As a matter of fact, Annan was taken aback when he met the former [Champion].
“Alexander Robin’s” appearance was far beyond Annan’s expectations.
He looked to be a middle-aged man in his fifties, height reaching at least 185 cm.
Alexander had a tan skin tone and reddish-brown hair. He had a well-defined face, deep eye sockets, a firm gaze, and a beard carefully shaved off, leaving neat stubble. There was a diagonal scar on his cheek, slanted across his lips, and approached his eyelids.
If the injury went a little further up, the blade would gouge his right eye.
His golden-orange pupils seemed to glow under the light, making Alexander look even more intimidating.
He did not look like a world-renowned banker, a legendary investor with sharp eyes, and a philanthropist known for his generosity.
Instead, he resembled a fierce fighter or stern and reliable mercenary leader. His thick and heavy hand was covered with sword marks and calluses. He would subconsciously clench his hand into fists from time to time; his steady, broad arms as he walked further illustrated this.
Although he was wearing the Silver Sire’s priest robe, it looked more like a long white suit jacket. However, the muscles in his shoulders propped up the robe and even grew a little wrinkle due to the muscles.
This middle-aged man seems to be the type who can happily chat with Delicious Wind Goose. This was the first thought that popped into Annan’s mind.
They say that proper fitness attracts the opposite sex, but excessive fitness attracts the same sex.
He and Delicious Wind Goose are similar in height and size. It’s just that his skin seemed rough and thick, while the Delicious Wind Goose’s skin is quite fair.
Sure enough, the most noticeable difference was that Alexander had hair… thick hair. On the other hand, Delicious Wind Goose had sacrificed his hair for strength.
After leading Annan and the Paper Princess to his office, Mr. Alexander invited the Paper Princess and Annan to sit across the table, and then he returned to his seat with a hearty smile, “Hey, did I scare you?”
He spoke charismatically, “Am I a little different from what you have imagined?”
“Yes.” Annan nodded with the corners of his mouth rising. He almost laughed aloud, “But it’s not really a shock.
“After all, I’ve also seen a Silver Sire priest about the same size as you.” Annan was talking about Salvatore’s friend, Priest Louis. In a sense, Alexander and Annan could at least be regarded as friends of friends. It was a good connection.
Of course, Annan would address him as “Knight Louis” the next time they met.
“Oh?” Alexander raised his brows and asked, “Is he from the Silver Hand? He is also in the capital, ready to become a Silver Knight.”
“Do you know him?” Annan blinked, not particularly surprised.
After all, the Silver Knights were composed of the same bunch of people.
Old Bread had introduced him to meet Alexander to learn swordsmanship, which showed that Alexander was not stingy in hiding his skills.
Since Alexander was the best Silver Knight in swordsmanship, there would be many young Silver Knights and reserve Silver Knights who wanted to learn from him. So it was not surprising that he knew Louis.
However, if Annan were to look closely…
Alexander reached out his hand and tapped on the table. He laughed cheerfully and raised his voice a bit, “Is it that kid, Louis?”
“Yes, I met him at the Freezing Water Port.”
“En, he was indeed dispatched to the Freezing Water Port. He’s a good boy. It’s no surprise that he took on a mission so dangerous and life-threatening.”
Alexander’s voice returned calm again, “He is my pride. He’s the same like his father.”
Eh?
Annan was a little surprised, “He’s your…?”
“He’s my nephew.” Alexander said slowly, “His father is my younger brother and a Silver Knight. I’m the captain of the Silver Hand. When he was still in the Silver Hand, I taught him personally.
“When he was investigating the case of a Black Widow’s believer who poisoned the well and caused the death of the whole village, his wife was killed in revenge. At that time, Louis was just born, and my wife raised the kid in our house back then.
“At that time, Louis’ father utilized a hefty ritual, which rendered his state unstable. Later, he died on his progress to purify the nightmare. When he finally became a demon, I executed him myself.
“I agreed to his last request and took care of his son for him. When I was young, I made a sterilization oath and abstinence oath for stronger power. So, I also took Louis as my son.”
I see.
No wonder.
In that case, Louis and Alexander’s physiques were not much different. In Noah, there were not many men taller than 180 cm. The average height of male adult elves was almost 180 cm tall, but the oasis humans were shorter.
After looking closely, their hair color was a little red, but it was not the same tone. Their faces were somewhat similar. It was just that compared to Alexander, who was like a lion and seemed to be angry at any time, his nephew Louis looks much gentler and calmer. His skin was much fairer, and his body had fewer scars.
But another question came to Annan’s mind.
Seemingly realizing Annan’s doubts, Alexander said, “Are you trying to ask me why I let Louis go to the Freezing Water Port?”
“I’m just a little curious.” Annan nodded and explained, “After all, you should also know that the Freezing Water Port is too dangerous.
“Having the nightmare successfully purified has nothing to do with Louis. This is a mission that he can’t handle. Why send him?”
“It’s not that I want him to do it, but someone has to do it. It’s been many years since the Freezing Water Port’s nightmare corrupted the last priest. Before he became a demon, he took poison and died before turning into a demon after being summoned to the capital. But, he died with honor as a human being.
“But after that, we don’t know what happened to the Freezing Water Port. We understand that the Venerated Skeleton has been there for a long time, trying to hold some ritual. Again, Freezing Water Port is a border area, and we need to send a priest and bring the place under control.
“This is a difficult nightmare that has not been purified for 50 years, at least one priest needs to be sent to monitor it. There needs to be a messenger reporting to the capital or Roseburg as soon as possible before it’s too late. The Freezing Water Port has to be purified before bad things happen.”
Alexander said calmly, “Actually, we didn’t plan to recruit a ‘purifier’ at first, and we just planned to recruit a ‘watcher’. There is no need to choose a young and capable Silver Hand with a bright future. We just need to send an old bishop to take over.
“For other distortion-level nightmares, ‘monitoring’ is much simpler. He has to enter the nightmare and carefully observe the changes in the nightmare, and then exit in time. But in this nightmare, you will lose your memory if you’re not careful. The more you want to ‘survey’ the place, the more you’re lured to ‘purifying’ it.”
This was a dead end.
In any case, the dedicated must try to purify the nightmare. However, the more the person got involved, the easier it was for the nightmare to corrupt him with the curse and kill him in the nightmare.
Annan finally understood.
That was why Louis could not understand the mechanics of the nightmare, and did not explore the mechanics.
In the case of purifying his nightmares through luck, he confronted [Nightmare: Gallery] head-on and walked silently forward in the infinite nightmare corridors without turning his head back.
He was sticking to his mission.
He did not explore the nightmare further so that he could survive longer.
That was to prevent others from taking his place and stop others from being sacrificed.
Annan finally realized it. The nightmare the players and he used as a “dungeon instance” to upgrade their levels meant something else for the “indigenous people”.
They were actually—nightmares.