above the sky

Chapter 871 The Mystery of the Sun Royal Family (5800)

"I never thought that the second prince would be so shy when he was young, but the eldest princess would be so shy."

Ian raised his eyebrows. He had a vague guess in his mind, but he didn't dare to confirm it: "It's just that things will change when you grow up. When you are young, you are not good at speaking, but it is normal to suddenly become talkative when you grow up."

"As for Your Majesty... after experiencing the turmoil in the dark moon, I'm not surprised what he looks like. It's better to say..."

After a slight pause, Ian said softly, "I think he's doing well now."

"Ah."

The Marquis of Barton nodded slightly. He didn't comment on Ian's words, but said dryly: "You are right, everything is normal—except for me."

'Except for me who have watched the growth of the princes and daughters since I was a child, and even often took pictures of them. "

Taking a deep breath, the Marquis of Barton said in a deep voice: "Ian, you are a prophet, and you have passed all my tests, which proves that you are also an excellent sublimator."

"you are crazy."

"So you must understand that all the powerful sublimators on this land are lunatics."

"And the Setar royal family... is one of the craziest group of people."

"Yes, you are right. People will change when they grow up. The happy family in the past will fight each other, the second prince who was shy and timid in the past will become brave and resolute, and the eldest princess who had social anxiety may also change. Become the Iron-Blooded Valkyrie."

"But Ian, what if I told you that all these changes took only one month?"

Ian was silent.

Ever since he knew that the Marquis of Barton actually had the childhood photos of Axel and the princes and daughters, Ian knew that he had misjudged the importance of the Marquis of Barton.

Obviously, the Marquis of Barton back then was definitely Axel's confidant, and he was even the kind of "knight" or "personal entourage" who followed by his side and had no official position but lived together.

And the other party has a very deep understanding of the princes.

"The eldest prince, Carlos, was born during the time when His Majesty was still training in the Eastern Territory before he ascended the throne."

The Marquis of Barton calmly talked about some secrets that only he and the person involved knew: "As you can see, the First Prince is a cheerful and scheming person, but he doesn't mind showing sincerity to the people he likes—— This kind of personality is the most common character of the Setar royal family, and it is also a proof of healthy growth."

"As for the other princes and princesses, there are more or less personality problems."

"But in fact, the eldest prince is not like His Majesty, and other flawed princes and princesses are more similar."

Sitting on his armchair, the Marquis of Baton looked at Ian with golden green eyes, and he calmly said: "Because their personalities are partly similar to 'His Majesty Axel' when he was young."

"what?"

Hearing this, Ian was stunned: "My lord, what do you mean..."

"Correct."

The Marquis of Barton said: "His Majesty Axel was an autistic, socially fearful, shy boy with a little nervousness. He liked climbing mountains more than chatting with people, and he liked riding horses more than men and women. , so we old buddies can communicate with him normally.”

"Because of this, His Majesty was never regarded as a contender for the 'Heir Prince' at all, and was not regarded as a threat even if he held a large military power in the Eastern Territory."

"It's just that one day, after His Majesty went to the imperial capital to report his duties, he came back with a determined look on his face."

"He told me..."

"'Barton, I want to change myself. I know very well that my character is greedy for peace and pleasure, and I just want to be outside the core of power and be an ordinary prince.'"

"'But I knew that I couldn't live under the wing of my father and teachers all my life...I had to become stronger and more determined.'"

"'I must be a beacon for others.'"

The Marquis of Barton said slowly: "How could I refuse at that time? I was the one who most hoped that my lord could become stronger. I told him without hesitation at that time that I supported all his actions. If he wanted to If he wants to change, I will change with him.”

"No matter what he wants to do, I will be his most loyal left and right arm."

"Then, Your Majesty changed."

"He has become decisive, resolute, ruthless, has the majesty and responsibility of an emperor, and has not lost his tenderness as a husband and father. His Majesty Axel has become the perfect emperor candidate in my heart."

"Then……"

The old man closed his eyes, and sighed, "It's the Anyue turmoil."

"It's written in the history books of the Great Library, Ian, you must know that... the Dark Moon turmoil destroyed almost all the inherent power structures of the empire. It is not enough for His Majesty to move his entire eastern border team here, and those who must be activated 'Ordinary people' with no aristocratic heritage."

"Your Majesty defeated all his brothers and sisters, and resolved all the nobles and royal blood who intend to harm the empire, betray the empire, and hinder the improvement of the empire."

"Your Majesty has done a great job, so good that it's unbelievable, so good that it doesn't look like him."

"Instead, it's a bit like...our pioneer emperor."

"The late emperor Inaiga II."

Speaking of this, the Marquis of Barton also paused for a while. After a while, he shook his head and said: "Since then, strange events have happened one after another."

"The second prince and the eldest princess, whose personality was similar to His Majesty's when he was young, have gradually changed in personality, becoming resolute and brave, assertive and no longer socially fearful, each of them can speak well."

"Now, do you understand why I feel weird?"

Ian was silent.

He now not only knew why Barton wanted to tell him these things, but even knew why the Marquis of Barton looked at him differently from the very beginning.

Because, he is a descendant of the Cehalorvo family, and he is the inheritor of ancient relic research experts.

He is a descendant of the discoverer of the 'Law of Immortality', a descendant of the 'Echo Digger'.

"what do you mean……"

Gathering his mind, Ian said in a deep voice, "It's an echo..."

The Marquis of Barton looked sideways at Ian.

"You really know the law of eternal life."

He shook his head: "But it's not something as simple as an echo, Ian... something like an echo can be easily identified, because the soul structure is easily degraded. As a method of immortality, it is not qualified at all."

"And the late emperor... Ian, you didn't really live in the same era as the late emperor. If you lived, you would know that he would never touch such taboos."

"However, I also have to say that before the Dark Moon Rebellion, the first emperor did have a very strange change... One of the reasons why the Crown Prince launched the Dark Moon Rebellion was that Inaiga II had been possessed by an ancient evil. It's really convincing."

"I even suspect that the evil possessed by Inaiga II was transferred to His Majesty Axel, and then part of it was transferred to the princes and daughters."

The Marquis of Barton took back the photo in his hand and put it in a drawer. His tone was bleak: "Of course, I also know that even as a guess, this kind of guess is too incredible, even unbelievable."

"But I really can't find any reason for this phenomenon."

——The reason why Inaiga II became weird is probably because of the silver chip and despair of Terra's situation, and it has nothing to do with evil spirits.

Cursed in his heart, Ian nodded slowly: "These are all your guesses."

"And the second prince also noticed that something was wrong, so you will cooperate."

"As for the eldest prince Carlos, he is the most normal one—indeed, he is indeed the one who looks the most affectionate among all the princes and daughters..."

After all, not any prince can easily shout 'Dad, save me! 'This kind of words, it is obvious that he really treats himself as a son and treats his father as a father.

In the royal family, this kind of thing is quite rare.

Ian now understood what the Marquis of Barton was thinking.

As one of Axel's most trusted people back then, even his childhood playmate and squire when he was young, the Marquis of Barton witnessed the strange changes in Axel's and his family's personalities.

Axel has grown from an introverted and autistic mountaineering enthusiast to today's iron-blooded emperor... It's not impossible, but it's too abrupt.

Similarly, the second prince and the eldest princess also had this sudden change, with a clear sense of abnormality.

even……

Ian suddenly thought of the emperor's eldest grandson 'Aina Setar'.

The other party's positive energy, which is almost like a saint's character, is indeed completely different from the royal children in common people's perception.

It's fine if he was born this way, but what if Aina's personality also changed for some reason?

Ian thought of Isengarde again.

At the beginning, Ian felt that Axel wanted to use the blood of Isengard's "Light-refining Dragon" to seize and reincarnate—but the possibility of this later gradually decreased, and it became a grand task A part of it is related to the beast of a thousand stars or the whole of Terra.

But he did remind Isengard's mother, Aphrina Setar, through this.

And Afrina also reminded her elder brother, the second prince Mikael.

Because his wife also has a bloodline similar to that of the Lightning Erosion Dragon, Mikael, who already had a daughter, naturally attached great importance to this...and found the Marquis of Barton.

As soon as the intelligence of the two parties was combined, both parties immediately woke up and noticed the strange personality change in themselves.

As Ian said, when a person grows up, personality changes are natural, but if the personality change is very abrupt and rapid, even if you don’t feel it at first, you will notice something is wrong when you mention it later.

However, the Marquis of Barton himself couldn't guess what happened to the Setar royal family—is it the curse of the throne?Or the influence of the blood of the sun god bird?Or is it really a sequela caused by some kind of immortality, or even... an ancient evil spirit?

It is precisely because the Marquis of Baton is completely unclear about these things that he mentioned it to Ian today, intending to get some news from him, a descendant of the Ciehalorvo family.

But it's a pity.

Ian didn't know either.

It's not an echo, and it's most likely not a curse of the throne or an ancient evil spirit, so what's left may be the blood of the sun bird.

But this is the most unlikely - the blood curse of the Sun God Bird is unlikely to be a character that is theoretically an 'advantage'.

Moreover, according to the Marquis of Barton, the personality change that happened to Axel is likely to be a kind of transformation that he himself voluntarily carried out.

"Soul transformation?"

Having just obtained this technology from 'Swarm Ian', Ian couldn't help but have this word in his mind: "Could it be that Axel carried out a comprehensive soul transformation on himself?"

If it was the original Ian, he would not believe in the so-called coincidence.

But Ian, who already knew the truth about the psychic power of his guiding star, began to believe that all the coincidences were deliberate.

Not to mention, this guess is actually quite reasonable.

At this moment, Ian even remembered that he had seen a 'learning machine' in the depths of the South China Sea Maze back then.

Although this learning machine was soon destroyed by Patrick, it is obvious that there is more than one learning machine that is enough to carry out the 'Echo Transformation'.

It may have many units, and it has long been obtained by such a powerful force as the empire, and then turned into a prototype of some kind of transformation surgery.

For example, soul transformation, the prototype of the soul seal.

"Axel wanted to change himself, and imposed some superior soul stamps on himself, just like the soul stamps of the swarm path will make everyone optimistic and positive, and cannot be knocked down by failures and disasters, Axel Kessel is likely to make himself more iron-blooded and courageous, more decisive and resolute."

Ian murmured in his heart: "But, what is the personality change of the prince and princess? Did he also carry out the soul stamp transformation on his own child? This kind of thing is not voluntary cooperation, or it is a mandatory change for the swarm to sub-body. Deceitful soul transformation is basically impossible to succeed..."

"Besides, if Aina's character is also derived in this way...then why did Axel make related plans?"

Although he knew a little more than the Marquis of Barton, Ian couldn't say that he had found the truth.

Especially Ian knew that Axel had carried out an unknown number of unknown experiments behind his back.

The resurrection of the Gnostic Academy, the artificial psyker... the artificial soul of the Avak laboratory, the dead king, the nameless savior and the blood river armed forces... the black key and the pure white Babel...

Too much too much.

If the answer could be obtained so simply, Ian would feel something was wrong—there are too many demented people in Terra, and Axel, as the strongest group among them, cannot just do such a simple thing.

It is absolutely impossible to just transform the soul into a technology of the soul stamp level. His real purpose is definitely crazier than Ian imagined.

"What do you want me to do?"

Taking a deep breath and calming down, Ian and the Marquis of Barton looked at each other: "Tell me these extremely dangerous confidential information, and I know why you support me so much-this is my compensation and reward."

"But why do you have to tell me? You are obviously not sure whether I know the Cechalolvo family's law of eternal life!"

"Because you have to know."

The Marquis of Barton sneered, and he said solemnly: "Who do you think you are now? Ian? You are the Prophet, my heir, and the future governor of Nanling——you are the Earl of Silver Peak, the elf's new fifth-level powerhouse in the future friend of the demon, friend of the goblin, guest of Dragon Island."

"You are one of the most talented people in the empire, and you are also the favorite of the First Prince, Second Prince, First Princess, and even Princess Afurina... Your conditions are much better than mine, except for you, Who can get relevant news from all the key princes and princesses at the same time?"

"You said you didn't want to know? As smart as you are, you must be very clear. All these news are closely related to His Majesty the Emperor. If you know, you may be able to avoid it. If you don't know, you may violate the taboo someday." Die—would you want to know?"

"...Of course not." Ian closed his eyes, and then laughed: "Indeed, I want to thank you, Marquis of Barton."

"Your reminder is very useful... If I want to get deeply involved in matters related to the empire in the future, I need to know all of this information."

"but."

Opening his eyes, Ian looked at the old man, and he said word by word: "You still have something to hide. This is not your real goal."

"Hmph, let's not talk about you? The boy who can't hide?"

Faced with Ian's serious questioning, the corners of the Marquis Barton's mouth turned up, and he smiled slightly: "Indeed, this is not my real purpose...but my real purpose is actually very simple."

"I'm curious."

Slowly putting his whole body comfortably on the chair, the Marquis of Barton looked at the ceiling of his office and said softly: "The most precious qualities of an intelligence worker are extreme curiosity and extreme control."

"Know everything you want to know and forget everything you shouldn't know, so that you can reach the top."

"Ian... the answer is that simple."

"I'm so curious—how could I not want to know about the weird personality changes that have lasted from the first emperor to the eldest grandson of this generation, and the secrets hidden behind my lord's personality?"

Raising his hand, raising his index finger, and turning it around his temple, the Marquis of Barton said with a rare sense of humor: "I'm going to die, but I don't know the truth, and I'm not reconciled to dying. My God, you are so big A prophet is in front of me, how can I let it go?"

"So, Ian, promise me."

Facing the white-haired young prophet, the old man stretched out his hand, and the Marquis of Barton said seriously, "If you find the answer and I'm still alive, tell me the answer, okay?"

"It's not in the capacity of a marquis, nor is it a patrolling knight, it's simply a plea from a curious person to another puzzle solver."

he said softly.

Ian sighed.

"I thought it was a big deal." The boy shook his head helplessly, and said in a relaxed tone, "So it's just curiosity."

"That's right, if it were me, I would definitely die and find out what happened behind all this. Who can bear it!"

"Don't worry." The white-haired prophet raised his hand and shook hands with the Marquis of Barton: "I promise you, if you are still alive when I know the truth, I will definitely tell you the truth."

After shaking hands and signing the contract, Ian and the Marquis of Barton both smiled.

With their ingenuity, if they want to break the contract, there are more than a dozen different ways.

However, they are very clear that since the other party agrees, they will not breach the contract.

Because, no matter how many differences there are between Ian and the Marquis of Barton... At least, in terms of exploring the unknown, the taboo secrets hidden behind history.

They are true fellow travelers.

……

Terra 774, late July.

With the first Earl of Nanling, Ian Yinfeng returning to Nanling, a huge reform storm was set off.

All nobles, all chambers of commerce, and even all kinds of alchemy workshops have all obtained purple documents from the Governor's Mansion, which means that the highest order approved by the imperial capital has completely eliminated all local nobles and large chambers of commerce. After thinking about it, he began to follow the words of the prophet, count the population in his territory, the data of various production facilities, and submit productivity reports one after another.

After all, the obedience of the positive and the violation of the negative are a way for the local government to fight against the central government, and this is the reason why the emperor is far away.

But the problem is that the real emperor of Nanling, the Marquis of Barton, is in Nanling... His old man is not far from them!

As the saying goes, the emperor is not as good as the current management, and the emperor plus the current management is an existence that must not be violated.

However, even so, facing Ian's idea of ​​integrating the entire South Ridge and creating a complete set of information systems, these nobles and big businessmen were full of ridicule and disdain.

Even, they used more detailed data than needed to write the report Ian needed.

This behavior stems from a bad idea.

Look at me making this information so detailed, even if I give you all the data, can you see it?

If you can't see it, what's the use of writing it to you and not writing it?
Ian is not particularly clear about this confrontational psychology, and if he knew, he wouldn't care.

Anyway, he has the fifth energy level source quality computing chip of the pre-epoch civilization, and a whole set of gifts from the star gods. You can make it as complicated as you like. It takes me a second to calculate the resource report at the provincial level. lose!

It will take some time to wait for the nobles from all over the country to collect the data. With Ian's current status, he does not need to stay in Nauman City all the time, but can let other people send the report to Xiahui Ling - there will be the future Nanling Second political center.

In this way, Ian, who has been busy working in Nauman City for a while, can finally take another step.

Back to his territory.

(End of this chapter)