Orenburg Chronicles

Liu Xuan tried approaching him. “Old man, are you waiting for someone?”

Heg did not look at him. His gaze remained fixed on the foot of the mountain, and he merely muttered to himself:

“I have to find my son.”

The people who had come before him had surely already tried the usual methods, so Liu Xuan had no intention of asking about the old man’s son. Instead, he took a different approach.

“May I ask if your name is Heg?”

Only then did the old man sitting on the ground show some reaction. He raised his head and glanced at Liu Xuan, but immediately lowered it again and continued staring down the mountain, repeating the same words:

“I have to find my son.”

Liu Xuan scratched his head. If you won’t tell me anything, how am I supposed to find your son?

It seemed that, just as his status bar indicated, the man really was not in his right mind.

He would have to find the clues himself.

Liu Xuan walked around Heg and entered the hut, only to discover that there was practically nothing inside.

A few pieces of unknown animal hide were spread out in one corner, presumably serving as Heg’s bed.

Several chipped bowls sat beside them, each containing chunks of bloody raw meat.

The old man certainly had a tenacious vitality. Who knew how he had managed to survive all these years?

Still, this kind of life had taken a heavy toll on his body. Logically speaking, an elite NPC above level 40 shouldn’t have a health pool of only fifty thousand.

There was nothing else in the hut, which naturally meant there were no clues about Heg’s son either.

Liu Xuan frowned as he stepped outside. In this situation, the only option was to cast a wide net and ask around.

Heg’s title was “Master Swordsman,” and his strength was clearly extraordinary. Perhaps some NPCs had heard of him.

Liu Xuan planned to send the relevant information to Zhang Meng and have him arrange for people to make inquiries.

But as he left, the corner of his eye caught sight of the old sword lying beside Heg.

“Huh?”

This thing looked somewhat familiar.

Liu Xuan crouched down and said to Heg, who was staring blankly into space, “Mr. Heg, I’m going to take a look at your sword.”

Heg remained unmoved, still lost in his daze.

No objection meant it was fine.

Liu Xuan picked up the old sword and examined it carefully in his hands.

The sword was not only old; it also looked extremely ordinary. It seemed somewhat unworthy of Heg’s title as a Master Swordsman, resembling the standard-issue swords that could be found everywhere.

That’s right! A standard-issue sword!

Liu Xuan suddenly remembered seeing an identical sword in Captain Finch’s possession. The soldiers there used swords just like this one.

“Mr. Heg, do you know Finch? He used to be a member of the Orenburg guard.”

This time, Heg showed some reaction. Although he merely glanced at Liu Xuan before turning away again, Liu Xuan knew that this response meant he was on the right track.

If Heg had simply picked up the sword at random, he wouldn’t have reacted to the name.

Since Heg wasn’t talking, Liu Xuan could go find Finch himself.

He set the sword down and said goodbye. “Mr. Heg, I’ll be back shortly!”

With that, he immediately descended the mountain and hurried toward the Orchid River Outpost.

……

Finch was somewhat puzzled to see Liu Xuan visiting again. It was perfectly understandable that people like them couldn’t bear to leave this land, but why did Liu Xuan keep coming back to the newbie village?

Were there really that many good things here?

As soon as Liu Xuan entered, he got straight to the point. “Captain Finch, do you know someone named Heg?”

He had thought the answer was a sure thing, but Finch shook his head instead.

“Never heard of him.”

“How is that possible? He uses a standard-issue sword from your guard.”

“That, I can’t explain. After the destruction of Orenburg, it would be perfectly normal for other people to have picked up our weapons, wouldn’t it?”

Liu Xuan had already ruled out that possibility. He simply told Finch everything he had seen and heard.

After listening, Finch nodded as well. “It does sound as though he knows me or the Orenburg guard. But according to what you’ve said, if he really is a famous swordsman, I should have heard of him. How about this? I’ll ask my men and see if any of them know someone like that.”

Finch immediately summoned all the soldiers at the outpost and questioned them one by one, but every single one shook his head and said he didn’t know Heg.

Just as Liu Xuan was beginning to think the trail had gone completely cold and that he would have to abandon the quest, one of the soldiers suddenly muttered under his breath, “Could it be that guy?”

Liu Xuan had sharp ears and heard him at once. “Who are you talking about?”

The soldier hadn’t expected anyone to hear his muttering. He hurriedly waved his hands. “I was just saying it offhand. It probably isn’t him.”

“Whether it is or not, tell me who you mean first.”

“But…” For some reason, the soldier hesitated and secretly glanced at Finch.

Finch glared at him. “If I told you to speak, then speak!”

“But…”

“If you keep dragging this out, I’ll send you to the quarry tomorrow to dig rocks!”

“I’ll talk! But, Captain, you can’t get angry after I tell you.”

“If you don’t start talking, I’m really going to get angry!”

“Yes, sir!” The soldier didn’t dare delay any longer. Trembling, he said, “It’s that guy Lambert—the young noble who came from the north.”

Liu Xuan noticed that the moment Captain Finch heard the name Lambert, his expression stiffened.

Finch gave the soldier a fierce glare. “You’re saying Lambert has something to do with this Heg? How do you know?”

“I’m not completely sure, but I’ve gone on several missions with Lambert. His swordsmanship is very ordinary, without any flashy techniques at all. Yet, for some reason, it’s incredibly effective. So I once asked him where he had learned it. He said he learned it from his father.

“I was thinking that since the Heg mentioned by this adventurer is a Master Swordsman, perhaps only an expert of that caliber could achieve such a return-to-basics effect. Of course, this is only my guess. I also…”

“All right, I understand,” Finch interrupted.

He looked at Liu Xuan somewhat awkwardly. “Adventurer, why don’t we discuss this inside?”

“Sure.”

Curious, Liu Xuan followed Finch into the command hall.

After sitting down, Finch let out a heavy sigh. “Adventurer, I imagine you’re curious about who Lambert really is.”

“I’m guessing the two of you have some history?”

“History? You could say that.” Captain Finch gave a bitter smile. “I’m from Orenburg. My father was the captain of the guard back then. So after I joined the guard, I always believed that I would eventually take over from him and become the next captain.”

“Then one day, a young nobleman suddenly arrived from the north. His name was Lambert. He went on about how he didn’t want to rely on his family’s protection and wanted to make his own way in the world. But as soon as he arrived, the city lord appointed him vice-captain—my father’s aide.”

Finch still sounded indignant as he continued. “He claimed he wasn’t relying on his family, but wasn’t this just a parachute appointment? Lambert thought that coming from a large city in the north to a small place like ours counted as starting from nothing. But if it weren’t for his family, how could the city lord have made him vice-captain the moment he arrived? He hadn’t accomplished a single thing. I’d been serving in the guard for years and had completed countless missions, yet they still hadn’t decided whether to make me vice-captain.”

Liu Xuan hadn’t expected there to be such a history between them.

It was rather like spending years striving to rise into management at a company, only for a “prince” from the head office to be sent down to “gain experience at the grassroots level”—and then, with a single move, take the position you would have needed a lifetime of hard work to obtain.

Your dream was merely someone else’s “grassroots position.”

For now, however, Liu Xuan was more concerned about Lambert’s whereabouts. “Where is he now?”

At the mention of this, Finch’s expression grew somewhat unnatural. He let out an awkward laugh and said, “Not long before Orenburg fell, the higher-ups assigned me an extremely dangerous mission. I realized that I probably wasn’t capable of handling it, so... I provoked Lambert, telling him that if he could complete the mission, I would acknowledge him as the vice-captain.

“Lambert had always wanted the others to recognize him, so he volunteered to carry out the mission in my place. But not long after he set out, the Destroyers invaded, and we lost contact with him completely. I’m guessing he’s already...”