Episode 242
“The Shackles of the Covenant?”
Hearing Yellin’s words, Zeke realized there was some connection between the Raven Clan and the Black River Tribe.
After a moment of contemplation, he sheathed Anexi’s dagger and spoke.
“This might take a while. We should move to a more private location.”
Zeke instructed Feynan to clear out the secure meeting room in the lab.
Meanwhile, Himmel and Yellin carried the unconscious Ravens to the meeting room with Zeke.
Once the room was ready, Feynan approached Zeke, curious about the situation.
“Master, are those people… practitioners of Ishtar’s dark arts?”
In Atlas, only the Ishtar dared to launch such brazen attacks.
Zeke nodded, confirming Feynan’s suspicion.
“It’s complicated.”
Feynan, quick on the uptake, closed the meeting room door and returned to the lab.
As Zeke and Feynan conversed, the other Ravens regained consciousness, removed their masks, and bowed deeply. Their dark elf-like features and brown skin resembled Himmel’s.
Zeke addressed them.
“Please, have a seat.”
Himmel shook his head.
“We cannot sit with someone who bears the Black River’s emblem.”
Just moments ago, they had been brandishing daggers, and now this sudden change left Zeke bewildered. He offered a seat only to Yellin.
Once seated, Yellin removed her hood and chador, revealing her emerald hair and sculpted features that lit up the room. Even Zeke, usually stoic, felt his heart skip a beat at her beauty. Though Angelina was renowned as the continent’s most beautiful woman, Yellin possessed an elegance that surpassed even her.
Yellin spoke, her voice unexpectedly old-fashioned and androgynous.
“Sir Zeke Draker, I apologize for our earlier transgressions.”
Zeke shook his head.
“It’s alright. But are you sure it’s okay to break your vow of silence?”
Yellin nodded.
“The appearance of the Black River’s emblem is more important than my vow. That’s why I sought you out.”
It seemed breaking the shackles of the covenant was a matter of great importance to the Ishtar family.
Zeke asked Yellin, “What exactly are these ‘shackles of the covenant’ you mentioned?”
Yellin hesitated before responding.
“Sir Zeke, if it’s not too much trouble, may I see the Black River’s emblem again?”
Zeke handed Anexi’s dagger to her. Yellin examined it reverently, then sighed deeply.
“It truly is the lost emblem of the Black River.”
Himmel, still kneeling, looked at the dagger with tears in his eyes.
“To think it would reappear after two thousand years…”
Zeke realized the dagger held significant symbolism for Yellin and Himmel.
“Is this dagger related to the shackles of the covenant?” he asked.
Yellin nodded.
“Yes. May I ask where you found this dagger?”
Zeke decided to reveal only part of the truth.
“I discovered it in an ancient ruin. The details are a family secret.”
Even the Ishtar couldn’t pry into the secrets of the Draker family.
Yellin returned the dagger to Zeke.
“This dagger is a sacred relic of the ancient Dark Elf tribe, the Black River.”
Zeke, who had met Anexi in spirit form, already knew this.
Feigning ignorance, he asked, “Dark Elves… aren’t they just a legend?”
Yellin shook her head.
“As you might have guessed, the Ishtar family has Elven blood. Among purebloods like me, ancestral traits sometimes resurface. Just as humans have diverse races, so do Elves. There are High Elves like me, as well as Gray Elves and Dark Elves.”
Zeke was taken aback.
“You’re of High Elf descent?”
Through the chronicles left by the Hero King, Zeke had learned much about Elves. High Elves were the noblest, with the longest lifespans, the ability to communicate with nature, and wisdom sought even by dragons.
That Yellin was of such noble lineage was astonishing.
Yellin continued, “I’m surprised you know about High Elves, Sir Zeke. But now, only a few of us remain. To discuss the covenant, we must go back to the Hero King’s era. It was an unbreakable promise between our ancestors and the Black River tribe.”
“A covenant between High Elves and Dark Elves?”
“Yes.”
“What was the covenant about?”
Yellin hesitated before speaking.
“The covenant was to protect the Black River.”
“The Black River?”
Zeke was puzzled. The Dark Elves had been used as sacrifices by Zimens to summon demonic forces, leading them to join the Demon King’s army against the Chronos Alliance. It was hard to believe they had made a covenant with the Elves, who were part of the alliance.
‘Was there something I missed after the Demon King’s invasion?’
Yellin spoke slowly.
“It’s a family matter, so I can’t reveal everything to an outsider. But the core is that the Ishtar family is bound to the borderlands because of this covenant.”
Zeke sensed something amiss.
“Wait… does that mean the Ishtar family has been in the borderlands since before the Golden Age?”
“The family became publicly active during the Liberation War. After the war, the warriors who had ventured out returned. But the Ishtar family had been in the borderlands long before that.”
Zeke was surprised to learn the true history of the Ishtar family, which differed from common knowledge.
“I didn’t realize the Ishtar’s isolation in the borderlands was due to the covenant. But why is it called the Black River in the desert?”
“I heard it was once a great river. Now it’s mostly dried up, but traces remain.”
Zeke turned to Himmel.
“So, the Ishtar’s Ravens are named after an assassin clan from the Black River?”
“Yes. The Raven Clan is a branch of the Black River tribe, bound by a covenant of loyalty.”
As Zeke suspected, the Raven Clan had Dark Elf blood.
He asked Yellin, “Even after two thousand years, the covenant still holds?”
“The Black River tribe made a covenant with our ancestors to protect their sacred land before going to war. The noble High Elves couldn’t refuse. But…”
Yellin paused before continuing.
“The Black River tribe was wiped out in battle. We never imagined the entire tribe would vanish, leaving only the covenant behind.”
Zeke thought of Anexi, who had led her unit into hiding in ancient ruins after being defeated by the alliance. Though he didn’t know their exact fate, Yellin’s words suggested the entire tribe perished in battle, including Anexi’s unit.
‘Did Chronos turn this dagger into a hidden stage in the Inverted Tower?’
Zeke asked Yellin, “So, can this dagger break the shackles of the covenant?”
Yellin nodded.
“Yes, it can.”
Zeke was surprised to learn that the Ishtar family’s isolation in the borderlands was due to a two-thousand-year-old covenant.
He recalled his past life.
‘The reports said Arthur Draker was trapped and killed by Ishtar and Nirvana. I always wondered how they got Ishtar to cooperate… If the Empire had a way to break the covenant’s shackles…’
In his past life, after Arthur Draker’s death, Ishtar and Nirvana didn’t participate in the Third Continental War or show any significant activity.
Perhaps Ishtar had finally broken free from the shackles of their ancient pact and left the borderlands to go wherever they pleased.
It was then that Yellin spoke up.
“As I mentioned earlier, the Ishtar family has been able to engage in external activities for the past thousand years.”
“Why did you start then?”
“This is another family secret, but I believe Sir Zeke deserves to know.”
She began to speak slowly.
“There are records that a man named Terracan Draker visited our family a thousand years ago.”
“Terracan Draker?”
The name was unexpected, and it caught Zeke off guard.
Yellin nodded.
“Terracan Draker sought the power of the Ishtar family. With his mysterious abilities, he loosened the chains of our pact, allowing us a chance to venture outside.”
Zeke wondered if it was not Terracan’s power alone, but perhaps Claudia Lubern or Bahamut, who had been with him, that made it possible.
‘If it was the power of a dragon, it might not have broken the chains of the pact, but it could have loosened them.’
Yellin continued.
“Terracan promised that if we helped him, he would break the chains of our pact. However…”
Zeke could guess the rest without hearing it.
“He didn’t keep his promise, did he?”
Yellin nodded.
“Thanks to him, the chains are looser than before, but the Ishtar family remains bound to the domain of the Black River.”
Zeke understood why the Ishtar family harbored such animosity towards the Draker family.
‘Terracan, that old fool, went around causing trouble everywhere.’
It was likely that Bahamut’s death had left Terracan unable to fulfill his promise.
Zeke asked Yellin, “Yellin, how can this dagger break the chains of the pact?”
Yellin looked slightly troubled and glanced at Himmel, who nodded after a moment of contemplation.
She spoke slowly.
“Sir Zeke, beneath the main palace of Ishtar lies a very ancient labyrinth.”
“Are you saying the palace was built on ancient ruins?”
“The Black River domain has been home to ancient cities since before the era of the Hero King. There are still undiscovered labyrinths, not just beneath the palace.”
Zeke wondered why Yellin was suddenly talking about labyrinths.
Yellin finally got to the point.
“The object bound by the chains of the pact is located beneath the main palace.”
Zeke furrowed his brow at her words.
“Wasn’t the pact meant to protect the Black River domain?”
“The Black River refers to the river flowing through the domain, but it also signifies something else. To be precise, the pact is related to the ‘Hermit of the Black River.’”
Something clicked in Zeke’s mind as he listened to Yellin.
He asked, almost not daring to believe it, “The Hermit of the Black River… Could it be…?”
Yellin nodded at Zeke’s reaction and spoke.
“Yes. Beneath the main palace of Ishtar…”
She let out a sigh as she uttered the final words.
“There is a dragon still alive.”