Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss

You know, I really shouldn't jump in without a plan. I know I prepared quite okay, but I didn't expect Romulus to make a Contract with a Harbinger of Life.

Not that I can criticize him, since I too made a Contract with The Golden Order. 

However, I didn't think I would burn down a whole village of vermins, or fight dinosaurs. By now, I am triple overqualified to be a Hunter.

I stare at the blue panel in front of me, signing a bit.

 

I am now petting the Troodon as it nestled on my lap. After the Trial ended, it became docile, along with the Allosaurus that is now sleeping.

This dinosaur is quite cute when it doesn't want to murder me. Surprisingly fluffy for a murder bird. I wonder if the real Dino King would act like this?

And...

"Who taught you how to use a sword?", I asked the Allosaurus.

The apex opened its eyes, looked at me, and grumbled. It is, saying something but I can't understand the dino language.

"Language barrier."

Did it just roll its eyes? And it went back to sleep?

I stood up, and the Troodon curiously followed me, looming over my body with its huge shadow. This oversized chicken...

"How about we call it a draw?", I pat the dinosaur's nose, making it chirp in annoyance.

I wonder if Avalon can take over dinosaurs? That said, I don't know what limitations they have.

"I'll be going now, goodbye."

Picking up only Quirinus, I continued on. As I realized, I could just summon my weapon anytime I wanted.

Passing the gate I went downward once again. Still the stone staircase and marble walls. And an entrance of light welcomes me.

This time... I found myself in a castle, at least that is what Survive is telling me. I headed toward to window, looking outside. 

This place is surrounded by fog and in the middle of a bog... and it is raining outside.

Huh... I have a suspicion of where this would take place...

Then a blue screen popped into existence.

Hmm... the previous two were Hymns, but this one is a Gospel. Is it some sort of ranking? Also, I received a Tale End...

"Hey Welt Ealam, are you listening?", I asked out loud.

A blue panel popped up beside me with a smiley face. So it is here...

"Could you explain what Hymns and Gospels are?"

[They are the difficulty of the quest, in the order from easy to hard. Verse, Episode, Poem, Hymns, Gospel, Epic, Tale End.]

Huh, is that so... this trial will be harder than fighting a Jury of the Pale Court? Or is it because people see me as more of a brute and think this will be difficult for me?

"Very well, I shall solve this mystery.", I snapped my finger, summoning Walpurgis Festival. I have to look like a detective after all.

Now. Clues, where should I find clues?

"First of all, the location of this place.", I look outside the window once again, fog, rain, and a bog. Then I inspected the architectural style... seems medieval to me.

There is one country I could think of that fits those descriptions.

"This place is the British Isle... the era of Pendragon."

I approached a white flag with a red dragon on it, the Banner of Pendragon, which confirmed my suspicion.

Then I began to wander around the castle, which was strangely bright despite having no lit torch. This entire place is operated by Runes...

Despite being big, there are not a lot of used rooms, one bedroom, an office, a kitchen, a dressing room, a dining hall, a jail cell, and 46 empty rooms.

I decided to skip the empty rooms since I didn't think I'd find anything in those places. The first place I searched for was the office, it also acted as a library with the number of scrolls here.

There are a few books, but a few years have passed since they went through maintenance so they are very delicate. Not my problem though, as I just let Reverie consume the books and spit out perfect copies of them.

Let's see...

I read the first book, it doesn't have a name, but I can tell from the first page that this is a diary. And the owner referred to themselves as the White Knight. Apparently, they've been inside this castle for a while... two years in fact when I checked another book.

There are a few more characters mentioned in these books... Morgan, Guinevere, and... Arthur Pendragon, I feel like they are important in this affair.

I also learned the name of this castle, Dolorous Gard.

If the knowledge feeding into me right now says anything... the White Knight in question is Lancelot, Knight of the Lake, the Strongest Knight of the Round Table.

"These mysteries... they all revolve around Lancelot."

I then checked the scrolls... nothing much, just tax reports. Although there was a spike in tax collection in one of the reports, Lancelot was going to war.

Though I doubt the war happened, seeing how there were no taxes in the next two years. Yes, I organized the papers. I am the best at everything labor after all.

I took the wooden office chair and sat on it. I read through the diaries again...

Hmm... Lancelot, the White Knight, this book vaguely describes his interactions with Morgan Pendragon and Guinevere, all flowery words and adoration. It was completely different with the young Prince though.

I am tempted to call Lancelot gay, but from the knowledge the Library is feeding me... he was more of a bisexual. Damn... Library, stop feeding me his love life, I don't need to know that he mingled with the wives of his comrades, and some knights too.

Holy shit, it is a full-on harem with all the spectrums.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Is it a love affair? If so, I already figured it out.

"Lancelot was the lover of Queen Morgan Pendragon, and Guinevere was the wife of Arthur Pendragon..."

As I know British history, Morgan never married anyone and the child of Guinevere and Arthur took the throne, Queen Archfedd Pendragon... Lancelot was only mentioned as the one who taught the young queen swordsmanship and nothing further past this point.

Hah... this is tiring.

I could just go into the Library for the answer, but the quest isn't just about finding the answer. It is finding both the question and the answer.

Let's recap.

This castle is Dolorous Gard, and belongs to Lancelot. The event of this mystery surrounds the royal family and a knight...

The tax report spoke of imminent war, but then nothing.

A love affair from the look of it...

I threw the diaries onto the ground.

Moving on, I headed to the kitchen. And I must say, there is no lady's touch to this place.

"Fucking hell... this place is a mess.", broken dishes and stale loaves of bread that had become rock. There was a fight here and it was never cleaned up.

From the traces of the footsteps on the floor... two men. Lancelot and Arthur.

So Arthur probably found out about an affair between Lancelot and Guinevere. This is probably their fight.

"From what I deduced, the forgotten history is the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, which almost caused a civil war in early Britain. And the fact that Lancelot is Morgan's lover opens up another can of worms."

One of the bromance of Lancelot is Duke Galehaut who ruled what is now today Devon to Essex, who is even more popular than the Pendragon.

Oh, a blue panel popped up.

So I got the full context when combined with my findings. I think I also got the question.

Why didn't it blow up into a full-on civil war?

Heading to the dining hall, I see finished plates with grime on them. Lancelot wasn't cleaning at all. So in the timeline of events, the dining takes place before the kitchen conflict.

Nothing really to investigate, aside from the three dishes for three people. So eliminate Morgan from this affair.

I could probably ask the Library for the answer, but I won't now that I've gotten invested in this trial. Who knows if I will receive something fun?

"Is there a reward for solving this?", I asked out loud.

[ :) ]

That isn't very helpful.

"I'll take that as a yes."

I moved onto the bedroom... which I exited out immediately since the smell... lingers.

Yup, not going there at all.

So to add to my note, they had fun in bed. Which should say something about this affair...

"After a night of fucking, Arthur visited Dolorous Gard in order to meet his wife...", from the diary it seemed that she visited under the pretext of a vacation, "That leads to the dining room... where Arthur suspected something going on..."

"Finally, the prince and his knight got into a fight...", hmm...

The knowledge about Arthur and Guinevere's marriage flooded into me. Oh... it was a loveless marriage, one of purely political reasons.

"Because Arthur did not want to cause friction in the political scene at the time, which was already unstable... he turned a blind eye to this whole thing, even though Lancelot was ready to fight for Guinevere..."

Seem like I was right... still, what was something that I left?

Closing my eyes and taking out a cigarette, I began to smoke... to focus and clear my mind.

Political marriage, royalty, scandal, affair... what is the link between those things?

Huh...

I think I figured it all out.