Amber Sword

But why these four people—that was what made things a little intriguing. Brand straightened out his thoughts a bit, then asked, "So, it seems my Grandfather was obviously not just some obscure veteran of the November War like he claimed, was he?"

Brand was not so stupid as to think Her Highness the Princess would know every veteran of the November War, and judging from her and Ou Fuwei’er’s earlier reactions, it was very likely that his Grandfather had quite the background. Linking this with what the Highland Knight Commander Bunide had said, Char’s identity was also extremely suspicious.

Brand suddenly felt annoyed; apparently the whole thing had been kept from him alone. Granted, this kid had indeed been adorably dense for the past twenty years, but in any case, this development still struck him as a bit melodramatic and dog-blooded.

So now, he needed an answer.

"You don’t know?" Princess Griffine was slightly taken aback, but she quickly reacted: "The Marshal really did keep to the agreement—he never breathed a word to any outsider."

She looked over at Char. "Mr. Shire?"

Char couldn’t help but give a wry smile. "Actually, this is a misunderstanding. But in truth, from the day I returned to this World, I understood that Alice of the Twin Goddesses is truly weaving this World’s Destiny with threads—"

"Just like I said, there really is fate at work in the unseen."

"Marshal?" Brand seemed to have heard some inexplicable term. As far as he knew, Erune had never had such a military rank, position, title, or even noble style. "What on earth is going on?"

"Lord, it’s actually just as you guessed. Your Grandfather was never some obscure nobody." Char sighed before finally answering.

Brand remained silent. He had actually long suspected as much. His Grandfather’s swordsmanship had reached Transcendence; how could that possibly be something a mere old soldier possessed? Take Reto—he was also a veteran of the November War—but compared to his Grandfather, the difference was like heaven and earth.

The ridiculous part was that for nineteen years, Brand had always thought his Grandfather’s swordsmanship was just a bit better than average—this left him both amused and exasperated.

Most ridiculous of all, Brand actually never knew what his Grandfather’s name was. While the old man was still alive, everyone around simply called him "Old Tobus." But that was clearly an alias. In Brand’s memory, no famous name had ever overlapped with that one.

Sure enough, Char went on, "In fact, all of this has to start with the Highland Knights, just as you, Lord, had anticipated—when your Grandfather was young, he was a bona fide Highland Knight, and the blood of the Highland Knights flows in your veins as well."

"And at that time, he had a Mage Attendant whose name was Char Pelosh."

"Ah—" The young people around them felt as if they were listening to some bizarre tale and immediately stared in shock at the young Mage telling the story. Brand, though he had anticipated it, still couldn’t help but draw a soft breath. "Char Pelosh... Char Pelosh... Char, you’re a Mage of the Pallosh family?"

Char nodded.

"Pallosh is the most illustrious title among the Tower Wizards; their bloodline is the closest to that of the Silver People. To have you as his Attendant—don’t tell me you’re about to say that my Grandfather, or rather, that I should actually bear the surname Cadiloso?"

Princess Griffine cut in, "Mr. Shire isn’t lying. Brand, your Grandfather was indeed a descendant of the most illustrious family among the Highland Knights—his True Name should be Darus Cadiloso, the one people commonly called... Earth Sword Saint Darius..."

At that moment Brand felt as though he were listening to a legendary tale, except this time he was living it himself. In that distant memory, the Kingdom stood at the height of its second Restoration of Light; Erune had once had three powerhouses who reached the Extreme Realm—Earth Sword Saint Darius, Gurekais of the Heavenly Destiny Country, and Turaman, the Silver Castle Scholar.

Yet Brand had never even dreamed that among those three, the most renowned of them all would actually be his own Grandfather.

He stared blankly at Her Highness the Princess and Char.

Char couldn’t help but give another wry smile. "Lord, but in truth your Grandfather had another name—he gained glory by that name, and also fell because of it—Dragon of Harasg, the Alliance Marshal of the Flame Temple Alliance Army in the last Holy War..."

...

"So," in the end, Kulan asked, "you wrote a letter to Bunide? What did you tell him in that letter?"

Reto nodded, looking toward the sea. After a long moment, he finally answered, "I only asked him whether he still remembered the Dragon of Harasg."

"Haha," Kulan suddenly burst out laughing. "Of course I remember."

"How could I ever forget?"

(PS: A tiny correction—before this, I accidentally typed ’the first Holy War’ instead of ’the last Holy War’ with a slip of the hand. Fixing it here. Um... OTL, my bad.) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with recommendation tickets and Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)