Chapter 135: My final wish

“If you die, then what about the knights who follow you?” Perleti suddenly asked.

“Simple. Kill all the nobles here.”
Fakenna deliberately avoided mentioning anything about death itself. Perleti took that as his silent acknowledgment of what would happen to the others.

It made sense.

Most of those knights had fought on the frontlines, risking their lives to protect the people behind them—only to be abandoned mercilessly by the nobles.

No one could accept that kind of outcome.

Least of all Fakenna.

“Then why did you bring me here?” Perleti steered the conversation back. “Don’t tell me it’s just because you think I’m easy to talk to.”

Fakenna took a deep breath. Only after making up his mind did he slowly speak:

“Miss Perleti… your relationship with the Church of Gluttony should be quite good, right?”

“Something like that. How did you know?” Perleti was genuinely surprised. She had never told anyone about this—not even Anasha.

“Heh.” Fakenna chuckled softly. “As a former knight captain, I’ve fought against the Church of Gluttony plenty of times. That kind of candy you carry—others might not recognize it, but how could I not?”

“So that’s it…” Perleti cursed her own carelessness inwardly. She had been on guard against the old monsters within the Church, but never expected that Fakenna had been observing her all along.

“I’ve been following you these past few days. Your sister… is she really your biological sister?”

Fakenna suddenly asked.

After all, he had heard rumors—about Perleti’s “little sister” putting a collar on her and treating her like a dog.

He hadn’t seen it himself, but the source was one of his trusted subordinates.

Perleti froze for a moment before replying:

“She’s adopted. No blood relation.”
She gave an awkward yet polite smile.

The fact that Fakenna didn’t directly expose her dark history already counted as considerable courtesy.

“I’ll help you escape from her. You’ll owe me a favor—so asking you to do something for me isn’t a problem, right?”

“You could at least tell me what it is first?!”

“Don’t worry. It’s definitely not a bad thing for you.”

Fakenna snapped the reins hard. The horse let out a rough neigh, kicking up clouds of dust as it surged forward.

Perleti glanced back.

The knights behind them were also mounted, following at an unhurried pace. Some had already split off in different directions.

Eventually, Fakenna brought her to a dilapidated village.

As far as the eye could see, there were only torn strips of cloth and crude houses barely held together with yellow clay.

At a glance, it was obvious this wasn’t a place fit for human habitation.

Leaving aside the environment, just securing food and water would already place immense pressure on anyone living here.

Why would Fakenna choose this place as a base?

And more importantly—

This didn’t look like a place that could house hundreds of people at all.

The horse stopped in front of a relatively intact clay house.

Fakenna jumped down lightly, while Perleti carefully dismounted behind him, gripping the reins.

Looking at the house, Fakenna spoke with a hint of excitement:

“This used to be a small beastmen village. Remote location, small scale. Back then, Kane and I drove the beastmen out and kept the place as a backup. Never thought that accidental decision would actually come in handy.”

“Hmm. It’s even more rundown than I imagined,” Perleti said. “But I’m curious—where are your knights? Didn’t the intel say you had around seven hundred men?”

“That wasn’t seven hundred subordinates.”

Fakenna’s voice suddenly grew heavy, as if an invisible burden had fallen onto his shoulders.

“Back then, the nobles tried to force me into submission. I refused their money and status. Then they used the families of my knights—and my own—as leverage.”

“There was a major conflict.”

“I escaped with the survivors.”

“Seven hundred in total.”

“…Your wife died there too, didn’t she?”

Perleti suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest.

A man like this… a hero who had devoted himself entirely to others, yet ended up like this.

Regret. Grief.

The emotions surged all at once.

Fakenna didn’t answer.

But the rare expression of pain on his face said everything.

After a moment, he let out a long breath, returning to the version of himself Perleti remembered, forcing a bitter smile.

“Later… I realized keeping them here was too dangerous. So I ordered the knights to escort them to the nearest cities. We spread the story that they were attacked by beastmen. Even the rumors—I had them handle those too.”

Hearing this, Perleti suddenly felt uneasy.

She hurriedly asked:

“So how many people do you actually have left now?”

“Twenty-eight.”

Fakenna answered without hesitation.

“…How many?!” Perleti couldn’t stop herself from shouting.

She had assumed he only brought part of his forces out—that was why the number of knights seemed small.

But she hadn’t expected—

What she saw now was his entire force.

And worse—

He intended to face Brest’s knight order and the Tuning Division with just twenty-eight people.

This couldn’t even be called a battle anymore.

If it came to fighting, it would be a completely one-sided massacre.

There was no way to make up that difference.

“Shh! Keep your voice down.”

Fakenna raised a finger to his lips—but it was already too late.

A young girl, who looked about sixty percent like him, rubbed her eyes as she walked out of the house.

She wore a thin gauze dress, clearly having just woken up.

Her eyes were half-closed as she tried to focus on the person in front of her.

He looked like her father—

But there was someone else beside him.

“Mmm… Dad… is that you?”

“It’s me. Xiao Sha—did you behave at home today?”

Fakenna stepped forward and lifted her high into his arms.

The bitterness and exhaustion on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a joy so familiar that it struck Perleti deeply.

Watching the warm scene before her, Perleti’s expression grew distant.

She couldn’t help but recall her own childhood—

Standing just like this, watching her father return home and lift up the excited Josuna who ran to greet him.

That was a long time ago.

But the scene before her stirred those memories unconsciously.

“This is your daughter?” Perleti smiled faintly, a trace of self-mockery in her tone. “Well, makes sense. Someone your age with a wife—no way you wouldn’t have a daughter. How old is she?”

“Elisa is already eight years old~ She’s basically a grown-up now!”

The little girl declared this proudly while lying on Fakenna’s shoulder.

“Eight, huh? That’s quite something.”

Perleti smiled gently and reached out to pat Elisa’s head.

Fakenna didn’t stop her.

Instead, he looked at Perleti and spoke solemnly:

“Miss Perleti… this is the favor I want to ask of you.”

“Please… take Elisa to the Church of Gluttony.”

“…This is my final wish.”