Chapter 506: Even the Wandering Knight Must Let Go

"It's not just you, but Miss Annan, Mr. Pankey, Mr. Perskin, and Mr. Harvey as well. All of you must leave the Gospel Kingdom."

Having just experienced mental expulsion, Ashe never expected to also face physical banishment from the kingdom itself. "Why?"

"Because I can only protect you for another eighty-eight minutes. Once Dine fully consumes me, I will no longer be able to uphold my promise to Lys and continue taking care of you. In fact, I may even become a threat to you.

"When I say I may become a threat, I do not mean direct forms of harm such as being wanted, hunted down, or persecuted. I mean using the environment to slowly wear you down."

Lysdia paused, looking past him into the distance. "I may not yet be the true Dine, but I can already vaguely sense how she would arrange your futures. Mr. Perskin would successfully establish a small intelligence organization. But once his influence expanded to the scale of a city, his growth would stagnate. He would spend the rest of his life dealing with the organization's internal struggles.

"Mr. Harvey would discover an ancient underground battlefield from the era of the Elven Dynasty. However, a landslide would block the way back, forcing him to spend the rest of his life researching inside that ancient tomb. Miss Annan would have a child with you and devote all her attention to raising that child, while Mr. Pankey would help take care of your child."

Ashe asked, "What about me?"

Lysdia replied, "Dine has not decided yet, but your arrangement would definitely be similar to the others. Removing your fangs and claws, grinding away your ambitions and fighting spirit, filling your emptiness with worldly matters, and occupying your time with trivialities."

Ashe could not help but give a bitter laugh. "I do not really have any ambitions."

"You may not have had any in the past, but what about now?" Lysdia asked. "Grief comes in five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. For someone like you, someone favored by a Divine Spirit, processing your suffering inevitably leads to a sixth stage. Revenge. If you want to fight back, you cannot remain in the Gospel Kingdom. The Gospel is paradise for the weak, but hell for the strong.

"Of course, if you want to enjoy simple happiness, the Gospel can absolutely satisfy you. Most likely, you and Annan would build a noisy yet happy family together.

"However, if you want to continue practicing sorcery, that is absolutely impossible," Lysdia revealed a secret that would shake the entire Gospel Kingdom. "The Gospel automatically restricts the development of Sacred Realm sorcerers. Unless they are willing to come to Nabistin to study the Gospel, sorcerers will always be burdened by trivial matters and find it difficult to focus on their sorcery."

Ashe asked in surprise, "Why restrict the Sacred Realm?"

"This is the optimal result calculated by the Gospel. It is not so much a restriction as it is making the best use of resources. Sacred Realm sorcerers already represent the limit of ordinary sorcerers. Even with further research, breaking through to Legend is extremely difficult.

"Furthermore, the gap between a Legendary sorcerer and a Sacred Realm sorcerer in terms of productivity cannot make up for the amount of time Sacred Realm sorcerers spend on cultivation. If Sacred Realm sorcerers used that time for production instead, the value created would far exceed what they could gain from further sorcery research.

"Becoming a Legendary sorcerer benefits the individual but not society. The Gospel Kingdom only needs Sacred Realm sorcerers. That is the Gospel's conclusion. Only when a sorcerer voluntarily settles in Nabistin, allowing the Gospel to personally coordinate their production and research, will the Gospel remove those restrictions."

Lysdia paused briefly. "I also believe this is the correct approach."

Ashe blinked. He remained silent, letting Lysdia go on.

"Sacred Realm sorcerers do not appear out of nowhere. They are the result of a stable social environment, complete sorcerer inheritance, and the Gospel's careful nurturing. When a Sacred Realm seed appears, the Gospel creates different cultivation plans based on their personality.

"For the arrogant, it gives hardship. For the withdrawn, it gives companionship. For the confident, it gives competition. For the greedy, it gives despair... And it allows them to survive seemingly hopeless ordeals, giving them the greatest possible chance to mature.

"Every Sacred Realm sorcerer is a masterpiece created by society. Since that is the case, they have a duty to contribute back to society, rather than continue using violence and fear to seize resources, climb higher into the Virtual World, exploit millions, and serve only themselves."

Hearing those words ten days ago versus hearing them now produced two entirely distinct feelings.

Ten days ago, Ashe was merely a Two-Winged sorcerer, with the Sacred Realm still far beyond his reach. At that time, he would have applauded such a policy, perhaps even wishing that all Sacred Realm sorcerers could become living pillars for spatial gates, burning away the rest of their lives to illuminate society.

Now, as a Three-Winged sorcerer himself, even without having mastered his Sacred Realm, the injustice resonated deeply with him. By what right? I don't risk my neck in the Virtual World and push through the pain of the Forbidden Ritual of Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon Resonance just to become some tool for the kingdom!

Ashe himself was a mud-born sorcerer. Ordinary sorcerers required at least ten years of grueling effort before even glimpsing a sliver of hope to advance to the Three-Winged level. The years of hard work, sweat, and dedication poured into sorcery naturally created a deep sense of pride. How could they willingly stop there and switch to laboring for production?

Sacred Realm sorcerers were not merely productive forces. They were strategic weapons in their own right. Other kingdoms would never dare mistreat Sacred Realm sorcerers, the very pillars supporting their societies. Only the Gospel could pull off something like subtly guiding them through their environment, quietly influencing them against their will until they were forced to follow the current and devote themselves to serving the people.

Nevertheless, even this influence had limits. For a start, it could not force Sacred Realm sorcerers to become pillars for spatial gates.

Lydia added, "Still, this reasoning only applies to people of the Gospel Kingdom. You, Mr. Harvey, and Mr. Perskin have received no kindness from the Gospel. You have no obligation to repay it.

"However, if you choose to stay, the choice will no longer be yours. So, for your own sake, you must leave the Gospel as soon as possible. I have already repaired your motorbike. The others should be waiting outside as well.

"Ride along the Azure Skyway to Modora. In twenty-three minutes, a Virtual Channel will appear on the city outskirts. I have already sent you the exact coordinates."

Ashe stared blankly at her. "To think you have arranged everything already."

Lysdia smiled softly. "Because Lys entrusted everything to me, and you are her everything."

"What if I want to stay?"

Lysdia actually considered the question seriously. "Then I would tell Mr. Perskin and Mr. Harvey everything, and have them drag you away."

"Why?"

"Because I, too, don't want you to stay in the Gospel Kingdom. As long as you remain under the same sky as me, you will eventually do something foolish." Lysdia reached out and pulled Ashe to his feet, then sat down in his place. "Go. They are waiting for you."

Ashe grabbed her hand in return.

Lysdia smiled faintly. "I know that no matter what I say, I cannot erase the guilt, reluctance, anger, and sorrow in your heart. So I won't try to comfort you. Carry these heavy yet precious burdens with you. Continue striving in a new kingdom, and then... When you return to the Gospel Kingdom, perhaps you can make up for the regrets you have today."

With a serious expression, Lysdia slowly pried Ashe's fingers apart one by one, then pushed him away. She urged, "Go. The amnesiac princess has returned home. The wandering knight should let go too."

There was no other choice. Reason told Ashe that leaving was the only thing he could do. Emotion told him never to look back, because the most futile thing in life was constantly clinging to the past.

Yet when Ashe turned to face the gate, his legs refused to move.

Humiliation. Shame. Guilt. Anger. He could not accept being protected by a girl. He could not accept why such a disaster had struck him. Even more than that, he could not accept fleeing in disgrace and following the fate someone else arranged for him.

How can I possibly sleep peacefully for the rest of my life? How can I possibly have the nerve to face the Swordswoman in the future?

If his brother saw this pathetic side of him, he would definitely call over his nephew to have a good laugh together.

Is there really no other way left? Am I really left with not even a single card to play? Ashe! Think! Ashe racked his brain, desperately searching for a miracle. He continuously searched through Aine's memories. If it's the Divine Spirit that needs to be handled... Perhaps it exposed some weaknesses during its time inside me... Let's start from that!

Lysdia asked, "What's wrong? Did you forget something? I can bring it to you."

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice surfaced in Ashe's mind. "Bring it over... The blessing I received from the Dramatic Poet allows me to steal a target's spirit through close contact..."

Steal. If I have a blessing that can steal spirits, could I steal the Divine Spirit? But the problem is, I don't have a blessing that lets me steal. The only thing I have is...

Ashe froze. He looked up at the sunlight spilling through the gate. Yes, it was already morning.

Ashe turned around abruptly, knelt on one knee atop the throne, grabbed Lysdia's hand tightly, and asked, "Do you have any important secrets that you are hiding from me?"

Lysdia glanced at him. After thinking for a moment, she answered, "Yes. And it's something I will never tell you."

"Then make sure you keep it that way!"

Ashe summoned the Conjuring spirit deep within his soul. He attempted to extract it, but of course, it was impossible. The Conjuring spirit could not be used, manifested, or even traded in reality.

This was also one of the reasons the Swordswoman had never heard of the Conjuring spirit. Even if a sorcerer killed a Hero Commander and obtained one, they had no way to take it out as proof to show off. Yet now...

Ashe activated the blessing he had kept unused all this time. Gift!

This was the blessing the Dramatic Poet gifted Ashe after he endured the Out of Toilet Paper curse. At one point, Ashe had wanted to use this blessing to give Lys a spirit. It might not have been much, but at least it could have given her some ability to protect herself.

At the time, Lys refused. He never expected that, after all these twists and turns, he would end up giving it to her anyway.

[Recipient → Lysdia]

[Gift: Conjuring spirit]

When Ashe saw the Conjuring spirit leave his soul and travel along his arm into Lysdia's body, he let out a long sigh of relief.

His assumption had been correct. The Celestial Chariot Ox had already entered the Spider Tower region. Therefore, his contract with the Empress Hero had finally taken effect, which meant it had been terminated. That was why he could transfer the Conjuring Spirit!

Now came the most important moment. Under Ashe's nervous gaze, Lysdia's expression first became slightly confused. Then, her brows gradually relaxed. Immediately afterward, her eyelids began to droop, as if she had suddenly become extremely tired. "You..."

Dia abruptly opened her eyes, meeting Ashe's gaze head-on. "Sister Lys, go back to sleep. I've changed my mind!"

The great and noble Divine Spirit still occupied her soul. Its overwhelming will shone through every corner of her spirit like the morning sun, prompting all the spirits to tremble and curl up at the edges. Yet this domineering existence, which had even tried to find and completely crush her after she fell asleep, now remained lazily still, as if it did not care that the host had changed. It held the newly acquired Conjuring spirit in its hands, enveloped by the spirit's intense purple radiance.

Little Witch, White Queen, Black Butler, and Red Death Apostle also awakened one after another. Dia looked into Ashe's eyes and used the reflection of the mirror to complete a silent exchange between the sisters.

Ashe asked with a trembling voice, "How is it? How do you feel?"

The strength of the Authority of Secrecy hinged on the size of the secret and how much of it was revealed. He could not predict the outcome. All he could do was pray that she truly had a secret she desperately wanted to share, allowing the Authority of Secrecy to display its full power.

Dia answered, "I'm not afraid. I feel like... I'm no longer afraid of anything."