Days later, a certain Markus Brightmoon arrived at the gates.

He was welcomed by the butler, Salazar, who prepared him some tea waiting for Kyle to finish his training.

Kyle arrived saying: “Sorry for my tardiness. I was at a critical stage of my training.”

As Markus saw Kyle arriving, a strange thing happened. He lost his composure but regained it almost instantly. It seemed that Kyle’s appearance resembled someone he knew.

Markus then said: “I see...you are already a middle stage Novice. This speed of training really makes one envious.”

The average Middle stage Novice Hallowed swordsman was between twenty-five and thirty years old.

“I understand that you come from the Brightmoon family.” Kyle probed.

“Yes...I come from the Brightmoon family...but tell me, where do you hail from?...we seem to have the same family name.” Markus bluntly asked.

“I am an orphan. All that was left behind was my name: Kyle Brightmoon.” Kyle said. Of course, he could not say anything about a bloodline compass leading him to Dellmoor city.

“For an orphan, you are wealthy enough to contend with our branch of the family...” Markus probed as well.

“I was just lucky enough to inherit a bit of gold.”Kyle didn’t say where he got it from.

Before Markus could ask anything else, Kyle said: “You said something about a branch family. The Brightmoon family in Dellmoor city is not the only one?”

Markus answered: “There is a branch in each country on the continent. The main branch is in the Trost Empire.”

“To tell you the truth, I was hoping I was related to the Brightmoon family and perhaps find information about my parents by coming to Dellmoor city.” Kyle said.

Markus remained silent for a while. He drank his tea as time passed. Finally, he said: “I think I know who your father is.”

Kyle was surprised and seemed to be looking in an empty area. He was looking at me.

“There is no harm in hearing him out.” I said.

“What makes you so sure to know who my father is when you just met me today?” Kyle asked.

“You look exactly like my nephew in his youth. The resemblance is so striking that I can’t help but think of him.” Markus said.

It was now Kyle turn to be silent. He said after a while: “I see...Well, can I meet him?”

“That’s impossible, I am afraid.” Markus shook his head.

“Why is that?” Kyle asked.

“He suddenly went missing seventeen years ago.” Markus said.

“I see...” Kyle said disappointedly.

“You should come back with me...I’m sure my brother, your grandfather, would like to meet you.” Markus said.

“I will come visit you in a few days.” Kyle said after some thought.

“Alright. Well, I am glad I took the initiative to visit you. I will also tell the family about you. I’m sure they will be impatient to meet you.” Markus said as he stood up.

Kyle stood up as well and accompanied him out.

They talked until they reached the gates after which a carriage arrived and Markus entered it and left.

It was only when there was no one around that Kyle asked me: “Now that I think of it, I never asked you what your name was.”

I was surprised to hear it.

Of all my masters, he was by far the fastest to think of asking my name.

“Just call me Bran.” I said.

“Well, Bran. Do you know of any way to find my father?” Kyle asked.

“I can modify the bloodline compass to only target your parents. I didn’t think of it when I made it because I thought we could find them anyways by following the bloodline trace to this city.”I said.

He took out the bloodline compass and gave it to me.

All I needed to do was change the spell on it to narrow down the search to his parents only.

I looked at the compass and saw that the needle moved to the east.

“I guess one of them is still alive.” I said as I gave him the compass.

“Alright. We’ll follow the compass after we meet the Brightmoon family...But before that, I should go deposit some gold to the bank first. This estate must be taken care of while I’m not here.” Kyle said.

He had me retrieve a hundred gold bars from the mountain of gold I once conjured that was in the copper ring.

He then left with his two guards in tow.

When we reached the Evenwood bank, we were welcomed by the same clerk who in turn ran to find the same Barid Stone that had opened our account before.

“Mister Kyle. How may I be of service today?” Barid asked.

Kyle pointed to the bag he was transporting on his shoulder saying: “I’m here to deposit some gold again.”

Barid felt a chill running down his spine. He thought: “You call that some gold. It’s a hundred times what I earn in a year.”

Of course, Barid had yet to see what was in the bag.

“Please follow me.” Barid said.

“Yes, after you.” Kyle said as he followed Barid to the same room as last time.

His guards waited for him outside of the room.

Kyle immediately started to place the gold bars on the table.

He slowly stacked the hundred gold bars on the table under the horrified eyes of Barid.

“Is gold so easily acquired these days? Where does he get it from? All he does is spend it. He doesn’t even have a business to earn it.” Barid thought.

After he finished emptying the bag, Kyle said: “This should be enough to cover the expenses and pay of my servants and guards for the next year. I plan on making a short trip outside of Dellmoor city but I have no idea when I will come back. I will come back and deposit more gold in the future.”

“Will he even notice if I steal some?” Barid thought. He didn’t know however that I had already seen through his thoughts.

Barid said: “Alright, I’ll take care of everything for you.”

“I thank you very much in advance.” Kyle said.

Kyle left for his mansion, impatient to start his training where he had left it.

He trained in the various stances taught by me.

He also purified his essence when he got the chance to do so.

With my help in refining mana and purifying essence, he only needed a few days to enter the late stage of the Novice level.

No one in the world could cheat as well as he did.

“Time to meet the Brightmoon family.” Kyle said.

“You should think about starting to spar with your guards. Only true combat can help you become a peerless Hallowed swordsman. And you do not even have a branded sword. You should think about creating one.” I said while we were inside the carriage going to the Brightmoon family mansion.

A branded sword was a sword that had been tempered and branded by one’s essence. The purer one’s essence was, the stronger the branded sword.

“I will think about it.” Kyle said.

He had left his guards at the mansion. Sometimes, he needed to be alone to converse with me.

We arrived at the gates of the Brightmoon family mansion before sundown.

He had come uninvited even if Markus had invited him beforehand and Kyle refused. That day, no one knew he was coming.

He got out of the carriage and looked at the two silhouettes guarding the gates.

“Hum...they are just Novice Hallowed Swordsmen. It seems that even you are slightly stronger than them.” I said.

Kyle nodded.

“I am Kyle Brightmoon...” Kyle said, but before he could finish, one of the guards said: “We were told to let you enter when you arrive. Please, sir. Follow me.”

It was a quiet walk of more than five minutes to arrive at the mansion.

On the way, Kyle was greeted by a sumptuous colorful garden. There were also three youths, two men and one woman, who eyed him with curiosity. He thought that they were also part of the Brightmoon family.

He arrived at a room and the guard invited him to sit down and wait: “Please wait a bit. I’m going to find the patriarch and tell him that you are here.”

Kyle just nodded and sat down on the nearest chair.

As the guard left, Kyle was looking at the many paintings, portraits of different people, sometimes the same.

He ultimately stood up and went closer to inspect each painting.

“Who are you?” From behind him, a voice woke him up from his reverie.

Kyle turned around and saw two of the three youths he had seen in the garden. They looked close to his age.

A woman and a man that almost looked the same looked at him waiting for an answer. There was a high probability that they were twins.

“Who are you?” Kyle asked in return.

The twins looked at each other and then the man said: “I’m Kain Brightmoon and she is my twin sister, Kala Brightmoon.”

“I’m Kyle...Kyle Brightmoon.” Kyle said with a hint of nervousness.

“Brightmoon?...are you from another branch? We’ve never seen you before.” Kala said.

Kyle said: “No. Apparently...we may be related.”

“Related?...”Before Kain could ask another question, hurried steps could be heard. They all turned to look at the entrance that gave to the hallway.

Not long after, an old man arrived. It was Elias Brightmoon, the current patriarch of the branch in Dellmoor city.

The moment Elias got into the room, he ignored the twins and looked at Kyle with bright eyes. He said: “Markus did not lie, you really look exactly like Jonas when he was your age.”

I said: “Now we know the name of your father. This is a good start.”

Kyle ignored me and asked Elias: “Pleased to meet you. You are...?”

“Elias Brightmoon. I’m your grandfather.” Coming from Elias, it seemed that there was no error in calling himself grandfather when there was no proof whatsoever that Kyle was his grandson.

The twins were surprised as well. They had heard of a certain Jonas that had disappeared not long after they were born.

Hearing the certainty in Elias’ voice, Kyle could only believe that he really looked like his father.

I wished I could interact with everybody but my invisible self just remained there just watching. I could feel Kyle’s joy as he looked at his grandfather. There was also a hint of restlessness to know the fate of his parents. His only thought was to follow the bloodline compass once more, hoping that one of his parents was still alive at the end of his journey.