[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 129
Zeke took Felix and headed to his hometown.
As Felix had said, it wasn't far from Zeke's territory, so they were able to arrive within half a day.
"Whew, the village has changed a lot."
It had been 10 years since Felix left his hometown after his grandfather passed away.
When the knight leading the warhorse entered the village, the village headman came running out in surprise.
"S-Sirs, what brings you to this humble place...?"
Then Felix recognized the headman and exclaimed,
"Ah! Uncle Thomas!"
Thomas, the village headman, was surprised to see Felix.
"Huh? Could it be that you're Felix from old man Fab's house?"
Felix jumped off the horse and stood in front of the village headman.
"That's right, Felix. How have you been? I didn't know Uncle Thomas became the headman."
Thomas was surprised to see Felix, who used to be a mischievous boy, return as a dignified knight.
"Oh my, the village was in an uproar when you ran away to the city saying you wanted to become a knight. But you really became a knight?"
Village Headman Thomas slowly lowered his voice as he looked at Zeke, who was getting off the horse, and asked.
Felix shook his head at the question.
"No, I'm still an apprentice knight. This is Sir Zeke Draker, my lord, Uncle."
Zeke greeted Thomas.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Zeke Draker."
Thomas finally noticed the gloves Zeke was wearing.
"A p-pure-blooded Draker! I-I apologize! I didn't recognize your distinguished self!"
Zeke calmed the startled headman and said,
"There's no need to be nervous. I just came to look around because this is near Felix's hometown."
The headman couldn't believe that a pure-blooded Draker had visited his humble village.
Felix approached the headman and whispered discreetly,
"Uncle, my lord wants to stay quietly, so please don't tell anyone else."
The village headman nodded vigorously.
Zeke followed Felix to the house where he used to live.
"Whew!"
Felix's old house, which he was visiting after 10 years, was covered in dust.
Felix looked at the house and reminisced about old memories with his grandfather.
Then he opened the door and went inside.
"Oh dear."
As soon as he opened the door, dust flew up, making it difficult to breathe properly.
Felix looked at Zeke and said,
"My lord, this is the place, but I don't think there's anything here."
Zeke activated Dragon Eye and examined every corner of the house.
He couldn't find anything suspicious, only ordinary household items lying around.
'Did he really leave nothing behind?'
Zeke carefully examined not only the first floor but also the second floor, even tapping the floorboards to find any traces.
But he couldn't find any special clues anywhere in the house.
"It must be Felix's grandfather..."
As Zeke muttered to himself and got up, looking around, he couldn't see Felix. When there was no response even after calling out, Zeke went outside.
He went out to the backyard and saw Felix standing in front of three tombstones placed side by side.
"Felix."
Felix was silent as he looked at the tombstones.
The tombstones had the names of his grandfather, Fab Valencia, and two people presumed to be Felix's parents.
Felix slowly opened his mouth.
"Grandpa said it was a carriage accident."
Zeke had never heard Felix talk about his parents.
He had only heard that Felix was raised by his grandfather from a young age and assumed there must have been some circumstances.
Felix stroked his parents' tombstones.
"I was about three years old. The carriage overturned, and I was the only survivor. After that, I lived with my grandfather."
Zeke asked Felix,
"Do you remember your parents' faces?"
Felix shook his head.
"No. I have a vague feeling that I might remember, but I don't really remember."
Zeke could understand Felix's feelings, as he didn't even know his own mother's face or name.
He patted Felix's shoulder without saying a word.
It seemed like he needed to give him some time alone.
It was then.
"Huh?"
Felix, who seemed to be immersed in sadness, made a puzzled sound. He had found something strange around the tombstones.
"My lord, look here for a moment."
Zeke looked where Felix was pointing.
"What do you mean?"
"Around the tombstones. Isn't it too clean?"
Zeke examined the area around the tombstones at Felix's words.
The house and the front yard were overgrown with grass and dust, but only the area around the tombstones was clean.
'Could it be?'
Zeke activated Dragon Eye and examined the surroundings of the tombstones.
Then, he found an entrance cleverly hidden behind the tombstones.
Zeke said to Felix,
"Step back."
He activated the Dragon Eye to enhance his strength, then dug his fingers into the ground behind the tombstones.
And he lifted the heavy stone slab.
Rumble!
A secret space that had been hidden for decades was revealed.
Felix was surprised to see the entrance leading underground.
"O-oh my god, there was something like this in our backyard..."
Thud!
Zeke fully opened the entrance and asked Felix,
"Did your grandfather ever mention this place?"
Felix shook his head.
Zeke went down the underground stairs with Felix.
The stairs continued deeper underground than he expected.
Zeke marveled at the underground structure, built by stacking stones one by one.
'This wasn't built overnight ,but over decades.'
It looked exactly like a catacomb he had seen in his previous life.
He had seen catacombs like this, built to bury bodies under churches.
Zeke couldn't believe that Felix's grandfather had built this huge catacomb alone.
As they walked through the underground catacomb in surprise, a large hall appeared.
Zeke spotted a symbol hanging at the front of the hall.
'What's that?'
It was none other than the symbol of the sun.
It was similar to the emblem of the paladins, but with a more complex design.
Zeke remembered seeing that symbol before.
'Agamemnon's Mask'
He immediately took out Agamemnon's Mask from his inventory.
As he remembered, it matched the emblem attached to Agamemnon's Mask in shape.
At first, he thought this symbol was the same as the Holy Kingdom's emblem, but upon closer inspection, there were subtle differences.
However, the symbol in the catacomb built by Felix's grandfather and the symbol on Agamemnon's Mask were a perfect match.
'Is Agamemnon's Mask related to this place?'
Zeke put the mask back in his pocket, activated Dragon Eye, and examined the surroundings.
Then, Zeke realized something he hadn't known before.
'It really was a tomb.'
There were dozens of tombs hidden inside the walls, concealed by stacked stones.
While examining the tombs in the wall, Zeke was surprised to find names subtly inscribed on them.
"Lubern?"
An unexpected name appeared.
Zeke checked all the tombs.
Although there were some exceptions, most of the tombs had the name Lubern.
Zeke realized the identity of this catacomb.
'The bloodline of the Lubern dynasty, whose line was cut off in the Holy Empire. Fab Valencia smuggled them out.'
An Arch Paladin was a key force in the Holy Kingdom.
It didn't make sense that they would defrock someone with the power to oppose the Black Knight, so it had been a mystery. But now, he seemed to understand what had happened.
For the Holy Kingdom, composed of the pro-Pope faction, the Lubern bloodline was like a weakness that could shake the Pope's authority.
It was clear that Fab, Felix's grandfather, despite being an Arch Paladin, defied the Holy Kingdom's orders and smuggled the Lubern bloodline into the Troy Duchy.
'This was more serious than just a political strife.'
If Fab Valencia, an Arch Paladin, joined the faction that wanted to drive out the corrupt pro-Pope faction and establish a new Holy Kingdom centered on the Lubern dynasty, it would have been a huge deal, enough to shake the entire church.
Zeke felt a sense of emptiness as he looked at the tombs where the descendants of the Lubern dynasty, whom he had been trying to find for the quest, were buried.
'I guess there are no more descendants of Lubern.'
It was then.
Something new was caught by Zeke's Dragon Eye.
There was an empty space behind the sun emblem hanging at the front of the hall.
Zeke jumped up, stepping on the wall.
Then, he sliced the sun emblem with his hand.
Rip!
The emblem fell to the floor, revealing a hidden space.
Zeke reached in, took out what was inside, and landed on the floor.
What Zeke brought out was a long box wrapped in cloth.
"What is it, my lord?"
"We'll know when we open it."
Zeke unwrapped the cloth, revealing an old box.
He tore off the locked latch and opened the box. Inside, there was a sword in an old scabbard, a book, and a letter.
Felix was surprised to see the handwriting on the letter.
"Huh? This is... my grandfather's writing."
Zeke unfolded the letter left by Fab Valencia.
Then, he quickly scanned the contents.
'My guess was right. Fab Valencia was trying to save the Lubern bloodline.'
He rescued the Lubern descendants who were imprisoned somewhere deep within the Holy Kingdom's headquarters and fled to the Troy Duchy.
Even after going into hiding, he traveled all over the continent to find the descendants of Lubern who had been scattered since the Holy Empire era.
During his travels, he adopted a child he met by chance, and that child married a village maiden and had a child.
That child was Felix.
Unfortunately, Felix's parents didn't die in a carriage accident.
The Holy Kingdom's secret organization, tracking Fab, killed Felix's parents as an example.
It was a warning that they couldn't kill Fab, an Arch Paladin, but if he returned to the Holy Kingdom now, they would forgive his sins.
However, Fab Valencia steadfastly continued searching for the Lubern bloodline and raised young Felix like his own grandson.
And before he died of illness, he passed on his aura to Felix through aura inheritance.
But he didn't want to burden Felix with his mission, so he hid this fact and quietly kept it buried.
Zeke read the sentence written at the end of the letter.
<The church feared the descendants of Lubern going out into the world, but they also feared their line being cut off. Perhaps it was because of the bloodline ability possessed by the Lubern bloodline. The descendants of Lubern have the ability to perform 'miracles.'
I believed that saving those who were imprisoned by the church and exploited for their abilities, solely for the church's benefit, was the mission God bestowed upon me.>
That was the end of the letter.
After some thought, Zeke handed the letter to Felix.
It was up to Felix, not him, to decide what to do with the secret his grandfather had hidden.
While Felix was reading the letter, Zeke examined the sword and book left by Fab.
He drew the sword from its scabbard and realized its identity.
"An Orichalcum sword..."
It seemed to be the Orichalcum hammer that Golin had reforged into a sword.
Zeke felt a sense of familiarity as he saw the faint light emanating from the Orichalcum sword.
It was similar to the Lubern crown that Richmond had offered him as treasure.
"That crown wasn't Orichalcum. Strange."
It wasn't the material that mattered, but the feeling of the power contained within them seemed similar.
Zeke checked the sword's information with Dragon Eye.
—Sword Information—
Description: An Orichalcum sword crafted with great care by a skilled artisan.
Inherent Abilities: Light's Punishment (effect applies only upon striking), Light's Barrier, Light's Arrow
Special Note: Deals triple damage when used against undead or demonic creatures.
Like the crown, the inherent abilities included light skills.
It seemed to be an ability it had from when it was a hammer before becoming a sword.
'It has different abilities from the Mace of Light and the Shield of Light. Should I try it out?'
Zeke held up the sword and shouted,
"Light's Barrier."
Instantly, a giant aura of light arose around Zeke's body.
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]