Chapter 265 Brightblades Fortress (1/2)

Arran felt a brief surge of panic when he read Brightblade's e It was almost tihtblade had su had happened to her

Yet his concern faded as quickly as it had cohtblade certainly wouldn't respond by su Arran Rather, she would enter the borderlands iret it

Whatever the reason for Brightblade's suuess, Arran thought it would be so With her new responsibilities, she'd had little time to be involved in that, and he knew the matter caused her soht him several tihtblade's suht out Jovan ione?” his steward asked after he explained the situation

”I don't know,” Arran replied ”Months, ?” Jovan's eyes ith surprise It seeone for some time' to mean several weeks at ed ”I've prepared some supplies for you — Essence Crystals, for the servants” He handed Jovan a void bag and continued, ”There's enough for several h,” Jovan said, his tone unconcerned

Arran did not share his steward's confidence, however He frowned, then added, ”Ask the Elders from the House of Swords and the House of Fla, as a personal favor to me”

This was no small request, but Arran did not expect either of the Houses to refuse it Not with Brightblade and Elder Theron leading the way in ensuring his servants' continued loyalty

Jovan looked at him in surprise ”You want their Elders to train your servants?”

”Until I return,” Arran confirhtblade wants er than needed”

”Lord Ghostblade,” Jovan interjected hastily, ”shouldn't you bring an escort? I can half a dozen guards ready within moments”

Arran shook his head ”Guards will only draw attention Don't tell anyone I've left until tohold”

”As you say,” his steward responded, albeit reluctantly ”Then I wish you safe travels”

Arran gave the ed into a hooded robe It wasn'tthat stood out about hi shared by thousands of others in the Valley

Of course, with the Matriarch's opponents eliminated, the Valley should be safe But then, it should have been safe fro the sa, he spent a fewbrief notes to Doran, Anthea, and Oraia They were the closest thing to friends he had in the Valley — though whether he could truly call Oraia a friend was questionable — and if he was to spendthem was the least he could do

Then, all matters he could think of settled, he left the estate

As hebefore he realized that the House had undergoneIt had been months since he last set foot outside his estate, and now, he was astonished to see that the House's population had more than doubled

The House was abuzz with activity, nu wide streets that were lined with many new stores and restaurants

So theed for quieter days This, Arran understood all too well — the dense crowds caused him some unease, too, and it took more than a little willpower for hih the s were better outside the city center of the stronghold, if only slightly Here, the croeren't quite as dense And if the roads were still busy, at least they lacked the suffocating pressure of thousands using streets that had been designed for hundreds

Yet as Arran slowly ate, he noticed that there had beenhalls now lined the road, and the practice fields behind the

It was as if the stronghold had been transfores, he wondered just how much of it all had been planned decades in advance

The Valley's vast nues had made little sense to hies received little training had puzzled him even more

But now, those endless ranks of barely trained es provided the Valley with the th Hundreds of thousands of fresh recruits were anxiously awaiting the chance to learn, and even if they eak now, a few years of hard ould see their strength increase dramatically

It was as if the Matriarch had carefully prepared the ingredients for an army, then set them aside until they were needed And now, it seemed, she had decided that tihold, Arran was unsurprised to find that the changes weren't confined to the House of Seals

Although the inner Valley's roads weren't as busy as the ones inside the stronghold, they were filled with a steady strea their way through the Valley And even without visiting any of the other Houses, Arran knew that the situation there would be es made him wonder what the future would hold for the Valley, they held a s the endless o unseen

Few of the people he passed on the way to Brightblade's stronghold so ave hinize hiuise, but with thousands of people around, it was enough to go unnoticed

The full journey to Brightblade's stronghold took hi other travelers Occasionally he er to hear more of what had happened in the Valley while he was absorbed with training

Sohtblade's duel and the banquet were things he had witnessed hierations in retelling the events, h to the truth