Chapter 265: The Revelation of Agrael

  Ethan smiled and said, "It's indeed an important matter. The truth is, I had originally just come to ask you about someone's whereabouts, but now it seems that's no longer necessary."

  Aunt El nodded with a knowing smile and said, "Let's talk alone. Have your two young ladies wait outside for a moment."

  Talise glanced at Aunt El, snorted coldly, and turned, pulling Aimee along with her as she walked outside.

  Listening to their footsteps fade away, Aunt El sat down at the table. Ethan also walked over and sat on the other side. For more than ten years of lessons, the two of them had always sat at opposite ends of the table like this.

  "Here, this is still Reed's buckwheat bread from the village entrance. You haven't tasted it in years, have you?" Aunt El took a loaf of bread from the bag she had just placed on the table and handed it to Ethan.

  Ethan took a bite and swallowed, then said with a smile, "Honestly, his skills are still as terrible. But eating at your place, Grandma, everything seems to taste good."

  Ever since he was a child, besides his own home, this was the only other place where he could get rest and food. Especially since he came here almost always after training, he was especially hungry.

  "I can't believe it... how time flies. I remember back then you were only as tall as this table. It seems in the blink of an eye, you've grown so tall and so formidable." Aunt El looked at Ethan and sighed, closing her eyes to think, as if recalling his appearance from his youth.

  "Actually, the one who's more surprised is me," Ethan sighed, looking closely at this old woman, whom he had long been more familiar with than anyone else. "I truly never imagined that you, the person who watched me grow up, are the person Sandro told me to find: the former chief of the Adventurers' Guild, the other former acting guild master of Diya Valley, Agrael."

  "Yes, I am Agrael. It's been a long time since I've heard that name," Aunt El nodded and said very calmly.

  Ethan let out a long breath. Although he had guessed it, hearing it confirmed still gave him an immense sense of shock.

  Before returning here, he had a vague feeling that this old woman who had taught him since he was a child could not be just a simple retired adventurer. The skills, combat techniques, knowledge, and many principles she had taught him were not something an ordinary person could possess. So when there was no news of Agrael anywhere, Ethan thought of her. Since she had so much knowledge and experience, she couldn't have been an ordinary person in the past, so perhaps she would know the whereabouts of that reclusive number-one assassin and adventurer on the continent.

  But when he returned here and looked at this small cabin with his current perspective, he got a strange feeling. And when Talise recognized those unusual collectibles, especially the half of the staff, he had to consider this possibility. Finally, when he heard Aunt El's voice from behind, he could be certain.

  To be able to approach him to the point where she could launch a sneak attack at any time without him noticing at all, he really couldn't think of anyone else besides the legendary number-one assassin on the continent.

  "But... when I went to inquire at The Thieves' Guild and the Adventurers' Guild, I never heard that Agrael was a woman."

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  Aunt El smiled and said, "During my time as the chief of the Adventurers' Guild, I presented myself as a man. You know, a bunch of crude men are not very willing to be led by a woman."

  "Then there's the strangest point... Since Sandro knows you, why didn't he give even the slightest clue? Why did he just nonsensically tell me to come find you?"

  A look of surprise appeared on Aunt El's face. She asked, "You didn't know my identity at all before this? Then how did you find your way here?"

  "I was completely at a loss, so I thought to come and ask you, Grandma," Ethan said with a smile. "After seeing you, I naturally knew."

  "Oh? You mean to say you never heard about me teaching that young officer who came here to investigate you a lesson? I thought that after you heard about that, and considering my appearance at the duke's mansion at that time, you should have been at least a little suspicious. At least Sandro should have known it was me."

  "I only just now fully understood that the person at the duke's mansion that day was actually you. No wonder Sandro's reaction was so strange; he refused to say who you were to anyone who asked afterward."

  Aunt El sneered and said, "Because he has a guilty conscience."

  "Guilty conscience about what? He can have a guilty conscience?"

  "You can ask him about these things when you have time." Aunt El's smile was a bit ambiguous. Her eyes then sharpened: "I also saw that young officer I taught a lesson back then. He was with you at the duke's mansion. What, I broke both his hands, and he never mentioned it to anyone?"

  "That happened? I never heard of it at all. It seems Sandro didn't know either, otherwise he would have told me this time I came out." Ethan shook his head in astonishment. He now understood that the young person Aunt El was talking about was Rodhart. But on that day in the royal capital, he had been too busy and hadn't had time to talk to Rodhart at all. And afterward, he had never heard anything about it.

  "That's a bit strange..." Aunt El pondered for a moment but couldn't figure it out. However, compared to the matter at hand, this was just a trivial detail. She shook her head at Ethan and said, "Forget it, since you're here, it's all the same."

  "Sandro asked me to get something from you..." Ethan took out the pouch filled with Sunwell water from his bosom, "The thing that can lock this item, he said should be with you. And he asked you to find a place to store it properly."

  "The thing he wants isn't here with me," Aunt El said, shaking her head slightly and pointing at Ethan. "It's with you. Sandro has never seen this item; it's not surprising he couldn't recognize it. But I have to say, he was truly too careless."

  "With me?" Ethan was taken aback.

  "Yes, the one you've always been carrying on your hand. I originally gave it to you intending for you to figure it out yourselves, but in the end, you still have to trouble me." Aunt El extended a finger and tapped Ethan's hand. Her finger was slender, and without a single wrinkle, like a young girl's hand. This young, beautiful finger was pointing at the ring on Ethan's finger.

  Far outside the cabin, Talise and Aimee were waiting under a large tree. Aimee's expression was calm, while Talise's face was full of anger.

  "What does she mean by 'your two young ladies'? Are we his possessions or something?" Talise suddenly said aloud. It seemed only now that she could vent the anger that had been pent up in her chest.

  Aimee asked in surprise, "So that's what you were bothered by? But why did you pull me out without saying a word earlier? I thought you didn't care."

  "What do you mean, I didn't care? This is an insult to a knight." Talise's face turned red, but then she sighed again, "Just now, I had no choice but to walk out. That old woman is too formidable. I felt like I couldn't breathe in front of her."

  "Really? I couldn't feel that she was formidable at all. She just seemed like an ordinary old woman."

  "Ordinary? Hmph." Talise snorted coldly. "If it weren't for the fact that I really can't go back to Celeste right now, and for that kid's sake, I would have gone and called my teacher and all the Temple Knights." Her expression and eyes were all contorted awkwardly by anger and confusion: "I must ask her clearly what she meant by those words."

  "Didn't you say that this was put on me when my father found me?" Ethan took the ring off his finger. His expression was not one of confusion, but of calm. He could feel that the question this brought up was likely not as simple as just surprise.

  Aunt El said lightly, "I put it on you."

  "Then you were the first one to see me?"

  Aunt El looked somber for a moment, then smiled and said, "You could say that."

  "You could say that," which meant there was definitely another version, but Ethan didn't ask. He didn't know if it was because he didn't dare, or because he was unwilling. He just asked, "Then this item has nothing to do with me?"

  "It does. Aren't you in need of this thing right now?"

  "I mean, this item has nothing to do with my origins?" Ethan asked after a moment's hesitation, his voice careful. He could feel his heart beating, beating very fast. It had been a long time since his heart had beaten this fast.

  Ever since he went to steal the Leaves of the World Tree from the elves, and obtained the power of the Sunwell and later the Leaves of the World Tree, he began to be pulled into a vortex. This enormous vortex, intertwined with things like Diya Valley, The Black Star, the Leaves of the World Tree, the Central Lands, light, darkness, and so on.

  First came the favor of Archbishop Ronis, then the enticement of the Lich Vedenina, the Marquis's conspiracy... These forces or individuals swirled around him. Although he himself was unwilling and had tried to escape, he was ultimately pulled into this vortex. Sometimes, even the means of escape had to rely on other forces within this vortex. Only recently did he begin to face this vortex head-on with his own power and his own courage. But at this moment, he suddenly learned that even his own origins seemed to be a part of this vortex.