The Amber Sword

v4c3

Aouine’s Future

With the little female dragon gone, Brendel regained his freedom. He hurriedly created a water orb and threw it in his own face. The cold water calmed him a little, and he put on a jacket and rushed out.

When he stepped outside, he saw Amandina sitting on a stone chair in the courtyard reading a geography book, but her mind was clearly not on the book.

“The princess seems very angry,” Amandina commented worriedly while greeting Brendel as he stepped out. She then lowered her scroll. “It’s nothing,” Brendel sighed, “Where’s Aloz?”

“My Lord, you’re talking about that young lady from the dragon tribe? I didn’t see her. Did she leave?”

“No, forget about it,” Brendel turned to chase after her. “Wait,” Amandina stood up and grabbed him, and when she saw her lord turning back with a face of confusion, she thoughtfully reminded him, “Tidy yourself up, my Lord.”

Brendel didn’t usually put much thought into what he wore, so he had casually put on a jacket and ran out. Amandina blushed at the sight of his disheveled appearance, and reached out to fix his collar.

She suddenly realized that the fate of the entire Aouine was in the hands of one person. However, that person was neither her nor her brother.
……

“Are you telling me that Duke Seifer was killed by Romaine with a single punch? Hmph, he reaped the seeds he sowed.” Satisfaction filled Brendel’s heart. Half of the blame for Aouine’s demise in the future was on this guy. It would have been understandable if he was doing it for his own power, but he hadn’t expected the guy to be a cultist.

The very thought that the future princess’ and the Valkyrie’s tragic fate was all because of a cult’s insane plan made Brendel fume with rage.

But he quickly fell silent. What really worried him was Amandina’s physical condition. During the detailed conversation earlier he had carefully asked Amandina about her ‘return from the dead’ on the battlefield, but everyone, including AMandina herself, was in the dark about what exactly happened.

He was beginning to suspect that the demonic item he had gotten on the battlefield was responsible for it, but Amandina quickly ruled that out after she brought that item out. Although it was still unclear what the thing was, Brendel could tell at a glance that it seemed sealed up. There was no way it could have done anything.

And Amandina herself had proven that she had no self-regeneration abilities. Her blood was a normal, human red, proving that she wasn’t a part of the bloodlines with gold or silver blood. The time it took for her wounds to heal was no different from ordinary people either.

But this situation made Brendel felt uneasy. He did know of some special abilities that could resurrect someone, but those weren’t anything safe. Some of them even burned lifespans to operate.

But Brendel did not reveal this information to Amandina. It was, in a sense, a white lie. He nade up his mind to investigate it himself.

“He reaped the seeds he sowed?” Amandina raised her head at Brendel’s words.

“It means that he deserved it,” Brendel explained. Amandina gave him a glare, “My Lord, stop using weird phrases, you’ll be laughed at. You’re so educated, but despite that you still like to use such rudimentary phrases.”

“Only a civilian would say that.”

“I didn’t invent that,” Brendel couldn’t help but laugh. It had been over a year since crossing into this world like a dream, but some of his vocabulary were hard to change. Especially those idioms with historical background—except for the small portion that overlapped with the history of Nine Phoenixes, which most of them interpret as slang from some rural area.

But there was no way around it. While one could adapt quickly to a new environment, it was hard to change ingrained habits. He had lived in this world for one year, spent seventeen in-game years, and a full thirty years in the other world.

However, Duke Seifer was dead and such a historically prominent family had disintegrated just like that. Without the restraint of this powerful force in the north, the nobles there have become ambitious, right? No wonder Her Highness had come to find me in such a hurry.

He hadn’t expected such a famous figure in history to die just like that, There was also Marquis Yoakam and Count Vitokin; even Marquis Balta and Grandmaster Fleetwood were all dead. Grandmaster Fleetwood had died from the surprise attack of another demon king, but had managed to save the shipload of men from the First Fleet’s flagship of the Imperial Navy, HMS Victory.

Enrok, one of the Aouine’s Three Elites, was also dead. Brendel sighed as he remembered the young man who loved smiling and laughing as much as Carglise did. He had been determined to protect them, the future of this kingdom.

“That guy Benninger even gave the little prince back,” replied Brendel, gritting his teeth, “DId he think he’d be forgiven by doing that?”

“No, it was not him who sent Prince Haruz back,” Amandina helped him straighten the buttons on his sleeves and took a step back after, looking relieved. “It’s done, my Lord.”

“Thank you, Amandina,” Brendel asked, “So what is actually going on?”

“I heard that it seemed to be a Medusa who sent him back. I’m not sure what happened myself, perhaps you can ask Her Highness,” Seeing that Brendel still wanted to speak, Amandina quickly interrupted him, “Well, don’t keep Her Highness waiting too long. My Lord, you are now a Count of the kingdom.”

“What? Count? Then which fiefdom am I getting?” Brendel was slightly startled, this was something he had not expected at all. He didn’t actually care much about it, he only asked from hearing it so out of the blue.

“Count of Trentheim, my Lord.”

“So nothing’s changed,” Brendel quipped.

He got a glare for that.

……

The rebuilding of the Holy Cathedral of Ampere Seale was only half complete. He had seen crumbling walls and scaffolding in many of the cloisters he passed, the handiwork of the Ciel, although Brendel would never admit that.

Brendel had only just stepped out of the cathedral, when he saw her highness waiting outside.

“Your Highness.”

Princess Gryphine turned to him and nodded in satisfaction at his attire, “How is the Count’s health?

“I’m fine…..Your Highness……” Even before Brendel could finish his sentence, Princess Gryphine interrupted, “Mr. Brendel, the nobles of the north intend to support my brother’s ascension to the throne. The Holy Cathedral of Fire also intends to facilitate peace talks between us and the North, what do you think of this?”

Brendel was surprised. Isn’t this a good thing? But then his thoughts caught up. “They have conditions, right?”

“No, they have no conditions, they just want us to promise that the kingdom can maintain the status quo,” Princess Gryphine replied quietly. Brendel fell silent. The kingdom maintained the status quo? Which status quo? This half-dead status quo?

This was unacceptable to him and to the princess.

The nobles in the north were still trying to maintain the semi-independent status quo that had been in place since Ain VII. In Brendel’s opinion, these guys were dreaming.

He put away his previously easy going attitude and asked coldly, “What if we don’t agree? Are they about to start a rebellion again? Will the Holy Cathedral of Fire support these people?”

Her Highness shook her head, “I’m afraid not, but even if so it is still unacceptable. The North is facing the threat of war……Leider…… the old captain handed the White Lion Legion to you. You know that, right?”

“What?!” Brendel almost jumped up, “He gave me the White Lion Legion? Did the others agree?”

But he suddenly stopped talking. Marquis Balta was dead, and Leider had died on the battlefield, and if this was truly the will of that old lion, the White Lion Legion might actually end up in his hands.

This was good news.