Chapter 83: Witch's House (Seeking Recommendations)

Mystery Tribulation Main Text Volume Chapter 83: Witch's House "A thousand years of time have passed, most objects have decayed, only stone endures..."

"This ancient castle has experienced major historical processes such as the collapse of the Fabri Dynasty, the Dark Chaotic Era, the Glorious Revolution, and the establishment of the Invis Kingdom, yet it still stands tall..."

The tour guide lady led everyone into the castle, introducing the precious artworks and paintings in the corridor.

"In the year 885 of the New Calendar, proposed by Green Forest City councilor Barry, the Parliament and the Association for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage approved and officially listed Sotos Castle as a kingdom cultural heritage site, henceforth prohibiting any form of destruction or development to its main body and surrounding areas... allowing us to see it in its most primitive and natural appearance... This museum has an extremely long history, and its collection mainly comes from the generous donations of several great nobles..."

She pushed open a room door: "Next, we come to the boudoir of another historical figure, the founder of the Fabri Dynasty, the Great Emperor Ginny Sotos..."

"Aaron Sotos was a great strategist. During his tenure as the Green Forest Earl, he crushed the Kajashi Kingdom with an extremely swift blitzkrieg, forcing the kingdom at the time to cede territory and pay reparations, but Ginny Sotos directly annihilated the Kajashi Kingdom and established the Fabri Dynasty... Our New Calendar takes the time of the establishment of the Fabri Dynasty as year one..."

The tour guide lady smiled sweetly: "There is also an interesting rumor here..."

"That founding empress, the Great Emperor Ginny, also had a title that makes people's imaginations run wild—the First Witch, or the Witch Empress!"

"The Fabri Dynasty had a total of twelve rulers, half of whom were women. In legends, they mastered the power of Magic, could summon lightning and fire, and oppressed the commoners with cruel rule, until their rule was finally overthrown by a commoner riot in the year 367 of the New Calendar. The 'Regicide' and 'Protector of the People' Suolun took power, and immediately the entire kingdom fell into a more chaotic Dark Age..."

"In fact, the legend about Magic is a fallacy. Through later research and the decryption by archaeologists, we can confirm that the Fabri royal family mastered the power of science, including the development of gunpowder, chemical fertilizer, modern medicine, and so on. In ancient times, this advanced technology was like a Divine Miracle! Those who used it were called witches and Wizards by the then-ignorant masses..."

Aaron followed the tour guide, his mouth curling up at times, and twisting at others.

'What do you mean by defeating enemies with the power of science? Fine, this is very Occultism!'

'It seems Ginny did a good job...'

At this moment, he heard a man's voice ring out: "No, I think Witchcraft might really exist... because the kingdom still circulates the legend of the 'Green Devil' to this day. As the younger sister of the 'Green Devil', it is a reasonable explanation that Ginny mastered extraordinary power."

This man was wearing a decent formal suit and looked to be in good financial condition, with a broad and bright forehead; he was currently staring at the tour guide with an angry expression, as if accusing the other party of lying.

The tour guide lady smiled: "Regarding the legend of the Green Devil, many people also mix it with the primitive worship of the Green Banyan Tree... but in fact, these are all fallacies. The world is scientific, and there is no Magic... Next, I am going to talk about the key point."

She came to a glass counter and introduced the spread-out book pages inside.

"These are extremely precious manuscripts. Although they have been transcribed many times, they are considered the version closest to the original—Aaron Sotos's Book of Science!"

"The reason why I introduced Aaron earlier as a Legendary inventor and the Father of the Steam Engine is because of this."

"More than a thousand years ago, the great scientist Aaron invented Granular Gunpowder, chemical fertilizer, and drew the conceptual diagram of the Steam Engine..."

"The invention of gunpowder was a huge leap in the history of civilization... Obviously, Aaron Sotos used the power of gunpowder to defeat the then-hegemon, the Kajashi Kingdom, and Ginny and other successors inherited this power of technology to maintain their rule."

"When the dynasty ended, the Sotos palace was breached and looted. The precious Aaron manuscripts were torn into countless fragments and scattered everywhere, being crazily chased, transcribed, and studied by countless historians, scientists, and inventors... Eventually, Doctor Valente improved the Steam Engine model and made the first practical Steam Engine. The great industrial revolution thus kicked off, and the glorious Invis stood at the pinnacle of the continent because of this!"

Aaron listened carefully.

However, later on, when the tour guide lady introduced Ginny's children, he became uninterested.

Finally, the group came to the back of the museum and saw an open-air Graveyard.

"Next, what we see is the Graveyard of the Sotos Family... The historical Graveyard was long ago destroyed by the ravages of war and chaos. What we see now is a later relocated and restored version, but after restoration, I believe it is the closest to the original appearance..."

Halfway through her words, the tour guide lady suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold, couldn't help but shiver, and for a moment her thoughts seemed to freeze.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind blew by, and nothing happened.

"Sorry... let's continue..."

The tour guide lady smiled to smooth things over, but somewhat sadly discovered that the young gentleman with purple eyes was already gone.

"Theodore Sotos, Ginny Sotos, Shaya Sotos..."

Aaron held his hat, walked out of the museum, and recalled the names on the tombstones, a sense of desolation suddenly rising in his heart.

"You also think that the tour guide completely misunderstood history, right?"

A man wearing a gray formal suit, blue eyes, and gold-rimmed glasses chased after him.

Aaron recognized him; he was the one who had just refuted the tour guide lady.

"There are too many fallacies in history, and the authorities also intend to cover them up..."

The man laughed heartily: "Hello, my name is Bruce! Bruce Field, a lover of history and Occultism... You also escaped because you couldn't stand the history she was making up randomly, right?"

"No, not really!"

Aaron shook his head: "I was just a bit hungry..."

Bruce's expression stiffened on his face for a moment, but it was quickly replaced by a smile: "That's perfect, I know a very famous restaurant nearby. Their signature dish—Witch Soup Pasta—is said to be the favorite food of the Green Devil back in the day!"

Aaron: "..."

Half an hour later, Aaron was still with Bruce, dining at this restaurant named 'Witch's House'.

It must be said that the Witch Soup Pasta, after more than a thousand years of improvement, had purple-red broth that emitted a rich herbal aroma, filled with a certain sense of mystery, which was extremely in line with the preferences of those young people who liked to be unconventional.

Paired with bread and pasta, the taste was also unexpectedly good.

Aaron's reaction to the first bite was that he wanted to laugh a little.

'I just mentioned it casually back then, I didn't expect that fake witch to actually make it... Could it be that she was scared out of her wits back then and changed her profession to become a cook!?'