“Sit down first, Miss Ileil.”
From the moment she entered, Ileil had been standing at the door. Dorias beckoned to Ileil, gesturing for her to sit at the table in the reception room.
Dorias also sat down.
“I don’t know much about your father. The reason I still remember the name of ‘Blade Ghost’ Isende is because of the war that Kastit launched against Aressto twenty years ago…”
The saint said in a deep voice. Ileil noticed that when mentioning the war, the gentle expression on Dorias’s face disappeared, and his demeanor became grave, almost ferocious.
“And then?” Ileil asked impatiently. “Was my father from Kastit before? How did you know him?”
In the eight years she had followed Gro, Ileil’s impression of Kastit was not good at all, just as Gro had described it—‘plundering without restraint, always engaging in meaningless slaughter.’
Although it was somewhat laughable to hear such an evaluation from Gro, who was from Kastit himself, he had unabashedly stated that he had long cut ties with Kastit.
But Ileil didn’t want to think about Gro at all right now; she just desperately wanted to know more about her father.
Things that Isende had never mentioned to Ileil were now being heard from the mouth of a saint from Aressto.
……
“As the daughter of ‘Blade Ghost’ Isende… you haven’t even heard about your father’s past?”
Dorias spoke with a bitter smile, then gently shook his head. “It seems your birth father protected you very well and didn’t involve you in the turmoil of Kastit…”
“……” The girl opened her mouth but made no sound.
To be precise, Ileil was not a daughter.
The deceased Isende could never have imagined that his eldest son would become a witch in a conspiracy.
But Ileil could only hide this truth in her heart; she didn’t want this old saint to send her, as a witch, to the judgment court.
“I may not be able to say what you truly want to hear, Miss Ileil. I can only recount the story of ‘Blade Ghost’ as I saw it, as an Aressto soldier who once stood against Kastit.”
“…I’m all ears, Mr. Dorias.” Ileil stared into the saint’s gray-blue eyes and said calmly.
“Do you know why I remember your father so vividly? Because your father was once defeated by us.”
“As the youngest general in Kastit at the time—‘Blade Ghost’ could contend with the church knights blessed by the Dawn Goddess purely through his physical strength. In the battle with your father, his dual swords nearly slit my throat……”
Dorias said this with respect.
Of course, Ileil respected her father. But she was truly puzzled—how had her father managed to contend with this saint who was strong to an exaggerated degree, recalling Dorias’s performance in the duel against the witch.
“Mr. Dorias… forgive me for asking one more question presumptuously. How did my father… face the holy power on you? It’s really hard for me to believe that he matched you evenly with pure brute force alone.”
“Please wait until I finish, Miss Ileil.” Dorias seemed to have anticipated that Ileil would ask this, and he explained:
“The power granted by the Dawn Goddess does not exist for conflict itself—but for protecting peace.”
“Protecting peace?”
So the exaggerated power on Dorias wasn’t something he could use whenever he wanted. This surprised Ileil a bit.
“Yes. The holy power of the Dawn Goddess exerts different effects when facing different things.”
“……” Flexible standards? Ileil fell silent; using the goddess’s power seemed quite troublesome.
“For example, last week when fighting the witch, as the vessel of holy power, I could exert my full strength, and the Dawn’s divine power would spare no effort for my use.”
“But in battles outside the Dawn Goddess’s teachings, or those contrary to the teachings, the Dawn’s power would lose its original effect, and even become a constraint on me, turning into a hindrance in combat.”
Dorias paused and continued: “After becoming a saint at fifteen, up until now, I have always remembered the Dawn Goddess’s teachings: to be a just person and do the right things. Even when forced onto the battlefield, I would never take the life of any innocent person. Therefore—the power bestowed by the Lord has almost never failed me.”
The saint shifted his tone and continued: “In the duel with your father, ‘Blade Ghost,’ I lost most of the power given to me by the Dawn Goddess.”
“At that time, I was just over twenty. I was a young man who hated evil like an enemy and was easily impulsive. The moment the Dawn Goddess’s blessing weakened, I fell into confusion—”
The firelight from the fireplace cast dancing shadows on Dorias’s face, and his gaze passed through Ileil, as if looking into the distant past.
“At that time, I was young and vigorous, convinced that all Kastit people were bloodthirsty demons. Especially your father—the name ‘Blade Ghost,’ to me, was proof of a slaughterer.”
Ileil unconsciously clenched her fists. In her memory, her father was always taciturn, tucking her in on winter nights, patiently teaching her to recognize the constellations in the starry sky. How could that gentle man be…
“But when I truly faced him, the Dawn Goddess withdrew her blessing from me.” Dorias gave a bitter laugh. “My sword became heavy, and the holy light dimmed like a candle about to go out. And your father’s dual swords… were faster than I could imagine—he could have taken my life, but at the last moment, he deflected his blade.”
Dorias’s voice lowered: “Fortunately, we had the advantage in numbers and barely managed to surround your father and Gro.”
“Wait… Gro was there too?”
Upon hearing this name, Ileil immediately became puzzled.
“They were once comrades-in-arms.” Dorias’s eyes sharpened, and from Ileil’s words, he realized something. “It seems both your father and Gro have tacitly not informed you of these past events.”
……
Ileil could never have imagined… that her father’s killer and her father had once been comrades. She forcibly suppressed the doubts in her heart, planning to let Dorias finish recounting these past events first.
“After capturing them, I insisted on executing these two dangerous individuals immediately. It was my close friend Sertant who stopped me.”
“The interrogation lasted three days.” Dorias gave a bitter laugh. “Your father didn’t say a word; instead, it was Gro… he confessed everything he knew and hoped we would release Isende, saying he wasn’t afraid of death at all.”
“……” Dorias’s words shocked Ileil even more, and she could no longer maintain the calm on her face.
“On the morning of the fourth day, the scouts brought shocking news. The main Kastit forces had already withdrawn. Later, we learned that they had been betrayed by their own people.” Dorias’s voice carried a rare anger. “The Kastit commander deliberately led them into our encirclement because they opposed the slaughter of civilians.”
“After we learned this news… Sertant suggested I release them.” The saint’s voice grew softer. “He said… as abandoned pawns, the two wouldn’t return to the battlefield.”
“But I rejected Sertant’s request.” Dorias lifted his head. “I insisted on carrying out the execution at dawn on the seventh day, but on the night before the execution…”
The saint stood up and turned to the window. Ileil followed his gaze; in the courtyard, the old oak tree was swaying in the night wind, making rustling sounds.
“A once-in-a-century blizzard struck the camp. Tents were overturned, warhorses panicked, and the guards were in chaos. By dawn, the cage was empty.”
“And after that?” Ileil asked softly. “Did you… pursue them?”
“No. Since then, I never saw them again. Until this operation, I met Gro once more.” Dorias turned around, his gaze falling on Ileil:
“Gro said… you are his adopted daughter, the child of his comrade. After observing for this week, I realized belatedly that you should be the child of ‘Blade Ghost’ Isende…”
Ileil lowered her head, remaining silent.
“Miss Ileil, please forgive me for prying into your privacy—”
“How did your father sacrifice himself…”