Chapter 526: Parting Ways
Chapter 526: Parting Ways
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Worshiping one’s ancestors was a solemn affair, though Roel thought that it was a chore.
In the divine hall of Rosa’s Sia Temple, Roel quietly watched the cremation of his ancestors’ remains. Standing slightly behind him were Alicia and Charlotte holding identical black stone urns between their hands.
These black stone urns were specially crafted out of Soulcalming Rocks shipped from the Saint Mesit Theocracy’s northern region. It had always been the Ascarts’ designated coffin material to house the bodies of deceased family members. Any corpses encased in Soulcalming Rocks wouldn’t be reanimated regardless of the changes in the environment.
In the circle of nobility, any embarrassment involving their ancestors was extremely damaging to one’s reputation and prestige. No one would want to see their buried ancestors rising from the grave to bathe in the sun. In that regard, Soulcalming Rock was an ideal material for coffins.
Of course, there was a slight difference this time around since they had opted for cremation over burial.
Roel had inspected the Ardes’ remains retrieved from the Saints Convocation’s base, and he was revulsed to see that they were in the form of blood samples, organs, and body parts—a sign that they were used as experimental material. They were all in poor condition after the passing of a thousand years.
Naturally, it would be unwise to place them in coffins.
Roel had also personally touched the remains, but he didn’t find any lingering fragmented souls. As a result, he was unable to access his ancestors’ memories like the time with the Treant High Priest Orked.
This came as a disappointment to him, though it was within expectations. Veronica’s heart was exceptionally well-preserved only because the Treant High Priest had been nourishing it. These remains might have been from the same era, but there was nothing left in them.
For the very same reason, Roel didn’t feel particularly mournful when dealing with the remains. After a quick discussion with Charlotte, they decided to cremate the remains.
The Saints Convocation wouldn’t stop going after these remains just because they had been buried in the ground. To completely sever whatever hopes the evil cultists harbored regarding the remains, it would be wise to incinerate them in Sia Temple.
Both Alicia and Charlotte had worn white clothes for this ritual to observe the customs of the Genesis Goddess Church. Alicia’s silver hair complemented the white ceremonial dress, making her as eye-catching as the first snow of winter. Charlotte’s auburn hair contrasted against the white ceremonial dress, drawing out a youthful vibe.
The sight of the two ravishing beauties standing side by side was a marvel to behold, but Roel was too busy contemplating other matters to pay them much heed.
The ancestral ritual was an important event for the Ascart House, which was why Charlotte and Alicia had their attention fully focused on it to ensure that nothing went wrong. However, this day happened to have another significance to Roel—it was the day that he made a full recovery.
Roel had been in a weakened state all this while after his grueling battle with Flooding Death. He was unable to use his Crown’s Stone in the meantime, and for some reason, his window with Artasia remained closed.
He didn’t think much into it at the start, figuring that the closed window would be resolved with time whether it was a problem with him or Artasia.
It was not uncommon for the Witch Queen to throw a tantrum, and she would usually get over it in a few days’ time. Roel’s body was also on track to making a full recovery. Relishing in the harmonious atmosphere from having survived the ordeal, he chose to leave the matter be, in hopes that time would sort it out.
However, the problem lasted for longer than he had expected.
A week had passed since he re-established his windows with Grandar and Peytra, but there was still no news from Artasia whatsoever.
On this day of the ancestral ritual, Roel had finally made a full recovery, allowing him to use his Crown’s Stones as usual. Yet, there was still no news from the Witch Queen. This perplexing situation was starting to unnerve him.
The contracts forged through the Ascart Bloodline couldn’t be easily circumvented through other means. The ancient gods that Roel had contracted with were actually long dead, and they were only being anchored to the present era through him. The same applied to Artasia too.
Just like how an unanchored boat would drift away from the shore and disappear in the vast ocean, if Artasia lost contact with Roel for too long, there was a chance that their contract would be nullified, sending her back to the land of dead in accordance with the rules of the world.
It could be possible that the Witch Queen was scheming something, but the dissolution of their contract was fully disadvantageous to her. Based on Roel’s understanding of her, she wouldn’t do something as foolish as that.
If the Witch Queen isn’t doing this on her own accord, is she restricted by some force?
With his eyes fixated on the raging inferno before him, Roel sieved through the possibilities with a tight frown. A bell chimed and a chorale began singing to the accompaniment of an orchestra, but he still had no clue what the cause could have been.
“Darling, is anything the matter?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Sensing that something was off about Roel’s mood, Charlotte turned to him and concernedly asked during a breather in the ritual.
Not wanting to worry her, Roel shook his head and replied with a smile, feigning that everything was fine. He heaved a sigh in his heart and pulled his attention back to the ritual.
He was simply too lacking in intelligence to figure out anything concrete. Conjectures had to be built on facts for them to be meaningful. He would have to first gather information on the situation before he could figure out a solution.
Besides, there was something much more urgent that he had to deal with at the moment.
By the time the chorale came to an end, the Ardes’ remains had been reduced to ashes and their blood vaporized. Alicia and Charlotte stepped forward to lay down the stone urns before returning to their respective positions.
Roel solemnly walked up and meticulously swept every last bit of the ashes into stone urns.
Once he was done transferring the ashes, Alicia and Charlotte stepped forward once more and fulfilled the wife’s duty of sealing the stone urns.
Applause broke out from the crowd, and the two ladies respectfully bowed to the crowd with the stone urns in their arms. Their courtesy won them yet another round of applause.
Roel heaved a sigh of relief as he quietly thanked the ancestors for helping him overcome this ordeal.
The fight between Alicia and Charlotte had been so intense that Roel was forced to make an exception and allow the two of them to attend the ancestral ritual. He thought that the problem should be settled with that…
Boy was I wrong.
The final stage of the ancestral ritual required two individuals to work together, with one transferring the corpse and the other sealing the coffin. This responsibility was usually entrusted to a married couple amongst the deceased’s offspring.
With Roel being the one transferring the ashes, the job of sealing the urn naturally became a point of contention for Alicia and Charlotte, with neither willing to budge on the matter. To them, attending the ancestral ritual but not sealing the urn was as good as being publicly cuckolded. They would rather not attend the ancestral ritual if that was the case.
Upon realizing the nuances involved here, Roel quickly felt a headache settling in. This matter shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but now that he was put in a position where he had to choose between the two of them, he felt as if the world was telling him to pick his poison.
While he was in a dilemma, Andrew Mara suddenly said something that cleared the dark clouds before his eyes.
“Based on what we have gathered, the remains and the blood samples belong to two individuals…”
“!”
Worried that it would upset Roel, Andrew delivered the news with a careful tone.
What he saw instead was Roel’s expression slowly turning weird. Moments later, the latter suddenly clasped his hands together and bowed to the sky and the earth, almost as if he was thanking his ancestors for their grace.
This miraculous turn of events allowed him to involve both Alicia and Charlotte in the ancestral ritual, thus sparing him from the frightening two-choose-one ordeal.
The two stone urns were delivered onto the carriage, and the ancestral ritual finally came to an end. WIth that, Roel had finally accomplished all of his tasks in Rosa.
…
“Darling, do you really have to leave that quickly? Is Uncle Carter…”
“Mmhm, my father will be returning home very soon. I apologize for not being able to spend New Year’s Day with you, Charlotte. Are you disappointed?”
“Of course not! Such things aren’t important. It’ll be hard for us to welcome the New Year together anyway considering our responsibilities…”
Charlotte waved her hand to express that she wasn’t disappointed by that. Roel nodded his head in agreement with her.
Such was the woe of those in a position of power.
Even if the two of them got together in the future, it was likely that they would spend more time separated than together. At the thought of that, Charlotte’s smile slowly faded as she fell silent.
Taking in her reaction, Roel looked out of the window contemplatively
“I’ll be spending New Year’s Day in the Ascart Fiefdom, but I might be able to drop by afterward. There’s still some time before spring anyway. Otherwise, you can visit the Ascart Fiefdom too…” Roel carefully proposed the idea.
“…”
Charlotte didn’t respond right away.
With a mind as sharp as hers, how could she be oblivious to Roel’s true intent?
He was inviting her to the Ascart Fiefdom not just to meet him but his father, Carter, as well. Meaning to say, he wanted to help her win Carter’s acknowledgment.
Her initial plan was to force Carter to acknowledge her by bearing Roel’s child, but her constitution made it hard to realize that plan in the short term. That left them with no choice but to confront this issue face-on.
“Charlotte, I know that you feel uneasy about this, but you don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll make sure to properly explain things to my father,” Roel said as he looked at her with serious golden eyes.
“Darling…”
Touched by his gesture, Charlotte stared at him for a long while before finally nodding with a blush.
She had always believed that the worst thing a merchant could do was to step onto the bargaining table without any chips in hand. Even so, she wanted to put her trust in Roel. What existed between them wasn’t cold-hard profits but impassioned love.
She promised to find some time after New Year’s Day to visit the Ascart Fiefdom and explain things to Carter.
With that, Roel finally reluctantly bade his farewell. Charlotte nodded and escorted him to the city gates, with Bruce and Rosa’s upper echelon accompanying them.
Roel was indubitably a hero of humankind after his astounding feat of defeating Flooding Death. The poor interconnectivity of this world meant that it would take some time before the news of Roel’s feats went around, but it was already public knowledge within Rosa.
It was a basic courtesy for them to escort such a figure when he was leaving their city, not to mention that he was Charlotte’s savior on top of that.
Under Charlotte’s watch, the Ascarts’ carriage slowly departed from Rosa City and advanced into the distance under the setting sun. Roel also looked back at the gradually shrinking city behind him, and he found himself overwhelmed with emotions.
The time he had spent with Charlotte was fraught with danger and difficulties, but through their strength and mutual trust, they overcame this crisis and eliminated one of their key enemies.
His triumph over Flooding Death had built up his reputation and given him an invaluable insight into the Six Calamities. On top of that, he obtained a Crown’s Stone and was now incredibly close to reaching Origin Level 2.
However, he thought that his biggest gain in the battle was none other than Charlotte’s survival. Everything else was secondary compared to it. It was just a pity that they had to part ways to fulfill their respective responsibilities afterward, especially in this tumultuous era.
It was only after Rosa City faded into the night sky that he finally retracted his gaze. He glanced sideward and saw Alicia smiling at him. Ahead of him was a familiar land awaiting his return.
Am I finally going to return home?
Thinking about all of the hardships he had been through in recent months, Roel breathed a sigh of relief. Little did he know that a scheme was unfolding in the distant northern region of the Austine Empire.