Vol. 6 Ch. 127

It was a night they’d never forget.

In the first half, Leon confessed his true identity to his daughters.

In the second half, the entire family set out in search of their lost mother-in-law.

The two events seemed entirely unrelated. In fact, they really were unrelated.

Still, they eventually found Cecilia.

At the Empire’s Lost and Found Office.

When they arrived, Cecilia was explaining to the office clerk that she wasn’t technically bad with directions, just not very familiar with the layout of the Empire.

The clerk calmly held up a maze worksheet meant for small children.

Cecilia had been working on it for half an hour and still hadn’t found the exit.

Even as Leon hoisted her up over his shoulder to carry her off, Cecilia was still obsessed with solving that maze.

"Just give me ten more minutes! I will find the way out!"

……

……

There were still two days left before the Empire’s Thousand Lantern Festival, but the streets were already thick with festive atmosphere.

The Melkvey family moved through the crowd, weaving in and out of people.

Their destination today: Clement Academy of the Empire, a name that didn’t sound too unfamiliar.

But its former title had been “Slayer’s Dawn”;

The Imperial Dragon-Slaying Academy.

After the end of the Human-Dragon War, the Dragon-Slaying Academy no longer had any reason to exist, so it was rebranded into a standard training institution for human warriors.

And “Clement” just so happened to be Rebecca’s surname.

Back when the Lionheart Campaign ended, no one could decide what to name the new cradle of warriors.

After much debate, they finally chose to use Rebecca’s last name.

Originally, Rebecca had never intended to let her own surname be used like that.

But when someone suggested it, it gave her a kind of closure—like she’d fought the war and had no regrets.

Later generations adopted the symbolic meaning behind her name.

The final decision came only after someone confessed to Rebecca fifty years later—on the condition that she’d agree to the naming.

As they stepped into the academy, the place still felt so familiar.

The campus was also immersed in festival vibes. Students had set up stalls everywhere, selling holiday trinkets and snacks.

“Waaah~ Just like when I was little!”

Moon sat perched on Leon’s shoulders, eyes sparkling as she stared at all the colorful treats.

Leon gently held her ankles to keep her from falling.

“Which one do you want? Daddy’ll get it for you.”

“That one, that one! The soft white thing!”

“That’s called nian gao—sweet rice cake. Tastes really good.”

Saying that, Leon stepped up to the vendor stall and spoke to the student running it.

“Hi, seven servings of nian gao.”

“Sure, right awa—wait, are you… are you Senior Leon?!”

By now, Leon had grown quite used to being recognized wherever he went.

“That’s me. Hello, junior.”

What followed, as always: autographs, photos, and the classic line—

“Sorry, I already have a wife. You’ll find someone better. Happy festival.”

Leon maintained the demeanor of a textbook soldier—composed, steady.

“Here are the rice cakes, Senior. I’ve packed them for you.”

“No need, I already did it.”

Rosvisser rolled her eyes in silence.

The family continued walking deeper into the campus.

“Dad, that person just called you ‘senior.’ Did you go to school here too?” asked Xiaoguang.

“Yeah, I did.”

“What did you study here?”

—Dragon-slaying.

“Waaah, please don’t ask questions like that, okay!”

Some things came with awkward historical baggage!

“…I just learned stuff like combat, wilderness survival, and the like.”

Leon laughed it off and changed the subject.

After wandering around a bit longer, a blue figure darted out from the crowd.

“Captain.”

Rebecca made her way briskly past several people and approached Leon, nodding in greeting before turning to Rosvisser.

“Sis-in-law… You’re all here.”

“What’s wrong, Rebecca?”

Rebecca’s expression was serious. “Elusa’s archaeological team finished deciphering the ancient script you guys found in the tree hollow. You should come take a look.”

Ever since they returned from the ancient tree site, Elusa’s team had been working nonstop to interpret the carvings on that stone wall.

Translating ancient script required a ton of effort—constant comparison and research.

For Elusa and her team to crack it within just a few days was already impressive.

“Got it. I’ll go now.”

Leon gently lifted Moon down from his shoulders and looked toward Rosvisser.

“You take the kids and Cecilia out for a walk. I’ll check this out.”

“Alright. See you at the inn tonight.”

Leon nodded, then left with Rebecca.

They soon arrived at the archaeology team’s workshop.

The moment they walked in, Leon saw every surface—tables, chairs, even the floor—covered in scattered drafts and ancient texts.

The archaeologists all looked like they hadn’t slept in days, dark circles under their eyes, completely absorbed in decoding ancient language.

“Leon!”

Rustle—

Elusa straightened up from a pile of papers, her long silver hair a little disheveled.

It was obvious she hadn’t had a proper rest in days.

“You’re here.”

Leon and Rebecca walked up to her.

Elusa picked up a compiled report from the table and handed it to Leon.

“Professor Javier and the rest of us spent several days cracking the script. This report has all the consolidated content. Have a look.”

“Thanks for all your hard work.”

Leon opened the report and read it together with Rebecca.

The first half mostly described how Leis forged the Five-Spirit Jade Kings and Crystal Cores—

As well as some grand praise for Leis’s greatness and so on.

Nothing particularly useful.

But the second half caught Leon’s attention.

“An ancestor once foretold—”

“The Thunder Spirit Crystal Core is the most unique among them. Perhaps it has its own consciousness. Perhaps it will change history.”

“But no matter what, it cannot escape its destined fate—”

“To suppress the gate that leads to another world.”

“And once it leaves the place it suppresses, after enduring the trials of thorns, it will discover the answer had been at the very beginning all along.”

As Leon read this, his brows furrowed.

“What is this supposed to mean? Another riddle?”

Elusa shook her head.

“No, I wouldn’t call this a riddle. It’s more like an introduction. There’s a very direct explanation after it.”

Leon nodded thoughtfully and kept reading.

Sure enough, the next section clearly explained the meaning behind that cryptic paragraph.

The gist of it was:

“The Five Great Crystal Cores will take on new forms in this world. The Golden Thunder Clan can use their altar to restore them to their original state.”

Leon raised a brow, voice low.

“That matches what the Golden Thunder Clan told us back then. Their altar really can restore the crystal cores to their original form.”

“Then what does ‘the beginning’ mean?” Rebecca asked. “I know the gate to the Void requires the power of the crystal cores to suppress, but why emphasize ‘the beginning’? Don’t tell me…”

“…the Thunder Spirit Core actually became sentient?”

“Hey now, no becoming spirits after the founding of the nation.”

Leon threw in a dumb joke.

He wasn’t ready to tell anyone yet that he was, in fact, the Thunder Spirit Crystal Core Hera left in the human world thirty years ago.

Because honestly… it was a sad story.

The so-called “origin of the core” was the suppression of the Void Gate;

And Leon was one of those cores.

Which meant that in the future, he’d need to somehow serve as part of the power sealing that gate.

What that “form” might look like… even he didn’t know.

And if even he couldn’t be sure, then there was no reason to worry his friends about it.

“As long as Rosvisser knows, that’s enough.”

Elusa paused, then added, “But do you remember when we first found these inscriptions, I said I suspected they were artificially aged?”

Leon nodded. “Of course.”

“Our team has differing opinions on that.”

Elusa glanced at Professor Javier and the others still resting, then turned back and lowered her voice.

“Professor Javier doesn’t think they were artificially aged, but I still stand by my theory.”

“So… Leon, on that point, I can’t give you a definitive answer. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize, Elusa. You’ve done more than enough. Thank you.”

Leon pursed his lips, voice low.

“Actually, I think the script was intentionally aged too.”

“Oh? Why?”

“I saw some debris under the stone wall at the time.”

“Compared to the surrounding soil, it was different. Clearly debris that flaked off the wall. Probably the residue from recent carving work that hadn’t been properly cleaned.”

“And remember—you told me the entrance under the tree was discovered just recently, seemingly out of nowhere.”

“I don’t know much about archaeology, «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» but even these little clues are enough to suggest…”

“—Someone wanted us to go in, find those inscriptions, and decipher them.”

“And once we follow what’s written in them, we’re walking straight into their trap.”

“Combine that with all the earlier suspicious points, and yeah—it adds up.”

“But who would it be?” Rebecca asked.

Leon looked down at the report, at the two characters that kept appearing again and again—

“Ancestor.”

That alone was enough to confirm the identity of the person who designed this entire trap.

“The Golden Thunder High Priest… Dimo.”