Chapter 169 - Into Another Dream
After hearing Gawain’s words, everyone was shocked. “Eternal Sleepers?!”
This was completely outside of their expectation. Even the normally composed Heidi had nearly dropped her magic staff. She glared at the dead mercenary leader and said, “This mercenary is actually the disguise of an Eternal Sleepers’ follower?!”
“No, he was merely a springboard for the Eternal Sleeper.” Gawain rubbed his brows and spoke about the information he obtained from the heretic. “This fellow probably had an unfortunate nightmare some time ago while the powerful Eternal Sleepers’ heretic made use of the nightmare to leave a marker in his consciousness. As such, he became a one-time ‘carrier’, allowing that heretic to rapidly ‘arrive’ when required.”
The bizarre incident caused Amber to have goosebumps as she said, “Why does this evil cult heretic sound even more evil than the Oblivion Association?!”
“The Eternal Sleepers are indeed stranger than the Oblivion Association,” Pittman said in a deep voice. As a Druid who received the true inheritance, he had much more understanding of the evil cult followers. “The fallen Eternal Sleepers are converted from the church that followed the God of Dream Realms. They were originally clerics that appeased the people’s hearts and expelled nightmares. But after they were corrupted, they turned into experts that created nightmares and horrors. The best bishops of the Eternal Sleepers all have the ability to roam in the dream realms of others. Furthermore, they could connect dream realms from different individuals, making them even more elusive and harder to guard against. Their special ability allows them to be even more horrifying than regular evil cult heretics. But there is something that is considered good news.. The Eternal Sleepers aren’t as extreme and bloody like the Oblivion Association or the Sons of the Storm. They would only pull people into all sorts of nightmares or illusions and do the occasional kidnapping. They would rarely conduct any massacres.”
After hearing until this part, Heidi spoke pensively, “I have also heard about the Eternal Sleepers. It is true that they seldom conduct any large-scale deaths, but their behavior is much stranger and more freakish than the other evil cults. I personally feel that they seem to be hiding some gigantic plan and that such evil cults that don’t kill frequently are much more terrifying.”
Gawain had a similar feeling. “As long as they are an evil cult, they will be dangerous. If they don’t kill, it just means they will do things more terrifying than killing, and it is harder to defend against than actual killing. Furthermore.. the Eternal Sleepers are the only evil cult that contacts the Oblivion Association other than the Sons of the Storm. The Oblivion Association and the Sons of the Storm are both cruel and bloody factions, and if the Eternal Sleepers are associated with them.. it is impossible for them to be good.”historical
“The more I hear it, the more I find it frightening.” Amber couldn’t help but rub her arms as though she was soothing the goosebumps and immediately looked at Gawain curiously. “You said that you were dragged into the ‘nightmare’ of the Eternal Sleepers earlier? What happened next? You escaped?”
Gawain laughed and said, “We had a contest in the consciousness world, and that fellow died. He must be some minor character.”
Amber replied with an ‘oh’, while Heidi looked at her great-great-great-grandfather with eyes of worship and was convinced. Pittman was the only person who suspiciously sized up Gawain and asked, “An Eternal Sleep who could ‘arrive’ as he please.. is actually a minor character?”
“In any case, he isn’t as incredible as me.” Gawain shrugged his shoulders and said, “Since that fellow is already dead, it isn’t important how incredible he was in the past.”
Heidi was obviously a little worried. “Why would an Eternal Sleeper attack you? Previously, the attack from the Oblivion Association was considered an accident as that corrupted Druid’s target was Tanzan Town. But this time, the Eternal Sleeper is obviously targeting you. Before that mercenary leader was ‘possessed’, he clearly yelled out your name!”
Gawain’s expression turned serious as he knew that Heidi was worried for a reason.
The revived Gawain Cecil had indeed attracted the attention of some evil factions.
The memories from the heretic’s remnant soul might not be much, but after putting it together with his recent thoughts and experiences, Gawain could confirm that the heretic had been active in the south region for many years. He had left behind plenty of nightmare markers on thousands of victims, and the mercenary leader just happened to be one of those victims. It was just a coincidence for Gawain to capture the mercenary leader during the process of capturing slaves. However, the Eternal Sleeper that worked behind the mercenary leader didn’t just observe Gawain for a day or two.
From the conversation, Gawain knew that the heretic was paying attention to Gawain Cecil’s secret voyage to the ‘Sea of Eternal Darkness’. Therefore, since the information of Gawain reviving from his tomb was made known, the heretic was probably already making a plan for contact.
By coincidence, the mercenary leader that was imprisoned by Gawain had given the Eternal Sleeper a perfect opportunity in advance. But the heretic never would have expected that he would actually perish in this perfect opportunity..
A bishop from the Eternal Sleepers had a dubious death, but it didn’t mean that the assault had ended. Gawain believed that other evil cults or mysterious organizations were observing the so-called giant secret of the ‘Sea of Eternal Darkness’ and the ‘secret voyage’ that involved him. Since the secret was enough to make the most cautious and most concealed evil cult to take the risk, it would naturally incur the curiosity of other hidden factions.
The problem was that Gawain was also very curious about the so-called ‘Sea of Eternal Darkness’!
As matters stood, Gawain’s only consolation for himself was that the Eternal Sleepers’ bishop had died in a straightforward manner and didn’t cause a huge commotion by dying on Cecil Clan’s territory. This might be a warning to those people who wished to pry.
If they were bold enough to come seeking trouble, Gawain wouldn’t have a choice but to receive the attack. After all, he currently had an entire territory to feed, and he couldn’t possibly cower and leave like the wind, right?
Pittman looked at the serious Gawain before turning to the concerned Heidi. He let out a light sigh and revealed a similarly serious expression while saying, “Lord Duke, I think this time, you need to consider my resignation seriously..”
“If you truly wished to run, you would have already vanished without a trace. Are you the kind of person to come and greet the boss before escaping?” Gawain looked at the shame of the Druids before waving his hand. “If they come, I will endure it. A few minions and pawns aren’t enough to cause a huge wave. I don’t believe the evil cult heretics that have been hiding for seven centuries would dare to organize a huge army to attack us.”
Immediately after, Gawain looked at the dizzy Mage mercenary at the side.
Heidi immediately asked, “Ancestor, do we need to continue the interrogation?”
Gawain shook his head, “We don’t need it anymore. Continue to lock him up, and we will decide after a period of time.”
He didn’t consider executing this Mage mercenary, but he didn’t intend to release him either. If the attack on those refugees from the northern wilderness was considered an act of war, then this mercenary was considered the Cecil Clan’s prisoner of war. According to the laws of this era, such prisoners of war would be directly considered slaves. They would be using eternal labor to compensate the victor of the battle for the weapons and manpower that were used. However, Gawain had yet to think of a labor reformation for such ‘war slaves’.
The Cecil territory was in need of manpower; therefore, Gawain didn’t mind allowing this prisoner of war to serve as a labor force to utilize his value. This was much more worthwhile than to execute or banish him. But the Mage mercenary was a Grade 2 spellcaster, and it would be a waste to throw him to the western mines to dig for ores. Also, Gawain wasn’t at ease yet; therefore, he truly had to consider properly before assigning a task to him..
Heidi didn’t have any objection to Gawain’s arrangement, but she still couldn’t put down the question of why would these mercenaries be capturing refugees in the vast wilderness at the northern side of the White River? “Are we not going to investigate why the Kant Clan hired these mercenaries to capture the refugees?”
“Ah.. right.” Gawain couldn’t help but rub his forehead. It seemed like the conflict with the heretic in his consciousness world still caused an impact. He had actually forgotten the original objective for interrogating these two mercenaries. “I am a bit tired and forgot about it. Alright then, Heidi, Pittman, I shall leave this matter to the two of you. Take advantage of the fact that the medicine and the ritual had yet to end and find out why the Kant Clan are capturing slaves during the Frost Month. I need to rest. Just tell me the interrogation report later on.”
After making arrangements, Gawain returned to his tent.
He was indeed tired. He was fatigued after such a long period of time inside the consciousness world. He realized that it wasn’t as easy as he imagined to contest with that heretic.
Even if he was a satellite spirit, organizing a massive amount of memory to devour another mind wasn’t easy.
After returning to the tent, he went into a deep sleep on his bed and quickly entered a dream.
He ‘opened’ his eyes in an unfamiliar place and realized he was standing in a long hallway.
The hallway had the classic Anzu style that had the same architecture and interior decor like the castles that the southern nobles preferred. The support pillars on both sides of the hallway were half-buried into the walls, and each pillar was embedded with a magic crystal lamp.
This wasn’t the ancient castle of the Cecil Clan, nor was it the Leslie Clan’s castle in Tanzan Town. It wasn’t like any of the castle interiors in Gawain’s memories.
At the first moment, Gawain thought that he might have entered another dream realm. Furthermore, he was in a sober state of mind as he entered the dream realm. After the experience with the heretic, he was instantly vigilant and couldn’t help but mutter to himself.
“Why did the next attack come so quickly? Is this evil cult a group of Calabash Brothers trying to save the grandfather?”[1]
Soon enough, Gawain realized that the situation this time was different from earlier. He didn’t awaken in a completely chaotic space nor did anyone barge into his dream realm to chat. He had a feeling that he could wake up at any moment as long as he desired it. As compared to the time when he was dragged into an illusory space by the Eternal Sleeper, this was more like a normal dream.
The only difference from a normal dream was the abnormally sober consciousness that he could maintain.
No, there were more differences..
Gawain felt something in his hand when he had subconsciously thought of a certain object. In the next second, he realized that his hand held a can of cola.
In this sober dreamland, he was seemingly able to create anything he wanted.
[1] Calabash Brothers is a TV show about seven brothers making consecutive attempts after each brother’s failure to save their grandfather.