Chapter 203: Fierce Bird

"As expected, there is no Second Princess; there never was."

Li En put down the book on heraldry and sighed.

The worst-case scenario had been verified; records of the royal house going back seven or eight generations revealed strange anomalies if one pursued them with a certain condition in mind.

"In the previous generations, there were Seventh Princes, yet there remained only one Princess."

The Lion Clan is actually a breed that reproduces relatively quickly, and they are notorious for favoring daughters; this record is clearly problematic.

The biggest problem is not that there are too few daughters, but that there are too few children in total!

As members of the Lion Clan royalty, the population has never exceeded two digits, which is utterly shameful.

Moreover, male lions are notorious as a race of playboys, yet most kings and princes of this nation are extremely rare in their "chastity," with very few illegitimate children appearing.

The most incredible thing is that the descendants of those "Princes" would often unhesitatingly abandon their royal status and surnames to become true collateral branches; at that very moment, they would suddenly produce many children and grandchildren.

"A curse."

There is no need to consider this further; if the genes of this clan were not the problem, the rumors of a curse upon the royal house could likely be verified.

The key to triggering the curse is also obvious: the so-called "Second Princess."

"... The genes seem fine, so, the extra daughters..."

In the process of bearing the Fifth and Seventh Princes, there should have been several daughters (it is said the male-to-female ratio in the Lion Clan is 1 to 3).

Since illegitimate daughters can trigger the curse, Li En hardly dares to think about where the extra daughters went.

Explained this way, the royal house's perpetual lack of offspring and short lifespans, alongside the fact that leaving the royal house immediately leads to many children and grandchildren, can be understood: being forced to act against one's own children is something even those with a shred of humanity cannot bear.

This result also made Li En breathe a sigh of relief; it also seemed to verify that the problem lay with Dai Niya's aunt, not with her.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yes, thank you."

This was the lower-level bookstore of a mage tower on the Mage Street.

In this world, normal books are prohibitively expensive, especially those involving religion, theology, and history; conversely, those crude practical technical books on mathematics, chemistry, and the like are relatively cheap.

Li En estimated this was mainly due to different demand groups: those researching these "sciences" were actually the mid-to-low-level craftsmen of this world, while "humanities" subjects like religion were monopolized by the great nobles and the church.

For them, this was not just knowledge, but the foundation of their status and authority; only they had the need and resources for such research, and every great family had its own heraldry room and archivist.

To clarify the situation of the royal house, direct investigation is difficult; the Royal Archives are not accessible to ordinary people.

However, "Noble Heraldry" involves the family transformations of various nobles and the Wang Zu, touching upon bloodlines and alliance relationships between them, as well as the ups and downs of numerous collateral branches; naturally, it must mention the transformation processes of various glorious families.

The heraldry of the kingdom focuses on the situation of the royal house; cross-referencing several books makes the situation of the royal members fairly clear.

Incidentally, Li En did not go to the official library or noble collections; instead, he sought out the mages.

For mages, the valuable things are various magical knowledge and related technical knowledge; the heraldry that nobles treasure is actually meaningless garbage knowledge, just casually collected on a bookshelf out of habit. Li En could enter such a miscellaneous library just by treating Luo Yisi to a meal.

Luo Yisi didn't even take it seriously, thinking that Li En, having just received the knight title, was rushing to design his own noble coat of arms.

As a friend, he instead hinted that Li En, as a new mage, should not spend too much energy on this and should not be too hasty, leaving Li En laughing and crying at the same time.

But Luo Yisi's advice had its reasons.

A noble coat of arms is often a family's greatest achievement; if you design it while still young, it becomes difficult to handle future achievements.

Modifying a noble coat of arms requires notifying countless heraldry archives to make revisions, and even requires spending one's own money to print new heraldry catalogs and books, which is a fiscal and networking nightmare.

Yet, among these books on noble heraldry, Li En was surprised to discover that the royal house had actually changed theirs!

"So the original royal coat of arms was not the White Lion, but the White Griffin; it was changed later?"

This is actually quite rare; every animal and symbol in heraldry has a special meaning, and only heraldry experts can explain it clearly.

Those collateral branches and supporting families usually only add modifications and decorations to the source coat of arms.

For example, changing a color, adding a sword and shield, or adding an animal.

The ruling family of Radiant City is a typical example; their family crest is a brown Griffin guarding the Wang Guan, making their loyal dog nature very obvious.

Perhaps to outsiders, changing the White Griffin to a Griffin seems like just changing a pattern. But for those studying noble genealogies and heraldry, it means they once underwent a significant upheaval, even willing to correct the source glory of their family, which would also bring huge political repercussions.

After all, if the boss changes their coat of arms, do the subordinates and collateral branches change theirs or not?

In the eyes of the nobles, this is a major event that can shake the foundation of the state.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, truly a super miser, the most vengeful bastard."

The snake crawled out again; it seemed to be hinting at something.

Li En did not ask; he knew that if he asked, the other party would disappear again, and that itself was actually a hint.

A hint that "I cannot say this, but you can find it out yourself!"

In fact, this fellow had been guiding Li En all along, making him notice this problem.

The frequent appearance of the snake increased Li En's sense of urgency.

He knew the snake was not someone who liked to meddle; the crisis was likely right in front of them, otherwise there would be no reason for the other party to guide him so frequently.

"Is it a beast? A beast that hates the Griffin?"

And the snake's disappearance once again indicated that Li En was on the right path; if Li En had guessed wrong, the snake could have mocked him openly!

This sudden disappearance seemed to signal to certain rules, "It has nothing to do with me / I am not present."

And upon the book where it disappeared, there was a pattern of a White Griffin wearing a Wang Guan.

Li En picked up the book, brushed off the thick dust, and discovered it was actually a fairy tale story sent to the wrong place.

"Was it sent to the wrong place because of the cover?"

Li En opened the book; it was an illustrated fairy tale, likely intended to educate noble children.

The content was simple, yet it involved the legendary monarch who founded the nation.

The white hero Lion King held a magic sword, cleaved the great mountains, split the clouds, slew the Demon King, and successfully built this glorious kingdom; this was actually nothing special, as most such legendary stories are like this.

However, Li En noticed some subtle details.

"Expelling the evil bird that occupied the ancient city and building it into the royal capital... uh, could it be that destroyed old capital?"

Was the old capital where the Dragon Calamity occurred really the former nest of that so-called "Evil Bird"?

"The beast, an evil bird with dragon wings."

The snake's hint had already reached Li En.

"No way—the founding monarch was a beast, driving away a beast?"

That beast appeared to be a flying evil bird.

Li En noticed: in the earliest pattern of the white griffin, the griffin's claws trod upon black feathers!

But beneath the white lion's paws were only coins and wheat stalks. Was this a concession?

"No wonder the snake warned me to upgrade my Dragon Wings and Dragon Eyes quickly. He was hinting that I might face an aerial assault from a fierce beast—and that I must respond with aerial combat?"

Now, Li En's scalp prickled—this was likely the most difficult domain to confront.

I'm a close-combat unit; up in the air, I'd just be a sitting duck.

"Not only did the griffin become a lion—if this too was due to the beast's curse, then it must deeply hate the griffin, and also be one of the snake's natural enemies."

Founding the kingdom was undoubtedly the royal family's greatest achievement; thus, the white griffin should represent that glory.

"The royal griffin drove away this evil bird. Hmm—if it truly was a beast, driving it away wasn't enough; it was probably slain or utterly sealed, and then it cursed the royal family, preventing them from bearing a second daughter, and indirectly suppressing their prosperity."

Population has always been the foundation of a family's or kingdom's prosperity. This vile curse left the royal family with barely any members—how could they rise?

"The black evil bird, hating the griffin, is deeply vengeful, and to some extent, a natural enemy of the snake."

It seemed the answer was nearly clear. Li En suddenly stood up—he could no longer afford to waste time.

The snake's hint was correct: this was a battlefield he was utterly unprepared for—he must find a way to respond.

"The kingdom faces crises from two beasts at once—does the royal family know? Hmm, they probably know, but they dare not speak of it, and cannot speak of it."

【Partial truth acquired. Current progress exceeds 30%. Exceeding 50% will forcibly activate the Spirit Card.】

(End of Chapter)