Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 259 - 258: This Is Getting Off Topic

The dangerous non-human monsters in the wild mountains and the chaotic magic radiation in the Gondor wasteland are not the biggest problems a high-ranked Elven Ranger far from home has to face; it’s the gradual hair loss—by the final words of Soldrin Frostleaf.

Alright, Soldrin never actually said this, but Gawain believes this must be the most sincere words from the depths of this high-ranked Elven Ranger’s heart.

He knew Soldrin—or rather, Gawain Cecil knew Soldrin—it was during the great expedition seven hundred years ago, when this Elf Ranger was still a nobody who had left his home just a few years ago and was traveling in the northern continent. Although he had the strength of a high-ranked Ranger, he certainly didn’t have some impressive title like "Golden-haired Soldrin," and back then he was unfortunate enough to be within the Gondor Empire. After the chaotic wave erupted, this Elf Ranger was trapped in the human empire’s wasteland, cut off from his homeland.

The northern pioneers of the human race rescued this lone Elf Ranger amidst the chaos, and Gawain Cecil incorporated him into his own ranks.

After that, the two fought side by side for many years until the last few years before Gawain Cecil’s death; then Soldrin left the human army and continued to travel in the northern continent as a free mercenary.

Almost no one knew why Soldrin left the Silver Empire alone, nor did anyone know the purpose of this high-ranked Ranger’s travels on the continent. Seven hundred years later, even fewer knew why this powerful freedom mercenary warrior never unleashed more than seventy percent of his power in battle. Only Gawain knew this secret—because Soldrin wore a wig...

The poor guy came out just looking for folk remedies to treat his hair loss...

To be honest, when these related memories surfaced in his mind, Gawain nearly strained every muscle on his face to stop himself from laughing out loud—if he did, his image would be utterly ruined, and there would be no chance to rebuild friendship with Soldrin—the boat of friendship wouldn’t just capsize; it would spin in place twenty laps and smash into their faces, then they would start a blood feud on the spot...

So he tried to maintain his calm demeanor, casually reminiscing with the Elf Ranger, just as Gawain Cecil used to do with Soldrin in his memories: "Do you remember how I discovered your secret back then?"

"How could I know that one of the top commanders of the human Allied Army would grab hair while fighting," Soldrin still holding a grudge that had lingered for seven hundred years, rolled his eyes at Gawain in annoyance, "Luckily, no one else saw, otherwise I would’ve fought you to the death right there..."

Gawain shrugged: "You couldn’t beat me."

"Couldn’t beat you back then, what about now?" Soldrin looked Gawain up and down, "I can tell your strength has waned quite a bit."

"You still can’t beat me now," Gawain replied candidly, based on the philosophy that appearances should first be upheld regardless of internal uncertainty, "When I first woke up, you might have had a chance, but now I’ve almost fully recovered."

Soldrin fell silent, staring unblinkingly at Gawain. He stared for so long that Gawain began to wonder if the Elf’s orientation had finally changed, before he broke the silence: "I still can’t believe you’re really alive again... I heard about it in Typhon, but at first, I thought it was some farce orchestrated by Anzu’s royal family for some purpose. I cursed that illegitimate king for finally losing face and using his country’s founding hero as a political tool... Never expected that it was really you."

After a pause, he shook his head and continued, "Originally, I wanted to directly come over to confirm the situation, but there was really no opportunity."

Gawain glanced at him: "So you came to lead this infiltration mission just to take this chance to verify my authenticity?"

"That was part of the reason," Soldrin replied frankly, "I received orders. The people on the Typhon side were unaware of my past friendship with you seven hundred years ago, so they appointed me as the commander of the infiltration mission in the direction of the Dark Mountain Range, thus I came—I wanted to see if ’Gawain Cecil’ was real, and if not, I’d kill the imposter with my own hands... quite frankly, I was ninety percent sure you were fake."

Gawain was taken aback: "Why so certain?"

"I was there at your burial," Soldrin looked into Gawain’s eyes, "While traveling near the Plains of the Holy Spirits, I heard about your death on the southern front and rushed to your territory, just in time for the final moments before your burial. Thanks to our past as battle comrades, your wife allowed me to closely observe your... remains. I can confirm you were truly dead at that time, your soul had left that body—I am certain my senses were not wrong. The elves’ ability to perceive life far exceeds you humans."

Gawain’s expression changed slightly, while his heart surged with waves—a realization of how significant this Elf "old friend’s" appearance was to him. He realized this was someone who had truly witnessed Gawain Cecil’s life, and even his death, firsthand. His words were more reliable than any history book and more accurate than any third-party account!

Although he inherited most of Gawain Cecil’s memories, he always suspected distortions and omissions in these memories. Could this Elf fill in the gaps?

To avoid arousing Soldrin’s suspicion with overly abnormal actions, Gawain didn’t immediately reveal his memory issues. Instead, he suppressed the waves in his heart and asked, following Soldrin’s line of conversation, other intriguing questions: "What was my condition back then? I mean, when I was lying in the coffin."

Having a face-to-face discussion with a deceased individual about their corpse is evidently a bizarre experience. Even Soldrin, who has traveled the continent for seven hundred years, couldn’t help but twitch his mouth a little, but he still answered seriously: "You died from exhaustion, and your guards risked their lives to retrieve your body, so there were almost no external injuries. The cause of death was the failure of all your organs. Since I wasn’t on the battlefield during your final moments, I’m not clear about the specifics of your death."

As he spoke, Soldrin’s expression turned a bit gloomy and embarrassed. It was obvious that he had always had a grudge for not being able to fight alongside Gawain Cecil in his final moments. This lingering guilt had probably accompanied him for seven centuries—as a long-lived elf, dealing with short-lived humans inevitably involved such sentiments. Seeing this, Gawain could only sigh inwardly and show a comforting smile: "Alright, the person is dead, so don’t dwell on it."

No sooner had he said it, he realized something was off and quickly corrected himself: "The person is alive, so there’s even less to dwell on."

Soldrin’s face twitched once again, while Gawain forcibly continued the conversation: "What about the other parts of the funeral?"

"Your funeral went smoothly—it was extraordinarily solemn and moving, unforgettable. King Charlie personally nailed the first and last steel nails, and all of the kingdom’s dukes and marquises were present. At the end of the funeral, the power of the elements briefly manifested, and incarnations of the four elemental forces lingered outside your tomb briefly. Scholars believe that was the official ending of your contract with the elements."

Gawain finally caught a key point: "You said the incarnations of the four elements appeared back then?"

"Yes, at least I personally saw the wind element appear briefly, and a wall outside the tomb was shrouded in a cloud of air," Soldrin nodded, "However, the elemental incarnations didn’t communicate with humans; they just appeared briefly, for probably less than a minute."

Gawain Cecil had once formed a contract with the four elements, which was not only a legend passed down for seven hundred years in the Anzu Kingdom but also a tale that bards in various countries across the continent were always eager to talk about. This "legend" was not entirely fabricated.

Gawain Cecil indeed communicated with the elements; his rapid growth into a legendary powerhouse in just thirty-five years was closely linked with elemental power. However, that contract was not as straightforward as people imagined—in fact, even Gawain himself couldn’t quite understand what agreements Gawain Cecil had made with the elements back then.

The incarnations of elemental power possess chaotic and elusive "minds," and human mental structures are nearly incapable of true communication with them. Even those shamans who claim to communicate with the elements don’t dare to say they can understand the language of the elements. To most mortals who study the way of the elements, the so-called "communication with elements" is merely a vague guess of the tendencies of elemental force; if someone claims to have formed a rational, logical connection with a "certain elemental incarnation," they are either a liar, a lunatic, or a poor soul deceived by a "Elemental Lord."

Those "elemental creatures" living in various planes are fundamentally different from the true "elemental force." The former are, in essence, tangible and substantial creatures formed from a single element with extreme magical tendencies, while the latter is more akin to a manifestation of the essence of the world.

And the legend that Gawain Cecil had made a contract with the four great elements, his contract entities seemed to be the essence of those elements, rather than a powerful elemental creature—this was the most shocking and unbelievable fact for Gawain.

But just like those memories about the "Sea of Eternal Darkness" and "secret voyage," how Gawain Cecil formed a contract with the four great elements was also a blank space in the memories he inherited.

Even now, if he wanted to inquire about the truth from the elemental wills, he had no idea where to start.

As Gawain’s mind turned over various knowledge related to the nature of elements and elemental creatures, he didn’t forget to remind himself: When analyzing elemental creatures, first separate those deep-sea heretic gods. Although Tiel claims sea demons are elemental creatures, he always feels that he must discuss those saline fish separately in any situation—they’re too peculiar. If treated as research samples, even a glance might cost san...

"What are you thinking?" Soldrin noticed Gawain had been silent for a long time and his expression was changeable, so he couldn’t help but ask.

"How well do you understand the way of the elements?" Gawain asked casually.

Soldrin thought for a moment: "I’m proficient in the four spellings of ’the way of the elements’ in the human common language and the Elven language, and I know who wrote the greatest work on the four elements, the ’Elemental Treatise’..."

"...Then I have nothing more to say," Gawain’s eye twitched slightly, "Apart from that, was there anything else at my funeral?"

Soldrin seriously recalled, then shook his head: "No, you looked quite peaceful lying there at the time."

"...Shall we change the topic?"

"I think that’s a good idea."