Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 492 - 56 Corpse and Crown_1

Chapter 492: Chapter 56 Corpse and Crown_1

"What do you see?" The three of them leaned over to look at the mirror in Vivian’s hand, which shone brightly with the light emitted from the Tears of Light nestled in the puppet rat’s head.

The room reflected in the mirror was empty. It was filled with seawater, but this did not prevent them from discerning its purpose. It was a prayer room. The room had no windows and its walls were painted black. In the center stood a deity statuette, damaged by ocean erosion. According to Lina’s previous explanation, the damage to the statuette suggested that the associated god had fallen; its divine power could no longer influence the living world. The statue stood on a stone platform wide enough to allow a person to kneel before it and pray. A stone table was fixed in one corner of the room. Although the black cloth that had covered it was soaked and decayed, a metal box remained affixed to the table’s surface. The puppet rat scurried about the room several times, ensuring there was no presence of a Mare.

"Then we’ll open the door." Catherine, with her shield raised, pushed open the door with a one-handed sword.

"Just as I thought, no one here." The group filed into the room one by one. As soon as they entered, they were met with a surprising scene — a massive hole was in the wall near the ship’s hull. Since the room was located in the part of the ship buried in the sea bed, the hole did not lead to the outside sea. But nonetheless, the destruction was clear to see.

"This hole was made from the inside." Catherine approached the hole, examining the damaged edges of it. "The boards around the hole are twisted outward, indicating an inner-to-outer force. Likely, someone inside the ship realized it was sinking and attempted to breakout to fight the attackers. But such force is astonishing. To break the walls of the ship, one would need not only the power to shatter the hull but also counteract the external water pressure. But I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to do it."

"I could potentially create a powerful explosion with magic to achieve it," Vivian stated. "But in doing so, this wall and likely half of the ship would be obliterated, not just a singular large hole."

"Perhaps he broke the wall before the ship sank," Lina conjectured, "maybe he detected the Sea Race’s attack in advance and broke out first."

"He must have had a significant grudge against his colleagues then," Pannis bantered. "If he really did that, it wouldn’t be the Sea Race’s attack that sank the ship, but him."

Lina paused, glaring at Pannis with a disapproving grimace, but she didn’t say anything in response.

The room was empty. The statue was so damaged that they couldn’t make out its form, and the hole wasn’t much to look at either. Soon, everyone’s attention was drawn to the small metallic box affixed to the table in the corner. The box was slightly bigger than a book in volume, with a rhombus-shaped emblem etched on the surface. Within the emblem was a silhouette resembling a Mare, possibly symbolizing the Marish Church. The box was made of Magicsteel, having remained rust-free and smooth after thousands of years immersed in the sea. Upon opening the lid, the box was filled with seawater. A script made from sheepskin lay within, its original writings already washed away by the water, yet the sheepskin remained. Small items filled the gaps between the script and the box. These artifacts may have contained divine power and were sacred items, but now, they were just damaged remnants.

"This might have been a scripture." Lina spread her hands open and a silver scripture from her waist floated onto her palm. It was unsullied by the sea water. Flipping through the scripture casually, Lina said, "Just like my Earth’s Praise, this used to be a holy scripture, blessed and even written by a deity. But now with the deity’s fall, it has turned into an ordinary script. The owner must have been a chief, chief preacher, or even Archbishop in the Marish Church as only they would have the privilege to possess a sacred scripture. What are you looking at me for? I’m an exception."

The others chuckled but did not delve further into the matter. "For a church, this must be a very important item," Catherine noted as she held the now-blank scripture.

"Definitely," Lina answered without hesitation. "Every believer would protect sacraments even at the cost of their lives. Not only is it a symbol of the church’s honor, it is also a weapon in the hands of priests."

"But why was it left behind?" Catherine asked. "Something as important as this, a weapon, shouldn’t it be carried at all times? Like you."

"No, if I were him, I wouldn’t take it with me in a rush to face an enemy," Lina shook her head. "If our previous speculation is correct, Demos was already in deep slumber when the incident occurred, responding to the believer’s divine power had already become very weak. The sacred scriptures must have lost the blessings of divine power and thus their combat power. They were no different from any ordinary scriptures. Bringing it into battle then wouldn’t only render it useless as a weapon but it could also run the risk of being destroyed. Therefore, it would make sense to leave it in the cabin and retrieve it after the battle."

"And then, he never returned to collect it." Catherine displayed a wry smile, unsure how to regard this memory of the fallen. She ultimately decided to bestow a complicated smile as the final tribute.

"That appears to be the case. None of them managed to come back for their possessions," Pannis shrugged. "What one desires often requires a corresponding sacrifice."

"In some people’s eyes, they sacrificed everything for their faith and were righteous heroes," Freya sighed. "But in the eyes of others, they may just be a bunch of devils that deserved to die a thousand deaths. But what was the end result? Were they heroes or devils? Thousands of years have passed and they are nothing more than a few white bones at the bottom of the ocean, a few lines of text recorded in history. Just like a beach flooded by the tide, leaving no traces..."

Vivian raised her hand, a gust of wind exploded not far in front of Freya, causing the seawater to churn violently. This blocked the spread of water ripples and interrupted Freya’s long sigh, "Alright, alright, since there’s nothing to see here, let’s move on to the next room as soon as possible. The sooner we complete the task, the sooner we can go home. I still need to study the usage of the Mermaid’s Tear."

Freya, with a surprised look on her face, was obviously unaccustomed to this unique method of interruption underwater, but she controlled the mouse puppet to move towards the second cabin. The second cabin was even more spacious than the first, but it was also more monotonous. At least the first room had a bed, an altar, and a preaching desk. The second room, apart from the bed, had nothing. However, in the corner of the room next to the bed, there were a few exquisitely-made pieces of armor piled up. The material connecting the armor had rotten in the water, causing the once rigid armor to scatter all over the ground.

"This must have been the room of the church’s chief guard or the country’s general," Lina explained, "But in most Theocracies, these two positions are held by the same person. However, there’s nothing noteworthy here. This position wouldn’t be privy to many core secrets and wouldn’t have the opportunity to possess any sensitive items."

"There are no holes in the walls here," Vivian noted, "And there are also no bodies in the room."

"It’s very possible that he wasn’t in his room when the incident occurred," Catherine posited, "That wouldn’t be unusual."

"Yes, it does make sense," Lina concurred, "The chief guard is responsible for the Archbishop’s safety and would often be by their side. So, they wouldn’t spend much time in their own room."

"If there’s nothing noteworthy here, let’s move on," Catherine said, "The next room is the last one on this side."

They didn’t even enter the second room and decided to skip it to examine the third one. This time, Freya didn’t make the mouse puppet exit the room, instead, she had it burrow a hole in the decaying wall to get into the third cabin. The sight of the third cabin startled everyone - the ceiling wasn’t visible as it was filled with floating debris. Various crystal vases and bowls floated on the ceiling, a multitude of small metal tools scattered on the floor, and there were lots of unidentified patterns stuck on the walls, surprisingly still undamaged after all this time.

From the appearance of this room, everyone knew who it belonged to without the need for Lina’s explanation. Freya nudged Vivian, "Dum-dum, one of your peers."

"As if you aren’t a mage yourself," Vivian rolled her eyes, "Isn’t it also your peer?"

"This must have been the Court Mage, I suppose," Catherine suggested, "Or in terms of the church’s hierarchy, it should be..."

"The Pontifex of the Gods," Lina filled in, "Also known as the Chief Mage of the Mage Council."

"This room is worth inspecting, I suppose?" Catherine voiced, "A person of this rank should know quite a lot of core secrets."

"I suggest we save this place for last," Vivian adamantly shook her head, "Just think about my own lab at home. What would happen if outsiders got in?"

Catherine’s eyes twitched at the thought of Vivian’s ultimate defense - an array capable of destroying half of her mansion. She could only shake her head wryly and murmur, "After thousands of years, would the traps here have already lost their effectiveness? Alright, I understand you now. A disabled trap could be more dangerous, correct?"

"Yes, because no one knows if these traps have completely degraded or become uncontrollable," Vivian said, "Even if they have degraded, we can’t ascertain if they’ve completely failed or just partially failed. If we accidentally trigger a trap, well, other things aside, this ship would definitely not survive. That’s why I suggest we inspect this place last."

"Stop speculating," When the others were still discussing whether or not to enter the cabin, Freya had already moved the puppet into the fourth room, which was the largest room directly facing the hall and staircase. Upon entering the room, they saw a corpse on the floor, missing everything below its pelvis, tightly holding onto a white crown that looked like it was made out of fish bones. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)