Since the war at Ebabel Fort, the story of the Guardians has spread. Legend has it that the Guardians have always been in some hidden and unknown place, guarding the knowledge of the gods from ancient times. They were special Golden Folk, created by Alphonse, the Dragon of Fury, but the day the dispute was restarted, they would return to the earth.
“But in fact, there is no such thing,” Arreck sneered: “That is just a legend made up by mortals to relieve themselves, the Guardians never existed. Once the knowledge of mortals is lost it is forever gone, scattered among the earth, they’re only left with pieces of pathetic knowledge of magic and Order.”
With those words, he looked up. The towering, frozen staircase that led to a massive stone door, unadorned, somewhat like one of those ancient fortresses.
Arreck stood for a moment at the bottom of the steps, then slowly went upward with the entourage around him.
The icy wind blew, and the entrance to the Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator stood in front of him.
“Looks like we have confused the Dragon .” Devard could not help but crack a playful joke. Arreck then gave him a look that sent chills down his spine, “The Golden Folk created ‘Dragon s’ that acted as their agents to run the world in order to fight the Twilight, Bahamut the Platinum Dragon, Tiama the War Dragon, Alphonse the Dragon of Fury, Crystal the Knowledge Dragon, Blaze the Elemental Dragon and Azure the Tribulation Dragon. The ‘Dragon s’ then created the first generation of warriors again.”
“The Blood and Fire Folk were both the generation of the Golden Folk. Legend says that the Golden Folk’s generation each had its own role- the Dragon s mastered the laws, the Miirnas mastered the power, the Witches mastered the magic, while the creations of the Knowledge Dragon and the Dragon of Fury have never appeared on earth.”
“That’s where this legend comes from-”
“But in fact it was nothing more than a pact left by Alphonse, the Dragon of Fury, with Odin, the Azure Knight.”
“Odin?” Devard was slightly stunned, “You mean the Darkness Darkness, my lord, what did they agree to?”
Arreck nodded, “It is that our greatest enemy, but the ridiculous thing is that those mortals gave him an incestuous name. Odin was never a Dragon, and he does not need to exist as a Dragon .”
“Nobody knows what they agreed on, but it is certain that it had something to do with the Silver Folk’s generation that emerged later. Odin was always waiting for an opportunity, especially since there have been voices within the Gods questioning the creation of the Golden Folk as a mistake ever since the Loop of the World‘s split-”
“And after that, the subsequent part of the legend was that they were released by the Bugas, but the authenticity is still doubtful, and this claim is most likely just an excuse made up by the Bugas’ Mages in order to maintain the legitimacy of the sacred covenant.”
After Arreck said this, he suddenly fell silent, “What really remains in this glacier is not a Guardian clan at all, but most likely just a remnant of Milos’ will.”
“The will of a God?”
Arreck lifted his head and saw the heavy stone door slowly open in front of him, the gray in his eyes remained the same. He smiled somewhat disdainfully, “Don’t worry, it’s just putting up a show, a God who has lost his throne in the sky is nothing to fear about. The will of Milos is here, it is all the more reason why that legend is true, and we will soon have the privilege of witnessing it-”
He turned back, his face filled with a messed-up frenzy expression, “……The Twilight Dragon may have never been defeated.”
……
Brendel suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the darkness, that sound seemed to be far and near at the same time, like something crawling on the ground. Alertly, he grabbed the hilt of the Halran Gaia by his side with his backhand and squinted in that direction in the darkness.
After only a short while, he saw the outline of a person over there.
“Hmm?” Brendel was slightly stunned because what he saw was none other than the hunter maiden. “What is she doing at this time?” A thought flashed through his mind, thinking that this maiden could be a spy left behind by Arreck, but then he shook his head, hoping to shake that thought out of his head. There seemed to be no point for Arreck to leave a spy behind.
At the moment he froze, and Peya had come to his side. The hunter maiden seemed to have not realized that Brendel had woken up, she quietly came to the Count’s side, gently exhaling her breath, as if she was nervous. She then looked at Brendel cautiously.
But it was this glance that made her freeze. She saw Brendel’s gleaming eyes in the darkness and was looking at her.
“Ah……” Peyia almost shivered with fear and froze in place for a moment.
“Peya? What are you doing?” Brendel asked calmly, he had a reason to be calm as the hunter maiden could not pose any threat to him.
“I……” Her eyes showed a complicated look. She bit her lower lip, it was hard to see her face in the darkness, but a pair of dark eyes showed wildness and determination. She suddenly lowered her head, with dark eyes she stared into Brendel’s eyes, and then with some fear she moved closer to Brendel and snuggled down, resting her head gently on his neck.
Brendel was frozen for a moment, he felt Peya’s body trembling slightly in his arms with his heart pounding. But he did not understand what she meant by this action, “What are you doing, Peya……” Brendel was completely taken aback by her action, he hurriedly pressed her shoulder and pushed her away a little, then carefully stared into her eyes.
He thought Peya was possessed, after all, in the dark underground there were often some ghosts that could take control of one’s heart. But the hunter girl’s eyes were clear and bright, containing a sense of embarrassment and shyness lurking within.
Brendel suddenly understood something, he pushed her back a little more and then sat up straight, “Peya, are you trying to beg me to save your brother?”
The hunter maiden clutched her collar with one hand, and the sincere eyes under her long and thick eyelashes looked down for a moment, she shivered slightly and said hoarsely, “Lord, I dreamed about Yaruta.”
“Nightmare?”
Peya nodded fearfully, “I dreamed that he passed out, in the ice cave, with so many corpses around him.” She looked up with a frightened look in her eyes.
Brendel breathed a sigh of relief as he spoke boldly and reassured, “It was just a dream, Peya, Arreck didn’t kill your brother, as you can see.”
“No,” the hunter girl shook her head vigorously: “I saw that he was not far from here. I also heard that voice, he told us to hurry up and save him…… Lord, I ……”
Brendel was slightly stunned as he suddenly remembered that dream of his own. He then could not help but frown, “You also heard that voice?”
He saw the hunter maiden looking at him in confusion before explaining, “The voice in your dream, what kind of voice was it?”
“I don’t know,” the hunter maiden shook her head vigorously, “It was like it was in my heart, filled with warmth and it makes you want to believe in it.”
Brendel had by this time confirmed that it was the same voice that had appeared in his dream, and he frowned, feeling that something was unusual about the situation. Apparently, there was something under this glacier that wanted to let him know something or take him somewhere, and it was perhaps not as powerful as it thought, so it had to resort to such means.
It was not that he had not encountered such a trope in the game before, it was just that he did not feel as strongly as he did in the real world now. He thought for a moment and asked, “Peya, do you remember where was the place in your dream?”
“I remember, it was in the middle of a deep valley, not far from here.” The hunter maiden hurriedly replied as she looked up at him pitifully and hopefully.
“I see, you go and wake the others up.” Brendel nodded as he took out his pocket watch and looked at the time, although it was not yet time for dawn, their lives were at stake, not to mention that Yaruta’s appearance here made him wonder. Brendel already had a vague guess.
Peya’s dark eyes seemed to lit up for a moment, she looked up with great gratitude, but then immediately felt that it was inappropriate. She humbly lowered her head, kneeling in front of Brendel, cupped Brendel’s right hand, and gave him a kiss on the finger.
This kiss had nothing to do with love between a male and female, but instead, it was the servant’s way of showing gratitude towards the master. The hunter girl raised her head to look at him somewhat cautiously, and asked: “Lord Knight, is your estate short of a hunter? My father was once the most outstanding hunter in this area, and I have been learning to be an excellent hunter with my father since I was a child, and I believe that even compared to the most seasoned hunters I am not any less incompetent-”
“Peya……” Brendel was a little awkward, “I’m not helping you because of this.”
“No, no! I, I will make you satisfied, as long as you give me a command, Peya will be willing to do anything for you.” The hunter maiden knelt down in front of him and pleaded in a low voice.
It must be said that the hunter maiden could indeed afford to say such things, except for her slightly rough skin and stained long dark hair, her beauty was not inferior to that of any woman Brendel had seen in any region. Not to mention that Peya had a beauty of wildness that seemed to lurk in her strong body, tensed and ready to burst out with her movements.
To let such a stubborn woman say such pleading words, seeing the hunter maiden kneeling in front of him made his heart twitch a little, it was in fact impossible for him to not feel touched at all. He took a breath and finally managed to calm himself down, then he shook his head, “Peya, you are our guide, I’ve said that if I can save your brother, I will; this is my promise, do not let me make a mistake, okay?”
Peya was slightly stunned, she backed away a little in some confusion, but looked at Brendel in bewilderment as if she did not understand why Brendel would say that. Brendel would have a hard time explaining how he was different from the other nobles, and could only smile at her awkwardly, a smile, unlike anything Peyia had seen on any other noble, that were either contemptuous or greedy and disturbing.
“Go,” Brendel replied, the previous scene was just a little too much for him as he was a normal man, too. He suddenly felt envious of those damn nobles, this envy turned into a kind of indignation, and finally into a tone of command, “Go and get the others up and get the group ready to go, your brother is still unconscious, have you forgotten?”
“Thank you, Lord Knight.”
Brendel watched Peya back away, then he released a sigh of relief. But he had another problem to solve, he turned his head to the darkness and said, “Have you seen enough, Miss Shido? If you have rested enough, we can prepare to leave now.”
He had thought that these words must have scared off the scholar lady who had been quietly peeping, but instead, she was much more confident than he thought, she smiled politely at him from where she was standing, “Mr. Brendel, they say you are the model of the ancient nobility, but when it comes to romance, you are nowhere there yet. In the face of a noble, willing to self-sacrifice beautiful lady, you actually chose rejection, how disappointing.”
Brendel would have spat a mouthful of water out if he was drinking.
Shido added, “But I look up to you, Count, that you have shown me the noble character, which is refusing to take advantage of others.” Miss Scholar smiled faintly and gave Brendel a nod before going back into her tent.