The Amber Sword

v3c286

Conflict

Maynild and her knight pulled out their sword, and no one in the hall still realized yet. Princess Gryphine was in front of Dilferi then, and smiled at her. The latter looked at the most beautiful princess in Aouine and nodded. She could feel the hint of loneliness and sadness behind those eyes. Gryphine and DIlferi’s acknowledgment stirred another wave of whispers. House Yanbao and House Covardo were both ancient families, and since the birth of the Kingdom until now, it was normal for the heirs of both families to know each other.

It was said that there was a secret connecting them both together, and Princess Gryphine’s action seemed to have warranted that rumor today. It alerted the attention of many others, and only Marquis Yoakam was smiling by the side. He raised his glass full of wine, and said, “Viruysatt.” [T/L: Eleven tongue for “Now the show begins”]

But then he heard the movement from the people outside the hall. After greeting Brendel, he stood alone by the window side, and was why he was the first person to hear their motions. He turned, only to see the Royal Cavalry’s activity and his face paled.

Brendel’s POV

Gryphine’s gaze turned towards Brendel, “Seems like House Yanbao will have a chance to reclaim its former glory once more. You’re so lucky, Dilferi. But then again, are you a knight? Why is it that I’ve never seen you before?” Her silver pupils contained a slight bit of admiration and regret, but her tone was mellow and filled with honest blessings.

And everyone there knew why she would phrase it that way.

It would have to take a genius to reach the Gold rank, and an extraordinary one at that to be an Elemental Awakener. The Elemental Awakeners could easily leverage the power of a faction, and House Covardo had always had the most number of Elemental Awakeners. But ever since the separation of the North and South, Princess Gryphine was sure that some of the Dukes may have more military power than her. If not for Buga the Cross, her state would be even worse off.

But in the end Buga the Cross did not serve the throne, and she was clear of that fact. She looked at Brendel and felt jealous and sour, Why can’t the heavens look over House Covardo? Especially a dire time like now? I can sacrifice everything for this Kingdom and my brother, even my soul, and body, but why wouldn’t the heavens help us out?

Dilferi just nodded, and spoke carefully, “That was because the last time my father did not consider hiring a knight for me, so this is the first time you would have met him.”

Brendel looked at Dilferi, Wow, I didn’t expect her to be so good at lying.

“I see,” Gryphine seems to have realized something and looked at Brendel, “I don’t know why… Although I’ve never seen you before, but you give off a familiar feeling… Truly fascinating.”

Brendel could feel tow sharp gazes on himself, and his body tightened. But soon he realized it was Makarov and Grandmaster Fleetwood who had probably figured him out.

He did not panic, and just relaxed. He did not come with a disguise today, and the reason to that is that he hopes the two old geezers would help him create an opportunity to meet up with Princess Gryphine.

Brendel knew that, no matter it was House Seifer or House Covardo, they would not let go of the whereabouts of the Lionheart Sword. The two of them were back when he activated the artifact, and he was sure, with Fleetwood’s wisdom, he would easily determine that it was related to the Lionheart Sword. Back when the envoy group had appeared in the Emerald Tower, Oberg the Seventh seems to have some idea. And being his beloved daughter, Brendel did not believe that she would not catch onto his goals.

And the person involved in the incident is here before them, so he was sure the Royal Faction would definitely make a move.

But Brendel did not know that the Lionheart Sword is currently in possession of Freya, or else he would not have come up with that idea. It was just that the news of the Lionheart Sword was sealed tightly even among the Royal Faction, plus not many people knew about it in the first place. That was why Freya’s sword did not attract much attention back in the Knight Convention, and it also explained why Brendel was not informed about the sword itself.

At her question, Brendel had no intention of answering. He was supposed to be a servant of House Yanbao, so he should not have the qualifications to answer it. He looked at Dilferi, who felt slightly uncomfortable, “Your Highness…”

Gryphine interjected, “Dilferi, are you worried that I would dig too deep into this?”

“Of course not!”

But she thought otherwise in her mind. It can be said that the relationship between House Covardo and House Yanbao was one of the Kingdom’s biggest secrets and it should not be exposed. She had known Gryphine since young, and she clearly understood the princess’s competitive behavior. It was just that Brendel was her ‘servant’ and that fake identity made her worry.

At that moment, a silhouette appeared in front of the princess. Brendel could see that he was wearing black formal attire, and his face oblong. His gaze was sharp, and he must have quite the ability to sneak in here. But he found the man to be fairly familiar, so he could not help but take another look. Oberwei noticed that and turned only to be shocked.

Brendel did not recognize the stealthy man, but the latter did know him.

He was the Wolf Baron that Brendel met back in Fortress Riedon. He had told Gryphine of Brendel’s prowess once, but he still could not believe that he would see the man here in this meeting.

‘Why is this bastard here?” He still thought that Brendel was a Highland Knight, and did not think that the person would attend an event meant for the nobles.

“Oberwei, what is happening?” Gryphine noticed his change in complexion and asked.

The Wolf Baron looked at Brendel with a stare that made Brendel shiver. A wolf would never leave its prey unhunted.

Brendel did not remember where he saw this person, but since the other person knew him, he continued to scratch his head to find the answer. However, Oberwei was already talking to Princess Gryphine.

“There’s a situation outside, please ask everyone to take cover,” Oberwei’s voice was not loud, but unexpectedly, the chatterings had died down with his sentence.

“What’s going on?” Gryphine’s perfectly shaped eyebrows arched up. This is the territory of the Holy Cathedral. If anything were to happen, it would definitely be serious.

“There are unorthodox cultists outside,” he replied.

Unorthodox Cultists?

The entire place became a rowdy market once more. Besides the five biggest Holy Cathedrals, there were other cults and small religious parties that were active in other countries. But the only unorthodox cultist people would acknowledge are the Evil Cultists that were followers of the Twilight and Darkness Dragons.

It was unclear how they could appear in the center of a Holy Cathedral’s jurisdiction, but as they were known to be mad heretics, most of the people here began to scream in fear. No one wanted to be affiliated with them nor do they want to die at the place with them either.

Even Princess Gryphine and Brendel was shocked. Why would they be here? the princess thought. But Brendel was shocked for another reason.

This never happened back in the game, so why is it happening now?

“Just what exactly is happening now?” Gryphine saw the priests of the Holy Cathedral began to move and maintain public order. The few of them were stuck in the middle of the crowd and could not see the things happening outside the building.

But even the Wolf Baron shook his head.

In reality, even Maynild who was the first to realize the presence of the Evil Cultist did not know what is happening. She deduced from Freya’s words that Brendel and his men were threats to the princess, but she did not expect that just after she dispatched her men, the entire place would fall into chaos.

The sudden appearance of the Evil Cultists appeared suddenly, some of them disguised as the followers of some nobles, and some were even guards of the manor. Once they saw Maynild and her men pull out their swords, so did they pull out theirs and began to hack at the Royal Cavalry men and into the building. As the people managing this place did not expect the Cultist to have infiltrated their ranks, it was a one sided massacre.

Everyone was stunned at the scene, and the only composed person was Maynild amidst the confusion. Thinking that Brendel is the main culprit of this incident, she calmly ordered her men, “Don’t bother yourselves with these men, their targets are the nobles inside. All of you, follow me! Charge!”

At the end of her speech, she punctured a hole into an Evil Cultist’s heart. She immediately retracted her sword and it was so fast there was not even a hint of blood on it. Obviously, no one could see her actions.

The people on the noble’s side were not few. They were just in a state of shock, but upon listening to Maynild’s cold and hardened order, they immediately reacted to it and began to kill their enemies. But they did not do it just on the orders of Maynild. Each of the nobles that attended this meeting was of superb background, their lives were not something servants like these bodyguards could afford to lose.

The number of Evil Cultists were small to begin with, and with the gradual increase in guards on the nobles’ side, they managed to get a foothold in the situation and formed a long defensive line that separated the Cultists from the nobles. But that did not make the guards happy. These heretics were willing to fight like a maniac, disregarding their lives. Thinking that there was not a single one of them that actually fled the scene, everyone’s mood fell.

The Holy Cathedral was a powerful force to reckon with, and that was why the nobles left most of their guards outside the building and decided to trust the security of the organizer. But now that such an incident happened, everyone was dissing the Holy Cathedral for not being thorough.

Maynild’s POV

Maynild was stressed. Although Fleetwood was next to the princess, a Wizard would definitely be weaker than a Warrior, especially one that was a Gold ranker or worse, an Elemental Awakener. Within close proximity, there was almost no way he could have prevented Brendel if the youth decided to assault the princess.

Maynild pressed on her sword so hard her fingers were turning white. She was just waiting for an opportunity to arise and then she would have jumped in to rescue the princess.

The black haired knight anxiously looked left and right just to see Freya in a daze next to her.

“Freya!” she screamed like she found a place to release her anger now. She was one of the few amongst the Royal Faction who knew Freya’s identity. The previous wielder of the ‘Staff of Flames’, Everton was the pride of the Royal Family. It was said that if the sword did not exist, so will not the Royal Family. And looking at the clumsiness of the sole descendant of Everton, Maynild was having mixed feelings about her.

There were aspects of Freya that she did not like. Although she respects Freya for her dedication, the latter was always stuttering and did not have the air of a leader. How can this person bear the pride of ‘Staff of Flames’? And then there’s also that dream…

Maynild shook her head to throw away her random thought, and looked at Freya sternly, who managed to collect herself and respond.

“If you were to fall into a daze like that on the battlefield, you’ll most likely die in the future,” she scolded coldly.

“I’m sorry, senior Maynild,” Freya swiftly added. “I was being interrupted with other matters…”

“Your explanation better be plausible.”

“Arreck’s guards,” Freya looked at the carriage by the side and whispered. “Senior Maynild, although we should be in an offensive position… but the guards are located to the side of the carriages. That’s a defensive position. I remember we learned it as the basics of infantry placement. These people were from the military, so shouldn’t they know that as well?”

Maynild’s eyes glowed and surveyed the place. A place under the protection of the Holy Cathedral should not have that many Evil Cultists appearing… There must be someone on our side that is helping them out. It is not an easy feat to swap that many noble’s bodyguards for their members… This smells fishy.

“Look out for them,” Maynild said coldly. But she was feeling uneasy, Her Majesty is going to have a parley with Duke Arreck… So what does this action mean? Is this a plot he cooked up?

At the same time, Freya breathed out in relief. This young girl from Bucce was currently elated.

I knew it, Brendel would definitely not harm Princess Gryphine Her Majesty.