"But the premise of all this is," Victor said, "His Royal Highness Philip is really dead."
"That's right."
Annan nodded.
But if Philip faked his death, the situation would be completely different.
Regardless of whether Philip was really dead or faked, his political career was already dead - it was impossible for the people to accept a man who had "died once" to lead them, which was even more unacceptable than accepting a puppet king.
Because they couldn't even confirm whether this person was a king or a liar.
Ordinary people will not know the existence of spells and great-level spells.
They don't even know how backward the civilization of the Yasselan people was before the elves arrived on the continent of Yasselan... All they can vaguely know is that "this continent was once ruled by elves."
But they definitely don't know that it was only after the Great Barrier was broken and the Imperial Capital collapsed that the five major kingdoms emerged today.
In Noah and the United Kingdom, the version they heard was, "After the Great Barrier was broken, the elves lost the power to rule the continent. The humans, who were treated as slaves, rose up and defeated the elf emperor under the leadership of heroes."
They used this method to explain why the elves who were once the overlords of the continent could not be seen in human gathering places, and there were almost no elven-style buildings and artworks.
The Principality of Winter and the Theocracy have a closer relationship with the Righteous Gods and the people are more pious, so they are relatively more real - just a few. They believe that it is because the elves committed great crimes, so the Twelve Righteous Gods became
Join forces to sink the elven capital into the sea.
The only difference is that in this mythology, the images, words and... scenes of the righteous gods believed in by the two countries are different.
This version is quite close to the truth, but it was obviously made up by someone sent by the rulers at the time.
The underground version is closer to the facts on the other side - they believe that the elves developed technology that can travel across the world and moved the entire country along with the continent.
——It is because of the loss of the protection of the elves that the eternal unified great barrier will be broken and become the current divided great barrier that must burn the power of the righteous god to continue to exist. This can explain why the great barrier
broken.
In a sense, this version is closer to the truth. When put together with the Theocracy's version, it is basically 70% of the truth.
From the perspective of the Noahites, they would accept King Noah's rule because they were "descendants of heroes." Their status was very underground a long time ago, and it was King Noah who rescued them and gave them a
Big deal, ask Sir Silver to restructure the Great Barrier.
As a result, they had freedom, land, and safe air. And the king's rule over them could be considered enlightened compared to the "like slaves" attitude of the elves towards them.
Because of this, Noah paid special attention to the "bloodline" of the king. That is to say, he claimed that King Noah was the hero who rescued them back then and was the brave man who signed a contract with Sir Silver, so he could establish the kingdom.
To rule them - of course, in official terms, is to "let future generations protect this group of people."
——If you change someone who has nothing to do with King Noah, who would he be?
Therefore, as long as the news of Philip's assassination spreads, no matter whether he is really dead or fake, it can only be regarded as dead.
In the Kingdom of Noah, where extraordinary people are just legends, people cannot accept "resurrection from the dead" as "too fantastic". Even if Philip claimed to be "Prince Philip who is not dead yet", he would be regarded as
An offense.
"And he obviously still wants to succeed."
Annan analyzed: "So, even if he faked his death this time... I don't think it was his own plan."
"But if it is done involuntarily, taking away the other party's head while keeping the other party alive, the difficulty becomes much greater."
Victor also whispered: "The key is that Philip is an ordinary person, not an extraordinary person...otherwise it would be much simpler."
At this time, Maria also got up and asked Annan what happened.
Annan told her about the accident.
Maria was indifferent to this - on the contrary, she was a little happy.
Because she always felt that Philip's smile was too kind, even annoying to look at. It was like melted toffee... so sweet that it stuck to the teeth, making people physically nauseous.
And while he was retelling, "The Hole Opener" Jacob also came over.
"...Wait a moment, Your Majesty."
Jacob frowned and made an argument: "I must say... I think you have made that ceremony too complicated."
"Are you talking about the 'unknown skull preservation ritual' where you can survive even if your head is beheaded?"
Annan complained casually: "Do you know how to do this ritual?"
"I can really do it."
Jacob replied with great conviction: "It's not difficult."
As soon as he said this, everyone around him immediately focused their attention on him.
Mary reminded him: "But Philip is an ordinary person.
"As an ordinary person, his soul has not taken shape. As long as he dies, he can never be saved. Unlike a Silver-level transcendent with a strong will, even if his head is cut off and his heart is penetrated, he will still be able to survive.
Can continue to survive for a while..."
"And even a Silver-level transcendent will die suddenly if his brain is severely damaged."
Annan added.
He thought again of the "Shaping Jude" whom Dove had said "I got up, and he was dead with an arrow". As a shaping school known for its defensive power, Jude was directly killed by Dove without even casting a spell.
It dropped in seconds.
"No, not cutting it off."
Jacob quickly explained: "If you really want to cut off a mortal's head and then preserve it to make him immortal... I am afraid that only a priest at the level of the Pope can do such a level of ritual."
."
"...Not to cut it off?"
"Yes, from the very beginning, His Highness Philip's head was not chopped off by anyone."
Jacob answered with great certainty: "It was [stolen] by someone.
“This is the ritual of the ‘Snatcher’, the god of lost things and return, a very niche ritual.”
——The Stealer. Also known as the "Thousand-Hand God", he is a false god.
Annan has heard of this name.
He is the protector of righteous thieves and divine thieves. At the same time, if you accidentally lose something important, you can pray to Him for its return.
A considerable number of his followers are "gold fingers", and they also control an important channel for selling stolen goods-that is, the "return house". If the followers of the Stealer steal something, they will sell it to, or
Hand it over to the return house.
And if the owner urgently needs to get the lost item back, he either needs to pay money or need a favor. The only advantage is that if it is stolen again or is really lost, the return house will find the item for free for the owner.
, will not catch a customer trying to kill himself.
One item, one price.
But the reason why they are not evil gods is because they also accept some commissions from "lost property people".
For example, if something has been taken away...if the return house is willing to stand up for them, it will help them steal back what was taken away. The only and biggest constraint the "stealer" has on them is "
It’s not allowed to sell someone’s stuff to someone else”.
You can only take it in your own hands, or sell it to the owner, or to the "original owner". You cannot sell it to someone who has nothing to do with it.
"——According to my experience, His Royal Highness Philip's head was stolen."
Jacob said with great certainty: "His head was taken away directly by magic, rather than being chopped off and then preserved.
"Of course, this means..."
"...Someone announced a mission with 'Philip's head' as the designated lost object?"
Even Annan was a little confused.
Could it be that Philip's head... could not be his own?