Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

That was a mold custom-made by Anton, a silversmith in Markarth. In the game, it was a quest item in the Thieves Guild series of plots.

Anton ordered a silver mold from Valenwood, the home of the Wood Elves, and entrusted a Khajiit caravan to deliver it. Unfortunately, the Khajiit were robbed by Rigel when they passed the Pinewood Watchtower. The little saber-tooth tiger seemed very proud of this action and mentioned it in a letter to his father. His father's attitude was very Nord. He said that the Khajiit should not have appeared in Skyrim, and it was dead.

To others, this mold is worthless, and Rigel has never been able to resell it. In the game, Anton hired the Thieves Guild to steal this item, and after completing the task, he would become the guild's dealer in Markarth. In the other world, Rigel was cleaned up and returned to the shore. At the separation meeting, this thing was held in my hand.

I had previously focused on the development of Falkreath, and had little interaction with Markarth. The two sides were also in opposition during the civil war, so I had long forgotten about this matter.

Now that the official communication channels have been cut off, isn't that where the unorthodox methods come in? And there is a professional who is extremely good at stealing chickens and dogs squatting next to me. The food is already in my mouth, but I still need someone to help pry my mouth open...

I rubbed Aigis's furry cat head.

"You two brothers should go find Resard now and follow his caravan to Markarth. Then ask someone to find a silversmith named Anton and ask him if he wants this thing. Then he will find a way to get Aigis into the city."

"What if he doesn't want it?"

"Then you can tell him that the trade route to the south is blocked, and even if you order a hundred, you can't deliver them to him. If he doesn't want this, you will destroy it."

The two cats nodded.

"So Aji...when I enter the city, am I going to find out where Helgi is?"

"As a tiger man, it may be difficult for you to do anything. Ask Anton to contact the court wizard Kasemer, and then find old Lot through him, tell him about Helgi's situation, and ask them to try to rescue him. If you can hide in the city, wait for the follow-up results. If not, leave the city as soon as possible, follow the caravan, and try not to act alone. I'm not in a hurry to know the answer, I just hope that no one else gets into trouble. Let Haiyu go with you, he has more experience."

Watching the two cats leave the room, I felt powerless. I sighed and fell to the ground. Now I don't even know if Helgi is still alive. Saying that I'm trying to save her is just self-consolation. I casually flipped through the little girl's magic notebook, staring at her sometimes elegant and sometimes wild handwriting, full of regret. If I had been more resolute at the time, I might have been able to stop her. Why worry about it afterwards?

It will take nearly half a month to hand over various industries. Although I don't have to take care of specific matters, I still stay here. I call it communication and coordination, but in fact I am just hiding in the house to avoid having to flatter people I don't like.

This morning, I was planning to go out for some exercise after finishing my meditation, but was stopped by Eric. He was carrying a box of wine, and his beard covered half of his face, making him look very haggard.

"Locke, I'm here to apologize to you. I was impatient that day and wrongly accused you."

I let him in and asked the kitchen to prepare some snacks. Eric opened two bottles of wine and clinked the bottles with mine without even reaching for a glass, then took a big gulp.

"I went to my hometown a while ago, and the food has been distributed to the villagers. I heard from them that it seemed that Lord Balgruuf sent people to attack and set the granary on fire. The defenders there shot and killed three soldiers from Whiterun, and the others fled. The fire was not big at first, but who knew that the Imperial Legion on the front line was forced back by you and moved into the town, which caused the famine. If we hadn't reacted quickly, people would have starved to death this year."

He shook his head and sighed as he spoke, and apologized to me again. I felt guilty, so I quickly pretended to be magnanimous, saying that the matter had been forgotten and we were still good brothers.

"I heard you were getting married? To a baron's daughter?"

"To be precise, she is his illegitimate daughter, and the dowry is all my property."

I pointed towards the door.

"Those people outside are here to handle the handover."

Eric gasped.

"You didn't volunteer, did you?"

I sneered in silence. What if I didn't want to? Danger had never intended to let me bargain. In the end, I made a fuss and got angry at the attitude of the Baron family, which resulted in a promise that I didn't know if it could be fulfilled.

"Locke, I have a guess..."

Eric walked to the door, looked around, and closed it. I suddenly remembered that he had dragged me out of the house on a snowy night, saying that he had doubts. At that time, Lei Mei and Agis told me about Helgi's capture. For more than a month, we never found another opportunity to continue the topic that we failed to start that day.

He was hesitant then and is cautious now. I think what he is going to say next may not be good.

"Tell me, Locke, could you be Danger's child?"

I sprayed the wine in his face, then stood up and pointed at his nose and cursed at him.

"Listen to yourself, are you talking like a human being? You grew up under my mother's care, and yet you're making things up about her?!"

This was almost an instinctive reaction of the body. Even though I was not Rocker himself, my stomach still churned. Eric did not show any emotion, as if he had expected me to do so. He wiped his face, stood up and pushed me back into the chair.

"I'm not talking about what happened between Aunt Donna and that old man. I'm talking about you."

I couldn't break free from those iron claws, so I had to ignore him out of spite.

"Locke, I know this is unpleasant to hear, but calm down and think about it. Angie has already told me what you and the lord's wife did in the past. That person is a noble and was once a lord. Why would she trust someone like you?"

"I learned about his family's scandal and helped him deal with it. We lost more than a dozen brothers because of it."

Eric obviously didn't know about this, but after a little thought, his eyes became more determined.

"To be honest, the Companions do have intelligence sources in Falkreath, but I haven't found out any scandals about the Storn family. How did you know? So, what is the scandal?"

"I promised Danger that I would not tell anyone about this."

Eric nodded.

"That's right. You have to consider the family's reputation. But no matter where your information comes from, the person who knows this must be Danger's confidant. It is likely that he gave you the information at his behest."

I really want to tell him that this is not the case, but I can't find a reason to explain it. And I don't understand why the old fox trusts me so much. The more I understand him, the more I feel that the scene of our first meeting is weird. Even I know how to repeatedly test Stein and Lydia, so how can that cunning old man trust a stranger? But without his support, my development in Falkreath would never be so smooth.

I can't even remember when he started calling me "my child". Nord elders like to call young people "children", and those who are close to each other will indeed add the word "my". But are the old fox and I really that close? Even if we are, when did we become so close and what happened?

Seeing my silence, Eric just waved his hand.

"Even if this didn't happen, think about it. Even I can see that the child of the lord's wife is yours. Danger is so smart, how could he not know? If it was a girl, it would be fine, but it happened to be a boy. As long as this child survives, he will be the lord's eldest son and will inherit the lord's position in the future! If it wasn't his own child, he would have killed him long ago. Wouldn't it be enough to just tell the public that the child died? Would he still be able to let the lady hold him in her arms and show him around like now?"

My biggest fear was touched, and my face turned ugly. Eric stuffed another bottle of wine in my hand and patted my shoulder with a smile.

"Look how scared you are, but the child is fine. So, little Sunil must be a descendant of the Stuhn family. Oh, by the way, speaking of this name..."

Eric picked up a piece of deer tongue and put it in his mouth.

"This time when I went back, I asked my father about it indirectly. He said that your family was an outsider, and Aunt Donna was already a widow when she moved to the town. You were very young at the time, maybe one or two years old. She and Uncle Sunil took care of you..."

"Stop it! I won't let you make up stories about Sunil anymore!"

"I'm not making things up about him, but don't you think it's strange that he never married?"

"What's so strange? My family is quite poor. Isn't it normal that I can't afford to marry a wife?"

"But he wasn't always poor, was he? Uncle Sunil was good at business. My father said that he was not a farmer at first glance. You have been with him for a few years, so you should know that he has no shortage of money. Besides, Aunt Donna and he were still relatively young at the time, and people in the town once acted as matchmakers for them... Eh? No, no, it's not what you think..."

Seeing me glaring at him, Eric hurried to explain.

"I matched them up separately, but neither of them got married in the end. Whose family do you think is a uncle and a sister-in-law living together? But what if they are the adoptive parents that Danger arranged for you? Doesn't that make sense? There is another piece of information that is very crucial. Locke, do you know how Danger's eldest son died?"

"I don't know. He did tell me that his son died seven years ago. For things like this, I just listen to what people say. It's not good to ask too much."

"But I know. His son and his wife were assassinated together. It was a big deal at the time."

Sure enough! I guessed at the time that the old fox's son did not die of natural causes.

"Did you catch the murderer?"

Eric shook his head.

"Is that the Dark Brotherhood?"

"From the method of committing the crime, it's unlikely. Although the specific details are unclear, it is said that there is a traitor among their guards. To be able to bribe the lord's men, this person must be someone of high status, and definitely not a rat in the gutter."

At this point, Eric announced that he had solved the mystery of my origins.

According to him, I am Danger's youngest son. When I was very young, the old fox realized that someone was planning to assassinate his family. So he handed me over to two trusted men. They changed their names to Donna and Sunil, and came to Loristed Town to live in seclusion as uncle and sister-in-law. The reason why they did not use the name of husband and wife was probably because Sunil did not dare to claim to be my father, or it was to allow me to return to my ancestral home one day.

Later, Danger's eldest son was killed, so he had to look for me as his successor. Considering the friendship between the Stoon and Horik families, Eric believed that the affair between me and Rigel was probably arranged by them, in order to use it as a bond to maintain our alliance. And the various adventures I experienced were actually just the painstaking efforts of the old father: if this son is incompetent, let him be a farmer at ease, and don't come to the palace to die.

Danger first shared the family secrets with me to test my courage. After initially recognizing my ability, he promoted me, a bandit from a farmer's family, to a member of the Falkreath Council to test my loyalty. He then arranged for me to be in charge of foreign affairs and to show my face in other territories to enhance my prestige. And when I only had the title of knight, he gave me a castle to train my ability to operate and manage.

Sneaking into Hafengard and successfully bringing back old Lot undoubtedly proved my personal strength. It can be said that the answer I handed in basically satisfied the old man. This explains why he named my and Rigel's child after my most beloved elder, and why he tolerated this child stealing the identity of the prince. In a sense, this is compensation and reward for me.

As for his sudden intervention in my marriage and his refusal to allow me any objection, it was an extremely clear declaration: generally speaking, this is the power given to fathers by the Holy Spirit.

If I were not the protagonist, I would quite like this story which is full of conspiracy and warmth.

"In that case, shouldn't Danger support me with all his strength? Why did he take away all my property under the pretext of marriage?"

"Locke, you are usually a smart person, how come you can't figure this out?"

Eric extended a finger and shook it slightly.

"First, you have some talent and became famous too quickly, so some people are jealous. So Danger found a reason to transfer your business to someone else. This is equivalent to gaining an ally for you, while at the same time distancing himself from you."

"No, what's there to deny about the relationship between him and me?"

"You have to know that the murderer who assassinated your brother has not been caught, and the mastermind behind it has not been found. This guy may be in the court of Falkreath, staring at you with red eyes. Maybe he also knows that Danger has two sons, and the missing one is about your age."

He opened another bottle of wine and moistened his throat.

"Think about it, a kid with unknown origins, who is the same age as the youngest son of the previous lord, suddenly holds a high position. I even suspect that you are Danger's son. People who really know the inside story, who else would think that? He is doing this to protect you!"

He held up another finger.

"Secondly, he is teaching you how to do things. The tricks he used on you today, you can use on others in the future. What is it called?"

“Teach by example.”

"Yes, yes, yes. Look, you are still knowledgeable. This is the word that Uncle Sunil taught you, right?"

I was speechless. Sunil was barely literate, and Rocker himself couldn't read or write, until Rigel taught me to write in Nordic.

"You haven't told these words to anyone else, have you?"

"Don't worry, I haven't even kept it a secret from Angie. As a brother, why would I gossip about you?"

"Okay. I'll go ask my mother after I finish my work here."