Chapter 138 137 My daughter, at the time of your birth, the entire

Chapter 138 137.My daughter, at the time of your birth, all the forests of the island of Glamour whispered.
At the same time that the Student Party and Sister Pomegranate and her little boss accepted Brother Woo Meow’s invitation to base themselves together under the line, there were also important things happening in the Transylvania region.

But not in the neighborhood of Cadman City, where order had been quickly established, but in a place that was very close to Murphy.

The village of Moorland.

In the temporary camp of the witch hunters, the dozen or so witch hunters who had survived the battle of crusading against Salokdar had by now finished all the preparations before traveling far away. They were about to rendezvous with Major Fraser when night fell tomorrow, and then escort him out of the Transylvania region and back to the Pioneering Fortress in East Prussia.

This trip represented the end of the witch hunters’ “bad blood” with Transylvania in the near future.

However, the atmosphere in the camp was not happy, and even a little heavy.

In the past ten years, the group of witch hunters had suffered too much, witnessed too many deaths and partings, but this time was extraordinary.

They had lost their Lord of White Oak, and the last leader after the fall of the old religion had left them.

It was as if the sky had fallen on the currently saddened White Oak Warband, and worst of all, the last-minute successor chosen by the Knights of Finnock was now in a serious state of “spiritual internal conflict”.

Most tragically, Captain Natalie doesn’t have a magical second uncle to help her out.

Scout Ambrose approached with a supper, but saw Norman and Porter outside the closed door, the two veterans standing there with sad faces.

Ambos came over and scanned the room and saw that the meal that had been brought in in the morning this would still be sitting in the doorway as it was.

With her blindfold on she sighed and asked softly:
“Still no response from the captain?”

“Well, it’s as good as dead.”

The gruff one-armed veteran Potter opened his mouth with the familiar Zuan flavor, and it was obvious that he was nervous as well, but there was no way that the old warrior who hadn’t been to school for a few days could really say anything warm and fuzzy.

He said:

“Shouldn’t we break in and drag her out? She’s just staying there with that sword in her arms, not eating or sleeping, and hasn’t said a word since she woke up, just like a fool.”

“Weren’t you the same when your father died in the first place?”

Norman, the veteran with a mask, chided with broken vocal cords:
“Give her time, little Natalie is a strong warrior and the old chief has given her a duty, I’m sure she’ll pull herself together.

Ambos, what do the others say?”

Norman looked to the last remaining member of his hunter squad.

The scout set the dinner in his hand aside, glanced at the periphery, and whispered:
“Everyone doesn’t have much of an opinion on Natalie taking over as War Leader, except for a few people who think Natalie’s strength is too poor, but everyone trusts Lord Fennok’s judgment, and Natalie is, after all, the one who had a prophecy made by the Elder Council of Gramo.

What I’m worried about right now isn’t on everyone’s side, it’s those in the Pathfinder Fortress.

I’m sure they’re all very loyal to His Excellency Finnock, but Natalie has little to no prestige among them, and we’re down to these last 1400 or so.

If this is not handled well, I’m afraid that the White Oak Warband, which has lasted for ten years, will have to be
Alas.”

“It’s useless to talk about this now.”

The grumpy veteran Porter moved his fingers and said:

“It’s Natalie’s problem that’s most important, and she needs to get her act together immediately!”

“You cut the crap.”

Veteran Norman gestured, glancing at the closed door of the room, and he said:
“To-night! If she doesn’t come out, then we’ll move.”

“Uh-huh.”

The other two nodded, Norman still had authority among them.

But their conversation wasn’t really hidden from Natalie Finocchia Lawson in the room.

As a black iron rank witch hunter, even though Natalie didn’t have a particularly prominent advantage on the level of absolute strength, as the daughter of a golden knight and a silver saint, her potential and talent were far beyond the norm, and the degree of being loved by natural spiritual energy was naturally more powerful than others.

The fact that she hadn’t opened the Silver Trial yet wasn’t that she couldn’t do it.

Rather, it was because she understood the focus of this power stage of the Black Iron rank very well, and she would rather spend more time polishing her foundation to the utmost perfection.

Her years of war also made her spirit and character tough among her peers, and although her life goals were more or less lost, she was indeed a very good warrior.

However, at the moment, after suffering the blows of her war leader and the death of her father, this strong lady has also fallen into emo.

She had a poor relationship with her own father.

Wouldn’t even address him in their daily dealings instead just treating him as her superior, learning from him but not mixing in personal feelings.

She had thought that old Finok’s fate was none of her business, yet when death came so literally, she realized that it wasn’t that she didn’t want that father-daughter bond, she just hadn’t been prepared for it.

And now, at some unforeseen moment, she had lost everything she had ever wanted, and the last person connected to her blood had disappeared from her life, leaving her truly “alone”.

In the dimly lit room, Natalie’s face was yellow and her spirits were low, and she was clutching the large oak sacred blade “Watcher” in her arms.

It was the last thing her father had left her.

But strictly speaking, the Great Oak Blade did not belong to the old Finnock.

The thing was the property of the Church of Avalon.

Even the White Knight Chief and Church Saint was not qualified to gift it to his daughter, but right now the old Church had collapsed into what it was now, and there were no Gray Knights in charge of the Church Order that would come running to Natalie to ask for the holy relic.

The grumpy holy blade would jump and curse in the hands of the old Finnock, but in Natalie’s arms it was as quiet as a dead thing.

This was obviously because Natalie had not yet been recognized by the Holy Blade nor had she established a spiritual contact; after all, she was not an old knight who could maintain contact with the gods after the god of Avalon had given up on his human followers.

Natalie’s state at the moment was in an all-consuming pendulum swing.

She knew what she had to do and she knew her duties, but she just couldn’t muster the energy nor any thoughts to try to get back into action.

She knew full well that she wasn’t in the right state, but lacked the motivation to get herself out of the situation she was in.

“Ahem.”

A violent cough rose from her chest making her shake a few times.

The injuries from the Blood Wyvern Cloisters had yet to fully heal, and that, combined with not having eaten any water or rice for over two days, made her shake her arm in her weakness causing the large oak holy blade to slip from her arms and hit the ground, causing it to disengage from its forested scabbard as it sputtered with dust.

The scabbard of such a great sword was not the same as the completely closed scabbard of a one-handed sword.

The wood scabbard that old Finoco used his divine magic to condense at the end of his life was essentially more like a “box” with one side open, which made it easier for the user to pull out the sword in the shortest possible time.

And it is this collision, let the old knight hidden in the scabbard of the things rolled out of the gurgle, just bumped into the bent Natalie’s feet.

The gray-haired Demon Hunter Hime’s eyes instantly widened, not even bothering to pick up the mellow object with the Holy Blade at her side.

An arithmetic treasure bead!
It looked like the same type used by the otherworldly warriors under that damned vampire Murphy, but how had the old knight gotten it?
And why did he hide this arithmetic treasure bead in the sheath of Linwood’s sword?
Most importantly, what was hidden in this treasure pearl?
With such questions, Natalie injected her natural spiritual energy into the arithmetic treasure pearl.

It wasn’t a genuine product made by halfling craftsmen, and the internal psychic energy differential machine system that had already been cracked by that strange craftsman Thicke Flywheel didn’t need to be authenticated, so a few seconds after the emerald green psychic energy was injected, the interface that had been magically altered by Murphy jumped in front of Natalie’s eyes.

On the faint psychic energy projection was a large line indicating “file to be played”.

Natalie hesitated for a moment and reached out to tap on the psychic projection.

She had seen how the otherworldly warriors operated the halfling’s mechanical contraption, and for a very intelligent and talented hunter, learning to maneuver it in a short period of time would not be a difficult task.

“Swish.”

The originally narrow psionic projection immediately zoomed out, projecting a black and white psionic recording onto the wall in front of Natalie’s eyes just like a movie playing, and the light brightened the closed and dimly lit room all of a sudden as well.

It even made Natalie couldn’t help but cover her eyes.

It was the old Knight Finnock.

He had recorded this himself, and looking at the dark background behind him with the waterfall in the distance and the light from the campfire, this should have been recorded while he was taking a break from his work as he and Murphy made their way through that secret passageway in the Blood Wyvern Cloisters.

“Natalie, by the time you see these recordings, I should already be dead.”

The Golden Knight in the picture grasped his dwarven pipe, his pale face not showing any sadness, and said in a gentle tone to Natalie who was looking at the records:
“I begged one of these halfling trinkets from Murphy, he’s a pretty generous vampire and a pretty good cook.

Oh, that’s certainly not the point I’m making. Child, the moment I stepped into the Blood Wyvern Cloister, I received a veiled warning from the god Avalon.

I’m afraid I won’t make it out of this vampire grotto alive, but I don’t feel bothered by that.

I know you have always resented me.

But please listen to me carefully for the next few moments. This recording will only be played once, and it’s for your own safety.

At the time of the rebellion in the Church of Avalon ten years ago, I was working with the Explorer’s Guild in the emerald green forests of the Antani region, exploring the ruins of a five hundred year old church.

As you know, the Church of Avalon originated there.

In the dense forests of the Antani region bordering the elven kingdom of Castile, our ancestors were the first mountain people to come into contact with the elves.

The point I’m trying to tell you is that I met some people in those ancient ruins at the same time as the Church’s rebellion.
Some very dangerous people, they call themselves ‘Dusk’, and although I didn’t have a lot of contact with them, I’m certain that they were the ones behind the Church’s rebellion and the Ten Years’ War.

They are powerful and mysterious, hidden in various organizations.

Even the Church of Avalon!

I know that you have always accepted the fact that the God of Avalon abandoned the Church and the human followers first to cause the rebellion to occur, but the truth is just the opposite!
Remember, child!

The God of Avalon never gave up on us, we gave up on the gods first.

It was the rebellion that came first, and the loss that followed.

You must be wondering where I went for the six years I was missing, the answer is that I traveled across the ocean to a new continent across the sea, I learned of the existence of the Twilight and tried to search for more information from them.

The Great Oak Sacred Blade is what I found in the process.

Or rather, was casually rewarded.

The Old Church had been corrupted far more than I could have imagined in the past, and even the three Holy Blades had been stolen from the Holy Grounds the night before the rebellion, so it was clear that there were bound to be their people in the Church hierarchy.

I got the Three Holy Blades from the Twilight Believers, but I only left the Watcher behind, sending the Punisher and Arbiter through divine magic into the hands of my companions who still believed in the God of Avalon.

It is up to you to get them!

This is important!

After the loss of the Seed of Life, the Three Sacred Blades became the last link between human believers and the God of Avalon.

I should also tell you that the God of Avalon has been watching us, and it was the gods who woke me up when I did the unforgivable wrong to those simple Aztec heathens in the New World, and made me realize that my so-called pursuit of the truth was the very means by which I had been seduced into falling by those evil ones!

Be warned!

Have faith, child, that our gods have not abandoned us.

I have made up my mind to entrust you with the Sacred Blade, and with it you can re-establish your connection with the God of Nature.

This will give you true power.

Afterward, you can lead or rebuild or even abandon it.

After all, you owe the Church of Avalon nothing, my poor boy.”

With that said, the old knight exhaled a smoke ring.

He was silent for a few seconds, and then in his final moment of record said to Natalie who would surely only see this record after his death:
“My daughter, you have been blaming me for leaving you and your mother behind and devoting everything in life to the Faith.
I can’t argue with that, because it’s true.

But at the end of my life, I must explain it to you as a father.

Your birth was meant to be a miracle sent down by the gods, to whom I made a vow more than a hundred years ago when I drank from the water of the chalice.

I hoped that the gods would protect my family, your mother, and bless me with a life of no regrets, and in doing so I would give everything I had to the faith.

That is the Oath of the Grail!
It is the noblest commendation that can be bestowed upon the saints of the Church of Avalon.

I also never imagined that the God of Avalon would be so generous to your mother and I. On the day of the Harvest Festival, thirty years after the Oath of the Grail was taken, your mother became pregnant.

You know what that means.

It was a gift from the gods!

Natalie, you are a child sent into this world by the gods of Avalon themselves, and your mother and I are honored to have you as part of our family, but it was also at that time that I realized that the gods of Avalon had heard my vows!

He has given the gift.

That I must then honor the covenant I have made with the gods.
I offer everything to the gods not because I don’t care about you, much less because you mean nothing to me.

Quite the contrary, child.

I had to do that in order to bless you with a healthy upbringing.

Your mother knows this because she witnessed the miracle of the day you were born as well as I did.

At your birth, my daughter, all the forests of Glamour whispered your name, countless nature spirits gathered around your mother and sang for your birth, and white deer came to your mother.

And at your first earthly cry, the first storm of the year swept across the North Sea.

From Greenisland to Icy Bay, from the Misty Shore to Port Joseph, all the sea winds roared at your arrival.

My daughter, you did not need the Elders of Glamour to foretell your destiny, it was all just something we spoke to the outside world to protect your birthright.

My daughter, you were born to do great things, to leave your name and your legend in the history of this world.

My daughter, you can’t imagine how much your mother and I cherished you, loved you and cared for you, and what sustained me through those six dark years of walking through the Fall without ever falling into the mire was you, in addition to my faith in the gods!
I knew I had to keep going!

I had to create a more perfect world for you as a father, and sadly, as a mortal I couldn’t do what I promised anymore.

My daughter, my Natalie, you’ll have to walk the rest of the way on your own.

I’m sorry, child.

Murphy was urging me on.

It may also be a sign from the gods that goodbye must be said.

Please believe that being your father has been the most glorious time of my life, that I have walked the path I was meant to walk, that I have kept the word I was meant to keep, and that I have received the blessings of my life.

I wish you well, my child.

Blessed be the life you have been given as well.

You must be wary of the darkness!

But even more so, be wary of those who actively chase the darkness.”

“Bang.”

The projected record in front of him dissipated away.

Only Natalie was left alone in the darkened room sobbing silently.

Tears crawled over her scarred face, making her realize how much she had missed and wronged, but as Natalie had once snarled and chided, time had not been forgiving or kind to her.

The past was irrevocable.

Quickly, she dried her tears and bent down, taking the dinner that Ambrosia had brought in her hands, staring dead in the face of the silent Great Oak Sacred Blade on the ground as she brought the food to her mouth.

She needed to shake off the weakness, needed to rebuild her connection to Avalon.

She was a warrior!
And now she had an enemy named ‘Dusk’.

Sweet.
She could finally convince herself to come back to life on earth.

(End of chapter)