“That same night, a group of mysterious people came to the hotel and forcibly abducted your mother. Totally outnumbered, I was only able to protect young Wharton… but I did see that on the arm of one of the assailants, there was a red, spider-like birthmark.”
As he read this, Linley himself felt as though he had been transported back to that night, ten years ago. Under the combined attack of many assailants, unable to ward them all off, his father had only been able to protect Wharton and could only watch powerlessly as his wife was taken. He had been unable to save her.
“I know that this was definitely no an ordinary group of kidnappers. The weakest of them was a warrior of the fourth rank, while the strongest was even stronger than me. Fortunately, their target was only your mother. If they had come for me, I would’ve died long ago. Someone capable of mobilizing a squad such as this would definitely be a major figure in Fenlai City. I didn’t dare to go public about this affair. I took little Wharton back home and told everyone else that your mother had died in childbirth. Only your Uncle Hillman and Housekeeper Hiri knew this secret.”
Seeing this, Linley’s mind was filled with questions. So the strongest of the kidnappers was even stronger than his father, but they didn’t care about his him. Their focus was only about abducting his mother. But why was his mother worth their time to abduct?
“I couldn’t let you know about this. During these past ten or so years, I have kept this secret buried deep in my heart. I didn’t dare tell anyone… and I couldn’t even go by myself to investigate your mother’s whereabouts, or to find out if she was alive or dead, or who that group of people was. I didn’t dare.”
His father’s words caused Linley’s heart to feel so much pain that it clenched.
“I am the successor to the mantle of leadership for the clan of the Dragonblood Warriors. At the very least, I had to raise you until you were fully grown. I could not allow the Baruch lineage to come to an end in my hands. Year after year, I could only secretly endure… but every night, I found it difficult to fall asleep. The question of whether your mother was alive or dead has constantly tormented me. I have endured… I have endured for eleven years!
“Linley, you have made me incredibly proud. First, you became a student at the Ernst Institute, the number one magus institute in the Yulan continent. Then, you became one of the top geniuses there. I am filled with confidence towards your future accomplishment. What’s more, the density of dragonblood in little Wharton’s veins has reached the requisite level. I am extremely proud of you both. For both of my sons to be so outstanding… I feel that I have done right by the ancestors of the Baruch clan! But despite all of this, I still did not dare to investigate your mother’s whereabouts because Wharton needed a large amount of gold to sustain his costly studies.
“And so I have endured for eleven years. But when you came back from the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts and gave me that large sack of magicite crystals, I knew… finally, I could give up everything and go find out whether your mother is alive or not. Although no one has seen your mother in eleven years and there is probably an 80% to 90% chance that she is dead, I am unwilling to give up. Even if I die, I will avenge her.”
Seeing this, Linley’s hands began to tremble again. Linley finally understood now. In the past, because he had to support the burden of Wharton’s tuition, his father didn’t dare to risk his life in investigating his mother’s whereabouts. But when he, Linley, had brought back that sack of magicite crystals worth eighty thousand gold coins, his father no longer had any burdens left.
“Finally able to go investigating, I altered my appearance and put on a disguise as I snuck into Fenlai City. I began investigating what happened that year. Unfortunately, too much time had passed. Knowing that one of the assailants had a red spider birthmark on his upper arm, I spent an entire year searching for such a man. Finally, I found that man with the red spider birthmark. Following up on this clue, I continued to investigate. Eventually… I found out who it was that had stood behind this group of assailants.
“These people had been directed to act by a member of the current royal clan of the Kingdom of Fenlai. And that person… was none other than the younger brother of the King of Fenlai: Duke Patterson!”
34
The Decision
In the Yulan continent, only an Emperor of an Empire had the authority to give his siblings the title of ‘Prince’. The status of a ‘Prince’ of an Empire was roughly equivalent to that of a ‘King’ in one of the kingdoms. At most, a King could confer the title of ‘Duke’ upon his siblings. That was the absolute maximum. Even the ‘Grand Dukes’ ruling over the duchies were in fact nothing more than Dukes as well. Empire. Kingdom. Duchy. The ranks progressively went down at each level.
Duke Patterson? The younger brother of the King of Fenlai? Linley knew that the Boleyn clan, the royal clan of the Kingdom of Fenlai, was an extremely powerful clan. Both of the Boleyn brothers were extremely powerful warriors. King Clayde was known as the pride of Fenlai, precisely because he was also a warrior of the ninth rank.
As for Patterson, although he couldn’t match up to his older brother he was still a warrior of the seventh rank. He was definitely a very powerful figure. “Duke Patterson…?” Linley’s heart was filled with a hint of a murderous intent, but he continued to read.
“Disguising myself as a servant, I snuck my way into Duke Patterson’s manor. After experiencing countless dangers and using a few special tricks, I was able to kidnap the leader of that mysterious group, a warrior of the seventh rank. After I used some special interrogation methods, he finally confessed. He admitted that his actions were done at the direction of Duke Patterson. But according to what this man said, after they kidnapped your mother Lina, she was sent away under Duke Patterson’s orders via a different troop. Clearly, there was another figure behind Duke Patterson controlling things.
“The disappearance of the warrior of the seventh rank aroused the suspicions of Duke Patterson, and I wasn’t able to finish my interrogations. Although I had made ample preparations, over the course of killing several experts and fleeing from Fenlai City I was heavily wounded. Even so, I managed to sneak back home. Aside from your Uncle Hillman, I didn’t let anyone else know what had happened. I knew that my injuries were too severe and that I wouldn’t have too much time left. That’s why I ended up leaving this letter for you.
“Linley, I wasn’t a good father. I’ve always been too cold and severe with you. I don’t ask for your forgiveness; I only hope that you will be level-headed and rational. Now that you have the power of the seventh rank, you will most likely have the ability to do some investigating on your own. But you must be careful. Be careful. Be careful! Neither I nor your mother Lina wish for you to die because of us.
“Linley, I’ll be leaving now. As of this day, you are the leader of our Baruch clan. I entrust the clan and everything in it to you.
“As I die, my last thoughts are of how dearly I desire to see the warblade ‘Slaughterer’ with my own two eyes. Alas, I know now that this was just a wild hope. Linley… work hard. The clan now depends on you and little Wharton. In your father’s life, he was most proud of you and little Wharton. My two wonderful sons.”
On the signature line, there was only a bloodstain.
Flames erupted from Linley’s hands. Hiss… In the blink of an eye, this letter was burnt to ashes. Hillman, standing off to the side, looked at Linley. Linley had just burnt the last testament of his father to ashes. But Hillman wasn’t angry; in fact, he secretly nodded in approval. Although this letter was a legacy, it also contained too many secrets. If it fell into the wrong hands, it would be catastrophic.
Linley turned his head to look at Hillman. “Uncle Hillman. I want to entrust you with something.”
“Go ahead.” Hillman looked at Linley. He had already made up his mind to assist Linley in getting vengeance.
Linley stretched his arms out, picking up the warblade ‘Slaughterer’, then turned to
look at Hillman. “Uncle Hillman, the ‘Slaughterer’ is the ancestral heirloom of our Baruch clan. I hope that you can hand the ‘Slaughterer’ over to my little brother Wharton in the O’Brien Empire. I want you to personally deliver it!”
“The O’Brien Empire? Then here…” Hillman was beginning to worry about Linley.
Linley said seriously, “Uncle Hillman, don’t be worried. As a dual-element magus of the seventh rank, even the Radiant Church holds me in extremely high regard. Even King Clayde, the ruler of Fenlai, was extremely courteous to me. My safety is not something you need to be concerned about.”
Hillman was just a warrior. He didn’t fully understand what being a seventeen-year-old dual-element magus of the seventh rank truly meant. In fact, he didn’t even know that Linley was now a high-status master sculptor approaching the level of Proulx and Hope Jensen. “If that’s the case, then…” Hillman frowned.
“After you hand this warblade, ‘Slaughterer’, over to my younger brother, assist Grandpa Hiri and stay by my younger brother’s side. Everything here, I can and will handle by myself.” Linley’s voice was deep, and it carried a hint of frost.
In the entire Holy Union, he was alone now. He had no family here anymore. What did he have to fear? Linley had already made up his mind to avenge his father as well as find out what had happened to his mother. Was his mother alive or dead? In the depths of his heart, Linley was still hoping that his mother was alive. Although the chances were beyond slim, Linley was not willing to give up.
“Stay in the O’Brien Empire?” Hillman fell silent for a moment. He had family here in the town of Wushan, after all. But for him, as a warrior of the sixth rank he would be able to make a living for himself anywhere in the world he went.
From within his clothes, Linley withdrew a single magicrystal card and handed it to Hillman. “Uncle Hillman, you can take your entire family with you. In addition, take this magicrystal card. This magicrystal card has not been imprinted yet, and it holds a million gold coins within it. Take this magicrystal card with you, all the way to the O’Brien Empire.”
“A million gold coins?” Hillman stared at Linley in astonishment. A million gold coins was an absolute fortune. When Hogg was still alive, he had to sell off his clan’s possessions just to earn a few thousand gold coins. Even if he sold off the entire ancestral home, he might not be able to come up with much more than a hundred thousand gold coins. But now, in the blink of an eye, Linley was handing over a magicrystal card with a million gold coins on it. “Linley, you… where did you get this money from?” Hillman had to ask.
“Uncle Hillman, you don’t need to ask. In the future, you will know.” Linley’s heart, at this moment, was filled with grief and rage. He was in no mood to brag about his accomplishments as a sculptor.
Hillman nodded slightly. “Linley, wait a moment.” Hillman once more ran into the private room, then came back out with an urn, handing it to Linley.
“Is this…?” Linley’s gaze couldn’t leave the urn. He seemed to have already guessed what this urn contained.
Hillman instructed, “Linley, these are your father’s ashes. When your father died, we didn’t dare to publicly announce his death. We didn’t even dare to bury him. Our only choice was to place his cremated ashes within the private room as we awaited your return.”
Linley accepted the cremation urn. It felt heavy. So very heavy.
The desolate wind howled. Not too far from the town of Wushan, there was a cemetery filled with countless tombs. Now, a new and extremely lavish tombstone had just been erected. The short-haired Linley was quietly seated cross-legged in front of it.
Linley had spent a full night erecting this tombstone. Given Linley’s current level of ability, carrying a few boulders was child’s play. Since Linley had already reached the level of a master in sculpting, he was naturally able to carve the boulder into a lavishly beautiful tombstone.
The desolate wind continued to whistle and howl, but Linley just sat there quietly. “Linley.” Hillman appeared in front of Linley, carrying the ‘Slaughterer’ on his back in its case.
Linley didn’t open his eyes. He only said, “Uncle Hillman, I’ve entrusted the ‘Slaughterer’ to you. I entrust my younger brother, Wharton, to you and Grandpa Hiri as well. Be safe on your way there. I won’t send you off.”
Hillman looked at the back of Linley, still seated cross-legged. He took another look at the tombstone. Finally, he nodded and silently departed, taking the warblade ‘Slaughterer’ with him.
From this day forward, there was no one left within the ancient ancestral manor of the Baruch clan aside from Linley and the servants.
Suddenly… Linley opened his eyes. He stared at the tombstone. “Father. I swear to you that I will make them pay a heavy price.” Linley rose to his feet, then immediately turned and left. The Shadowmouse, Bebe, still stood on Linley’s shoulders, but he seemed to be afraid to make any noise at all.
“Lord Hogg has passed away? Bu-but…” The citizens of the town of Wushan were currently in mourning for Hogg’s passing.
“What a wonderful nobleman he was. How could he die like this? Who knows what the future of the town of Wushan will be like now? All these years, Lord Hogg kept the tax rates extremely low. Sometimes, he would even have to pay out of pocket to the kingdom. Where will anyone possibly find another such wonderful noble?” All of the citizens of the town of Wushan remembered and were thankful for Hogg’s benevolence.
Strips of white funeral cloths were hanging in front of the Baruch manor. Linley himself was dressed in a set of mourning clothes as well. He was silently kneeling in front of the memorial spirit tablet set up in front of the main hall. The little Shadowmouse, Bebe, was also kneeling next to Linley, not making a sound. It was as though he could feel the pain Linley was suffering.
Tradition called for seven days of ritual filial mourning after the death of a parent. He had come late, but it was now time for the first day of mourning.
“Master Linley, Lord Guillermo is still waiting for your return,” the captain of that squad of Knights of the Radiant Church said softly by Linley’s side.
Linley turned his head, glancing at him coldly. The captain couldn’t help but feel his heart shudder. “Seven days of ritual filial mourning. Within these seven days, I will not go meet with anyone,” Linley said coldly, and then he fell silent again.
The captain couldn’t help but feel resigned. He could imagine what Linley was feeling right now. His father had just died. For his son to observe the ritual filial mourning rites was heaven’s law and earth’s principle; a matter of course. The captain immediately left the main hall, then instructed his subordinates to head to Fenlai City and report Linley’s current situation to the Radiant Church.
“Young master Linley, don’t be too heartbroken.” The citizens of the town of Wushan came through in a steady stream to kowtow in front of Hogg’s memorial spirit tablet. All of them remembered the benevolence Hogg had shown when he was alive.
Linley didn’t speak. He only bowed in thanks to every single visiting citizen.
This news quickly reached the Radiant Church, but Cardinal Lampson and Cardinal Guillermo weren’t too shocked. “Linley’s father has passed away?” Guillermo nodded slightly. “No wonder we weren’t able to find anything when I sent people to inquire about his father, back when he first became a dual-element magus of the seventh rank. So it was because he had already passed away.”
The Radiant Church had a total of five Cardinals. Linley’s matters were mostly handled by Cardinal Guillermo and Cardinal Lampson. “Guillermo, let us quickly prepare some things, then go and pay our respects to Linley’s father,” Lampson suggested. Guillermo nodded as well.
Actually, based on Hogg’s own status, there was no way a Cardinal of the Radiant Church would go to pay their respects to him. But Hogg was Linley’s father, after all, and Linley’s future prospects were unlimited. He had already been designated as an important future cornerstone of the Rad
iant Church. “Alright. It’s already dark now. Then… let’s head off early in the morning, tomorrow.”
The Kingdom of Fenlai had also already designated Linley as a highly important figure. Once Hogg’s death became openly known, the news of his death quickly reached the royal palace of Fenlai. The speed with which they received this news was only slightly slower than that of the Radiant Church.
“Linley’s father died?” Clayde nodded to himself as well. When Linley had become a dual-element magus of the seventh rank, he too had sent people to inquire about Linley’s father, and he had in fact even told Linley that his father had gone missing. As it turned out, Linley’s father had passed away after all. “I’ll go pay my respects tomorrow morning.” Clayde came to the same decision.
Aside from Clayde, many of the most important people in Fenlai City received this news from the royal palace. Many of them venerated Master Linley, while others wanted to make friends with him. Every single one of them decided to go early next morning to that little backwater town of Wushan, to pay their respects to Linley’s father.
While all of this was going on, Linley remained within his ancestral home in the town of Wushan, quietly observing the rites of mourning.
35
Assembling at the Town
Late at night. Linley’s bedroom.
The sound of muscles and bones rumbling could constantly be heard coming from Linley’s body, while Linley’s very skin was rising, then falling. Beads of sweat were pouring out of every single pore on Linley’s body, but Linley’s face was very calm and peaceful. He was currently training in accordance with the Secret Dragonblood Manual.
Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 27