The black sun hangs high

Chapter 440 "Let It Go"

"Something important?"

Hearing Felix's words, Mayer raised an eyebrow: "Alright, Felix, keeping people in suspense late at night isn't a good habit... What exactly did you find?"

Upon hearing Mayer's question, Felix turned around and nodded to the elven mage standing beside him.

The latter immediately stepped forward, carefully and quickly inspected the room, and after confirming that the rituals used for protection and isolation were functioning properly, he turned back to the door and took a long wooden box.

Meyer recognized the wooden box.

In the military, these long wooden boxes are often used to store and preserve precision firearms. The wooden box in front of Mayer had obviously been temporarily modified. He saw special patterns engraved with magic silver on the box, which indicated that the contents inside were likely to be magical.

After obtaining permission from Felix and Mayer, the elven mage opened the wooden box and took out the items inside.

It was a slender, cylindrical object, wrapped in layers of clean velvet.

The elven mage reached out and untied the velvet cloth. His movements were slow and extremely careful. After he removed all the cloth, a rather unusual-looking metal staff came into view of Mayer and Felix.

Almost instantly, Mayer recognized the cane.

He remembered that for a long time, Hugh always carried this cane with him.

According to Hugh himself, the cane has a very special meaning for the Black Sun Society and for him personally. In a sense, the cane itself carries a part of the authority within the Black Sun Society.

However, now, the surface of this cane has some peculiar details that are quite different from before.

The cane, which should have been intact and smooth, now has many scratches and damage. In the middle part, there are even several rather terrible scratches. What's even stranger is that under the light of the desk lamp, a strange color that keeps changing and flowing is faintly visible. It surrounds the surface of the cane and jumps over the terrible scratches like water.

This is reminiscent of soft ribbons.

Blue ribbon.

"This is Mr. Hugh's walking stick."

Felix said in a deep voice, "Based on the intelligence we have, this cane was most likely lost by him during the fierce battle that night... and after that night, the Black Sun Society found the cane and used it as proof of their 'elimination of an important enemy'."

Mayer frowned. "If that's the case, they should have moved the cane to the back in time, or even put it on a traveling exhibition, instead of letting it remain there until now."

"Yes, Professor, I am also very confused."

Felix nodded: "Based on our initial assessment, most of the Black Sun Society mages who carried this staff and were preparing to move out of the city were engaged in magical research within the Black Sun Society. Therefore, I suspect that there may be some signs on this staff that are beyond the Black Sun Society's expectations... well, anyway, they did not choose to move it immediately or destroy it, but instead delayed it until now."

Mayer nodded, then looked at the elven mage beside him: "Advisor Hetra, Felix and I are both novices when it comes to magic. You are the professional, and I would like to hear your opinion."

The elven mage Hetra stepped forward, carefully examining the other metal staff. He then took out his spellbook, tore out several pages, and quickly set up various special rituals in the room specifically for identifying magical objects.

After a while, Advisor Hetra finished observing the cane. He looked up and said to Mayer and the other man, "I'm sorry, gentlemen... with my personal abilities and the current conditions, I'm afraid I'm not able to conduct a sufficiently detailed analysis of this cane. However, I have indeed made some discoveries."

He borrowed a slender pen from Mayer and pointed at the cane: "This cane is made of a very special material. It is not ordinary steel, nor is it the kind of magical alloy mixed with a small amount of stun silver... The only thing I am sure of is that this cane is a natural magical medium. Magic does not suffer any loss when it passes through its interior, and it can even further stabilize its own structure. This is probably one of the main reasons why Mr. Ernst chose to use it as a weapon."

Then, the consultant in the helm moved the pen in his hand to the rather gruesome wounds: "These wounds were not caused by brute force from the outside, but by some kind of magical impact and damage... If I had to describe it, it might be closer to the magical explosion caused by a crystal cannonball, and it is actually more concentrated than a magical explosion."

Felix was now very quick to grasp these kinds of questions. He carefully examined the marks on his cane and found that they actually looked more like claw marks from some kind of animal. So he asked, "Could we interpret this as some kind of powerful, lethal magic?"

"Yes, but not entirely accurate."

The consultant, Hetra, corrected, “The reason I mentioned the word ‘brute force’ earlier is because I didn’t detect any obvious magical model residue in this wound…which means that the wound was most likely caused by a pure and direct external force.”

"Pure and direct external force?"

Mayer seemed to realize something, and he pointed out the window: "Isn't it just like those 'claw marks' in this city?"

"Yes, they are quite similar."

When the word "claw marks" was mentioned, the elven mage advisor's expression visibly trembled. As a spellcaster who valued logic and reason, he was truly reluctant to talk about such horrific marks in Watchtower.

However, these traces are objectively real, and no spellcaster who steps into this city can avoid them.

They had to realize that just a month ago, a terrifying "beast" beyond the framework of Vaan's existing magical theories descended upon the city. With just two swings of its claws, it created a crack that pierced through the entire Watchtower, instantly vaporizing countless residents, soldiers, and spellcasters.

What made it even harder for the mages like Hetra to accept was that on that very night, the original owner of the staff before them, that incredibly young legendary figure, had actually single-handedly confronted this terrifying monster head-on... In any case, there was no way to dwell on such things; once one became immersed in them, it was easy to start questioning everything one had learned and mastered.

However, as a member of the Dawnblade, Advisor Hetra was forced to confront the traces left by Hugh Ernst, and the more he touched them, the more shocked and powerless he felt.

And now, this cane in front of us has become yet another testament to Hugh Ernst's amazing deeds.

After controlling his emotions, the elven advisor said seriously, "The material of this staff alone is probably not enough to withstand that... well, abnormal power."

He gently twirled the ink pen in his hand, tracing the flowing light and shadow on the surface of the cane, and said, "You two should be able to see it too, right? This is magic, highly condensed, concentrated, and extremely pure magic... To be honest, it's even more tempting than the most expensive and rarest crystal minerals in the world."

"So you mean it was this magic that allowed Mr. Ernst to fight that monster?"

"Perhaps, I'm not sure, after all, it hasn't been thoroughly verified yet."

The elven mage looked at Felix beside him: "On that night, many people saw the 'miracle' that happened in the center of the city, especially the people of the city. They called the scene 'Mel's Footprints' or 'The Breath of the Sea of ​​Sinar'."

"um, yes."

At this point, Felix couldn't help but shake his head.

Even now, he can still recall the pious expressions on the faces of the residents of Watchtower when they spoke of this miracle.

After that night, every single survivor in the city spontaneously became Mel's most devout follower. Many of those who had previously chosen to follow the Black Sun Society also changed their minds after witnessing the azure miracle that resembled a waterfall from the sky.

Nowadays, the residents of this city, which has experienced both disaster and miracle, are even more devout to the goddess Mel than the residents of Merlinle.

Compared to that exaggerated and spectacular sight, the name Hugh Ernst seemed insignificant. Even though the name itself carried a legendary quality, no one in the city could accurately recount or prove what Hugh did that night.

This situation left Felix feeling quite saddened.

"Gentlemen, it is obvious that this cane is the weapon used by Hugh Ernst himself... and even now, there are still many traces left over from that night on this cane. Although I cannot believe that such a level of magic would appear on the cane used by a young mage, in any case, this should prove the important role Mr. Ernst played that night."

Hearing this, Mayer, who hadn't said much until now, nodded.

He returned to the chair behind his desk, slowly sat down, and then looked seriously at the elven advisor and Felix in front of him: "What is the Legal Committee's view on this matter? I mean, on 'Mel's Miracle'."

Felix quickly replied: "Up until now, Merlinle and others have been tirelessly promoting this matter... Of course, they mainly emphasize the punishment of the goddess Merlinle for the destroyers of Vaan and those who blaspheme against the gods."

As he spoke, Felix patted the wooden box containing the metal cane: "On this matter, Merlinler is clearly reluctant to mention the Dawn Society, let alone Hugh. Of course, there are also significant internal disagreements among them now."

He looked at Meyer intently: "Professor, the Sword of Dawn and the Sword of the Law Council are currently cooperating very closely, especially the Sword Hermitage. Some of their hermits and mages are deeply involved, which involves the cultivation and training of newcomers as well as the transcription and encryption of some secret intelligence. Therefore, once this matter enters the process, it will probably be reported to the Law Council immediately."

"You don't want the Legislative Affairs Commission to get involved in this matter?"

"At least at this stage, I am against it."

Felix looked very serious: "Firstly, if the Legal Committee takes over this matter, they will most likely not change their original strategy. They may even describe Mr. Hugh as the messenger of the goddess Mel on the basis of the previous propaganda. This is not good for him or for the Dawn Society."

"Secondly, within Merlinler and within the organization, a considerable number of people have been pushing the Legal Committee to strengthen its control over us. They have become noticeably more active since we entered Watchtower City, which contradicts the Dawn Society's original intentions. If they find out about this, the impact in this regard will inevitably become even stronger..."

After stating his point of view, Felix breathed a sigh of relief: "Therefore, I hope to hold off on the interrogation results of this cane and those Black Sun Society members for now, and make further assessments and preparations."

“Alright, Felix, you make the decision.”

Meyer said, "But don't forget one thing: at this stage, cooperation within Vaan is very important. Sometimes, we will have to weigh the relationship between our own ideas and long-term goals. You are a pragmatic person, so you should understand what I mean."

"I understand, Professor."

Felix nodded emphatically: "I understand."

Seeing Felix's expression, Mayer couldn't help but laugh: "Alright, it's not a serious matter, there's no need to act like this... You two have been standing for quite a while, sit down first, I actually have some questions to ask you."

The two sat down one after the other, and Mayer brought out a kettle and cups. While pouring water, he asked, "I heard that the work of appeasing and relocating the residents in the city has not been going well these past two days?"

"Yes, after the previous war and the rule of the Black Sun Society, the city's residents have clearly lost their trust in outsiders."

Felix took a glass of water from Mayer, took a couple of sips, and said, “We have specifically mobilized the Miners’ Legion and recruited a lot of volunteers, but after personally experiencing that ‘miracle,’ many people have come to believe that this place has become a place favored by the gods, and that if they leave, they would be going against the will of the gods… They are unwilling to listen to anything we say.”

(End of this chapter)