Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 179: A Sweet Dream

“Yes, literally a nightmare.” Gawain bowed his head to glance at this old viscount. “I believe you do not know the reason for your butler’s abrupt great change in temperament, right?”

“Just as I’ve said earlier, I really don’t have a clue.” Viscount Kant seemed to space out for that one moment. Following that, he shook his head wistfully. “He’s been taking care of me for decades, always serving the Kant Clan loyally, but he seemed to have become a different person earlier—”

“Have you heard of the Eternal Sleepers?” Gawain suddenly cut off Viscount Kant. He stared at the latter’s eyes and asked bluntly.

Amber at the side couldn’t help stealthily moving her hand towards the dagger at the waist and shrinking towards Gawain’s shadow at the same time.

“Eternal Sleepers?” Viscount Kant frowned and then slowly nodded. “Yes, I’ve heard about them. They are believers of the fallen God of Dreams. It is said that they would steal into the victim’s subconscious when the person is having a nightmare, then control and even replace the person’s consciousness. Could it be that Carter had been controlled by the Eternal Sleepers?”

Seeing such a reaction from Viscount Kant, Gawain remained expressionless. He did not reveal the slightest hint of changes in emotions. Following that, he shook his head. “In any case, what you need the most now is rest. ——Have a good sleep and allow your physical strength to recover. And I suggest it’s best that you get more servants to come keep you company. You’re getting old, and you’ve lost too much strength this time. You need someone to keep an eye beside you to be safe.”

Viscount Kant bowed his head sincerely. “Thank you for your concern.”

Gawain and Amber left the study. Sir Philip who kept guard at the door immediately came forward. “Lord, what’s the situation inside?”

“Viscount Kant has recovered —— other than being a little weak.” Gawain walked forward on quick steps while speaking in a low voice, “The current clues all point to that old butler —— at least that’s what it looks like on the surface.”

Sir Philip faltered for a moment. “On the surface? Lord, do you still have other suspicions?”

“The timing for Butler Carter’s ‘change in temperament’ was too perfect.” Gawain frowned. “If he was a heretic of the Eternal Sleepers or a Beyonder bewitched by the Eternal Sleepers, then he should have been prepared with all responses before we arrived at the castle. And if he wasn’t able to, then he simply shouldn’t have taken any action because all the slave-capturing plans were authorized by Viscount Victor. The ‘resurrection’ of the Viscountess would also steer the suspicion toward Victor Kant. Butler Carter didn’t need to do anything, and he could naturally be clear of any suspicion —— the suspicion had long been on Viscount Kant.”

Amber blinked and was slowly enlightened. “I remember it was when we were discussing our suspicions about Viscount Kant that Butler Carter suddenly carried out the assassination… He was actively shifting the suspicion onto himself? So that butler’s true motive was actually to protect his master?”

Then she promptly came to a revelation. “No wonder! That’s why that dagger avoided his vital parts!”

“In this way, we can instead be even more sure that Viscount Kant must be the one behind all this!” A hint of eagerness showed on Philip’s face; a sense of righteousness began to pound in this young Knight’s chest. “Lord, it’s time to destroy that heretic cult believer’s plans!”

Gawain wore a solemn look. He still had a nagging feeling that he’d let something slip but ultimately had to nod his head. “We indeed cannot delay it any longer. But before alerting Viscount Kant, we have to first find the core that sustains the ‘illusory space’, suspend the ritual magic, and separate Viscount Kant from that magic core. If my judgment is right, the item sustaining this magic should be a lantern.”

“Lantern? Doesn’t the Viscountess often carry a lantern in her hand?” Amber recalled at once —— she was very conscious about anything that looked valuable, and that lantern looked to be of great value. “Is it that one? Then I can just go steal it?”

“It does look the same, but I’m afraid the lantern in Lilith Kant’s hands is merely a counterfeit.” Gawain shook his head. “The true lantern possesses extremely evident magical power. It should be placed near where Lilith Kant often stays at.”

The trio was already back at the guest room at this point. Gawain poured himself a glass of water but didn’t drink it. Instead, he looked towards Amber after some brief contemplation. “I need you to go do something —— your old profession.”

“No problem, I’m skilled in such things.” Amber instantly patted her chest with a cocky look. “Say it. Where are the Kants’ ancestral graves at?”

“…I’m not telling you to go dig up their ancestral graves!” Gawain almost didn’t catch his next breath. He thought: Luckily, he had yet to drink water. Otherwise, he would certainly get choked to death by this ultimate disgrace. “I’m getting you to go find the real lantern ——and if possible, steal it.”

“So I ultimately still have to steal a lantern.” Amber rolled her eyes. “Then you’ve got to give me a rough scope? This castle is huge!”

“North tower. Lilith Kant resides in the north tower throughout the year. If I haven’t guessed wrongly, it will be in the cellar,” Gawain said. “Supposedly, she lives there because of her weak constitution and photophobia[1], but it seems more like a kind of house arrest.”

Amber lifted a brow. “Cellar? The shadow power of that sort of place is very strong. It’s where I can put my skills to good use!”

After Amber set off, it was only Gawain and Sir Philip left in the room. The latter quietly stood in a spot near the door, responsible for being on guard, while Gawain held his water glass and pondered in detail about the source of that slight sense of conflict in his heart.

Sir Philip broke the silence. “Lord, is it really okay getting Amber to go steal the core of the ritual? With her combat ability…”

“If everything goes smoothly, she wouldn’t need to fight at all. If she really met an enemy and found it difficult to succeed, she would definitely run back at the first moment,” Gawain said as he shook his head. His gaze landed on the water glass in his hand; the lightly rippling water surface reflected his face while his thoughts were drifting somewhere even farther. As his thoughts wandered, the lantern in Lilith Kant’s hand suddenly appeared in his mind.

He vaguely remembered, 700 years ago, after he’d gifted that lantern to Selena Gerfen, she had fused the power of the lantern with her own dream theurgies. But what was the specific use for it?

Selena seemed to have mentioned it before… She roamed in the nightmares of the soldiers; those dreams were often filled with warped, disorderly paths and layers of dense fog, and the lantern was able to show her the right path, such that she was unlikely to get lost in the dream realm and was able to see the dreams’ actual appearances clearly…

A lantern that showed the way… Lantern?!

Gawain suddenly realized where the biggest blind spot of his thinking had been.

And upon becoming aware of this blind spot, an off-the-wall, unbelievable truth swiftly took shape in his guesses. This truth was so against reason, so unimaginable, but it was probably what had truly happened in this castle!

Gawain suddenly stood up and set the water glass in his hand on the table. Sir Philip who stood by the door was startled. “Lord?”

“We got it wrong!” Gawain swiftly strode towards the door. “We got it completely wrong from the very beginning!”

Sir Philip was confused by Gawain’s disjointed exclamation. “Got it wrong? What have we gotten wrong?”

Gawain pressed his hand on the door handle, turned back, and focused on the young Knight’s eyes with a frown. “This isn’t Viscount Kant’s dream! Quickly come with me!”

The two left the room, and in the course of hurrying down the entire corridor, Gawain rapidly conveyed his guesses and discoveries to the Knight beside him.

Philip’s eyes grew wider and wider. By the end, his entire being was already thoroughly stunned. “The—there would actually be something like that?”

Then he promptly came back to his senses. “Then wouldn’t Amber really be in danger?!”

“No, according to my assessment, she will not yet encounter danger at this stage because the dream creator has yet to awaken,” Gawain spoke fast. “Only, we have to split up now… Philip, I have a task for you.”

“At your service, Lord!”

“Go to the back of the castle, find an abandoned stable, and use your evil-detection ability to search…”

Sir Philip left on orders while Gawain rushed through the corridor, up the staircase, and arrived at Victor Kant’s study.

The study was shrouded in a strange, dull, and gloomy atmosphere as before. Viscount Victor Kant sat quietly behind that heavy desk, unmoving like a sculpture.

This old viscount’s gaze was on the few sheets of papers before him. Only when Gawain stepped in front of him did he slowly lift his head and said in an indifferent tone. “You’re here, Duke.”

Gawain silently stared at the Viscount’s eyes. In the other party’s gaze, he saw a trace of grief and a trace of relief, but there was no fear.

“You seemed… to know I was coming.”

“Just had some premonition.” Viscount Kant revealed a stiff smile. “You can do what you want to do now.”

“I came here merely to tell you a story.” Gawain brought himself a chair from the corner and sat across Viscount Kant. Watching the person’s aged face, his tone was gentle and warm. “This story began on a night of drenching rain, more than thirty years ago…

“On that night, the Kant territory’s young Viscount, which is you, was in a carriage speeding on a rainy night. Your wife and son were on board.

“Due to a slippery block of mud or rock, the carriage slid into the mountain creek, and very unfortunately, you were flung out of the carriage.

“Mr. Victor Kant, you died on the spot —— along with your son.

“While your even more unfortunate wife, Madam Lilith Kant, clearly couldn’t endure such a blow and the pressure…

“So she chose to have herself ‘die’, while her husband and son ‘survived’. —— At least in a dream realm, this was how things developed.

“That is all, Mr. Viscount.”

Victor Kant sat quietly in the chair. Abruptly letting out a sigh, his voice was so wispy as if it was coming from another world. “Literally a nightmare, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is literally a nightmare.”

[1] Photophobia – intolerance of light