Lancelot's Soul Shard

"That is..."

Hai Na remembered the knife.

To alleviate the headache caused by cognitive confusion, she said everything she could.

After hearing her story, Iver raised his eyebrows and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

Like Fox that has caught a chicken, he revealed a smug and ambiguous smile of pleasure.

Sherlock, who was standing nearby, immediately noticed the flaw in the statement.

"Oh..."

Sherlock chuckled, interlacing his fingers and leaning back. "You really are slow on the uptake, Hai Na."

"...What?"

"You told me, didn't you? That beautiful dagger is engraved with winding Elven Language."

Sherlock countered, "Did your father give it to you?"

"Yes, he told me to take this. It can be used for self-defense."

"Hai Na replied."

As she said those words, she suddenly realized something. "You mean..."

Sherlock interrupted her directly, "Your father is a dwarf craftsman, isn't he?"

"He's a blacksmith with a lineage of extraordinary abilities, capable of forging extraordinary equipment. Even if he wanted you to have something to defend yourself on your way to school, why would he give you an elven dagger? Or rather, if he wanted you to carry a weapon, why did he only give you an elven dagger?"

Blacksmiths are proud of the tools they make, and dwarves are especially confident in their forging skills.

At the same time, dwarves were generally hostile towards elves. Magnetic Hammer was a typical dwarven blacksmith.

In this situation, a dwarf blacksmith, to protect his daughter, gave her only an elven dagger, refusing to give her any of the equipment he had crafted. "And that dagger was later lost. But I forgot where I lost it; it just vanished one day."

Hai Na then recalled what happened next and immediately continued, "I was worried for a while. I was afraid that when I got home, my dad would find out that I had lost his things... So for a period of time, I didn't want to go home, or rather, I was afraid to go home. Because that dagger looked very expensive, and I was very scared."

"I've prepared lies. Either I'll say I left it at school, or I'll say I lent it to a friend for self-defense. If they still don't believe me, I'll say I hurt someone and gave them the dagger as compensation."

"But when my father saw my empty waist, he didn't ask me anything. He never asked again after that..."

"I was relieved at the time, but I was still very scared. I was always worried that this time my father had simply forgotten, or that he had drunk too much, and that next time he might be found out. So I was still a little uneasy..."

It wasn't until much later that Hai Na gradually got used to it.

But the awe I felt for my father back then was still etched in my heart. It was the fear I felt when I knew I had done something wrong and worried that my parents would find out.

Did you lose it early?

Sherlock pressed further, "Was it lost a long time ago?"

Hai Na pondered for a moment, "Now that you mention it... I guess so. It's been so long, I really don't remember it very clearly. But I was quite... lively back then."

"I remember showing off this dagger to a lot of people back then, and even carving a table with it. If I had held it long enough, I think I might have done other things. But I didn't, so I guess I lost it pretty quickly."

"Then I have a guess, Hai Na."

Sherlock calmly said, "Is it possible that the person who gave you this dagger wasn't your father?"

"But..."

Hai Na instinctively wanted to refute Sherlock.

But as soon as she opened her mouth, she suddenly paused.

She clearly remembered that it was a gift from her father.

But later, it was as if my father had completely forgotten about it...

And just as Sherlock said... why would his father suddenly give him an elven dagger?

After the "trees grow" incident, she suddenly became less confident in her memory.

"Is my memory malfunctioning again...?"

"I think it's probably not."

Iver slowly spoke, ending their discussion. "If I'm not mistaken, someone must have transformed into your father's appearance and lent it to you. Or rather, her goal was for you to bring it out of Eagle Cape Village."

"Her?" Hai Na caught something.

"...smuggling?"

Sherlock also made a connection to this behavior. "It's like someone used Hai Na to smuggle something out."

Iver nodded to Sherlock: "I guess so."

"Do you recognize that dagger?"

Seeing Iver's reaction, Sherlock finally understood why the Fox had such a gleeful expression on his face, as if he had stolen a chicken.

"Yes, I recognize it. I've seen it before."

Iver nodded.

As he spoke, he took the Key to St. Genevieve Chapel from his waist.

Holding up the enormous, dagger-like key, he asked Sherlock, "You know what this is, don't you?"

"Fragments of the Red Hilt Sword?"

Sherlock crossed his arms, deep in thought, "Do you want me to give you this answer?"

He paused, then suddenly widened his eyes. "Could it be..."

He remembered too—

Because Sherlock had also seen that dagger—or rather, another dagger with a similar design.

"It's that difficult question."

Iver nodded.

He then turned to Hai Na and confirmed, "You said that dagger has a blue-green blade like the surface of a lake, and if you hold it up to the sunlight, you can see a gradient from deep blue to dusky yellow from the side, right?"

"...Yes."

Hai Na nodded.

Iver's lips curled up slightly. "Then congratulations. You have gained the approval of the Holy Sword Arondight."

Hai Na remained silent for a while without any reaction.

She hesitated for a moment. "What holy sword?"

"The holy sword Arondight, wielded by Lancelot I, the founding monarch of Avalon, is Divine Weapon of the same caliber as my Red Hilt Sword."

Iver slowly said, "Its characteristics are a radiance like moonlit lake water and Elven script engravings on its blade. But just as the Red Hilt Sword was sealed away, Arondight was also split in two by Merlin, turning from a longsword into two daggers."

"One of the daggers is in Queen Sophia's bedroom, passed down as a national treasure. It should then be inherited by Isabel..."

The other one... served as the true Ritual Array base for the [Shadow of Avalon] and was stored away somewhere by Merlin.

It was used as an anchor point to guide Lancelot's resurrection.

Iver briefly explained the Shadow of Avalon Ritual to the three of them.

The final step in the Shadow of Avalon is to pierce the heart of a direct descendant of the royal family with the Arondight dagger, a royal heirloom.

The other dagger, which stores a fragment of Lancelot's soul, will then respond in a ritual, completely absorbing Lancelot's soul into the fragment, much like the cursed doll of the Path of Beauty. Then, relying on the "mirror" principle of the Path of Beauty, the soul will be transferred to another dagger, Arondight.

Quantum entanglement is a type of quantum entanglement.

—But now, that dagger has been stolen.

Hai Na is that vessel.

"So," Sherlock exclaimed in astonishment, "that Eagle Cape Village is the foundation of this grand ceremony?"

"It's entirely possible."

Iver nodded.

The only thing kept in the Cathedral of Guinevere is Lancelot's "corpse," which is on the verge of death.

Iver and Sherlock had just been to the basement there, and even used it for a ritual. There were no rituals there, though.

A ceremony must have Ritual Site.

As a ritual that has been operating for hundreds of years, the Shadow of Avalon must have a sufficiently stable base. At the same time, it must be sufficiently concealed to prevent interference from others. Furthermore, as a large-scale ritual, it must require a considerable amount of space.

In summary...

"The secret might lie in that Fairy Hole."

Iver was somewhat excited. "I suspect that Merlin's ritual is hidden there! And now it's very likely that it has been modified..."

After so long, he finally glimpsed a corner of the truth.

If Merlin's grand ceremony was held in or near Eagle Cape Village... then everything makes sense.

Why has this place remained stagnant for four hundred years? Why would my grandfather, Fifth Level Ritual Mage, choose such a small place to spend the rest of his life? Why are the trees here so strange yet so indestructible? Why was Jacob able to easily perform the "Swamp People Ritual"?

And... the villagers here sacrificed their lives, almost immortal, to guard something here.

Furthermore, why does Hai Na, as the Child of Twilight and Dedication, possess the characteristics of authority and transcendence?

Iver looked at Hai Na.

If he's not mistaken...

Hai Na is not her parents' biological daughter at all.

She is very likely a clone—and a clone whose soul has been altered.

It is not the primitive form of the Swamp People. Rather, it is a new form born from the combination of the "Newborn Ritual" and the reactivated "Swamp People Ritual".

This explains why, despite her striking resemblance to her mother and brother, her life path has taken a strangely skewed turn.

Transcendence and authoritarianism.

Indeed, there was one person whose soul was so inclined...

That was Lancelot, the chief knight who once accompanied Arthur in his battle against the giants, Lancelot the founding monarch of Avalon.

His path of cultivation is characterized by transcendence and power. However, after Arthur ascended to become the Silver Crowned Dragon, the path of "power" within him was transformed into the even more powerful force of "authority."

From that time on, he inherited a powerful force of authority in his blood. With the help of the Silver Crowned Dragon, he selectively removed the power of transcendence from his bloodline.

His Princess Guinevere, must have possessed an affinity for love and beauty. That's why characters like Sofia and Isabel, who occasionally appear, seem to have an innate inclination towards the Path of Beauty.

If Hai Na's body contains Lancelot's Soul Shard, then that explains why she is so special.

Arondight's Dagger is not something anyone can wield.

It was essentially a royal exclusive weapon...

But Hai Na can use it.

But Iver was certain that she had absolutely no royal blood.

From this perspective, the person who handed her the dagger should be Merlin's ex-girlfriend... Vivian, the apostle of Shadow Angel.

For those seeking to change their image and appearance, the Path of Love is incredibly simple.

So Vivian must be Jacob's collaborator! "But why..."

Iver frowned again.

He suddenly realized something else.

If Hai Na is necessary, why didn't Jacob value her as much?

Jacob even deliberately told Hai Na stories about Arthur. That was clearly to awaken Hai Na's transcendent nature! What if Hai Na was an experiment? An experiment to test whether a newborn's soul could accommodate fragments of another's soul...

Thinking of this, Iver suddenly fell silent for a moment.

He thought of himself.

Or rather, he thought of his own sudden awakening, yet genuine...

—Memories from another world.

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