Chapter 796: Act 146 – Milondar
Dejyar finally picked himself up from the ground, disoriented, and understood what Brendel had meant by “be careful of what’s ahead.” Not long ago, at the turning point of the long corridor outside the unnamed hall, during their patrol, he had run with almost all his strength, only to crash hard into the wall that was harder than steel. Brendel appeared to be warning him, but in reality, he was subtly shifting his focus. By the time Dejyar realized, he had suffered silently and took a significant loss.
Brendel walked past Dejyar, taking a few steps forward before positioning himself neatly against the wall. Behind him, the army of activation spells was no more than a hundred feet away, but it was even closer to Dejyar.
“What do you intend to do?” Dejyar swayed as he looked at Brendel, confused as to why he had suddenly stopped.
“Watch the show.”
“Watch the show?”
As soon as Dejyar’s words subsided, he watched Brendel pull out a long sheet from his backpack – no, it should be called a gray cloak. Though this cloak was too large and too long, resembling more something belonging to a giant. Dejyar was slightly startled, suddenly feeling this item was somewhat familiar. Then he saw Brendel hoist the cloak over his head and envelop himself entirely, disappearing completely from sight.
“No, you devil!” Dejyar immediately understood Brendel’s intention. He roared as he turned around, his complexion turning pale – two wandering magical lords had already stood like mountains before him.
“No, I will never let you succeed, Earl Toniger!” Dejyar appeared extremely angry, standing firm, determined to not divert these activation spells even at the cost of his own life.
Gigantic activation spells continued advancing, their glowing tentacles sweeping across the entire hall like a galaxy.
Dejyar’s complexion alternated between white and gray. Initially unfazed, by the time those tentacles hummed as they passed over his head, his complexion changed. “Help me quickly, or I’ll take you down with me!” he clenched his teeth and shouted towards the direction where Brendel was.
Unfortunately, Brendel was truly gone, no echo came from that direction.
“You will regret this!” Dejyar finally panicked, understanding that his empty threats didn’t move the other side at all. He broke out in a cold sweat and cried out against intuition: “Earl Toniger, I know you want me to lead these monsters to Duke Anlek, but you won’t succeed, this time I will not succumb to you!”
Brendel hiding under the Cloak of King Punius heard Dejyar say this, couldn’t help but laugh inside, thinking how this guy had such a rich imagination. He truly hadn’t thought of doing this at all. After all, these activation spells were all agitated energy bodies; if – even with a ten thousand to one chance they exploded that precious thing in Anlek’s possession, then that would really be a disaster. But if Dejyar really stood there stubbornly, it would also be unpleasant. He had the Cloak of King Punius and didn’t fear being dragged into mutual annihilation, but if these activation spells lost their target and reset, happening to collide with Veronika and her group passing through the Eternal Square, that would be troublesome.
After considering this, he finally asked: “What are your conditions?”
However, he used a small trick, using a second-tier air magic spell that diffused sound, making it impossible for the other side to determine the source of the sound.
Upon hearing the sound, Dejyar felt for the first time that the other’s voice was so pleasant. He immediately exclaimed: “Save me!”
“Are you joking with me?” Brendel pondered, “If I save you, who will lead these monsters away?” He thought this guy was stupid under Duke Anlek, but still relatively reliable, but he didn’t expect his intelligence to plummet so sharply at critical moments.
As the corridor fell silent again, with those activation spells just dozens of meters away, Dejyar gritted his teeth and took a few more steps forward, then stopped again. He realized himself that he had said something foolish, but he wasn’t truly stupid, after a moment’s consideration, he understood Brendel’s real intent: “I will lead these monsters away, but you have to grant me one request.”
“What request?”
“I want you to promise Princess Grifian to spare the Duke’s life.” Dejyar took a deep breath and responded.
“On what basis should I promise the princess such a request?” Brendel couldn’t help but find this amusing, thinking this guy’s mind might be damaged earlier, otherwise, how could he keep coming up with nonsense.
“Because you’re Earl Toniger, the one who stretched out a hand to save her and her young brother during the betrayal of the royal party. You signed an agreement with Prince, ostensibly to restore and rest, but in reality, to balance North and South. Thus, Princess Grifian, who has a difficult relationship with the royal party, will inevitably have to rely on you. You have Toniger, ensuring that the future Duchy of Danel also belongs to you. When your power grows stronger, your status in Erluin will be unmatched. The battle of Amplasear was your greatest win. You’re Erluin’s future powerful minister, the true speaker, how could the princess not listen to your commands?” Dejyar roared.
Brendel paused for a moment, not expecting this guy to come up with such a myriad of reasons – the strange idea of signing an agreement with the prince for balancing North and South came out. He suddenly chuckled bitterly, this is probably what others think as well, perhaps even what the princess thinks deep down. Only, she wouldn’t say it to his face. It’s only now that he realized why Princess Grifian’s attitude changed significantly after the battle of Amplasear. He once thought it was due to gratitude, but now looking back, he realized he was too naive. That night, that princess must have already figured everything out. She who had the heart to kill him, suddenly restrained herself and formed an alliance with him. After all, she was a princess of royal blood.
Such a clear attitude shift is probably something only he, who has no understanding of politics and human hearts, would find reasonable.
Maintaining a future enemy outside in the person of the Crown Prince to prevent the princess and the royal party from cutting ties, then joining forces with the Knights of the Highlands and the Grand Duke Vieiro to get rid of Earl Rendener who made the wrong choice at a crucial moment. Even Brendel himself believed that the Duchy of Danel would surely become his territory – otherwise, what was Toniger’s Earldom worth, why would the princess give him the title of Earl? When he becomes Earl of Danel, at that point, no matter whether he admits it or not, in the eyes of others, he will inevitably become the future powerful minister of Erluin. And the road ahead, Brendel can almost imagine. Marrying the princess, then becoming the Regent of Erluin. What Anlek couldn’t achieve today, in his view, is already within reach.
Even more dangerous, changing dynasties, seems not entirely impossible – if anything happens to the young prince.
Brendel suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. If he could think of it, what would the princess think? She absolutely would not tolerate any threat to her brother in any way. He finally realized that Princess Grifian sending Haruz to be his student and accompanying him, was an intentional arrangement. Because he was not yet ‘powerful enough’, so it would be impossible for him to take action against Haruz at this point. And letting him accept the title of Haruz’s teacher was also to hold him back. Erluin, Cruz value righteousness and honor extremely highly. Dynastic transitions often depend on those intangible agreements and legends – just like the decline of the Siphai family, merely because they had lost the favor of Lionheart Sword.
And the Yan Castle family could take the reason of the broken throne as the justification to demand the abdication of the eldest princess and her younger brother of the Kolguado Royal Family. Duke Anlek, despite several generations of operation, can already be said to be above the royal family in real power, but still dare not act rashly or covet the throne. They need a reasonable reason to intervene in the replacement of the king – such as political marriage. The Northern nobles are the same, no matter how powerful they are, they still need to rely on the long-defeated Siphai family because that’s tradition and the rules, which everyone must follow.
And Erluin absolutely could not tolerate a regicide, a teacher-killer, or someone plotting to kill their student to ascend the throne, because it’s dishonorable.
The princess really went through much trouble. Brendel couldn’t help but marvel, he was almost certain this was a test, and Nemeses, who followed behind him, was the princess’s mole. Just if the princess knew the true identity of Nemeses, she would likely reconsider sending someone else. These are what’s called historical inevitability coincidences. However, Brendel shook his head. He originally had no interest in these things. Whether it’s the throne of Erluin or the fate and future of this country, if it weren’t for the experience from another world, it would have nothing to do with him.
Perhaps it’s the same with senior sister.
People are rational most of the time, yet their lives are often dictated by their emotions.
Duke Anlek and Dejyar, Princess Grifian, even Antinna and others around him are the same. They would never understand what he truly desired. Perhaps only one person could understand, just like she once asked naively: “Brendel, what do you want to do?” “In the future, I want to be a merchant,” he replied. He wanted to save Erluin, wanting to drag this kingdom from its predetermined path of destruction. Everyone might think this was just an excuse, surely their Lord had far greater goals.
But it was simply that. If you want to be a merchant, I want to be a savior, just like a child saying he wants to become a general or a king one day, purely because they want to, and then go ahead and do it, without any other reasons.
Brendel smiled lightly, treating Dejyar’s words as a joke, but the latter was suffering deeply in agony.
Though it was just a flash of thought, the army of activation spells had already come within reach. Dejyar didn’t know what he said that was wrong, why that damn schemer, devil, and swindler suddenly fell silent again. At least he should let him know whether he would live or die. Such ambiguity now made him in a predicament. If it weren’t for seeking help, Dejyar would have cursed loudly again.
But finally, Brendel came back to his senses. He shook his head and said: “This demand is impossible.”
Though it was a refusal, Dejyar breathed a sigh of relief: “You’re being too harsh, my Lord Earl.”
“Dejyar, whether Duke Anlek lives or dies isn’t our decision. And he isn’t defeated yet, you’re already making post mortem arrangements for your master here, which doesn’t seem very proper, does it?” Brendel mocked.
It was supposed to not be a failure, but after you appeared here, things changed. Dejyar secretly hated it. Duke Anlek didn’t know that Brendel and Veronika had already traced to this area, it was already showing things were beyond their expectations. Perhaps the Duke still had backup plans, but this young man in front of him certainly wasn’t that easy to deal with. In fact, he had a strange premonition that they might have already failed. Brendel was here now, possibly just to save the situation somehow.
Dejyar didn’t realize his guess was close to the truth, but Brendel’s words still left him speechless, after all, it was indeed true. He couldn’t curse his master to fail, could he? He paused for a moment, and finally replied: “I just have one request.”
Saying this sentence, Dejyar had already dashed forward, once again creating distance between himself and the activation spells behind him.
“Say it,” Brendel responded.
…
The onyx giant door was vibrating faintly with a humming sound. Kehua withdrew her hand from the door, the texture on the door flowed with luminous streams converging to the central groove, forming a bright nebula. “Done,” the eldest daughter of Echis answered coldly, the members of the Everything Returns Society in her back all had excitement gleaming in their eyes, only Anlek’s expression remained unchanged, looking gloomy, as if the plan had reached its final conclusion, yet it no longer had anything to do with him.
“I’ve already opened the door for you as agreed, but you don’t seem happy at all, human?” Kehua noticed this point keenly, and asked absent-mindedly.
“The human and civilization are one step closer to their destruction, is there any worth in being happy?” Anlek replied indifferently.
“Hooh,” the eldest daughter of Echis showed an interested expression for the first time. Her lips under the hood shadow curved into a curious arc: “I thought that was your life’s goal, and now with your wish realized, shouldn’t you feel satisfied and excited?”
“That indeed is my lifelong goal,” Anlek remained silent for a while before answering in a hoarse voice: “But when something has an inevitable end result, then it also becomes unremarkable. Civilization, in its foolish path, is bound to lead to self-destruction, but regardless, I’m still part of it. Their destruction will be our destruction, is there any worth in celebrating?”
“Why do you still do it then?” Kehua felt increasingly unable to understand these peculiar humans.
They were not the gold lineage, the servants of the divine, who are the steadfast supporters of order. They were not the silver people either, the followers of the law, who from the wilderness to the shallow sea, from the border of the black forest to the farthest realm of elements, observe and bear witness to the changes in order. They’ve never heard of gold lineage or silver people who betray. But the people in front of her, the last generation, the children of iron and shadow, were the first time Kehua dealt with such humans, but she felt an odd sensation from them.
She seemed to comprehend something, but then shook her head and dismissed the strange premonition.
After the onyx giant door emitted a loud humming and gradually opened to the sides, it revealed a dark passageway behind it. The soft glow from the magical gems held by the members of the Everything Returns Society flooded in through the opened gap, illuminating the corridor sealed by dust for thousands of years, even tens of thousands of years.
The Spiral Hall —
Some even let out low cries.
“Miss Kehua, you are not a human, you cannot understand human emotions. Humans are most frequently called rational, but their lives are often driven by feelings that make them do things that others find impulsive and incomprehensible.” Anlek seemed not to care about what was happening right before his eyes. Rarely did he seem interested, chatting with this noble lady.
“Are you the same?” Kehua narrowed her eyes, staring at this old man that seemed to have completely withered, but she could feel the willpower propping up inside his hunched body – this might seem laughable to her, but for others, it was not something to be offended.
“I am human, I’m no exception,” Anlek replied.
“Is it not a noble purpose to have order return to truth? Don’t you recognize it as a grand goal?” Kehua asked further.
“It indeed is a grand goal, far surpassing those trifling pursuits of power and interest. I’ve seen too much foolishness, which is why I ultimately chose this path. To ensure I was correct, I perused many documents and records. Few people know I studied for a considerable time in the White Tower of the Bud people. I participated in the last crusade, but what I have seen has only validated my suspicions – King of Flames established the Kingdom of Cruz a millennium ago, do his descendants remember the glory a thousand years ago? The wind elves turned around to betray their wise one. The Sun, Moon, and Star elves – where are the moon elves now, and where are the star elves? Now, Fanzan is mediocre, having lost its previous transcendence. Civilizations and order are nothing more than repeating their same mistakes over a thousand years. I’ve become weary of this monotonous cycle. Instead of letting future generations endlessly repeat the tragedies of the past, isn’t it better to end it all at once?”
Kehua slightly raised her finely shaped eyebrows, not expecting to hear such a lengthy lecture from this old man. But she immediately followed up with her usual sharpness: “I hear your righteous tone, but it’s not hard to hear anger in your words, human.”
“I’ve never acted out of righteousness, only ensuring what I do is correct, you’re right, personal grudges are my motivation, but that’s my own secret, no need to reveal it to outsiders.” Anlek responded with a faint smile, shaking his head as if signaling he didn’t want to continue this topic.
The group slowly moved in the dark passageway. After passing through a narrow archway, there was suddenly an open space ahead. It was a spherical hall with similar archways on all four sides, with roads extending from the arches, forming spiral bridges connecting to a giant platform at the center. And on the platform, there wasn’t nothing – there was a stone throne, with a floating purple crystal above it. When the members of the Everything Returns Society entered the hall, they saw a tall, azure figure sitting on the throne, who stood up facing them.
“Humans, this place is not where you should be, retreat now, and you still have a chance of repentance,” the azure figure spoke, making the whole hall resonate.
The witches once spoke of the power in words, but only now did the members of the Everything Returns Society understand the authenticity of the legends. The voice of the figure was not loud, but when it came, it was like thunderous waves. Each word was like lightning and thunder intersecting, striking down upon them in succession. That brief sentence warning seemed to make everyone feel that they were trapped in a never-ending storm. In the severe wind, they struggled forward, seeing faintly a peak signaling the end of the storm ahead. In every direction, there were vast glaciers. But in the blink of an eye, they were about to be buried forever under the ice of ten thousand years.
That brief sentence made everyone understand the identity of the tall figure.
Milos – The Frost Giant’s God.
Even Kehua bowed, greeting with a crisp voice, “Milondar master, it’s been a long time.”
The voice sighed, “Young Kehua, I thought you had distanced yourself from war, seems the world still cannot fully follow your will.”
As soon as the words fell, the mirage in front of Anlek and others disappeared.
