Masterless Sword
The more i read, the more it becomes obvious that Thales is clearly on the wrong side. Lampard wants what is best for his people, Kroesh fights for the rights of women, Tolja wants no one to experience the horrible life he lived, and at last Kaslan is following Lampard to fulfill Nuven's inital ambition, and to atone for his own sins. Kaslan really turned into my favorite character after this chapter. He did not join Lampard because of some cliché reason like justice or the greater good. His wife killed herself from sorrow when she realized what her husband had done, and Kaslan must have been pretty much broken mentally at this point. His entire life seemed utterly meaningless, the sacrifices and compromises he had made were all inconsequential, laughable. His wife, someone he had spared in order to redeem some small part of himself, could not find the will to live after looking at the real him. The only way he could keep on going was to convince himself that it had not all been for nothing, that the horrible killing of his wive's family had been for something greater, for Eckstedt. He joins Lampard because Lampard shares the same dream as the young Nuven, and in some twisted way, if Lampard succeeds and changes the country, then all the horrible things Kaslan did will not have been for nothing, and his wive's death would not be meaningless.
Damn I believe Kaslan was a beast, he only lost after fighting a elf with centuries years of experience that can read minds wounding him. Then, proceeded to fight and curb stomping Raphael who is a supreme class showing the difference in skill and experience. From going to fight two of his previous colleagues who one of which literally specializes in offense and only lost because of age and his injuries. Also, I’m not entirely sure about this but his mental health clearly wasn’t the healthiest considering he couldn’t write straight on the stone that Nicholas read at the end. So yes he lived up to his reputation and everyone was right to fear facing him.