"This name sounds familiar."
"Of course, then you must have heard of Canon? Lantoniyan? Ophelia."
Romantic and the other mercenaries were fine, but the noble daughter couldn't help but choke and started coughing violently. It took her awhile to raise her pale face and ask, panting, "Duke Lantoniyan?"
"Ecco also has a title, Count Mevak, and it's a title with a territory." Brand narrowed his eyes. "It's just that even he might not know it himself."
"This is..." Antitina couldn't help but ask, "related to the political conflict eleven years ago? By the way, wasn't Duke Lantoniyan's son long missing—"
She suddenly stopped, looking at Brand with a strange expression.
"Lord, how do you know so much?"
"It's an open secret." Brand said casually.
"Still an open secret. Erune is no longer the Erune it used to be, its high level is so outdated that it's beyond repair. Going further, it's already terminally ill." Brand looked at the noble daughter, intentionally saying these words in front of her.
"We're not the only ones who have noticed this. Take note, Miss Antitina. Within three months, this country will break into pieces. What you see now is merely its struggle before the end."
Although these words couldn't be counted as treasonous in this world, the ambition they contained was clearly shown.
"Is there still hope for the Kerkova Dynasty?" Antitina asked, still thinking of the name that once brought glory to Erune.
"Maybe there is." Brand thought of the Regent Prince Princess.
"What should we do, lord?" Antitina interrupted his thoughts, asking softly.
"First, we still need to find the Sage Stone Tablet." Brand looked at the rolling mountains in the distance—mountains interlacing, forming different layers of dark silhouettes in the night—but the young man's gaze seemed to penetrate those barriers, as if he had already seen the target, and he answered succinctly.
The young man had led the group one step to the mountain top, the wind hit face-on, suddenly becoming much stronger, as if the moving air rushing through the southern mountain passes had passed through the forest, lifting his cloak.
Brand sniffed the scent in the wind, he stared at the dark, silent valley on the other side of the slope, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, but it quickly turned to comprehension: "It's indeed here. It seems on the key issue, these guys didn't joke with me—"
The others, hearing this exclamation, turned their eyes towards him.
"Do you see that valley below?"
"What's the problem?" Romantic asked curiously.
"Hmm..." Brand extended a hand from under the cloak, pointing with his index finger at that valley—but looking in the direction he pointed, what everyone saw was merely a layer of forest spreading along the mountain walls, a dark blanket. But the young man turned back, his eyes gleaming: "Have you heard of the altar?"
"Speaking of the altar," Romantic answered seriously, "I once saw an altar at the Temple of Fire with my aunt when I was little, is it like that one?"
"Then you surely have heard of the 'nests'?"
The group fell silent, of course they had.
"There should be a nest in that valley."
The mercenary captain behind him was startled; everyone knew a nest was the potential for a nation's war strength. But few understood that except for man-made biological nests, wild nests spanning hundreds of miles were dangerous zones—in fact, humans often paid great prices to purify a nest.
"What level nest is that?" he immediately asked.
"No need to be nervous," Brand indicated for him to be quiet. He looked at the entire valley, paused, "That's an Order Altar, if I'm not mistaken, it's a Truth Temple."
"Have you heard of the Gate of Heaven?"
The mercenaries gasped; the Rubis Mercenaries coming from the Knight Order Country of Grace naturally knew what this term symbolized. 'Hu Que' seeing Antitina and Romantic puzzled, softly explained: "Throne Angel."
Antitina exclaimed, then looked at Brand with disbelief; the Knight Order Country of Grace's territory was less than one-fifth of Erune's, but its combat power topped all nations under the Light Holy Temple's influence, for no other reason than it possessed two of the finest legions on the Vornede Continent.