Dragonslayer’s Class Regression Chapter 88

Chapter 88

“Congratulations on winning the martial arts tournament.”

Knights of the Four Seasons Castle greeted Zeke whenever he passed by.

Their attitude was surprisingly friendly for the typically stern Draker knights.

When Zeke first received his formal knight title, quite a few within Four Seasons Castle regarded him unfavorably.

But after the martial arts tournament, the atmosphere completely reversed.

Thanks to this, Zeke could fully feel the prestige of the Draker martial arts tournament.

Zeke headed to the family head’s office while receiving such greetings from the knights.

The secretary warmly welcomed Zeke at the door.

“The family head is waiting for you.”

Zeke entered the office guided by the secretary.

As the secretary said, Arthur Draker was waiting for him.

“Zeke, come in.”

As usual, Arthur had prepared precious tea from the Eastern Empire.

Zeke sat down and savored the tea’s aroma.

Arthur looked at Zeke and said.

“I thought you’d come after enjoying the victor’s banquet for a few months. My prediction was completely wrong.”

Typically, when one wins the Draker martial arts tournament, they hold grand parties with sponsoring families and related parties.

Afterwards, it was customary to travel the continent attending parties hosted by invited families and enjoy all kinds of popularity.

But Zeke neither held separate banquets nor accepted invitations from other families.

“I’m not really the type to enjoy parties.”

Arthur nodded at Zeke’s words.

“I was the same at your age. I only repeatedly trained to the bone for faster achievement, thinking parties and banquets were just entertainment for those lacking in training.”

Arthur put down his teacup and said.

“But remember this. Even if you become a Black Knight, you cannot face the entire continent alone. If just two other Black Knights join forces, you won’t be able to avoid death.”

Zeke didn’t expect such words from Arthur Draker, one of the continent’s strongest.

Black Knights were called one-man armies.

But even Black Knights had limits to their power.

Then Zeke suddenly thought of the Hero King Kaisir.

‘Master Kaisir probably couldn’t be defeated even by multiple Black Knights.’

A Black Knight’s power was close to a Sword Master from the Hero King’s time.

But the Hero King was beyond Sword Master, at the Grand Master level.

‘If I surpass Black Knight and become a Grand Master…’

He could become an absolute ruler looking down upon everything.

Arthur looked at Zeke and said.

“Well, my words probably don’t mean much to you right now.”

Zeke raised his head, looked at Arthur and said.

“No. I will deeply engrave your words about relationships with others being as important as individual power.”

Arthur grinned at Zeke’s model answer and spoke.

“Stop saying things you don’t mean and come this way.”

He got up and beckoned to Zeke.

The place Arthur took Zeke was an exhibition hall storing his personal items.

Rare items Arthur had collected from each continent were displayed in glass cases.

With his dragon eyes, Zeke could see what kind of items they were.

‘Most are from before the Golden Age. They seem to be from the Hero King’s time.’

Arthur was collecting ancient relics like Emperor Rom.

As they walked between the displays, Arthur stopped at one spot.

In front of an old box.

He slowly opened the box.

An unexpected item lay inside.

‘A pocket watch?’

Arthur carefully took out the old pocket watch from the box.

Then he looked at Zeke and said.

“This is the only thing Laura left me.”

Zeke was surprised at Arthur’s words.

“You mean it’s mother’s keepsake?”

Arthur nodded.

“Yes. Laura always carried this with her.”

Zeke looked at Arthur’s eyes as he gazed at the pocket watch.

The man of iron who seemed devoid of emotion was looking at the watch with wistful eyes.

After a while, he turned and approached Zeke, handing him the pocket watch.

“Are you giving this to me?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to know about Laura?”

“This watch doesn’t contain everything about mother.”

“Laura used this watch to peek into realms we couldn’t see. She said she found it in the Northern Continent. I don’t know much more than that. She was always full of secrets.”

Laura Agamemnon, an Irregular with healing abilities.

Even Arthur Draker, the family head and her husband, didn’t seem to know everything about her.

Holding the watch, Zeke looked at Arthur and asked.

“There’s one thing I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

Zeke clenched his fist.

“Did you ever think I might have healing abilities?”

Arthur closed his mouth briefly at those words.

Then he slowly answered.

“I did.”

Zeke’s hand trembled slightly.

Arthur looked at Zeke and slowly opened his mouth.

“But Zeke, you weren’t a healer. You’re a proud Draker pureblood awakener, aren’t you?”

At Arthur’s words, Zeke clenched his teeth.

‘Were you planning to abandon me if I wasn’t a pureblood awakener?’

Zeke forced himself to swallow those words.

Memories of his struggles in his past life flashed through his mind.

Arthur said to Zeke.

“Zeke, let me tell you one thing. Don’t dig too deep into your mother, Laura Agamemnon.”

Zeke raised his head at those words.

“What do you mean?”

“Laura was both a healer and an Irregular. You know what that means.”

The Central Continent treated Irregulars as cursed beings. So having Irregular blood wouldn’t be particularly advantageous for Zeke.

There was a reason Duke deliberately hid the fact after initially mistaking Zeke for an Irregular.

Zeke bowed to Arthur and answered.

“I will follow the family head’s orders.”

Arthur placed his hand on Zeke’s shoulder.

“You are a proud Draker pureblood awakener. Don’t forget that fact.”

Zeke nodded while gripping his mother’s pocket watch tightly.

* * *

After returning to the mansion from Four Seasons Castle, Zeke went up to his room to examine the pocket watch.

“Why did mother leave this watch as her final keepsake?”

Then Zeke suddenly felt this watch was quite familiar.

‘Where have I seen this before?’

As he pondered, a spark flashed in Zeke’s mind.

“Sethon Draker!”

He recalled when Bahamut’s memories awakened while learning the True Dragon Sword Technique.

It matched the shape of the pocket watch Sethon Draker was holding when he visited Bahamut, the Ruler of Twilight.

Zeke looked at the watch, recalling that memory.

‘I remember this watch had Chronos’s power embedded in it.’

His mother Laura Agamemnon used this watch to prophesy the future.

And in his memory, Sethon Draker used this watch to show Bahamut what would happen in the future.

‘Could Chronos’s power be the power of prophecy?’

Zeke examined the watch’s exterior while handling it.

There were no engravings or markings on the surface.

Though old, the surface was still smooth.

Opening the lid to see the watch face, there was a large clock in the center with small clocks densely arranged around it.

The hands were stopped.

Zeke looked at the watch and slowly moved his mana.

‘Will this work too?’

Both ancient Hersion and the Agamemnon golden mask had awakened in response to mana.

If this watch was also an ancient relic, it would likely respond to mana.

Woong!

Zeke infused mana into the watch.

But unlike Hersion or the mask, there was no response from the watch.

“Hmm, this alone isn’t enough?”

Then something occurred to Zeke.

Among ancient relics, there were often ones that responded to the user’s blood.

Zeke took out a dagger, cut his finger, and dropped a few drops on the watch.

When there was still no response, he tried flowing mana again.

Woong!

Suddenly the blood Zeke had dropped began seeping into the watch.

At the same time, messages appeared before Zeke’s eyes.

[Detecting Elder Dragon’s soul embedded in user’s blood.]

[Releasing dormant state of sleeping ancient relic.]

[???’s Watch has been temporarily activated.]

[Title ‘One Blessed by the Great Dragon’ releases ???’s Watch’s security.]

[???’s Watch connects to system.]

[Authentication key needed to activate ???’s Watch.]

[Must enter Chronos Temple to retrieve authentication key.]

“Authentication key?”

Simultaneously, a window appeared before Zeke’s eyes.

―Main Quest Mission―

[Activate ???’s Watch by retrieving authentication key. (No time limit)]

[Quest Mission Reward: Grant Chronos’s Authority]

“Chronos’s Authority?”

Zeke knew the power of Bahamut’s Authority, Dragon Clan Control.

‘Since Chronos was the Hero King’s contract dragon, he must have Authority as strong as Bahamut’s.’

Zeke opened the map to check the retrieval location mentioned in the quest.

“This place?”

The retrieval location was none other than ‘Athen’ in the eastern part of the Northern Continent.

“Hmm, of all places, Athen.”

The reason for his uncomfortable reaction was because Athen was the territory of the Nirvana family, one of the 3 transcendent families.

While Draker dominated Midland and Ishtar exerted influence over the southern border region and desert areas, Nirvana held great influence over this Athen and the entire Storm Sea region.

“Well, it’s not somewhere I can’t go. There’s lots to gather while I’m there too. I’ll retrieve the authentication key while I’m at it.”

In his past life, Zeke was active in the Northern Continent longer than the Central Continent.

So he remembered all the hidden treasures and unusual phenomena there.

He recalled the hidden Arch Mage’s dungeon in Athen.

‘That place will still take time to be excavated.’

He needed to move more diligently since he had to find both Chronos’s seal and the watch’s authentication key.

Zeke carefully put the pocket watch in his inventory.

Then Decker entered the room.

“Young master. Visitors have come.”

“If it’s another banquet invitation or something, send them away politely.”

But Decker shook his head.

“Kali Draker and Helen Draker have come.”

“My sisters?”

Zeke got up and went to the reception room.

Unlike before, Kali and Helen were sitting on the sofa in casual clothes.

Zeke approached and greeted them.

“Welcome. I didn’t expect you both to visit personally.”

Kali smiled at Zeke’s words.

“It’s fine. We can’t order around a busy tournament champion.”

Zeke smiled back and sat across from them.

Then Kali said to Zeke.

“As you expected, Helen is on our side. She participated in the tournament wanting to test your skills personally.”

Zeke nodded at Kali’s words and said to Helen.

“Thank you for your consideration, Lady Helen. If you had used your blood ability, it would certainly have been my defeat.”

Helen flinched at Zeke’s words.

“To think you even know about my blood ability. Zeke, you’re becoming more and more frightening.”

Zeke grinned and said.

“Please consider it personal interest in the Knight of Steel.”

Watching the siblings’ conversation fondly, Kali continued speaking.

“The reason we came like this is because of the current situation at Four Seasons Castle.”

Zeke nodded at Kali’s words.

“You mean keeping Abel Draker in check.”

“Yes. Soon there will be a general meeting in the Council of Elders to propose Abel’s Guardian Knight position.”

Zeke’s expression hardened at those words.

Unlike regular knights, Draker’s Guardian Knights could directly intervene in family operations.

The Council of Elders who presided over general meetings, the Cross Society with internal audit rights, and the Guardian Knights’ Society as the executive body could be seen as Draker’s main power brokers.

If Abel received the Guardian Knight position, his standing within the family would clearly rise much higher.

Kali looked at Zeke and said.

“Abel is persuading the elders to receive the Guardian Knight position at this general meeting.”

Though she said persuading, it was no different from lobbying using the Empire’s power.

“Zeke, there’s something I want to ask of you.”

She continued slowly.

“Go to the Dorta Republic and stop the deal between Abel and the Empire.”