"You..ah..why..he just..?" Pace watched in amazement as Perlis skillfully turned the butterfly knife twice and put it back into her sleeve. Just now, she instantly killed the Thebite Investigator wearing a giant armor, but it seemed that she had no novel feelings like giving a speech for the award. "Look, he's very weak. Counter-reconnaissance is so tiring. It would be better to let him come out by himself," Perlis slowly walked in front of Pace, and a mischievous smile suddenly appeared on her usually dull face. "Anyway, he can't beat me, hey~" "Ah..Okay..." Pace covered his head, obviously still a little unsettled. Hearing the words "the giant armor is very weak" made Pace feel that the reality in front of him was a bit magical. He had never seen the giant armor fall down in his life, let alone being easily knocked down by such a weak-looking girl. Thinking of how he had just attacked Perlis with an axe, Pace broke out in a cold sweat. If it weren't for the fact that I was still of some use to her, I would probably be buried now. Thinking of this, Pace cleared his throat with some fear and said: "So, Miss Babel Blade, what do you want from me?" "I'm here to look for someone," Perlis put away her mischievous smile and returned to her usual indifferent look, "to ask for a name."
"So...why would you ask me if you want to find someone?" Pace looked at Perlis in confusion, "Do I look like an information dealer?" "How would I know... I just saw two idiots patrolling the street, and they didn't look like the annoying Thebit soldiers..." "Wait..." Vans was offended, "Are you polite..?" "..I thought their leader might be a big shot..." Perlis ignored Vans and continued to mutter, "Who knew it was you...a poor young man." "Hey, stop saying bad things about others in front of them!" Pace covered his face, sighed, and then compromised like surrender, "Okay, since you helped me, who do you want to find out about?" When the person that Perlis wanted to inquire about was mentioned, the light in her eyes suddenly dimmed a little. "His name..." Perlis's voice suddenly became lower and her tone seemed even colder. "My name is Ivar Sekepas" "..." "I...Ivar?" Vans suddenly said loudly, scaring Perlis back. "Are you talking about Ivar Sekpas?" "Hmm... yes... yes," Perlis pursed her lips in surprise at the unexpectedly intense reaction, "Do you know him?" "Of course I fucking know the damn Ivar Sekepas," Vans yelled, walking up to Pace and patting him on the shoulder, "You've really come to the right place, brother--" Pace suddenly stretched out his hand to stop Vans from continuing. Perlis then realized that Pace, who had been full of energy just now, was now lowering his head and hiding his face in the shadows. No one in the tavern dared to speak. The old butler looked at his young master, with worry on his old face. Wait..? Does he really know..? "The one you're looking for," Pesce raised his head, his eyes full of ferocity, which frightened Perlis and made her shrink again, "is Ivar Sekepas, the third seat of the [Blade of Babel], known as the [Scavenger], right?" "Yes... yes," seeing the huge contrast with Pace, Perlis was really at a loss, "Do you... do you know him?" Pace stared at Perlis, the light of the past flickering in his black eyes. "I know him."
The little girl who was running towards him slowly beside the icy lake. "Of course I know him." A dead body lying beside the fireplace. Pace Monarch's eyes were bloodshot, reflecting hatred. "Ivar Sekopas..." "Brother, when will you come back?" His sister's childish voice rang in his ears. Many years later, Pace's heart was once again filled with hatred. "He killed my sister." ...... 2) Rainy Night, Mist, Idiot Prince (Part 4) "Yelina, our investigator is not responding and is marked as missing." On the misty bell tower, Ye Lina looked up at the night sky alone. The rain had stopped, and the broken moon seemed to have parted the dark clouds because of the arrival of the "Pure White Fireworks", casting pure white moonlight, which made her very unhappy. "Got it. You guys continue investigating. I will deal with her myself." Ye Lina exited the communication channel and looked down at the city below. Something was brewing in this sleepy ancient town. "For unity (Thebitten)." Yelena muttered in a low voice, and her silver wings slowly spread out in the moonlight. The thin mist obscured the Tower of Babel on the horizon, and the Blade of the Tower of Babel, far away from the Federation, was nothing more than a prey in Yelina's claws. ...... Pace told Perlis a story. A story about an ancient family on the snowy peaks that was nearly wiped out after losing the political infighting in Thebeth. Once upon a time, the snow sculpture with its wings spread out shone on the top of the peaks, overlooking the continent of Admir. But everything changed after Iron Lord Mikhail Irenfono reached the top of Mount Wanren. “You should also know that before the mass destruction weapon [Tower of Babel] was built, the [Great Unity] composed of Dela, , Wilkin, and Grau Yad launched a war against the Academi Federation. People at that time knew that if the Tower of Babel project was successful, every country would be within its range.” Pace sat opposite Perlis, with a heavy expression on his face. Under the dim light, everyone gathered around the wooden table, listening to their young master telling stories. "I know about the Academy War that changed everything," Perlis lowered her eyes, recalling the scene she saw in Charon Special Zone, "The unfinished Tower of Babel got out of control at the last moment." "Yes, the Tower of Babel that attempted to surpass the gods destroyed the World Alliance uncontrollably and razed part of the northern part of the Academi Federation and the entire territory of Grau Yad to the ground." Pace's voice was a little deep. This was the dark history he had heard since he was a child. "A country... was wiped off the map, leaving behind a hellish wasteland."
Everyone in the tavern was silent. They all knew the story. The Tower of Babel had become a nightmare. When a child refused to go to sleep, his mother would scare him with the dark nursery rhyme that was widely circulated: "We grew up within the range of the Tower of Babel." "I know all this, so what does this have to do with your family?" Perlis was somewhat dissatisfied with everyone being immersed in a depressed atmosphere, so she took the initiative to break it up, "Thebite didn't participate in the [College War], right?" "Yes, at that time, Thebeth was in a period of chaos and war among warlords, and was unable to unite its forces to participate in the war." Pace took a sip of the wine in the wooden cup, wiped his mouth, and then said: "But the outbreak at the end of the [College War] changed the civil war in Thebes, or rather, changed a person." "Mikhail Irenfono, right?" Perlis answered immediately. "Not bad," Pace nodded approvingly, "I didn't expect that, little princess, you are quite good at history." "Yeah." Perlis just quietly rolled up the ends of her hair. Seeing that there was no response to her compliments, Pace continued: "At that time, Iron Lord Mikhail Irenfono was just a warlord. He witnessed the destructive power of the Tower of Babel on the snowy peak, which overturned his cognition." "Mikhail realized that if the rest of the world did not unify and form a common force, then Academi would never be hegemonic." "So, the Iron Lord seemed to have received divine inspiration, and overthrew all the warlords with his unstoppable force, and finally marched into the current [Iron Fortress]," Pace said, muttering, "At that time, it seemed to be called [Monark Fortress]..." "So...your family came here to sell wine?" Perlis smacked her lips, "Not really..." "No, after the decisive battle known as the Unification War, the Iron Lord hoped for 'unification' rather than 'annihilation', so the Monarch family was allocated a large manor located halfway up the mountain." Pace's eyes were instantly filled with memories. That manor probably carried all his memories. "I was born in that manor and grew up beside that icy lake..." "Until the Iron Lord's son, Venia Irenforno, took over some of the power." "The Iron Lord's...son?" Perlis was a little surprised. She had hardly heard of Venia. "What happened to him?" "He was a cruel and extravagant young master, unlike his father who devoted his life to the great cause," Pace's hand holding the wooden cup trembled slightly, "I don't want to repeat his life story. In short, he regarded the Monark family as a thorn in his side, and then joined forces with the Iron Lord's adopted son, his brother, Ivar Sekepas..." "Wait a minute!?" Perlis suddenly stood up, "You said Ivar is the Iron Lord's adopted son?" "Yes... Haha, as a member of the Federation, you actually don't know anything about this," Pace said with a sarcastic smile, "Ivar grew up in Loden, and became the adopted son of the Iron Lord after being recruited by him." "Then why is he..." A feeling of fear rose from the bottom of Perlis' heart. Ivar, who reached out to her in the icy rain, was actually jumping back and forth between the hostile Thebite and the Federation. She really didn't understand him at all. It doesn't matter. Perlis' heart suddenly sank, and she threw all these numb emotions behind her. Ever since she knew the truth about her father's death in Charon Special Zone, it seemed that she had been somewhat numb to hide her true feelings. "I...didn't make it," Pace sighed. He stared at the wooden cup in his hand and looked at his reflection in the wine. "..even if I had made it, I would have died in vain. That day, Vans and I went fishing. When I got home..." "Are you sure it's him?" Perlis said softly, her drooping hands tightly grasping the hem of her skirt. "I'm not mistaken... Ivar Sekpas, he led a group of people away from the manor, and when I ran to the house like crazy..." A dead body lying beside the fireplace. "The old butler who was traveling with me forcibly pulled me away from the bodies of my sister and father and brought me here." Pace poured the rest of the wine into his mouth and stopped talking.
A suffocating feeling ignited in Perlis's heart, and she seemed to see herself leaning against her father's tombstone in the icy rain eight years ago. Perlis already knew the Thebites' wild, power-first survival creed, but she never thought that this creed could override the law. "Didn't you ask the Iron Lord for justice?" Perlis asked, "If Venia has no right to take away Monarch Manor, then why..." "I found it," Pace said, slamming the cup on the table. "He said: [Take it back yourself, otherwise the Monarch family is of no use to unification now]." "I have been preparing for revenge since then." Pace looked around at the old ceiling in front of him, something burning in his eyes. "But now I can't even run this shabby pub." Everyone in the tavern was silent. The embarrassing reality before them and the shame suffered by the family seemed to converge at this moment, forming a quagmire that made people sink deeply into it. Perlis clearly saw Pace's struggle and despair in the quagmire. "So? What did you want to see Ivar for?" Pess threw the topic to Perlis, "It must be no small matter for a [Blade of Babel] to come to Thebeth, where the situation is tense, at the cost of the aftermath of the Charon War." Pes looked straight at Perlis, and Perlis hesitated whether to tell Pes that she didn't trust Pes. She also knew that Pes didn't trust her, but the story of this down-and-out young man unexpectedly resonated with her in some way, which made her a little hesitant for a while. Should she trust Pes who had a similar experience as herself? She believed in Ivar, and what did she get? Perlis frowned and finally said: "I just have a score to settle with him." ...... 2) Rainy Night, Mist, Idiot Prince (Part 5) After closing the door of the tavern, under the command of the old butler, the men of the Monarch family were systematically dismantling the giant armor on the investigator. You know, this thing is worth a lot of money. If it can be sold on the black market, it can at least keep everyone full for a short time. Pace was still sitting at the wooden table, drinking one glass of wine after another, while Perlis was standing by the window, staring at the heavy rain outside, as if recalling something. Pace looked at the girl from the Federation. If she was really the Blade of Babel, then what could she have against Ivar, who was also the Blade of Babel? Couldn't these things be solved through the Federal Government? What made her chase him all the way to this city with such terrible weather? While thinking, Vans suddenly stayed beside Pace and sat down next to him. "Brother, I have an idea." "Huh? What do you think?" Pace turned his head and looked at his brother, who had a sly expression on his face, and it looked like he was up to no good. "I was thinking... maybe we can use her to take back Monarch Manor," Vans whispered softly in Pace's ear, while keeping an eye on Perlis, "You saw it too, that investigator is no match for her..." Take back... the manor? Something suddenly ignited in Pace's heart. "Are you sure this won't...?" "It doesn't matter. Tell her that Ivar is in the Monark's house and let her take it by force," Vans whispered in Pace's ear, "As long as we take the house, we can survive this winter." Yes, there is no shortage of food and stored raw materials in the cellar of Monarch Manor. With these, the Monarch family can last longer and the guys won't starve to death. The Monarch family has an opportunity to overcome the difficulties. The opportunity to take revenge on Venia Irenforno was right in front of him.
Pace seemed to see a snow sculpture spreading its wings. That was the emblem of the Monarch family. Seeing that Pace was a little dazed, Vans waved a hand in front of his eyes. "Hey, hey? What's wrong? Don't tell me you really want to help this federal man? Just lie to her and tell her that Ivar escaped to the Iron Fortress and let her go there to die." "this.." Pace was conflicted. He was certainly not interested in the internal strife within the Federation. The world had suffered from Academi for a long time, and from Pace's point of view, Perlis and Ivar were both enemies. As a Thebite, their internal strife should be what Pace, as a Thebite, wanted to see the most.