Chapter 691: Act 51 – Long Road, Fragments of the Past V
“Of—of course.” Haruz stammered in reply.
“Thank you, big brother.” The young girl thanked again and, lifting her skirt, sat down very generously next to Erluin, the future king.
However, Haruz clearly had no awareness of his status, his face as red as a ripe apple, looking flustered as if he both wanted to sit closer to the little girl but was also afraid of making her uncomfortable.
Brendel couldn’t help but shake his head at this scene. Given the young prince’s behavior, one could hardly say he resembled a member of royalty; even the offspring of a typical noble might behave better. He truly wondered how Overwell and his sister had raised him.
But he suddenly thought of an interesting question: if Haruz really fell in love with this little girl, what would happen to Eike and Yula’s daughter, Ailara, in the future?
Could this be considered a change in history?
Thinking along these lines, he couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at the little girl. Honestly, he found her quite admirable. In Erluin’s time, daughters from commoner families usually didn’t possess the grace she displayed, while those from noble families tended to be arrogant, having long forgotten the etiquette of the sages.
In Brendel’s mind, Faina was a typical example. Fortunately, that girl wasn’t too bad at heart and hadn’t caused him much trouble. On the contrary, the other…
Just the thought of the Chancellor’s daughter made his head ache.
But while he was lost in thought, he suddenly heard Laurena asking with some concern, “Little girl, what’s your name?”
The little girl looked up at the Lady Knight and, in a milky voice, replied, “My mom said that names shouldn’t be casually told to strangers. But I know you’re a good person, so I can secretly tell you—”
Then she leaned closer and whispered to Laurena, “Big sister, my name is Mi Kaya.”
Though she said this quietly, at least half of those present heard her clearly. Probably except for the young prince and the considerably weakened Charles, Medisa, and Himelam, Brendel, Freya, Xi, Nemeses, and Phillas all understood her—after all, for those with strength above silver, it was quite easy to hear a little girl’s whispering so nearby.
However, the mountain girl and Freya naturally would not speak up, while Phillas’s mind was completely elsewhere, as he was drooling while staring at the honey jar beside Brendel.
Among the four, only Brendel raised his eyebrows slightly.
Mi Kaya—
The name felt eerily familiar.
He immediately became alert. Now he was quite sensitive to such feelings. In the past within the game, there had been so many records regarding backgrounds, histories, and information that no one could know everything, but most well-known names and events would leave a trace in a player’s mind, to varying degrees.
The deeper the trace, the more important the event was. As for the Black Rose War, which was etched into Brendel’s memory, it was something he would never forget.
A familiar yet not fully recalled name indicated two possibilities.
One possibility was that the name itself wasn’t particularly outstanding, yet still held a place in history. The other possibility was that its owner might be very famous, but Brendel’s interactions with them were minimal.
The former might include the turnover of some minor local lords, while the latter could involve the holders of lesser seats in the Twelve-Man Council of Bud. Although every member of the People of Silver’s Council was a terrifying figure, apart from the names William and Turiman, Brendel couldn’t recall the full names of the others.
Of course, seeing the name might jog his memory about their identity, but remembering every detail wouldn’t be so easy.
Thinking this way, he involuntarily straightened up. Simultaneously, he noticed his opposite, the Lady Knight Nemeses, also directing a serious gaze at the little girl—
However, the little girl seemed more perceptive than he had assumed; she noticed Brendel’s unusual demeanor and looked up at him with slight fear, “Uncle, what’s wrong?”
Uncle… Uncle?
Brendel nearly spat out blood. Even counting down to next month’s birthday, he would only be twenty-one! Twenty-one! How did he become an uncle?
He took a deep breath and managed to calm down. He thought, well, considering his other soul’s age, being called uncle wasn’t that big of a deal. He paused and asked in what he thought was the gentlest voice he could muster, “Little sister, you said your name is Mi Kaya? What’s your full name?”
Brendel could guarantee that his expression at that moment was the gentlest, absolutely not resembling that of a creepy uncle trying to lure a little girl with candy—but he soon realized this was merely his illusion.
Mi Kaya glanced at him in fear, suddenly sliding off her chair and carefully replied, “I’m just called Mi Kaya, Uncle. My mom and dad are coming soon. I’ll go now, thank you—”
Then she bowed to everyone and ran outside.
“Wait…” Brendel was slightly taken aback and was about to reach out to stop the little girl. However, just at that moment, he saw someone running in from the inn’s door.
The person entered the inn and shouted, “We found it, milord!”
Only then did Brendel notice the person’s shiny bald head—it was the innkeeper he had sent out to gather news for himself. Seeing this guy, Brendel instantly swallowed the words he had been about to say. He glanced at the little girl named Mi Kaya, who, at that moment, had already run to the counter.
Forget it, Brendel sighed—after all, there would be plenty of opportunities in the future, and besides, his most urgent task evidently wasn’t to investigate a little girl’s identity. Instead, the most important thing for him right now was the news the bald innkeeper had brought back.
He had no idea if he had discovered anything useful.
He looked towards that direction, and the bald innkeeper had already run over to them, panting. He looked at Brendel with an extremely admiring gaze, saying breathlessly, “Milord, you truly have a way of seeing things—”
“Get straight to the point,” Brendel tossed a gold coin over, fully aware of this guy’s tricks.
“I went to ask, and those hunters truly went into the forest without any preparations. This is quite strange; I haven’t heard of anyone being so bold in years,” the innkeeper chuckled as he collected the gold coin, chattering, “They didn’t bring tools, or even provisions—truly insane.”
“They aren’t insane,” Laurena’s voice cut in, interrupting him, “It’s because someone prepared provisions for them.”
“Who?” The innkeeper paused.
Everyone sitting there, except him, exchanged knowing glances, even including the usually slow-on-the-uptake Phillas.
Who would prepare supplies for those hunters?
Naturally, it was only that sly fox, Anlek.
In recent times, there had been almost no records of caravans entering or leaving, so Brendel could almost confirm that Anlek had not even entered the Shallow Water Town; they still required local guides, after all—it was impossible for everyone to be as familiar with this forest as he was.
Thus, he could infer that Anlek had bypassed Shallow Water Town and hired some local hunters, then proceeded directly into the forest.
Once he grasped this lead, tracking them would become much easier—
Brendel’s gaze steadied as he put down the map and inquired, “When did those hunters enter the forest?”
“A week ago, milord.” The innkeeper, having received the money, naturally answered without hesitation.
A week. Brendel pondered slightly; this time frame wasn’t long, and it was very possible that Anlek hadn’t yet crossed the northern part of the Ansara Forest.
However, they couldn’t delay any longer; they had to set off immediately.
Of course, before that, he needed to gather more advantages. He looked up, and both the Lady Knight Laurena and her fiancé Phillas were looking at the Lord Earl with a hint of admiration. Although filtering useful information from useless rumors was actually a basic skill that most seasoned adventurers and mercenaries mastered, to them, who were experiencing their first trip away from home, Brendel suddenly seemed wise.
At that moment, Brendel pulled out a scroll of parchment from beneath his cloak and threw it in front of the innkeeper: “You, read this.”
“Me?” The innkeeper was slightly taken aback by Brendel’s sudden action. In his previous impression, this noble young man was indeed quite capable, but he hadn’t seemed too different from those spoiled nobles. Yet all of a sudden, it felt like the noble lord sitting across from him had transformed, like a drawn sword, becoming sharp.
Brendel nodded at the parchment.
The innkeeper cautiously picked up the parchment, slowly unfolding it. However, he had just read the first line when he nearly shuddered, almost dropping it.
“Royal… Royal Knights… Milord, you—you’re a knight of the royal family?” The innkeeper’s complexion turned pale, stuttering as he asked, wiping the sweat from his heavily oiled forehead.
Brendel nodded—this was one of the identities bestowed upon him by Princess Grifian. In fact, after the battle with Ampere Seale, due to the support of the Temple of Fire, the princess’s power could almost be considered legitimate in Erluin. And apart from the northern nobles, Anlek, who colluded with the Everything Returns Society, had long been declared a heinous criminal by the temple and wanted everywhere.
Thus, at this point, the disparity between his identity and that of the duke was an utter turnaround compared to when he had “stolen” the title from Grudin. Previously, his true identities were those of bandit, rebel, and brigand, but now Anlek was the accused cultist, openly wanted by the Temple of Fire.
Given this situation, he naturally had to use the advantages brought by this apparent shift in identity. Brendel pushed the parchment in front of the innkeeper and sternly declared, “So now you understand our identities?”
“Milord…” The bald innkeeper said, drenched in sweat.
“Don’t worry, we’re not here to cause you trouble,” Brendel, seeing how terrified this man was, couldn’t help but feel somewhat speechless. He had to reassure him, saying, “However, I can clearly tell you that those you instructed to investigate, the ones entering the forest, are indeed a group of extremely ruthless cultists—”
“Milord, are you saying those hunters are cultists?” The innkeeper interrupted Brendel’s words, his courage apparently stemming from somewhere.
Brendel was momentarily speechless. “No, I mean the ones who hired them to go in.”
“Oh no!” Upon hearing this, the innkeeper suddenly jumped up as if his feet were on fire. “If that’s the case, aren’t those hunters in danger?”
Brendel let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t expected this greedy and materialistic person would actually worry about others, and he couldn’t help but show a hint of appreciation. He nodded, “Exactly, so you need to quickly find those hunters’ families—wives, daughters, parents, and those who know them. They must know the paths those hunters typically take when entering the forest at this time of year.”
He paused and continued, “We must catch those cultists before they do.”
“Do you understand?”
The bald innkeeper was momentarily stunned, but he nodded and patted his chest to assure Brendel that he would promptly find the relevant people. Brendel was too lazy to deal with this guy. After managing to send him away, he turned back to see Freya looking at him with some concern and asking, “Will those hunters really be in danger, Brendel?”
“There is definitely danger, but for now, it shouldn’t be too serious,” Brendel pondered for a moment and replied, “At least until they leave the Frostveil Forest, Anlek probably won’t do anything to them.”
“Lord Earl, is that why you said that before—to make him hurry?” Laurena asked, a bit confused. “But won’t that just make the families of those hunters worry?”
Brendel shook his head, “The sooner we can catch up to Anlek, the better. I’m afraid that guy will be too cautious and waste unnecessary time. It’s better to worry than to have real casualties.”
“I understand, you’re right.” The Lady Knight nodded.
Brendel turned to see the innkeeper crawling out the door, that shiny bald head standing out prominently on the street. He took a gentle breath and glanced down at the map spread out on the table; his gaze instinctively moved towards the Lantonrand area, but suddenly, he spotted a familiar place name:
Aluchur.
Aluchur, Mi Kaya…
At that moment, a bright flash ignited in Brendel’s mind. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Crap, Aluchur, Mi Kaya—”
“That little girl is the future Witch Queen!”
……
(PS: The daily updates from the powerhouse baboon have returned! This should be the thirteenth day! What are you still hesitating for? Where are the tickets!) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit qidian.com to cast your recommendation and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
