Chapter 277: Congratulations Delegation, An Unexpected Encounter (3)
C277 - Congratulations Delegation, An Unexpected Encounter (3)
"Are you saying they're not sending delegations because of you?"
Gilly's eyes and gestures revealed countless emotions. Shame, embarrassment, guilt, bitterness, and worry - all the negative emotions that belittle a person. They were weighing her down.
Gilly lowered her head.
Jin didn't ask any more questions and simply patted her shoulder. "It's okay. You don't have to feel that way, Gilly. I won't hold it against the McLoran clan, so please don't worry."
Jin immediately understood Gilly's concerns.
"I've lost face in front of you. Thank you for understanding, young master."
But Jin actually felt the opposite of what he had told her.
If the McLorans had hurt Gilly in the past, and she was still tormented by it to the point where she couldn't bring it up to Murakan and himself due to the pain, then he would punish the McLorans sooner or later. The fact that they didn't send a delegation meant little to him compared to that.
"Oh, Strawberry Shortcake. Don't be sad and come here. That ungraceful boy playing king for a day is coming to an end, so it seems the adults can finally get something."
Murakan gently took Gilly away. Jin looked for Petrow instead.
"Yes, young master!"
"Did the Volta clan not send anyone?" Jin asked.
"Let me check again, sir."
It was already past midnight when Petrow returned. "Oddly enough, sir. All the poor noble clans sent people who were rejected, but the Volta clan was the only one that didn't send anyone."
The so-called lowly noble clans like the Voltas didn't need to be cautious of Jin's brothers when sending congratulatory parties.
Anyway, these clans weren't significant enough to have direct ties with the pure-blooded Runcandels. Therefore, none of his brothers would care if Jin decided to meet with any of the poor noble clans or not, and Rosa wouldn't pay them any attention either.
This was precisely why the weaker clans tried their best to establish ties with the pure-blooded Runcandels on such occasions.
They often squeezed out every last bit of their funds to send gifts or even offered clan relics if they couldn't afford anything.
But the Voltas acted differently from the rest of the poor noble clans.
"So, they didn't, huh? Hmm."
It can't be. Is there someone in the Volta clan who is aware of Picon Minche's lineage? In this time period?
Picon Minche was the undisputed and unparalleled blacksmith in the history of the continent. He himself forged the Balisade and the Bradamante.
Almost a thousand years had passed since Picon Minche's death, but the Minche Smithing Guild remained the top blacksmithing group on the continent.
Licensed blacksmiths from the Minche Guild received better treatment than most knights and Magicians, both in Hufester and the Lutero Magical Federation.
Especially the guild's top three blacksmiths, each known as Anvil, Hammer, and Forge, were respected even by Cyron himself.
Given the respect shown to guild members, who would have imagined that Picon's own descendant was a steward of a struggling noble clan?
He was around twenty-three or twenty-four years old when he first appeared in my past life. I know for sure it was before he reached a star in Sword Techniques.
I still remembered it clearly because the whole of Hufester was shocked by the news.
The descendant of Picon Minche went by the name Fin Blanche.
And like most, he didn't know he was a descendant of Picon. Just like his parents, their parents, and their grandparents didn't know either.
Picon's descendants had lost their Minche surname and identity at some point and lived their lives as commoners. Their surname changed multiple times according to the laws and marriage customs of their time.
Then, suddenly, the god of blacksmiths appeared in Fin Blanche, the steward of the Volta clan.
Fin had already made a contract with the god of blacksmiths, but he only realized it for the first time when Jin was around twenty-four years old.
"Maybe the information from my past life was wrong. Perhaps the world only became aware of Fin Blanche's existence at that time, but the clan might have known about Fin much earlier, especially since Joshua has that Seer."
Jin summarized his thoughts and nodded.
Unlike now, Jin was not a flagbearer back then and was even looked down upon by the servants.
Therefore, he had no way of understanding what was going on within the clan. Back then, his life was just a series of days spent futilely training alone in a corner, only to hastily return to his room and hide from others.
On the other hand, Joshua's life back then wasn't much different from now.
Even if some other brother besides Joshua had acquired Fin Blanche, they would hardly have shared him with the clan's trash, which is what Jin used to be.
Indeed, Jin could never find out which faction Fin Blanche joined after it was revealed that he was the contractor of the god of blacksmiths.
Jin could only assume that he had been recruited by the Runcandels.
In any case, the only way to know for sure was to meet him in person.
"The Volta clan's territory was a remote countryside of the Schutzeron Kingdom, right? Is there a portal directly connecting to the area?"
Do you mean you want to visit the Volta clan right now?
Petrow never asked that question.
"There isn't one, young master. But I will send an order to the flagbearer to open the portal to the nearest city in Schutzeron immediately, sir."
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Just after Jin arrived at the southern portal of the Schutzeron Kingdom, he immediately rode Shuri towards the Volta mansion.
Being seen with Shuri was no longer much of a problem, but he stuck to mountainous paths to avoid attracting too much attention.
"Who's there?"
The small Volta clan mansion was terribly run-down and looked like it could collapse at any moment.
The doors were guarded by two scrawny boys who weren't worthy of being called guards. Jin didn't know if they were malnourished because they weren't paid on time or if they were thin despite being paid on time.
"I am Jin Runcandel, the twelfth flagbearer of the Runcandel clan. I have come to meet the patriarch of the Volta clan. Show me the way."
"Uhh. Oh!"
"Yes, sir! Patriarch, sir! Sir! The flagbearer of the Ru- Runcandels is here!"
The two quickly stood up and shouted for their patriarch.
When the patriarch appeared after a while (even the patriarch himself was quite disheveled, though not as much as the boys), Jin almost ironically laughed.
The mansion's door broke and fell off as he exited. In his haste, he opened it a bit faster than usual, causing it to come off its hinges.
At that moment, Jin had to discard every single reason why the Volta clan wasn't sending envoys.
The portals didn't matter. They were so poor they could barely afford a horse. There was no way they could afford to send envoys.
The Volta clan simply didn't have money.
Fallen clan or not, Jin found it unbelievable that such noble clans existed in Hufester.
"How can we assist the twelfth flagbearer of the Runcandel clan? What has brought Your Lordship to such a humble place?"
"I have come to ask a question. But how did things come to this state?"
It was impolite to ask someone he had just met, but the question needed to be asked.
"Oh, we had a recent famine in the area. And with bandits and demonic creatures causing trouble as well, I have nothing to defend myself, sir."
"Why didn't you seek support from the Schutzeron Kingdom?"
"The Schutzeron royals have abandoned these lands long ago. As you can see, there is no value in these lands, sir."
Jin had to accept it as soon as he heard it. Just as the Volta patriarch mentioned, the lands seemed completely devoid of value.
"But still, the winter harvest is coming, so we should be self-sufficient for it... no, what am I saying? I apologize, Sir Jin Runcandel. We couldn't afford to send envoys, and we couldn't visit you."
The Volta patriarch was about to kneel when Jin held him by the shoulders.
In fact, Jin wanted to give him a hug and hand him a wad of bills because now he was sure that no one in the Garden of Swords had dug into the Volta clan.
If anyone had found out about Fin Blanche's existence, they wouldn't be in this state right now. Therefore, the Volta clan's patriarch had fulfilled his part, at least in Jin's eyes.
"I haven't come to scold you. I've come to see Fin Blanche. I've been told that he serves the Volta clan as a steward."
The Volta patriarch's eyes widened in surprise. "Fin? Why are you looking for that guy, sir?"
"Do you need to know?"
The Volta patriarch and his guards quickly shook their heads at Jin's cold response. "No, Sir Jin! But it's just that Fin, our steward...". The patriarch's eyes immediately turned red. "He was captured by bandits three days ago. He was sweeping the snow on that street over there, and, well. If they had caught me instead. I'm old and useless."
The patriarch's loud sobs were pitiful, but Jin didn't have time to console him.
"I will bring him back immediately. You should pray for Fin Blanche's safety."
He would probably be safe, unless the history-altering caused by Jin's rebirth had also spread to this impossibly remote village.
"What, sir?"
"The direction."
"They went north. The bandits headed north, sir."
"Let's go, Shuri!"
"Mya!"
Shuri kicked up a cloud of snow as the cat sped away. The members of the Volta clan stood frozen in place, blinking as they watched Jin and Shuri disappear.
Jin ran three hours to the north and arrived at the bandits' hideout.
"What is this?"
"Who are you?"
Jin entered the natural cave, pushing aside the clumsy curtain they had placed at the entrance. The bandits who had been drinking suddenly stood up and shouted.
They were so insignificant that Jin had never come across such weaklings, even in his days as a provisional flagbearer.
The whole world wasn't as populated and filled with talent as the big cities.
Naturally, Jin had grown up in the group of beasts and transcendental figures, but that didn't mean there weren't people in other parts of the world who still fought against wretched bandits like them.
"Fin Blanche, raise your hand."
"We ask who you are!"
"You look like a noble from the capital. Why don't you continue on your way? Don't get yourself in trouble now."
Jin could see a weak teenager raising his hand in the background. It was Fin Blanche.
Jin found his target, but there was no need to draw his sword or start throwing punches.
When Jin revealed a tiny amount of the energies he wielded, the bandits instinctively fell to the ground and started trembling. When Jin increased his energies even more, they all passed out.
Fin looked around with frightened eyes and slowly walked towards Jin. And with each step he took, Jin felt something.
He felt the mysterious resonance he had experienced on the Bluebird Islands. The phenomenon was similar to how Sigmund had resonated with Gramm's tomb.
Wrooom!
Except it wasn't Sigmund resonating now. It was his recently retrieved favorite sword.
It was the Bradamante.
The sword was resonating with the god of blacksmiths, who was contracted with Fin.
"It seems today is a lucky day for both you and me." Jin greeted Fin as he offered a handshake.
But when Fin took Jin's hand, he heard a voice inside his head for the first time in his life.
-Bradamante! Fin, steal the sword that he holds. Right now!
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