Chapter 504 (1/2)

As Marshal Ophra’s voice trailed off, everyone in the hall was dumbstruck. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Becky’s jaw dropped to the ground: she was in the midst of reconstructing her perception and temporarily refused to believe in reality. It was not until Lily patted the mercenary on the back with her tail that Becky jumped to her feet and said, “That’s it?! You’re… Oh yeah, I know. It’s definitely a secret. You don’t want to talk about it…”

“That’s it,” said Ophra, nodding with a smile. “I know what’s going on outside. For hundreds of years, I heard many versions of the story. I minded at first, but now, I could not care less about the bards. In the beginning, what happened between Geddon and I was really simple. When I was an adventurer in the Lawless District, I could barely make ends meet. Then I met Geddon by accident. He couldn’t fight, but he had sharp eyes. He could see that I could fight. So he said to me, ‘you help me to fight, I would give you my men, plus 20 gold Denars. I thought for a while and said, ‘That’s a good deal.’ Then I became his commander, but at the time I didn’t know he had more than two-hundred-thousand men. If I had known it earlier I’d have asked him for more.”

Covering his face with his hand, Hao Ren refrained from commenting. He now figured in his heart why Ophra said she had recalled her time as an adventurer when she saw Becky. Meanwhile, Becky was still trying to wrap her brains around what she had heard. She said after a short while, “Then the four hundred years of commitment…”

“I told Geddon III that I would stay here as long as I had a stable pay,” said Ophra, smiling. “Of course this was the case in the very beginning. Later, when the country had become stable and I became its marshal, staying in the country had become a responsibility and… feelings.”

Ophra glanced at Becky. “But at the very beginning, I did so because of money.”

Putting her head in her hands, Becky said, “I need sometime to make sense of all these.”

Ophra felt the reaction of the mercenary was very interesting. After smiling for a moment, she suddenly asked, “Becky, you are already a hero, you know? The church spares no effort to promote the legendary mercenary who had died a martyr in Beinz.”

“Oh, I know,” said Becky, raising her head and wondering why Ophra mentioned this suddenly. “It just feels surreal.”

Ophra pointed to Hao Ren and asked Becky, “Why did you follow the foreigners to Dragonspine Ridge?”

“For reward,” Becky said matter-of-coursely. “I’d be rich if I found the orb!”

Ophra shrugged. “In the future, your admirers and bards will make up stories that you don’t even believe in. They will glorify you that you were inspired by the Goddess, for love and honor, and guided by prophet, to kill the devil, to embark on a journey to save the world; but the real reason you set foot on that journey was simply because the Church was paying high rewards. So don’t believe what the bards say and what they do is just to get attention. The first battle of most heroes to saving the world is often just to for money.”

Betsy nodded thoughtfully. Ophra looked at the girl with a forced smile. “Of course, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a hero still thinking of money after saving the world. Your purpose is simple enough.”

Nangong Wuyue grunted. “What more could you expect from her?”

They had light refreshment in Ophra’s house. The banquet of the Royal Palace would not begin until the evening, so they were getting some shut-eye in their respective rooms. At sunset, a royal knight dressed in gorgeous armor came to the marshal’s residence. Ophra called everyone out.

“Mhoren, the king of Holletta, has prepared a banquet in the royal palace to welcome you all and the pope will also be present—both of them are making a rare appearance in public.” On the way to the palace, Ophra briefed them about the meeting. “This is a secret meeting. The banquet will be very moderate because it is essentially a meeting. You can raise any questions. I have already reported what had happened in Dragonspine Ridge to them…well, of course all that I knew. In the two months that you had left, the Pope and his Majesty had had several intense discussions. Eventually they decided to give up their stubborn stance. They will give you all the information concerning the Disciples of Glory and the legend of the Goddess. But there is a one condition: you must not shake the foundation of the kingdom and leak these information to the public.”

“There’s no reason for us to do that,” Vivian nodded. “As an out-of-this-world visitors, we pose no harm for you, because all the worldly interests of your world have nothing to do with us; we’re only interested in The First Born.”

“It was exactly why they decided to give in,” said Ophra, sighing. “That two guys are like old souls trapped in young bodies. I’ve been persuading them for half a month.”