The Amber Sword

Chapter 221 – The sword that resists fate (2)

Freya took a deep breath and walked up to the tournament stage.

The 10×10 meters stage made out of rock was specially crafted for the tournament. It was one and a half meters high, and surrendering or getting knocked out from it meant defeat. Freya had won two rounds earlier, but the opponents she faced later were becoming stronger and she was uncertain if she had the confidence to continue winning.

The young girl felt a little upset at herself. Brendel sent her to this place so that she could become stronger and protect everyone who survived Bucce’s ordeal. But she could hardly claim that she was capable of doing so, and her original confidence was slowly worn down when she compared herself to the monstrous talents in this academy.

She raised her longsword.

Her current opponent was a senior academy student. Maynild was at the sideline watching the tournament as usual, but she frowned when she saw Freya’s condition.

“You cannot achieve victory when your heart isn’t focused.” The senior upperclassman also saw the same thing and could not help but remind Freya.

The girl jolted and immediately concentrated, but when she looked at her opponent, her dream and the reality in front of her overlapped. The red soil in her dreams extended endlessly below her feet, and her opponent was once again that knight covered in wildfire.

============= Freya’s POV =============

“Ser Maynild…….”

The stoic knight turned her head back and looked at Freya who called out to her. She tilted her head as if to ask what the question was.

“T-this sword…..?” Freya felt like she was still dreaming. The sword in her hands was no ordinary weapon, but why did it choose her?

She was still feeling unsettled.

“This is yours,” Maynild answered simply.

“But……. This is clearly……” Freya started thinking about the legends regarding the Lionheart and her heart started thumping loudly. She was a full-blood citizen of Aouine, and she had grown up listening to those legendary tales. The idea of linking those events with her, be it the Ancestral King Erik or the Lionheart, made her feel that it was too surreal.

“Freya, I once knew a girl who was similar to you. She was stubborn, determined, and she had her set of ideals,” Maynild suddenly blurted as she looked at that young girl, “at that time I was still young. I had always admired her, and I remember that she had a sword that’s almost like the one in your hands.”

“What?” Freya was confused.

“Her sword was even sharper than the one in your hands, but it isn’t as resolved. I think this sword suits you far better, and perhaps it could change everything one day.”

“W-what does that mean, I don’t quite understand when you speak like this, Ser Maynild……”

“I say, why not give the sword a name?”

“But isn’t this the Lionheart?”

“That was King Erik’s Lionheart, but it is no longer that sword.”

“Then what should I call it? I, I don’t have the talent to give names.” Freya was a little troubled.

At that moment, Maynild felt the Lionheart was crying in Freya’s hands. She shook her head and spoke after sighing once: “Then call it Amber.”

“Amber?”

“Yes, Amber, the Amber Sword. There’s a sword in Kirrlutz’s Poem of Skies. It is a legendary sword that allows the user to battle fate, and its previous owner was the legendary knight who split open the heavens, allowing the stars to descend onto earth and created the second era……”

Freya hugged the longsword and nodded with a little conviction: “I understand, Amber, the name is beautiful.”

The stoic female knight suddenly realized that Freya was telling the truth when she said she did not have any talent in giving out names. But she merely shook her head and started leaving after finishing what she had to say.

“Please wait, Ser Maynild,” Freya called out to her once again, “what happened after that…..?”

“After that?”

“I’m sorry, I meant the girl that you said resembled me, what happened to her?”

“After that?” Maynild glanced back and actually put on a little smile: “There is no ‘after that’—”

“How can that be!” Freya’s eyes opened wide.

But it was true there was no ‘after that’—

=========== Brendel’s POV =========

Brendel was feeling a little anxious as he traveled through the forest. He subconsciously felt the Sage Slate in his bag, discovering that it was vibrating slightly.

“What’s wrong?” The Tree Elf Quinn discovered his odd behavior and asked.

“No, it’s nothing.” The youth shook his head.

[The Lionheart? But why would there be a resonance at this moment? The last reaction was several months ago, but this feeling makes me feel like it has entered into some kind of contract. I can feel something familiar from the other end, almost as if I know it from somewhere.]

The feeling was too strange, but he had never felt such a connection like this before, even if he searched his memories in the game.

However, he could only push down his thoughts, because the centaurs in front of him had cut down the foliage to reveal a stretch of open grassland—

“We’re here.” Brendel took in a deep breath and raised his hand.

All the Tree Elves, as well as the mercenaries, stopped advancing. The land before them was the youth’s territory, and every pair or eyes stopped on him.

The farce in Trentheim was about to end, starting from this moment onwards.