Chapter 460: The Authority of Secrecy

Inside the inn.

Ashe opened his eyes and immediately felt a bone-chilling cold seeping through his back. The dampness rising from the floor was intense, and his arms were freezing. Wait... why am I lying on the floor?

Ashe sat up to find Lys in her seal pajamas, sprawled across the single bed like a starfish. She had somehow managed to occupy the entire mattress. There was no need to ask what had happened. He had clearly been kicked off.

Watching her little feet twitch outward as she tugged at the blanket, Ashe could vividly picture how the little creature had systematically nudged him off the bed, inch by inch.

After tucking the blanket back around the little seal, Ashe quietly took a seat in the chair beside the bed. Leaving the room dark, he summoned his Secret Poison Diary and flipped to the back to log tonight's experiences and spoils.

The front of the diary was reserved for a chronological log of his adventures, while the back was dedicated to major milestones that demanded immediate recording. The sorcerer who had picked up his duplicate diary seemed to genuinely enjoy the updates, given that the diary's readership was steadily growing. Technically, there was only a single reader, but Ashe still spared no detail. His prose might have lacked elegance, but his sincerity was undeniable.

***

[The Battlefield of Garden]

The spiral flames pierced the sky like a spear, scattering the Ascending Golden Rain across the entire region. The earth, illuminated by the blaze, instantly erupted into tangled vines and towering trees. Even at a distance, the shockwave flipped our sports car, throwing us clear of the vehicle. While I deployed my Sword Barrier to shield the Witch, I could only hold the Swordswoman tight as we tumbled across the ground...

This was likely the city-level Miracle commanded by Oasis, a stark contrast to the Spider Web's spatial teleportation. Then came a spectacle I may never witness again in my lifetime. The entire capital city plummeted toward the earth, directly above our heads. Amusingly, the Swordswoman curled up in fear and softly hummed a song into my ear, a detail I fully intend to tease her about later.

Of course, it didn't actually crash. Doing so would have crushed its own citizens. Instead, the capital halted dozens of meters above us. Looking up, we were met with the breathtaking sight of an inverted metropolis suspended in the sky, its streets packed with countless glowing orange sunflowers. The name Garden was well-earned. The entire capital shared the exact same palette as the Ascending Golden Rain, explaining how it remained perfectly concealed from the ground.

Unlike other capitals, Garden completely lacked defensive capabilities, a weakness that was perhaps the price of its aerial existence. A single volley of upward strikes from the Spider Tower and Oasis wiped out a tenth of its flowers. As these flowers were clearly a vital resource, the initiative instantly shifted to the invaders. The Garden army was forced to descend and engage the Spider Tower and Oasis in brutal ground combat. Logically, it made sense. If Garden could hover out of reach and defend itself effortlessly while others struggled to climb, its advantage would be insurmountable. It would be an unbeatable foe.

This world might lack an inherent balancing mechanism, but the Divine Lord is always capable of flipping the tables. If you refuse to play fair, They will enforce fairness upon you.

Capitalizing on the chaos, we secured three Commanders' Handbooks, four Conjuring spirits, and maps of both the Garden and the Spider Tower before retreating safely as the Refractive Barrier shattered. Three of the Conjuring spirits hailed from Garden, and one from the Spider Tower. My spirits unlocked orange and purple tiers, and my special unit, the Three-Colored Anchor, evolved into the Five-Colored Anchor. Unfortunately, Oasis's map eluded us. Still, I am now only two maps away from fully illuminating the Continent of Time.

We split the Commander's Handbooks evenly. I had initially wanted to give two to the Swordswoman and one to the Witch, since I'm fairly indifferent to sorcery class advancement. However, I worried the Witch might find it unfair. She might not even care, but I couldn't just brush it off. It feels a bit like raising two daughters. I constantly have to ensure I'm not playing favorites. At least that way, neither of them would kick me out of a moving vehicle.

Reflecting on tonight, I recall saying some profoundly embarrassing things to the Swordswoman. I won't write them down here, though. I assume my lone reader has no interest in romance anyway.

***

Ashe closed the Secret Poison Diary and sank into deep thought.

There was one crucial detail he had intentionally omitted from the pages. During the chaos, they had successfully assassinated a Spider Tower Commander. To pull it off, both the Swordswoman and the Witch had deployed their Level-Six unit, the Starshot Warrior. Under the concealing influence of the Incarnation of Secrets' Mysterious Authority, the Spider Tower forces had perceived them as neutral entities, allowing them to slip past enemy lines and execute a devastating surprise attack.

Otherwise, with the Spider Tower and Oasis completely overwhelming Garden through their combined assault, how could a Spider Tower Commander possibly have died unless Garden itself had invoked a Divine Miracle?

The true reason Ashe and the others had taken such a massive risk was to unlock the second authority of the Incarnation of Secrets.

There was no better stage for an assassination than the chaotic fog of war. Fortunately, Ashe had temporarily upgraded their Refractive Barrier to level eleven. Had he not, they truly might not have escaped the battlefield alive.

Yet, the authority they had painstakingly unlocked turned out to be somewhat peculiar.

Authority of Secrecy: Your lips remain tightly sealed. No one can pry into the deepest secrets of your heart, and those very secrets serve to protect your soul. You are forbidden from revealing the secret you treasure most, and the more desperately you wish to confess it, the more absolute the secret-keeping effect becomes.

Secret-Keeping (Confession Progress: 13%): Your mental resistance is increased by 13%. Your soul's adaptability toward Divine Spirits of aligned sorcery classes is increased by 13%.

Reading the description, Ashe instantly recalled the intel they had squeezed from the mermaids.

The reason Harvey would eventually be capable of controlling a Divine Spirit was that he had obtained a necromancy-related conceptual incarnation on the Continent of Time, allowing his soul to accommodate a divine being. At the time, Ashe had wondered if his own Incarnation of Secrets would possess a similar trait. He never expected it to unlock under these exact conditions.

On paper, the Authority of Secrecy was undeniably powerful. Boosting one's adaptability to host a Divine Spirit was practically a shortcut to ascension, a literal ladder to becoming an Angel.

The catch? It was completely useless to Ashe and his companions right now.

Forget the fact that they were currently just Two-Winged Gold sorcerers. Even if they advanced to the Three-Winged Sacred Realm, they would still be light-years away from godhood. In MMORPG terms, it was like handing a level ten newbie a piece of mythical, end-game divine armor.

It sounded amazing, but... where exactly was the Divine Spirit they were supposed to equip?

The more he thought about it, the more Ashe realized how devious the Divine Lords truly were. The people who actually needed conceptual incarnations were the Four-Winged Legendary sorcerers. Yet, these incarnations only manifested here, on the Continent of Time. Back when Legendary figures visited this place, they were nothing more than weak, Two-Winged fledglings who had to scatter and run the moment they ran into a Legion of Heroes.

It was a classic, tragic irony best described by the phrase, "Meeting the best version of you at an age when I have absolutely nothing."

Once a sorcerer missed that window, the opportunity was gone forever.

In truth, what gnawed at Ashe the most was a much simpler question. What secret, exactly, had the Authority of Secrecy sealed away?

Was it his transmigration? The Sorcerer's Handbook? His bizarre personal preferences that even the veela found questionable? Or perhaps... his feelings?

Both the Swordswoman and the Witch had been suspiciously eager to help him figure it out. However, Ashe had seen right through them. They just wanted to unearth his most embarrassing secrets. Naturally, he had made his escape as quickly as his legs could carry him.

However, since his Confession Progress was stuck at a mere 13%, it meant he had never truly intended to blurt it out in the first place. No matter how much Ashe racked his brain, guessing was entirely pointless.

When he really thought about it, the mechanics of the Authority of Secrecy were utterly absurd. The more critical a secret was to someone, and the stronger their urge to confess it, the more fiercely the authority locked their jaws shut. On the bright side, the corresponding attribute bonuses would skyrocket in tandem. It felt like a power tailored exclusively for career assassins or tragic souls suffering from unrequited love.

Shaking off the thought, Ashe summoned the Gospel and opened Aurora Sorcerer's Handbook, navigating straight to the Material Purchase tab. After uploading the low-tier spirits the Swordswoman hadn't wanted tonight, his points finally breached the 328-mark!

This meant he could finally purchase a Box of Source Crystals for 328 points, which would also trigger a first-purchase double reward.

Even so, Ashe wasn't particularly eager to gamble on gacha banners right now. After all, the Dance of Swords and Dragons exclusive event had already wrapped up, meaning his chances of pulling the time-limited Bride · Swordswoman outfit were officially dead. Truthfully, he hadn't wanted the outfit for his own amusement. His main goal all along had been to secure it as a reward for the Swordswoman's hard work.

While Ashe could technically use the Gospel to manifest his Intent and manipulate the regular gacha pool to get exactly what he wanted, the problem was that nothing in it caught his eye. The bride outfit was completely out of reach. And while sneaking into the imperial palace to assassinate the princess was undeniably hazardous, the standard banner offered no items that could rapidly spike his combat power.

As for pulling new operators...

To be completely honest, the past few days were the absolute worst time to introduce new companions. At the very least, he needed to wait until the Woven Festival concluded. Once that was over, he planned to visit the Belldet family estate under the pretense of bringing Lys along as Iger's dowry maid, which would finally allow him to live out his days as a comfortable freeloader. Only then would he have the mental bandwidth to handle more complicated relationships.

What he truly needed was another limited-time event. Only a special banner could give him the irresistible urge to splurge his hard-earned points. Even if it wasn't a wedding dress, the developers could always drop swimsuits, qipaos[1], shrine maiden robes, veela gear, or maid uniforms. It could be literally anything!

Ultimately, Ashe decided to hoard his points and wait for the gacha itch to become truly overwhelming. If he didn't even feel the impulsive rush to pull, how could he possibly expect the gacha gods to bless him with a good roll?

Right then, Lys shifted on the bed. Her small hands patted around the empty mattress a few times, grabbing nothing but air. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she sat up and blinked dazedly at the dark room before her gaze finally landed on Ashe.

She yawned, lay back down, and patted the mattress beside her several times, letting out an urgent, muffled "mm-mm" through her nose.

"What is it?" Ashe asked.

"Come back to sleep..."

"I'm already wide awake."

"Then I'm not sleeping either."

Lys padded over and slumped into the chair right beside him.

"Children who don't get enough sleep won't grow tall, you know."

"I'm not scared!"

"Speaking of which, I just remembered something. After the Woven Festival ends, can you go back to being a princess?"

"Huh?"

"Regardless of whether our plan succeeds or fails, you won't have any reason to keep hiding out here. Besides, you're the sole remaining bloodline of the Isa Imperial Family. They aren't just going to let you wander around among commoners forever. When the time comes, will you return to the imperial palace?"

In the darkness, Lys widened her eyes and stared at him. "Daddy, are you trying to abandon me?"

"No, of course not—"

"Then why are you even asking that?! You promised that after the Woven Festival, we would live together!"

"And that brings us to the real problem," Ashe countered. "Where exactly are we going to live?"

Lys froze. For her, this question was a bit too profound.

"Once I leave the Funeral Agency, I'll have no connections, no property, and not even a job. It feels like our quality of life is about to plummet off a cliff. Besides, no matter how you look at it, Princess of Isa sounds a whole lot more impressive than Ashe's daughter..."

"That's not true! The second one is obviously a million times better!"

Ashe scratched his head. "Well, if that's the case, we're in a bit of a tight spot. If it were just me, I could sleep under a bridge in a cardboard box and get by just fine. But with you around, I have to actually try. For the sake of our future happiness, I have come up with three proposals. First, I sell my looks and beg Annan to support us."

Lys lowered her head, swinging her little legs over the edge of the chair. "I don't want a stepmother..."

"Second, we beg Iger to sell his looks and have the Belldet family support us."

Lys admitted, "That one sounds pretty good, but Aunt Perskin always rejects the idea."

"Then we're left with only the third option. We make my substitute go out, find a job, and earn money to support the household."

Lys thought it over for a second. "But your substitute probably can't make very much, right? But it's okay! As long as I'm with you, Daddy, I really don't mind being poor—"

"Absolutely not. No matter how tough things get, the child must never suffer. Even if it's just to keep you happy, I will make it work!"

Ashe's declaration was firm and entirely resolute.

1. A qipao is a traditional Chinese dress with a high collar, a fitted shape, and side slits along the skirt. It is known for its elegant, body-hugging design and is often made from silk or other fine fabrics. ☜