Book 3, Chapter 39

Glory

Erwin was also in the midst of the crowd, squeezing forward as he slowly inched towards the portal. He tried his best to blend in, not appearing too cowardly. He absolutely couldn’t allow anyone to recognise him.

He was scared once more. Ever since Richard’s sudden return, he had never shut his eyes. When the mage had slashed Charles’ head straight off, he hadn’t been too far away. He had seen everything with his own eyes!

Still, he hadn’t left immediately. Instinct told him that a conspiracy was afoot: Richard had made a public return and heartlessly forced Baron Sua off the land, why would he allow the troublemakers to leave peacefully? Perhaps there were swords and axes waiting for them on the other side.

Evidently, he wasn’t the only one to feel this way. The other knights in training were the same, thinking it through and deciding that it was best to stay put and watch the developments. Richard’s return was definitely something which did not please many powerful people, and these powerful people had abstained from attacking the island purely because Gaton hadn’t been away for a long enough time. Now that his son was back, it was enough reason for them to take immediate action.

Things would change in two days, he’d reassured himself.

And yet, the powerful people he had waited for never came. Instead, he was met with the return of three of Gaton’s knights!

With the three knights overseeing the floating island, any powerful family would think twice before taking any action. As such, Erwin decided to leave immediately. He had been the backbone of the riots, so it would be impossible to fool anyone. He had stooped low for the sake of vengeance and profit, and now it was time to pay.

The youth did not understand Richard, did not understand Richard’s thinking. He wouldn’t even think of the idea that Richard didn’t intend to rely on the three knights to deal with people like him.

However, he was right about one thing. Richard truly wouldn’t let him off so easily.

When the five people right in front of him disappeared into the portal, Erwin heaved a sigh of relief. But then, a longsword was suddenly stretched in front of him to block the path!

“Why did you block me?” Erwin asked, his face filled with traces of fear.

Only one step away from the portal, he couldn’t help but think of forcing his way through. However, the person blocking his path was a middle-aged Archeron with a distinct murderous aura. The man had evidently experienced countless battles in his life. Erwin was certain that such a man could toy with him even from a two-level disadvantage, so he acted sensible enough to not step out of line.

“Why?” the man’s expressionless face was suddenly flooded with unbridled contempt, “We have orders! All the footsoldiers and Archeron fighters are to remain on the island!” The Archeron fighters were the defenders of the family bloodline. In the man’s eyes, the few soldiers in front of him were as worthless as broken metal. He felt ashamed to even grant them that title.

“Orders from whom?” Erwin asked angrily, “What right do they have to stop us from leaving?”

“From me!” a cold voice rang out from beside the footsoldiers, sending a chill down their spines.

Fuschia. A woman so powerful that no number of fighters could overthrow her.

Fuschia’s eyes flashed with ridicule, “As for why, do you really need me to explain? Did you really think the family’s rules are just for show, that you can do as you please just because you have numbers? If any of you dares to step into the portal, you will be punished as a deserter!”

In all the various countries of the continent, across the various races, there was one punishment for all deserters: beheading!

“You’re not a subordinate of Marquess Gaton, what right do you have to punish us?” a rough-looking warrior shouted out. He pushed the guard blocking him aside, making a dash for the portal.

However, an orange light flashed in front of him and his vision darkened. Erwin personally saw the warrior’s body being cut in half. The severed body actually took two more steps before the two parts completely separated, the upper half falling into the portal. The portal flashed, teleporting it away.

“Tch, another waste of magic crystals,” Fuschia said nonchalantly. Nobody knew how she had done it, but she was definitely the person who had killed the man! Now, nobody dared to question her authority.

Two soldiers were still trying to sneak out with the rest of the crowd, but they were fished out and executed immediately. Once that was done, nobody else tried anything funny.

The branch family members slowly left the floating island. While all the soldiers were held back, nobody told them what to do. Their movements weren’t restricted either, aside from the portal area becoming taboo. However, the less news there was the more fearful they grew. If Richard didn’t want anything to do with them, he wouldn’t have had them blocked.

It was another sleepless night for Erwin. He didn’t know what his fate would be the next day, the powerful people who had promised to protect him suddenly silent. All he could think of was the offerings that should have reached his family, wondering what kind of changes it would bring to them that would allow him to grow himself. He had originally planned to use the offering for his own gain, but now it looked like that chance would be lost forever.

The youth still didn’t know whether he was lucky or unfortunate. The offering he had risked his very life to snatch couldn’t even activate the least of offerings. He only thought it would change his destiny.

……

The island was very quiet the next day. Many people had disappeared, the three knights amongst them. The soldiers who had taken part in the riots were all anxious, not knowing that Richard was holding a rune convention where he would become an official runemaster.

The city of Faust was bustling as usual. The biggest news of the day was naturally the two rune conventions that would be held at the same time. Lunor’s had been booked more than a month ago, and he was the royal runemaster of the Sacred Alliance whose runes were edging towards grade 4. His convention naturally generated a lot of excitement: it was obvious that there had been new developments. An announcement of grade 4 runes would be bad news to any country outside the Sacred Alliance.

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