Chapter 189: Dark Veiled Sea 5
historical
After returning to the surface, Woohyuk interrogated the prisoners they had captured during the last battle.
He thought they might know something about the Erendia Kingdom.
Even if they refused to spill anything until the end, Woohyuk could try to hypnotize them.
For the members of the Golden Rose Society, it would not be easy to do so since their mental resistance was quite high.
“You didn’t come here just for the production of the Clipport’s Fruit, did you? What other reasons were there?”
“Keke... Even if you were to know, you can’t stop Lord Aleister.”
“How arrogant of you. Even though you’re just a lowly pawn that was abandoned. Do you still think you have power here?
Woohyuk swung his whip towards Alejandro, the original owner of the magic-engineered pistol.
Crack!
Crack!
Fresh new injuries appeared on Alejandro's wrinkled back.
“Urgh...”
“If the others spill the beans before you, you will be executed immediately. Make the correct choice.”
Woohyuk was using one of the famous psychological tricks, the Prisoner's Dilemma.
The Prisoner's Dilemma meant that if everyone stayed silent, the sentence would be minimized.
But some would confess and betray their colleagues, since they didn’t trust them enough and didn’t want to be betrayed first.
It was a useful technique to use when interrogating a suspect.
However, Alejandro didn't budge because he understood Woohyuk’s plan.
“You're quite crafty, Asura. But it is all in vain. Lord Aleister's plan is perfect.”
“Nothing is perfect in this world. There are small flaws and gaps in the system created by the Creator himself.”
Otherwise, Lilith's subordinates and Eteria Rodinus would not be trying to change the planned future.
As Woohyuk continued to torture Alejandro,
Creaaaak.
The door to the prison cell opened and Helena entered.
She was unusually grim.
She had lost her composure ever since the Golden Rose Society had shown up, and had yet to regain it..
“I have something to ask Alejandro.”
"Feel free to take over. But don't expect him to answer so easily.”
“I can torture him if I must. My very existence is agony for him.”
Helena was basically a saintess with high divine power and even had the Holy Grail with her.
Therefore, having dols his soul to a witch, it would be difficult for Alejandro to face her for too long without Lilith's protection.
As cold sweat ran down the old man’s neck, Woohyuk grinned.
“I guess that troublemaking saints like you can also be useful in some cases.”
“You speak as if I was a burden. Don’t forget that you were able to capture the members of the Golden Rose Society this quickly thanks to me.”
Helena was one of Woohyuk’s indispensable companions, although he would never say so out loud.
However, he was aware of this fact himself.
“I never said you were useless... Anyways, if you have questions, ask away. I won’t intervene.”
“Great. You’re finally respecting me at least a little bit.”
Helena's gaze shifted from Woohyuk to Alejandro.
She then took out a bundle of manuscripts from her arms, and Alejandro's relaxed expression slightly hardened.
“So you did come to find out more about the magic book.”
“Where is it? You people can’t even read what’s written within the King's Book..”
The King's Book was written in Rosa Eterna, so it could only be read by members of Eteria Rodinus.
It was the magic book that her deceased parents had tried to protect until the end.
It was an item necessary to rebuild the Ark of Knowledge, so Helena was trying to recover it as soon as possible.
"Keke... Are you still so confident in yourselves? We’ve almost decoded Rosa Eterna now, thanks to a certain pope fanatic you know of.”
“Don’t tell me... Rosenkreuz? But how...”
“Judas Iscariot, the twelfth disciple of the Sage King. Nobody was aware of what had happened to his descendants. In fact, the descendant himself wasn’t aware of his true lineage, because his mother didn’t tell him the truth until after he grew up.”
When Judas Iscariot committed suicide by hanging himself on a tree, a priestess of the Light Doctrine was pregnant with his son.
But no one knew about it.
The two had been meeting secretly, and had only done it a few times.
Therefore, the twelfth disciple’s descendants had been living secretly until now.
Helena was flabbergasted by his explanation.
“Im, impossible... Rosenkreuz is Judas Iscariot’s descendant..?”
“Judas Iscariot was secretly teaching Rosa Eterna to the pregnant priestess. It only lasted until he was chased down by Eteria Rodinus.”
Therefore, the priestess did not fully learn Rosa Eterna.
However, her descendants secretly studied the language’s principle and with Rosenkreuz's generation, they finally began to decode it and understand it.
The Golden Rose Society had known this through its internal information network for a long time.
If Rosenkreuz could fully decode Rosa Eterna...
“This is terrible. The secret recorded in the King's Book is about to be revealed to the Witches.”
"What kind of secret is it for you to panic so much?"
“The method to summon a being from a higher level plane. And how to make a contract with that being. That is all I know myself.”
In other words, the Witches would be able to summon ancient demons or fallen angels to the Eeth Continent
Since it was a higher level existence, its power would be enormous.
In order to stop that future from happening, they had to stop the Golden Rose Society’s conspiracy no matter what.
Alejandro laughed out loud as he watched Helena’s shock.
“Hahahahahaha! Do you understand now? Pronoia is a puppet of our Golden Rose Society! They stupidly made the mistake of accepting Clipport's Fruits themselves!”
If you consumed the Clipport's Fruit even once, you would be controlled and ruled by Aleister unless you administered the cure.
The neutralizing agent developed by Pronoia could only relieve the side effects and symptoms, but couldn’t completely cure the user.
In other words, the Holy See was already under Lilith’s control.
Helena grabbed her head with both hands as Alejandro's continued revealing all that information.
“Wha, what do we do... The prophetic book didn't mention anything like this...”
“Kekek! Did you think you were the only one who knew about the prophetic book? Lady Lilith is a Witch who has existed since Genesis! She knows more about the Ark of Knowledge and the Holy Grail than you do!”
In other words, Lilith was aware of Woohyuk’s regression from the start.
As Alejandro continued to cackle to himself, Woohyuk ruthlessly swung his whip.
Crack!
Crack!
As newer wounds drew lines across Alejandro's back, blood slowly dripped down like the weeping of his back.
“So, where is the King's Book? You’ve told us so much already, so just say it.”
“Urgh...”
“If you won’t spill the beans until the end, I’ll have to use a more forceful method”.
Woohyuk pulled out the Vampiric Dagger from his belt and handed it to Helena.
Then Helena tilted her head and stared at Woohyuk in confusion.
“Why did you give me this?”
“Cut it off. His most precious part.”
All Woohyuk needed from Alejandro was his knowledge of magic engineering and his dexterity.
In other words, he didn’t need his fifth limb beneath his belt.
Moreover, it would be more shameful to be castrated by a woman.
Helena frowned at Woohyuk's obscene plan.
“How could you tell me to do such a dirty thing...”
“Do you not want to take revenge for your parents? He still has some value, so I can’t let you do more than this.”
If they killed him and turned him into an undead, the knowledge he possessed would completely vanish.
Even if they summoned his soul, they wouldn’t be able to force it to answer.
The only option available was to hypnotize him or make him obedient while still alive.
However, both weren’t easy to do since he was a high ranking subordinate of Lilith’s.
They could only torture him for now to get as much information out of him as possible.
As Woohyuk walked to a corner, Helena approached Alejandro with a venomous smile.
In time, Alejandro's painful and violent screams echoed in the cell.
***
Even though they forcibly castrated, the members of the Golden Rose Society did not spill the beans.
However, as the torture continued, it was possible to temporarily hypnotize them when their mental power was slightly weakened...
“So they were here for the relics of the Erendia Kingdom.”
Woohyuk was able to figure out many things.
“Our journey must be finished as soon as possible. We must go recover the King's Book in the Enoa Kingdom.”
“I have already instructed the vassals. We will be able to depart as soon as we get back to our kingdom.”
However, since they had come all this way, they had to restore the Edda Chronicles.
They never knew when Lilith's subordinates would attack this place again.
In terms of importance, the Edda Chronicles was one level higher than the King's Book.
“But Aleister didn’t appear in the end. Even though there were three members of the Golden Rose Society here...”
“He deliberately sent them my way. It was all planned by him.”
If not, he would have appeared out of nowhere and would have taken away his men. Just like what he had done for Melena, the Witch of Lust.
As Woohyuk recalled those events again, Brynhild and Aris spoke up to comfort him.
“But thanks to that, we’ve learned a lot of valuable information. Especially for Lilith's Unholy Chalice since it’s difficult to find.”
“I looked around the Golden Rose Society’s base on this island and it was interesting. The facilities were advanced, and the Clipport’s Fruit’s production process was so unique. It will be very helpful for my magic engineering research.”
The Golden Rose Society had a total of three bases on the Eeth Continent.
The reason why such an important place was located here was because most ships were unable to navigate through the Dark Veiled Sea.
The Blackbeard Pirates were an exception to this because they were receiving the help of the Golden Rose Society themselves.
While Woohyuk walked down the aisles with the others, Sieg spoke up after pondering for a while.
“Lilith’s Unholy Chalice... Maybe that was the cause of destruction of the Erendia Kingdom? It’s an artifact powerful enough to calm the violent sea and storms of the Dark Veiled Sea, so I think it could be possible.”
"Maybe. We’ll have to figure that out from now on.”
According to the Golden Rose Society’s Maesters, the Erendia Kingdom was indeed a highly advanced magic-engineering civilization.
However, they also did not know the details of the kingdom’s history.
Either Aleister hadn’t informed them, or his research of the kingdom wasn’t advanced enough.
As Woohyuk's party left the pirate base, a rough storm greeted them.
Rumble! Boom! Boom!
The usual weather for the Dark Veiled Sea.
It wasn't a place where people could live.
They couldn’t grow crops, so the Blackbeard Pirates had to resort to seafood only.
But now, Woohyuk and his crew were about to explore the bottom of the sea.
“Sieg, you stay on land with Helena. Deal with unexpected intruders while I am away.”
“.. I understand, My Lord.”
Sieg glanced at Helena with an expression of dissatisfaction.
Noticing his gaze, she crossed her arms and frowned.
“What’s wrong? Are you unhappy that it’s not Brynhild but me instead?”
“Honestly speaking, I can’t deny that...”
“Well I'm sorry for intervening during you two’s special time.”
Helena had regained her usual energy cheerfulness.
Leaving the two of them behind, Woohyuk boarded the Nautilus, which was anchored on the shore.
Davy Jones welcomed him with open arms.
“Whereto, My Liege?”
“To the depths of the sea.”
Quite a dangerous challenge.
However, no one in the group opposed his decision.
A long-lost kingdom was awaiting them.