The group in front of the mansion was none other than the barbarians of the Rock Tribe.
King's Fist set Zeke down and bowed toward him.
"Big Bro Zeke, I missed you so much."
"I missed you too. But what's going on all the way out here in Atlas?" King's Fist scratched his head and explained to Zeke.
"You sent a letter to my dad, right? Saying you were taking care of our tribe's kids and the Mohakin Tribe's kids. Dad said it would be better to bring even more kids and wipe out all the guys who messed with our side."
Zeke had informed Big Foot, the chieftain of the Rock Tribe, that the mages of Siemens were kidnapping barbarians, brainwashing them, and turning them into weapons.
It seemed Big Foot had gone so far as to order an attack on the Siemens side upon hearing that.
Barbarians rarely left their own territory.
The fact that they had sent King's Fist and the others showed just how furious Big Foot and the other barbarian chieftains must have been.
Zeke nodded and glanced back at the security captain and knights, who wore expressions of bewilderment, before asking King's Fist,
"But why were you fighting with them?" King's Fist shrugged at the question. "No idea. I told them I came to see you, but they kept yelling, so I just ignored them and came in."
The barbarians had their own unique culture, separate from that of the Central Continent, so they had no concept of identification papers.
And since they could not communicate, that must have led to the misunderstanding.
Zeke approached the security captain and said,
"You've had a rough time. I'm Zeke Draker."
At Zeke's greeting, the security captain saluted him with a tense expression.
"S-Sir Zeke! I'm Mark Soren, captain of the 5th Security Unit! It's an honor to meet you!" Zeke returned the salute lightly to the security captain.
"These are my guests. It seems there was a misunderstanding because they could not communicate properly."
The security captain's eyes widened at Zeke's words.
"You're saying these barbarians are your guests, sir?"
"Yes, they're people I formed a bond with during a previous mission, and they came all this way just to see me."
The security captain and the gathered soldiers and knights all wore disbelieving expressions at the mention of the barbarians being Zeke's guests.
This was because barbarians were known as a race that had no interactions with humans.
"As expected of the Knight of Salvation."
"To think those savages would follow him so obediently—it's unbelievable."
Seeing even the untouchable barbarians obey him only heightened the air of mystery around Zeke.
They agreed to calculate the damages from the broken fixtures and the medical costs for the injured and bill Zeke's side accordingly, and the security unit dispersed soon after.
Zeke led the barbarian group into the mansion.
Luther and Omar, who had been waiting for Zeke inside the mansion, had come out due to the commotion outside.
Omar, who had been waiting in that state, was utterly shocked to see the barbarians walking alongside Zeke.
"Gasp! F-Forest Keepers!"
Zeke spoke to Omar, who was backing away warily from the barbarians.
"Sir Omar, there's no need to worry. These are my comrades." Omar looked at Zeke with an incredulous expression.
"H-How could forest keepers be your comrades? Unless they're from the same tribe, they never accept outsiders..."
At that moment, something suddenly occurred to Omar.
"As expected of the knight chosen by the phoenix! Oh, Lord."
Omar suddenly collapsed to his knees and began reciting prayers again.
King's Fist looked at him and asked Zeke,
"What's wrong with that guy?"
Zeke pondered how to explain in the barbarians' language before opening his mouth.
"He's scared of you guys."
At Zeke's words, the barbarians grinned and flexed their muscles proudly.
"Scared!"
"Scared!"
The barbarians smiled innocently, delighted.
Zeke looked at them fondly, as if they were endearing, while Omar and Luther gazed at Zeke's benevolent face with awe.
And so, the barbarians joined Zeke's camp, forming a barbarian legion.
*
Zeke decided to proceed with the meeting with Julius, but that did not mean he could head straight to the Dorta Republic.
It was because of the appointment to the Guardian Knight Seat.
Since Arthur had declared he would bestow the Guardian Knight Seat upon Zeke, it was certain to happen.
For Zeke, he needed to see not only Arthur's final decision but also Kali's reaction before deciding how to proceed.
The worst-case scenario was Kali and Helen's side splitting from Zeke and turning against him, swords drawn.
"I wonder how Big Sis Kali will react."
He considered reaching out first, but the situation was quite delicate.
The family had not officially decided to bestow the Guardian Knight Seat on Zeke yet, so he could not casually mention it to Kali.
If the words were conveyed poorly, it could cause even more chaos in the Four Seasons Star.
Zeke sat in his office, pondering and carefully organizing his thoughts on what to do.
Just then, the butler entered the office.
"Master, Lady Arina Rubern has arrived."
Zeke stood up upon hearing that Arina had come.
"Bring her to the reception room right away."
Arina had stayed in the Principality after Zeke left to discuss matters concerning the pope and the Rubern bloodline.
She had come to Atlas to find Zeke after finishing her business with the pope.
When Zeke entered the reception room, Arina greeted him with a bright smile.
"Lady Arina, you've arrived. You've had a hard time." He greeted her and prepared tea for her.
Arina savored the tea and nodded.
"The aroma is wonderful. Rolla always gave me tea with such a nice fragrance." In moments like these, Arina would share memories of Zeke's mother, Laura.
Even though he knew, it still surprised him anew that she was of the same generation as Laura Agamemnon.
"Did your discussions with Her Holiness Beatrice go well?" Arina nodded with a smile at Zeke's question.
"Yes, after talking with her, I could see that Her Holiness takes this issue very seriously as well. The other cardinals and bishops have such close ties with the Empire and even the Nostra Family that it was hard to sever those connections."
The Empire's raid had created an opportunity to cleanly eradicate the chronic evils that had become customary in the Principality of Vadoka.
Arina explained that she had agreed with the Golden Dawn Society to organize a vigilante corps to not only hunt down the Rubern bloodline but also eradicate the slave traders' activities entirely, with mutual support.
Zeke nodded at her words.
"That's good. I'd be happy to support such activities as much as needed." Arina's face lit up with a broad smile.
"Thank you, Sir Zeke. And I have a gift for you."
With that, Arina pulled out an old book and handed it to Zeke.
"What is this?"
"It's one of Rolla's belongings."
Zeke was startled at the mention of it being a relic of his late mother.
"My mother's belongings were still around?"
"The Golden Dawn Society had been managing the hideout where Rolla was active in the Eastern Dawn Society. While examining the items stored there just in case, I found this."
It turned out traces of Laura Agamemnon remained within the Principality.
Zeke slowly opened the old book.
After skimming through the contents quickly, Zeke tilted his head.
"This is... scriptures, isn't it?" Arina nodded.
"Yes, but it's not the usual scriptures. This is apocrypha."
"Apocrypha?"
"It's content of unclear origin or difficult to verify as truth, so it was not included in the scriptures. Sir Pab and Rolla searched for the Rubern bloodline while also investigating this apocrypha."
"My mother? Do you know why she was looking for the apocrypha?"
"At the time, I could not see, so I could not directly participate in what they were doing. I remember Rolla taking the lead more than Sir Pab. She... wanted to know the lost history through the apocrypha."
"Lost history?"
"Yes. The history before the era of the Hero King. The history of the legendary city Carcosa built by the constellations."
Before the War of Liberation, the era of Hero King Kaisir was already a time of legends.
So the even earlier era of the ancient constellations was left only in fragmentary records that even made one doubt their existence.
Only excerpts from the words of figures from the Hero King's era, compiled solely about the gods, remained as records.
If it had been anyone else, they might have dismissed talk of gods as fanciful, but Zeke took it seriously.
This was because the legend of the godslayer he had heard from Tyr's spirit body had occurred in that very era.
"Perhaps there's something about the godslayer in the apocrypha too." Zeke recalled the word "Carcosa" from Arina's words.
"It sounds familiar. Where did I hear that?"
The word Carcosa nagged at him, and as he pondered, Zeke suddenly remembered.
"Solomon's ring!"
The legendary item that sealed constellations and allowed the use of their power was Solomon's ring.
"It was said to have been received by Solomon, king of Carcosa, from an elder dragon."
Zeke asked Princess Arina,
"Lady Arina, do you know anything about the city of Carcosa or King Solomon?" Arina's eyes widened in surprise at Zeke's question.
"To think you know of King Solomon... I did not realize you had such deep knowledge of theology, Sir Zeke."
"Is King Solomon a figure from the scriptures?" Arina shook her head.
"The scriptures available nowadays are the newly compiled version by the Holy Kingdom, so the content has changed a lot and been shortened. Even in the scriptures from the Holy Empire era, mentions of King Solomon were only in passing."
"So we can't know the details?" Arina shook her head.
"The apocrypha that Rolla found contains exactly the story of King Solomon and Carcosa."
"Where did my mother find this?"
Arina hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking.
"In the Draker Family Secret Chamber."
While Zeke was momentarily speechless, Arina continued.
"I did not hear how Rolla was able to enter the secret chamber. But I do know she went in, saw the apocrypha directly, and memorized the entire contents before coming out. Over 200,000 characters, all of it."
"You're saying the Draker Family kept that much apocrypha? What on earth for..."
"Rolla wanted to find out the reason too. I do not know the process of how she married the Draker family head and gave birth to you, Sir Zeke, but the Rolla I knew did not have a very favorable view of the Draker side."
"Was not it because the Draker Family used the curse on the Agamemnon Family as an opportunity to take over all of Midland?"
"Separate from that, she seemed to... despise the Draker Family itself, if you'll pardon the expression."
Zeke frowned in confusion at Arina's words.
"But she still married Arthur Draker? And even had me..." Arina nodded at Zeke's words.
"Rolla was someone who saw realms others could not, so I had limits in understanding everything about her. And Rolla herself was quite secretive."
To Zeke, the existence of Laura Agamemnon was like a mirage that seemed graspable yet slipped away.
"Since she could prophesy with Chronos's authority, maybe she saw something with foresight."
It was still hard to speculate what had happened between Laura and Arthur.
"Once this is over, I should go see Rex Thurn. It's late, but he promised to tell me about my mother."
Arina spoke to Zeke, who was deep in thought.
"The conversation veered off. You were curious about Carcosa, right, Sir Zeke?"
Arina looked at Zeke and said,
"It's in that book, so you can read it yourself, but to sum it up briefly, the reason
Carcosa fell was the gods' blind love."