The Amber Sword

TL: Thanks for the continued support on the series. I’ll be able to work on more chapters of my series during the weekend (I hope).

Chapter 51 – Wealth

Brendel fell down onto the ground on his butt.

The series of battles had caused him to go weak in his knees, and there were no real advantages to be gained from them, and these actions that he took did not match his personality at all.

His eyes were randomly cast upon Dunn’s headless body, and then he stopped moving. His eyes were glued on the ring on his middle finger.

This ring was a long snake biting its tail in the form of an ‘O’ letter, and Brendel’s eyes went wide with shock.

“Fuck me, are you serious?! This bastard is a member of ‘Origin’?” His hand went for the ‘Thorn of light’ on the table, but he was late by a heartbeat: The snake on the ring moved and twisted, then a chilling voice echoed in the room.

“Very good, you bastard. Even though I don’t know who you are, you will not live for long—”

The shrieking voice abruptly started and ended. If Brendel did not know what this organization was, he might have thought he was hearing things.

[Origin… This organization is similar to the ‘Tree Shepherd’, except they are even more mysterious than the latter. Back then in the game’s history when Saint Orso overturned Aouine, they were already present. No one knew what their goal was, but more than half of the in-game high level missions were related to this organization—]

Brendel knew that the high level members in this organization were able to sense each through the ‘Ouroboros’ ring. Once someone died, the members would immediately know and choose a new person to replace him.

And what awaited next was endless revenge.

“Damn it. These bunch of bastards again, Mother Marsha, are you toying with me?” Brendel got up with the support of the Elven sword. He had a difficult time in the end game as he had also killed one of the high ranking members, and the circumstances surrounding it was similar to what happened here.

“My lord, are you in here?” When Ciel arrived the battle was over, but he thought his lord would have easily ended things and wanting him to gather here was nothing more than a polite instruction.

But Brendel’s anger boiled over when he heard the voice. If he wasn’t alert enough, Ciel would have seen a corpse or turned back into a card after he died.

He throw a piece of the rubble at him, and the surprised apprentice dodged to one side.

“Woah! My lord, please listen to my explanation—”

“Save it. Don’t do that again.” Brendel’s feelings were soothed after he scolded Ciel. There was at least one advantage for him right now. Madara would raze this place to the ground and ‘Origin’ would have a hard time finding out who killed Dunn. Even their organization was big, but they were not omniscient.

With that thought in mind, he felt much calmer. If they could not find him, then they would not be able to exact their revenge.

“How many mana potions are left?” Brendel asked.

“I didn’t use one at all, but I’m really drained.” The young man smiled shyly as he did not wish to say that he did not use them as they were too precious.

Brendel cast a disapproving look.

“We’re going up to the rooftop, drink one potion on the way up. This mana potion isn’t instant, and before the next battle begins, I want to see you revived with completely recovered stats.”

“What is ‘revived with completely recovered stats.’?”

“It’s very simple. A wizard without mana has no difference from a dead person. When your mana is full, you’re revived with recovered stats.”

“Even that’s a little cruel, but it seems like it’s true from a certain point of view.” Ciel nodded.

“Naturally. Do you think I have the time to bullshit with you?” Even though Brendel was not a wizard, he was still able to teach Ciel till he was at least level 40. But he felt a little puzzled.

[Why is this guy and Babasha placing so much importance on these mana potions? Even though it’s slightly expensive, there is no need to treat it with so much importance right?]

“My lord’s words are very right.” Ciel was completely convinced.

Brendel walked over to Dunn and brought the Elven sword near to his corpse. There was a glimmering light on the sword that looked like it was able to reveal the color of the blood on Dunn’s clothes.

Brendel frowned and thought back on everything, then nodded.

“My lord, what are you doing?”

“I’m saving myself.”

“Saving yourself?”

“Stop wasting time and follow me. Tell me what you discovered too.” Brendel knew that he could not let Ciel to be proud of his achievements, otherwise there would be mistakes made the next time.

As the two of them moved off, Ciel reported what he saw to Brendel. When he heard that the nobles’ armies were gathered outside this fortress, he was worried and pleased at the same time. It was going to be difficult to escape from so many people, but on the other hand Freya and Romaine’s situation would be much easier. Even though he wanted to let them grow on their own, he was still worried about the girls.

After walking for a while, he suddenly remembered something.

“Ah, right. Ciel, what about the things I told you to do?”

“What task is that?”

“A task where a highland knight requested his squire to gather some stuff so that he could pay for living expenses.”

Ciel got excited when he remembered it: “My lord, I picked up some wonderful stuff.”

“With my lord’s expertise, I’m sure you have heard the name Lamona, the little princess of Saint Osor. But her most famous reputation isn’t this title, it was during the time in Kirrlutz where she worked as a court artist. She painted Vaunte and the artwork’s name is ‘The voice of the souls’. She was a founder of an artistic style and was a grandmaster. I truly did not expect this earl to be such a fan of her work. There were many treasures in his collection.”

“No, I have never heard of this name. I am only interested in how much it can sell for.” Brendel shook his head. Most of the gamers are more interested in grabbing gold and silver artifacts. When he thought about it they were really like barbarians.

“Such uncivilized behavior, my lord, uncivilized!” Ciel shook his head with distaste. “But it should be fine to sell this in the black market for a few million coins.”

“Barely passable.”

Ciel was a little crestfallen when he saw they he did not have the same hobby as Brendel, but he still tried to be enthusiastic and took out a book from his magic bag. “My lord, I also got this book.”

“What is this?”

“This is a book to keep magic cards. There is something special within this,” The squire took a card out after he opened the book: “Look at this my lord.”

Brendel had guess what it was when he saw the card, but he was only able to confirm that it was a Card of Fate after Ciel passed it over to him.

It was a green colored card which represented the wind series. There was a ‘X’ on it on the top left hand corner, while there was a triangular shape with glowing lights painted on the card. There were different lines on the three corners—

Ta’m – Target of the spell

Stau – The magic to invoke the spell

Ee – The eyes of the god that governed magic.

The required cost to use this card was three wind crystals.

Brendel flipped the card and used his system on it.

(Magic Control)

(The High Tower X)

(Wind element 3)

(Instant spell)

(Choose a target for the spell and choose another target to receive the energy.)

(Your magic shall be controlled by the High Tower guard, Ordo.)

Ciel observed Brendel’s expression and explained when he found an appropriate time for it. “This is a rare White Magic card, my lord. It looks like we have good luck.”

“A White Magic Card?” Brendel asked.

“It means that there are no prerequisites in using this card.”

“It doesn’t need a cost to use this?”

“No, my lord. There are many magic spells and cards in the Cards of Fate. Other than the basic land cards, you have to under a certain condition. The knight cards, as an example, can only be used by knights or warriors who walks ‘The path of bravery’, so my lord is able to use that.”

“And a white magic card can be used by anyone?”

“Exactly, my lord.”

Brendel rubbed his forehead. He remembered the scene in Gerald’s tomb and wondered if there was anything related to this. He had never heard of these cards in the game, and today was the first time where he thought about this in detail.