Chapter 247 Halton Rothermere
"Unforgivable Sinners..."
Basil looked at the sign attached to one of the racks in front of him. It only took his eyes a few seconds to register everything in the racks, and his eyes landed on a particular section of the rack afterwards.
[Halton Rothermere]
There were a few journals on that particular section of the rack, and Basil couldn't help humming in curiosity as he wondered about what would be in the content of the journals. As curiosity took over him, he moved his feet towards said section.
Badump. Badump.
His heart pounded as he was getting closer to the particular section for some reason, and he couldn't help but wonder what he was anticipating. When he arrived in front of said section, he immediately took one of the journals in the section.
[Life Records]
He flipped open the journal immediately, and was greeted with a photograph of handsome man in his early thirties. Even without reading the caption written below the photograph, he knew it was his father—Halton Rothermere.
A short brown hair, a handsome manly face with an angular jaw, dark brown eyes, and a muscular stature—the resemblance between the man and Basil was too apparent to be ignored. Even Iliana, who was also reading the journal beside him, could deduce the man was Basil's father.
[He was a respectable man who was loved by his subordinates and his friends. He was a reliable man who was depended on by everyone, even his people. One might ask a hundred person who he was, and their answer would be the same—a good man.]
As Basil read the introductory of the journal, he mused about how similar his father acted as how he looked. He had known his father was an honest man the moment he saw his father's eyes in the photograph; they spoke no deceit.
Basil was actually quite surprised how the journal was composed as he had never visited Arthan Library even once in his past life. He never knew something like this existed, so he also didn't know what the content of the journal would be.
[Halton Rothermere was born in an ordinary family. His father and mother weren't Mages nor were they Knights. He was basically the light of hope of the family the moment his family figured out that he was blessed with the capability to be a Mage.]
As Basil flipped the next page, he could read about the childhood of his father; he found out that his father had been an honest individual since he was a child. He was so engrossed in reading it, he didn't even mind Iliana in the least bit.
The more Basil read the more he understood where he got his naivety from. He knew such such a thing wasn't hereditary, but he couldn't help musing about that thought considering how similar his youth in the past life, and his father's.
Like him, his father had also been backstabbed countless of times, before he eventually learned of his mistake of believing just everyone. His father quickly rose in fame afterwards, and was given a Noble title when he became a Fourth Circle Mage at the age of 28.
Although compared to Basil, his father's talent was not much, according to Braxtein Kingdom's standard, his father was considered a talented individual. After all, many people were stuck in the Lower Realm even after they passed their thirties.
Being a bibliophile, it didn't take Basil long until he reached the last chapter of the journal. He had glossed over the chapter that talked about his father's achievement—he didn't care about it—as he was more interested with the last chapter.
"The First and Last Sin ... It seems like something the Church would write," Iliana commented as she read the title of the chapter.
"It doesn't take a genius to conclude that the Church was behind all of this."
Basil lightly snorted in disdain as he recalled about the other ridiculous things the Church had done in his past life. He had also been a victim, so he could relate to what had happened to his father.
[Somewhere in the Beyond, Third Month, 1995 ACE.]
[It was the time when Halton Rothermere met his first life-threatening predicament, and his "love of life." By the order of the King, he went to the Monsters infested area, but got heavily injured in the way.]
[He was lucky his life was saved by someone who he would wed in the future, but unfortunately, he was doomed forever as he encountered the wrong person ... A vile Witch, who did everything she could to brainwash him, Maya Pacifer.]
Iliana immediately clicked her tongue loudly as she read that particular part, as she couldn't hold her dissatisfaction back. An unknown irresponsible jerk had just written something untrue about her mentor, so it was hard to not feel offended.
Basil, of course, had fully expected something like this would be written in the book, so he wasn't fazed at the outrageous things the author of the journal claimed his mother had done to his father.
Still though, the length the author went to tarnish his mother's name was equally irritating and admirable. The author seemed to be a professional propagandist, as he was successful in painting his mother in such a bad light, it looked believable.
[The Church decided to bless Halton Rothermere's soul with mercy, so his sin of mingling with a heretic was forgiven the moment he was executed. Followed by that, five years later, the Witch, Maya Pacifer, was also executed ... The sinner's way.]
[As the sin Halton Rothermere committed was too big for the King to let his name remain in the history of Braxtein Kingdom however, any record about him was destroyed...]
The journal ended with the Church's effort of hunting his father's descendant, him, who had been "bestowed" the title of The Cursed Child. His parents' effort in hiding his identity was successful, as it was clear that the author of the journal didn't know anything about him.
The Church also seemed to not know whether his father's descendant was a boy or a girl, but he believed the Church was still assuming his father's descendant was a girl, considering the nature of Pacifer Clan.
They believed it was impossible for any woman of Pacifer Clan to bear a male child, therefore they would never think he was his father's son, even though he attached Pacifer to his name.
The moment the Church was sure he was the descendant of Halton Rothermere, a male child born in Pacifer Clan, would be the day where he would truly go against the Church and the Empire that was secretly controlled by the Church.
Since he knew the people of the Church were an ignorant bunch, he was sure it would still be a long time until they accepted the prophecy of the Fated Child. Therefore, they wouldn't consider him a Pacifer until that day came.
He could easily reveal the Pacifer Seal on his forehead to prove his identity as a Pacifer, but he wasn't that stupid to do that foolish act.
Tak!
As Basil put the journal back to its place, he took another journal that was titled "The Execution." He had expected to be greeted with words describing about the day of his father's execution, but he was met with the gruesome photographs of the day instead.
[Ding!]
[A piece of history is detected ... Initiating Visualization! Target: Supreme Court, 1998 ACE...]
Basil didn't request the activation of [Visualization] to the Guide, but it had instantly reacted to the photographs inside the journal the moment he looked at them intently. His vision immediately warped, and in the next moment, he was looking at a different place.
It was a grandiose room, which he could admit was grandiose enough to amaze him. The room was colored entirely in white, with a couple of golden ornaments on the ceiling.
There was a long majestic table occupying nearly a half of the west side of the vast room, and empty seats on the north and south side of the room.
There was a completely injured man kneeling in the center of the room slightly away from the long table. He was facing the people at the table, while constantly pressing his largest wound to prevent his blood from coming out.
The people who sat themselves at the long table were covered in white—even their face was well hidden beneath their veil. All of them were looking at the lone man in the middle of the room judgingly.
"Viscount Halton Rothermere, or should I say, the Demon Advocate Halton? You may be forgiven of your crime, if you—"
"I AM NOT A FUCKING DEMON ADVOCATE!!!"
"Calm down, Halton. Retaliating here will further worsen our judgement about you. We know you are not a Demon Advocate, but your relationship with the Maha Dmitra Maya Pacifer is enough to make anyone think you as one."
"Don't make me laugh ... Anyone? Did you mean the Church? Fucking hypocrite!"
Basil slightly blinked his eyes at his father's rather wild behaviour as he didn't expect his kind looking father would speak that vulgarly. However still, he was more surprised of the fact that he could not actually visualize the event, but also hear everything.
"Tell us about your child and wife's whereabouts, and you will be freed of any consequences ... You will still be punished, but your life is more important than that Maha Dmitra's and her Cursed Child, don't you think so?"
At the words of one of the people in white sitting at the table, Halton laughed lowly in amusement. He knew that the people were telling him to kill his wife and his child the moment he handed them over.
"Do you really think I will hand over my priceless treasures to you? Dream on, bitch! I, Halton Rothermere, will die protecting my family and my belief. Curse you, and your nonsensical Gods!"
Silence greeted Halton, until one of the people opened his mouth a few seconds after. "Your wish is granted. You will die as Halton Rothermere, and your wife, Maha Dmitra Maya Pacifer, will join you soon."
"Don't you dare motherfu—"
Slash!
It was just a flash—even Basil, who had been properly watching the entire scene, could only see a light hitting his father's neck, before his father's head fell to the ground. He didn't know who had done it, but he knew the culprit wasn't amongst the judges.
Ignoring his father's headless body, the judges slowly stood up one by one, before leaving the room.
Basil's vision also started to warp, but in a split second, he could see the face of one of the judges who, for some reason, had opened his veil. His eyes glinted coldly, as he figured he knew who the person was.