Chapter 121: The Past of Helford
"Well, Ghost, that's awesome."
In the ruins of the underground hall, Jiang Xia blew a whistle in a very unpleasant way, which attracted the angry glare of old Saen. The old hunter turned his back and wiped his tears.
In a very gentle way, the ashes in front of you are collected into a specially made box.
His hands were covered in blood, and the burnt flesh even showed signs of carbonization. If not treated, the burns would turn into permanent disability.
But he didn't seem to care at all.
After collecting the ashes, he staggered over, stumbled a bit, and was supported by Jiang Xia. The embarrassed old Jiang winked at him and asked in a gossipy whisper:
"Whose child is Helya? I noticed before that her eyebrows look a bit like yours . You are such a cuckold to the master of the family. You are amazing."
“It’s not what you think!”
Old Sarn pushed Jiang Xia away and said angrily:
"You are not allowed to insult the master and the mistress. They are very loving. The young lady is a true descendant of the Helford family. I just... I just..."
"Okay, okay, no need to explain. I know what it's like to be a man."
Jiang Xia still had an ambiguous smile on his face and said:
“A woman like Lady Samina, even if she is married, is destined to be the goddess desired by all men, and I don’t care about the grudges between you.
I'm a very vulgar person, I just want to know...
Have you ever slept?
And, does Master Fleming know that his hat is a little green?"
"Shut up."
Old Sarn closed his eyes and walked towards the collapsed stairs. He said:
"Your mouth is as bad as your heart."
"I just saved you, you ungrateful old man."
Jiang Xia laughed, he looked back at the broken hall, and stepped out. Liu Hui was still very weak, so she was carried by Hanhan and walked out of the hall.
"Don't tell the lady about this."
The moment he stepped onto the stairs, Old Saen turned around and said to Jiang Xia with a hint of pleading:
"I don't want her to have to bear any more baggage. Our story is over, so let it end."
"OK."
Jiang Xia agreed, and then said seriously:
"But you have to tell me first, why did Lady Samina turn into a monster? And where did the Baroness's father go? Isn't it a big enough reason for him to come back and see his wife turning into a monster?"
Old Sarn was obviously a little hesitant, while Jiang Xia touched the cooling sun emblem in his hand and said:
“Miss Helya has agreed to become my employee, I will help you take care of her.
Tell me, San, if you keep things in your heart for too long, it will become troublesome. You came here today with the determination to die, and perhaps you will seek death again in the future.
Before you seek death, the story between you, Master Fleming, and Madam Samina must have an ending.
I want to hear this story.
Just consider it as extra compensation for this employment and this expedition.
Considering the blood I shed for you, you won't be so stingy as to not even tell me a story, right? "
Hearing Jiang Xia's complaint, Old Saen stopped.
He looked back at Jiang Xia, and after several seconds, he spoke:
" You want to hear it? I can tell you, but you have to promise me one thing."
"Go ahead and tell me."
Jiang Xia rubbed his hands gossipingly, sat down on the stairs, and said:
"If the story is interesting enough, I will agree. Of course, you should not hide anything, especially your past with Lady Samina. I am very interested."
Old Saen shook his head helplessly. He was also a little tired, so he sat there, staring blankly at the collapsed underground hall and family tomb.
After today's battle, most of the castle was destroyed by the stupid monster's innate magical power, and it has become a truly endangered building. It is completely unusable and must be demolished and rebuilt.
Fortunately, the Baroness is very rich, so she probably won’t feel bad.
Jiang Xia leaned against the stone wall beside him, and the weak Liu Hui was also placed beside him.
Except for Hanhan.
Everyone was ready to listen to the stories of the older generation of the Hereford family as a post-war break.
“Fleming and I are distant relatives. He should call me cousin. He is the direct descendant of the family and I am from the side branch, but we grew up together.
More like brothers than real brothers."
“Our story is not complicated.”
Sarn lowered his head, holding the cigarette Jiang Xia gave him. As the smoke burned, the old hunter said softly in a tired voice:
“Fleming and I grew up in this manor. Our fathers were witch hunters. Ever since the monster disaster broke out, members of the Helford family have been guarding our land.
Therefore, we have always had a good relationship with the Vaslo Witch Hunting Society.
When we were young, Fleming and I, like other young people, admired heroes who fought monsters. As men in the family, becoming witch hunters was our destined life.
Fleming was very talented, especially in spirit possession, and he was very gentle. But I was more...free at that time, and more like a vanguard role.
We fought side by side, and Fleming quickly stood out. People with talent can succeed anywhere, and with his mastery of spirit possession, he earned the title of master in the witch hunting society.
They were going to give me that title, too.
But I refused.
I don't care about that.
I just want to do our duty with my brother.
I just want to protect this land that belongs to our family.
Fleming thought so too, until... until we accidentally rescued a female witch hunter in distress while clearing out monsters one day."
The old hunter paused.
He seemed to be lost in his memories. After more than ten seconds, he continued:
“It was at that time that Samina came into our lives. Her family was also aristocratic in the Old World, but as they migrated to the new colonies, all the glory of the family had left her.
She vowed to pay compensation for her people who died in the Old World. Don't underestimate her because she looks weak, but she is indeed a good warrior, and her bloodline ability is more like that of a spellcaster.
The phantom of the ghost, the white flame, elegant and pretty, noble and beautiful.
At the beginning, Samina and I were quite close, and even to the point of discussing marriage, but my cousin was very charming and he soon became close to Samina as well.
She is not a bad woman.
She didn't want to see us two brothers become enemies because of her.
So she chose to leave at one point.
But because of her departure, Fleming and I had a deeper dispute.
A very old story.
One night, a pair of brothers dueled for a woman.
I lost.
He chose to exile himself like a loser.
He drank all day and got drunk, and partied every night with his unruly colleagues.
I heard about Fleming and Samina getting married, and it broke my heart, so I made a terrible decision."
Sarn smiled bitterly, touched his chest, sighed and said:
“The Vaslo Witch Hunt took root in the new colonies, but the old soldiers never gave up the ideal of returning to the Old World, especially when we were young.
Every few years, they would organize an expedition to return to the Old World.
During those years, the monsters had not given up hunting humans, and every year a demonic tide would rise from the other side of the strait.
The expedition's duty is to search for survivors in the Old World, kill the monster lords and suppress low-level monsters before the demon tide begins, retrieve the precious ashes, and train more and more powerful witch hunters.
I was completely desperate at the time, so I joined the expedition that year and crossed the sea back to the Old World, just to risk my life.
But we were lucky that time.
All the way from the White Cliff Coast, along the alienated forest deep inland , passing through several cities, and eliminating several monster lords without too many casualties.
Victory and good luck went to our heads.
The leader of the team decided to take a risk and go to the source where the monster disaster first broke out.
That city is called the City of Fog.
On the other side of the Old World lies the Crawford Strait.
There we went.
us……
Lost.
We were surrounded by monsters before we even entered the outskirts of the Fog City. Like a terrifying tide, we fought desperately but were unable to break through the siege.
At that time, everyone had made up their mind to die.
No one will come to support us.
We were too aggressive.
This destruction was all due to our stupidity and arrogance.
But I was wrong.
I'm an asshole who abdicated my responsibilities, but Fleming wasn't.
My brother feels he owes me.
After receiving the death letter we sent back to the new colony, he immediately took action.
He reached some kind of agreement with the Witch Hunting Coven, which I am not clear about, in exchange for the full support of the Witch Hunting Coven. Including him, there were thirteen witch hunting masters, commanding all the bloodlines that the Witch Hunting Coven could gather at that time.
They crossed the channel, entered the Old World, followed our route, and rushed all the way to the outside of the City of Mist. They opened the way for us to return.
I felt very guilty at that time.
I would rather die.
I don't want to see my brother take risks for me.
But Fleming told me everything would be OK.
He asked me to leave first, saying that he had an important mission to do. "
At this point, Sane clenched his fingers. The burned wounds were bleeding and it must have been painful, but the old hunter felt nothing. His tone also became low and sharp.
He said:
“I watched Fleming and the other twelve masters rush into the Fog City facing the monsters. I didn’t know what they were going to do.
But it would certainly be dangerous.
I am guarding outside the city. I don't want to go back alone. I must bring my brothers back.
I didn't wait for that opportunity.
Three days after they entered the City of Mist, monsters throughout the Old Continent began to riot. I tried to rush into the city, but was knocked unconscious by my companions. In the subsequent riot of the monsters, I was taken back to the new colony.
I lost my brother.
Those brave ones were like jumping into the sea without even a splash. They entered the city of fog and never came out.
No one knew what they did, but since that year, the monsters from the Old World have never attacked the new colonies again.
It was also from that year that the dream of the red moon, which occurred every three months, began to cover the world.
I highly suspect that Fleming and his men made some kind of noble and terrible sacrifice, trapping the source of the monsters in the foggy city.
I paid a lot of money to have the prophet of the witch hunting society look at it.
Fleming should still be alive.
He should still be in the Fog City."
"It may be a large seal."
The wolf demon who was listening to the story outside stroked his burnt mane with melancholy and interrupted:
“If they have enough magical weapons like the Sun Emblem, they can indeed set up a powerful enough sealing formation.
By relying on the endless spiritual energy connected to the earth veins, the weak can defeat the strong and trap the leader of the monsters in the city, which is equivalent to capturing the king first.
It’s a very smart tactic.”
"What about Lady Samina? What's the matter with her transformation?"
Jiang Xia nodded and asked again.
The pain on old Sarn's face became even more intense. He said:
“I wanted to go to the Old World to rescue Fleming, just like he rescued a useless bastard like me, but before I left, the Witch Hunters gave me Fleming’s letter.
He didn't say what he was going to do.
He just told me not to feel guilty, and that even if my accident hadn't happened, he would still take the risk a few years later.
He did this not just for me, but for his newborn daughter, for his beloved Samina, for the Helford family and the whole world.
He asked me to take care of his family.
I could not refuse my brother's plea."
The old hunter fell silent.
What happened afterwards must have been heartbreaking for him.
“I returned to the manor where I was born, and rejoined the Helford family as a steward to take care of little Helja.
And try to avoid meeting Samina.
It's not just because it's embarrassing.
Moreover, I couldn't face her and tell her what happened outside the Fog City.
Samina was very silent during those years. She locked herself in her room, seldom went out, and even rarely cared about Helya. At first, I just thought that Samina could not let go of her pain.
But I was wrong.
A strong woman like Samina will never give in to reality.
She never gave up.
After Fleming left, she was planning a terrible plan. By the time I found out, it was too late. She wanted to save her lover.
For this she would rather fall into hell and become a devil. "
Sarn glanced at the ashes in his arms, lowered his head, and said:
“The Red Moon Dream that occurs every three months is a terrifying event. The power of the demon’s origin will pull everyone into a malicious dream.
If you are frightened, if you lose your persistence, you will be captured by the demon that rushes out of your dream.
That's another world.
A dream world looming over reality.
Everyone would choose to use various methods to protect themselves in the Red Moon Dream from being attacked by malicious forces from the outside world, but Samina did not do so.
She spent eight years and exposed herself to the Red Moon Dream twenty-four times to give birth to the nightmare incarnation, and then used her bloodline ability to successfully separate her soul.
Through the connection of the last red moon dream, her soul traveled through the dream and went to the foggy city to find Fleming, trying to save Fleming from endless suffering.
When I realized something was wrong and broke into the castle, all that was left was a body transformed by magic.
A large amount of dark magic power escaped from the body.
The products of the nightmare spread throughout the entire manor and turned the nearby forest upside down.
I could only activate the seal formation left by Fleming to protect his wife and children, and then escape like a coward again with young Helya.
But the child was infected by dark magic. I lied to her and said it was a family hereditary disease. In fact, it was very simple to cure her. All I had to do was burn her to ashes.
What we hunt today is the body of Samina.
Remember what I told you before, about the finest ashes of those sacrificed witch hunters that the Witch Hunt saved?
Helya has the power to inherit her mother's strength, and only when she inherits this power and only when she can protect herself...
I can go without any worries."
