The wooden carving of a newborn baby, no bigger than a palm, lay quietly in the small wooden box.
Dark, tainted, and insidious; murderous malice emanated from the wooden carving, pervading the entire house.
Yang Qiu and Inspector Lowell sat across from each other at the coffee table, both silently observing the wooden carving sculpture in the box.
They could feel the overwhelming murderous intent seeping out from the carving and were now hearing an increasingly dense chorus of infant laughter.
The laughter, persisting for over five minutes, grew more frantic, eventually turning into hysterical screams.
Inspector Lowell sighed softly, breaking the silence. "Such delicate and tender lines, indeed the style of Lady Marion. It's truly sad The greatest sculptor of 800 to 900 years of the new calendar didn't find peace in death."
Wilhem J. Bancroft, the forr Norsk owner of the carving, a young man who lived barely past 30, might not have any special sentint toward Lady Marion, the creator of many of his pieces. After all, she had passed away more than two hundred years before his birth.
But for Lowell Lady Marion was a contemporary. Two hundred years ago, when Lowell was in his pri, it was the ti when Lady Marion, the celebrated Norsk woodcarver, rose to fa.
When her obituary was published in the newspapers, Lowell had deeply mourned her passing, even though he had never t her before in person.
This strong sentint was tied to Lowell's status as a mber of the faith. Lady Marion had been invited by the Church of Prosperity to visit the Duchy of Shiga and had created a goddess bas-relief sculpture for the church, which was regarded as a miraculous piece.
Yang Qiu, unlike Lowell, didn't harbor such complex emotions. He nodded, then shook his head, comnting, "At least one mystery is solved. This brave lady did not die by a cowardly suicide."
Lowell nodded slowly in agreent.
One who committed suicide would have a strong tendency toward self-destruction, but the intense obsession left in this final piece by Lady Marion was filled with intense aggression.
"The Norsks desecrated Lady Marion," Lowell said unhappily. "They tarnished her reputation, and even after her death, saddled her with the stigma of suicide!"
In the moral views of this world, there was no concept of dying to prove one's integrity. All orthodox faiths considered suicide a grave sin.
"It's been two hundred years. Discussing this now is pointless." Yang Qiu raised his hand, palm facing downward toward the wooden box containing the carving. "I need this sealed. Please help grant this lady her peace."
"With pleasure." Lowell nodded solemnly and retrieved a withered wooden staff from his spatial ring, lightly tapping it on the ground.
Ripples emanated from the staff's tip, forming a semi-transparent, visually perceivable restraining barrier for sacred energy. It enveloped both n and most of the hall.
There were many reasons for the formation of a sealed artifact. A sealed artifact, like Lady Marion's final work, imbued with the creator's intense hatred and fragnt of her soul, was one sort.
Sealed artifacts containing fragnts of a deceased soul were, in a way, more potent. While a sealed artifact was an inanimate object that followed certain predetermined rules regardless of how sinister it was, fragnts of a living being's soul introduced unpredictability and turned the malice more elusive and uncertain.
A dense, smooth, ink-like black energy flowed from Yang Qiu's hand, pouring into the wooden carving.
The distorted laughter, now thunderous, paused for a brief mont.
Then, a high-pitched, explosive roar erupted.
This psychic storm, capable of instantly making countless lose their minds, was confined within the living room of the house, trapped by the "Sacred Confinent" barrier raised by Inspector Lowell.
Yang Qiu withdrew his hand, his eyes widening.
The fragnted soul of Lady Marion, embedded in the carving, was slowly coalescing into its original image under the stimulus of the dark energy he provided
Within seconds, above the coffee table, half of a broken face appeared.
It resembled a cracked painted doll, where only half of the facial features could be barely discerned from the shattered fragnts.
The fragnted soul, barely forming half a face, strained to open its fragnted mouth, emitting a frantic scream.
Lowell expressed his regret, "Too much ti has passed. Lady Marion has little consciousness left."
Yang Qiu frowned at the fragnted soul.
Extracting a soul rged with an external object using dark energy to allow it to rest was a common thod used by black mages to soothe spirits. Back when he was still an apprentice mage, Yang Qiu had seen Lady Marion's works in newspapers bought by his master. Her lifelike wooden carvings had once amazed him
Now, he was rather reluctant to force this lady "to rest" in such a violent manner.
After so thought, Yang Qiu focused his mind and exerted his ntal energy, attempting to place his mind imprint on the fragnted soul.
Lowell understood Yang Qiu's intent and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Yang, are you serious?"
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Yang Qiu reassured.
"You" Lowell started to dissuade Yang Qiu from his reckless act but then rembered that this man could even manipulate eldritch power and bring the essence of the void to this material plane, so he decided to stay silent.
Using eldritch power to suppress the fragnted soul's instinctual aggression and trying to communicate through the imprint matrix was also a viable approach.
What Lowell didn't know was that Yang Qiu actually didn't have to use eldritch power Treating Lady Marion's fragnted soul as an "NPC unit" and dragging it into the imprint matrix to establish a connection posed no risk to him as the core of the matrixotherwise, the ntal corruption from the elder god's tentacle would have dood Yang Qiu long ago.
Still, branding a ntal imprint on an incomplete soul was a challenging task. Even with Lowell's "Sacred Confinent" aiding in the suppression, it still took Yang Qiu nearly 20 minutes to succeed.
After dragging the fragnted soul into the imprint matrix and establishing a ntal link with Yang Qiu as the matrix's core, Lady Marion's fragnted soul ceased its frantic screaming and floated aimlessly in midair. Her strong pre-death obsession turned into fragnted emotional consciousness, flowing into Yang Qiu's ntal domain.
The most prominent sensation Yang Qiu felt was hatred.
This hatred was intense, like a poison-tipped blade, so discomforting it made Yang Qiu frown involuntarily.
Spellcasters, known for their heightened perception, were especially sensitive to strong emotions from both the living and the dead. For Yang Qiu, with his three hundred years of experience as a spellcaster, this level of hatred was significant enough to rank in his top ten.
This starkly contrasted with Yang Qiu's impression of Lady Marion, who was the only woman from the Norsk Federation to gain fa internationally in the past few centuries.
Most Norsk won lacked the opportunity or ans to beco well-known, largely due to the extre male chauvinism of the Storm Church, which denied won any status, let alone allowed them to stand out.
In contrast, the similarly male-dominated Radiant Sun Church, due to its centuries-long developnt of mariti ventures and maintaining ard forces for international competitiveness, indirectly provided won with opportunities to achieve social status through non-combat roles in agriculture and industry.
However, the Storm Church, despite its enthusiasm for overseas colonization, had not developed sufficient industry in the Norsk Federation. Won were still barred from accessing ships, the shipbuilding industry, owning personal property, or defying male family mbersoutdated and oppressive practices.
Capable of showcasing her talent and gaining repute in such a harsh environnt ant that Lady Marion couldn't have been a woman filled with anger and hatred. If she had shown such traits, her reputation would have been severely tarnished.
After so pondering, Yang Qiu asked Lowell, "Wasn't Lady Marion known as a refined and gentle lady?"
"Yes," Lowell confird with a nod. "Everyone who t her spoke highly of her character."
"That ans so external force pushed her to the brink of complete loss of control, changing her nature drastically"
Yang Qiu looked down at the small baby carving in the wooden box, reaching out to pick it up. Lady Marion excelled in portrait carvings, with her works being indistinguishably lifelike regardless of their size.
This carving was of a baby girl.
Yang Qiu realized the tragic truth. "So that's why What else but harm to her child could drive a mother to madness," he sighed.
Lowell was taken aback. "What do you an?"
"I've been to Norsk," Yang Qiu said, gently placing the carving back into the box. "In Norsk, there's an unspeakable custom If the firstborn is a girl, she must be cruelly killed to prevent the mother from failing to produce a male heir."
Lowell was dumbfounded.
"Lady Marion reportedly struggled to conceive for over a decade and finally beca pregnant. Regardless of the child's gender, she must have been overjoyed." Yang Qiu lifted his gaze again to the twisted, fragnted face. "She must have been eager to hear the laughter of her long-awaited child."
"But that's Lady Marion!" Lowell exclaid in disbelief. "Killing her child for such an absurd reason?! Causing her to go insane?!"
"Inspector, have you ever heard of a princess in any of the states of the Norsk Federation?" Yang Qiu posed him a question.
Lowell was on the verge of going insane himself
Yang Qiu stood up, facing the drifting fragnted soul.
Communication through language was impossible with a soul that only existed in fragnts. Thus, he attempted to convey his ssage through the imprint matrix link.
Lady, your hatred towards Norsk is justified.
Your endeavor to kill every Norsk person you could find was also justified.
But re killing is futile. It changes nothing.
Taking away a mothers right to decide her child's fate is not the greatest evil in Norsk
It's just that the wrongs done to won and infants are easily accepted and endured by society, making it the main focus of conflict.
The fragnted soul's hollow eye seed to respond, the darkness within seed to shake.
Why can't a woman, regardless of her talents and ekness, be respected? Why must a harmless female infant be killed?
Because crushing the weakest in society underfoot quickly establishes an "order" that the public accepts.
Those who are trampled upon themselves uphold the feet trampling them, allowing this oppression to be justified.
Anyone who thinks they have the right to trample on others will do so rcilessly.
All of this is wrong.
The fragnted soul's face trembled violently, and tears of blood slowly trickled from its hollow eye socket.
Yang Qiu locked gaze with the single eye of the fragnted soul.
Everything that is wrong must be corrected. Anything that is outdated will inevitably be replaced by the new.
The Norsk Federation, the Storm Church, along with their backward order, will surely be overwheld by the relentless tide.
I promise you, this day will not be far off.
Lowell's mouth fell open.
He hadn't sensed a single trace of magical fluctuation from Yang, yet the presence of Lady Marion's highly potent soul just dissipated into ashes right before his eyes.
"What did you do?" he asked in astonishnt.
"Ah In a mont of impulse, I made a promise that must be fulfilled." Yang Qiu shrugged. "It's hard to control one's emotions when soone you used to admire is right before you."
Lowell: "??"
"What's with that reaction? I recognized this carving as Lady Marion's work at first glance. Is it strange that I admired her?" Yang Qiu said.
Lowell stared at him for a mont, then shrugged.
"Speaking of which, while we've been talking here, Rex is entertaining the young master from the Odysse family," Yang Qiu said as he put away the box with the carving and looked in the direction of the town hall. "This seems to be an opportunity, Lowell. What do you think about seizing Indahl with this chance?"
Lowell, still searching his mory for the familiar-sounding surna "Odysse," nearly fell off his high-backed chair upon hearing the latter part.
"Can't you be a bit more serious?!" he demanded indignantly, barely settling back into his chair.
"I'm being serious, of course, Inspector. It's necessary to be decisive about this matter." Yang Qiu pointed at Lowell. "At the Bartlis', you were Charlie Rex, which doesn't match the Rex that the young master of the Odysse family is eting now. If this is exposed, it would be hard to explain things."
"Wait a minute! So you intentionally dragged into this?!" Lowell was at a loss. "Indahl isn't so remote town like Weisshem. The Church of Lady Golden Coin won't allow you to ss around."
"That's even less of a concern, dear inspector." Yang Qiu grinned. "The Church of Lady Golden Coin has already cooperated with (my undead) before."
Lowell: "??"
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