The Amber Sword

Chapter 227 – Your sword shall shine for all eternity, Aouine (3)

TL reminder: Tarkas is the general who led Madara’s army in the early chapters to invade Aouine.

Madara’s haughty army that made people fearful ultimately did not dare to cross the final line to engage Firburh’s army.

That was because there were two people who constantly stood in front of this undead army.

A man and a woman.

The female was an Elf, her proud composure as radiant as the stars in the sky. Her young age seemed to be unable to express the fact that she was the commander of Firburh’s army, but it did not interfere with her skills as one.

Medissa held a silver lance and placed it horizontally while she sat straight up on her horse, quietly blocking Tarkas’s path less than fifty meters away. In her eyes, Madara’s army did not exist.

The man was a middle-aged swordsman. He did not even look at Madara’s army from the very start, but the tens of thousands of undead did not dare to overlook his presence.

That knight lurched backward, appearing to be unconfident of deflecting the missile-like spear. Scarlett then moved in to attach her spear to his sword, then forced it away to the side and struck at her opponent’s chest. The three consecutive spears were done one after another without pausing. A loud cracking noise could be heard as the spear was thrust into the armor with rays of light emitting from it.

“A High-armor!?” Scarlett instantly felt something was wrong. Her opponent was wearing something that an ordinary knight would not have, rather, it was more fitting for a commander.

Surely.

There was only one possible person who would have this in the entire army.

There was a jolt of electricity running through her veins as she realized there was silence around her. All the soldiers and knights stopped fighting, which eventually spread to the others like a rippling wave. The entire battlefield froze like a miracle.

“Lord Palas!” One of the young knights who was smacked down from his horse immediately got up and rushed to the knight who fell under Scarlett’s spear.

Lord Palas coughed as blood pooled around his injury, but his first reaction was not to staunch it and instead push up his faceplate.

It was a weary face that belonged to an old man, full of wrinkles and a pair of snow-white eyebrows that seemed to hold in all the stormy weathers of the kingdom. His dull grey eyes looked as though they had seen too many things, which had seen a certain war where the senior knights bringing along the younger ones into a battlefield that many of them did not return for all eternity, but also seeing glorious victories amidst the sorrowful ones. Finally, they had seemingly seen the end of the kingdom’s final moment.

These pair of eyes sparkled for a few seconds before they quickly disappeared as his life was drained away, and the images of his past were forever sealed away.

Lord Palas laughed.

He first shook his hand at the knight beside him, looked up at Scarlett and said:

“Lass, where exactly are you from? I don’t believe, you are simply…… rebels…..”

Scarlett suddenly found herself at a loss for words. Logically speaking, this old man was their biggest enemy in this war, but she found it hard to reject answering his question at this moment.

“I’m a citizen of Aouine.”

“Impossible, a peak Gold-ranker…… a peak Gold-ranker…… When did Aouine have such a young prodigy…… a true…… prodigy……” The old man shook his head weakly in disbelief.

“I’m truly a citizen of Aouine, a Highlander within the Randner region, originally a mercenary until I met my lord,” Scarlett spoke in an earnest tone.

“A stubborn person, eh? You certainly demonstrate the kingdom’s stubbornness. I do believe you are one.” the old man smiled, but his smile seemed like it had used up of its vitality: “But a prodigy like you, why would you lower yourself by being with the rebels……”

“What? No, I’m not lowering myself, my lord is even stronger than I am. But putting aside that, he’s also a good person, especially compared to that Graudin. I think he’s the best lord in this continent—”

“Is that so? What is the….. name….. of your lord?” He asked between coughs.

“Brendel.”

“Brendel……Brendel……”

Lord Palas closed his eyes and breathed out a long sigh. He felt his limbs getting colder. He was losing consciousness and breathing was becoming hard. But he still had one more question, and his eyes sprang open once more, staring at the blood on the forest ground. All of it was Aouine’s blood.

“What is……exactly…… your…… goal?”

“I have no idea, but my lord says he is doing this to save Aouine.”

“Save Aouine?” Light returned to Lord Palas’s eyes, and he stared at the girl with a complicated expression: “How…..?”

“I’m sorry,” Scarlett shook her head to show that she did not know, “but I believe my lord is capable of doing so. Not one of us believes that you nobles are capable of doing that.”

“Us nobles…… us nobles……” The old man coughed repeatedly before he laughed with all his might, shaking his head: “Listen well, my knights…… This is an order…… Surrender.”

This was a thunderous shock to the young knights around him: “My Lord, it’s not possible, if you die here, we will follow you, this is our glory!”

“No.” The old man closed his eyes weakly, his voice lowering to a whisper because of his fading strength, “you must surrender, because…… this is the glory of Aouine.”

For the highest honor of Aouine.