Anser stood with one hand resting on his sword, not answering immediately.
It wasn't surprising that they knew he'd obtained two Artifacts. After all, the Magic Research Society had already issued a statement about it.
But very few people knew the Artifacts were still in his possession. Even most members of the Magic Research Society were unaware of that.
The Queen and the others all had their eyes fixed on him, some curious, others nervous.
"Do you know what those two Artifacts can do?" Anser asked.
"The Eye and Hand of Vecna. I had someone look into them." The Queen gathered up her skirts and took a few steps forward, as though that might lend more weight to her words.
"You want to use Wish to resurrect His Highness the Prince?" Anser continued.
"No." The Queen shook her head slightly, sorrow crossing her face. The crow's-feet at the corners of her eyes proved she wasn't as young as she looked. "My son's soul has been imprisoned."
Anser was astonished. It seemed the truth was different from what everyone outside imagined.
"You're certain?"
"I won't hide it from you. Someone replaced my son. There was a stranger's soul inside his body..." The more the Queen spoke, the more hatred filled her voice, her eyes brimming with venom.
Contrary to the version everyone knew, the First Prince had never been assassinated. He had been actively preparing for his coronation all along, and his behavior had been no different from usual.
One important part of today's royal coronation ceremony required the prospective king to enter the chapel and pay homage to the previous kings and their meritorious ancestors.
An ancient magical array protected the chapel. Anyone without Cozar blood was unable to enter.
Not only had the First Prince been unable to enter, he had also triggered the Star Palace's defensive array and been restrained on the spot.
Immediately afterward, the royal family's secret guard appeared, took over the defense of the palace's core areas, and sealed off the entire Star Palace.
After examining him, the court mages determined that the First Prince's soul had been replaced!
They had come so close!
The Star Palace and the Rock of Bral had nearly been "stolen" right out from under them without anyone realizing it.
Fortunately, the royal family had a hidden failsafe that no outsider knew about. Before this, even the Queen herself hadn't known the true purpose of this part of the ceremony.
However, before the royal family could begin interrogating the impostor, the false soul was destroyed by an unknown force.
Left with no other choice, the court mages attempted to resurrect the First Prince, but that also failed.
In the end, the only conclusion they could reach was that his soul might have been imprisoned.
Anser didn't even know what to say. The heir to an entire kingdom had been quietly replaced without a single person noticing anything unusual.
The First Prince was already married, with a princess consort and children of his own. His mother and sister were around him too.
"Wish has a chance of bringing him back," Anser said reassuringly.
"We won't save him." The Queen closed her eyes, her brows trembling slightly. "He is unworthy to be king."
Anser understood. Dying this way was hardly dignified, and various kingdoms had certain unwritten conventions, one of which was that someone who had been resurrected could not become king.
No one knew what a person's soul might have experienced during that time. There were even plenty of people whose personalities changed drastically after being resurrected. There were simply too many uncertainties.
In short, death marked an ending. Resurrection was another beginning.
"Then what do you want the Artifacts for?" Anser was even more puzzled now. Vecna's Artifacts were extremely dangerous.
"Anser, would you be willing to marry into the Cozar royal family? All the wealth of the Star Palace would be yours to command, and you could choose any of the women you wanted. Several of them, if you wished." The Queen answered with a question of her own, still without opening her eyes.
The women in the room instinctively straightened their backs, staring nervously at Anser.
"The Queen should know why the Rock of Bral exists. Losing its neutrality means losing its trade and wealth." Anser thought Saeljor had made a perfectly valid point.
"Of course I know, but Cozar has had enough of all this." The Queen suddenly became agitated. She bent forward, her hands gesturing wildly. "Everyone knows Bral is a mess, and they blame every problem on the royal family."
"But the truth is, there's nothing we can do. We don't dare interfere recklessly, nor can we. Leaving everyone to their own devices... was simply how we survived."
"It isn't the royal family that wants neutrality. They need a royal family like this. But now we're struggling just to survive ourselves. How are we supposed to worry about any of that..."
After venting, the Queen wrapped her arms around her shoulders and sank helplessly into a crouch before Anser. Her long skirts spread around her like a flower beaten down by rain, making her look lost and vulnerable.
She had just lost her husband and son, so an emotional breakdown was perfectly understandable. But Anser knew there was probably an element of performance in it as well.
A performance for a young Paladin with a fairly good reputation.
"Let's talk about the Artifact." Anser quietly took a step back.
If she were offering him the Rock of Bral itself, he might actually be tempted. But offering him nothing more than wealth and women while expecting him to serve as the royal family's bodyguard and stud? He'd have to be an idiot to agree.
The Queen wasn't necessarily lying. From the looks of things, the royal family had always suffered from a profound lack of security.
That also explained why the old king had valued the Second Prince, Emmanuel, more highly. As a Chosen of Bane, Emmanuel could call upon the power of Bane's church and had Legendary adventurers serving under him. It was hard not to find that appealing.
Bane was the god of tyranny, but he belonged to the lawful alignment, and the realms under his rule weren't necessarily bad places to live.
"I knew you wouldn't agree." The Queen rose in disappointment. "That's exactly why I want the Artifact!"
Anser understood. She wanted to use an Artifact's extraordinary power to resolve the crisis caused by the power vacuum at its root.
With an Artifact capable of casting Wish in their possession, whoever succeeded to the throne would at least not be manipulated as helplessly as the First Prince had been.
"What are you offering in exchange?"
"A mythallar!"
Anser's heart skipped a beat. It was actually a legendary mythallar.
Mythallars were the hearts of Netherese flying cities. Created by Ioulaum, the first great arcanist, they were also known as the arcane cornerstone of Netheril.
After Netheril's fall, most mythallars had been destroyed. Very few still existed, and the method of creating them had long since been lost, making them extraordinarily rare and immensely valuable.
However, Mystra, goddess of magic, had once issued the "Ban of Mystra," forbidding mortals from creating or using mythallars to power flying cities, in order to prevent a repeat of Karsus's folly and protect the stability of the Weave.
"The Rock of Bral itself is powered by a fragment of a mythallar. That's what allows it to fly freely through Realmspace. At the time, they also found an intact mythallar more than a hundred feet in diameter. The royal family secretly sealed it away and never told anyone about it," the Queen explained softly.
They hadn't dared bring it out before because no one could simply disregard the goddess of magic's ban.
But now... the Weave had collapsed.
Anser was tempted. He genuinely wanted to get his hands on it and study it, purely out of curiosity.
Supposedly, mythallars were made from a forbidden substance known as "mithralar." He wondered what was so special about it.
There were many Artifacts in existence, but only a scant handful of mythallars remained.
Yet Artifacts could increase the efficiency with which he gained experience points, making them far more useful to him right now.
"With the Weave in turmoil, there's no telling how much power the mythallar still has left." He shook his head slightly, uncertain.
Flying cities were extraordinarily dependent on the Weave, and its condition was still deteriorating. No one could say what the future held.
"This one is different..."
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