Chapter 61: The Price of Truth

After that, the merchant caravan boarded the long-lost Noah’s Ark, departing from the East Sea Pearl amidst a farewell from several mermen, slowly sailing away into the sea.

Next, they would officially traverse the Emerald Sea Region through the Ghost Sea that Little Dragon Daughter had forcibly broken through, then rev up their speed back to the continent. After landing at the East Sea port along the Ost Empire’s coast and dropping off their crew with the local Lingyin Merchant Association, Miss Vilyric would be free to do as she pleased.

With the help of the Merman Tribe and the world map previously provided by Xi Fu Lin, the route was naturally not an issue. Although no one had traveled through this Ghost Sea before, as long as they kept an eye on the direction and made a slight detour, they would eventually turn back towards the familiar route leading to the Great Whirlpool.

To guide Vilyric and the others along the route and to scout for suitable islands for future migration, Princess Nitira personally led a group of Merman warriors alongside the Noah’s Ark. They would escort the caravan until they reached the coast of the Ost Empire, while also exploring potential islands for immigration along the way.

The Endless Sea was divided into various nations similar to those on land, making this a formal diplomatic mission, which that princess had volunteered for.

After the incident with King Willipol, Nitira, who had previously experienced poaching cases, had clearly matured a lot. If she could successfully complete this task on behalf of the East Sea Pearl and the Mingjiao tribe, Queen Anies could gradually transfer the burdens to her.

As time passed at sea, before they knew it, several days had gone by.

The Noah’s Ark and the accompanying Merman forces took some time to reach the area of the Ghost Sea where Vilyric and the others had previously conducted their rescue. Upon confirming that that area had indeed returned to normal ocean waters, they began mapping the sea and left its range, taking a detour to sail towards the ocean route that originally required crossing the Great Whirlpool.

During the rare free time, everything was calm and quiet; there were basically no unexpected troubles.

Although they occasionally encountered some supposedly unfriendly marine creatures along the way, seeing something as terrifying and majestic as the Noah’s Ark and the large number of accompanying Merman warriors, they naturally wouldn’t come forward to seek their own misery.

By the way, the Deep Sea Ghosts that had troubled the Emerald Sea Region for years had also completely vanished with the destruction of the Ghost Ship.

This wasn’t entirely Vilyric’s achievement; if she guessed correctly, those active “ghosts” had indeed been summoned by King Willipol in a special way and appeared under the influence of the eastern disaster’s power. Compared to the densely packed corpses in the Ghost Sea, they were more akin to a relationship between corpses and the undead.

When Queen Anies designed to severely injure them, the Ghost Ship, in a bid to escape, had indiscriminately absorbed power from all directions to reassemble its true form. At that time, the ghosts in the Emerald Sea should have already disappeared completely.

So, even if the Priestess had not intervened, the situation on their side would have been temporarily stabilized; the only difference would be whether any lingering troubles would remain.

On the sunny and pleasant deck, the captain of Noah’s Ark was hosting a tea party with the accompanying princess and discussing some follow-up matters.

For instance…

“Oh… Is this the Book of Truth from Willipol? Have you taken charge of it now?”

On the other side of the tea table, Nitira gently stroked the glossy black hard cover of the thick book, reflecting with some sentiment.

“Yes, this artifact, left by the God of Truth, has very strict bloodline requirements for its user. It seems even Mother and Sister Valda cannot easily control it.”

“Now, I’m the only one in the royal court who can use its power freely. With it, I can have more defensive capabilities, so Mother entrusted it to me.”

“This can be considered… an heirloom from Father, even though I don’t agree with his philosophy and think he has fallen into paranoia and madness. I also don’t believe that relying on the Ghost Ship could combat that god controlling the box garden. Regardless, he is still my father, who gave me life and raised me. Even if he was treated as a sacrificial offering, it’s hard for me to feel hatred toward him.”

The Merman Girl slightly lowered her head, speaking softly as if to herself.

“Actually, in a certain sense, I can’t completely understand my father and the others either. When I just learned that I had actually died over a dozen times and only continued to live in this world due to some unknown power, it truly shocked me. I even once harbored a desire to destroy everything out of disgust.”

“This may just be my one-sided naivety, but whether it’s Father or Miss Silisa, I don’t think everything they showed me during my life—every bit of care and emotion—was fake. They were just making sacrifices for some beliefs they thought were right.”

“Ultimately… didn’t Mother do something similar? She just walked a different path.”

“Father once said something very true: this world is not purely black and white. The sinners in our eyes may very well be heroes to many others. After all, everyone… is just trying their best to protect their own ideals.”

“Hehe, it seems you’ve truly grown a lot… Being able to say this already gives you preliminary qualifications to become a leader of the tribe.”

Receiving the Priestess’s mild compliment, the previously serious princess’s face flushed, and she hurriedly lowered her head shyly.

“No, no… Compared to Mother and Miss Vilyric, I’m still far from it. Even Sister Valda is much more mature than me…”

“Ah, being too modest isn’t a good habit ~”

Facing the pleasant breeze blowing calmly across the sea surface, Vilyric gently sipped on the spirit-fortifying tea made from the Ancient Spirit Realm’s special ingredients. The refreshing coolness of the autumn wind combined with the invigorating warmth of the spirit-infused tea was indeed a delightful taste and enjoyment.

After drinking, she put down the teacup and returned her gaze to the ancient book on the table, which had no writing on it, and shifted the topic.

“Speaking of which… I remember that Pirate King fellow mentioned before that ordinary people can use the Book of Truth in specific situations, but they need to pay corresponding costs. What exactly is that cost?”

“Ah? This…”

For some reason, as soon as this topic came up, Nitira hesitated for a moment, seeming somewhat reluctant to speak.

Noticing the hesitation, the Priestess smiled slyly.

“What’s the matter? Is that cost something evil or not so proper? Like what’s often written in storybooks, that you need to trade your soul or some strange thing for knowledge?”

The princess hurriedly shook her head.

“No, no, no… Miss Vilyric misunderstood. As an artifact left by the God of Truth, the Book of Truth will naturally not be some evil item that requires the absorption of souls to gain power. It’s just that the price to reveal the truth varies from person to person and is different each time. It will completely change according to the seeker’s needs, so it’s actually quite difficult to specify the situation.”

“Eh, it’s that intelligent?”

Hearing this, the Priestess became quite interested. After thinking for a moment, she looked towards the only third party remaining at the tea table and waved her hand.

“Xiao Guang, come here for a second.”

“Ah~~ um.”

Currently, standing on the bench, the golden-haired little girl was busy stacking dozens of empty plates in a high-difficulty pose, completely indifferent to the earlier conversation; only after she first stuffed a whole charcoal-grilled fish, which wasn’t much shorter than her forearm, into her mouth and chomped it to bits did she jump down from the bench and dash to Vilyric, licking her shiny lips.

“What’s up, Sister? Did you find something tasty again? Or are we going to the sea to fry fish?”

“That can wait…”

The Black-haired Girl cheerfully picked up Little Dragon Daughter and sat her directly on her lap, extending her hand to open the Book of Truth in front of her, revealing the blank pages inside.

“Come on, try asking it a question. You can ask anything!”

   

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