When all his hair fell off, new ones began to grow. Bright silver hair came out of his bald scalp and grew up to the length of an index finger.
The wrinkles on his skin also faded to a large extent. By the time Kelvin opened his eyes, it was already nightfall, and the cavern was as silent as a graveyard.
Fortunately, there was a little light that allowed him to see. Unbeknownst to him, his looks had a tremendous change.
He now looked like a handsome, tall man in his early forties. His eyes were piercing crimson, the right one looking even more ominous behind the monocle.
Lifting up his head, he saw Melissa sitting on the platform’s staircase, looking at him with a soft smile.
“You’ve awakened. Kelvin Salvatore, loyal regent to your lord, Asher Ashbourne, the white wolf. Come forward.”
Kelvin took a step and noticed something. He couldn’t feel his long hair bouncing against his back anymore.
He lifted up his hands and touched his hair, which all fell backwards. The short hair matched well with his silver beard.
“What happened? I feel energetic.”
“You’re supposed to be. I need to teach you about our house, Kelvin. Without it, House Ashbourne has grown weaker and will continue to after you and your lord’s death.”
Kelvin frowned.
“No Salvatore was born one. We were all picked because of a unique talent, and from young we will be prepared for this day. It has become a part of us.”
“Unique talent. You mean perfect memory?”
Melissa smiled. “Indeed. Added with the supreme-ranked Salvatore talent, Echo Memories, we are unbeatable in our job.”
“Supreme!”
Kelvin’s eyes widened.
“It’s a talent that allows you to absorb, travel into, and relive memories.”
Kelvin gasped. He couldn’t believe that he had such a dangerous talent, and Melissa looked absolutely normal about it.
With such talent and their ability to increase, yet they restrained themselves to one servant, one lord, House Salvatore should not be under House Ashbourne.
He was completely loyal to Asher and took him as a son, but he pondered what secrets House Ashbourne hid.
For House Salvatore to serve them for generations, there must be something hidden from the world that only the first ancestors and some unknown few knew about.
“You must use your talent wisely because supreme talents always have a weakness, and ours is that we can get lost in memories. Most of these statues have dead bodies, but their spirits are still in never-ending memories. For this reason, we always have our juniors. Those we train to take over in case our weaknesses get the best of us.”
Kelvin exhaled heavily.
Melissa smiled. “At least you get to live longer. Make sure you take care of his Lordship.”
With that she burst into a soft white radiance.
‘Live longer. Why is everyone so passionate about me living long? Can’t a man get tired of living?’
Kelvin’s lips curled downwards as he made his way towards the exit. While walking through the midst of statues, he looked at some of them, unable to believe most were just empty shells buried underneath the earth.
Their spirits had not found rest in the spirit world.
Sighing heavily, he walked away, though itching to know how his new talent worked. His footsteps echoed in the desolate hall until he was gone.
……..
“Push!”
A voice rang, piercing through the air. Soldiers pushed 20 huge trebuchets with all their might into the open space.
Behind them were hundreds of tents with torches before every tent. Although it was late and they were in a forest, the fire allowed them to see their surroundings.
Asher stood with his clasped hands behind him while he looked at the trebuchets.
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When the men pulled away the cloth they used to cover it, the trebuchets were revealed in all their glory.
[Sensed Host’s intentions. Would Host like to upgrade these 20 trebuchets through fusion? Yes or No?]
‘Yes.’
Swoosh!
The trebuchets collided and then reappeared when the bright light died down. Now, they are 10.
The trebuchet’s weight box, where stones were fitted in to pull the spoon-like part, grew bigger as the length of the spoon-like part also increased.
It was so big that the soldiers around it looked tiny. The beams, which were once plain, now had runes, carvings of old Tenaria symbols, and in the middle of the beam that connected to the metallic bowl where the cut stones were dropped was a fire elemental crystal!
The temperature around the trebuchets became hot, causing droplets of sweat to appear on their foreheads.
[Flaming Trebuchets. Will transform the stones into brimstones able to cause explosions and spread raging destruction to anything 700 yards away.]
Seeing this, the corners of Asher’s lips curled upward.
“My Lord, our scouts have returned.” Alex approached him from behind.
Asher turned his head back. He could see Alex’s eyes were on the imposing trebuchets, which had several soldiers around them.
“And?”
Hearing Asher’s voice, he snapped out of his shock and went on one knee with his head lowered.
“And by dawn we shall arrive at the outskirts of the forest. Greenrock’s south gate is not far off, but there’s a sentry tower facing the forest.”
“Who governs the castle?”
Asher queried.
“Viscount Syria, the smooth talker.”
Asher raised an eyebrow. “That’s his title?”
Alex nodded.
“While your brother prepares for the battle tomorrow, you will lead 10 King Swordsmen and occupy that sentry tower tonight.”
“As you wish.” Alex got to his feet and left.
Shortly after, some figures in black cloaks left the forest on horseback. Far away from the sentry tower, they tied the silver blood horses to trees and made their way towards the tower.
Alex did not bother hiding or sneaking his way through. The sentry tower had lit up torches on stands around their surroundings.
They would surely be spotted no matter what they did.
“Halt!”
They heard a yell, but all of them kept on walking. Alex was the only one who brought down the hood of his cloak with his hands raised up.
“We’re adventurers.”
“I said halt!” The stern voice rang. Alex heard some sounds, and the double doors of the wooden building swung open, revealing a dozen men clad in scale armor.
Their equipment was quite impressive.
“What are you doing out by this time of the night?”
One guard bellowed.
Another looked at the 10 behind Alex and yelled.
“Remove your hoods, all of you!”