Chapter 211: Glory Be My Life
Chapter 211: Glory Be My Life
The Queen’s House.
The place was just behind the lawn located within the Tower of London. It was a row of medieval-styled houses, built using brick and wood.
The house had gable tipped roofs and dark brown walls.
In the night, the row of buildings appeared particularly eerie… especially since Chen Xiaolian and the others had just encountered a real female ghost back then.
They burst their way into the house. Finding where Queen Anne had resided before was not too difficult – the place had long since become a protected heritage site. In order to facilitate visitors, there were even text descriptions placed at the ready.
The state of the house’s interior was deliberately preserved in the state of those from medieval England.
After Chen Xiaolian and his team of three burst into the house, they specifically checked the house. Then, Chen Xiaolian breathed a sigh of relief.
Hmm, there were no warrior armour sets, swords or shields within the house.
According to the description written on the sign, back in the day, Queen Anne had resided in this building. Moreover, it was said that she was detained to the third floor and the attic.
They walked into the house. Although he only got a short glimpse of it, Chen Xiaolian was unable to restrain himself and he let out a sigh.
It had to be said, the time that Queen Anne spent being imprisoned here was indeed miserable.
Even by medieval standards, this detainment room was far too simplistic. It had to be said once again, this was the location where a Queen was placed under house arrest, a once all-powerful Queen.
Small windows, dark and humid room, dilapidated furniture – oh well, it was said that all those were made in imitation of those items recorded in history.
One had to admit, Henry VIII was indeed a very ruthless man.
Back then, he was in love with Queen Anne. In order to marry her, he did not hesitate to oppose all of Europe, disregard the Roman Catholic Church and show hostility toward the powerful Spain. He made it so the Church of England became independent, affecting the procedures involved in the world’s history of religion.
Afterward, when his love for that woman faded, his actions were no less decisive! Simply because she was incapable of bearing a male heir for him, he had her dealt with mercilessly!
Chen Xiaolian recalled the information that he had read before in the historical materials.
Back then, one of the charges placed upon Queen Anne was the charge of adultery.
Queen Anne was someone who liked art. Thus, after she was placed under house arrest, many poets and artists whom had had contact with her were all arrested and severely interrogated… in the end, to the absurdity of everyone, all of those people were forced to confess that they were in an affair with Queen Anne.
Everyone? He he… …
Even so, Henry VIII still felt that was not enough. He went further and charged Queen Anne with the accusation that she had an affair with her own brother!
In addition, she was also charged with treason… …
“This British Zhen Huan truly had a miserable one,” said Chen Xiaolian as he sighed.
However, she probably did not expect that her own daughter would, years later, ascend to the throne. Furthermore, that daughter of hers would become the greatest Queen in the history of the UK, Queen Elizabeth I.
“All right, Guild Leader. Stop sighing and quickly find the entrance to the basement,” muttered Bei Tai after he saw the reflective expression on Chen Xiaolian’s face.
Chen Xiaolian collected himself and joined the two brothers in their search.
It was not easy to find a basement in this house.
More accurately… they were unable to find one!
“That ghost wouldn’t have lied to us, would she?” Bei Tai swore.
The surface area on the first floor was not that big. There were simply no basement doors… even if it was some secret passage, considering how small the place was, they should have found it.
Especially for Lun Tai who had even gone so far as to check the fireplace.
They rapped down hard on the shelves, cabinet and every inch of the stone floor.
“I can guarantee that the ground beneath here is solid.” Lun Tai exhaled and turned to Chen Xiaolian and asked, “Xiaolian, what do we do now?”
Chen Xiaolian’s expression was slightly distorted.
Could the Queen have really toyed with us?
No! There must be an issue somewhere!
At that moment, a loud dragon howl could be heard reverberating from the distance. It came from the back side of the Tower of London!
Chen Xiaolian’s face turned taut.
“I wonder how that Conan is faring,” said Bei Tai as he clutched his head. “He had quite the sense of solidarity. To think that he would actually help us hold back the dragon.”
Chen Xiaolian carefully inspected the house and swept one glance through the house.
He suddenly shook his head and said, “Move, move out!”
He rushed out from the house with Lun Tai and Bei Tai right behind him. They asked, “What is it, Guild Leader?”
“We’ve got it wrong,” Chen Xiaolian’s eyes were fixed at a place located within the darkness.
“Eh?”
“Think about it. This place was used to detain the Queen, how could it have a basement? Furthermore, even if there was a basement, as the Queen was being imprisoned, do you think she would have the opportunity to slip past the guards to enter the basement alone to hide anything?”
“… … those words do sound logical,” replied a nodding Lun Tai.
Bei Tai furiously spat out, “That female ghost tricked us!”
“No, it is likely that she did not lie. However, our understanding and perspective is different from hers.” Chen Xiaolian pointed toward a certain direction. His fingers drew a circle as he indicated the surroundings. “What she said was, her last place of residence…”
“You see, this so-called last place of residence, we only perceived one meaning from those words. We believed that those words meant the last place she lived in, this house.
“However, that is the way of thought that ordinary people have. Simply put, that is the way of thought of losers.
“However, we forgot that she was not an ordinary person. She was the Queen, a highly placed aristocrat, a super fair and wealthy lady.
“In her mind, her residence is not limited to the house where she had slept in. The set of houses beside this one, the kitchen, the fireplace house, the bathhouse, even the church, all of them form part of this house’s set… all of them could be considered as her place of residence!
“For example, if a King were to say where his place of residence is, he would certainly not say his place of residence is his bedroom. Rather, he would say his place of residence is his entire palace!
“Thus, if we are to understand Queen Anne’s words through such a perspective… what she meant by her last place of residence… it referred to the surrounding vicinity. Considering her aristocratic way of thought, she would view even the surrounding set of houses and facilities as part of her home.”
As he spoke, Chen Xiaolian’s eyes shone and his finger pointed toward a certain direction. He said with emphasis and a profound tone, “Which includes… there!”
Within the darkness of the night, Lun Tai and Bei Tai turned to look at the direction indicated by Chen Xiaolian.
That was…
A chapel.
…
“This place was meant for the imprisonment of prisoners. Additionally, the ones imprisoned here were all criminals with lofty positions and statuses. Due to the tradition in England, despite being criminals, their position as aristocrats afforded them special treatment. For example… this chapel was meant for the imprisoned criminals to pray – naturally, after executing these criminals, they could also perform the funeral and cremation for those criminals here.” Chen Xiaolian slowly continued, “So, this is a private chapel… I believe that Queen Anne must have considered this private chapel as part of her place of residence.”
Pausing for a moment, Chen Xiaolian slowly said, “Think about it… while being imprisoned, under what type of circumstance would Queen Anne be able to escape the monitoring of those sent to keep an eye on her and hide something?”
“You mean… when she entered the chapel to pray?” Lun Tai’s eyes brightened.
“The Western people attach great importance to their religious beliefs. When someone is praying or doing a confession, those beside would not disturb… perhaps it was at that moment that Queen Anne was able to request for her guards to leave her side. It is only at such a time would she be able to do anything,” Chen Xiaolian said quickly.
“If that is the case, what are we waiting for? Let’s quickly enter and check it out!” Bei Tai was the first to quickly run toward the small chapel.
The chapel was indeed very small.
It had a typical Norman architecture.
It was far into the night and the interior of the chapel was shrouded in darkness. The small window afforded them no light source. Even with the illumination from the tactical flashlight, they were only barely able to observe the interior.
The interior was extremely small. It was probably only as small as an ordinary classroom… or perhaps even smaller.
Additionally, a thick round pillar stood within, occupying part of the available space.
Still, it had a very impressive level of height of a three-storey building, at least. Its ceiling was arched.
Round pillars curved upward to form the arch.
All in all, standing within this chapel would cause one to involuntarily feel depressed.
“Split up to look for it!” Chen Xiaolian spoke up. Lun Tai and Bei Tai quickly split up to two different directions to start their search.
Chen Xiaolian walked forward through the middle of the chapel’s aisle. He glanced at the statues placed in front as well as the candlesticks and ceremonial instruments. There was a square shaped stone cylinder there, seemingly used for holy water. However, it had dried up.
Chen Xiaolian glanced at the statues placed above and looked around.
If there is a basement, then it should have been discovered by the later generations. Even if the Sword in the Stone was kept inside, it is likely that the later generations had taken it away… however, the system would probably not give us such a kind of result.
If so…
Chen Xiaolian’s mind thought of something!
Wrong, it is not the ordinary basement!
Queen Anne had spoken in English and the word she used was ‘cellar’!
In English, there were two words for basement.
One was the cellar. One was the basement [1].
The latter was more formal. In general, it described a formal room built underground.
As for the word cellar, it was relatively smaller. In general, it may be used to describe an underground wine cellar.
In English, if you were to dig a hole under a house to put things, it could be considered as a cellar!
And Queen Anne had said cellar, so…
“Lun Tai!”
Chen Xiaolian called out. Lun Tai emerged from the left side of the chapel. He asked, “What is it?”
“Did you find anything?”
“… … nothing at all,” Lun Tai replied in a rather anxious voice. “I found a prayer room, but there is nothing there.”
“Stop looking. I think I might have figured it out!”
…
The chapel also had an underground cellar.
Although it was very, very small.
This place was used to store red wine.
In most cases, grape wine would be used during a mass.
Thus, many churches would reserve some grape wine for use.
Even though this was a very small chapel, it also had a place to store wine – only, this wine cellar was very, very small!
At the side of the chapel was a room. The entryway to the wine cellar was on the wall here. All they needed to do was pull open a small hatch… however, the size of the entryway was less than one meter in height. Additionally, it could only accommodate half a person’s body.
In other words, one would not be able to walk upright in side. There were only a few barrels stored inside the cellar… naturally, it was presently empty.
This was not an official basement.
It was simply a small cellar created by digging down the ground. The size of the place was likely not much bigger compared to a bathtub.
“I’ll go.”
Chen Xiaolian handed Fearless War Axe to Lun Tai and rolled up his sleeves. He said, “I will go in and look, you fellows keep guard.”
Lun Tai handed a tactical flashlight to Chen Xiaolian and said, “Be careful. If there is anything wrong, just give a holler and we will pull you out.”
Chen Xiaolian nodded his head.
He bent down and climbed down.
The space available underground was truly very small. Chen Xiaolian was barely able to crawl forward; the depth was less than two meters.
In fact, if he were to straighten his legs, his feet would end up sticking out outside.
Naturally, it was extremely dirty with a thick layer of dust and spider webs as thick as silk!
There was a scent of decaying coming from the ground below!
Chen Xiaolian held the tactical flashlight using his mouth and strove to crawl to the edge.
The walls of the underground cellar were made of stone. Only the ground was of soil.
Chen Xiaolian carefully inspected the walls for a moment. He used the tactical flashlight to shine upon each stone brick.
Two minutes later, he finally made a discovery!
Several bricks on the left corner revealed clear differences in layout and some other deviations.
It was as though it had been pulled out and stuffed back. However, it was not fully stuffed back in.
Chen Xiaolian quickly extended his hand toward the bottom of that corner and he began to dig out the soil there!
He got it right!
…
“Pull me out!”
Chen Xiaolian’s voice came out from the underground cellar. Lun Tai quickly bent his body forward and peered into the underground cellar. Chen Xiaolian’s legs were slowly coming out, bit by bit. Lun Tai grabbed hold of his pair of legs and dragged him out from inside.
Observing Chen Xiaolian’s blackened face, Lun Tai could not restrain himself and laughed for a short while. Then, he asked, “How is the air inside? Is it good?”
“Simply great, it’s like the smell that comes out of Bei Tai’s mouth when he doesn’t brush his teeth in the morning,” Chen Xiaolian replied with a smile.
“Hey!” Bei Tai became unsatisfied. “Can you fellows please don’t make fun of me? If you fellows were to not brush your teeth in the morning, would your breath smell good?!”
“All right, hurry up and show us what you found!” Lun Tai’s gaze fell onto Chen Xiaolian’s hand.
That was a… long box.
A stone box!
It was about one meter long in length… …
After observing the length of the box, Chen Xiaolian suddenly made a frown. “That is not right… the legendary Sword in the Stone should be a long knight sword.”
If this box was used to house the Sword in the Stone… this length was not enough.
“We’ll discuss about it after opening it up.” Lun Tai shook his head.
Chen Xiaolian placed the stone box on the ground and vigorously wiped away the dirt on the surface of the box.
The box was a push to open type of box with a secret groove beneath.
After wiping away the dirt, Chen Xiaolian realized that the surface of the stone box was actually engraved with a sentence.
Clearly, they were carved out using some small and sharp object… it was likely to be either a small knife or a dagger.
“God will prove and return my innocence to me!”
After reading it, Chen Xiaolian gave a sigh.
There was no need to ask, those words must certainly… have been written by Queen Anne.
It would appear that during her imprisonment, this Queen felt extremely dissatisfied and aggrieved toward the charges of adultery and treason that were placed on her.
“Poor woman.” Chen Xiaolian sighed and he pushed open the stone box’s lid.
A rough friction could be felt. After the lid was pushed open…
Chen Xiaolian, Lun Tai and Bei Tai looked at the box… all of them were stunned.
“Son of a bitch! We were indeed tricked!” Bei Tai exploded out in fury!
What was inside the box was not a sword.
Rather…
It was a broken sword.
No, more accurately, it was just a hilt.
“That female ghost! I want to…” Bei Tai’s eyes became round and wide as he swore loudly. “How is this a bloody Sword in the Stone? This is just a hilt!”
“Wait a minute!” Chen Xiaolian said in a heavy voice. “Listen to what I have to say first…”
“Guild Leader, we were fooled!” Bei Tai said in anger.
“Shut up! Listen to what Xiaolian has to say!” Lun Tai delivered a slap onto Bei Tai’s head.
“… … …” Bei Tai helplessly shut his mouth and looked toward Chen Xiaolian. He found that there was no trace of disappointment or frustration on Chen Xiaolian’s face. Instead, there was a look of pleasant surprise… however, amid the look of pleasant surprise, it appeared that he was somewhat puzzled.
“She did not fool us. We also did not made any mistake either.” Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath and said, “This is the Sword in the Stone!”
“But …”
“According to the legends, this Sword in the Stone was indeed a broken sword! Hmm, it would be more accurate to say that it was later broken.”
Hearing Chen Xiaolian’s words, Bei Tai stared and asked, “How is that possible? Isn’t it supposed to be the Sword of the King? Since it is known as the Sword of the King, it must be very overpowered! How can an overpowered weapon be broken?”
Chen Xiaolian glanced at Bei Tai before turning to Lun Tai. He saw that same questioning look on Lun Tai’s face.
Chen Xiaolian gave a sigh and said, “You fellows probably do not have a complete understanding of King Arthur and the story of this Sword in the Stone.”
Let’s put it this way. In the legends, this fellow known as Arthur pulled out the Sword in the Stone. That was indeed how the legend goes.
However, to be more accurate, the Sword in the Stone was not the ‘Sword of the King’.
Rather, it was the ‘Sword that chooses the King’.
In other words, whosoever pulled the Purple Verdant Sword, he would possess the love of Fairy Zixia…
Ack! Pei pei pei! Damn it, that was Zhi Zunbao’s Journey to the West story… [2]
Whosoever pulled out the Sword in the Stone, he would be the King chosen by God.
Thus, it was known as the ‘Sword that chooses the King’.
However, this sword was later on broken when King Arthur was using it.
The function of this sword was to make its holder acquire… the power to not age. A magic to retain youth!
However, in the sharpness department… it was neither too special nor reliable. The symbolism of this sword far outweighed its combat abilities.
According to the legends, King Arthur pulled out the Sword in the Stone and became the King that was chosen by the Heavens.
However, he had this one battle… his opponent was a powerful fellow – let’s not go into the details of his name.
In short, it was said that King Arthur and this fellow fought all out in three competitive matches.
In all three matches, they did not compete using the sword. Instead, they competed on marksmanship. (This feels rather wicked?)
King Arthur lost in the third round. Thus, this King became extremely unhappy; he pulled out what he considered to be a powerful killing weapon, the Sword in the Stone to hack his opponent to death. He wanted to unleash a powerful strike.
In the end, he failed to unleash a powerful strike. Instead, he was beaten!
The Sword in the Stone was cut apart by his opponent!
According to the legends, it happened because the Heavens believed that this fight between King Arthur and his opponent was not a righteous one. King Arthur had violated the creed of the knights. Thus, the Heavens broke the Sword in the Stone so as to deliver a warning to King Arthur.
“… hmm, that’s generally how the legend goes. Thus, many who do not understand the legend of the Sword in the Stone do not know… the Sword in the Stone had indeed been broken.” Chen Xiaolian considered the matter and said, “Of course, later on in the legends, King Arthur would get his hands on an even more powerful sword. That sword was stronger, sharper and more suited for combat than the Sword in the Stone. King Arthur would later use that sword to become invincible throughout the world.
“Therefore, the Sword in the Stone was in fact, more of a symbolic object and less so as a weapon of war.
“It is not as strong as everyone makes it out to be.”
After saying that, Chen Xiaolian picked up the sword hilt and inspected it.
Due to the countless years of history, the sword hilt appeared to be covered with a thick layer of rust. Gripping it with his hand, the rough feeling it gave made him feel uncomfortable.
“This should be the hilt of the Sword in the Stone,” said Chen Xiaolian with a sigh. “No matter what… this should be what we were looking for…”
Just as he finished speaking…
[System prompt: You have found the item required of this random quest. Please hold onto the item and leave the Tower of London! By leaving the Tower of London and ensuring that the item is not lost, you will complete this quest.]
“As expected, this is correct!” Chen Xiaolian became excited!
Then, his mind thought of something…
Hold it and ensure that it does not get lost?
Does the system mean that… someone will come to snatch it away?
The moment he thought of that, all three’s faces abruptly turned stiff!
A sound could be heard coming from the hall of the chapel!
It was the sound of heavy footsteps!
As the sound came closer, the light from a candle flickered.
It was a figure with hunched back, dressed in worn and dirty monk robes. His face was lowered and he held onto a candle in his hand. Under the shine cast by the candle light, he slowly approached.
This figure had seemingly appeared all of a sudden from within the chapel. There was no prior indication to his appearance!
When the figure reached a distance of less than ten meters from them, he raised his head.
He had an aged face, like dried orange peel, muddy old eyes, fingers that resembled chicken feet…
This fellow appeared so old it seemed as though he might fall down at any given moment.
However, under the light cast by the candlelight, those muddy eyes of his shone with a sharp light!
“Put it down… put down the sacred artefact… that is not something you should touch.”
His voice was hoarse, akin to the sound issued from broken bellows.
Chen Xiaolian and the others were shocked!
No one knew where this old monk had appeared from.
Chen Xiaoxian subconsciously clutched onto the sword hilt and he tried to put it into the Storage Watch… … however, it failed.
He received a prompt by the system: The item temporarily cannot be kept!
Damn it!
Chen Xiaolian’s eyes twitched!
It was clear that even though this old monk before them appeared to be on the verge of death, things would not be that simple.
“If we do not put it down?” Chen Xiaolian used one hand to grip the Sword in the Stone’s sword hilt and placed it into his belt. At the same time, he retrieved Fearless War Axe from Lun Tai and gripped it with both hands.
“Stealing the sacred artefact is a capital offense… …” The old monk slowly bent over and placed the candle on the ground before him.
However, after he placed the candle on the ground, he slowly straightened his body…
Then, something strange happened!
His originally hunched body suddenly became straight!
His height suddenly increased significantly!
At that moment, the old monk took a deep breath before issuing out a gentle sigh from his mouth. Then, he said:
“Glory be my life!”
1. Basement or cellar share the same chinese word of ‘地下室’, pinyin: ‘dì xià shì’. This is a wordplay puzzle, so the translation part may feel puzzling. Honestly not sure how to make it better.
2. The author is referring to the movie ‘A Chinese Odyssey’, a two-part 1995 Hong Kong fantasy-comedy film that stars Stephen Chow. Stephen Chow plays the main character, Zhi Zunbao/ Joker/ Monkey King.