Joshua had quickly noted the main issue at hand with a single glance—instead of the Dual Blades of Order the blond swordsman mentioned, the man panicking as he did now was entirely due to the fact that his two daughters were unconscious. To the swordsman famous for his valor who also once fought orcs and cultists, Brandon would have at most be shocked for a moment even if his Sage's Legacy vanished one day, before composing himself to think of a solution. But now that it concerned his daughters, he was now unwittingly anxious.

"I don't know… It seems that they're asleep, but they can't be awakened regardless."

Beside them, Vale Dani did not lose her composure like Brandon, although worry remained apparent on her face. "Though there's no risk at the moment, it's still not alright for them to sleep like this. Brandon found out that it was because both Remy and Flan played with his Twin Blades out of curiosity, and the only way we thought of was to ask if you had come across similar situations."

Brandon nodded and drew out the weapons by his hip. The plain, undecorated and old Legacy blades were now emitting two silver, pure radiances, connected respectively but imperceptibly with a 'ray' to the two cute little girls and appeared to be the reason both were unconscious.

Joshua nodded. "I mostly understand now," he said, before turning towards Brandon with a doubtful question. "But why would the kids be able to touch your weapons? It should have been by your side in any given moment—you even mentioned last time that you even hug it in your sleep."

Though outsiders would not be able to tell, Joshua, Brandon, and Vale Dani were close. The two families often organization private c.o.c.ktail parties to kill time.

"It's certainly that way when I sleep alone, but—" Brandon blinked and abruptly switched gears as the red-faced Vale Dani prodded him with her foot. "Joshua, your Sage's Legacy awakened much earlier than I did and should know by now the way to control these creations of the last era. Could you tell what's the problem?"

"I understand most of it, in fact." Joshua nodded at Brandon's question, telling nothing but the truth. Unlike Brandon, the Azurite in his heart had already turned into a part of the reignited flames from his visit to the world of Grandia, but the most important 'Searing Crown' Authority remained in his body, and through that energy which the Sage had blessed him with he could at once see the truth behind the fainting which left even the couple helpless—clearly, the two children Remy and Flan had fallen into the memories of the Sage like he did initially. Since they were not Brandon—the current heir—they did not have the ability to react subsequently after the memories were activated, and hence unable to wake up.

"They should be playing in a dreamland now."

It was clear from the girls' expression that they were not suffering from their dreams, especially with that occasional smile of theirs. After thinking it for a few moments, Joshua gave a suggestion.

"There are two solutions. First, I sever their link with the Dual Blades which basically guarantees that they wake up immediately, although they would feel a little pain that is about the same as being jolted awake from a nightmare. Second, you could try linking to the blades. They are your Sage's Legacy after all—your daughters are merely accidentally pulled in thanks to having your bloodline. When you, the true owner arrives, it would definitely ignore your daughters and drag you into a dream state instead."

"Don't worry. It's just a necessary step for the Legacy, there won't be any adverse effects."

Having heard Joshua's suggestions, Brandon drew out the blades with no hesitation once more, and frowned, clenching the hilts tightly as if trying his best to communicate with his weapons. To a family man like him, it was impermissible even for his daughter to have nightmares—even words of decline appeared to be excess. Vale Dani, meanwhile, watched her husband. She probably believed that Brandon could smoothly solve the issue, and so did not appear too worried.

Concern breeds entanglement, huh. There was clearly nothing for him to do even as Joshua looked on—indeed, if Brandon could calmly a.n.a.lyze the situation, his ability would certainly have allowed him to easily sense how fragile the link between the blades and his two daughters was. It was extraordinarily simple whether he chose to sever or subst.i.tute himself in the link, but it was precisely because he was Brandon that he could not do such a 'simple' matter.

Come to think of it, if the quest of the Azurite vanished without a trace after reigniting the Flame Seed and only left the Authority of the King of Searing Soul, what quest was there for the other Sage's Legacy?

In the world of Grandia, the robes of Hillya, a dragon-girl with mixed ancestry had trans.m.u.ted into a tremendous magical formation that complemented the Tinder, carrying it back to the world of Mycroft and should have disappeared entirely by now too. On the other hand, the Dual Blades of Order and the Bright Scepter did not, which certainly meant that there were still incomplete missions.

—Perhaps I should ask Brandon when he's finished.

At the thought, Joshua gestured for Vale Dani so that she and the blond swordsman enter the liege's residence. If Brandon simply lay down out here when his linking proved successful and fall briefly into a dream state, it would be really ungainly.

Having settled Brandon and the others, Joshua paced around alone at the second floor of the liege's residence. He was rather idle recently with virtually nothing to do since there was nothing he had to manage as the liege of his entire domain. On the lowest level, each village head and mayor were managing things daily, while tax collectors and legions of knights were naturally present to handle daemons. At present, due to the Great Mana Tide, even the Moldavian knights could wipe out any Gold-tier beast that appeared—Joshua effectively had no chance to act unless it was a Supreme-tier monster.

And those were rare even during the Great Mana Tide. Being leaders that were only next to Legendary beasts, they were considered Elders even amongst the dragons. In fact, there could have been one or two of them in the depths of the Great Ajax Mountains, although they should have migrated by now. Beasts of such level already had intelligence equal to humans—perhaps surpa.s.sing them—which was why they were not so foolish as to be neighbors with a Legendary champion.

Just as he arrived by the stairs between the second and first floor, a tranquil undulation of Order power wafted from the guest room. Joshua nodded—Brandon formed the link a lot quicker than he thought, and it seemed that the motivating force that was his daughters would allow him to awaken some ten years ahead of schedule.

Come to think of it, the Sage was no demon—such a will to protect was definitely more apt than any other pa.s.sive emotion to awaken the Legacy. In the pre-existence, perhaps it was because he wanted to defend the world against the Abyssal invasion that he would resonate with the Dual Blades of Order.

But just as Joshua was prepared to head for the first floor, an extraordinarily malevolent and sinister presence suddenly wafted from the guest room behind that serene Order power ripple. The presence was so evil and corrupt that it appeared to be a.s.sembled out of all the sins in this world.

In the very instant he sensed it, Joshua turned and reached Brandon's guest room in time at all before cras.h.i.+ng straight to the wall. Catching Vale Dani's collar as she prepared to counteract with a spell with one hand and the two daughters who were sleeping soundly with the other, Joshua brought the tree of them to the streets outside the walls of the liege's residence. Then, in the next three seconds, he ran in and out of the manor and threw out every nonplussed person, including the black dragon girl, the luminous...o...b.. Ling, Ying, and every house servant out of the residence. Then, he returned to the second-floor of the residence and briskly kicked Brandon several hundred meters up in the air, striking a hole through the roof.

The swordsman, holding a blade in each hand, was emanating two distinctly different presence, one being of the good and the other evil.

"What on earth is this?"

It was only now that Joshua had the time to consider what happened to the swordsman. Despite being kicked rather reservedly by him, Brandon neither reacted nor dropped and simply hung in the air as if losing all weight. There was an immeasurably profound power that s.h.i.+elded his body, separating him from every external force. Joshua could sense that the Dual Blades of Order appeared to be subjugating something within—that something had emitted that corrupt and malevolent presence precisely because Brandon had entered the Sage's dream state and the ripples from the blades were gradually unsealed.

It's not very strong, Joshua thought in a brief moment, but it shouldn't be simply allowed to unleash itself.

So, he quickly made a choice that yielded three results.

With a dull boom, the snow clouds over the liege's residence were blasted away in a halo shape, where Brandon was punched some twenty kilometers away from the heart of that halo and vanished at the end of the horizon. Having controlled his power output to ensure that the punch did not hurt him and was enough to temporarily disperse the corrupted presence and that the liege's residence was not affected by the source which was now sent flying, Joshua accelerated as well and flew towards Brandon's body.

On the ground, the two girls who coincidentally opened their dazed eyes in the embrace of the gaping Vale Dani. They instinctively looked at once to the skies, blinking and muttering doubtfully with their delicate voices.

"Eh?"

"Daddy… is flying?"