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[Gaterhyme]

"Doesn't seem like we'd have many examples to tell."

Unless the others knew more very old people other than that Narius and this Xos.

[Praefectus Screptum]

"Oh? But we don't need to, my armored friend."
"The human kind is a peculiar thing, and a mind without memories can lead to despair and confusion...the desire to carve a path and sort of direction..."
"...And take a much more dangerous path. Sometimes even your surroundings can lead you to such situation...after all, it isn't uncommon for mankind to see odd or unlikely events as something related to the act of a god."

[Solymr]

: Exactly. I tried to restore Atan's sanity as best I could, as I knew he had much to share, being so long-lived, but it appears I underestimated how far gone he was. Hearing all of this is most concerning... Just how long has Atan been doing this for?

Meanwhile, Carmen was mumbling to herself.

: ...It couldn't be. It's too insane.

: Hm? What seems to be the problem?

: I might have made a mistake in my way of thinking. This Atan... the fake Narius, at first I thought he was part of a Domirian ploy. How did he learn, not just about Ethan, but also about the Royal Treasures? Did he learn of them here?

: You mean the Royal Treasures of Alvada? We have talked about them on ocassion, but I'm not sure if that would be of any help. I'd wager knowledge about the five Royal Treasures is pretty widespread, at least among researchers of magic-

: Hold on. Five? I've always heard about three from scholars: the ring, the crown and the bracelet.

Xos massaged his temples.

: Hmmm, most strange. Let me recall... The ring, the crown, the bracelet... and then there was the orb and the amulet, that should be the five. He told me about them long ago- Oh, I see what you mean.

: I knew it. I knew it but it cannot be possible. It just can't.

[Haspen]

"An orb? We've gotten a strange orb... feels like years ago... anyway, the previous owner was very possessive of it." Ethan turned to his crew, then scratched his cheek.

"Who has it?"

[Gaterhyme]

"Should still be Ashlyn, ever since we took it off that old man on that Domirian ship."

Lavinia wasn't too concerned with whatever Carmen's newfound realization was. No matter if that Narius was the mastermind or a Domirian puppet (though where did that leave the blame for what happened in Demura?), they still needed to take him down. That hadn't changed.

"You look like us when we learned Ethan was royalty."

[Solymr]

: It might not be that far off. The more historically inclined may remember a certain Atan from four hundred years ago...

: Ah, you must mean Prince Atan. The original Alvadan dynasty died with him, and since then descendants of the cadet branches have inherited the throne. I considered that possibility too, but discarded it since Prince Atan was supposed to have died at sea far to the east of here. Even if he had survived, I don't consider it possible that he made his way to the other side of the continent by himself and voluntarily live as a wild man.

: And if he was Alvadan royalty, he wouldn't have needed this whole scheme, right? He could have just used the original Royal Treasures and claimed the throne at any point. But then how do you explain him knowing so much about them? And why did he focus so much on the Alvadan throne in particular?

: Hmm... Except for the amulet, all other Treasures have passed through here, and the orb was the only one we could do something with. If those are supposed to only function with Alvadan royalty, it would discard that possibility.

[Praefectus Screptum]

"Considering the amount of absurdity we have saw so far, I would throw away any sort of doubts or skepticism towards unlikely or near impossible situations if they connect with other issues."
"I do wonder what his end goal is, though."

[Powder Miner]

:"For what it's worth, just about the only thing we do know for sure here is that we're talking about somebody who has already faked being a last hope heir one time; one speculative possibility that follows is that whatever is going on now with "Narius" and, er, Narius (by which I mean the captain this time) is a parallel to whatever it is that happened with Prince Atan historically."

[Solymr]

: It might help to consider an alternate point of view as well. If this man really is Prince Atan, what could be the reason for him to not be able to use the real Treasures? And how did he go from being sunken in eastern waters to these woods?

: Vortai has a point. Speculation won't really help us here, we know it's not going to end well. We can always interrogate him after we've crushed his plans and undone the usurpation, and for that, we need the last Treasure.

[Praefectus Screptum]

"Right. And while we are already here...would it possible for you to grant us access to the library?"

[Powder Miner]

Fer scratched his head, deep in thought for a long, long, long moment.
:"I'm not sure how much I have to offer other than speculation, I guess; my thought would naturally be that Atan would be a historical impostor of, well, Atan, but I have a brother over at the House of Scholars who has been doing a lot of research in a pretty unusual direction. Actually, he did want me to talk about this at this tower, too, and it'd be a bit negligent not to ultimately bring it up. His own research indicated that a lot of artifacts and other relics related to the Old Gods tended to be found on coastal sites - even relative to pre-Reckoning geography. He also theorized that the Old Gods were physically in contact with humanity... uh, well, with what we're seeing here, maybe they were a people who had access to this immortality magic, I guess. His conclusion is that the Old Gods may have lived under the sea, had a long-term relationship with pre-Reckoning Alvada, but took the terraforming attempts of the Reckoning as an attack and lashed out in return."
:"Where Atan there fits in gets a bit weird. If this is some guy that actually went into the sea and came back, then maybe he had some sort of contact, but that wouldn't explain the treasures. If he's actually a member of the same people my brother theorizes about, then he wouldn't be accounted for among the Old Gods maybe just because Atan isn't his name, but I'm not sure why he wouldn't be able to interface with the treasures. If it's all unrelated, at least I got to bring it up."

[Caellath]

For his part, Claude just casually scooted closer to Lavinia.

"History isn't my favored intellectual pursuit. Plus I've long accepted this would be a journey of madness from the point Ethan was revealed as the royal heir."

[Praefectus Screptum]

"Not the first time you read about mortals trying to become gods, I am sure. History or not, it is a somewhat...common theme in books."
"But to actually see it happening certainly is peculiar."

[Solymr]

Xos thought for a moment.

: That is quite a theory. I assume that's the reason you want access to the Library?

: I'd hate to interrupt the advancement of historical discoveries but there is something we must do or else we will become history.

: Hmm... Very well. Let me propose this plan of action then: Since Atan is now considered an exile, none of our protections regarding his research or property apply. This means you're free to enter and search for the Treasure and whatever else might help you. Meanwhile, I'd like to delve into this theory with your fellows, and perhaps grant you access to the Library. Usually we require a written contribution in exchange, but if our talk elucidates something interesting, I can easily grant a special permission.

: Doesn't sound like a bad deal to me but-

: Before I forget, you should take care if you enter his space. Due to our protections, whatever you find there could be dangerous.

: ...How dangerous, exactly?

: He's had the highest level of protection I can offer, and even then he's seemingly kept me successfully in the dark about much of his plans, so... Unknown danger.

[Chevaleresse]

"Considering the amount of magical guardians we've faced on the way here, not to mention the cultists and traitors, we shouldn't face too much trouble. Especially given the wealth of equipment we've acquired from the markets here."