“Do you know where this is, sir? This is the Dream Collection Area of the Surand Region. There are intricate dreams here, and where we are right now corresponds to the Ancestral Land of the Land Kingdom.”
“The turquoise area in the distance corresponds to the Vass Kingdom, while the gray area on the other side should be the Underground Area… The nearby islands correspond to several regions of the Land Kingdom.”
The young woman introduced the surroundings with great interest. Grin, having composed himself, began to study her. Dolores had likely inherited her white hair from this woman, though her green eyes came from her father, Felts IV.
Doroth’s green eyes had a sky-blue undertone, a feature Dolores lacked, as her eyes were a transparent emerald.
This was the first time Grin had seen Doroth in person. In his previous life, even when he intended to find her, her tracks had vanished as if they had been erased.
Several broken clues had ultimately hidden her traces completely.
In Viseliane’s description, Doroth was a girl with white hair and green eyes just like Dolores. As a mother, her figure was clearly a bit taller than Dolores.
But only slightly.
What Grin was more curious about, however, was why she said they had met again and how she knew him.
Addressing the first question, Grin asked, “Ms. Doroth, have we met before?”
Grin could confirm that he had absolutely never seen her before. The combination of white hair and green eyes was too striking; if he had, he would certainly have some memory of it.
“Do you remember where you obtained the Golden Tree Branch? Not here, of course, but I could see you arriving on and leaving that island from this place.”
As she spoke, Doroth pointed to a small island not far away. Grin didn’t react to the silhouette at first, but when he saw several landmarks on the beach, it suddenly clicked.
That was the dream he had entered based on his memories of his previous life while passing through the border between the Vass Kingdom and Land. He had taken the branch and a series of special materials from that dream.
But…
“The day you landed on the island, a storm and tide were raging in this dream world. They bring chaos and danger here, but within that danger, they also provide opportunities for living beings from the outside world to enter.”
“You seemed to know that a rift would open in that place during the storm, and you also knew to leave before the storm ended. I saw the anxious look on your face back then when you saw the storm on the shore was about to stop,” Doroth said with a smile, her words carrying quite a bit of information.
“You have very good eyesight, ma’am,” Grin replied.
Thinking about it this way, things seemed to become a bit terrifying. In his previous life, he had entered many of these fragmented dreams and islands.
‘Could it be that the mother Dolores had been searching for was here all along?’
Grin and Dolores could only explore these dreams through rifts during storms. Had Doroth been watching her daughter and him from here?
Logically, although these dreams possessed realistic parts or characteristics for various reasons, they were different from a Divine Kingdom managed and maintained by a god. Even if a Wonder, certain mythical items, or even legends were involved in their construction and birth, they could not sustain inhabitants. A dream was not a complete existence in itself.
In response, Doroth reached out toward him. Her pale hand could not touch Grin; instead, it passed right through him.
“I am not dead. After grafting the legends of Land, I chose to leave my power and a portion of my soul in the Ancestral Land. I left a portion sufficient to maintain my existence for 30 years.”
“This part of me should have been able to see my daughter grow up, then witness her reaching adulthood, and getting married.”
“I haven’t seen a living person in a long time. The fact that you could cross the Swamp of the Ancestral Land and come here by such means proves that you are the foreigner from the legends of Land.”
Grin wanted to say something, but Doroth interrupted him as if anticipating his words.
“The Swamp of the Ancestral Land does not only swallow the People of Land and their Royal Family; outsiders are also consumed by it. The legends of Land were influenced far too much after the Belief Toxic Fog Incident caused by the Fate’s Sin Society.”
“In the legends of Land, there are also allusions like ‘This rock shall protect the People of Land who have no path while being hunted.’ This legend, combined with others, results in it swallowing others as well.”
“The only one who wades through the swamp is the ‘King of the Rand People,’ while the one who can ‘walk across the swamp as if walking on rock’ is ‘The Foreigner who laid down the King of Rand’s claim.'”
“But if you still remember the Legend of the Rock and Golden Tree, you should understand that for a King, wading to and from the swamp will be his final journey.”
Hearing this, Grin’s mind felt like it was about to explode. The first two titles weren’t rare, but that last bizarre title nearly exposed his deepest secrets.
The only thing he could think of that fit this condition was what he had done in his previous life. But why would that be in a prophecy?
The legends of Land…
Suddenly, Grin remembered the cursed item he carried, the Elf’s Last Wish. The Soul Plague Disaster indirectly caused by this item had made the flickering Land Kingdom collapse for a second time.
Originally, the Land Kingdom had a King’s Library where important and secret information was kept. However, the first Dragon Calamity destroyed the protection of the Royal Palace and the library. During the second Soul Plague Disaster, someone had taken advantage of the chaos to destroy the King’s Library.
Furthermore, another place that might have stored such data was the Royal Library. In his previous life, because no one could stop the Dragon, it had demolished the Royal Library after attacking the Royal Palace.
If the Land Kingdom still had any important records that he didn’t remember, they would essentially only be in those two places that were supposed to be destroyed in his previous life.
“Alright, it looks like you’ve thought of something. So… can you tell me how you fulfilled these harsh, nearly impossible conditions?”
Doroth clapped her hands. Although she couldn’t touch Grin, her clapping still made a sound.
“I probably can’t answer your question.” After a moment of hesitation, Grin still chose to try to hide it.
These things involved his very foundation. In his previous life, he wouldn’t easily share such an important trump card with anyone, even Dolores’s mother.
Setting aside whether Dolores’s actions had caused her favorability to drop to zero in his heart due to her betrayal, even if she hadn’t betrayed him, Doroth was only Dolores’s mother and not Dolores herself.
At the same time, this matter gave Grin a new line of thought and a warning.
The things he had done in his previous life actually affected this life in a symbolic sense.
“I see. That condition is indeed very strange. Originally, I just treated it as a wild, randomly spread legend.”
“Until I actually found such a tiny bit of evidence in the swamp, and then a special foreigner like you just happened to appear. I suddenly wanted to give it a try.”
“I’ve confirmed it, you know. There was no so-called gap between the previous King of Land and my husband. And he said you were a young man who had favorability toward my daughter…”
“So it’s still quite intriguing. But since you’re unwilling, I won’t force you.”
“Then…” Doroth paused and asked Grin, “Do you want to guess what I’m going to talk to you about next?”
To be honest, Grin didn’t know and couldn’t guess.
Meeting Doroth was quite a surprise in itself.