Volume 4 copy Chapter 18: Telescope Diagram (Part 2)
After bidding farewell to my comrades who had fought side by side with me, I immediately found Colonel Pecra, the garrison commander of the Valen Fortress, and reported to him my experiences in the forest mausoleum, and revealed the true identity of the Marquis of Meneval. The few words that the evil vampire leader said before his death made me feel very uneasy. I always had an indescribable terrible premonition, as if the world was about to change drastically and a huge disaster was about to come. And all of this was related to what we experienced today.
Colonel Pecola still looked listless and spoke to me in a soft voice, but what he said was completely different from the old age and stupidity he showed:
"...I have always felt that Meneval's identity was suspicious. At first, I felt that he was strikingly similar to the portraits of his ancestors, which aroused my suspicion. Moreover, no one had ever seen his childhood appearance, and no one had ever heard of rumors about the women in his family. This was too abnormal..."
"...Thank you for saving my assistant. Before this, I had lost thirteen of my best spies. Now I can conclude that it was the cunning vampire who killed them. You brought crucial news, sir. I have written a letter to His Majesty the King, explaining the crisis here. They will send reinforcements here soon. With the blessing of Darrimos, I hope everything can still be saved..."
Having said this, the colonel stood up, faced the wall, took down the sword hanging on the wall, and gently stroked the scabbard, just like a father stroking his sleeping child.
"...This will be a difficult war, the greatest crisis that the Falvi continent has ever encountered. For an old warrior, it comes a little late..."
As he spoke, he carefully put his sword on his belt, stood silently at the window, and looked at the dark shadows of the distant mountains. His expression was still tired, his body was still hunched, and his frail face was incompatible with his neat military uniform, but there was something warm surging in his eyes, which made my heart boil as he looked into the distance. His slightly furrowed brows implied a magnanimous demeanor that made people feel that even if the heavy responsibility fell on this middle-aged officer, he would bravely bear it without hesitation.
All this was completely different from my impression of Colonel Pecla. I thought he was an old, dull, corrupt bureaucrat, but I didn't see that there was a pair of wise and clear eyes hidden between his graying temples, and a brave and fearless soul of a soldier burning in his frail body.
Crisis is like a touchstone of the soul. Perhaps only when facing it can we see a person's courage and integrity.
But I was so stupid that I deeply misunderstood a respected elder based on appearance alone. Instead, I trusted the sinister conspirator and almost lost my life at his hands.
As a reward for this mission, Colonel Pekora gave me a light steel shield called "Observer's Bunker". This is exactly the defensive device I need most now. Compared with the ordinary small shield that was completely destroyed in the forest mausoleum, this steel shield can not only provide me with much stronger defense, but its "Observer" attribute also improves my observation and discrimination ability in battle, which greatly increases my chance of blocking and gives me more opportunities to completely defend against the enemy's attack without suffering any damage.
For the first time, I felt that receiving an award was such a shameful thing, especially such a precious award. I felt that I was not only unworthy of receiving Colonel Pekla's award, but also deserved to be punished for what I had done. When I took the shield from the colonel, my face was burning and I dared not look him in the eye.
When I left the colonel's office, he had already sat back at his desk, lost in quiet thought. The setting sun poured in through the window, casting the colonel's figure in a subtle and deep glow, leaving me with the silhouette of a wise and resolute soldier.
After bidding farewell to the colonel, I gradually collected my due remuneration from the employers who entrusted me with the work. Prosecutor Mr. Faseli and City Defense Patrol Officer Sir Montara paid the remuneration for the "Lost Only Son" and "Vampire Fang" missions in full. When I went to Mr. Faseli's house, the little Fili we rescued was practicing swordsmanship diligently. He also said that he wanted to be a warrior "as brave as Jeffreys Kidd" when he grew up. Later I learned that when Chang Sanjiao visited again, this little brat said that he wanted to be a "wanderer as elegant as Chang Sanjiao" when he grew up, and he said to Chang Gongsheri that he wanted to be a "priest as holy as Chang Gongsheri". I think this child has the potential to become an outstanding politician when he grows up.
But at this moment, the crystal-like pure love shown by this child was more precious to me than the purse containing a dozen gold coins his father gave me.
I returned the five lost pages of the holy book to the temple of the fortress. Unfortunately, due to the influence of dark magic, the sacred magic attached to these pages of the holy book has completely faded, and they have completely turned into ordinary pages of paper. The damaged holy book can no longer restore its great power when it was intact. However, for the monks in the temple, they obviously value the religious significance behind these pages of paper more. In addition to five gold coins, they also gave me a belt blessed by divine power, which can increase my strength by 18 points and improve my dodge rate.
I reported my victory over the "cursed war spirit" to the warrior trainer in the fortress. He praised me with a sentimental tone and taught me a skill called "Blade Storm". This skill allows me to cause strong damage to up to three enemies around me at the same time within 15 seconds, which is very useful when I am surrounded and beaten.
In fact, I think this rough warrior trainer is a simple-minded and overly credulous person. He didn't even ask me for the token of defeating the "cursed fighting spirit". He just believed me unconditionally after listening to my story. I guess, even if I did nothing, strolled outside the fortress, and came back to tell him that I had completed the task, this silly trainer might still teach me combat skills.
After completing all this, I returned to Campnavia and went back to the laboratory of my alchemy teacher, Mr. Edgwell, and eagerly took out the "telescope blueprint" hidden in the package...
