Chapter 65 — The Ancient Facility
Blade of Dawn · Page 3 of 3
The discovery of the mana-focusing device meant they were already very close to the deep research facilities. And connecting this with the magical signature Hetty had sensed earlier, the target was very likely some research device that was still running.
Gao Heng quietly activated the knight's "Danger Sense" skill, so as to be ever on guard against magical traps or ancient radiation that might lurk here.
On the way onward, he casually asked Hetty a question: "By the way, I heard them address you as 'my lady' rather than 'miss' or 'madam.' Are you married? Where is your husband?"
He had been curious about this for a long time, but had simply never found the chance to ask.
Hetty was startled for a moment, but it was only natural for an ancestor to take an interest in one's marriage. So she answered, "I am not married, but when I came of age I converted to the Goddess of Magic, Miremina, and renounced my right of inheritance by way of religious conversion, so as to leave the inheritance to Rebecca's father. By aristocratic law, a woman of age who renounces her inheritance through religious conversion is deemed married—that is, wedded to her faith. Originally I could also have kept my noble title and become a non-hereditary baroness, but that year the domain was in difficulty, so I... er, sold that title to a merchant..."
Gao Yan nodded and uttered an "oh" of understanding, while information about the Goddess of Magic, Miremina, surfaced in his mind.
The Goddess of Magic, Miremina, also called the Goddess of All Spells and the Lady of Mysteries, was held to command the power of magic, and was the teacher of the world's first dragon and first elf—and thus the legendary dragon-tongue magic and the extant elven magic were also her creations. Unlike the other gods, Miremina was not a "strong-faith deity" but more of a "symbolic deity."
She had, one could say, no formal religion or system of worship. Nearly all spellcasting professions were her "shallow believers," but fewer than one in a hundred mages converted to this deity as formal adherents—probably because spellcasters generally loved to probe mysteries and lacked reverence for the gods.
And among that one percent of believers, quite a few had converted simply to prove their renunciation of inheritance rights or for similar purposes, like Hetty.
The Anzu royal family's Princess Virodai had converted to the God of Holy Light in a similar fashion, except that Her Highness had not been reduced to such poverty as the Cecil descendants, forced to sell off even her noble status for a pittance. So she could still be called a princess (or the corresponding religious title).
After finishing her answer, Hetty felt somewhat uneasy. She mainly worried about two things: first, whether the Cecil family's disgraceful descendants, reduced to selling noble titles to make ends meet, would anger the Mystic Vein Sect leader; and second, whether being this old and still unmarried would also anger him—especially the second. What if Gao Yang turned to her and unleashed the triple marriage-pressure combo: "Why aren't you married yet? When do you plan to marry? What do you think of that one?"
Good heavens—seven hundred years ago a Mystic Source Sect leader pressing you to marry was far more stressful than your own parents doing it!
This even made Hetty somewhat less worried about whether she would get beaten for selling her noble title...
In the end, Gao Yang really had just asked offhandedly; once he said "oh," there was nothing more.
And Hetty's wild imaginings did not last much longer, because she finally sensed that magical reaction just up ahead.