I Pioneered Scientific Magic - Chapter 522 (Patreon)

Chapter 522: Diana, The Moon Goddess Who Ran Away With The Moon

About three minutes later, the door was pushed open again, and Ivina, who had not been seen for a long time, walked in with a man missing an arm.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker!" Ivina bowed slightly, her gesture full of respect.

Compared to the restraint and unease of their last meeting, the young woman seemed much more at ease now, and most importantly, her eyes no longer held the previous look of confusion.

The man with the missing arm also bowed his head in fear and respect. He initially wanted to kneel, as sitting in front of him was the Speaker who governed the entire Magic Kingdom, a position roughly equivalent to His Majesty or the Holy Pope himself. However, seeing that Ivina did not do so, he just stood there stiffly, unsure of what to do next.

"Good afternoon, Ivina!" Lynn said with a smile. "It seems you've figured it out."

"You're right, Mr. Speaker, the lies of the Church, no matter how perfectly woven, will eventually be torn apart..." Ivina's face was dusty, but her voice was clear.

During her time in the kingdom, she had not been treated particularly well, but rather had been undergoing reformation with the captured clergy of the Church and the legions of the Empire—repairing roads in the city under supervision during the day and constructing houses for the poor, and catching up on basic knowledge at night to break away from feudal superstitions.

Although many of the nobles brought here constantly complained and cursed the Council in secret, Ivina did not consider this treatment cruel.

Despite being tired, they had enough food to eat, and some of the Empire's soldiers even felt that being prisoners was much better than serving a lord.

Most crucially, after the wizards had defeated the Empire and the Church, they did not conduct the massacres or offer sacrifices to evil gods as the bishops had propagated.

On the contrary, from what she could see, the city was being renovated, and the territories were developing. Everything she could see was improving.

If this was what the apocalypse looked like, then everyone would probably be looking forward to its arrival.

Listening to Ivina's narrative, Lynn smiled. Although the development of the Magic Kingdom still had many flaws, any discerning person could see that the new kingdom was more vibrant than Eira's Divine Empire, which was why he was confident in using non-coercive methods to cleanse the Church's faith.

Of course, the related propaganda also needed to keep up, and Lynn was never averse to using some methods for the right things.

"Who might this be...?" Lynn's gaze quickly turned to the one-armed man, as Ivina's special visit was clearly related to him.

"Reporting to Mr. Speaker, my name is Bard, I was... I was once a deputy in the Divine Punishment Army..." The one-armed man said nervously, aware that his former status had once brought him endless glory but now could be deadly.

"Do you have some important matter to report?" Lynn asked.

"It concerns the Outer Realms," Ivina said gravely.

"Outer Realms?" Lynn was momentarily startled, looking curiously at the brown-haired girl, his expression becoming more serious. "You mean the world beyond the portal?"

Ivina turned to look at Bard, who nodded without any hesitation, hurriedly sharing everything he knew.

The Outer Realms was the term used by the Church for the world on the other side, where Bard had heard Lord Gustav of the Divine Punishment Army say it was the origin of all sins, with powerful monsters regularly coming through these space-time nodes to attack nearby cities and people.

Therefore, the Church had selected an elite force from the Divine Punishment Army to form an expeditionary force, entering it to clear out the monsters gathering around the space-time portals.

Hearing this, Lynn's eyes lit up; he had been struggling with how to gather information about the Outer Realms, but now it seemed the information had come to him.

"What exactly is that world like?" Lynn asked, very curious.

"The Outer Realms are dark and cold; the last time we were there, we couldn't see the sun, moon, or stars..." Bard replied hesitantly.

The expeditionary force had to be enchanted with divine magic before entering, otherwise, they would easily freeze to death.

Despite their preparations, the place was still extremely dangerous, and every cleaning operation resulted in heavy casualties.

"No sun?" Lynn was surprised, immediately thinking of what Raven had mentioned before—that the Moon Goddess Diana had taken her realm away from the main world.

Could it be that it had moved out of its original orbit, taking the moon of the main world with it? This could very well be why the Outer Realms lacked the sun and stars.

A world without stars would be dark and silent without sources of light and heat, and the temperature would likely drop drastically,

 possibly reaching as low as minus two hundred degrees Celsius, making it nearly impossible for life to survive in such harsh conditions.

However, the Outer Realms were obviously not that bad, or Bard and his companions would have been frozen the moment they entered, even with divine magic.

It seemed that before leaving the main world, the Moon Goddess must have done something to delay the drop in temperature.

While Lynn was pondering this, Bard continued to speak. He knew this was his only chance to distance himself from his past as part of the Church, so he racked his brains to think of any useful information,

like the fact that long-open portals would accumulate magical energy, attracting many powerful monsters to linger, and that there was a creature in the Outer Realms called the "Sandworm," which buried its body in the earth to attack any living beings that entered its territory.

"Does the Church have outposts in that world?" Lynn asked, his eyes locked on Bard.

Despite facing a more dangerous enemy in the Necromancer Lord, Lynn had not forgotten their old foe Eira. In a sense, their capability to bring threats was not inferior to that of the Necromancer Lord.

"I think probably not," Bard replied cautiously. "The Outer Realms are too barren and dangerous, not worth much. The expeditionary forces usually return with their prey and achievements after cleaning the nearby monsters."

Lynn nodded. Ruling has its costs, and establishing stable outposts in such a world is not cost-effective.

He guessed that the Church sending multiple expeditions there was not just about preemptively eliminating threats. The bodies and blood of those powerful monsters were invaluable resources.

Church baptism rituals and the mass production of [Divine Grace Potions] likely came from these resources.

At that moment, Bard seemed to suddenly remember something, his face showing a conflicted expression.

"What is it? Did you think of something else?" Lynn prompted timely. "Even if it's just speculations and rumors, you can speak them out. It's my job to judge their truth."

Under Lynn's encouragement, Bard spoke hesitantly. "Mr. Speaker, it might be my illusion, but time seems to pass very differently there... no, it should be slower, actually."

Because there was no sun or stars in the Outer Realms, those who entered had no way of telling how much time had passed, but the difference in perception was too strong.

Bard felt like he had only been there for a few days, but when he came out, more than a month had passed.

Not just him, but some of his fellow expeditionary soldiers felt the same. Lord Gustav of the Divine Punishment Army seemed to know the reason but had never explained it to them.

As Bard spoke, he cautiously glanced at the young Speaker, fearing the latter would suddenly scold him for talking nonsense, as it sounded unbelievable.

"Time flows differently?" Lynn pondered for a moment. He wasn't surprised by such a 'minor' issue. Time, like space, can be 'manipulated' and 'distorted'.

The time dilation effect from the theory of relativity is a real-world example.

Unfortunately, Gustav had died following the battle at the Holy City, his divine powers revoked, otherwise more information could have likely been extracted from him.

Lynn regretted this and turned his gaze towards the cage. Besides Gustav, the most likely to know all about this was the Star Messenger caged here.

The black crow was clearly still angry, turning its back on him, only showing its rear...

"Great Star Messenger, to think that even you are unaware?" Lynn said regretfully, shaking his head and then confidently adding.

"But that's to be expected. Mysteries involving time and dimensions are not accessible to everyone. Perhaps even the gods of life and creation are not fully aware, given our world's unique situation, which has resulted in such an unusual phenomenon of inconsistent time flows."

The black crow immediately bristled, and its indignant cawing soon filled the room. "Nonsense, foolish mortal, the differing time flows between dimensions are normal, only stabilizing once fully captured by the primary dimension..."

"What is this capture based on? Magic coverage?" Lynn continued to inquire.

The Moon Goddess Diana opening so many portals on this continent must have a reason, possibly aiming to capture these dimensions to transform them into her own divine realm.

However, this time the crow remained silent, its black eyes rolling about, showing no intention of responding.

At this moment, Bard was amazed at Lynn's previous address, looking at the cage's black crow, not understanding why a talking crow would be referred to by the Speaker as the "Great Star Messenger."

Ivina also appeared startled, then realized from Lynn's words that although he spoke respectfully, there was no real reverence in his tone.

And indeed, a great entity would hardly be confined within a cage...

Seeing that the crow did not reply, Lynn simply smiled and did not mind; the information he had just received was enough for him to piece together quite a bit.

"Thank you for the information provided this time; it is very important for the Council's upcoming actions," Lynn expressed his gratitude generously, standing up and placing his hand on the nervous Bard's shoulder.

[Shape—Reconstruction of the Shell]

A strong glow of magic appeared in the room.

Bard immediately felt a piercing pain that made him think the seemingly amiable Speaker might suddenly decide to kill him.

Fortunately, the intense pain lasted only a few seconds, replaced by a tingling, comfortable sensation.

As the white light completely dissipated, Bard was astonished to find his left arm, lost in the war, had regrown. He was overjoyed, immediately kneeling down and weeping with gratitude.

After consoling Bard with a few words, Lynn let him leave first, then turned to the brown-haired girl. "You also did well, Ivina. From now on, you are free!"

The word 'free' undoubtedly meant everything—it signified the end of their forced labor, the redemption of their sins, and their status as free citizens of the kingdom!

Even though there was still implicit discrimination in high-profile positions like civil service exams, industries like papermaking, iron smelting, and glass workshops didn't care about one's past as long as one was willing to work hard. Being well-fed was no issue, and one might even afford a house and enjoy a life with meat every day.

For the empire's poor, not being hungry, cold, or lacking clothes was already a heavenly life.

Ivina had indeed performed a meritorious deed by defecting at the last moment during the attack by Eira's avatar, buying time for his breakthrough. However, having been a Church spy and a member of the Divine Punishment Army, according to the Council's laws, she had to undergo a long-term reformation.

Lynn would not use his authority to exempt her from this due to their acquaintance, strictly following the Council's laws by sending her to a re-education camp.

He also assigned Ivina a task—to find out which of the imprisoned were genuinely accepting reformation and which were still harboring ill intentions, planning riots in secret. This could be considered a kind of undercover assignment.

Ivina had agreed without hesitation at the time because she needed a chance to truly see how the kingdom treated prisoners and the lower classes of the empire.

"Take this letter of recommendation," Lynn said, picking up a sheet of paper from his desk, brushing his hand over it, and causing a string of glowing magical letters to appear on the paper.

The girl had previously performed well in the civil service exam, impressing many examiners, but was ultimately not approved due to her status.

Now that she had spent months in the re-education camp

 and had voluntarily brought significant information about the Outer Realms, her demonstration of loyalty was sufficient. Blocking her future opportunities due to her status would show that the high-level officials of the Magic Kingdom lacked magnanimity.

This would also serve as a reward for her timely report on this significant discovery.

Faced with this precious letter of recommendation, Ivina hesitated, biting her lip before speaking. "Mr. Speaker, may I exchange it for another request?"

"That depends on the request..." Lynn set aside the letter, interestedly inquiring.

"I want to find someone," Ivina looked at Lynn very seriously. "My brother—Lott!"

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