Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 666 - 665: Clues and Progress

”Secret Knight?” Amber had never heard of such a term before—after all, she had only just about straightened out the overt aristocratic structure of the old kingdoms, and knew nothing about these obviously more secretive and special titles and ranks. ”What do they do? Stealth users with clumsy hands like you?”

”...Not quite,” Dark Raven had only been in actual contact with this new boss for a few days, finding it quite difficult to adapt to her pace of speech. He paused for a moment before responding, ”Secret Knights are a collective name for undisclosed secret nobility—royal shadow guards who have rendered special meritorious service, Transcendents with blemishes but are under the King’s protection, and those who directly serve the King as ’Dark Hands.’ There are always people who work for the King in secret, gaining his trust, but for various reasons, cannot have their identities made public. These people are referred to as ’Secret Knights.’”

”The King grants these people surnames to acknowledge their achievements and loyalty, but these surnames are not recorded in the normal heraldic catalog or aristocratic lineage. Only direct members of the royal family and a small number of people tasked with managing the records will know of their existence. Generally speaking, the majority of Secret Knights are royal shadow guards—the reason is self-evident.”

By the time he finished speaking, Dark Raven’s face bore a noticeable trace of pride. Undoubtedly, he was also a ’secret noble’ with a ”secret surname.”

However, Amber was quite unimpressed with his pride: ”The Anzu royal family... instead of focusing on production development and national institutions, they put all their strength in these shady areas. Just like the ’old man’ said, after seven hundred years, you must have come up with some new tricks based on the royal shadow guards.”

”Old man?” It was the first time Dark Raven had heard this peculiar term, and he repeated it subconsciously, ”What does it mean?”

”A code word, don’t use it casually, using it wrong might get you killed,” Amber waved her hand carelessly, then looked Dark Raven up and down, ”But let’s not talk about this, it looks like you’re a Secret Knight too? Quite unexpected... someone like you can actually be a Secret Knight?”

The doubt in those words was evident, and Dark Raven’s face looked slightly awkward. However, he really couldn’t explain to someone who had booted him out of the shadow realm three times in a row that he was actually quite adept at shadow manipulation—the shadow affinity of this half-elf lady was totally unreasonable. In front of her, he, a top-ranking stealth user in the royal shadow guards, seemed like a mere Mage apprentice.

As long as this half-elf lady continued to be his superior, he shouldn’t expect to make any headway on the shadow manipulation path... If it really doesn’t work, perhaps consider Duke Gawain Cecil’s suggestion and go back to practice Two-handed Swordsmanship?

Amber didn’t know what thoughts ran through Dark Raven’s mind in that instant, but she was clearly dissatisfied with his daze: ”What are you staring at? I’m talking to you!”

”Ah, yes, I... am also a Secret Knight, because I somewhat contributed during the time I served the royal family,” Dark Raven hurriedly said and quickly skipped over the topic, ”If the person you’re looking for has an aristocratic surname but is not in the regular aristocratic lineage records, he might also be a Secret Knight.”

”I kind of think he made up his surname... but just in case...” Amber pursed her lips, glanced at Dark Raven, ”You have a record over there, don’t you? Why aren’t you hurrying to find it?”

”Yes!” Dark Raven immediately obeyed and quickly left.

After the former royal shadow guard departed, Amber glanced around at the shelves full of books and files, as well as the subordinates and scholars busy between the bookshelves, clacking her tongue, her ears drooping slightly, seeming troubled but remaining silent.

”Director...” A nearby Intelligence Agency agent cautiously approached, ”Then... shall we continue the search?”

”Of course we continue to search!” Amber gave the subordinate an annoyed look, ”Who knows if there will be clues in the Secret Knight records, and if not, aren’t we going to continue rummaging here?”

The Intelligence Agency agent quickly returned to work, and Dark Raven did not keep Amber waiting long for the records.

In just over ten minutes, the former royal shadow guard returned to the archives with several heavy and thick volumes.

”These are the records of Secret Knights who received royal secret enfeoffment over the past few decades, along with some of their details,” Dark Raven said as he placed the variously sized volumes next to Amber, ”Earlier archives are stored in another archive room, and if it’s data from before the chaos of the Fog Month... it will be even harder to find, with many disorders and errors. If you need it, it might require time and manpower to sort through it slowly.”

”Not necessary for now, he was just an ordinary human, decades... a few decades is enough,” Amber looked at the thick volumes, her always confident tone suddenly hesitated, as if she had a premonition. She gazed at the black covers as if she had seen a bearded and disheveled face in her faded memories, ”Let’s search here first, let’s search here... You few, stop dealing with those shelves! Come and help me search!”

Several subordinates immediately responded: ”Yes, Director.”

”Be careful, don’t ruin them, some of these books are already quite old,” Amber cautioned as she distributed the volumes to her subordinates, ”Remember, Sali Randolph.”

Soon, the archives room was filled with only the soft and cautious sound of flipping pages.

Amber climbed onto a high reading chair, slowly turning the pages of the volume before her, confirming each name and the portraits tucked between the pages, almost holding her breath, yet after an hour she had found nothing.

However, a sudden shout came from an Intelligence Agency agent: ”Director! I found it!!”

”Let me see!”

Amber took the volume handed over by her subordinate. Before the words ”Sali Randolph” met her eyes, the first thing she saw was a vividly depicted portrait drawn with record spellsmanship, nestled between the pages—a young man not yet thirty, with neatly combed black hair pulled back, wearing formal attire, his appearance unremarkable, yet his eyes seemed to bear a playful defiance.

Amber quietly examined the portrait for a moment, softly muttering to herself, ”Ah... so you were once young too...”

”Is it him?” A subordinate came closer, asking cautiously.

Anyone could tell that this person appearing in the royal secret records was surely related to their Director.

”It’s him, my foster father.” Amber muttered under her breath, her eyes quickly scanning over the related information on ”Sali Randolph”—it mentioned this young man’s background, his family members, and some records. The data was rather sparse and had long since become worthless with time’s passage, but Amber examined it with particular care, until she noticed a black heraldic seal at the end of the data, followed by a few words: defied or missing, struck off.

”What does this mean?” Amber pointed at the seal and the text, looking up at Dark Raven.

Dark Raven leaned forward to take a look, frowned slightly, as if hesitant, but still spoke: ”This seal indicates he was once a royal shadow guard, and the term ’defection or disappearance’ means exactly that. However, for a royal shadow guard, going missing is considered defection—we know too many secrets, so as long as contact is lost and there’s no proof of death, we’re seen as ’risks.’

”Defection... He was a defected royal shadow guard?” Amber murmured to herself, ”But why did he defect...”

Dark Raven looked at the register Amber had before her for a while, then suddenly said: ”If this register corresponds with the action records... There should be something, I’ve seen it before. Please wait, I’ll go check.”

This time, he returned even quicker than before, and in just a few minutes, he came back with a somewhat aged file.

”Here it is, Sali Randolph’s last mission record before disappearing—thank goodness it doesn’t involve any court battles and hasn’t been destroyed.” Dark Raven handed the documents to Amber, pointing at a line of already somewhat faded text, and she immediately took it, reading the contents aloud in a low voice:

”...Year 690... headed to the Dark Mountain Range to search for Gondor’s legacy, did not return. No evidence of death found, suspected defection.”

This is the complete description of Sali Randolph’s last mission as a royal shadow guard.

”Dark Mountain Range... He went there, then didn’t return to the royal capital to report, so he’s considered suspected of defection?” Amber frowned, thoughts racing, ”No... according to the royal shadow guard’s code, he really defected... Year 690, he then lived a concealed life in the southern borders for more than twenty years...”

She rifled through all her memories of her adoptive father in her mind, attempting to draw a clearer outline of his life trajectory from those memories, to explain the choices he once made—

A royal shadow guard, deeply trusted by the King, even granted a secret aristocratic title, went to the Dark Mountain Range searching for Gondor’s legacy, then defected without warning, lived incognito for over twenty years in the southern borders, adopted a half-elf daughter, partnered with a disreputable Druid in fraud, then was caught and executed by local aristocrats and the bishop for stealing books from the church, dying meaninglessly, like a botched thief...

The turning point seems to have happened during the ”Dark Mountain Range.”

Sali Randolph went there to look for Gondor’s legacy, and now Amber knows very clearly—that legacy really exists there!

There’s a defied fortress there!

Did Sali Randolph find that fortress? What did he find inside? Or is it because he found nothing, and task failure forced him to settle in seclusion in the southern borders?

Logically, Amber felt the second possibility wasn’t likely, someone who could be exceptionally granted noble status by the King couldn’t have defected for such a reason, while the first possibility...

From the information Amber possessed, Cecil’s exploration personnel have been active in the defied fortress till now, and have not discovered any traces of third-party intrusion. Besides the Cecil Clan, there should be no others entering the ancient fortress.

But this conclusion isn’t one hundred percent reliable — because the defied fortress is too large, and many areas remain hidden or unexplorable for various reasons. To this day, even scouting team commanders dare not claim to have mastered half the fortress’s territory, and even Kamel, this ”Defier,” doesn’t know how many districts the fortress holds, how many project groups occupy different labs, attempting various anti-deific and anti-chaotic wave research.

Amber fiercely shook her head, suppressing all the chaotic and complex thoughts, then grabbed the materials from the table, jumped down from the high-legged reading chair and dashed toward the archive room door.

Dark Raven couldn’t help calling from behind: ”Where are you going?”

”I’m going to find the old man!”

Throwing down these words, Amber’s figure disappeared outside the door.

Dark Raven scratched his head, looking puzzled—so what does the code ”old man” mean?

At the same time, in the Silver Castle’s study room, Veronica/Ophelia was reporting to Gawain about progress in rebuilding church management structures.

”We’ve spread the divine decree among the middle and lower-level believers, who trust it without question and haven’t raised much objection to various reformation measures...”

”Upper-level priests are somewhat sensitive, as classic interpretation infringes upon their interests, but the situation remains controllable.

”Halting heretic trials aids in easing relations between the Holy Light church and other religions, aiding domestic order restoration. However, there exists potential bias and resentment from oppressed followers of Otherworldly Gods toward the reformed Holy Light church. We’ll need the Administrative Office’s promotional support on this...”

”The Great Shepherd is addressing the integration and reorganization of the current Holy Order of Knights because they have severely reduced numbers and urgently need reconstruction. Thus, the process is going smoothly.”

”As for church-related reports, let’s pause here,” Gawain said as Veronica’s report concluded, ”Let’s discuss something else.”

Veronica maintained a calm and gentle expression: ”What would you like to discuss?”

”Let’s talk about you, Ophelia,” Gawain smiled as he spoke, ”and what you know about the defied Plan—I think it’s time we delve deeper into this topic.”