Chapter 244 A Sealed History Bai Shi handed the stone slab to Ranni and asked, “Can you break the seal on this?” Ranni shot Bai Shi a glare. “That’s the man who abandoned my mother and me. What makes you think I'm on good terms with him?” Despite her words, Ranni took the slab and gave it a try. Unfortunately, nothing changed. The seal held fast. Bai Shi shook his head. Having a sorceress like Ranni try to break a seal set by Radagon wasn't exactly a perfect match of expertise. She didn't remember her father being this powerful. Even with her limited knowledge of Golden Order incantations, she should have been able to undo it. Given the disparity in their power, she should have been able to shatter it with brute force. In Ranni's memory, the Radagon of her childhood had cut a rather positive figure. But ever since he abandoned her mother to live off Marika and become Elden Lord, her impression of him had soured to that of a contemptible pretty-boy father. It even occurred to her that his marriage to her mother could also be considered living off a woman. After all, her mother was the leader of the Raya Lucaria Academy and the Carian Royal Family, a queen powerful enough to stand against the Erdtree. Her father, at the time, was merely a champion of the Golden Order; his status and power were no match for hers. Thus, the image of a mere pretty boy had become even more entrenched in her mind. And yet, the reality was this: Ranni couldn't break the seal Radagon had left. She was completely powerless against it. Though her current doll body was not her demigod flesh and possessed little combat strength, her soul and memories were fully intact. Could it be... that her father had been hiding something all along? Seeing Ranni scowling at the slab, Bai Shi gave a slight shake of his head. It seemed there was truly nothing to be done. “...It might not matter that we can't open it. I've already managed to glean a lot of information from it.” Ranni moved closer to him, but looking at the tightly sealed slab, she couldn't see anything of the sort. She glanced up at Bai Shi, skeptical. She wasn't very good at this sort of deduction; otherwise, she wouldn't have needed Iji as her war counselor. Bai Shi traced his finger lightly over the slab, piecing the information together. After organizing his thoughts, he explained to Ranni, “The timing of the seal.” “We can't read the contents, but since it was in the Grand Library and sealed by Radagon...” “...it means this happened when Radagon was still at the academy, and your mother hadn't yet lost her mind.” “You said before that your mother sealed the secret compartment.” “So this slab was hidden and sealed by both of them, one after the other.” “That means the sealed history concerns an event from the period of peace between the Golden Order and the Carian Royal Family.” “It's most likely some dark secret of the Golden Order, or perhaps a secret they both shared.” Ranni listened to Bai Shi's analysis, following his logic. It all made perfect sense. Bai Shi looked at Ranni. “Ranni, did you know that the center of the Lands Between wasn't always a sea, but a continent?” Ranni shook her head. “If something was once there and then vanished, it’s definitely something I would have noticed.” “So, it must have happened before I was born.” “And if a slab was sealed away, then anyone who knew about it must have kept their mouths shut for other reasons.” Bai Shi thought about the prohibitions Radagon had placed on the academy’s preceptors and felt that it was indeed something he would do. As he pondered, a sudden spike of pain shot through his head, making him clutch it instinctively. He had separated from Ranni a bit too hastily earlier, and his wounds hadn't fully healed. Seeing his state, Ranni guessed it was a lingering effect from before and placed her palm on his forehead. A cold magical energy coalesced into a Dark Moon within Bai Shi's mind, slowly healing his soul. Bai Shi gave her a grateful look, but Ranni turned her head away, refusing to meet his eyes. After a moment's thought, Ranni turned back to him. “If the timeline is as you say, then the trail has likely gone cold again.” “My two brothers might know something, but it’s impossible to communicate with them now.” “Demigods have long lives. There’s a century-long age gap between my brothers and me.” “So much can happen in that time.” “And that’s why sorting out the timeline in the Lands Between is so difficult.” Hearing this prompted Bai Shi to ask a question of his own. “Speaking of which, I've always been curious. How long did the Shattering actually last?” Ranni answered coolly. “Though I was slumbering for most of it, the Shattering lasted for at least a thousand years.” Bai Shi was taken aback, but his first thought wasn’t about the thousand-year war, but about Ranni’s age. Ranni shot him a sideways glance, sensing he was thinking something impertinent again. Bai Shi quickly dropped the thought. Alright, age wasn't an issue. The long lifespans of demigods were just a fact of life, nothing to be surprised about. As Ranni said, with such a vast expanse of time, getting a clear picture would be incredibly difficult. But now that he knew this was likely a dark secret of the Golden Order, he could rule out many potential sources. Bai Shi murmured to himself, organizing his thoughts aloud. Ranni was close enough to hear every word clearly. “Radagon represents the Golden Order, and he’s the one who locked down the information...” “If Radagon himself was involved, then there's no hope of getting anything from other figures of the Golden Order.” “The Crucible Knights are loyal, but they're too upright and steadfast. They would never betray a former master, so they certainly wouldn't speak.” “As for Caria and the academy...” Hearing this, Ranni shook her head at Bai Shi. Bai Shi understood and sighed. The Queen of the Full Moon also had a hand in sealing this away, so the old guard at the academy and in Caria wouldn't talk either. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝙣𝙚𝙩 In that case, the only one left to ask was the Old King. Since Radagon hadn't yet returned to become the Erdtree's second Elden Lord, it meant this happened when Godfrey was still in the Lands Between. Once he left the academy, he would go ask the old man right away. Ranni spoke again, unable to figure something out. “Then, if my mother and father wanted to hide this history, why leave the slab behind at all?” “Destroying it should have been easy for them.” Bai Shi had also considered this question and now had some thoughts on the matter. He looked at Ranni with a knowing gaze, making her a bit uncomfortable. “Perhaps Radagon hoped you would be the one to open it.” “In all the Lands Between, the conditions to unlock it could only be met by you or your mother.” Ranni frowned, unable to understand why. Bai Shi grew more certain of his hypothesis, but he couldn't explain it to Ranni. There was no helping it; some things he knew only from a player's perspective, and he had no proof. He couldn't just tell her that Radagon was Marika. Although Radagon was a loyal hound of the Golden Order, he might not have started out that way. The Erdtree, the Two Fingers, and the Elden Beast could all have influenced or controlled him for their own purposes. To the outside world, and even to his own children like Ranni, Radagon was merely a consort, looked down upon by everyone. But he was Marika's other half; neither his power nor his status was that simple. Since it was a dark secret concealed by the Golden Order, and it probably wasn't Radagon's doing, then it must have been Marika's. The information on this slab was likely a contingency plan left by Radagon, intended to be used against Marika. Their relationship had grown strained, even hostile, over their long rule, and neither could completely dominate the other. Perhaps he was forced to make a show of destroying this history, sealing it away under the watchful eye of certain figures. “If that's the case, this secret might be even more explosive than I thought...” Bai Shi could no longer contain his curiosity. This was a major secret of the Golden Order. He bid farewell to Ranni, took the slab, and teleported directly back to Stormveil Castle to find the Old King. Bai Shi approached the Old King's urn and began to communicate with it. ‘Old King, that sea in the center of the Lands Between—what was there before?’ ‘There used to be land there, wasn't there?’ ‘I'm curious about what happened in the past. If you know, please tell me everything.’ The Old King's spirit fell silent for a moment before replying to Bai Shi: ‘There is little use in speaking of it now, for that place has been wiped from the Lands Between.’ ‘But if you wish to know, then listen to it as you would a story.’ The Old King began to recount the events, his voice echoing from a distant age: ‘In the past, the Erdtree embraced all. It was a brief age of bounty.’ ‘The Erdtree was not as it is now. A black Scadutree clung to it, growing alongside it.’ ‘In those days, the Erdtree wept bountiful dew.’ ‘It was a time when even its enemies would marvel at the Erdtree's splendor.’ ‘But the good times did not last; the age of bounty was fleeting.’ ‘It all began with one of Marika's children, Messmer.’ ‘He led his army in a sudden assault on Belurat, the tower settlement of the horned people, and slaughtered nearly all of them.’ ‘And that serpent—Messmer—claimed the dew-producing Scadutree for himself, cleaving off a great swath of land and sealing it away from the Lands Between.’ ‘The gladiators in the Golden Order's colosseums wore serpentine gear because of this. The people longed to see the serpent who betrayed the Erdtree suffer.’ ‘Thereafter, this event was deemed a taboo of the Golden Order, and all mention of it was forbidden.’ The Old King let out a pair of strange laughs. ‘But even this story is a lie.’ ‘As one who lived through it, I can tell you... that is not the truth.’ Messmer, did you leave the horned people alive on purpose or by accident? Messmer, was it your fault this round?