The Amber Sword

============== Gryphine’s POV ==============

“You head towards the Ancestral King Erik’s flag, but whether the light is still with Aouine, as the daughter of King Oberg, princess of the royal family, I am unable to answer you; Lord Brendel, you have fulfilled your promise you had made in your previous letter.

Your resolve is shown through your words as well as your deeds. Currently, the northern rebels are starting to swarm together and for that reason, the kingdom shakes. As a direct descendant of the Corvado lineage, I cannot show any signs of retreating.

I thank you for your trust with much gratitude, and if hope still resides in Aouine, then it would definitely be found in our hearts.

This letter is my wish to give you a reply. I promise to change this kingdom even if I have to dedicate everything that I have.”

Gryphine Corvado Orphelia folded the parchment lightly. Her expression was relaxed as though her worries and concerns did not exist in the sinking and decaying ship that she was in. But this was the calm before the storm. Dark clouds and raging winds were gathering, and furious storms were about to brew.

A few knocks came from the door, and it was the attendant who wore a set of red gown asking for the third time in regards to the arranged schedule. The carriage was already waiting outside the palace, with Oberbeck and Makarov as well as other important retainers expecting her presence.

The meeting with Duke Arreck was pushing right in front of their brows. The Aouine right now had never experienced such a personage who was able to affect the entire balance of the scales.

Gryphine did not expect the young men and women from the Vlada region to change the situation of the civil war, and the only army that was prepared to resist the northern nobles now was the Verstein army.

Gryphine’s half brother had tried of ways to court Duke Arreck into his camp, but he was unfortunately unable to put up a bid high enough to do so.

The princess knew clearly what that wily old man wanted. He wanted a successor with royal blood to legitimately steal the Aouine’s throne, and his family had been plotting to do so ever since the Ten Years Commandment.

But she would rather cause a bloody war than allow that to happen. The people who broke the divine oath made by the Ancestral King would never be able to inherit that bright flag. It would be the stain made to the Lionheart, especially when the Arreck family colluded with the Unifying Guild for many years. They thought their secret was safe, but such affairs were never possible to be always kept hidden.

Gryphine’s pursed lips could not help but curve upwards. It was a mocking smile of seething rage. Who were they fooling?

The current weather was melting the season’s snow. Delaying this meeting would push Duke Arreck to the other side.

[As a figure of the royal family, I should have made a decision long ago.]

Gryphine lowered her head, reached out her slender fingers, and combed the soft hair on her young brother’s forehead away.

“Sister?” The future successor of Aouine raised his head and looked at her sister a little restlessly under the flickering dim candlelight.

“You will become king, Haruze.” Gryphine said.

“I know, you said that before. I’m Aouine’s king,” the young boy said.

“Yes, I’ll pave this path for you, and no one will be able to change the revival of this kingdom. I have arranged everything,” Gryphine’s voice was soft as though she was describing a scenery, “but you must become stronger, Haruze.”

Her eyes went to the window, seemingly gazing into a tempest and past it, finding an ending of darkness where assassinations and hidden schemes scattered around the thorny throne. But what came after the rain of blood would be rebirth.

“I have become stronger, I’m practicing swordsmanship every day.” The boy pointed at the parchment in her sister’s hand and asked: “Who are you writing this letter to?”

“A knight.”

“I want to be a knight too in the future. They say that you’re going to Ampere Seale?”

After a year of a difficult life, the boy had learned the wiles and shrewdness of a noble youth at his age.

“Yes.”

“But what should I do if you’re gone?”

“It’s time for you to learn how to make decisions on your own. Do you still remember the things that I taught you? You’re a man, Haruze, and you need to steer the ship.”

“Okay.” The boy was a little disappointed: “Then you must come back earlier, otherwise there would be no one to test my swordsmanship.”

Gryphine could not help but give a wry chuckle. Her cowardly younger brother was learning how to beat around the bush.

“That….. He……” Haruze suddenly wanted to continue the topic about the parchment, but he held himself back and appeared to stutter.

“He?”

“That knight. Will he protect you?”

“What exactly are you trying to say?” Gryphine glared at him.

Her stern expression was frightening, and the boy could not help but shrink backward:

“I…… I don’t like the idea of you marrying Duke Arreck.”

“What?”

She was a little surprised. Her timid younger brother would never speak to her about political affairs, and she immediately suspected that someone was using him as a mouthpiece. However, she immediately rebuffed that idea. Be it Makarov, her wise teacher, or the other retainers on her faction, they wanted to have Arreck’s aid. It was clear that they were able to see the poison behind this inticing trap, but no one spoke of it.

The princess remained silent without protesting because she understood she still needed the support of these nobles. Aouine was still a kingdom of nobles.

“I don’t like him.” The boy shook his head.

“But why? You have never seen him.”

“It’s……. I just heard……” The boy stared back and spoke with faltering words.

“What did you hear?”

“They said that Duke Arreck already has several wives, but they all died, and that he’s a vampire who specifically drinks the blood of a woman……” The boy suddenly lost the aura of a future king, and turned into a normal, meek little boy, looking nervously at her sister.

“Nonsense.”

Gryphine spoke in a chastising tone, but her voice trailed off. The boy was astute enough to recognize something about it. Given his older sister’s personality, she would have taken a more forceful tone if she really thought it was mere drivel. But he misunderstood her sister’s position. She was merely sixteen years old, and marriage to such a young girl was an unknown subject of fear even if she tried to accept it with all her heart.

The attendant outside the door made the fourth attempt and knocked on the door. The loud repeated raps seemed to steady her straying thoughts. She took a deep breath and once again regained her composure.

Gryphine caressed Haruze’s forehead before she stood up and called the attendant in. Her hair was combed and her dress straightened. Her hands were placed beside her sides carefully, showing that she did not besmirch the Corvado family’s noble upbringing even a little.

This was her decision.

Once she left the door, a young knight from the Royal Cavalry Academy who waiting outside lowered his voice and spoke: “My Lady, even if you choose to stay in the academy, we are willing to fight to the death. The brightest star of the royal throne has no need to bend her waist for a treacherous man.”

But Gryphine merely turned back and answered in a collected tone:

“Aouine has no need to shed blood in advance because we have not reached that moment yet.”

She walked out to the carriage with dignity, raised her skirt as she got into it and there was only a silhouette that could be seen from afar.

But it was this pair of frail shoulders that would carry the entire revival of the kingdom in the near future.

=============== Brendel’s POV ===============

Brendel lightly mouthed the words on the parchment in between his fingers, then sighed noiselessly. It was as if time was turning back, and he was on the road where everything moved exactly in the game. This was the moment to decide Aouine’s future fate, but the pieces were moving exactly how they did in the past in spite of his actions.

But who could declare that fate was not going to change?

“…… If hope still resides in Aouine, then it would definitely be found in our hearts.”

He repeated this line several times and found his mind wandering in a fog. Aouine’s hope existed in the people who fought for it, but having a dream did not mean it could change fate. He experienced personally that anguishing truth for himself already.

This time, he was going to control fate.

Carglise stared at his lord from the side. He had never seen the youth reveal such an intense solemn look before; the young lord was always putting on a confident and relaxed expression. He wanted to see the contents of the letter had, but when he stole a glance at it, he discovered that it was blank and was obviously treated with magic.

“Who’s the sender?” He could not help but ask.

“Princess Gryphine. She appreciates our deed in Trentheim that has caused Count Randner considerable trouble.”

Brendel recovered his mentality in an instant. After going through so many dangerous and difficult situations, he had become hardened and was less affected to emotions when compared to he just arrived to this world.

Carglise’s suspicious eyes were digging holes into his lord.

“Hah, I’m not falling for this trick. If Her Highness writes a letter to rebels like us, then wouldn’t the people from the Arreck region to Pine Street who are hung to their deaths be honorable loyalists?”

Brendel eyed his retainer who compared him to bandits and tutted: “Didn’t I say that I’m a knight secretly working for Her Highness?”

“Then I’m the attendant working under the Dragon of Darkness.” Carglise snotted derisively.

The youth’s mouth opened a little and he stared at the insolent fellow in shock.

“W-what?”

“No, I was thinking if you secretly went to Amandina and learn how to divine the stars.”

“Are you saying that I’m working for the Dragon of Darkness? My Lord, hahaha, you can’t keep on fooling me with this old trick!” Carglise suddenly discovered that Brendel had a surprising sense of humor. The latter was insinuating that he was the Dragon of Darkness, and he found that it was an astonishingly clever joke.

But there was a series of silver bells that rang throughout the vicinity that interrupted them. Brendel turned to Monika with a quizzing look.

“It’s a communication device, there are unknown people approaching this area, milourt.” The spirit of light sat on the youth’s shoulders and said.

“Why didn’t it ring when Carglise came earlier?”

“It was just implemented by us a few moments ago. This World Tree is a home to us Light Spirits. We intend to place lamps as well.”

Brendel surveyed the outer areas. A figure wearing long golden-red robes and a staff came into sight. Behind him was a fidgeting and cowering man holding on to a duck. Ciel and his apprentice Mordenkainen walked towards the tree and after several minutes, they finally appeared before Brendel.

“This place is quite comfortable. It compares to your hometown Danir,” Ciel raised his staff as he leisurely entered the courtyard, his eyes wandering all over the place.

[My hometown Danir?]

Brendel blinked several times before he shook his head vigorously. He was being toyed with. Indeed, the Highland Knights were entrenched in Danir, and the fact that his squire spoke with such an earnest face made him nearly think the former Brendel stayed in Karsuk’s region or something. He stared at Ciel with considerable exasperation, but the latter appeared like he did not notice it and bowed instead:

“After a difficult uprising, we finally gained a foothold of our own. Many congratulations, My Lord. I am here to give you another piece of good news.”

“Good news, you say?”

“Please take a look at this, my lord.” Ciel took out something from his robes.

Brendel immediately grabbed hold of the object.

It was a Card of Fates.