Indeed, from the very beginning, Orubet was missing, which was why the royal capital was completely defenseless when the rebellion broke out.
However, no one thought this had anything to do with him; instead, they all believed he was dead, because the mastermind behind the rebellion was none other than the Vice Commander of the Royal Capital Defense Knights.
With the Commander missing, the Vice Commander was the highest authority of the Knights. When the shield that was supposed to protect you suddenly turned into a sword stabbing at you, no one could possibly defend against it.
In fact, the Vice Commander had indeed planned to kill Orubet from the very beginning. To that end, he had deliberately set up a drinking gathering for Orubet, taking the opportunity to poison his drink and knock him unconscious. He then arranged for men to transport Orubet, dressed up to look drunk, to a secret location to be executed.
But the Vice Commander underestimated Orubet's strength. Before those subordinates could strike, Orubet recovered from the poison, killed his would-be executioners, and subsequently carved out a path of survival through heavy blockades and tight encirclements, enduring countless hardships.
However, by the time he returned to the royal capital, what awaited him was the emperor's corpse. The Knights had also become history, and he had lost everything.
At that time, everyone who knew of the situation thought Orubet would become disheartened and fade into history alongside his Knights. But no one expected that next—
In this catastrophe that would surely bring about the destruction of the Pasara Empire, the knight known as the “Lone Sword” was about to carve out a new future for the Pasara Empire, with just himself and his sword.
No one knew what kind of mental journey Orubet went through in the devastated royal capital.
It was only when he stood before the rebel army, alone with his sword, that the world truly understood what it meant to be a peerless, solitary blade with no equal.
Tens of thousands of enemy troops could not even slow his footsteps, turning into a sea of blood behind him. Renowned swordsmen and prestigious mages, one after another, became dead souls beneath his sharp blade.
Until at last, he arrived before those powerful nobles, severing their heads amidst their desperate pleas, then found the prince trapped in a desperate corner. Carrying the prince on his back, he walked out of the remaining rebels' headquarters step by step. Only then did the rebels belatedly come to their senses, fleeing in terror like scattered birds and beasts.
Covered in blood, Orubet brought the last bloodline of the royal family before the loyalist army, then turned and left alone without a word.
Three days later, he reappeared, holding one more thing in his hand—the head of the former Vice Commander of the Defense Knights, the very trigger for this entire catastrophe.
The catastrophe came and went quickly, to the point where many ordinary citizens of the empire did not even know that only a single person remained of the imperial family that had ruled for a thousand years.
Under the deterrent of Orubet's terrifying martial prowess, the nobles who harbored ulterior motives quickly pulled back their claws, while those who had participated in the rebellion were purged without exception. The empire was forcibly kept alive solely by Orubet's individual strength.
After ascending the throne, the prince immediately granted Orubet the hereditary honorary title of “Guardian Knight” and bestowed upon him a massive fiefdom no smaller than the domain of a high noble...
The legends of her ancestor told by her father, Rezerian, did not differ much from what Shulim remembered hearing, nor did they differ much from what was recorded in various biographies. At most, there were just a few minor details that weren't deemed worthy of being written into the books, which her father was sharing now.
But even so, it made Collette extremely happy.
It was also at this time that Collette revealed the reason why she cared so much about Orubet. As it turned out, Collette had attended the magic academy in the royal capital. During her school days, she had become interested in Orubet while working on a research report for an extracurricular history project, which led her to begin her investigation.
The report she eventually submitted received extremely high praise from her history professor. At the same time, her professor also told her that there were still many unknowns and blank spaces in Orubet's history, suggesting that she travel to the places where Orubet once lived to investigate.
Collette had gone to Orubet's former fiefdom, and the results of that trip went without saying. Thus, this matter became a lasting regret in her heart. Although she had graduated many years ago, she still conducted investigations whenever she had the chance and kept in frequent touch with the academy's history professor.
“I see. I didn't expect Miss Collette to be a researcher of our ancestor. I was truly rude before! As a descendant of Orubet Hayeral, I, Rezerian Hayeral, express my heartfelt gratitude to you, Miss Collette, and to all the professors for everything you have done for our ancestor.”
Rezerian spoke very sincerely.
“Ah, uh? Oh!?” Collette stood up in a flurry. “Mr. Rezerian, please don't do that. This is only what we should do. If anything, we are the ones who should feel ashamed for failing to uncover much useful information.”
“Miss Collette, you don't need to apologize for that. If anyone...” Rezerian frowned. “As the descendants of the Guardian Knight, we know barely more about our ancestor than outsiders do. We are the ones who should feel ashamed.”
Hearing Rezerian say this, Collette also seemed to sense that something was off.
“Um... Mr. Rezerian, could it be that the family records detailing Mr. Orubet's life have been lost?”
“No, we have never lost anything like that.”
Rezerian shook his head and then shared a shocking piece of news.
“Because such things never existed in the first place!”
“What?!”
Collette was shocked. Not only Collette, but Shulim was also stunned, her little hand holding a snack freezing in midair. This was the first she had ever heard of such a thing.
Shulim wasn't sure how many other countries did this, but in the Pasara Empire, every generation of nobility would have someone record their various life experiences to serve as a family legacy, passed down alongside the genealogy. This made it easier for future generations to understand the hardships their ancestors went through when establishing the family.
In fact, not only nobles, but many wealthy and powerful clans did this as well.
Logically, it was impossible for Orubet to not have such a record. Someone should have prepared this for him back when he became the Commander of the Royal Capital Defense Knights. After all, even for the Hayeral family which had declined to its current state, Rezerian's father, grandfather, and even Rezerian himself kept these kinds of records.
“No... None? Um, what do you mean by 'none'?”
“Just what it means literally. And it wasn't because there was no one to record it, or because our ancestor forgot, but because... our ancestor never lived on his fiefdom in the first place!”
“What??!”
Collette was even more shocked. Of course, Shulim was exactly the same; she was no longer in any mood to eat her snacks. She had never heard of this either!
So, Father, you only picked the glorious deeds to tell me in the past? How could you have never revealed such an important thing?
“Yes. Actually, when I first heard it from my father, I was just as surprised as you both are. But that is indeed the truth. After that catastrophe ended, our ancestor Orubet did not live in seclusion on his fiefdom as the world believed. Instead, he left the empire and disappeared from public view for a full twenty years!”
“... ...”
A heavy silence filled the parlor.
“Ol... ... Father, what happened next?”
Shulim spoke up to break the silence, her curiosity thoroughly piqued. If Orubet had disappeared from the empire back then, then how did the current Hayeral family come to be?
“Well... that is precisely why things are so hard to understand.”
Rezerian also wore a bewildered expression as he continued:
“The emperor at that time, who was the surviving prince, remained deeply grateful for our ancestor's life-saving grace. Therefore, even though he knew our ancestor had disappeared, he still dispatched officials to manage his fiefdom, all just to make things convenient for our ancestor when he returned one day.”
Rate on N.U.
