Super Righteous Player-Chapter 1218 - 256 Jacob and the Heart of Justice

If you continue north from the already northern Winter Principality until you get past the great barrier formed by storms, you can reach the "Amber Sea".

In that sea, a large amount of amber floats.

Further north from there is the extreme north of this world—commonly known as the Grand Glacier, an infinite expanse of ice.

If you compare it with a map of the Earth... This place would be roughly where the Greenland ice sheet is located.

In such a place, basically no plants can survive. Other than a few wild beasts, there is only fish under the ice layer and passing seabirds to feed on.

What’s different from Earth is that the air and water sources here have been contaminated by the Mist. Dwarves and giants who once lived here died almost entirely when the great barrier shattered and the Mist poured in.

Less than a hundred dwarves survived, and almost all the giants perished.

Strong curses and resentment have caused this land to undergo a strange transformation. The ice cap region, where people could barely live, has risen with one ice mountain after another—these glaciers are in essence a series of ice coffins.

Because of these curses, the temperature of the surrounding area also dropped drastically, to a degree where even with insulation, it was easy to freeze to death.

Traveling here is extremely dangerous.

The abundance of curses in the Mist rendered all sorts of tools like compasses completely ineffective.

Even spells and rituals would distort and become unusable, all carried food and water would spoil easily, and wounds would simply not heal—if you fell sick, recovery was impossible...

For this reason, there are hardly any passersby. And it’s for the same reason that Heart of Justice has never been discovered.

About a month ago, Paper Princess had transformed into the shape of a dragon and flown here.

She carries a mission bestowed upon her by her own god, Yawen—

To find the Heart of Justice for Annan within a month, plus paint three magic pictures.

It must be said, Yawen’s judgment of her was so precise—the demands made by Yawen were exactly what Paper Princess needed to invest her whole heart into painting, in order to do well.

"Really," complained Paper Princess while flying, "don’t throw two tasks that require my earnest effort together for me to do..."

At first, Paper Princess wanted to find the Heart of Justice before focusing on the painting.

Otherwise, if she was always worried about something incomplete, she believed she would become anxious and unable to fully engage herself. Thus, she couldn’t reach her highest level—the level where she could surpass Yawen, satisfying him as well.

Although she complained, Paper Princess understood in her heart.

Compared to painting, which was akin to "homework" from Yawen, finding the Heart of Justice for Annan was the more important real task.

...As a result, Paper Princess searched for a full month and did not find the Heart of Justice. With no choice, she could only start painting after the deadline had passed, at least to return with one job completed.

She has finished the first two paintings depicting the glaciers and the polar storm.

The third painting required her to depict herself flying over the Glacier.

Although Paper Princess knew her own appearance very well, she still wanted to find a place to scout the scene—she might as well search for the Heart of Justice again.

Even though she didn’t really hold much hope anymore...

"...Hmm?"

Suddenly, Paper Princess saw someone in the distance.

It seemed to be a man, motionless, fallen in front of a cave.

From the fact that he wasn’t yet covered by snow, he must have fallen not too long ago.

— A lost traveler?

Let’s go down and see if he’s still alive first.

If he’s still breathing, then go ahead and rescue him.

Paper Princess thought.

The pure white dragon, with magnificent wings that anyone could feel were "beautifully elegant," gradually descended. And the instant she touched the ground, she transformed into human form.

The man seemed to vaguely hear some noise trying to lift his head, but he only wriggled a little and failed.

— He’s still alive!

"Are you okay?"

Paper Princess quickly rushed over, pulling out a red crayon.

She drew a cartoonish red heart in the air and then filled it in.

Afterward, she injected the heart into the traveler’s body.

Just like a "health bar" fluctuating in a game, the red inside the heart slowly dropped like liquid, seemingly injected into the traveler’s body.

When the heart was once again an empty red outline, the traveler’s skin, which was pale to the point of blue, regained its color.

He coughed once and slowly opened his eyes.

When he saw Paper Princess’ face for the first time... perhaps because he wasn’t quite awake yet, he wasn’t charmed but instead showed strong confusion and delight in his eyes.

"...Your Majesty?"

He murmured.

"Huh?"

Paper Princess was stunned, "Do you know Annan?"

The traveler was taken aback for a moment.

His consciousness gradually returned to his body, and he slowly sat up from the snowy ground.

This time, when he clearly saw Paper Princess, he was also struck by her overwhelming beauty. But before Paper Princess could continue healing him, he quickly regained consciousness on his own.

"...You are Paper Princess, aren’t you?"

He quickly averted his gaze, looking towards the distant Grand Glacier with a hoarse voice, "I am a Ritualist serving under Duke Annan...searching for a certain artifact in the Grand Glacier for His Majesty. My name is Jacob, can you contact His Majesty Annan?"

"You’re not here for the Heart of Justice, are you?"

Paper Princess blurted out.

"...You too?"

Jacob was also stunned, "His Majesty is in such a hurry to get it..."

He hesitated for a moment, then quickly made up his mind: "Since you are Paper Princess, I think I can entrust it to you.

"I cannot use other transporting rituals while carrying it. But to say that I hope you can take me out of here would be too presumptuous..."

Jacob spoke, and with his still slightly stiff right hand, he struggled to remove the leather glove from his left hand.

What entered Paper Princess’s eyes was a round hole.

Her first instinct was to heal the affliction of the Ritualist, but she quickly deduced from the beauty of these scars that they must be marks left by a ritual.

Jacob took out a key and fastened his left hand to the icy surface. He inserted the key into the dark hole on the back of his hand.

At that moment, Paper Princess clearly heard a "click" sound of a spring.

But there couldn’t possibly be such a spring inside his hand. It must be some kind of auditory hallucination—a trace of the ritual modifying the world.

...A ritual about a lock?

Paper Princess thought to herself.

A new inspiration suddenly emerged in her heart, but out of politeness, she still didn’t interrupt the Ritualist’s actions.

Jacob recited in a low voice:

"I am the fastening, steel is my key—I open my flesh with light as with a key I unlock all doors."

With that, he slowly twisted the key.

The sound of a lock’s tumblers turning spontaneously rang out in the air.

"I pierce myself with light, like a key unlocking a lock. Thus, I am the gate—I am the door to the sacred treasure, the door of flesh."

Dazzling golden light spilled out from Jacob’s palm.

Seeing that light, Paper Princess suddenly felt her heart pump vigorously.

Jacob signaled to Paper Princess to hold it.

As if it would fly away the next moment.

As Paper Princess reached out to hold it, she immediately felt an intense heat and strong repulsion. It was like the high temperature of a branding iron, and it felt like forcibly pressing two magnets together.

At the same time, she felt her heart, formed by the light of the Otherworld, pulsating almost in sync with the scorching orb of light.

It was not of flesh but a collection of light and heat.

She realized why she could never find the Heart of Justice... the reason lay right here.

Annan’s subordinate, the Ritualist named Jacob, had already found the Heart of Justice.

But the Heart of Justice was so hot and shone with a bright light visible from ten miles away... it was not a temperature that mortals could normally hold, nor could he make a vessel capable of imprisoning sacred relics.

To transport it smoothly and prevent others from discovering and snatching it away, he protected the Heart of Justice to an Otherworld inside his body, beyond even the sight of gods. But as a result, he lost the ability to teleport... During the return journey across the glacier on foot, he ultimately collapsed from exhaustion in the midst of Grand Glacier.

"You’ve worked hard, Jacob. You are an outstanding Ritualist."

Paper Princess said softly, "I will recount your achievements truthfully to Annan... For now, can you make it back on your own?"

Hearing this, Jacob sighed with relief, "That’s good... You needn’t worry about me, I will teleport directly back to Winter. And I will report this matter to Lord Dmitry.

"Without needing to transport the Heart of Justice, teleporting this distance is a simple matter for me."

Though still somewhat weak, Jacob’s words were filled with confidence: "If possible... please speak well of me in front of the Duke."

"I will."

Paper Princess affirmed.