"That sword..."
In his entire life, the Saint Knight had never seen the so-called Holy Sword. It was said that the sword was sold by the greedy royals a long time ago already. The biggest problem was that no one knew who the Sword was sold to. All they knew was that the Sword wasn't in the Empire.
According to the current Royal Family, the Holy Sword of the Arecia Empire was sold to the neighbouring Yan Empire by the Arecia Clan in exchange for some benefits. That was also the event which was used as the foundation for the revolt where the Royal Family was destroyed.
After the new Royal Family took control, they asked Yan to return the sword. Unfortunately, Yan never accepted that they even possessed the Sword. Eventually, the Arecia Empire could only give up and curse the Arecia Clan for this downfall.
Sensing the unpleasant aura, more and more Royal Knights arrived at the location. Before long, the place had less citizens and more Knights.
Gabriel held the Sword firmly, observing just how many knights there were in total.
'There should be over a hundred Royal Knights... If there's a battle, things would get really chaotic. However, I couldn't have asked for a better stage for myself!'
Even if the Royal Knights were siding with the current Royal Family, the most important thing for him was to win their support. The Saint Knight had already prepared the stage for him.
Gabriel knew that these people hated the Arecia Clan. However, if he could successfully fool them and make them believe his lies, they were definitely going to feel just as guilty at the thought of betraying the Arecia Clan which was innocent.
He really didn't have any evidence that the Arecia Clan didn't betray the Empire or that they didn't sell the Sword but it didn't matter. He didn't need to play fair for now.
"So, tell me. You say that my Ancestors sold this Sword to the enemies? Then why should I have it? Why would it be in the hands of a descendant? Unless you believe that I was able to sneak inside the enemy Empire and steal this treasure sword without causing any commotion?" he asked. "If you do say that, I'm sure you know yourself how stupid you'll sound."
The Sword of Ulien was in his hands now. And there was no way for these people to know that this was something he stole from the Academy of Elements.
The Academy didn't know that the Sword they possessed was the Royal Sword of Arecia. If they knew, they would have mentioned it in the description of the sword to their students. Since they didn't mention it, it could only mean two things.
First was that they didn't want Arecia to know that they had this sword. If that was the case, they definitely weren't going to publicise that this sword was stolen. Even if they told anyone about the robbery, they were going to focus mainly on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness so this information was as good as buried.
The second possibility was that they didn't know either and it was just a coincidence that this sword fell in their hands, which was more likely.
Gabriel knew that he was taking a big risk by bringing out this sword, especially before a Holy Priestess but for now, it was a calculated risk.
The Saint Knight was just about to talk about the possibility of Gabriel stealing or receiving the Sword, but Gabriel already took the initiative to put forward this possibility while also using a mocking tone while describing it. If the Saint Knight actually used this logic, he could very well become a laughing stock.
"Why do you have that sword?" The Saint Knight asked, frowning.
Even he was slightly curious how Gabriel had the sword. If this Sword was actually sold to an Empire in exchange for benefits, then that Empire was surely going to know its worth. There was no way they could let it get stolen.
Moreover, he didn't believe Gabriel was strong enough to steal inside the Palace and take it.
'If he was actually strong enough to do that, wouldn't it mean he was strong enough to kill me? Even I can't achieve a feat like that. There is no way he stole it from the Royal Palace. Then why does he have it?'
Gabriel could already read the thoughts on the middle aged man's face. He could also see some killing intent from the Saint Knight.
'He really wants to kill me, doesn't he?' he wondered. 'He just doesn't dare to do it in Avilia's presence. If she wasn't here, he would've attacked already.'
"Who will have that Sword if not a member of our Arecia Clan?" Gabriel asked. "As you said, my Ancestor Novius Arcadius Arecia was the Eldest Prince who left to train in the outside World. Of course he took the Sword with him to train! He wanted to become as strong as the Saint Knight to protect the Empire like our Ancestor!"
Gabriel had a story about why he had a Sword that he just made up. He also knew the follow-up questions which was the hardest part.
"They why didn't he return all this time? And where were you all this time? Why just come now?"
Just as Gabriel expected, the question came. Many people in the Lumen Empire knew of the Dark Mage Novius who founded the Academy of Elements. However, none of them knew what that person's full name was. None knew that he was a Royal of Arecia as Novius had already abandoned his Royal identity after leaving Arecia.
The Two Empires were neighbours, but they couldn't be any farther apart. Unlike the other Empires, the Arecia Empire didn't have any Church branches and the trade was also very limited with the other Empires.
Arecia didn't care what was happening in the neighbouring Empires.
"He wanted to return. Unfortunately, in his quest for getting stronger, he came across the Holy Priest of Darkness," Gabriel sighed.
He didn't want to drag the Dark Mages into another mess, but he didn't have much of an option. Since Novius was supposed to have the Sword of Ulien, he couldn't just say that Novius was defeated and killed by an ordinary mage. He had to name some higher ups like a Holy Priest.
With the current reputation of the Church of Darkness, it was also much easier to convince them with this story if he just borrowed their name. Not as if their reputation could get any worse than it already was.
"A Holy Priest of Darkness?" Many in the crowd exclaimed. At this point, even the Royal Knights were immersed in the story, listening carefully.
As Gabriel told his story, he could also sense that another person had arrived in the back…
