Seeing Daylight Again

Though he had spent less than a day with this nominal great-great-great-great... great-granddaughter, Gawain had already formed a very deep impression of Rebecca. More than once, he had wondered whether something had squeezed her head when she was little...

That really shouldn't have been possible. Setting aside the elite education noble children were required to receive, her identity as a spellcaster alone should have proven her intelligence. After all, casually conjuring a giant fireball was not something ordinary people could master...

Yet no one else was in the mood to question Rebecca's habit of speaking without thinking. Even Heti, who had always been strict with Rebecca, was now filled only with deep concern. "You mean... the monsters that appeared in Cecil Territory are the ones from Seven Hundred Years Ago?"

Gawain sighed. "Judging by how unfamiliar you are with those monsters, I suppose you haven't seen them in all these centuries."

"The wars against magical creatures after the pioneering era ended have become history," Heti said, gently shaking her head. "Though they are recorded in historical texts, the most recent records date back at least six hundred years... From what I learned, magical creatures wandering out of the ancient Imperial Wasteland did indeed harass Ansu for a long time. But ever since the elves helped humanity build those Sentinel Towers, those monsters became nothing more than a legend..."

Gawain frowned slightly. "Sentinel Towers... Things built by elves would not malfunction so easily."

"We must tell His Majesty the King about this," Rebecca suddenly said, clenching her fist with a serious expression. "Monsters that vanished centuries ago have suddenly reappeared within the kingdom. Someone has to send this information back immediately. And Cecil Territory has suffered grievous losses from this unprovoked disaster. We... we must ask the royal family for help..."

Thinking of "his" great achievements back then, Gawain smiled confidently. "Don't worry. Given the Cecil Family's standing in Ansu, along with the influence I left behind, Saint Suniel City will surely spare no effort in helping you rebuild the territory."

Yet the moment he said that, neither Heti nor Rebecca looked reassured. Instead, their expressions became exceptionally strange.

Gawain was completely baffled. "Uh... what's going on?"

Could it be that, after seven hundred years, no one in this country recognized the name of the legendary Founding Grand Duke Gawain Cecil anymore?

"Ancestor..." Heti's face looked exceptionally unpleasant. She bit her lip hard several times before seeming to finally make up her mind. "Actually, I wanted to tell you some things while we were in the tomb, but... I truly couldn't bring myself to say them."

Gawain vaguely guessed something, but he still nodded. "Go on. I'm listening."

"The glory of the Cecil Family is no more. Though you are still regarded throughout the kingdom as the legendary Founding Grand Duke, but..." Heti looked awkwardly at Rebecca. "But Rebecca, who now inherits the family title, is merely a viscountess. This Cecil Territory... is also the family's last remaining territory."

Gawain gaped. "...Huh?! I remember that when I 'died,' I was already a duke, and the title was hereditary forever, wasn't it? My territory even stretched from Cecil Territory all the way to the Holy Spirit Plain... What exactly did the later Cecils do? Assassinate the king or raise an army in rebellion?"

Heti lowered her head in shame. "...A great many things can happen in seven hundred years—to a family, and to a country. Ansu is no longer the First Dynasty, but the Second Dynasty. The Cecil Family is no longer a powerful borderland pillar supporting the royal family, but exiles burdened with disgrace and cast out by the crown."

Rebecca took over from Heti. "A hundred years ago, Darian III, the last king of the Ansu First Dynasty, died suddenly of illness without leaving any heirs. The royal family was already riddled with conflict at the time, and even Darian III's own right of succession had been disputed. After the king's death, the queen and the regent ministers failed to bring the situation under control in time, leading to the Mist Month Uprising.

"Royal family members with collateral succession rights fought for the throne during Mist Month in Ansu Year 635. In the third week after Mist Month ended, court intrigues escalated into civil war. The various royals and the great nobles behind them began directly clashing by force—the Cecil Family was drawn into it as well...

"The root of the disaster was Marquis Grumman. The Grand Duke Cecil of that time was old, but still very healthy, and his relationship with his eldest son, Gruman Cecil, was extremely tense. Marquis Grumman likely sensed the danger... so he secretly plotted and took part in that civil war. Since he had not yet inherited control of the family and lacked enough influence to rally support, Marquis Grumman set his sights on the legendary ancestor..."

Gawain held his forehead. "I remember now. He took my shield, didn't he?"

Heti nodded and continued in Rebecca's place. "Marquis Grumman first placed the then-Grand Duke Cecil under house arrest, then took your holy relic, the Ansu Shield of the Kingdom Guardian, from the ancestral tomb. He then declared his support for Prince Tosch in the name of the Cecil Family's heir. In March of that same year, Prince Tosch was assassinated. Marquis Grumman then swiftly declared his support for Prince Fedik. In April of that same year, Prince Fedik was defeated and took his own life..."

Gawain: "..."

But that was not the end. Heti continued, "After that, Marquis Grumman approached one of Darian III's uncles. With his exceptional eloquence, he forged an alliance. But in the second month afterward, Brun Veldt, the Grand Duke of the North, who had not interfered in the civil war until then, suddenly pushed a young boy onto the stage and declared that he was the illegitimate son of the king before last. The Grand Duke of the North then entered the civil war with that as his bargaining chip and ended the conflict in Mist Month of Ansu Year 636. On the eve of the civil war's end, Marquis Grumman tried to repeat his old trick and declare loyalty to the new king, but before he could issue the proclamation, both allies and enemies attacked him on the battlefield. He died beneath a flurry of blades.

"After that came the Ansu Second Dynasty. Of course, the term 'Second Dynasty'... remains rather sensitive even now."

Amber, who had been listening silently nearby, suddenly remarked in a drawn-out tone, "The whole farce lasted only one year, yet it completely reshuffled the kingdom's order... Who on the entire continent doesn't know that history?"

"Because the one who ultimately ascended the throne was an illegitimate son, the war was privately called the Bastard War," Heti said. "A great many noble families were involved in the civil war, so quite a few were implicated. But this was still part of the nobles' rules, and the country was in extreme chaos at the start of the Second Dynasty. The new king urgently needed to restore order, and that required the strength of the old nobility. Thus, most families were not exterminated, except..."

"Except the ones who made the biggest fuss, right?" Gawain's mouth twitched uncontrollably. This entire history made even him, an elder who had looked down upon the world from the heavens for over a hundred thousand years, feel profoundly uncomfortable. He could only sigh that life was indeed more outrageous than fiction—at least fiction followed some basic logic. How had that Marquis Grumman been so uniquely gifted? "I suppose there was no one better at stirring up trouble than Gruman Cecil?"

"After that, the Cecil Family never recovered," Heti said with lowered head. "The family's fate might originally have been even worse, but your reputation and the efforts of that old grand duke preserved the family bloodline and its last remaining foundation. From then on, however, the name 'Cecil' could never again become the center of the kingdom, just as you can see..."

Following Heti's Line of Sight, Gawain looked at Miss Rebecca Cecil, whose head had apparently been squeezed.

Rebecca noticed his gaze and turned around. "Ancestor?"

"What a disgrace to the family, what a disgrace..." Gawain held his forehead. Though he was not the Cecil Family's true ancestor, Marquis Grumman's glorious record and bizarre deeds had reached a level that would shock all who heard them and move all who saw them to tears. Even listening from the sidelines left him deeply emotional. "And that wastrel even lost my shield..."

Heti and Rebecca: "..."

Their ancient ancestor was insulting their great-grandfather again. As juniors, it was best for them to say nothing.

Fortunately, Gawain was not truly involved in the matter, and he quickly adjusted his mood—though to Heti, this became proof of his broad-mindedness and remarkable magnanimity. He then shook his head slightly. "Forget it. Pursuing matters of the past does nothing for the present situation. No matter what, those reappearing monsters are a tremendous threat to the human world. The king in Saint Suniel City may not value the fallen Cecil Family, but he cannot ignore those monsters. Therefore, he must also value us, who escaped alive from this disaster."

Heti nodded firmly. "You are absolutely right."

After that, Gawain lost interest in talking. The dark, cramped underground passage wore away everyone's desire for conversation. All that remained was to quicken their pace and continue onward.

Fortunately, the straight underground passage allowed them to cross Cecil Territory at the fastest speed, and the nearest exit was not far from the castle. After traveling for some time, Gawain judged from his memories that they had reached a suitable exit.

Under the blessing of the Earth Element, even the ancient tunnel Stairs had not collapsed in the slightest. It was also fortunate that the area near the exit had not been completely buried beneath earth and stone. After clearing away some tree roots, vines, and loose soil blocking the exit, fresh air finally blew across everyone's faces after so long.

They saw daylight again.

Knight Byron led the soldiers out of the opening first. Only after they sent the signal that it was safe did the others emerge one after another. The moment Rebecca climbed onto the surface, she took a deep breath and happily cried out in a low voice, "We're out!"

Gawain followed Rebecca to the surface. His excitement was no less than hers—if anything, it was even greater.

A vast world.

His first instinct was to raise his head and look at the sky.

Unfortunately, it was night outside.

Yet he ought to thank the night as well, for it allowed him to see the starry sky of this other world for the first time.

A faint strip of white had already appeared along the horizon. The approaching dawn made the starlight above seem thin and dim. Those scattered stars appeared shrouded in mist, hazy and distant.

They were entirely unfamiliar stars.

The white light at the horizon grew brighter and brighter. The night had passed, and dawn was arriving. Everyone who had escaped alive from the underground tunnels was immersed in the joy of surviving the disaster. Gawain, meanwhile, faced the direction of the rising sun with an unusual delight and excitement. He spread his arms as though he wanted to embrace the sun of this new world.

Then he saw an unprecedentedly enormous luminous arc, spraying a faint mist of light, slowly rise above the horizon and bathe the world in radiance.

That was not the sun.