Spirit Net handles could be chosen freely. You could use your real name, or any meaningless alias or symbol you wanted.
If you couldn't think of one, that was fine too. The Spirit Net would assign you a numbered handle, and you could change it once you'd thought of something.
But once a handle was officially set, it couldn't be changed!
Anser's Spirit Net handle was "Lord of Holrewen." It was extremely straightforward, but that also made him easy for others to search for.
"Sakkors, add a feature that lets people change their handles. Charge... one hundred Spirit Coins per change."
The price was downright outrageous, but even if it were several times higher, it still wouldn't stop the obsessive types or pretentious artsy types from constantly changing their nicknames.
"I'll get it done right away." Sakkors responded with zero delay.
He would never pass up a design feature that made it easy to rake in Spirit Coins.
Anser accepted the friend request from someone whose handle was "Martin" and replied, "This is Anser Holrewen himself."
Whether the other party believed him wasn't something he could control. He certainly wasn't going to send a selfie just to prove his identity.
Martin: "Lord Holrewen, my name is Martin Stelmane. Under Grand Duke Ravengard's auspices, I inherited the title of House Stelmane."
Anser understood. It seemed House Stelmane really was finished, leaving them to find a descendant named Martin to inherit the title.
And Anser suspected this descendant hadn't held particularly high status. The name "Martin" symbolized courage, resilience, and leadership, but it was also extremely common. There was nothing particularly aristocratic about it.
Before Anser could reply, Martin sent him a photo.
It showed two nobles posing together, one middle-aged and one young. They wore luxurious clothing embroidered with heraldic crests.
Anser recognized the composed middle-aged man. It was Grand Duke Ravengard, whom he had seen from afar several times before.
Lord of Holrewen: "The Grand Duke looks as distinguished as ever."
Martin: "I'm with the Grand Duke right now. He personally wrote to you before, but never received a reply."
Lord of Holrewen: "I read the letter. I was busy at the time."
Martin didn't respond for quite a while.
Seeing this, Anser knew Martin still had doubts about his identity. He wanted confirmation, but didn't dare say anything carelessly for fear of offending him.
Besides, Spirit Coins were quite valuable and weren't easy to buy. Martin probably didn't dare waste them casually.
Lord of Holrewen: "Where are you? Give me the exact address."
Martin immediately replied, "Bodray Manor, Seadog Street, North District, Paros."
Anser chuckled, got up, put on his shoes, washed up, and changed into his Robe of Stars. Then he slipped into the Ethereal Plane and focused on casting a spell.
Gate!
The essence of this spell was interplanar teleportation. It had to cross planar boundaries and could only teleport between planes, but it was extremely precise.
His "Teleport" was actually very accurate too, but only for places he was familiar with. If he'd never been somewhere before, the margin of error could be fairly large.
...
Paros.
"What else did he say?" Grand Duke Ravengard paced back and forth, his eyes bright.
"Uh, he just asked for the address." Martin stood to one side, staring blankly ahead.
"Looks like he's coming over." Grand Duke Ravengard sounded certain. "Tell the steward to have the manor cleaned and purchase plenty of expensive ingredients. Keep everything ready at all times..."
Before he could finish, he suddenly sensed a ripple of Magic Power and caught a flash of light from the corner of his eye.
He spun around. Rings of magical light rippled through the sitting room beside Martin, expanding in the blink of an eye into a circular portal suspended in the middle of the room.
The next second, a tall figure stepped through the portal with a leisurely stride, as naturally as though he'd simply walked from his bedroom into the sitting room.
With a casual wave of his hand, the portal behind him dissolved into streams of light and quickly vanished without a trace.
Martin's eyes went wide, his mouth hanging half open, his face filled with shock. For a moment, he even forgot where he was.
So there really were people in this world who could show up at your doorstep with nothing more than the address of a place they'd never visited before—and with a margin of error so small it was practically negligible.
Grand Duke Ravengard's face remained expressionless, but his eyes were filled with astonishment.
He wasn't some young man like Martin who had merely received a few years of noble education. He was a Peak Professional only one step away from becoming Legendary, and he understood far better just how terrifying such a method was.
Anser laughed inwardly. This was exactly the effect he'd wanted.
If necessary, he could have directly teleported Martin or Grand Duke Ravengard back to the Black Tower instead. That would simply have been far too rude and might have scared the life out of them.
He glanced around the room. Only Martin and Grand Duke Ravengard were present, though both had lost their composure somewhat.
"Good day, Grand Duke. I'm Anser. Forgive me for dropping in unannounced. I hope I haven't disturbed you." He bowed slightly.
"Good day." Grand Duke Ravengard smiled, amazement still written across his face. "I was just telling them to purchase ingredients and hadn't even finished giving the instructions before you arrived. That was truly an eye-opening experience."
"You flatter me, Grand Duke." Anser didn't believe for a second that the Grand Duke didn't recognize "Gate."
He simply hadn't expected Anser to have mastered "Gate."
Martin finally came back to his senses. His gaze settled on Anser's face, and for no apparent reason, he suddenly felt an urge to prostrate himself in worship.
Completely unaware of it, he bowed deeply. "Good day, Your Majesty."
"Ahem." Grand Duke Ravengard coughed lightly. "You're confused. Go prepare the banquet. Anser and I need to speak in private."
Martin froze for a moment, seemingly unaware that there was anything wrong with the way he'd addressed Anser.
But he didn't dare disobey the Grand Duke's order. He walked out hesitantly and gently closed the door behind him.
"Anser, I can call you that, can't I?" The Grand Duke gestured for Anser to take a seat.
"Of course." Anser sat down on the sofa without ceremony.
There had once been a time when he was the insignificant nobody hiding in a corner, looking up at the Grand Duke as he passed by, listening to people talk about everything the Grand Duke had done and secretly envying him.
Now, he could sit comfortably in a place of honor and converse with the Grand Duke as an equal.
"That young man just now is the surviving heir of Duke Stelmane. His name is Martin, and he's an illegitimate son. Duke Portyr's family suffered the same fate. I only managed to find one illegitimate son..." Grand Duke Ravengard used Martin as an opening and began talking at length.
Anser knew perfectly well that all of this was being said for his benefit.
The meaning was obvious: the Grand Duke was displaying his magnanimity and benevolence.
"Your magnanimity is admirable, Grand Duke," Anser said in agreement.
"Neither of them is particularly promising, actually, but I had no choice. If everyone loses faith in me, I'll have no hope left at all." A bitter smile tugged at the Grand Duke's lips. He made no attempt to hide the fact that his actions were partly for show.
"Everyone has an angel and a devil within them. The side you choose to show is the one that's real. What remains hidden in your heart is nothing more than idle fantasy," Anser said seriously.
"Haha! As expected of a Paladin. Your understanding of good and evil really is profound," the Grand Duke praised.
"You asked me here because of Baldur's Gate, didn't you?" Anser had no interest in beating around the bush and went straight to the point.
"Yes. Baldur's Gate cannot be destroyed on my watch. I hope the Holrewen Federation can take it in and reclaim it..."
Anser listened quietly, his expression calm. He had expected this all along.
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