"I'm very sure you're well aware of the Grand Ducal families in the Velmunth Kingdom," Jonathan said, continuing to walk ahead.
"Yes, My Lord, there are nine of them. The Marcathy, the Magus, the Loretten, the Eldridge, the Fenshaw, the Corwin, the Sylvani, the Blackwood, and the Stonehart. These are the families, alongside the royal family, that established the Velmunth Kingdom. But what has that got to do with the family's history?" Veyriss asked, her brow furrowed.
"In actual truth, there were ten Grand Ducal families, not nine. And the Roseblade family was the tenth. This is a history erased from the Imperial records."
"Huh, then why are we a ducal family now?" Veyriss asked.
"Ah, that's what you're focused on. You can blame the thirteenth to fifteenth heads of the family, as they dragged the Roseblade name from a Grand Ducal family to the status of a Count," Jonathan said, reminiscing. "Forget about them, they're not why I started with the Grand Ducal and royal families." He waved his hand.
"Our main focus is on the founder and ancestor of the Roseblade family, Rose Blade. His name isn't Roseblade, but rather Rose Blade: Rose is his first name and Blade his last," Jonathan said, gesturing with his fingers to point out the difference. "And if you're wondering why he's called Rose even though he's a man, you can go ask his parents."
"My lord, why are you sticking your butt out?" Veyriss asked, her expression completely serious.
"You can't take a joke at all," Jonathan said, clearing his throat. "Anyway, before the Velmuth Kingdom became what it is today, it was a large gathering of eleven different clans. They called their settlement Thai, which is now the royal capital."
"Among the eleven clans, one stood out and ruled all. They were called the Tita clan, now the royal family. Their chief was always a woman, who also served as the great chief of the other ten clans. It was a common belief then that a woman could run the house better than a man, and a man's job was to provide and protect.
Among the ten clans was ours, the Blade clan. The Blade clan doesn't care whether one is male or female, as long as they can prove themselves proficient and master the blade, they can take on the role of chief. But only those from the chieftain's bloodline.
The then chief of the Blade clan had two sets of twins and four sets of triplets with his three wives and concubines, or whatever they were called at the time." Jonathan said, scratching her head.
"In all, he had 16 children, with each wife and their attendant. Our ancestor Rose was the third child of his mother, the first wife, and fifth among his siblings. Well, he was the only son born to the chief. What was his name again?" Looking up, trying to remember.
"Let's just call him Bore."
"Jon, don't try to brush it off."
"What can I say, Gard, I've forgotten. Plus, his name is hardly in any of the family records."
"Getting back on topic, according to Rose's words, he was named Rose since he looked like a girl when he was born. But I don't think so." Turning to Veyriss, he spoke in a whisper.
"For my theory, I think he was named Rose because everyone who came before him was a woman. So Bore said, 'Oh, well. Since they're all females, the fifth shall be named Rose. A name for a lovely daughter.' As he shouted it out loud, making it official to the entire clan. Then he came out, 'Oh, it's a boy.'" Jonathan giggled at his terrible joke. But none did, which he quite quickly got.
With a blush of embarrassment, he continued.
"Rose was born an elf. Because of how the Blade clan carries themselves, under his first natural evolution into a Colored being, his personality fell under the positive aspect of the Thalyndra, becoming something like you." Jonathan stopped in his tracks, moving his index finger from left to right. "Wait, you're the one who became like him, or he became like you?"
"Jonathan, can you please, PLEASE stop interrupting yourself?"
"But, Gard, I gotta figure out what's what."
"JONATHAN!!!" Gard said with a stern voice, shooting him a deadly glare.
"Okay, okay, fine. Jeez, chill." Jonathan capped his fist into his palm. "So, where was I again? Ah, yeah."
"While he was part of the Bronze family lineage, he couldn't master any blade. For clan had no form of training and just used brute force for everything. One day, disaster struck Thai; it was a monster stampede. But this was no ordinary stampede, as the people of Thai had faced many. This one was a mix of monsters and mana beasts. Well, the monsters were running from the mana beasts."
"The people of Thai weren't slouches, you understand. Even with this new kind of stampede, they held their ground for days on end, without any chance to rest or sleep.
Great Chief Atti of the Tita clan led them all.
But eventually, their exhaustion took its toll, and morale began to tank. The defensive line they had held for so long started to be pushed back, until their backs were to a wall. Just as everyone had given up and resigned themselves to their fate, a single old man, wearing foreign clothes, dropped from the sky. With just one swift sword strike, he wiped out all the monster hordes and destroyed the dungeon the mana beasts were pouring from. Immediately and efficiently putting an end to the monster stampede.
But that person was quite heavily injured, fainting immediately after the wipeout. He was taken in by Great Chief Atti to attend to and treat his wounds as they rebuilt and mourned what was lost.
Three months later, one evening, the old man rose from his state of unconsciousness. At that time, Atti walked into his tent. A few questions, answers, and some explanations went around. In the end, he introduced himself. He was Jeagal Woon, of the Jeagal clan, and the Sword Saint, reaching the pinnacle with just a sword. He originated from a world called Murim, he was a transmigrator.
According to the Sword Saint, he was in a fierce battle with a villain called the Heavenly Demon."
"I don't know how that's possible, but in their world those things exist." Turning to Veyriss, he placed his hand on her shoulder. "What happens from now, I'm just going to summarize since it wasn't properly recorded so you might get confused."
"I don't know how they did it, but the chiefs of all 11 clans surrendered to him and begged him to be their leader and teach them how to fight. So as not to be throwing their weights around. For more than a year and a half, he refused but eventually he agreed to teach them. But he won't take on the role as their leader."
"I'll repeat myself again, I don't know how they pull it off, but they did it."
Veyriss looked at him with a raised brow, to say 'What are you doing?' Getting the message, Jonathan immediately turned to continue.
"The Sword Saint could wield any weapon, except for those that were musical instruments. He proceeded to teach ten of the eleven clans all the techniques and disciplines of the weapons he'd learned. The Blade clan, however, was not included in his teaching. You could call it unfair, but we of the Blade clan saw it as a blessing.
While the others learned all he had, he taught the Blade clan only the fundamentals, and had us master them and create our very own variations. Before anyone knew it, the Blade clan had learned and mastered the techniques and disciplines he had taught the other ten clans. By seeing a technique just once, we of the Blade clan gained a deep understanding and a deeper meaning of it."
"And the ones who stood above were Chief Bore's sixteen children, with Rose Blade, his only son, at the very top. Years passed, and the Sword Saint began to de-age. During his time with the Tita clan, he and Atti tied the knot and had two children, a son and a daughter.
Then, one day, Atti and the Sword Saint set out to clear a bloody tier dungeon, which transmigrators from Earth and the adventure guild now refer to as Triple S+.
Despite clearing it and destroying the dungeon's core, they never returned. For years, the ten chiefs searched every corner of the land of Thai, but found no result. The search was eventually given up, and they appointed Velmuth Jeagal Tita as the new Chief of Tita and the great chief of Thai. Her brother, Min Jeagal Tita, was appointed as her adviser.
As the years went by, the ten chiefs either retired or died, and their successors took their place. With Rose being the strongest among them, he was appointed as the chief of the Blade clan, and his fifteen sisters were appointed as advisors, elders, and other roles."
"Where do you think the fifteen noble families directly under the Roseblade family came from? They are the families of Rose Blade's fifteen sisters," he said, holding up his hands in a gesture of grand revelation. But Veyriss's face remained utterly blank, and Gard simply gave him a frustrated look. Their expressions immediately brought him back to reality. Turning to continue the walk to their destination, he resumed his tale.
"I don't know how many years passed between when Great Chief Velmuth was appointed and the last of the ten chiefs took over. After the new generation came to power, an idea struck both Velmuth and Min."
"I can't exactly say it was just an 'idea,' but they did go through with it. They wanted to establish a nation of their own, and the ten chiefs agreed to it. At that time, Thai and its population were only the size of a large town or a small city."
"Velmuth and the ten clans went on to build their nation, and they named it Velmuth, which is the Velmuth Kingdom we know today. Velmuth used her name as a cover for the Tita clan, and the other ten clans—the future Grand Ducal families—did the same, creating the new names of the Grand Ducal families and the noble families beneath them."
"After Rose Blade combined his name and his clan's name to create Roseblade, and his sisters and the rest of the clan created their own, I know the whole idea was to hide the clan's names. But that guy didn't have much creativity.
Rose Roseblade, quite the name, declared that the Blade clan wouldn't have any specific discipline tied to them like the other clans. We would only stick to the fundamentals and create our own."
"And yeah, that's how the Roseblade duchy and the Blade clan came about, and it's the reason we don't have a school of discipline. And look, we're here," as they stood before the gates to the treasury room.