Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 683 - 682: The Persistent Ghost

Amber left, and Gawain quietly watched Veronica/Ophelia, who appeared calm and indifferent. Pittman stood silently aside, his eyes slightly narrowed as if he were resting with closed eyes.

”I thought you would follow and leave,” Veronica said to Gawain, ”after all, you seem very concerned about your ’personal guard’.

”I understand her; she wants some quiet time alone now,” Gawain replied, ”but before that, I have some things to discuss with you.”

”...Defiers are a group of obsessive and fervent rebels, and our plan is much the same,” Veronica said candidly before Gawain spoke, ”We try to maintain our humanity within the plan, but just humanity alone cannot fight against gods and the apocalypse—at times, some of our means may seem as cold-blooded and cruel to you as those of evil cult followers; I hope you are aware of this.”

”Rest assured, I’m well aware of this. Kamel’s involvement in the divine evils project has no essential difference from the ’shadow plan’, and these plans share quite some methods with the Oblivion Association,” Gawain shook his head, ”The difference lies in you at least still trying to maintain humanity.”

”It makes no difference—at least for someone like Miss Amber, it’s all the same.”

”She will calm down, but what happened today was too much for her,” Gawain said, ”I have some questions for you.”

Veronica nodded: ”Please go ahead.”

”Sali Randolph received orders from Francis Moen to go to the Dark Mountain Range in search of the Shadow Fortress—why did Francis II know about the existence of the Shadow Fortress?”

This is a crucial question. The defied Plan is one of the biggest secrets left from the ancient Gondor Empire, but not many people are aware of this secret. So why did Francis II know about the existence of the Shadow Fortress when he was young? He even had a pair of Ring of Shadow Seal to open the fortress—Sali Randolph’s mission had a very high confidentiality level, even the Regent Duke at that time didn’t know about it. Does this imply that Francis II secretly contacted some ancient Defier and mastered the clue of the Shadow Fortress?

Although the reign of Anzu has ended, whatever secret Francis II once had is no longer significant today. However, since this matter involves the defied Plan, Gawain couldn’t help but inquire further.

”My ’father’...” Veronica’s face clearly showed a hint of sentiment as she heard Francis II’s name, she sighed softly and shook her head, ”I don’t know where he learned about the ’Shadow Fortress’, but according to my observations and judgement, he was not aware of the defied Plan.”

”Your observations and judgement?” Gawain sharply caught another layer of meaning in Veronica’s words, ”Did you also suspect he knew about the defied Plan?”

”He possessed a Ring of Shadow Seal, which was enough to pique my interest,” Veronica said calmly, ”But after investigating, I found that he merely regarded the Ring of Shadow Seal as a piece of powerful extraordinary equipment, so I once thought he acquired an ancient relic by chance—creations from the ancient Gondor Empire were brought out of the wasteland by the pioneering troops, many still scattered around today, situations like this are not unusual. But after hearing what you said today, I have new speculation...”

Gawain raised an eyebrow: ”New speculation?”

”He has a Ring of Shadow Seal and knows it is the key to open the Shadow Fortress, but just like he doesn’t know the ring’s connection with the defied Plan, he likely doesn’t know the secrets behind the Shadow Fortress—he probably only knows that the fortress hides powerful forces or some sort of treasure, which would have been very alluring to the young King, especially since he was desperately hoping to change his puppet status back then,” Veronica spoke her speculation in a clear and logical manner, ”And these incomplete clues along with those two rings... Perhaps someone with ulterior motives shared them with him.”

Gawain furrowed his brows: ”Someone with ulterior motives?”

”...There might be Defiers besides me and Kamel,” Veronica explained, ”Before our ultimate goal is achieved, we dare not die—even if a chaotic wave erupts, and the Empire is destroyed, there will undoubtedly be stubborn ghosts crawling out from the wasteland to continue executing the plan from back then. These ’ghosts’, if they exist, might be the most dangerous.”

The pair fell into silence for a while.

Though Veronica’s words were merely conjecture, she, after all, had interacted with Francis II for many years under the identity of a ”daughter”. Her judgement seemed highly credible to Gawain, and what she described... strangely enough, might actually be the most plausible explanation.

There might be other Defiers still active in the world, secretly contacting Francis II, but unlike Veronica/Ophelia who hoped to find an ally—they merely considered the young King as a pawn, wanting to open the ancient Shadow Fortress through Francis II’s hands to get what they wanted—the negligence in information led to dire consequences, as the royal shadow guard carrying the Ring of Shadow Seal never returned, the mysterious Defier simply cut this line decisively.

Afterward, Francis II never obtained further intelligence related to the Shadow Fortress and defied Plan, and his private actions went unnoticed by the Regent Duke of the time, so ultimately this matter went unresolved. No one knew he once sent the royal shadow guard to find some ancient relic, and that special power of the Ring of Shadow Seal was packaged by the King as a powerful magic supply obtained by coincidence—if Francis had better storytelling skills, he might have even packaged the ring as a family heirloom: Before the Second Dynasty, the Moens had spread wide and managed a large number of Gondor Relics, Francis II, albeit as an illegitimate descendant, was also eligible to access some Moens heritage, thus such lies were extremely difficult to expose.

If all of this is true, then there is a crucial question: Who wanted to obtain the ’inheritance’ inside the Shadow Fortress through Francis II, or more directly—who was eyeing Amber decades ago?

Veronica noticed Gawain’s thoughts and casually said from the side: ”Just think about what is the greatest value of ’Artificial Human No. 36’ in the field of technology, and it’s not hard to guess who had an interest in her.”

”...The ultimate crystallization of biotechnology,” Gawain said gravely, ”It’s the Oblivion Association—the clues finally connect.”

The clues finally connect—

Gawain already knew the Oblivion Association had the shadow of the defied Plan behind them, the Crystal Cluster disaster they caused was evidence, those Crystal Cluster Giants essentially continued the ”divine evils” project, so they undoubtedly retained part of the defied Plan’s legacy internally!

It was precisely for this reason, having one or two ancient Defiers surviving to this day within them was not surprising, and these ghosts surviving from the chaotic wave... years ago they had already attempted to contact Anzu’s royal family, utilizing Edmund Moen and even targeting Francis II!

And all of this, coincidentally altered Sali Randolph’s fate, bringing Amber from that intra-space fortress into the real world...

Years later, Amber inadvertently loosened Gawain Cecil’s coffin lid, freeing Gawain, who happened to possess and reincarnate—awakening Gawain eventually led to the destruction of the Oblivion Association.

”Fate truly is an inexplicable thing,” Gawain’s mind flashed through this chain woven by countless coincidences and inevitabilities, he couldn’t help but remark, ”But no matter what... the Oblivion Association did end.”

”The Oblivion Association ended, but the ’ghosts’ always find a way to return from death,” Veronica reminded him from the side, ”Please don’t be so easily lulled into a sense of security... After the downfall of a massive dark sect, countless remnants continue to operate within the ruins. If a ghost with sufficient patience survives, those remnants are likely to regroup and resurrect.”

”Your analogy is quite special, but what you said makes sense—The Empire will continue to eradicate those evil cult followers, I will never relax my vigilance in this aspect,” Gawain said solemnly, then looked up and glanced at the mechanical clock hanging on the wall, ”...It’s almost time, I should go check on Amber.”

Veronica bowed her head deeply, ”Please, go ahead.”

”Hmm.” Gawain made a sound of acknowledgment, then turned to leave, but before taking a step, he heard Veronica’s voice from behind again:

”From your point of view, how do you perceive our actions in the Shadow Fortress back then?”

Gawain didn’t turn around. After a moment of thought, he spoke in a deep voice, ”Do you remember what you once told me? About sacrifice—”

”Each appearance of a sacrificial person can only prove our incompetence.”

”Remember this, even if you’re conducting experiments on yourself.”

”This is the principle of the Defier.”

Gawain nodded and stepped out of the hall.

Veronica watched in the direction Gawain left, the platinum scepter in her hand slightly releasing white light under the Holy Light.

She spoke softly, her voice as low as a murmur, ”If it were in the Gondor era... You would definitely be an excellent Defier...”

Pittman slightly raised his eyelid, glanced at Veronica, ”You guys, the ’Defier,’ are quite dedicated to your cause.”

”We are all ghosts long overdue to die, persisting stubbornly to stay, precisely because of this dedication.”

”And when will you ghosts die completely?”

”...When death comes without regrets.”

Pittman shrugged, with his hands behind him, hunching his body slowly leaving, leaving a low mumble, ”In any case, don’t give Amber trouble.”

...

The night wind stirred the flags above the terrace, the cold air from the north swirling through the castle’s towers and portals, music and cheers from the banquet hall and courtyard echoed in the wind, carrying a sense of distant detachment, yet clearly reaching Gawain’s ears.

He came to this unmanned terrace, walked straight to the edge, casually said, ”Is this what you meant by catching some wind?”

Amber’s figure emerged from the darkness, she was sitting on the ground with her knees, without raising her head, ”Is there a problem?”

Gawain glanced at this ”half-elf,” looked around her, not knowing how much effort he had to make to maintain a calm tone, ”If I had known you’d come to catch the wind and conveniently brought three plates of cake, four plates of peanuts, four plates of seeds, two plates of preserves, five servings of roast meat, and three bottles of wine, I definitely wouldn’t have come.”

Amber looked up at Gawain, raised her hand, ”I also brought two chicken legs—just finished one when you came...”

”...So I should leave you here to dry overnight,” Gawain glared at this fellow, ”Gathering all these things from inside and outside the banquet hall and packing them to bring up here must have taken quite some effort, huh?”

”Actually, it wasn’t so bad, I instructed my subordinates to help...”

Gawain stared at this unbelievable action-oriented ”half-elf” for a long time, finally unable to decide whether or not he should throw this fellow off the terrace, he could only sigh helplessly, ”Is this your attitude towards thinking about life?”

At this moment, Amber finally fell silent for a few seconds and rarely let out a sigh, ”I’ve been thinking, but still haven’t figured it out yet...”

”What is it that you haven’t figured out?” Gawain came beside Amber, ”Talk to me.”

”Artificial Human...” Amber mumbled, ”Do you think I’m still considered a normal person?”

”That depends on how you feel—In your life up till now, have you ever encountered anything abnormal due to your identity as an ’Artificial Human’?”

”...If you really need to say, there is. My shadow affinity is so strong, I’m so good at stealing...”

Gawain: ”...”