Chapter 32 — A Legacy, Truly a Legacy

Gao Yang glanced at his plus-one-generation great-granddaughter. "Of course we can. You are a child of the Cecil family—show some confidence. Charles and I buried those things together. Apart from Charles himself, is there anyone in this world more suited to inherit that wealth than me? I refuse to believe Charles could pop out of his coffin the way I did..."

Rebecca thought for a moment, then suddenly turned and gripped Amber's arm hard. "Whatever you do, don't go digging up the imperial tombs!"

Amber: "...What?"

Then the half-elf lady gave a sudden start and stared at Gao Yang nervously. "Wait! I... I've heard such confidential matters... You're not really planning to use this chance to silence me, are you?"

At that moment Gao Yang genuinely wanted to smack her into the wall with his sword. "If I wanted to silence you, would I have waited until now?"

The tension on Amber's face didn't ease in the slightest. "Then letting an outsider like me hear all these things you two are discussing—isn't that..."

"First, I trust you, more or less, at present. Second, I know you're actually a clever person," Gao Yang raised the disc in his hand. "The only bold idea you might come up with is to steal this disc. But this disc can only be activated by the blood of the Moen family or the Cecil family—and whether the Moen bloodline even survives in this world is hard to say now. So obviously, if you want to get any benefit out of this, there's only one way..."

Amber stepped forward, chest out and head high, righteous as could be. "To serve the founding heroes is a supreme honor! I, Amber, shall devote myself wholeheartedly and faithfully discharge my duties! For something this epic, who even needs to talk about money, right?"

"Then I really won't talk money with you..."

"Of course, if you absolutely insist on talking money with me, I can't help that either."

It was the first time Gao Yang had ever seen someone be shameless and righteous to such a degree at the same time...

In the latter half of that night, no more visitors came to disturb them.

The row of mousetraps and nails arranged on the windowsill of Gao Yang's study never got a chance to be of use.

Though for those shadow stalkers who paid no heed to science, such things weren't of much use anyway...

The next day, rested and fully recovered, Gao Cen and his party arrived at Silverhold.

The same court official from the day before was there to receive them, and Francis II had reproduced the entire grand welcome of the previous day down to the last detail—the ceremonial courtesies, at least, had been performed most thoroughly.

This time, moreover, two troops of heralds had ridden out from Silverhold itself, patrolling and clearing the two main roads along the outer edge of the Royal District, proclaiming at the top of their magically amplified voices the news that "Gao Yang Cecil, Founding Duke of Anzu, is about to enter Silverhold."

It seemed Prince Edmond had conveyed Gao Song's wishes to his father quite well; Francis II had put on a full show of ceremony before the eyes of the world.

Whether that Shadow Guard had reported back faithfully upon her return, however, remained unknown—though judging by the look on Francis II's face once they met him, that question would be easy enough to answer.

Having straightened his attire and confirmed that the Pioneer's Sword at his waist hung in the most conspicuous position, Gao Yang strode proudly into Silverhold.