Chapter 263: The Descent of the Holy Sword (3)
Ketal decided he would go to the place where the Holy Sword had descended.
Milayna nodded as if she had expected that answer. “Then I will tell you where to find it.”
She unrolled a narrow map and tapped a point with one fingertip. “The holy land of the church that serves Elia, the God of the Sword. That is where the Holy Sword always appears. It descended there centuries ago, and centuries before that, and again long before that. The pattern has never changed.”
“A holy land...,” Ketal repeated. He had been smiling a moment earlier. Now he tilted his head, the smile turning thoughtful. “If it is a holy land, I assume it is not a place people can enter freely.”
Holy lands were not casual destinations. Outsiders could not simply stroll past the threshold. Ketal had visited two holy lands before, but both times, there had been unavoidable reasons, and he had been received because of those reasons.
“Normally, that would be true, but Elia’s holy land is a little unusual,” Milayna said, shaking her head. “It is always open. Unless there is a special circumstance, anyone may walk in.”
Ketal murmured, surprised despite all he had seen, “I see.”
“The location is not far,” Milayna added. “At a normal pace, most travelers reach it in a week. At your pace, you could be there in a day.”
“Good. Thank you.”
He began to rise as he spoke, and that sudden motion made Milayna reach out in alarm.
“Are you going now?” she asked him.
“That was my plan. Is there a problem?”