Dragonslayer’s Class Regression 242

Chapter 242

‘Shackles of the Covenant?’

Zeke realized from Yelin’s words that there was some connection between the Raven Tribe and the Black River Tribe.

After contemplating, he put away Anexi’s dagger and said.

“This might be a long conversation, so we should move somewhere else.”

Zeke told Feinan to prepare the secure conference room that was set aside in the laboratory.

Meanwhile, Himel and Yelin brought the unconscious Ravens and moved to the secure conference room with Zeke.

Feinan, who had prepared the conference room, approached Zeke and asked about the situation.

“Master, are those people… Ishtar’s secret arts users?”

Only Ishtar would be capable of such a brazen attack in Atlas.

Zeke nodded and told Feinan.

“The situation has become quite complicated.”

The perceptive Feinan closed the conference room door and went back up to the laboratory.

While Zeke was talking with Feinan, the other unconscious Ravens woke up, removed their masks, and prostrated themselves.

They had dark elf-like features similar to Himel, with brown skin.

Zeke spoke.

“Don’t do that there, please sit over here.”

But Himel shook her head.

“We dare not sit together with one who bears the Black River’s Seal.”

Having just threatened with a dagger out of anger and now acting like this, Zeke found it hard to adjust.

Zeke had no choice but to offer a seat only to Yelin.

As Yelin sat down, she removed her hood and chador.

Her emerald hair and statue-like face lit up the conference room.

Even Zeke, known for being stoic, felt his heart skip a beat at Yelin’s appearance.

While Angelina, the continent’s greatest beauty, was also beautiful, Yelin possessed an even greater nobility.

Yelin opened her mouth while looking at Zeke.

“Sir Zeke Draker. I sincerely apologize for this discourtesy.”

Unlike her appearance, Yelin’s manner of speech was quite antiquated and her voice androgynous.

Zeke shook his head and replied.

“It’s fine. But are you alright breaking your vow of silence?”

Yelin nodded and spoke again.

“The appearance of the Black River’s Seal is more important than the vow of silence, which is why I’ve come to make this request of you, my lord.”

Seeing how far the branch family head Yelin was going, breaking the shackles of the covenant seemed to be an extremely important matter for the Ishtar family.

Zeke asked Yelin.

“What are these shackles of the covenant you mentioned?”

After contemplating, Yelin said to Zeke.

“My lord, if it’s not too presumptuous, might I see the Black River’s Seal once more?”

At Yelin’s words, Zeke took out Anexi’s dagger and handed it to her.

Receiving Anexi’s dagger, Yelin observed a moment of silence in a reverent posture before carefully examining the dagger.

After a moment, she swallowed.

“This is indeed the lost Seal of the Black River.”

At those words, the prostrated Himel looked at Anexi’s dagger with tears in his eyes and an excited expression.

“To think the Seal would reappear after two thousand years…”

Seeing Yelin and Himel’s reactions, Zeke realized there must be some symbolism to Anexi’s dagger.

Zeke asked Yelin.

“Lady Yelin. Are these shackles of the covenant you mentioned connected to this dagger?”

Yelin nodded at his words.

“Yes. May I ask where you found this dagger?”

After considering, Zeke decided to tell only half the truth.

“I discovered it in an ancient ruin. I cannot speak of the details as they are family secrets.”

Even Ishtar couldn’t pry into House Draker’s secrets.

Yelin nodded and returned Anexi’s dagger to Zeke while saying.

“Actually, this dagger is a sacred artifact of the Black River Tribe, which was a great tribe of ancient dark elves.”

Though it was a spirit weapon, Zeke already knew this well having met Anexi who possessed this dagger.

But Zeke pretended not to know and asked Yelin.

“Dark elves… aren’t they a race that only exists in legends?”

Yelin shook her head.

“As you may have noticed, the Ishtar family carries elven bloodlines. Among purebloods like myself, ancestral regression can manifest in elven physical characteristics. Just as humans have various races, elves too had diverse tribes. There were High Elf bloodlines like mine, as well as Grey Elves and Dark Elves.”

Zeke was surprised by Yelin’s words.

“You’re saying you have High Elf blood?”

Zeke had learned quite a bit about elves through the chronicles left by the Hero King.

High Elves were born with the most noble bloodline among elves.

They had the longest lifespans, possessed the mystical ability to commune with nature, and were so wise that even dragons would seek their counsel.

He couldn’t help but be surprised that Yelin carried the blood of High Elves, who were noble beings even in the Hero King’s era.

Yelin looked at Zeke and said.

“I’m surprised you know about High Elves. But now only their lineage remains, and there isn’t much difference as a High Elf. Anyway, returning to the covenant, we must go back to the Hero King’s era long ago. It was an unbreakable promise made between our ancestors and the Black River Tribe.”

“You’re saying High Elves and Dark Elves made a covenant?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of covenant was it?”

Yelin hesitated briefly before speaking.

“The content of the covenant was to protect the Black River.”

“The Black River?”

Zeke questioned with confusion upon hearing Yelin’s words.

The Dark Elves not only became sacrifices for Jiemens to summon beings from the demon realm, but they also came to hate humans and became part of the Demon King’s army, engaging in fierce battles with the Chronos Alliance.

It didn’t make sense that they would form a covenant with the elves who were part of the Alliance in such circumstances.

‘Was there something else I don’t know about after the Demon King’s invasion?’

Then Yelin slowly began to speak.

“As this concerns our family history, I cannot tell you everything as an outsider. To explain the essential part – our Ishtar family is bound to the current border region because of that covenant.”

Zeke noticed something strange and said to Yelin.

“Wait… so you’re saying the Ishtar family settled in the border region before the Golden Age, not after?”

“It’s true that we officially emerged during the Liberation War. After the Liberation War ended, the warriors who had gone outside returned here, but that wasn’t when the Ishtar family first settled in the border region.”

Zeke was surprised to learn of the Ishtar family’s history, which was completely different from what was commonly known.

“I had no idea that Ishtar’s reclusive presence in the border region was due to the covenant. But why was that desert region named the Black River?”

“I heard it was once a place where a great river flowed. Though it’s now a desert and the river has mostly dried up, traces still remain.”

Zeke looked at Himel standing stiffly beside them and asked.

“Then Ishtar’s Ravens were the name of the assassin tribe? Were they from that Black River?”

“Yes. The Raven Tribe was a branch tribe of the Black River Tribe who made a covenant of loyalty with them.”

As Zeke had suspected, the Raven Tribe had inherited Dark Elf blood.

Zeke asked Yelin again.

“You’re saying this covenant has continued even though it’s been over two thousand years?”

THUMP!

“The Black River Tribe made a covenant with our ancestors to protect their sacred domain, the Black River territory, before heading to battle. The noble-blooded High Elves couldn’t refuse their request and accepted the covenant. However…”

Yelin trailed off before speaking again.

“The Black River Tribe that went to battle was completely annihilated and never returned. We never expected such a great tribe would disappear without leaving a single person, leaving only the covenant behind.”

Zeke thought of Anexi who had possessed this dagger.

She said her unit had retreated into the ancient ruins after being pushed back by the Alliance forces.

Though he wasn’t sure of their exact fate since she was in spirit form, hearing Yelin’s words, it seemed her unit must have met the same end as the rest of the tribe who perished in battle.

‘Did Chronos retrieve this dagger and turn it into a hidden stage in the Inverted Tower?’

Zeke asked Yelin.

“So with this dagger, can the shackles of the covenant be broken?”

Yelin nodded at his words.

“That would be correct.”

It was news to Zeke as well that the Ishtar family’s reclusive presence in the border region was due to the shackles of a covenant from two thousand years ago.

Zeke recalled his past life memories.

‘According to the news at the time, Arthur Draker died after falling into Ishtar and Nirvana’s trap. I always wondered how they managed to draw in Ishtar who never negotiated or compromised… What if the Empire had a way to break these shackles of the covenant?’

In his past life, after killing Arthur Draker, Ishtar and Nirvana showed no particular movement and didn’t even participate in the Third Continental War.

Perhaps Ishtar had their covenant shackles broken and left the border region for wherever they wished to go.

Then Yelin spoke.

“As I mentioned briefly earlier, the Ishtar family was able to begin external activities from a thousand years ago.”

“Why did you start activities from then?”

“This too is one of the family secrets, but I feel I should tell Sir Zeke.”

She slowly began speaking.

“There are records that Terakan Draker visited the family a thousand years ago.”

“Terakan Draker?”

An unexpected name came from Yelin’s lips.

Yelin nodded.

“Terakan Draker wanted to borrow the Ishtar family’s power. Using his mysterious power, he loosened the covenant shackles binding the family and created an opening for us to go outside.”

Zeke suspected it wasn’t Terakan’s power but rather Claudia Lubern, Bahamut, who would have been at his side, that made this possible.

‘Dragon power might not be able to break the covenant shackles binding the Ishtar family, but it could probably loosen them.’

Yelin continued.

“Terakan Draker promised to break the covenant shackles on our family if we helped him. However…”

He could guess the rest without hearing it.

“Terakan didn’t keep his promise?.”

Yelin nodded.

“Thanks to him the shackles became looser than before, but either way, the Ishtar family is still bound to the Black River territory.”

Zeke could understand why the Ishtar family hated the Draker family so much.

‘This Terakan fellow went around everywhere stirring up all sorts of trouble.’

Probably Bahamut died before breaking the covenant, so Terakan likely lost the ability to keep that promise.

Zeke asked Yelin.

“Lady Yelin, how can these shackles of the covenant be broken with this dagger?”

Yelin made a slightly troubled expression and looked at Himel. Himel also contemplated before nodding to Yelin.

She slowly began speaking.

“Sir  Zeke, there exists a very ancient labyrinth beneath the Ishtar main palace.”

“You mean the main palace was built on top of ancient ruins?”

“I heard the Black River territory was the site of ancient cities even before the Hero King era. As such, there are still undiscovered labyrinths, and not just under the main palace.”

Zeke wondered why Yelin suddenly brought up labyrinths.

Yelin slowly got to the main point.

“The target bound by the shackles of the covenant is in the labyrinth beneath the main palace.”

Zeke furrowed his brow at Yelin’s words.

“Wasn’t the covenant about protecting the Black River territory?”

“The Black River refers to the river flowing through that territory, but… it also refers to another being. To be precise, the covenant is related to ‘The Hermit of the Black River.'”

Zeke had a realization upon hearing Yelin’s words.

He asked with a sense of disbelief.

“The Hermit of the Black River. Could it be…?”

Yelin nodded at Zeke’s reaction and said.

“Yes. Beneath the Ishtar main palace…”

She spoke the final words as if with a sigh.

“There exists a dragon that is still alive.”

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