Heritage
They inquired from the adult attendants and only then did they learn that the person who had publicly returned Nero's scepter on the temple square today was Amun. They couldn't help but take a cold breath. Amun is now an honored guest of the city-state, and if he were to tell Lord Dick about what happened in front of the mansion gate, they would be kicked out, they were so afraid that they trembled with fear, wanting to apologize and beg for mercy privately, unfortunately, there was no opportunity for the time being.
Fortunately, the things that several gatekeepers were worried about did not happen. It seems that Armon didn't mention the encounter at the time of visiting Lord Dick. Instead, the second housekeeper in charge of guarding the gate heard about this and privately scolded the few gatekeepers who were on duty at the time - a great opportunity was missed!
Amon entered the castle, and Lord Dick arranged a separate courtyard for him. The food, clothing, and everything else were luxurious beyond what Amon had ever seen before. For the first time in his life, he was enjoying such luxury. However, he didn't see Lord Dick again for several days, as the lord was busy with official duties.
Lord Dick did not restrict Armon's freedom of action, except for the inner house, he could come and go as he pleased. It was just that every time he went out, the butler would send a carriage and guards to follow him, which was both protection and surveillance, and it was not possible to let Armon leave yet. When going to the store to buy things, Armon didn't need to pay either, he could just take what he wanted, and someone else would keep track of the accounts and pay the bills.
After Amun bought a few fun little things and discovered this, he very consciously didn't buy anything else. Anyway, living in the castle, nothing was lacking. In this strange foreign land, he received two gifts in a row.
The first gift was given by several gatekeepers when they went out, with their own specialty snacks and fine wine bought from the store. They were apologizing and asking Amun not to report them. Amun didn't want anything from these people, but he still smiled and accepted it, because he could sense the hearts of these few people, not accepting the gift would make them anxious, while accepting it would make them feel relieved and grateful.
The second gift was brought by Tashtan-Lingdon, the middle-aged nephew of Nero. The nobleman personally visited and expressed gratitude on behalf of the Lingdon family, and apologized for not having received Amun in person over the past few days. He brought simple yet practical gifts: 100 gold coins, two fine horses, a luxurious carriage that could be used by commoners after removing the noble decorations, several sets of clothes, and two young and beautiful female slaves.
The clothes are great, the outerwear, underwear, belt, pocket, and boots are all in a set. There is no luxurious clothing of the nobility, but it is very comfortable and durable, suitable for travelers to wear. Looking at the dense stitches and exquisite tailoring, ordinary shops can't buy them at all. Except for the female slave, Ahmon took everything else, expressing his gratitude with great joy.
Amon was not clear about what happened in the temple that day, Obama had unreasonable hostility towards him, and Hillary even wanted to imprison him for interrogation. This Tashin person is a sensible person, sending gifts to the lord's mansion, letting everyone see it. It also represents the respect and sincerity of the Lington family, although it was his personal behavior, but saved the face of the whole family.
Amon hadn't seen Lord Dick for several days, and he asked his attendants what the lord was busy with. He found out that Julian, an 8th-level great magician from Dreamflight, had come to visit.
He unexpectedly met another "acquaintance" here, the great wizard Amun naturally didn't know him, but Julian was an old friend of Bell's. In the old madman's will, there was a list that told Amun which people to seek help from if he encountered any trouble while traveling the continent, and these people had all received favors from Nietzsche or Bell. The old madman's token had also been Bell's token, and Julian was on that list.
More than thirty years ago, Julian was a sixth-level divine spellcaster in charge of managing the archives of the Isis Temple. Bell often consulted various books and materials, so he became familiar with Julian and also received some help from him, and their relationship was very good. From a sixth-level divine spellcaster to a seventh-level grand divine spellcaster is an extremely difficult threshold to cross in divine cultivation, Julian had received many pointers from Bell, which was a rare kindness.
Later, when Bell committed a crime and left the Ishtar Temple with Onions, the first person to notice was Julian. However, he did not stop him or sound the alarm at the time, possibly because he had received favors from Bell before, or knew that he could not stop Bell. At that time, there were three teams chasing after Bell, one of which should have been led by Julian from Miflys, but Julian made an excuse and didn't go, replaced by a high priest of the Miflys Temple to lead the team, heading to the port city-state to meet up with Nero to chase after Bell.
Here is the translation:
The Isis Temple needs to be introduced, like other city-state temples, it also has three high priests in charge of various affairs, but the main deity is the Holy Maiden, who is above all else in the entire Aegyptus Empire. Due to the Isis Temple's dominance over the temples of various city-states in Aegyptus, the position of High Priest is very high, and they can sit on an equal footing with the City Lords of each city-state. However, there are only three positions for High Priests, and Beru, who was a great divine magician back then, was initially just an honorary High Priest without real power. It wasn't until he became an elder of the Aegyptus Divine Magic Academy that Beru gained a very high position.
It's said that one radish, one hole, is because the original high priest went missing while chasing after Bell, leaving a vacant position. Julian, who later became the High God Artisan, smoothly took over as the new high priest of Ishtar Familia. In a sense, Bell indirectly helped Julian out.
The old madman's message mentioned Julian, but at the same time reminded Amun that after so many years have passed, people's hearts are unknown. If something troublesome really happens and you want to find someone to help, be sure to clarify the situation first.
Amon didn't have anything he needed Julian's help with for the time being, but was very interested in this great magician and wanted to see firsthand how he would retrieve Nero's artifact from the spatial ring. So he waited patiently. He wasn't in a hurry, but the nephews of the Lington family were getting anxious these past few days.
Julian arrived in Cape City, and Roddick didn't mention Nero's affairs at the beginning, but instead gave a grand welcome and warm hospitality. Julian visited various temples under the city-state, actually just going through the motions, receiving enthusiastic receptions and generous gifts that had been prepared by each temple. Each place has its own characteristics, and many of the treats were unprecedented indulgences in Dreamflight City. This tour was also a rare pleasure trip, and Lord Julian felt very pleased.
Lord Dick was too enthusiastic, and he actually followed all the way to accompany him, giving Julian the highest courtesy. He didn't return home for several days, putting aside other affairs in the city-state temporarily. However, while accompanying Julian on an outing inspection tour, Lord Dick received a secret letter from his envoy stationed in Meng Fei Si City, explaining the background of Julian's inspection this time and the oral message conveyed by Saint Girl - Maria also asked Lord Dick to find a way to keep Julian in Hai Jiao City-State!
The reason is a bit complicated, but after more than 30 years, the Isis Temple finally has a new Holy Maiden. Most people are happy about it, but there are also a few who are dissatisfied, first and foremost being the lord of the city of Dong'erjitu, Meng Feisi City. If there was no Holy Maiden, everything in Meng Feisi City would be decided by the lord himself, but with the arrival of the Holy Maiden, all major affairs have to be consulted with her, greatly weakening the lord's personal power.
Additionally, there may be dissatisfaction with the three high priests of the Isis temple, for the same reason. Without the holy maiden, all the actual power of the Isis temple will continue to be controlled by the three of them, and they can also dominate the temples of various city-states under Lower Egypt, Julian is also one of the three powerful high priests.
This situation also presents a real contradiction, if the Isis temple has been without a holy maiden for a long time, the authoritative position of governing Lower Egypt would gradually be weakened and shaken. Therefore, this situation cannot continue in the long term, and a new holy maiden must be selected.
But the three high priests did not want their actual power to be weakened, so they hoped that the new Holy Maiden would only be a symbolic figurehead, and everything else would continue to be managed by them. Maria was young and inexperienced, and in her first year as the Holy Maiden, she devoted herself to practicing divine magic and familiarizing herself with various situations in the Temple of Isis, so there were no conflicts.
But in her position and plotting, Maria couldn't forever be just a nominal saint who didn't ask about anything, nor could she forever be treated as a puppet. She was also exceptionally intelligent, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to grasp the "power granted by God" in such a short time in Dukedom Town.
Recently, Maria has gradually begun to take control of some temple affairs and changing the old habits of thirty years is a top priority. Coincidentally, Lord Dick repeatedly sent people to apply, hoping to have a great god wizard guard the Cape City State. Maria took this as an opportunity to send Julian, one of the three high priests with the heaviest heart of greed, to inspect the Cape City State.
Inspecting the city-state was a pleasant task, and Julian came with high spirits. However, in the confidential report received by Roddick, it was mentioned that in a few days, another order would be issued to Julian, instructing him to stay in Haicheng City-State for a year to oversee the affairs of the Border Temple. The order also criticized Roddick, pointing out his mistakes and omissions in handling temple affairs since taking office as the city lord, and demanded that he humbly accept Julian's guidance and supervision.
The Lady's command rebuked Rodrik, but the castellan secretly delighted in it. He first sent Julian to Cape City, then issued another order for him to stay behind, depriving the high priest of an opportunity to openly oppose her. The Lady's decree was ostensibly mandatory, and this move, though not very clever, proved effective.
There was a year's time for Maria to appoint new candidates to familiarize themselves with the things Julian previously managed, and even if Julian returned afterwards, everything would have returned to normal. Roddick also had a year's time to let Julian get used to and adapt to Cape City, finding various opportunities to ask him to stay formally.
It's possible that in a year, Maria will be able to take control of the situation and issue a formal order, directly appointing Julian as the High Priest of Cape City-State, and then selecting trusted personnel to fill the vacant position of Grand Priest. Rod-Dick, who received the secret letter, was no longer anxious, but instead accompanied Julian on a happy trip to play in the mountains and rivers.
They made a tour of inspection around the city-state's territory and returned to the main castle of Cape Haven a few days later. Roddick was about to mention the matter of Nero's relics, but Julian himself spoke up first: "Lord City Master, I've heard from the priests over the past few days that thirty years ago, the best scroll maker in all of Eridu, Nero, was once the chief priest here. Just a few days ago, a stranger publicly returned Nero's staff and relics. Why didn't you mention this to me?"
Rod Dick applauded and said, "I was just about to say that the main god's staff, which had been lost for over thirty years, returned to the city-state on the day before Julian-sama arrived. It's as if it was welcoming you, sir! This is a sign of the divine favor bestowed upon Julian-sama."
Julian didn't catch the implication in Roderick's words, but he was pleased with the conversation and laughed happily: "I've heard that not only is there a staff, but Nero also left behind some kind of artifact. I'm curious to know what it is."
Rodick smiled and said, "I was just thinking of finding an opportunity to ask for your help, but you've been busy with official duties these past few days, so I didn't dare open my mouth. To be honest, our country of Cape City doesn't have a single great divine magician, none of us can open that spatial ring and take out the will and inheritance, so we'll have to trouble you again."
Julian chuckled and waved his hand: "What's the trouble, it's just a small matter, I'm happy to help. Where is that space ring? Bring it here now."
Rod Dick leaned in and whispered: "Don't be in a hurry, sir. There's something else I want to tell you privately..." He whispered a few words into Julian's ear.
Julian replied in surprise: "Oh, is that so? Then bring the staff quickly, we're going to the secret chamber of the temple."
In the secret chamber of the temple, Julian held the staff and read Nero's last words. His face was solemn for a long time without speaking, neither did Roddick speak. Half a day passed before Julian once again activated the Earth's Pupil, listening to this final message from start to finish. Then the information in the Earth's Pupil gradually weakened until it disappeared and became inaudible, already erased by this great divine master without a sound.
Julian said solemnly to Roddick, "Nero's last words involve many secrets and must not be leaked. Who knows who has read this message?"
Rhodopis-Dick bowed and replied: "It's all about the people involved, and they're trustworthy. For Nero himself, for the city-state, for the temple of Isis, and for the honor and prestige of the entire Aegyptus Empire, I have strictly ordered everyone not to leak it out. Otherwise, they will be severely punished. Now that this information has been erased, even if someone mentions it, it will absolutely not be acknowledged."
Julian asked again: "What about that outsider who returned the staff? What does he know? We must be careful with this person."
Rodick explained: "He only saw the note left by Lord Nero in the cave and didn't mention those unpleasant past events. Now this person is living in my mansion, under surveillance at all times." After some thought, he added with great unease: "This person's return of the staff and artifacts has been seen by the people of the city-state as a symbol of divine favor and blessing, coincidentally just before your arrival, Lord. This also symbolizes your glory, we can't be rude to this person, we must show due gratitude."
Julian smiled and shook his head: "Lord Dick is overthinking, I just want to see this person and praise his noble and selfless character in person."
"Tomorrow you can see him then. He will also be present when the remains are taken out and the will is read."
That night, Roddick returned to the mansion for the first time in several days. Julian, who was staying in the room that originally belonged to the High Priest of the Temple, couldn't sleep. Roddick wasn't aware that this great divine magician had his own worries and desires, and that young man named Amun from a foreign land should be the only person in the world who saw the last remains of Nero. He thought that the secret events of more than 30 years ago would not be discovered by anyone else, Julian didn't know how many texts Nero left behind, or if he mentioned what happened between him and Bell back then - this was what Julian worried about most.
On the other hand, Nero said in his message that Bell had told him that even mortals could become gods. This sounds unbelievable yet has to be believed. What kind of temptation could make a 9th-level great magician leave the temple and become an enemy of the entire empire? And the saintly girl Onion actually followed him!
It's possible that Bell really knew something, and Nero was the one who went missing while chasing after Bell, making him the last person to see Bell, so he might also know something. The message from the staff didn't mention anything related, if there really is such content, it's probably in his mountain cave will, and even if that young outsider saw it, he wouldn't say a word - no one would!
The next day, Armon arrived at the temple of Cape City in the carriage of the city lord. In a grand and solemn hall in the back hall, everyone had arrived. Lord Julian sat in the middle, with a ring on the round table in front of him. The high priest of the temple, the officials of various departments, the nine nephews of the Lington family, Armon, and others were all seated around the table, while Roddick sat beside Lord Julian as a witness.
In front of a level 8 great magician, Amun didn't dare to use the detection spell to probe into it easily, but instead stared at the space ring with his eyes fixed. The result was slightly disappointing, and there was no remarkable new discovery. Julian simply picked up the ring, closed his eyes, and lightly shook his hand to take out everything inside. This was similar to Amun taking things out of bones; he took out all the contents of the ring at once.
Amon sensed that the great divine magician was using advanced spatial magic, with very powerful magical powers. It seems that Nero's space ring is far less valuable than Amon's bone, and that rib bone can even be used by a third-level magician who has just mastered spatial magic.
Things were taken out of the spatial ring, and with a rustling sound, they instantly filled half of the table. Everyone let out a suppressed gasp of amazement, and most people's eyes widened as they held their breath. Nero's legacy consisted of only two types of things: various scrolls and a pile of scattered divine stones. At a glance, there were over 70 scrolls, with nearly half being high-level divine technique scrolls, while the divine stones numbered in the hundreds, including four Azure Water Heart and two Flame Spirit.
What a staggering wealth! The special divine stone was expensive enough, and the value of the scroll far exceeded that of the divine stone. Julian, as a great god wizard, naturally knew this in his heart, and was so surprised that he almost jumped up. And Hillary Lingdon's hand covered her chest, almost fainting, her eyes fixed on those few azure water hearts and flame spirits.
It was Roddick who remained calm, lightly clearing his throat as he reached out to take a parchment that had been tucked between the scrolls and the divine stones. He unrolled it, took a glance, and said, "This is Emperor Nero's will, which states 'to be publicly read and attested by Lord Dick, the City Master.' It must be referring to my father. I didn't expect us to see this after all these years; thank you for entrusting us with this, Your Majesty. I'll read it out loud today."
Nero's will was simple, dividing all the scrolls into five parts: two were left to the temple of Cape City, which was his contribution as the chief priest; two were left to the heirs of the family, hoping that the Lington family would have excellent divine masters to inherit his career; and the last one was given to the person who returned the relics, which was a thank you for their selfless noble character. The sacred stone was divided into three parts, two were left to the Lington family, and one was left to the person who returned the relics.
Nero's reward was indeed generous, but from another perspective, it was also necessary. If the person who received the legacy did not return them, they could keep everything for themselves. The will also mentioned one more thing, hoping that the current high priest of Cape City would allow the person returning the staff to check his private records and specify which article and paragraph, presumably to explain the purpose of the unnamed gray scroll.
This is the heart of Nero's will, he said in his will that the gray scroll was more precious than the scepter and ring combined, but only after returning the relics could it be known how to use the scroll, that is, worrying that the person who got the relic would not return.
The will was read, and then Roddick handed the parchment to each person present, allowing everyone to pass it around and take a look. However, Amun didn't even glance at it, as he had previously stated that he couldn't read Egyptian hieroglyphs. Obama-Linton lamented in his heart, feeling that the distribution of the will was unfair. Amun, this unfamiliar, lowly outsider, received more than each of Nero's nephews.
However, in front of everyone, he couldn't very well object, so "inspiration struck" and he pointed to the divine stones: "I'm not very clear about the value of the scrolls, but I am clear about the number of divine stones. There are a total of 103 here. If we divide them into three portions, each portion will have 34 with one left over. Amun, you can take away 35 divine stones, just leave the blue and red ones behind."
Rodick raised an eyebrow and swept a glance at him, with a hint of disdainful cold smile. Taslin spoke up, "My cousin, don't you feel ashamed speaking like that? The value of special divine stones and ordinary divine stones are completely different, every esteemed guest here knows it in their heart. Since Uncle's will has let Lord Dick be the witness, he should also be the one to arbitrate how to distribute them."
Rod Dick didn't waste any words, he wouldn't personally go to count it himself, and instead had the secretary, Fayol Judah, stand up on the spot to calculate the total value of the divine stones. The values of different special divine stones were also different, with the most valuable being the Wind Dancer, which could be used to manufacture spatial objects and was extremely rare, making its value astonishingly high, worth 500 ordinary divine stones. Next was the Earth's Pupil, worth 300 ordinary divine stones. As for the Fire Spirit and Azure Water Heart from Nero's relics, their values were equivalent to 200 ordinary divine stones each.
There are 97 ordinary divine stones, 4 azure water hearts, and 2 flame spirits, totaling 1297 divine stones. Divided into three portions, each portion would be 432 ordinary divine stones with one extra stone left over. After the clerk finished settling the accounts, Lord Dick asked Armon first: "Generous stranger, how do you want to take this reward?"
Amon was also stunned, not expecting Nero's relics to be so valuable. He mainly valued the scrolls, but didn't want to reveal it, and only replied after hearing the city lord's question: "These colored divine stones are so expensive, I don't want too many either. Taking one red and one blue is enough, it's also convenient to carry on me. The change can be ignored, thank you to the servants of the city lord's mansion, please ask Dick to pass it on, thanks for taking good care of me these days."
Armon did things neatly and beautifully, he only asked for a dark blue aquamarine and a flame spirit, the reason was also very reasonable - it's convenient to carry on his body. No matter who, carrying more than 400 divine stones on the road would not be easy, if converted into gold coins, one person can't even hold them, they need to be pulled by a horse cart! Armon generously gave all the remaining 32 divine stones to the servants in the city lord's mansion, which also made Rod Dick very satisfied.
Amun gathered all the servants in the city lord's mansion, and no one else dared to speak out against it. Tasdon-Lington also spoke up voluntarily: "Our Lington family should also take out two shares of the spoils, a total of 64 divine stones, for the city lord to reward his attendants and servants as a thank you for witnessing the will. The remaining 801 divine stones can be evenly divided into nine shares, with each of us taking 89."
Several of Nero's nephews glared at Taschen, but no one openly expressed opposition. The divine stone was thus divided, and the next step was to allocate the scrolls. Roderick humbly said to Julian: "Noble sir, you are a great magician who knows the use and value of the scrolls best. I don't have the ability to distinguish them so clearly, so please let you be the arbitrator."
Julian looked at the scrolls, a hint of longing in his eyes, and said with a bitter smile: "The value of the scrolls is not as clear-cut as that of the divine stones. Sometimes, no matter how much money you spend, you can't buy them. In different situations and in the hands of different people, their meaning is completely different. Since it's hard to calculate clearly, I think we should use the simplest method. There are 36 high-level scrolls and 38 mid-level scrolls here. Let's divide them into five shares according to quantity. The City Lord will represent the Sea Cliff Temple and take the first two shares, the Lington family will take the next two shares, and the outsider Amun will take the remaining share. As for the extra, it's up to the City Lord to decide how to deal with it."
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