The Amber Sword

Chapter 103 – Trentheim and the Young Lord (3)

TL: Alistair is the wizard guy who had his companions killed by Graudin. He was a little cynical about Brendel because he thought all nobles are the same, or at least until Brendel came back to kill Graudin.

============Alistair’s POV=============

The first year of the War of the Black Rose’s winter was colder than the past seasons. The moisture in the air was frozen into powdery snow which fell from the dark grey sky.

Alistair laid in ambush amongst the shrubbery at the mountaintop overnight. He was still wearing his dark green robes but he was almost frozen from the cold. Snowflakes fell on his face and he felt the chill pierce through his skin.

[The first snow of this year.]

He used to overhear the conversations between Grandmaster Ciel and Lord Brendel back in Firburh. The contents of the conversations were about the northern situation, the armies of the dukes, the princess’s fate, how Madara invaded Aouine, even the activity in Kirrlutz…….

[The upcoming battle in the north is delayed long enough that it will only happen after this winter.]

[Hmm, I recognize you. You’re….. an Elementalist. Are you not working under Ciel?]

Brendel recalled that he asked Ciel to recruit people who had the talent for magic, and the latter went around to choose from adventurers and mercenaries.

Third-rate Elementalists, conmen, fake witch doctors, apprenticing magicians to make up a so-called army of spellcasters. The number of people who could truly use magic was few.

Since Ciel was a Gold-ranked wizard, he did not really have to put in an effort. Many voluntarily left the mercenary groups they were in to join Ciel’s Wizardry Corp. Even though many mercenary commanders complained, Ciel had Brendel’s support and he did not really encounter trouble.

Brendel wanted to set up an army made up of wizards because of how effective it could be used strategically in a battle. This was proven in the later part of the game where the gamers first utilized the concept before the NPCs started copying them. Even though Ciel grumbled about the majority of these people were unworthy of being in the ‘Wizardry Corp’, Brendel did not care. At the very least, it was his first specialized army.

Since there were talented people in them after all, they could be nurtured to become the backbone of a Wizard Association. Unfortunately, his plan was not going well. Ciel had the capabilities of a Grandmaster, but he did not have the experience of teaching. The so-called Wizardry Corp was still a sham.

But that did not mean the Wizardry Corp was useless. The wizards had varying degrees of experience, but there was a single common point.

They all knew how to write and read.

The Wizard Army had the part-time job of helping Brendel, Amandina, Nightsong Tiger, and Ciel’s tasks to handle information and administrative work.

Currently, the person in front of Brendel belonged to Nightsong Tiger’s ‘Intelligence Network’.

“My lord, there’s urgent news from the ‘people in the north’. The report states that it has something to do with the Highlanders—”

Brendel blinked a few times before he recalled that the Nightsong Tiger and Leto had sent out scouts to investigate the Palas region, and the former was the one who planned the entire project to investigate the news about Count Randner.

The Nightsong Tiger selected the better wizards from the Wizardry Corp and had them disguised as adventurers while scouting the land.

However, Brendel was the one who suggested the usage of familiars. It was not a new idea, and there were examples of wizards sending their familiars as messengers throughout the eras. However, it was rare for a wizard to be used as a scout, and thus this method was not widely used.

Gamers witnessed the increase of talented wizards in the game years after the War of the Black Rose, and the method became more and more popular. Eventually, there was a breakthrough in using magical artifacts to communicate more reliably, but it was obviously not that year yet and Brendel thought of using this ‘primitive’ method.

With this method, the time taken would approximately be a full day from the Palas region, which was much faster than the normal duration of one week. However, there was a lack of wizards who had enough stamina to act like a scout. Only three groups were formed, and information about the knights in the Palas region was limited because of the insufficient scouting.

Brendel skimmed through the report.

[It seems like the nobles are still underestimating us. Well, their numbers prove that they are treating us as a threat, but the way how they set up their defenses is a joke. Also, it seems like Lord Palas isn’t controlling them very well.]

Lord Palas was a traditional Aouine general. He stuck to the rules and had a strong discipline, but his attitude would most certainly draw the ire of Count Randner’s knights. The Highlanders were even less interested in listening to his commands, and this allowed Brendel’s wizards to be able to infiltrate their lax security.

Still, it was true that the nobles could not imagine to send wizards to the frontlines and act as scouts. Even Amandina and Ciel were stunned when Brendel mentioned this method.