Hildas glared at Anbaixiu. It was this lich who had backed him completely into a corner.
Looking at the bewildered Arthur Ryan, Hildas could only let out a heavy sigh.
He stepped into the room, sat down across from Arthur Ryan, and spoke in a sorrowful voice. "Originally, I never wanted to tell you this, because none of it had anything to do with you. You have already sacrificed far too much for this world. Your heroic spirit should not have to shoulder these tragic memories of the past, nor would doing so be of any help to the future.
"Yet now that this lich has deduced the truth this far, I will tell you what truly happened back then. All of this is tied to that Demonic Dragon Tyrant."
At this moment, Anbaixiu chimed in, "Is it because of the Dragon Blood Curse?"
Hildas glanced at Anbaixiu and said, "It seems your study of history is indeed profound—far beyond what I had expected."
Anbaixiu said with pride, "Of course. I'm not just ordinary in my erudition."
The corner of Hildas's mouth twitched. This lich did not possess an ounce of modesty.
Not wishing to listen to Anbaixiu boast any further, the old Elven King cut straight to the point.
"Arthur, you are the most upright and selfless man I have ever known. The nation you founded was the same—it was meant to be the most radiant realm in this world. But alas, during your final battle with the Demonic Dragon, you were struck by the Dragon Blood Curse. The Demonic Dragon's bloodline bound itself inextricably to yours, and fragments of its soul even hid within your own."
Hildas's explanation drew an outcry from James Watson. "Impossible! How could His Majesty ever be corrupted by the Demonic Dragon? He never committed a single tyrannical act!"
Hildas sighed with emotion. "That is precisely why I admire him. Originally, the Demonic Dragon's bloodline and soul were concealed so deeply within Arthur's body and soul that even he himself did not notice. Not until Ryan was founded and the Cult of the Dragon was purged—by then, Arthur was already in his sixties. To set an example for future generations, he adamantly refused to use potions to prolong his life. Compounded by old wounds from the first half of his life, he had grown exceedingly frail. It was right then that he discovered the Dragon Blood Curse had begun to take effect.
"The Demonic Dragon's bloodline was consuming his body, and its soul fragments were corrupting his consciousness. By the time he came to me for help, he was on the verge of collapse. He had fought this curse alone for far too many years, and he was already near death."
Anbaixiu interrupted again. "The Lord of the Dawn didn't intervene?"
This time, Arthur Ryan himself spoke up to explain: "Knowing my nature, I wouldn't have asked the Lord of the Dawn for help."
Anbaixiu asked in surprise, "Why?"
Arthur Ryan explained, "I revere the Lord of the Dawn solely because the path I sought to walk aligned with his teachings, but I have never begged him for anything. If overcoming the Demonic Dragon Tyrant required the charity of a deity, could another god not have stepped in to aid the Demonic Dragon Tyrant as well? The dragon race possesses more than one deity—in that regard, dragons held an even greater advantage.
"Thus, during our struggle against the Demonic Dragon Tyrant, not a single deity intervened. And it was precisely because of this that we managed to deceive the Demonic Dragon Tyrant and steal his artifact."
Anbaixiu understood. It was a tacit understanding between deities: neither side would interfere, leaving the outcome to the abilities of their mortal followers. Otherwise, with one side granting blessings and the other bestowing divine artifacts, the escalation of the conflict might well have brought total ruin upon the entire continent.
"Even after victory was decided, the Lord of the Dawn still couldn't intervene?" Anbaixiu asked.
The old Elven King shook his head. "In truth, victory had not yet been decided back then. If the Demonic Dragon Tyrant had successfully taken control of Arthur, it would have been a victory for the dragon race. He would have had a hundred ways to destroy the newly founded Ryan and the other kingdoms, restoring dragons to their rule."
Now Anbaixiu understood. What an insidious beast—to find a way to turn the tables even like this.
Anbaixiu followed up, "So Arthur Ryan disappeared at the age of eighty because he could no longer suppress the Demonic Dragon's consciousness. To prevent the tyrant from having its way, he chose to abdicate and vanish."
"How do you know this in such detail?" Hildas asked.
"I research history deeply."
James Watson could hold back no longer and pressed, "You say His Majesty was controlled by the Demonic Dragon, but how did he return later? Historical chronicles record that His Majesty traveled across the continent, returned to the empire only when he was a hundred years old, and spent his remaining years in peace in the imperial capital."
"He returned because Arthur lost," Hildas said, his expression fraught with agony. "The one who returned was not Arthur, but the Demonic Dragon. It had already seized control of Arthur's body."
Anbaixiu interrupted, "Wait, that's not right! If the Demonic Dragon took control of Arthur Ryan, why would he still die? A single sip of the Potion of Youth would have prolonged his life!"
"Indeed, that was precisely what the Demonic Dragon planned to do. However, before Arthur departed, he told me that if all went well, he would die in an unknown place, rotting away completely along with the Demonic Dragon. If he ever returned to Ryan, it would mean he had lost—and I was his final contingency..."
By this point, tears were streaming down Hildas's aged face.
Anbaixiu guessed the cruel truth. "You killed Arthur Ryan. No—you killed Arthur Ryan while he was controlled by the Demonic Dragon."
James Watson shot to his feet in fury, his voice shaking. "Is what this lich says true? You were the one who killed His Majesty?!"
His face flushed red, Hildas roared back, "I killed him! That was the final wish of my dearest friend's life, and I had no choice but to fulfill it! But I didn't know—I couldn't be certain whether the one who returned was Arthur or the Demonic Dragon! I had no other choice back then! I had to kill him!"
The decrepit Arthur Ryan had possessed no power to resist. Even in that final moment, the Demonic Dragon had desperately acted as Arthur Ryan, begging Hildas to spare his life.
For all these years, Hildas had often asked himself whether he had made a mistake. Perhaps Arthur had truly won and had simply changed his mind and returned. Could he have mistakenly slain his friend with his own hands?
This doubt had gradually turned into shackles, aging him far faster than any other elf. Many elves of his age looked to be in their forties or fifties, yet Hildas's face was deeply lined with wrinkles, as though he might die at any moment. Outsiders assumed the Elven King was simply burdened by affairs of state, sapping his vitality, completely unaware of the secret festering in his heart.
Arthur Ryan's heroic spirit looked at the distraught old elf and patted his shoulder. "Hildas, do not blame yourself. You did the right thing. I have never broken a promise I made. That Arthur who suddenly returned was definitely an impostor."
Hearing Arthur Ryan's words, the white-haired old elf wept like a child. For more than a thousand years he had carried the guilt of slaying his dearest friend; never had he imagined he would live to hear Arthur forgive him.
Anbaixiu strongly agreed with the heroic spirit's assessment. This spirit had guarded the artifact for over a millennium, and when Anbaixiu discovered him, his resolve had not wavered in the slightest.
If the spirit was such, the living man would naturally have been no different.
Arthur Ryan truly was worthy of the title of hero.
Previously, Anbaixiu had only thought the man impressive, but the more he learned, the more he admired him. It wasn't just strength; more importantly, his willpower and spirit of sacrifice had surpassed that of almost all mortal men.
Once Hildas had finally calmed down, Anbaixiu continued, "I still have three questions. First: why did Arthur Ryan go into hiding instead of coming to the Silvermoon High Court to seek your help?"
Without waiting for Hildas to answer, the heroic spirit explained, "If it were me, the reason is simple. I feared that if I spent too long around Hildas, he might fail to notice when I changed. After all, the Demonic Dragon would also be observing Hildas during that time, making its performance all the more flawless in the end.
"Therefore, an inviolable pact was the best proof. An Arthur Ryan who broke the pact was guaranteed to be false."
Anbaixiu couldn't help but admire him. That truly was ruthless beyond measure.
"Second question," Anbaixiu followed up. "After Arthur Ryan died, why wasn't this secret made public?"
Having recovered his composure by now, Hildas explained in a hoarse voice, "Because it would have sparked an all-out continental war. Too few people knew of the Dragon Blood Curse, and my slaying of Arthur was based solely on a pact known only to the two of us.
"The people of Ryan might not have believed it. Once suspicion took root, it would have led to utter chaos and war. Furthermore, if this secret became public knowledge and everyone believed it, Arthur's bloodline would have been utterly extinguished. No one would take the risk of letting the Demonic Dragon's bloodline persist in the world, meaning Arthur's descendants would all have been slaughtered."
Anbaixiu asked quizzically, "Then weren't you afraid the Demonic Dragon's bloodline truly would be passed down?"
Hildas said, "Bloodline is bloodline, and soul is soul. Countless living beings in this world carry dragon blood within them; how many of them have turned into the Demonic Dragon Tyrant? To snuff out Arthur's lineage over such a minuscule probability—we could not treat a hero like that."
Anbaixiu chuckled softly and said, "As it turns out, you were wrong. The dragon bloodline is currently corroding Ryan's imperial family, turning them into new tyrants."
Hildas fell silent. He could not refute it.
"Hahaha! I wondered before why the Lord of the Dawn would stand by and watch Ryan deteriorate into this state when even a single divine oracle could have course-corrected things somewhat. Now I understand: that war has continued to this very day! Over these past thousand-odd years, the Demonic Dragon has been using its bloodline to vie for control of the Ryan imperial clan.
"The war has not yet ended, so the Lord of the Dawn still cannot intervene directly. He can only use indirect means to influence the outcome. No wonder Ryan hasn't collapsed all these years—the paladins and clerics who advance through the ranks are all righteous people, so the corruption in Ryan is confined to the imperial house, rather than the core pillars of the empire.
"The Lord of the Dawn is using this method to sustain Ryan's stability. It all makes sense now."
Anbaixiu had finally unraveled the greatest mystery. It turned out the wager among the gods had carried on to this day without a victor.
Could the impending cataclysm of the world also be connected to this wager?
Was a drastic change about to occur in the wager, or was it that... the wager was coming to an end?
Anbaixiu's deductions took everyone by surprise. A war against the Demonic Dragon Tyrant, continuing for over a thousand years without ending?
Hildas said with a spark of excitement, "Seen this way, the Lord of the Dawn's methods have been rather effective."
Anbaixiu retorted, "What good is mere containment? The Demonic Dragon is winning this war. It has polluted Ryan with extreme ideologies, and the empire is now just a single step away from total collapse."
Hildas concurred with Anbaixiu's assessment. Ryan was indeed in grave peril, as if it could crumble completely at any moment.
"You said you had three questions. What is the last one?" Hildas asked.
"Oh, I just realized the answer to that one," Anbaixiu said. "I originally meant to ask: in that story, the demons fighting over the Holy King's corpse surely had a double meaning, right? The first was the Demonic Dragon's bloodline vying for control of Arthur Ryan's body; the second referred to the Dragon Tyrant Armament crafted from the Demonic Dragon's corpse, didn't it?"
Hildas nodded and said to Anbaixiu, "Indeed. If the Demonic Dragon wishes to fully resurrect, it must make use of the Dragon Tyrant Armament. In fact, before Arthur departed, he said he wished to divide the pieces of the Dragon Tyrant Armament among the various kingdoms for safekeeping to prevent the Demonic Dragon's resurrection. Unfortunately, his son did not know the truth and, believing them to be Ryan's most powerful artifacts, refused the arrangement."
Anbaixiu had a sudden flash of insight. "So that was what the envoys of various nations and Ryan were arguing about at the funeral! No wonder relations between Ryan and the other nations took a nose-dive immediately after. The second Ryan Emperor believed the other kingdoms were trying to seize the empire's artifacts in the wake of his father's death, which fostered deep resentment toward other races. Compounded by the influence of the dragon bloodline, he began to harbor an extreme hatred for non-humans."
Having unraveled all the secrets, Anbaixiu turned to James Watson and said, "Now, if I trade Arthur Ryan's heroic spirit for your Dragon Tyrant Armament, there shouldn't be any problem, should there?"
Chapter 272