Chapter 171 Ingrid's Ceremony

"Soronic, and Selicia—from the very beginning, there are two people."

Annan turned around and looked at Selicia: "Do you remember? About Nicholas II.

"He is just an afterimage in a nightmare. He thought he was the legendary alchemist Nicholas.

"You just keep the memory of Solonik—both in character and personal ability, you are completely different from him. Do you think that this is because you have too low self-esteem, so you changed your appearance after getting this body?"

The corners of Annan's mouth rose slightly: "Then, have you ever considered... This is your character in the first place?"

"...Could it be that I am Ingrid?"

Celesia's pupils vibrated violently.

Hearing Annan's analysis, she now began to seriously doubt whether she was Ingrid who had forgotten her memory.

Annan shook his head: "No, you are indeed yourself.

"Because this body is indeed a 'created doll'. Ingrid cannot become a doll.

"But the question is... who made you?"

The so-called... the country is easy to change, but the nature is hard to change.

Thinking about it carefully, who gave Thoronick his current identity as "Selicia"?

——It was "Professor Wolf" Frederick Wolfheart.

His "shell" comes from the Melvin family, and the inside is part of the golden-rank idol wizard "Professor Gray" - "Bonehealer" plus "Professor Wolf" can be synthesized into "Professor Gray".

At that time, both "Ingrid" and Frederick were studying with Professor Gray.

They are classmates, and they also had an ambiguous teenage relationship.

And among the opposite sexes that "Ingrid" once took a fancy to and planned to use as ritual materials, this name once appeared: Frederick Melvin.

From here, it can actually be deduced that Professor Hui knew Ingrid in the first place.

It wasn't the girl with dark blue long hair when she was studying with Professor Hui.

It's the real Ingrid who is the "Lord of the Tower of Thousand Faces" and "Pope of Miss Luck"!

However, when Ingrid, who sealed her memory, came to "study", Professor Hui didn't say anything. It is impossible for him not to understand this matter... Back then, the god of understanding and empathy, "The Banqueter", also banned his own memory from traveling in the world.

Looking back, Professor Hui still reads poems in front of Ingrid every day.

What I read is "Praise the Name of Tianche".

It's like hoping that the other party will remember something.

In other words...Professor Hui has stood with Ingrid from the very beginning!

And Selicia's body was made by "Professor Wolf".

"...Then, whose appearance is this?"

Annan replied affirmatively: "There is no doubt that this appearance comes from 'Ingrid'!"

Hearing this, Arthur's pupils shrank: "Speaking of which... I once knew a son of the tower. Her appearance is very similar to the captain..."

"It's your childhood sweetheart, right?"

Annan asked calmly.

Arthur paused, then nodded: "It can be counted."

"That means..."

Ao Feishi's expression is a bit complicated.

It seemed to be a little pity, but also like rejoicing. It seems that there is still some sadness between the eyebrows and eyes.

And Celicia hugged herself tightly with her hands, shivering as if afraid of the cold, and lowered her head.

The girl with long pink-purple hair trembled slightly.

——She herself realized the problem.

But that truth must also be told.

So Annan told the truth:

"Selicia, you are not actually Thoronik. You have been a girl from the very beginning...or, in other words, you are the idol of 'Ingrid' created by using 'Soronik' as a sacrifice. '."

This is the most original definition of "Idol School".

The so-called... Clay puppets and stone statues.

Some symbols are artificially endowed with specific meanings, hoping that they can play a special role through the "law of similarity" and "law of contagion".

The most typical one is the "idol" used to pray for rain.

The most popular spell in ancient China was the spell of praying for rain. Generally speaking, they will first use clay or wood to shape the image of the Dragon Lord, and hold a complicated ceremony of praying for rain. But if praying for rain fails too many times, they will angrily whip, scold, put on chains, and even tear down the "idol" of the Dragon Lord. If it doesn't work, replace it with another one.

In Japan, there are similar emergency measures. If the spell of praying for rain really fails too many times, angry villagers will drag out the local gods enshrined in the shrine and throw them into the rice fields.

Italians in Europe also tried to use the "idols" of saints to pray for rain, and when they failed, they threw the icons into the pool or were expelled from the parishes they guarded. The congregation in Port Licata also stripped the saints of their clothes, put them in shackles and chains, and even slapped them in times of drought, threatening "it must rain immediately."

This kind of means exists all over the world—everywhere in the transition where stone sculpture technology has risen but is still ignorant, there is a similar tradition.

These "idols" certainly do not have the divine power to pray for rain. But people have imposed this concept on them-seeing them as living creatures to worship, control or threaten.

Because they are living beings - they are afraid, they are greedy, they are... afraid of people.

Grant "identity" to the concept of nothingness, to lifeless clay idols and stone statues.

Make it "self-confessed".

This is the basis of "idol magic".

"I understand!"

Euphemia, who also belongs to the family of the Idol School, was the first to fully understand Annan's meaning: "Although the captain thinks he is 'Soronic', the characters we all see are all related to that Ingrid. Exactly the same as 'Selicia'. Then the captain actually exists as the idol of 'Ingrid'.

"She thinks she is 'Thoronic', like the poison hidden in the ice. As the ice melts, the poison is gradually released in the cup...and as she gradually denies herself 'Thoronic' In the past, she will get closer to Ingrid.

"Actually, at the moment when Selicia was born, Solonik was actually killed by Professor Wolf. What was left was only the 'Selonic' who had all the memories of Solonik and mistakenly believed that he was replaced by a body. Lycia'!

"If you simply endow Celesia with personality, she will still think that she is just a 'doll'. She must be made to think that she is a living thing—a living person, in order to form a 'strong idol relationship' with Ingrid '!"

That is.

Before Celesia denies her life as a "Thoronic", then she is a "Thoronic". Even if the gods come in person, they can only find out the composition of "Shoronic" from the depths of her soul.

But when she denied her past.

Completely negate his greatest wish to pursue Vladimir the Winter Reverser.

The moment when I thought "the existence of Thoronik has no meaning" and thought that I "better never be Thoronik"...

The ice on the outside of the poison melts.

She really became Celesia—Ingrid's stand-in!

"That is to say," Annan said calmly, "after Selicia saw the Winter Reverser and was abandoned by him...or some time before that."

Winterbreaker is Thoronick's teacher after all.

Unlike Annan's original belief, "his arrogant self-confidence that he knew Thoronik" was different.

He did know Thoronick.

Because of this, he was the first to notice something was wrong.

He noticed that Annan was caught in Ingrid's conspiracy-a conspiracy that Annan could not crack.

Because Annan is a "good guy".

Because of the death of the Winter Reverser, it is even more impossible for Annan to kill Celesia—nor the person whom Celesia valued. Because even Annan himself did not think of Celesia as "Shoronic".

"—In any case, I refuse to help you.

"—I'm a villain myself. But there's nothing wrong with it. I accept all the consequences, but I will never repent.

"—The villain must go to the end with the posture of belonging to the villain."

What exactly does he mean by "help"?

It has nothing to do with the Book of Skycart. Because no matter what, as long as he dies, Annan can get the incomplete badge on him.

The help he was talking about at that time was "Ingrid's plot".

"—When I realized that he had become Celesia. I gave up killing her and left."

Of course, this cannot be some kind of "compassion".

Whether it is Thoronic or Selicia has nothing to do with him.

The reason why he gave up killing Celesia was precisely because if he ignored it-she was enough to take away everything from Annan!

Because he is a wicked man.

Vladimir was the first and only to perceive the plot.

Only then did he intentionally leave the last trap enough to make everything about Annan vanish into nothingness.

"From the time Winterwinder thought, 'The real Thoronik is dead'.

"—Any one of you, as long as you use the element of 'love' to ascend to the golden rank. It means that Ingrid has completed her ceremony."