Ferlin was not unfamiliar with the basement in the Eltek mansion.
When he was young, this place used to be his personal playground. He took immense pleasure in finding all kinds of strange artifacts in the dusty boxes. Of course, for this reason, he was often beaten by his father and was eventually forbidden from entering the basement alone, but he somehow always found a way to sneak in.
This time, Sir Eltek led him into the furthest stone room. The four walls of the room were embedded with pale blue crystals which were the size of a fist. Ferlin inhaled a cold breath involuntarily. To his surprise, every block of stone was a high-quality God's Stone of Retaliation. As a young boy, he was unaware of this, but now, he naturally understood the implications. High-quality magic stones were worth a lot of money, and those as big as these were worth at least five or six hundred gold royals each.
Is the Eltek Family actually so wealthy?
He suddenly recalled that the treasure map was also found in the Elteks' house.
A circle of boxes was placed in the stone room, and the arrangement was similar to the impression in his memory. Sir Eltek took out a bunch of keys from his pocket and opened the largest box in the circle. Following a loud creaking sound, a cloud of dust kicked up at once.
Ferlin held his breath and looked inside the box. The interior was divided into numerous layers, similar to the dressing boxes used by young noble ladies, and on every layer was placed gemstones of different colors.
"Which ancestor had passed this down?"
"I've not been here for a very long time." Sir Eltek sighed. "Every time I see these Magic Stones, I would remember the past events which my ancestors told me about."
"Magic Stones?" Ferlin asked in surprise.
"Yes, they are treasures which only witches are able to use." He nodded. "This is a long story. Our family was established under the blessings of a witch."
Ferlin's father started to recount about the family and its history. Some of the details of his story were different to what Ferlin had heard as a child. The first Eltek ancestor was in fact not from Western Region, but instead, from the remote and unexplored Barbarian Land, which was located past the Impassable Mountain Range.
Ferlin's eyes gradually widened. He did not imagine that the portrait could have concealed such an amazing secret.
"Our family's founder, Ancestor Elsa, had once established a huge kingdom together with many other witches. The witches were part of the dominant class, akin to today's nobility, in the kingdom. It was an offensive by the demons from Hell which brought about the demise of the kingdom. In the final battle, the survivors fled in different directions. Elsa led a group of people towards the stone tower in the Misty Forest to collect experimental materials, while another group of people followed the troops to Graycastle—at that time, the land on which the Kingdom was eventually built was barren and desolate."
"Were our ancestors part of the other group?" Ferlin asked hoarsely.
"Indeed. He used to be the housekeeper of Elsa. Accordingly, he was supposed to follow her into the forest, but he cowered and suggested that he would stay behind to look after the materials. His request was accepted by his master." Sir Eltek spoke in a deep voice. "You should know what this means."
Ferlin nodded. The housekeeper was typically the person the master trusted the most in the household apart from her kin. At most times, the housekeeper ought to have accompanied the master wherever she went, unless she commanded otherwise. In a sense, proposing to leave was equivalent to betraying the master even if she did not refuse.
"When he arrived at Western Region, he began to feel remorse for what he did, and recorded his sentiments in a book." Sir Eltek took out a black-coated book from another box and handed it to his son. "His master never returned, and after that, he broke off from the Union and left the refugee camp. He took many servants with him and settled down on this piece of land, which was yet to be cultivated."
Ferlin grasped the black-coated book without opening it. Instead, he thought of something frightening. "So, does that mean that you knew from the beginning that everything the church did was wrong?"
If the witches had fought against the demons before, why are they now branded as the Devil's minions? There's definitely much more to this than meets the eye.
"I knew, but I couldn't do anything." Sir Eltek said calmly. "If a witch was found in our territory, I would definitely help to hide her. But in the Stronghold, I wasn't able to do so, because of Duke Ryan's disagreement—he hated witches more than the church did. From the records of some of our later ancestors, it's evident that they did the same thing as me... except that they never informed the survivors about what happened in the witches' kingdom."
"Are these survivors still in the household?"
"Of course not, they're all in their graves already." He spread his hands. "It was very rare to live until 60 or 70 years of age, and being humans after all, they aged and passed away."
"But you believe that our first ancestor could still be living."
"This is only a possibility—witches have many different abilities but are unable to breed children, hence I made this supposition."
Ferlin pondered for a brief moment and then changed the subject. "Did our ancestors never think of entering the Misty Forest to find Ancestor Elsa?"
"Easier said than done." His father shook his head. "If even witches were unable to return safely, ordinary mortals entering the forest would simply be courting death. Furthermore, four hundred years ago, the Western Region was a wasteland with beasts and jungles everywhere. It was extremely difficult to settle down upon, and hence there wasn't time to take care of other issues. However, our ancestors did indeed write in their wills that they hoped that someday a descendant would enter the stone tower of the Misty Forest, even if it was just to take a look."
Morning Light inhaled a deep breath and flipped open the dust-laden book. From the very first page, he already felt a sense of regret written between the lines. Much of the writing had faded over time, but perhaps because of this reason, the heavy feelings of his ancestors became even more pronounced. After reading for a long time, he finally flipped to the last page of the book where the wills, which seemed more like unfulfilled wishes, were written.
This was, in all likelihood, the page which made his father become emotional on that night when he was drunk.
As a former knight himself, he could empathize with this.
"Do you need me to find her?" Ferlin asked after a brief silence. "If she's indeed Elsa, then she must be staying at the prince's castle, and as far as I know, many witches are also gathered there."
"Witches are gathered in the castle?" The knight responded while deep in thought. "Little wonder that Longsong Stronghold made an announcement to recruit witches a few days ago. It seems that His Highness is intent on becoming an enemy of the church." Then, he shook his head. "No, you don't have to find her."
Ferlin felt surprised. "Don't you want to see her?"
"It's wrong for an ancestor to visit a descendant." Sir Eltek laughed. "Of course, we should be the ones to visit her."
"W...we?"
"Indeed. I'm following you to Border Town." His father stroked his chin and smiled. "Bring all of these things. If she's really Elsa, our ancestors' last wish may finally be fulfilled."