Chapter 42
Chapter 42
Translation: godsn
As if he hadn't heard the question, the old man muttered incomprehensible words to himself.
"I know you once led the Shadeia tribe. Help me, and I'll restore your annihilated clan."
Hmph. The old man let out a derisive snort.
"Ask if there's a way? Of course there is. The Primordial Darkness is vicious once it takes hold, but that doesn't mean it's completely incurable."
Cesare waited patiently. Until the answer he sought came from the old man's lips.
"For erasing the Primordial Darkness's corruption, nothing—kgh—is more perfect than the Tears of Dawn."
Gallo felt like his heart might leap out of his chest.
It existed! There truly was a way to save his master!
All those years of scouring the continent, clinging to every passing priest's words—it was as if all that effort had been for this very moment.
In stark contrast to his earlier demeanor, Gallo carefully and respectfully knelt before the old man.
"The Tears of Dawn... What is that, honored elder?"
Even after combing through thousands of ancient texts, this was a name he'd never heard before.
"When the Goddess first descended, this continent was filled with chaos and darkness. The merciful Goddess shed tears for the lives oppressed by the darkness, and those tears washed away all the darkness to create the continent as we know it."
Cesare also asked again:
"Where can we find it?"
The old man shook his head.
"Ahaha. Unfortunately, Black Star. These tears do not exist in your orbit."
"What do you mean, honored elder!"
Terence shouted with frustration.
"You... will never find them. Fate—kgh—has not permitted it."
At that moment, the old man coughed up blood.
"Oh dear, the time... haah... has already..."
Cesare caught the collapsing old man by the shoulders.
"Terence."
Terence hastily examined the old man.
But the deep shadow of death that had already fallen over him could not be pushed back.
"However... there is hope. Valdina's Gold Star... kgh... will save you... see..."
With every word the old man spoke, gurgling blood splattered across Cesare's lapels.
"Black Star... do not forget... Valdina's—hurk—Gold Star..."
"Stop. Conserve your strength."
The light was gradually fading from his dimming eyes.
With his last ounce of strength, the old man raised his arm and pointed to the sky.
"Ah... the stars have finally... gathered again... This time... hurk... which path will they take..."
After one last labored breath, the old man's body stiffened.
The hand pointing at the sky dropped with a thud.
"H-honored elder? What? No way, right?"
Gallo stammered.
"No, he can't be, he can't be dead!"
He rushed over and shook the old man cradled in Cesare's arms, but the body, now cold, no longer moved.
"Gallo, stop. He's already gone."
Terence's plea didn't reach Gallo's ears, lost in shock.
"No, no, this can't be. We finally found it, it can't end like this!"
The cheerful young man who was always quick with a joke was nowhere to be found in his desperate cries.
Terence had always found Gallo's noisy, bustling nature annoying, but this time, he couldn't bring himself to say anything.
Cesare wasn't simply their master.
He was the one true lord they served, a friend they could stand back-to-back with, a brother who—even if born on different days—would die on the same one.
So he understood Gallo's despair.
If Gallo was like this, how must Cesare—the one directly affected—be feeling?
With a heavy heart, Terence placed a hand on Cesare's shoulder.
"Cesare."
But contrary to his expectations, Terence found gleaming golden eyes.
"What is Valdina's Gold Star?"
Cesare didn't crumble like Gallo. Instead, he turned over the Shadeia Prophetess's final words in his mind.
At the very least, the prophetess hadn't declared it impossible. She'd only set conditions.
So it was still too early to give up, too soon to despair.
"The Gold Star of Valdina... keugh... shall save you......"
The prophetic last words that the Shadeia Prophetess had delivered, even at the cost of defying heavenly prohibitions.
"Contact the homeland. I'll need to stay in Valdina a while longer."
"You're truly......"
Terence took a step back from Cesare, his eyes momentarily filled with disbelief.
"Then be careful, Terence. Scum like that—when they encounter an obstacle, they don't avoid it. They smash it to pieces."
For some reason, the voice of his old master seemed to echo once more in his ears.
Medeia, Neril, and Saya, having finished their preparations to depart, boarded the carriage.
The streets of Asylum at sunset. Just as the carriage was passing through the forest, now grown quite dim.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Armed bandits blocked the carriage's path.
"Not that we got business with you lot. But you can't just take people like that, can ya?"
Saya, who'd been looking out the window, gasped in shock.
Upon recognizing the faces of the bandits harassing the coachman, she cried out,
"It's Asylum's Human Trafficking Ring!"
The bandits, too, burst into snickers among themselves when they saw Saya.
"Well, well. Skinnier than I heard."
"Still worth two more silver coins, I'd say. We'll break even at least."
In her past life, it seemed Saya had coincidentally been sold to the trafficking ring on this very day and lost her life.
Wasn't that why Theo had been so enraged by his younger sister's death—because he couldn't even recover her body properly?
Neril leaned out to observe the bandits surrounding the carriage. They seemed to have been tailing them since Asylum.
"Your Highness, what shall we do?"
Medeia silently handed her a pouch of gold coins.
"They seem to have followed the child. I'll buy her freedom."
Neril stepped down from the carriage and tossed the pouch with a thud at their feet.
"Whoa, ten gold coins! The master here's got deep pockets."
Yet even after taking the gold, they showed no sign of backing down.
They fully encircled the carriage and began clamoring for more money.
"The sun's setting—must you go this far?"
As the standoff dragged on, Medeia finally revealed herself. Their eyes gleamed.
"Well, well, look at this? Ain't she a noble lady if I ever saw one?"
The leader raked his greedy eyes over Medeia, then shook the pouch of gold coins with a sly grin.
"Seems like we could squeeze five times this out of a lady like you, and you expect us to scram over this pittance?"
'Even when trying to send them off nicely, some men simply can't be reasoned with.'
Medeia let out a short sigh.
She soothed Saya, who was clutching at her skirts, and stepped forward before Neril.
"Neril."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Neril had already drawn her sword, ready for battle.
"A pumpkin rolling in with its vines still attached—guess today's our lucky day?"
The delighted men snickered as they pulled blades from their coats.
A frail noble girl who probably couldn't even grab a tree branch. And only one escort knight to boot.
Their swaggering boasts about having "seen their share of steel" looked all too familiar.
Neril lunged like the wind, and the fight began.
But they were no match for her.
"Wha—what the......!"
"Argh! My arm!"
"My leg, damn it!"
In the blink of an eye, four were down. The bandits clutched their arms and legs, howling in pain.
For all their bluster, they were fairly notorious in these parts. And there were twelve of them against just one.
Yet despite their numerical advantage, the tide of battle turned in an instant.
The leader staggered back. This wasn't working.
He frantically scanned his surroundings—
—and his gaze landed on the young noble girl, the knight's master.
'If I take that wench hostage, that leaping knight won't be able to do a thing.'
With a vile smirk, the leader turned his body toward Medeia.