Slash, slash! Pssssht!
As always, one man was plowing through the monsters of the Black Sea with a concealed letter in this chestplate—Guardian Knight Khan.
However, that wasn't the only message he was delivering that day.
After four days of monster slaughter, Khan handed the letter to Cyron.
"I was told that Young Master Jin spent time with Lady Yona, milord."
Cyron did not answer. He merely opened the letter; the first ever since Kashimir was called to the Black Sea.
(On the first sheet, you will see a list of Young Master Jin's actions and results. On the second, there are descriptions of the series of events directly quoted from the young master. You may skip as you please. I hope you do not find this letter arduous to read…)
From there, the letter was written in an organized manner. Like previous letters, it wasn't too verbose, nor was it too curt.
'Kashimir, that fellow, is finally sending some normal letters.'
Seeing each short description of Jin's travels, Cyron's eyes narrowed.
'8-star magician Rolt Joe and a White Wolf Tribesman. Hafalep… Haven't heard that in a while.'
Cyron also fought a White Wolf Tribesman in his youth. After his twenties, he fought the chief of the Hafalep Tribe as he aimed towards achieving 10-star.
The chief was a 'memorable' opponent. They dueled for five hours, and the result—of course—ended with Cyron's victory.
After surpassing 10-star and becoming a feared Genesis Kight, the tribe chief he fought wouldn't stand a chance.
However, Cyron noted that the warriors of the Hafalep Tribe retained battle skills that surpassed those of the regular White Wolf Tribesmen.
'Then the one that Jin killed would be the old chief's son's generation. If the Hafalep Tribe is still filled with powerful warriors, it would be a meaningful victory.'
He flipped the page, and the specific descriptions began. As if reading a novel that he had been waiting for, Cyron read each word carefully and religiously.
(When cutting Goltep's hammer in half, he said he chanted some spell. 'Cut' or something like that. I think that's just a placebo of some sort. Whenever he encounters something that is challenging to cut through, that word helps him gain the concentration and strength to slash through his target.)
Cyron was very interested in that section of the letter.
'It isn't just any placebo. It's an old technique from the ancient Runcandel magic swordsmen. It's the same as the ones in the archives.'
As the patriarch, Cyron knew every single secret of the Runcandel Clan, and he was able to weave it into Jin's actions to make sense of them. The history of the 'Era of Magic Swordsmen' that the Zipfel Clan couldn't get rid of, or how those with Solderet's blessing wielded the sword; with this knowledge, only the patriarch could confirm Jin's actions. Not even flag-bearers or elders could encroach upon these sacred concealed texts.
The chant, the blade, the spiritual energy.
After becoming the patriarch and reading the archives—especially when he read the few lines left of Temar's battle history—he remembered one question he had the entire time.
'Are his achievements as a magic swordsman far greater than mine?'
That one unanswerable question set a ripple through his body.
'The record called it Shadow Blade.'
He wanted his son to cast it this very moment, but he had to patiently wait. Either way, Jin's would be incomplete. The technique had been discontinued for years.
Completing his thoughts while reading, Cyron closed the letter.
"Khan."
"Yes, Lord Patriarch?"
"What did Jin and Yona do for two days?"
"It seems they just hung out. The youngest lady is very sensitive, so supervising her 24/7 was impossible, but they were just fooling around."
"Just the two of them?"
"Yes."
"Anything that Jin requested of her?"
"According to the guardian knights stationed in the Kon Kingdom, there was nothing to be reported. After he received the Thousand Poison Antidote, you warned him through Gilly. I'm sure the young master wouldn't dare to break such promises."
Cyron blinked.
"He's a fascinating kid. Fearless and all."
"Do you mean Young Master Jin?"
"Yeah. I would've never imagined Yona getting along with another person. Even Owal, who received some of her love, still got assassination threats often. Even Luna keeps her afar."
Khan lowered his head and Cyron smirked.
"Tell the guardian knights in the Kon Kingdom to loosen their supervision on Yona. If I disturb her play, then she'd kill them all, even if she knows they're my troops."
"Understood."
* * *
As soon as Jin returned and told everyone about his trip, the group at Tikan held a meeting.
The information was shocking.
"The Zipfels' and Kinzelo's recent alliance is groundbreaking. And the dissolution of the alliance was because the Zipfels broke the Demon God's Orb. And that was all because it was… broken by none other than Young Master Jin?"
Jin destroyed the Zipfels' little artifact when he fought Andrei Zipfel on an uninhabited island in the Vermont Empire's waters.
More accurately, Luna broke it. However, her introduction into the entire affair was because Jin met Andrei in the first place. Thanks to that, Jin changed Enya's and Euria's destinies, and the Zipfels lost both their second-in-command and wind dragon that day.
'And Bouvard made that thing. Incredible.'
In his past life, Jin thought Bouvard was just the psychopathic Transformer who put the world into chaos. However, as they uncovered more and more information, he seemed to be the center of the Kinzelo Group.
"In fact, with his special little talent called 'fragmenting', he can make artifacts like the Orb or transform another person using the remains of dead gods…"
Murakan had a rather more serious expression than usual as he spoke.
"By 'remains of dead gods', do you mean things like Numerous's Blood and Tears?"
"Yeah. But kiddo, back when I went to help your division at the unsupervised zone near the Curano Dukedom, I told you that I met a Cemetery Giant."
Cemetery Giants.
The golems had already disappeared without a trace around two thousand years ago. They were tasked with protecting the graves of the deceased gods, but the dragon race had exterminated them. Murakan and Quikantel joined in their eradication.
"At first, I didn't know why a Cemetery Giant was there, but now I do. That was one of Bouvard Gaston's pieces. And that guy's contracted with Well, the God of Fragmenting."
"Well, God of Fragmenting? Never heard of them."
Excluding Murakan and Quikantel, no one else knew of the god. Not many people knew about Well's existence.
"Not surprised that none of you know. If anything, it'd be weird if you did. Just like Kullam back in Kollon, Well is one of the gods that disappeared in history. They're in the graves of the deceased gods."
Well was also the one who participated the most in the creation of the Orb of Origin. After the Orb was destroyed, many centuries passed. They lost their position as a god and descended as a normal human.
The place where these descended gods gathered was called 'the graves of the deceased gods'. The Cemetery Giants were golems created to protect and honor the dignity of these gods.
Murakan explained it as such, and Quikantel just nodded. To most dragons, the eradication of the Cemetery Giants was not a fond memory.
In essence, they annihilated the graves of the entities that were treated like gods.
"Then you're saying that this Well guy resurrected and reclaimed his god title, then contracted with Bouvard. Is that possible?"
"That's the thing. It's impossible. However, if Bouvard isn't Well's contractor, all of these feats and phenomena are impossible to explain. He's transforming people too. So honestly, I think he's not just a contractor but Well himself."
"It's weird how after I become a provisional flag-bearer, I'm constantly being intertwined with gods and divine entities."
"Just as Lord Murakan said, Bouvard seems to be a very miraculous human. Why is that man with the Kinzelo Group?"
"That's probably because he's related to their big projects, Strawberry Pie. First, we need to know what's up their sleeve. It's kind of obvious after seeing the Orb they handed to the Zipfels. They want to become the only god in this realm."
Thanks to his memory from his past life, Jin knew what Kinzelo's 'revolution' was about. To make themselves the king of kings—the king of the world. The same thing as the Zipfel Clan trying to make themselves gods of the realm.
"The most concerning item is the Compass thing. As Vishukel and Bouvard said, that Compass can find contractors."
"I'm concerned about that too, kiddo. They're definitely using the Compass to find the contractors and then absorb them with the Orb."
—For Enya's case, the higher-ups of the Vermont Empire already know who and where she is, but not Az Mil's contractor.
—With that in mind, how did Vyuretta approach Lathry in the first place? Seeing that Vyuretta hasn't returned Lathry yet, I'm pretty sure he knew of the existence of Az Mil's contractor. On top of that, the fact that the contractor is young…
—For sure. Hmm… For the thousand years I was asleep, was there a spell that could detect contractors?
—There's no way something like that could be developed, whether it was a thousand years ago or today. No one could tell who the contractor was until the contractor discovered their own powers.
The conversation that Jin and Murakan had when they first met Quikantel.
Remembering that conversation, the three nodded.
"It seems the Compass doesn't work exactly as intended. They couldn't find Euria, so they kidnapped Lathry instead."
"Next year, on the first day of June."
Jin spoke and everyone stopped talking.
"That's the day the Zipfels return the Compass back to Kinzelo. The location is the Bellard Empire's southern island, the Land of the Pirates."
"A little over half a year left."
"Until then, we have to uncover as much information about the Kinzelo Group and Zipfel Clan as possible. And if doable, identify how we can intercept the Compass."
No one contested, nor did anyone ask for the reason behind it.
Three contractors resided at their main base. If the Compass were to point towards Tikan City, Zipfel magicians and Kinzelo hunters would storm in.
Recalling the final battle with Andrei—where he stated that Jin was 'the best ingredient for the Demon God's Orb' and blabbered that 'twelve gods were within him'—further banished all doubt.
"Thankfully, they haven't snuffed us out. But we don't know when they will. The Zipfels and Kinzelo are doing some serious shit right now. We can't just let them be."