"W-what are you doing?" The young lady grew scared as soon as Gabriel touched her ankles, subconsciously pulling her leg back. However, Gabriel had already grabbed her head by now.
"Stay still."
Since she wasn't hurt much, he didn't need to use any high-tier spell. The smallest spell of Healing was enough to treat her.
As soon as Gabriel used his healing spell, the young lady felt a warm energy enter her body. She had felt a similar kind of energy even before.
She couldn't help but raise her head, looking at Gabriel with surprise. "You're a Mage of Light?"
"You can call me that," Gabriel answered as he freed the young lady's legs. "Your leg is healed now. You should be able to walk."
He stood up and reached out his hand to help the young lady up again. This time, the lady didn't hesitate. Even though the Arecia Empire was the Empire of Knights, it didn't mistreat the Mages either. The Mages of Light had an especially good reputation in the Empire.
"Thank you for helping me." After standing up, the woman respectfully bowed. "And I apologize for misunderstanding you. It's just that I never saw someone die..."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Don't worry. If I hadn't killed him, he would've killed us or brought more people to deal with us. It was necessary, so don't think about it much," Gabriel explained why he killed the person. "However, if possible, I would appreciate it if you don't tell anyone what happened here."
"I-i won't." The woman agreed.
Gabriel had already won some of her trust, and that's exactly what he was after. Later, he offered to escort her back, to which the woman agreed.
Along the way, Gabriel talked to the woman, understanding more about her. He straight wanted to jump to the topic of the Arecia Clan, but he decided to take things slow to not be too suspicious.
"I am Shia Alecton," the woman introduced herself and glanced at Gabriel as if waiting to see the surprise on his face.
To her surprise, Gabriel didn't react at all. It was as if everything was normal.
"Hmm?" Shia was slightly taken aback. "You haven't heard of our clan, have you?"
Since he didn't react, she could only believe he didn't even know about her clan. If it were anyone else, they would've been shocked to learn her identity.
"I am new to the Empire," Gabriel answered. "Is yours one of the Noble Families of the Empire?"
From the attire of the woman, he was already sure that she was from a wealthy noble family in the Empire.
The woman could only smile in response. "So you saved me without any expectations?"
"You know my family is quite rich. We can give you quite a lot of rewards..."
"I don't need any rewards. You just happened to be on my way, and I helped," Gabriel answered. He wasn't looking to go with the woman to her clan since he wasn't sure what kind of security they were going to have.
If the Clan had all visitors show their hands to check for Mark of Darkness, that could be troublesome, so he didn't plan for it. All he wanted was to get his answers from her on this short journey back and then leave.
"Are you sure you don't want any reward?" Gabriel's response again surprised Shia. Just what kind of person was he? He was rejecting rewards?
"What is your name?" She asked.
"I am Gabriel, a wandering traveler," Gabriel answered.
"Are you here to take part in the Knight Tournament?"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmGabriel shook his head in response. "I have no interest in marrying the Princess. I was on my journey and decided to stop in the Arecia Empire, which I had heard so much about. I heard stories of the Saint King even in my homeland and wanted to check the Empire myself and maybe meet the descendants of the Royal Arecia Clan."
" Unfortunately, I don't think the Royal Family will allow me to meet them, so I can only watch them in the Knight Tournament from the stands."
Along with his response, Gabriel intentionally injected some subtle words to turn the topic in the direction that he wanted. Not only did he pretend to be ignorant of the fact that the Arecia Clan was ousted, but he did so with such conviction that no one could guess that he was pretending.
"Arecia Clan? The Traitors? Sigh, it seems you're destined to be quite disappointed then," Shia said, letting out a sigh. "The Saint King was indeed great, and our idol, but his descendants were a disappointment... They spoiled the name of the great Saint King with their actions, and they were ousted."
Unlike Yuan, the woman didn't hesitate in talking about the Arecia Clan at all, probably because she was from a Noble family and there wasn't anyone nearby.
"Traitor! Did something happen?" Gabriel acted like he was shocked. "His descendants betrayed the Empire? Were they really so vile? It seems wealth and influence corrupted them as well."
To get in the good books of Shia and get her to lower her, Gabriel acted as if he believed everything she said and that the Arecia Clan really betrayed the Empire.
"That's true. Those bastards stole our Holy Sword and secretly sold it! The sword should've belonged to the Empire! It's because of them that the strength of our Empire went so down. After this scandal came to light, even more secrets were revealed, like the Arecia Clan planned to kill all Major Clans to make sure that there were no threats left to their power!"
" They colluded with foreign powers against their own people. Fortunately, it was revealed before it was too late. All Major Clans joined hands to destroy the Arecia Clan and take back the Empire that belonged to our people!" Shia explained. "It's a pity that we couldn't recover the Saint King's Sword. We don't even know where it is... If it weren't for those bastards!"
Gabriel silently heard all the accusations as he walked next to the woman. His hands remained behind his back, making the woman unable to see how tightly his fists were clenched.
According to her story, descendants of Novius were massacred! That was enough to make his blood boil. He had to really struggle to keep his emotions in control. As for their story, he could feel that there were some flaws in it.
Even though he didn't personally know the descendants of Novius, he found it hard to believe that they would do something so stupid. They would sell the Sword of Ulien first and then plan to kill the Major Clans? That didn't make sense. If they wanted to kill Major Clans, any sensible person would've saved their strongest weapon for an event like that!