Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 5: The Lady Bandit Being Useful

Rebecca thought for a moment. She was going to remind her ancestor that the tomb for the founding king of Anzu was built when that king was still alive. Even the king himself participated in its design. However, on second thoughts, if she were to keep up this drivel, Aunt Heidi might just kill her on the spot. Thus, she swallowed her words, turned to him and smiled awkwardly. “Ahaha… that makes sense.”

“Now we can’t go back by the same route.” Heidi sighed and calmly analyzed the situation. “The entrance to the castle’s courtyard and the ancestral graves have been occupied by those monsters. Going back where we came from would be a dead end.”

“We have to find another way out,” Gawain said as he searched his inherited memory. “It’s been seven hundred years since, has the castle not been renovated?”

“The upper parts of the castle have undergone reconstruction, but the foundation hasn’t been modified,” Heidi said quickly, “The entrance you mentioned should still be there.”

“Well, that’s great then,” Gawain said, extending his hand to a soldier beside him. “Lend me your sword for a while.”

After taking the longsword from the soldier, Gawain drew a sketch on the ground. He first sketched the top view of the castle’s outline, followed by a side view of the castle roughly divided into three levels. Though the sketches were drawn in a hurry, the different sections of the castle could be made out quite clearly.

“The entrance is here, two levels underground. It’s close to the wine cellar and the granary, at least it used to be. There are two passages to get here, but we would have to enter these passages from the surface, so this is probably not feasible.”

Rebecca looked curiously at Gawain’s sketches. “The wine cellar and granary are still there, but I never knew a third room existed…”

“It’s not a room, but a mezzanine, built with some architectural tricks. It’s hidden between the wall and supporting beams.” Gawain chuckled, “This piece of land wasn’t very peaceful back then. Located at the border, the monsters emerging from the wasteland of Gondor and the soldiers of the old empire who had gone mad would come to attack every ten to fifteen days. The Cecil pioneers pretty much built this according to the demands of a stronghold during a war. In these situations, the hidden passageways and levels were indispensable. They can be used for emergency evacuation and as a supply route when under siege.”

Knight Byron took a serious look at the simple map and pulled out his long sword to trace the bottom corner of the map, “So we have to advance to the entrance at the second level of the castle… and not pass through the courtyard or the passages on the ground floor. This is where we are. The ancestral tomb is an underground structure built in the southeast section of the castle. It coincides with about one-third of the castle’s structural base…”

“In this overlapping area, there should be a passage,” Gawain interrupted Byron, “The tomb was built seven hundred years ago. These craftsmen were the same ones who built the fortress. These buildings were built in accordance to the standards and regulations then. They must have made an alternative route.”

With that said, he gave Rebecca a strange look. “You really don’t know anything about this? This knowledge should have been passed down in the Cecil Clan through the generations.”

Rebecca looked down embarrassed. “I…”

“Ancestor, we failed to live up to the glory that you have fought to bring to the family.” Heidi bit her lip. With a troubled look, she said, “The Cecil Clan has been through many things in these seven hundred years…”

“Alright, I know,” Gawain waved his hand. This was not the time for telling stories. “After we get out of here, I’ll let you explain to me the things that happened these past seven hundred years. The matter at hand is to find the way to the hidden passageway from the tomb.”

Rebecca, Heidi, and Byron squatted down and studied the sketch. Though they were familiar with the Cecil Clan’s castle, they were not familiar with how the tomb was constructed. This seven hundred year old tomb was not just some tourist attraction that could be entered for two silver coins, let alone somewhere they could take a stroll around every few days. Even before the tomb was sealed a hundred years ago, the descendants of the Cecil Clan could only enter the tomb on a few rare occasions in their lifetime—and they were also not allowed to go near their ancestor’s resting grounds.

How would they know where the hidden passageway was!

In the face of this problem, even Gawain’s memory could not be of any help. After all, he certainly did not expect that sometime in the future, he would rise up and find a way out of there…

But just as they were unable to find a solution, Amber, who stayed obediently in a corner, suddenly spoke up, “Hey… I might know a way…”

Immediately, everyone in the tomb turned their attention to the half-elf thief.

Amber’s neck cringed back.

Heidi frowned. “How do you know?”

“I…” Amber was a little scared, but upon seeing the encouraging look from Gawain, she grew bold. “That’s where I came in from… it should be in the same direction. I’m guessing that is the hidden passageway.”

Gawain nodded. “Good, you lead the way.”

Amber patted her chest. “As long as you forget that I dug through your ancestor’s graves…”

Heidi glared at the blabbering half-elf, grabbed her staff, and walked toward the tomb’s entrance. Gawain, however, stopped before going on his way.

“Lord Ancestor?” Rebecca looked at him curiously.

“I need a weapon too.” Gawain said. Though he was not the legendary duke who opened up the new territory seven hundred years ago, he still had the common sense to find a weapon to defend himself in a dangerous place like this.

His eyes scanned the tomb. A soldier undid his belt and sword at his waist and was ready to hand it over, but Gawain waved his hand and declined the soldier’s offering. Guided by his memory, he went to the black steel coffin, and poked his head into the coffin in search of something.

From within the coffin, he found a heavy long sword that was entirely black except for faint tinge of red on the blade near the hilt.

The moment he wielded the long sword, a familiar feeling arose. It was as if every wrinkle on the handle of the sword fitted seamlessly with the lines of his palm. Gawain instinctively swung the long sword around. Every swing felt like the result of tons of practice.

He knew that this was the muscle memory left in the body. Even with a different soul, every piece of his muscles still remembered how to use this weapon.

Though it was a pleasant surprise, it was not too unexpected.

Besides the remnant muscle memories, he could also access all of Gawain Cecil’s information on combat. Not only did it include the basic swordsmanship and riding skills, but it also included powers which seemed almost magical to Gawain. This part of the knowledge excited him, but this was not the time for him to experiment and learn about it.

First, he should deal with this terrible situation.

Rebecca’s eyes widened at the sight of the black longsword, and even her voice shook slightly. “This is… the Anzu’s legendary Sword of Pioneers?”

Hearing that, Heidi, who had already walked to the entrance, immediately turned back. She stared fixedly at the sword in Gawain’s hand, unable to hide her excitement in her expression. “The Sword of Pioneers?!”

“Currently, it’s just a sharp sword.” Gawain sighed. “It has already been seven hundred years since then. Even if the weapon received elven blessings to be protected from wear and decay, the magic within has already been dispersed. I don’t know how long it would take to recharge it.”

With that said, Gawain turned to look at the coffin. There was a small stone platform, but there was nothing on the platform. Gawain frowned immediately. “Wait a second. I also have a shield that has never left my side, don’t I? Didn’t it get buried with me? What happened to my big shield?”

Heidi immediately wore a grim countenance. “Ancestor… Your descendants have once again failed you. A hundred years ago, your descendant Grumman Cecil took the shield of the protector of Anzu Kingdom and lost it on the battlefield…”

Heidi hesitated when she spoke. Obviously, there were many things that she left out. Perhaps she feared that if she were to spill all of what had happened a hundred years ago, it would be the death of her ancestor, even though it would be really convenient since the coffin was just there…

Though Gawain noticed Heidi’s hesitation, he did not expose her. Instead, he frowned and berated, “What a disgrace… Luckily, the sword was still in the coffin. At least, that Grumman hadn’t gotten so crazy to the point of taking my whole outfit from the coffin!”

Heidi and Rebecca could only look down as they listened with cold sweat on their faces. Their ancestor had come out of his coffin to berate their grandfather. This was something beyond fantasy. As juniors, every breath they took was extremely pressuring!

Fortunately, Gawain was only slightly annoyed that he was short of a piece of equipment he could use. After the brief berating, he took everyone to leave the tomb.

After coming back to the stone hall from the tomb, Rebecca looked around. Then she waved her hand to one of the corners of the wall, “Betty! Come out! It’s safe now!”

Gawain looked over curiously and saw a thin girl, who seemed to be a little size smaller than Rebecca, timidly walking out from the shadows in the corner. The young lady was wearing a skirt made of coarse material. There were adolescent freckles on her face, and her flaxen hair was loose behind her head as she held on tightly to a pan in her hand.

Upon seeing Gawain, apprehension came over the expression of the young lady called Betty. Given her dullness, she probably would never have guessed where this stranger before her had sprung up from…

“This is the castle’s maidservant. We don’t know how she was left behind by the first group of rescuers that broke out. In any case, she somehow followed us here,” Rebecca briefly introduced the young lady. “Betty, this is… ”

A small quake from above the tomb interrupted Rebecca.

“This is no time to chat.” Gawain raised his long sword and looked to Amber. “Now, lead the way.”