Chapter 45: A Legendary Arrives—and Aveline Has a Secret
Elara had been staring at the wine barrel in Brogan Stonecrown’s arms for nearly half a minute.
The Dwarf King showed no intention of putting it down.
"Are you sure the Epic Hero Sigil didn’t include the barrel as part of the contract?"
Brogan wiped his beard.
"Without ale, any contract loses at least half its sincerity."
Elara closed her eyes for a second.
Aveline, seated on the other side, actually laughed.
"At least he’s a Dwarf."
"If the mountain range you found really has organized Ridgewarden squads, then what’s behind them probably isn’t an ordinary nest. If you can secure that Dwarf troop line, he’ll fit it rather well."
Elara glanced at her private messages.
"Cassian’s already on his way."
"He says the Royal Hall is his now."
Aveline’s smile faded slightly.
"Epic?"
"Yeah."
"And he’s the Owner?"
"Also yes."
Brogan finally lowered the barrel onto his lap.
"That human moves quickly."
Elara was about to answer when alarms flared along the Domain boundary.
This wasn’t an ordinary wild-monster warning.
Three high-energy contacts came back from the watchtowers on the mountain side.
One of them was airborne.
"Lord!"
The scout assigned to that side sounded noticeably tense.
"Winged humanoid sighted at high altitude. Approaching fast. Energy response is extremely high."
Elara stood at once.
Brogan already had his warhammer in hand.
But after looking east for two breaths, his brow eased slightly.
"No killing intent."
A private message lit up the next second.
[Cassian Vale: Mountain side. Open it.]
Elara: "..."
She opened a temporary passage on the mountain side of the Domain.
Far along the ridge, four Blackfang appeared between the rocks, then quickly split off to either side again.
Eira approached along the mountain path.
Higher above, a silver-white figure descended from beneath the clouds.
Two wings of light folded in.
Aurelia Dawnwing landed outside the boundary and stopped without crossing the line Elara had just opened.
Cassian came down the path behind her.
"Your alarms are faster than the Royal Hall’s horns."
Elara ignored that.
Her eyes were still on Aurelia.
"Who is this?"
"Aurelia Dawnwing."
Cassian answered.
"My second standard Hero Contract."
Aveline was already on her feet.
It wasn’t the wings that had done it.
It was the first few lines Cassian shared immediately afterward.
[Aurelia Dawnwing]
[Quality: Legendary]
[Level: 10]
[Origin Trace: Extra-Realm]
The hall went quiet for a moment.
Elara recovered first.
"What did you just say?"
"Legendary?"
"Yeah."
"You went into the mountains for less than half a day, took an Epic Royal Hall, and came back with a Legendary Hero?"
Cassian corrected her.
"I took the Royal Hall."
"Aurelia was different."
Aveline looked at him.
"After that Realmwide Announcement, your Renown reached Widely Known."
"I assumed a high-tier Hero had come because of it."
"The announcement only gave me the qualification."
Cassian’s tone stayed flat.
"The High Realm Call cost one million."
Aveline was silent for two breaths.
Brogan hugged his barrel again.
"One man dared to pay it. One woman dared to answer it."
Aurelia glanced at him.
"You’re Elara’s new Dwarf Hero?"
"Brogan Stonecrown."
"Call me if there’s ale."
A vein twitched at Elara’s temple.
"Don’t expand your social circle yet."
Cassian couldn’t help laughing once.
Aveline did not ask about Aurelia’s skills.
That had never been the real reason she’d come here today.
But after seeing a Legendary Hero with her own eyes, something she had still been hesitating over became much easier to decide.
"Cassian."
"Yeah?"
"I want a few minutes alone."
Cassian glanced at Elara.
Elara shrugged.
"She’s been waiting for you because of this."
"All right."
Aveline led him into a side room.
Once the door closed, she checked her Visitor status again.
[Observer Passage Visitor]
[Combat Participation: Locked]
[Troop Entry: Prohibited]
[Resource Transfer through Passage: Prohibited]
The restrictions were exactly the same as when she arrived.
She got straight to the point.
"What I’m about to tell you is the biggest secret Elara and I have."
Cassian paused.
"If it’s your biggest secret, I can just not hear it."
Aveline clearly hadn’t expected that answer.
"You’re not curious?"
"The more secrets you know, the more likely you are to find strings attached."
"I mainly came here to sell the Royal Hall."
Aveline watched him for several seconds, then laughed instead.
"That’s exactly why I want to tell you."
Her smile disappeared.
"Do you know why humans can’t truly treat a Realm as a place of birth?"
Cassian didn’t answer.
That question was already beyond what a newcomer would normally be expected to know.
Aveline continued.
"Human Lords can enter a Realm. We can establish Domains here. Some can even remain for very long periods."
"But the rules of an active Realm do not support normal human reproduction."
"Under normal circumstances, the next generation has to be born in a stable world outside the Realm."
Cassian looked at her.
"Under normal circumstances?"
"Yes."
Aveline paused.
"Because Elara wasn’t."
The side room fell silent.
"She was born inside a Realm."
This time, Cassian actually frowned.
Aveline didn’t make him guess.
"Many years ago, I received a Mythic-grade Origin Essence from the settlement of a high-tier ruin."
"Its description had only one line—consume it, and you will receive an unexpected gift of life."
"I thought it meant recovery, a bloodline effect, or some kind of long-term growth."
She let out a breath.
"It meant none of those."
"Later, I had Elara."
Cassian was silent for two breaths.
"So her father—"
"There wasn’t one."
Aveline answered immediately.
"That’s the secret."
"As far as I know, Elara is the only human ever born inside an active Realm."
She looked straight at Cassian.
"And now I suspect the Realm knows that too."
"The Realm knows?"
Cassian repeated the words.
Aveline nodded.
"It’s only a theory."
"But it’s getting harder to ignore."
She pulled up a private record of Elara’s early battles.
"Her first three days as a newcomer."
"Within her operating range alone, she encountered fifty-one Elite targets, fourteen Rare targets, and two Epic targets in the wild."
"That doesn’t include the Ridgewarden patrol you encountered later."