Phyllis was no stranger to the basement of the Silt mansion.

As a child, he regarded it as his playground, rummaging through various dusty boxes to find bizarre items, which was a great pleasure. Of course, he was often beaten by his father for this, and was eventually forbidden from entering the basement alone. However, Phyllis always found ways to sneak in.

The Duke led him into the innermost stone chamber, where he saw that the walls were inlaid with fist-sized pale blue crystals. Phyllis couldn't help but gasp. Each stone was a high-grade God's Stone of Retribution. He didn't know this when he was a child, but now he naturally understood what it meant. High-quality God's Stone was very valuable, and a piece as large as this was worth at least five or six hundred gold dragons.

Was the Silt family so rich?

He suddenly remembered that the treasure map was also found in this room.

There was a circle of boxes around the stone chamber, and the arrangement was not much different from what he remembered. Duke Silt took out a bunch of keys and opened the largest wooden box. As the box creaked open, a cloud of dust filled the house.

Phyllis held his breath and looked into the box. It was divided into several layers, similar to a dressing case used by noble xiaojie, and each layer contained gemstones of different colors.

This was the legacy of that ancestor?

"I haven't been here for a long time," the Duke sighed. "Every time I see these magic stones, I think of the heavy past that our ancestors told us."

"Magic stones?" Phyllis asked in surprise.

"That's right, precious items that only witches can use," he diandian nodded. "It's a long story. Our family was built under the protection of a witch."

His father began to tell the story of the family's origin. Unlike what he had heard as a child, the first Silt ancestor did not come from the Western Region, but from the untamed wilderness beyond the Impassable Mountain Range.

Phyllis' eyes gradually widened. He didn't expect such an amazing secret to be hidden behind the portrait.

The creator of the family, Agatha, had actually established a huge kingdom with many other witches. In the kingdom, they were in a ruling position, similar to the nobles of today. The kingdom perished due to attacks from hell demons. In the last battle, the survivors fled in all directions. Agatha led a group of people to the stone tower in the Misty Forest to retrieve experimental materials, while another group followed the main force to Greycastle. At that time, the kingdom continent was just a backward and barren wasteland.

"Was our ancestor in the other group?" Phyllis asked, his throat dry.

"That's right, he was the witch's butler. In principle, he should have gone to the forest with her, but he retreated and offered to stay and take care of the supplies. The witch agreed to his request," the Duke said in a deep voice. "You should know what that means."

Phyllis diandian nodded. The butler could be regarded as the most trusted person by the master in the family, apart from relatives. In most cases, the butler should live and die with the master, unless the master ordered otherwise. Taking the initiative to leave was tantamount to betrayal in a sense, even if the other party did not refuse.

"After arriving in the Western Region, our ancestor fell into deep regret and self-blame, and recorded all of this emotion," Duke Silt took out a black book from another box. "The witch never returned. After that, he cut off contact with the union, left the refugee camp, and settled alone in this uncultivated area with a small number of servants."

Phyllis took the black book, but did not open it immediately. Instead, he thought of a terrible point, "So, you knew from the beginning that everything the church did was wrong?"

If the witch had once devoted herself to fighting against the demons, why was she now being promoted as the devil's minion? There was obviously a great secret hidden in this.

"I knew, but I was powerless," the Duke said calmly. "If a witch appeared in the territory, I would definitely hide her, but I couldn't save the witch in the fortress. After all, Duke Lyon didn't think so - he hated witches even more than the church. In addition, it can be learned from the records of the later ancestors that they also did the same... but they didn't tell the rescued lucky ones about the Witch Kingdom."

"Where are they now, are they still in the family?"

"How is that possible, of course they have all entered the grave," he spread his hands. "Living to be sixty or seventy years old is already a very rare age, but they are still human and will grow old."

"But you think our ancestor is still alive."

"It's just a possibility - witches have many abilities and cannot have offspring, so I made this guess."

Phyllis pondered for a moment and changed the subject, "Didn't our ancestor ever think about going to the Misty Forest to find Agatha?"

"It's easier said than done," his father shook his head. "Even witches can't return safely, and ordinary mortals going there is no different from sending them to their deaths. In addition, the Western Region was still a wasteland four hundred years ago, full of wild animals and jungles. It was difficult enough to take root, and there was no time to take care of other things. However, our ancestor did write this diandian in his will, hoping that future generations could go to the stone tower in the Misty Forest, even if it was just to take a look."

Phyllis took a deep breath and opened this long-sealed record book. From the first page, he could feel the regret in the lines. Many of the words had become blurred with the passage of time, but because of this, the heavy feeling was even more obvious. He didn't know how long it took before he turned to the last page. The contents of the will were written here, or perhaps it couldn't be said to be a will, but rather an unfinished wish.

This was probably the reason why his father showed a regretful expression after drinking.

As a former knight, he felt the same way.

"Do you need me to find her?" Phyllis asked after a moment of silence. "If she is really Agatha herself, then she must live in the Prince's Castle. As far as I know, there are many witches gathered there."

"Witches are gathered in the castle?" The Duke said thoughtfully. "No wonder Longsong Stronghold issued a notice recruiting witches a few days ago. It seems that His Highness is determined to make an enemy of the church." Then he shook his head, "No, you don't have to look for her."

Phyllis was slightly stunned, "Don't you want to see her?"

"How can we let our ancestor come to see us, the younger generation," Duke Silt smiled. "Of course, we have to take the initiative to see her."

"We...?"

"That's right, I will go to Border Town with you," his father stroked his chin and smiled. "Take all these things with you. If it is really Agatha herself, our ancestor's last wish can be fulfilled."