Chapter 007: If Only I Had Known

Alexander placed Utreid’s body on the ground, his face filled with sorrow. His face, as handsome as that of a fairy from legend, was translucent blue and crystal clear, yet devoid of any life. This was his brother. Though they weren’t blood brothers, they were closer than siblings! This time, three out of the four of them had died at Du Fan’s hands—how could he not hate? How could he find peace?
Moreover, he couldn’t even take the bodies of the other two with him… He couldn’t retrieve their bodies at all! It was all Du Fan’s fault! Du Fan!
Glancing resentfully ahead, he stopped at the entrance to the valley. If Du Fan and the others had left a little later, they would have seen him!
After hiding Utreid’s body, Alexander composed himself before slowly entering the valley.
“Alejandro, why are you the only one who’s back? Where are the others?”
Alexander looked at the person speaking to him, gave a bitter smile, then hid that bitterness. “The other three couldn’t return due to some matters. I’m here to see the teacher.”
“Oh.” The man pondered for a moment before saying, “The teacher seems to have gone to watch Pross teach those kids martial arts. You’d better not go yet, or Pross will complain that you left without him. He always talks about those kids. Even though he’s almost thirty, he still acts like a child. You too—convince him, otherwise which girl in the village would marry him?”
The man talked on endlessly without noticing Alexander’s abnormality. It wasn’t until the old man came over that he saw Alexander’s sorrowful expression. Without saying anything, he took him to his wooden house. But they entered not the room Du Fan had been in.
“Sit down. I’ll get something for you in a moment,” the old man said before leaving again. It was a long time before he returned, handing Alexander a blue bottle.
Alexander stared at the bottle for a long time without speaking. The old man also closed his eyes, seemingly asleep. Alexander kept looking at the bottle in his hands. After what felt like an eternity, the old man neither sent him away nor said a word.
Alexander raised his head, his blood-red eyes fixed on the old man. “Teacher, you knew from the start that Utreid and the others would die at Du Fan’s hands, right?”
Even Alexander was shocked after saying those words! They had been adopted by the old man since childhood. Back then, they didn’t know they belonged to the Dark Demon race. Once they found out, they told the old man they wanted to leave and return to their own people, and he didn’t stop them.

Although they had left, their hearts never strayed from the old man. Whenever they had time, they would return to see him. The old man always taught them combat energy. Though they learned more slowly than the people here, he still taught them with great care. To them, the old man was their lifelong teacher and also their father.

But he knew they would die yet didn’t tell them at all!

He really hoped this wasn’t true, but… what did his teacher mean by giving him this? He said nothing after entering. If the teacher hadn’t known in advance, how could he have brought out the potion to dissolve the complete form of the Dark Demon clan?

If he knew it was impossible yesterday, why not tell them earlier? As long as the teacher said no, no matter what orders came from above, they wouldn’t lay a hand on Du Fan!

The more the old man remained silent, the more Alexander believed his suspicions were correct.

“Why?” Alexander asked, trembling.

The old man opened his eyes and looked at Alexander. “You’ve grown up and long left my side. As for your lives and deaths, I can only foresee them once. If I disrupt that vision, you’ll only fall into an even more tragic fate.”

The old man smiled. If it were Du Fan, how would he react upon hearing about fate? “Hurry up and take the potion. First, restore Utreid. Otherwise, it will be too late by the time someone notices him.”

Although Alexander was a bit sad about the old man, he still obeyed his words. He rushed off with the potion.

The old man didn’t move until he left. Could he really be that heartless?

Du Fan had already left, so he wasn’t aware of this situation. Similarly, Alexander didn’t know that Du Fan had been to the old man’s place. He buried Utreid and then went to look for the bodies of the other two. Du Fan hadn’t touched their bodies, so he was able to collect them as well.

After that, he went to find their superior.

Du Fan walked carefully along the way, but they didn’t know that it was the old man who told Alexander not to touch Du Fan first, so that Du Fan could continue his journey smoothly without any troubles.

Du Fan and his group finally arrived in Doha City. The townspeople cheered upon seeing the supplies in the carriage. Du Fan looked at the cheering crowd, while Elsik, seeing Du Fan return, rushed to his side. “My lord, you’re finally back. Was the journey smooth?”

Blacksmith George was overjoyed upon seeing the iron bars on the carriage. The others laughed at his ecstatic reaction. Realizing Du Fan had returned, they came out to greet him. Though they claimed it was to welcome him, it was more like they were there to collect supplies.

However, Du Fan didn’t blame them for their rudeness. Seeing the crowd singing and dancing happily because of him, he felt pleased as well.

After watching them put away the items, Du Fan walked cheerfully into the city. The city lord’s mansion had changed—no longer as simple as before—but there was now a large desk along with piles of documents that had accumulated because no one had signed anything during his long absence.

It was Elsik who brought Du Fan back. Seeing Du Fan’s slumped shoulders upon spotting the piles of documents, Elsik wanted to laugh but dared not.

Du Fan sat down, somewhat pretentiously. Instead of immediately examining the documents, he pushed them aside and asked Elsik to sit across from him. Then he asked, “Which ones need to be reviewed quickly?”

Elsik didn’t understand what Du Fan meant. Du Fan clarified, “Are there any documents from the empire or the church?”

Elsik responded with an “oh” and handed Du Fan a few documents on fancy paper from the pile. Du Fan glanced at them briefly before setting them aside. These matters weren’t urgent; he could wait until after drinking some wine and taking a bath to deal with them. After all, matters related to the empire and the church weren’t urgent either.

Elsik had already become the acting city lord of Doha before Du Fan’s return, showing great wisdom on the part of the alliance. With just a slight nod from Du Fan, he understood what was needed. He searched through the pile of documents and handed two of them to Du Fan.

“Lord, this letter came from the north. I haven’t read its contents, but I ask that you take a look first. This one contains the latest updates on Doha’s construction; please review it first,” he said, handing the document to Du Fan respectfully.

Du Fan first opened the letter from the north. His father had already told him everything he needed to know before he left—so why was there still a letter? Could it be from his elder brothers? Du Fan slowly unfolded the letter, his face showing no expression as he read it. After finishing, he casually burned it. Then, in a calm and ordinary manner, he picked up the document regarding Doha’s construction.

After reading it, Du Fan said to Elsik, “From now on, you can handle these matters on your own. Unless you encounter problems you can’t solve, there’s no need to come to me. As for those two months, you decide how to manage it.”
Du Fan no longer had any confidence that the city of Doha could be defended. Against enemies at the seventh or eighth rank… But if Du Fan were to give up just to protect himself, his life would be safe, yet that wouldn’t be the Du Fan he knew.
Putting down the documents, Elsik handed them to Du Fan one by one. With a holy smile on his face, Du Fan said, “I’ve said it before—now that you’re the city lord, you don’t need to do these things. Besides, these…”
Du Fan glanced at the documents at hand, picked out thirteen of them, and said, “Just show me documents like these. I’ll leave the construction of Doha in your hands for now. I’ll be away for a while. By the way, show me the map of Doha.”
Elsik took out a map from a shelf nearby. He himself felt a bit embarrassed—Du Fan’s room contained nothing but a bed for sleeping, a wardrobe for clothes, a desk for work, and a bookshelf for documents. It didn’t resemble the room a lord should have, especially one as noble as Du Fan.
Elsik had been busy with external affairs and hadn’t had time to check in, so he naturally didn’t know what the room looked like. Moreover, since they had never had a city lord before, they hadn’t paid much attention. As for the room of the former city lord’s sister, it had been arranged by the old maid who had taken care of her—after all, women are more meticulous than men.
Yet Du Fan didn’t utter a single word of dissatisfaction about his room’s arrangement. This moved Elsik deeply. Who wouldn’t want a good lord? What do commoners desire? Isn’t it to live a peaceful and happy life?
With a holy smile, Du Fan saw what his room was like and naturally wouldn’t complain. He wasn’t a child—he knew what was important and what wasn’t. Outside, everyone was already so busy they felt like they had to work as two people. He was already grateful that they had transformed their place into something resembling a military camp—how could he complain? Besides, aside from lacking luxury, everything else was fine.

The quilt was clean and soft, and the room was spotless. He wanted everyone to know that he was a good lord, here for the happiness of the common people, not for pleasure. Moreover, such a room only emphasized his status as a religious leader, didn’t it? He had always followed the path of the common people and couldn’t let momentary indulgence ruin this illusion.
To deceive the enemy, one must first deceive oneself. This could be seen as Du Fan hypnotizing himself. Besides, he wouldn’t stay here for long anyway. Once those problems were solved and he settled down with a thriving business, he could build his own pleasure palace and do as he pleased. If that didn’t work, he could just keep a few young girls as companions for fun. After all, he still hadn’t completed his own “upbringing” journey yet! How could he claim to be a time traveler and a duke at the same time?