Two weeks after receiving the emergency report from Sean, the sun once again appeared in the Western Region of Graycastle.

The Months of Demons ended without any problems.

This was probably the most peaceful Months of Demons that has happened in hundreds of years. There were no evil beasts hara.s.sing or roaring. The snowy plains outside the walls were empty and flat. The thick snow reflected the dazzling golden light of the sun. It looked like a piece of flawless mirror.

Thus, this year's Victory Day was exceptionally lively.

Many residents walked into the wilderness without waiting for the snow to melt. They plucked a pile of snow from the knee-deep snow and brought it home to boil and drink. It was both a celebration and a memorial.

Only a very small number of people knew about the undercurrent beneath the calm.

The Third Border City, Library Cave.

Roland received an expected response.

"None of the doc.u.ments ever mentioned this record. Not even the literature left by the underground civilization." Celine leaned tiredly against the corner and ancient books that she had flipped open were piled up around her. "And for the first record about the Southernmost Region, that was about 860 years ago. It was a travel note, probably written by a certain witch. The description was only a few words, but it confirmed that the Endless Cape was a desert."

This was the first time that he saw "Blob" looking so tired—the three senior witches rarely sat down and usually relied on the main tentacles that were hanging on the dome, the fine whiskers on their bodies were always dancing. However, at this moment, all of her tentacles drooped down and looked like fur on the surface. At the first glance, it looked a bit like a radish that was just pulled out of the earth.

"You should probably take a break."

"I'd also like to do that. But I can't stop my body at all," said Celine with a bitter laugh. "Your discovery's too shocking. It can be said to be a subversion of the Union—no, that's not right. It's disrupted the entire recorded history of mankind!"

This was also why Roland had long antic.i.p.ated the answer—if there were related discoveries in the era of the Union, it would certainly have been recorded in some way. After all, it involved the Battle of Divine Will. Even if it needed to be kept secret, at least the entire senior management would not be ignorant about it.

The ethnic groups in the murals might be even older than what he had imagined. For the last 860 years, they only had a single well-doc.u.mented testimony and it did not mean that the Southernmost Region was full of vigor before this. From this point of view, the myths of the "Three G.o.ds Emissary" and the "Millennium War" circulated by the Mojins were somewhat more reliable.

At that time, the first Battle of Divine Will had not yet begun.

"Your Majesty, I have to admit," she said with a long sigh, "we have clearly taken a big step forward in our research, but why do I still feel so confused? It's like I've lost something."

"This is all normal," Roland comforted her by saying, "the more you know, the more you will feel like you actually know nothing. In the end, all doubts can be attributed to three problems."

"Oh? Which three?" Pasha asked curiously.

"Where am I, who am I hitting, who is. .h.i.tting me?"

"..." She silently immersed herself in thinking.

"Oh, well, I just wanted you all to relax a little," Roland coughed twice. "The real answer should be who am I, where do I come from, and where am I going."

"Where did I come from... where am I going?" Pasha murmured again. "These three questions seem very simple, but when you think about it, the answer is not that easy. You only have to change the perspective slightly and you will be faced with different answers."

"Oh, have you gone in a daze after reading too many books?" El could not resist interrupting. "What's wrong with this? I'm El from Taquila and I'm going back to Taquila—won't it be fine like this? I think you've been deceived by him."

"This is the reason why I envy you occasionally," said Celine, unable to put the main tentacles on top of her head. "Being simple-minded can be a form of happiness sometimes."

Pasha shook her head whilst laughing. "Thank you very much. It did relax us a bit. But your response really surprised me. Not only were you calm, but you also took our thoughts into consideration. It was as if you were not the least bit surprised about this."

"Because in my opinion, the world itself is full of uncertainty..." Roland smiled arbitrarily and changed the subject. "Since we have confirmed the unknown Battle of Divine Will and the existence of new ethnic groups so we should hold a meeting—such important news should be conveyed to everyone, the sooner the better."

"As you wish, Your Majesty." Pasha bent her main tentacles and replied.

The internal meeting was soon held in the castle's main hall. The degree of secrecy was cla.s.sified as top secret. Partic.i.p.ants were all representatives of the forces of the united front. Even the ministers of the administrative department were invited too.

When Roland announced this accidental discovery, everyone was in disbelief. He also gave a rare ten-minute buffer to allow everyone to whisper among themselves.

The Battle of Divine Will was not bounded to the fate of mankind. It was most likely a "special" normality. This was simply beyond the imagination of everyone. If Roland was not the messenger, few people would believe it.

As the hall gradually fell silent, Tilly stood up and said, "If this was really a Battle of Divine Will, where are the winners? They are neither the demons, the sea monsters, the underground civilization nor the humans... Where are they now?"

This was also the question that most people came up with.

Roland looked at Pasha behind the light curtain. The latter nodded. "I wonder if you still remember that there are two sentences in the records of the underground civilization—that magic has made us extraordinary and that the mastery of magic was a step to getting close to the divine meaning. We might as well a.s.sume that all partic.i.p.ants in the Battle of Divine Will could use magic, which means the winner could have raised the power of magic to a new level, thus going somewhere we can't see? For example... the celestial world."

This was also the conjecture that the three senior witches came up with after racking their brains. Although Roland felt that there were many loopholes, it was still better than a simple "I don't know."

Not knowing meant nothingness—according to common sense, the stronger a civilization was, the longer its footprint would remain. The ancient people built houses with hay and mud masonry. A millennium was enough to turn them into dust. On the other hand, Neverwinter had concrete buildings, that even after a millennium, would still leave their outlines. A civilization that may have won the Battle of Divine Will, disappeared without a trace after the war and that could only be identified from the scattered relics, undoubtedly made it quite easy for people to imagine the worst.

If winning could not reverse the fate of extinction, then this would greatly impair everyone's determination toward the war.

This speculation by Taquila would at least help to set a goal.

"So what was written on the murals was written at least a thousand and four hundred years ago?" Edith then said, "And what the humans experienced cannot be called the first Battle of Divine Will."

"Though that's the case, changing the name would be confusing," Roland replied. "So I tentatively called it a "lost battle." As to whether it was the first battle, that was not important."

"Your Majesty," Barov said hesitantly, "the expedition plan that was scheduled to be carried out after the start of the spring—"

"Let's follow the previously formulated plan," he said without hesitation. "Even if there are a lot of unsolved mysteries in the Battle of Divine Will, we must move forward! Maybe war itself was a way to get us closer to the mystery. If we are defeated by the demons, then there will be no hope left."

Roland paused, looked across the hall and said clearly, "This time, we must sweep the demons completely out of the Fertile Plains. This is not only to secure the s.p.a.ce needed for Neverwinter's development, but also to lay the foundation for the final victory!"