Chapter 495 - 241: The Mind-Blowing Truth (Part 2)
Chapter 495: Chapter 241: The Mind-Blowing Truth (Part 2)
In a moment of stunned shock, Meteor Sting had already pierced his torso.
Since the man had come with killing intent, Lin Mo naturally had no reason to hold back.
The man in black fell into a pool of blood, Glen’s face pale with horror. Just then, the sound of many footsteps suddenly reached their ears.
’More?’
Lin Mo frowned, the Frost Ice Element gathering in his hand. He was preparing to act when he saw the person in the lead and froze in surprise.
The other man saw Lin Mo at the same time. He, too, looked stunned, then lowered the bow in his hands.
"Everyone, stop!"
Grim called out, "First, surround the caravan."
"Mr. Grim?"
Lin Mo watched in surprise as the middle-aged man walked toward him.
This was the man before him—the leader of the Falcon Adventurer Group, the other adventurer group that had gone with the Lion Adventurer Group to provide aid to Silver Stream City.
They had met once at the banquet in Silver Stream City and had even had a drink together.
"And Deke, you’re here as well..."
Grim was even more surprised to notice Deke standing to the side.
"Captain Grim, what are you doing?"
Deke shrugged helplessly. "I thought more trouble had arrived."
The Lion Adventurer Group and the Falcon Adventurer Group had deep ties. The two were considered brother groups and had always maintained a good relationship.
"Well... it’s a long story."
Grim scratched his head, glanced at the corpse on the ground, and gave Lin Mo a meaningful look. "It seems that fool Leonard wasn’t spouting nonsense. Your strength has grown at an astonishing rate recently, Lin Mo!"
When he saw the Rotting Swamp Lurker appear moments ago, he’d thought a disaster was about to strike and had rushed over. Who would have guessed that by the time he was halfway here, the massive Demon would already be dead.
His heart had sunk at the time.
He considered himself stronger than that monster, but he knew it would be extremely difficult to deal with it in such a short time. For a moment, he’d thought a brutal fight was inevitable.
But as it turned out...
The result was a case of mistaken identity. We’re all allies here.
"Are all of these people acquaintances of yours, Uncle Grim?"
A young man approached, and Lin Mo’s eyes widened.
’Isn’t that him?’
The "young master" who was hiding in the caravan’s carriage earlier.
’But...’
He glanced toward the caravan. No one had ever come out of the carriage the "young master" was supposedly in.
’Could he be a Clone, too?’
’No, that’s unlikely.’
Seeing the confusion on Lin Mo’s face, Grim smiled. "As for the details, I’ll let this young master from the Preston Clan explain it to you."
’Preston?’
Lin Mo had heard that surname before.
If he remembered correctly, that was the name of Duke Nathaniel Preston, renowned as the Kingdom’s Sword. It was also the origin of the name for the Preston Forge, where he had previously purchased his equipment.
’So, this whole affair involves the Preston Clan, not the Morin Clan?’
The young man before him smiled and extended a hand. "Hello, Mr. Lin Mo. I am Bainlo Preston, the only son of Duke Nathaniel Preston."
Lin Mo shook his hand, and Bainlo promptly began to tell his story.
"It all began about twenty-five years ago, with the marriage between the Jade Commerce Association and the Preston Clan."
"The Jade Commerce Association was a decently sized commerce association in the Doria Kingdom, and at the time, it was expanding quickly. You could call it a rising star with a lot of potential."
"But when any commerce association develops to a certain point, it will inevitably clash with the businesses of larger associations, and even those of the great nobles. The president of the Jade Commerce Association was only a minor Viscount, and for that, he received warnings from many aristocrats."
"To break the deadlock, the Jade Commerce Association devised a plan. Through a seemingly coincidental meeting, they arranged for my birth mother... the daughter of the association’s president, to meet the Kingdom’s Sword—who was then at the height of his power—at a banquet. That man was my father, Nathaniel Preston."
"Everything that followed went just as you’d expect. Under her active and aggressive pursuit, my father ultimately fell in love and married the daughter from the Jade Commerce Association."
"However, subsequent developments didn’t go as smoothly as the Jade Commerce Association had hoped..."
"My father keeps his emotions quite separate from family affairs. So, while he did resolve the warnings and shackles for the Jade Commerce Association and even engaged in some cooperation, he did not allow them to be completely absorbed into the Preston enterprises as the association wished."
"And so, in its insatiable greed, the Jade Commerce Association eventually set its sights on another powerful duke in the Kingdom, one who was also at the height of his influence—Duke Sed Morin."
"The association reached a deep cooperative agreement with the Morin Clan. From that point on, it began to work for the Morin Clan, helping transport all sorts of Alchemy Materials and selling the Morin Clan’s Alchemy Goods."
"One person played a crucial role in this entire process..."
Strange expressions crossed the faces of Lin Mo and Deke. "It couldn’t be..."
"That’s right. It was my mother."
Bainlo’s expression was surprisingly calm. "Her beauty could hardly be called Unrivaled, but she possessed an identity that Duke Morin couldn’t refuse—the wife of the Kingdom’s Sword, his greatest rival."
"She betrayed Father. After giving birth to me, she rarely returned to the Duke’s Mansion. Under the guise of negotiating collaborations, she had numerous secret liaisons with Duke Morin and soon became pregnant. Then, using a fight with my father as an excuse, she moved into the Jade Commerce Association’s residence permanently and secretly gave birth to my ’brother’—him!"
Bainlo pointed to the carriage in front of them. A terrified face, one that bore at least an eighty percent resemblance to his own, quickly pulled the curtain down and retreated back into the carriage.