If you were to design a list to choose women, would you place ’kindness and innocence’ as the highest criteria?"

"Er..." Ash pondered, "Hard to say, to me, many qualities of women are very important."

"And the most important?" Hanna asked.

"Embarrassed to say, but it would probably be figure."

"Embarrassed yet you answer so quickly!" Hanna quickly glanced at herself and huffed, "Superficial!"

"If it were me, I guess I would value her strength more," said Harvey.