The Amber Sword

v4c6

The Secret Within The Rock

“The Azure Lance….. Aunt Tania, where did you get that information?” Brendel saw Princess Gryphine tense up like a bowstring as she asked cautiously.

“It’s just a guess.” Tania pushed the rims of her glasses, “I stumbled upon something that inspired me.”

Her Highness let out a sigh of relief and sat back down, “I see….”

“I see?” The Faerie was displeased, “Shouldn’t you ask me what exactly inspired me?”

“No…. I’m sorry, I was just too shocked.” Princess Gryphine said as she was forced to change her words. She honestly did not care about it at all. She only cared about whether the news of everything that happened underneath Ampere Seale that time had leaked out. But Princess Gryphine knew the temper of a goblin, and she knew that if she did not go along with the woman, she might not be able to leave today. Thus, she pretended to be interested in what she said, “So, Aunt Tania, what exactly was it? Could it be books that were lost in the age of The Deprived Radiance?”

“Of course not.” Tania was startled, “The books from before the Towers of Babel collapsed are long gone. Countless mages have spent their life searching for them, how could I possibly find them.” She placed a finger to her lips and chided with a stern look, “You must not joke about this. Have you witnessed the wrath of the People of Silver?”

“I understand, Aunt Tania. So what exactly did you discover?” Princess Gryphine asked helplessly.

“You’ll see in a minute.”

Brendel caught the Princess’ gaze. He mostly understood how Her Highness felt at the moment. However, unlike her, he didn’t feel stressed at all. ON the contrary, he too wanted to know why the Faerie was so confident. He had a feeling that this might be a quest in the original game for finding the Azure Lance.

Tania clapped her hands. The young girl had already brought the chest out from the back of the hall. Brendel initially thought that the “jewel-encrusted chest” would be about the size of a mini jewelry box, but reality proved him wrong. He realized that the chest was indeed that—a chest, and was two-thirds as tall as Carol. The young girl spent all of her energy carrying the box out, and was now blushing from exhaustion.

Tania stood up. She was only as tall as Brendel’s shoulder, even when she stood on the counter. She then spread out her gossamer-thin wings and flew onto the chest. Brendel saw that the encrusted jewels were actually protective spells, and when the Faerie put her fingers on those crystals, the spells lit up one by one and unlocked themselves.

Only then did she tug at the box and open it.

“What’s this?” After the lid opened, Her Highness’ gaze was drawn to the items within the chest; two small black metal discs.

Brendel eyes fixated on the objects, and he would have jumped up from his chair, had he not bitten his tongue to calm himself. The sting immediately wakened him from his stupor.

This is the Earth Sage Slate

It was an ancient poem that recorded the history of the Kirrlutz, a holy relic from the Pale Poems. Legend has it that there was a text on it that explained all the secrets in the mortal world. In the future, a war between the mages will happen because of it. It was the source of the world’s strife, and now it appeared before him once again.

Although the Earth Sage Slate was called a slate, it was actually a metal disk that had an unique texture. One of the slates, the lesser one, was as black as a black iron, while the higher level ones were gold and platinum slates. But no matter what kind it was, those were definitely Earth Sage Slates in the box.

It suddenly hit him. No wonder this god-knows-how-old Faerie would so confidently say that she had found something that could confirm the whereabouts of the Azure Lance. The legendary slate recorded all the mysteries of the world, and if the part that she had found was the part that had to do with the Azure Lance, then it wouldn’t have been hard for her to draw those conclusions.

“I have no idea what these are either.” Tania patted the metal discs and looked up to explain to Gryphine, “A group of adventurers and I found this in the ruins of Goldfinch Plateau. I traded my other antiques for these because I thought they were interesting.”

“Interesting?” Her Highness asked with a frown.

“I don’t know, but there’s something written on it. After I did some research, I discovered that the letters are similar to some of the ancient Kirrlutzs’ letters.” The Faerie’s right hand twitched and a sudden gust of wind blew into the hall. The world believed that the Faeries were natural

Elementalists, and they were indeed extremely gifted in the area. Just like now, the wind rolled up pages of paper from the desk near them, and whirled them towards Gryphine before dropping them in her hands.

Princess Gryphine looked down at the papers, filled with notes. Though she could not understand it very well, she could tell that the information inside had to do with the elaborations and interpretations of some form of text.

She could not help but look up at Brendel with a questioning look.

“It’s the ancient language of the Carongians.” Brendel replied.

“Huh?”

Tania, who was across the room looked up at Brendel and observed him, “Darius is an idiot. I had not expected his descendant to be so extraordinary. You’re a lot smarter than your grandfather, little one.”

“I’m not smart, I just know a lot, madam.” Brendel replied, quite snappily.

“Same difference. Knowledge is also a part of wisdom. The reason why most mortals are so muddled going about their daily lives is because they just can’t see their own fate. Only those who possess true wisdom can grasp their own destiny. Don’t you agree, little one?” Tania asked with her head held high. She wasn’t even as tall as Brendel’s shoulder when she stood on the box, but the confidence in her tone was undeniable.

Such confidence was something mortals would only see in a proud and arrogant mage. Although the mages had magic power, they were also revered for the power of wisdom.

Knowledge changes destiny—this was the motto from the Tower of Silver

Brendel was now more or less sure of her identity.

Her Highness was still looking through the notes. Although she could not fully understand it, she was still able to use her brains to work out what it said, roughly. She asked, “ Do these letters have some kind of connection to the Azure Lance; did the Kirrlutz once have custody of it?”

“No,” Brendel shook his head, “The Carongian had nothing to do with the Azure Lance, but the literature with similar language that was used to write the records on these slates, however, does have something to do with the Azure Lance.”

“These aren’t slates.” The Faerie reminded. To prove her words, she flicked at the metal discs, and they rang loudly.

Brendel ignored her and mumbled at himself, “This is a poem that records the history of the Kirrlutz, the language of the Pale Poem.”

With a clatter, all the papers in the hands of Her Highness slipped and fell to the floor.

Tania froze on the spot.

In the long history of the great lands of Vaunte, legends about the holy relic of the Kirrlutz had spread far and wide. No one had ever seen the contents of this magnificent holy relic, which was said to be recorded on a slate and later scattered to Tallad, St. White’s Meadow, and all over Homan. Later, only tiny bits and pieces of the history remained.

In the dark ages, the ancestors sorted out these messy histories and carried them through the wilderness. That was the beginning of the history of cultured civilisation, and the one after that was stored in the library of the Holy Cathedral of Fire, but it was said that a third of it landed in the hands of the Silver Mages of Buga.

But these were actually forgeries that were translated by the Seers.

The real Pale Poem had neither beginning nor end. It began when the universe began and will end when the world ends. The secret of the mortal world was recorded on it, and the Black Dwarfs and the People of Silver and Gold could only read parts of it.

“Are you saying that this is the original text of the Pale Poem?” The Faerie bounced off the box like she’d been jabbed with a needle. But she immediately calmed down and looked at Brendel suspiciously, “How did you know?”

“Of course I know.” Brendel replied, “In the earliest epoch, runes would contain magic power within them. and the earliest writings were born out of them. The witches still believe in the existence of magic in language to this day, which they call the Spirits of Speech.”

“The ancient Carongian language is just one of the primitive writings, and the earliest books have records of this too.”

In the mortal world, the number of people who could say what Brendel was saying couldn’t be more than ten. Especially the writing at the beginning; those were true primitive runes. Brendel did not read it with magical vibrations because he was not a wizard, but Tania understood it all.

She had no doubts anymore now, and her eyes lit up like a cat found its mouse. She flew over and grabbed Brendel by the collar and shouted, “How dis you know? Which book did you read this from? Did you find the historical records from before the age of The Deprived Radiance!?”

Brendel was almost choked to death, and he hurriedly pushed the Faerie away. He knew that he would meet such an outcome the moment he opened his mouth; not just this Faerie, even Tulman would be jumping with joy at this.

He had merely told Tulman a primitive rune that time in Braggs, and he was already excited about it, let alone a complete sentence now.

But he did this with a plan in mind.

He straightened his collar and gave a reassuring glance at Her Highness. The princess was already stunned; although she did not understand much the world of the mages, she knew that Brendel held some amazing secrets. Moreover, even just talking about the Pale Poem was already astonishing.

Seeing Brendel nod at her, she felt relieved, and picked up the papers from the floor.

Brendel turned back, “Aunt Tania, I certainly haven’t found any historical records before the age of The Deprived Radiance. You know it’s impossible. I just happen to know a little bit about primitive runes, that’s all.

“Just a little bit.” Tania scoffed, “In the entire Silver Alliance, I’m afraid there’s no more than 10 people who are qualified to say that. You’re telling me so much about it because you want to make a deal with me right?|

The shrewdness of mages shone through her words.

Brendel nodded, “Aunt Tania, can I know where did you find these slabs? Is it among the Ruins of Huss in the Goldfinch Plateau?”

“Ruins of Huss? No, there’s no name for that place yet. But we’ve found out some antiques from the age of the War of the Holy Saints there, There was a huge palace.”

It really was the Ruins of Huss.

Brendel thought, Then these slates in Tania’s hands must be the first Earth Sage Slates to be found in history. But how could they have been found so much earlier than what was recorded in history? Or was it that it took a long period of time for their value to be realised?

Brendel was felt the latter hypothesis was more likely.

But this was not important.