After the witch finished speaking, she left the hall straight away, not even giving the two of them a chance to explain.

Roland tilted his head slightly. "What's going on? Can you tell anything?"

"Both sides are telling the truth," Nightingale whispered in his ear.

So that was it. He pondered for a moment and quickly guessed the general outline of the matter. The truth didn't represent reality, but rather the "truth" that one believed to be true. It seemed the problem lay in the book that recorded the family history.

"Since you came all the way from Longsong Stronghold, don't rush back. Stay at the Filin's for a few days. You can also visit the sights of the town," Roland looked at the bewildered knight. "I will ask her to clarify the situation. Maybe you can chat again then."

"Is... is that so?" The knight was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "Then I'll have to trouble Your Highness."

"By the way, where are the magic stones and ancient books you brought?"

"They're all in the hold, about a dozen boxes."

"Very good, bring them all to the castle," Roland nodded. "Seeing that the things from over four hundred years ago have survived, I think her mood will be eased."

...

After dinner, the prince called Agatha to his office.

"You should probably listen to what Sir Silt has to say," he recounted the story the knight had told him. "No matter what your steward did, he at least came to find you with the intention of returning the items to their original owner. Perhaps he even wanted to make up for the responsibilities his ancestors had incurred."

"He deceived his descendants. These people owe me nothing," Agatha curled her lips. "Besides, the witch families are meaningless now. They are considered one of the nobles of the Western Territory, right? If I accept them, it will be inconvenient for you to do what you want to do next – you want to bring the entire jurisdiction of the Western Territory into your own hands, right?"

Roland was slightly startled. He didn't expect her to think of this, then he shook his head with a smile. "Alright, you have a point. But it seems... you don't blame them?"

"There's no need for me to accumulate anger towards mortals from four hundred years ago onto his descendants, especially since they know nothing about it."

She truly was an enlightened figure of the Witch Kingdom, Roland thought inwardly. Whether it was her attitude towards mortals or her acceptance of new things, she maintained a positive and progressive mindset. In his opinion, this was undoubtedly an excellent mindset, but for Taqila four hundred years ago, it was probably considered unusual, which explained why she was ostracized by other witches in the Seekers.

"In that case, I will explain it to them," he said with a smile. "Next, I wonder if you're interested in taking inventory of your inheritance?"

Agatha rolled her eyes and said unhappily, "It's not mine, it's the Seekers' inheritance."

...

The boxes were all moved to the basement of the castle. In addition to Agatha, Roland also called Tilly, Sylvie, and Anna.

Under Sylvie's scrutiny, the boxes were opened one by one—ten out of the fifteen wooden boxes contained magic stones. Roland casually picked up a palm-sized crystal and clicked his tongue. "You said these were all converted from God's Stone of Retaliation. Such a large piece of God's Stone is probably worth two or three hundred gold royals."

"Two or three hundred gold royals?" Agatha scoffed. "Magic stones can only be made by Chaos Beasts. Each one can be considered priceless."

"What kind of magic stones are these?" Tilly asked. "They don't seem convenient to carry around."

"Glowstones," she pressed down on the stone in the prince's hand and injected magic power. A faint yellow light flowed out immediately, quickly exceeding the brightness of the torch, until the light was a bit dazzling before she released her hand. "Most of these are glowstones. Besides being produced by Chaos Beasts, the rest are spoils of war that we seized when attacking demon camps."

"How are magic stones ground into different sizes?" Anna asked curiously. "Since they were originally God's Stone of Retaliation, it means they can't be cut with abilities, but the whole piece of God's Stone is very hard. It doesn't look like it can be done by cutting with a knife or axe."

"The whole

piece of God's Stone?" Agatha was stunned. "Are you talking about God's Stone veins?"

"It's at the bottom of the mines in Border Town," Roland told her about the information on the treasure map. "Its surface is extremely hard, and even a musket can only leave a shallow mark on it."

"So that's how it is," she couldn't help laughing. "You found my experimental tower using this map. That's right, it was indeed used by the Seekers to mark God's Stone veins and select sites for the construction of the Holy City."

"Holy City?" The four of them were surprised at the same time.

"Otherwise, why do you think there are over a hundred cities on the Fertile Plains, but only three Holy Cities?" She curled her lips. "The so-called Holy Cities are all built on God's Stone of Retaliation veins. Besides making it easier to explore the relationship between magic power and magic stones, it's also to prevent large-scale damage caused by fighting between witches. All of this requires the consumption of large amounts of God's Stone of Retaliation."

"So you originally planned to build a new Holy City on the Northern Slope Mountain?" Roland asked in surprise.

"If the Divine Will War hadn't been defeated so quickly," Agatha sighed. "Besides that, the Barren Ridge at the break of the Impassable Mountain Range is also like that – now you call it the Hermes Plateau, which is the location of the Church's Holy City."

"And they also continued the name of Holy City," Tilly frowned. "In that case, it's even more likely that that group of people are the successors of the Union."

Fortunately, they didn't build the Church's Holy City in the Western Territory, Roland quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"In short, God's Stone itself is almost impossible to destroy. If you want to split it and use it, you must use special solvents," Agatha continued. "Witch blood... or demon blood, which contains magic power."

"Blood... liquid?" Sylvie couldn't help but widen her eyes.

"That's right, depending on the quality of the God's Stone, the amount of blood required varies," she spread her hands. "In the Holy City, adult witches have an obligation to donate their blood. Because blood will quickly lose its magic power after leaving the body, it must be taken and used immediately. Every two or three years, suitable witches will go to the mining area under the assignment of the Union to donate blood. Of course, the captured demons are also used for this."

"Have you ever had such an experience?" Anna asked.

"Of course," Agatha nodded. "Even the Three Chiefs of the Union were no exception."

"What about Evil Beasts?" Sylvie said. "Some hybrids also seem to contain magic power."

"Indeed, but their magic power content is very low and can only be used to process broken God's Stone, which is useless for original veins," Agatha replied. "After the God's Stone is divided, its hardness will decrease sharply as its volume decreases, and its range of influence will also be greatly reduced. For example, the God's Stone of Retaliation, which is convenient to carry around, can be easily broken with a hammer."