Thanks for Exalted, Gallerhad and Michael Thunder for becoming as Supporters!
===BREAK===
Sumeru, Aaru Village.
"You know those two people we asked you to keep an eye on? We've found them. They're currently staying in Aaru Village. Wait… I don't think I even had time to send a cipher message yet. How did you get here so fast?"
"You mean Jeht and Jebrael?"
"That's right, a pair of desert-born mercenary father and daughter… The father is quiet, the daughter lively. They usually don't operate with other mercenaries and rarely venture deep into the desert. All of this matches your description, and their names check out too."
"That's quite a coincidence…" Noticing the pause when Dehya mentioned 'father and daughter,' Victor Wang carefully said, "Actually, I saw that you were gathering intel about the 'Dakan Al-Ahmar' and the 'Deshret's Relics' in your organization. I happened to come across some information about the Deshret's Relics, so I thought I might come see if I could help. I hope I'm not too late?"
Dehya looked slightly surprised. "That matter… I've already gathered enough intel, but if you want to help, it's definitely not too late. In fact, it's just the right time—right now is when I need people."
Victor Wang followed up cautiously, "Seems like something's going on?"
Dehya forced a smile, wanting to fully explain everything that had happened, but she quickly gave up, and a layer of unshakable sorrow settled over her face.
"How should I put this… The Eremites have a large and complex membership, with many mercenaries like me just looking for legitimate work to earn Mora.
But we rarely operate solo like Jebrael and Jeht. Usually, a team of like-minded people is needed to complete more difficult contracts.
Take my team, the Blazing Beasts—it's small, but everyone we accept is courageous and loyal.
There's another type of mercenary group, though, willing to abandon all moral principles for Mora. The most notorious among them is the one I was investigating before: the Deshret's Relics.
And Dakan Al-Ahmar is actually one of the Deshret's Relics affiliated groups. The leader of Dakan Al-Ahmar, Kusayla… is my father."
Victor Wang said, "Honestly… knowing your personality, it's hard for me to imagine your father being a bad person."
This time, Dehya smiled a little more naturally, though it was a classic bitter smile.
"In my memory, he was carefree, very loud, casual in temperament, never did proper work, loved to drink, and was quite lecherous… So, I didn't even know who my mother was when I was born.
He didn't know who my mother was either. Although he always told me, 'As long as you have your father, that's enough,' in reality, he left almost everything to the team members and only told me stories.
The problem was, his taste was terrible. All the stories were the same old clichés—like a desert hero defeating a rainforest dragon, or mercenaries overcoming impossible odds to rescue a princess from rebels. And he would repeat the same stories over and over, each one dozens of times.
I grew tired of hearing them, but he never did, and he would even call the team members to act them out together.
The toys he prepared for me—swords, armor, shields—were all props from those stories. Later I realized, those stories weren't for me at all. He just enjoyed playing them…
So as a child, I thought he was very childish, but that only made me resigned, not resentful.
It wasn't until I grew older and learned about the Deshret's Relics' actions that I understood.
Threats, fraud, pillaging… these evil acts were considered bragging rights in the group? He, and the others in the group, weren't heroes at all. They were the villains in the story, the ones who should be defeated.
So, I had a huge fight with him and chose to leave, never going back."
Victor Wang sighed quietly. What terrible timing.
Finding Jeht and Jebrael was good, but at this critical moment… Seeing a mercenary father and daughter get along so well, Dehya couldn't help but think of her own relationship with her father.
Perhaps there was regret—regret for not communicating better at the time?
Perhaps sorrow… there had to be.
Even knowing all of Kusayla's actions and the outcome, the only thing Victor Wang could do now was to listen carefully to Dehya.
Dehya continued:
"But even so, even though he wasn't particularly capable, he still had boundaries when it came to doing things.
This time was different. Dakan Al-Ahmar committed a large number of violent acts, roughly over a hundred… The scenes were often gruesome, money looted, many victims silenced—merchants, civilians, even other mercenary groups.
My team, the people of Aaru Village… we could become targets at any time. I couldn't just sit by, so I started investigating.
And then I found that among the targets the Dakan Al-Ahmar chose, a disproportionate number were affiliated with the Deshret's Relics. It was like an internal conflict. I also heard that over the years the Dakan Al-Ahmar was active, the Deshret's Relics had been steadily weakened.
That was strange.
I continued investigating and discovered that the person helping the Dakan Al-Ahmar exchange the plundered loot for Mora and supplies was Shahzaman Homayani, who is Dunyarzad's father.
I kept digging and uncovered an old incident.
Shortly after Dunyarzad was born, Homayani's family had to go to the desert and encountered bandits along the way. They were saved by the Dakan Al-Ahmar—because I had also just been born, Kusayla saw Dunyarzad and thought of me.
Later, after I left the Dakan Al-Ahmar, Kusayla… my father, recommended my 'Blazing Beasts' to Master Homayani, which was essentially entrusting me to him.
He hoped I could stay away from the mercenary world, away from the desert, work as a bodyguard in Sumeru City, and slowly become an ordinary person… Master Homayani, grateful for the life-saving favor back then, agreed."
Victor Wang said, "The members of the Deshret's Relics, whether joining voluntarily or under compulsion, had to leave behind one dirty, immoral, unforgivable record to show loyalty—a record that could also be used to blackmail them. Your father probably didn't want you to do such a thing, which is why he wanted you away from the desert."
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Dehya gently nodded.
"That's right. Kusayla, and every member of the Dakan Al-Ahmar… without exception, left such records. Only I was never asked to do such a thing. Before that, I hadn't even heard that joining the Deshret's Relics required this…
Since I was born, he had been protecting me from those dark rules.
Not only that, he forbade the Dakan Al-Ahmar members from doing evil. The Mora that the Deshret's Relics headquarters required to be submitted regularly, he handled alone…
But no matter what, he was only a normal person. Because the share wasn't enough, submissions were delayed, he had to plead with headquarters again and again, getting beaten each time… By the time Master Homayani saw him again, he was haggard and weak, walking with a cane.
He did all this for me. He wanted to get me out of the Deshret's Relics at any cost. Even the 'Blazing Beasts' were secretly arranged by him for me…
But I had a huge fight with him and left home in anger… the Dakan Al-Ahmar members said that overnight he aged ten years, with white hair sprouting…
Finally, he went alone to the Deshret's Relics headquarters and burned those records in a massive fire. That night, everyone gained freedom—not just the Dakan Al-Ahmar, but many oppressed mercenaries escaped.
He, however, died there, several years ago.
That foolish father of mine—this time he wasn't pretending to be a hero. He truly became one.
Good and evil are hard to separate, but he is definitely my hero.
The Dakan Al-Ahmar members knew the truth and didn't want to disband, so they became a revenge organization. Anyone from the Deshret's Relics headquarters—whether hiding in other mercenary groups or in the rainforest—would be found. Those hundreds of violent incidents? They were all acts of revenge.
Over the years, the Deshret's Relics had been weakened bit by bit, until recently, the Dakan Al-Ahmar finally had a chance to attack the Deshret's Relics headquarters."
Victor Wang asked, "When?"
Dehya replied, "Tonight."
===BREAK===
Like the story and want more chapters?
Join and support me by joining my Patreon!
[email protected]/SiRoasa