Aragon Roland, founder of the Roland Empire, the first emperor of the Empire.
He is considered to be the most powerful expert in a thousand years and the first legendary figure to be titled "Strongest under the stars". Fluent in both magic and martial skills, his magic powers have reached extreme heights. (Du Wei knows that when Aragon left the Devil's Island, he took with him half the strength of Chris's magic) And on martial skills, he also achieved the level of Saint Paladin.
Moreover, he is different when compared to the estranged powerful experts in history. Aragon also had considerable intelligence and political savvy. By fully taking advantage of his personal powers, he had built a vast and sprawling empire that has lasted even to this present day!
He was the Emperor, the founding emperor!
Such a legendary person.... How did he die?
History records are quite blurred on this point.
Even in the official history records of the Roland Empire, the exploits of Aragon would of course be magnificently recorded, but everything about his majesty's death can be easily described in a short sentence.
"XXX years, founding emperor Aragon-Roland passes away, XX King crowned as 2nd Emperor of the Empire..."
Similar historical records for the past hundred years have all stated thus.
"The temple's Sanctuary stores away the badges of every Holy knight…. Whether they are a devoted and faithful knight in their lifetime, or a traitorous heretic that has fallen from grace." Hussein's voice sounded mysterious, "Do you understand when I say it like this?"
You understand? Of course I understand.
"Yes." Hussein nods.
The Sanctuary is one of the several mysterious places in the Temple and outsiders are not allowed to enter this place. The only ones eligible to enter are his Majesty the Pope, a few of the elders and the temple's presiding judgement lord. Adding all of these key figures together, the only other people allowed to go in are the holy knights that are about to advance into the three leadership positions….. At any time, there would be no more than five people that would be allowed to enter the Sanctuary.
Moreover, once the sanctuary guardian retires, he would not be allowed to re-enter this place.
The rules of the temple are heavily enforced.
"I originally thought the Sanctuary is where we pay homage to those that has specifically sacrificed themselves or swore allegiance to the temple their entire life. But then I found out I was wrong." Hussein sneered: "It's all a big cover. Outsiders only know that the Sanctuary is heavily protected by a powerful guardian, this way intruders could not disturb the souls of the dead….. But in fact, these are all acts to cover up the truth! The real secret is that the Sanctuary holds many unknown secrets….. Especially those like me that have betrayed the temple!"
The Sanctuary is divided into the outer sanctum and the inner sanctum. The outer section is where they store the badges of those that have served the temple all their lives.
And the inner sanctum is where the real important things are kept!
Any valuable things that had once belonged to the traitors of the temple are all stored in there.
"Thousands of badges are placed in the outer sanctum, enjoying generations of worship….. And within the inner sanctum, is in fact a dark room without light. The atmosphere inside is ghastly and the room is enshrouded in an imprisoning spell. Placed inside are thirteen objects." Hussein smiled: "Historically, there are thirteen saint Paladins that have betrayed the temple and their badges have been stored inside the inner sanctum. Not only that, the temple has forever placed a cursed onto these badges, locking them under an imprisonment spell! Is this the so called 'mercy' the temple has been spouting through the ages?!"
"Thirteen?" Du Wei was somewhat curious: "Thirteen badges? In a thousand years, the temple has only faced thirteen traitors among its ranks?"
"I don't know." Hussein shook his head: "Perhaps there are more than thirteen traitors in a thousand years, but not all traitors are entitled to 'enjoy' being forever cursed. Only those that has caused the temple to suffer a major loss or shamed to a certain extent can they be qualified to 'enjoy' such a curse."
Du Wei nodded, feeling relieved. (He must have thought the temple would curse him too, lol)
That is accurate. Not just anybody would be able to cause the temple to hate them to such an extent.
"Maybe your badge will also be placed inside the inner sanctum." Du Wei laughed: "With your level of strength, you are definitely qualified to 'enjoy' the curse, right?"
"Indeed." Hussein put on a deadpan expression: "Once they killed me, they will put my badge within the inner sanctum because such a curse can only be cast by the Pope himself. Even if the person is dead, they will never rest in peace. Under the effect of such supreme magic, their souls will forever be tortured under the effects of the curse! Every holy knight must take on a blood oath with their badge before joining the temples rank. This method allows the temple to punish the souls of any traitors….. Otherwise, why do you think I would go to such lengths to evade the pursuers? Do you think I am afraid of death? I am not afraid of death, but even I do not wish for my soul to be subjected to such eternal torture!"
Listening to the bone chilling words of the knight, Du Wei suddenly felt a shudder through his spine.
Even death will not release one's soul... This kind of punishment is too terrifying.
"Originally, even the sanctuary guardian cannot enter the inner sanctum. Only his Majesty the Pope is able open the door that leads into the inner sanctuary. Hussein's tone of voice had a mysterious feeling to it: "But that night, while I was meditating in the Sanctuary, I heard a sound coming from the inner sanctum…. The sound was like someone crying, almost like someone calling out for me. With my level of cultivation, I knew it wasn't an illusion, so I immediately stood up and searched around. At first, I was worried an outsider was able to sneak inside the Sanctuary... But then, what I found was something surprising."
"The door leading into the inner sanctum?" Du Wei guessed.
"Yes, it is the inner sanctum door. The door that was supposed to be locked with magic and only his Majesty the Pope is able to open." Hussein shook his head with a complex expression, unsure of whether to feel regret or gratitude.
Or… Maybe both.
"Did you go in?" Du Wei sighed and shook his head as he whispered, "No need to say anymore, you must have gone inside."
Du Wei was speechless.
Wouldn't you?
Of course! For a young Knight in his most glorious time of age, he will no doubt be full of curiosity towards life. Matched this with his superior strength and abilities…. It would be strange for him not to go see what has happened!
"Even now, I'm still wondering what would have happened if I didn't go look that night. Then wouldn't the outcome have been much better? If I didn't figure out everything that was happening inside, then I would have become a holy knight leader, admired and respected by all the people." Hussein Sighed.
"No." Du Wei shook his head at Hussein with a face showing how level headed he was: "If that door really was covering all the temples dark secrets….. So even if you didn't go inside and reported to the Pope on the spot,,, My guess is that in all likelihood, they would still come up with some reason and method to kill you!"
There is no doubt that Du Wei's speculation made complete sense, so Hussein didn't argue with this.
"Thirteen badges are placed inside the inner sanctum and not any random badge, but high leveled holy knight badges. From just one look, you can tell these badges were very ancient and old." Squinting his eyes, Hussein thought back to that life changing night: "At the time, I was shocked and confused. Even though I am not a magician…. But I could still feel the magic in the atmosphere is not any sort of blessing! Just being in the presence of such magic would cause discomfort and despair!"
Then with a strange smile on his face, Hussein continued speaking: "Engraved onto the thirteen badges that was placed on top of a stone table is the names of the original owners…. A total of thirteen names. Can you guess who is the first name that I saw?"
Du Wei had already guessed. Feeling a bitter taste in his mouth, he muttered: "Aragon Roland?"
"Yes, it's him."
Aragon Roland.
Since encountering all these strange experiences, it seems all of the events somehow gets dragged into a relationship with this legendary name!
Strongest under the star!
Founder of the Empire!
The founding emperor!
History's most powerful holy knight!
And an expert that has made a deal with the Devils...
Wait, wait!
And now, to this name, we may once again add to it with a prestigious title:
The temple's biggest traitor in the history! (Lol, I'll definitely need to make a glossary for all his titles at this rate)
"It is not finished." It seems today Hussein will share with Du Wei a very big 'surprise'.
A trace of malice could be seen on the knight's face: "You are a noble child of the Rowling household, so you must have received a good education and learned about history, especially the history regarding the founding of the empire. I believe you must have learned from those history textbooks that Aragon Roland had an invincible platoon of knights under him. In some historical records, every member of this platoon is considered to be distinguished experts and showed absolute allegiance to Aragon himself!! This group of experts could be considered his own personal fighting force and every member are all fanatically loyal to Aragon."
"I've heard of it, it's called 'Roland's Saint Knight Platoon'. This platoon is the shadow of Aragon and his most effective fighting force. Powerful yet mysterious, all documents related to this knight platoon are non-existing. Nor is there any detailed information regarding the members of this platoon, not even their names were written down! We only know that there was an unbeatable platoon of knights under Aragon, but we do not know where they came from or who they were. It wasn't until later on after their contributions in unifying the continent that others started adding the word 'Saint' to their title. In the history of Roland, there have been many powerful platoons emerging. This includes the Temples holy knights platoon, but only Roland's Saint Knight Platoon was ever given the title 'Saint' in front of their name."
Du Wei is indeed educated. When he was young, he has read all the history books and even those few precious rare documents, His answers did not show any delay, like it was common knowledge in his mind, readied to be spoken at a moment's notice.
"Well then, I think I can tell you the details about this knight platoon." Hussein laughs in a low voice, but his laughter was so disturbing that it was hair raising.
"In fact, that mysterious knight platoon did not have many members. Altogether, including Aragon, this team only has thirteen members! Thirteen!" In a muffled voice, Hussein cursed: "But…. Let me tell you, each of those thirteen members wielded enough strength to match me! Some of the members strength may not be at the Saint Paladin level, but they are most certainly close! Thirteen top level experts, thirteen fanatic loyalists to Aragon!"
Du Wei felt he could no longer say another word.
The inner sanctum of the Sanctuary uses evil curse and magic to suppress these thirteen souls, this included Aragon himself!
Taking in a deep breath, Du Wei felt his tone was a little stiff: "You mean..."
"It is." The Knight nodded quietly.
"The soul of his majesty the founding emperor is being suppressed…."
"It is." The Knight nodded.
"Even the highly credited heroes of the 'Roland Saint Knight Platoon' is…."
"It is." The Knight continues nodding his head.
Daring enough to take the soul of the founding emperor and put it in the Sanctuary so that it can be eternally damned!
Daring enough to put the souls of the thirteen founding heroes into the Sanctuary so that they could be eternally damned!
The Temple would dare to perform such an immense act?!
Fucking bastards! Those temple bastards would dare! Are they not afraid of the royal family of the Roland Empire taking them head on? Are they not afraid of the riots from the citizens once they find out about their founding hero?! Fucking! Goddamn! Goddamn!! Damn!!
Du Wei repeatedly took in deep breaths, but he could not come up with the right words to describe his current mood.
So he had to use the most direct and simple words to express his emotions at the moment.
Du Wei difficultly said, "Very good! Very powerful!"