Chapter 15

Thanks to the translation spell, I was able to successfully translate and read all the books that lay on the last plinth. The first book was about armor, the second about an ax, the third about Lacrima and the Sphere with the Soul, and the last one was a diary of a servant of this Temple, the whole story was described in it.

I left the rest of the books for last and immediately read only the memoirs of a man who watched over this temple. And it had all the information I needed to satisfy my curiosity about this place.

As I expected, this city, which is located at the foot of the hill on which the temple stands, used to be on the surface. It was a small island with only one city and this temple. The island itself was part of a vast archipelago of a dozen islands, a total area comparable to Fiore.

The whole archipelago was occupied by one country, the name of which was not mentioned in the book, but I will call it Atlantis. If believe what is written, the country was founded back in X100, that is, 682 years ago, by a man whose name has not been preserved, but everyone called him the Chosen of the Sea, which later turned into the title of the ruler of this local Atlantis.

The Chosen of the Sea united the peoples living on the islands of the archipelago into a single empire, later the king, which he became. Of course, he did this not without problems and bloodshed, but in the end he succeeded in what he had planned. And he managed to do this thanks to his special powerful magic.

He used the arguably strongest version of Take-Over Magic, God Soul. The First Chosen of the Sea, using this Magic, could take the form and receive the power of Poseidon himself, the God of the Seas, Storms and Earthquakes. It was thanks to this power that he was able to create a powerful and prosperous island nation.

Apparently, even in his youth, the Chosen awakened his magic and somehow managed to get the God soul: Poseidon. According to the book, he was a simple guy who lived on one of the islands, and having received such power, he decided to act.

As it turned out, the young man turned out to be a noble man, and instead of reveling in his new strength, he decided to help his people. On the islands of the archipelago, life was harsh and hard, somewhat similar to the life of the wild tribes in Papua New Guinea in my past world. There were no trained magicians here, so there was no one to destroy the strong Magic Creatures that constantly attacked the settlements and killed many ordinary people.

In addition, quite often the archipelago was visited by Mages from the continent, who, instead of helping, they just took people and turned them into slaves. In the end, the Chosen of the Sea decided to fix it. Thanks to the power of Poseidon, after 10 years, he was able to unite people, destroy many dangerous creatures and expel the invaders.

The First Chosen, ruled for almost a hundred years, and during this time a new religion of the God of the Sea, Poseidon, was formed in this country. When the Chosen received his power, he believed that the real Poseidon chose him and gave him a piece of his power so that he could help people.

As a result, after the creation of the country, the Chosen of the Sea founded a small cult, led by himself, who worshiped Poseidon and thanked him for his help. Over time, it turned into a state religion and all citizens began to pray to Poseidon as their God. And it looks like prayers were answered as the country prospered.

There were no trouble. The catch was always excellent and even the harvest grew well. There has never been a drought and all dangerous storms and tsunamis have always passed the islands. This is, of course, according to what is written in the book. Although there is no reason not to believe, because Gods really must exist in this world, because the same Ankhseram once cursed Zeref and Mavis.

As a result, the archipelago is united, the country prospers and people worship Poseidon. Given that it was not written where the First Chosen of the Sea received the God Soul, it is quite possible that it all started with the help of Poseidon.

When the First Chosen One began to weaken and die, he found himself a worthy successor, who also possessed Take-Over Magic and had an excellent predisposition to Water Magic. Somehow, the Poseidon Soul was transferred to him and he became the Second Chosen of the Sea and the new king of this country.

Apparently, Take-Over Magic itself and appeared with the First Chosen of the Sea, perhaps as a blessing from Poseidon and as a result, after the founding of the country, magicians capable of this Magic began to appear on the archipelagos. It seems to be the home of all who use this Magic, and thus the home of the ancestors of the Strauss Family and other Mages with this magic.

Years passed, new Chosen of the Sea appeared, who adopted the Poseidon Soul from their predecessors and helped the country to flourish further, simultaneously solving various problems, such as invaders, dangerous creatures, and so on.

Over time, in addition to the God Soul, other relics appeared that were passed on to the next generation, and as you might guess, it was the Armor of the King of the Seas and the Leviathan Axe.

By the time the Dragon King Festival began, Atlantis was already ruled by the Fifth Chosen of the Sea. At that time, the country was one of the most advanced and powerful countries in the Earth Land, even stronger than the Dragnof Kingdom. And of course, the Dragons couldn't ignore such a place.

The archipelago began to be attacked by mad dragons that burned cities and devoured people. Thanks to the Fifth, who could fight the Dragons with the power of a God Soul, the country held out long enough for help to arrive.

The powerful Sea Dragon King, Tannin, turned out to be the help. He fought on the side of the people and acted as the defender of Atlantis. Along with the Fifth Chosen One, Tannin fought the enemy dragons. Eventually, he even made Fifth the first Sea Dragon Slayer.

And even gave him some of his Lacrima and a ritual to turn people into a Second Generation Dragon Slayer, for the next Chosen of the Sea. Of course, the result is known. Both Fifth and Tannin died fighting Acnologia, but at least they managed to get the fight away from the archipelago and protect the people of the country.

Unfortunately, with the death of the Fifth, who left to fight at full strength, Atlantis lost one of its trump cards. The Poseidon Soul was lost along with the Fifth and the Sixth was unable to take over this power. Although, he somehow managed to return both the Armor and the Ax, which he later even improved.

Having lost the God Soul, which, one might say, was the pillar of the country, Atlantis noticeably weakened and new conflicts began. Fortunately, after some time, the Sixth managed to find a replacement for the God Soul, and again, as you might guess, it was the Angel Soul Arariel.

As I thought, Arariel can be considered the Angel of the Sea and Water (albeit very remotely) and this power was great for the Chosen of the Sea, along with Sea Dragon Slayer Magic.

(Author's note: Arariel (also called Azazel) is an angel who, according to the rabbis of the Talmud, takes charge of the waters of the earth. Fishermen invoke him so that they may take large fish. Arariel has also traditionally been invoked as a cure for stupidity.)

In fact, thanks to this transformation, the Sixth received almost the same powers as from the Poseidon Soul. Of course, this was not entirely true, because the Soul of God and the Soul of Angel gave different levels of strength, and, as is clear, Arariel's abilities were weaker than those of Poseidon.

But the Soul of Angel also gave the powers of Light Magic, as well as the ability to create and control Holy Water, which has quite a few interesting features. Through obtaining the Angel Soul, as well as becoming a Dragon Slayer, Sixth was able to maintain stability and protect the country from enemies.

Unfortunately, things could not be so rosy forever and after a few decades and a couple of other kings, everything came to an end. And the fault, as always, was human greed. It started in X500.

The Eighth Chosen of the Sea retired, but did not leave a successor. There were two candidates, one adult, but a dubious person, and one still quite a child, but worthy.

The Eighth decided that this child would become king after his death, but since he was still too young, and death was approaching, it was decided to leave the relics in a safe place and wait until the successor was ready.

It is clear that the first candidate, who, by the way, was called Renly, was not happy with this and began to intrigue to get the throne. In the end, he poisoned the poor child, because he thought that if the hindrance was removed, he would definitely become a king. Well, it didn't work out.

The highest officials of the state found out about this, and it was decided to execute him for the crime he committed, but Renly managed to escape after trying to steal the relics, which he did not succeed. As a result, the country found itself without a leader and a candidate for the position of the Chosen of the Seas.

For a while, one of the generals began to rule the country, brother of the Eighth Chosen One, waiting for a worthy candidate to receive the relics. Unfortunately, a year later the traitor of the nation returned. And not alone, but with an army.

After escaping, he turned to a country with which Atlantis had previously been full of conflicts and wars. This country also no longer exists, but it used to be on Alakitasia and was on the site of the current Alvares Empire.

This enemy country has always been very jealous of the wealth and power of Atlantis, so when Renly turned to the King of this country with a desire for revenge, they could not resist such a temptation and sent their army to the archipelago. As a result, the war began.

The trouble is that the Chosen of the Sea has always been the pillar of the country and because of this, the archipelago has never had a large army. In the end, they ended up in a losing situation. But thanks to the skillful rule of the General, a large number of Mages with Take-Over Magic, although it was only 'Beast Soul' and 'Animal Soul', and using all but one of the remaining Sea Dragon Lachryma to create a squad of ten Sea Dragon Slayers, Atlantis was able to hold out for over a year.

Oddly enough, they chose not to use either the Armor, or the Axe, or the Soul of the Angel of the Chosen of the Sea, although that might have helped. But, in the end, the enemy also pulled out all his trump cards and brought the whole army. Atlantis simply didn't stand a chance.

But, the locals decided not to give up. They did not want their enemies to receive the relics of their kings, as well as all the treasures acquired by the states. So they decided on a suicidal attack.

All relics and treasures were hidden on this island, which was revered as sacred, because the First Chosen of the Sea was once born on it, in this Main Temple of Poseidon. Then, the temple was hidden with a powerful barrier.

All the civilians of the archipelago were transported to the island itself, and then the island itself was covered with an illusory barrier in order to hide it from enemies at least for a while.

Then, the entire army and all the Mages gathered on the main island to prepare a trap and distract the enemy from the civilians. At the end of the great battle, when the Atlanteans had practically lost, and the enemies were sure of victory, the last trump card was activated. It was a huge Lacrima that acted as a bomb that was activated in an underwater volcano.

This attack destroyed all the enemies and submerged all the islands of the archipelago, except for two. Caracole Island and this sacred island, along with civilians, remained in order. At least that's how it was planned.

The explosion was too powerful and the sacred island also began to sink under the water. Not right away, but pretty fast. Fortunately, there was enough time for all the inhabitants to have time to evacuate to the Ishgar continent, where they became refugees, gradually assimilated.

And all that is left of this great state is the independent Isle of Caracole, this underwater Temple and the descendants of refugees from Atlantis who can use Take-Over Magic like the Strauss Family.

All this happened in X502, 350 years ago. It's pretty sad to say this... But as a result of this war, due to the loss of almost the entire army, the enemy country fell apart and Zeref built the Alvares Empire in its place.

This book was written by the last servant of the temple, who decided to stay here when the island began to sink. His duty was to look after the relics, which he did until the very end. Although he lived a few more years under water, because it was protected by a barrier. There must be a skeleton around here somewhere.

The only thing I still don't understand is why all the treasures were left here. After all, they could be very useful to refugees. Apparently, either there was no time for this, or they thought it would be better if they stayed with the relics.

In truth, it was a purely subjective story, because who knows how it really was. Maybe Atlantis was the invader. Or Renly did not poison his competitor and he was slandered. There may be many different options, because this is only one side of the conflict.

Despite this, I liked this story. At least it hit me to the core. Although, I will still take all the treasures and relics for myself. All the same, they have been gathering dust here idle for three centuries, but they will definitely come in handy for me.