volume 1 - Chapter 41 (1/2)

TL: TSTBGAM will be up soon. I cleared my 2 pt perspective a.s.signment pretty quickly.

CH 41 – Spy

He looked back at Romaine, and found that she was looking back at him. Her eyes which were full of curiosity made people feel uncomfortable at times, but Brendel was truly fond of her and found her mannerisms to be cute.

He contemplated for a while before replying: “Let’s stop here for a while.”

“Stop for a while?” Freya asked: “But the Madara’s forces are right behind us, and they would arrive about two or three hours later. We don’t have much time, Brendel.”

But he shook the Seal Ring in front of the girls and answered: “It is now midnight. The city will be on full alert, and just having this alone does not really say anything. If we are treated as the Madara’s scouts, everything would go wrong, understand?”

“T-then, what should we do?” Freya thought that all her efforts that she put in should have a little use.

He glanced at her. In his mind, he knew clearly he was full of c.r.a.p. Fortress Riedon did not notice Madara’s invasion? That might not be true! The n.o.bles would not neglect their own safety, what they wanted was to hide inside the fortress and stubbornly defend until reinforcements arrived.

He remembered in the Year of the Hidden Beasts (Year 342), the undead army swept across the east of Karsuk, leaving the entire region void of life. The governor of City of Silver Horses ordered the gates to be shut, ignoring the pleas of the eastern region, causing the refugees to flee to the west. In the end, that stretch of land was still empty even until now.

Even so, these city lords did not receive any censure or blame, or perhaps the royal family had no power left to rebuke the lords since the ascension of Aouine’s previous king. The girls did not understand what happened to the Karsuk region, but he knew what happened.

His true intention was to rescue Romaine’s aunt, and possibly a few others if he could, but reporting to the army of Fortress Riedon? He had never placed hope in this aspect, and he certainly did not think himself as a messiah.

Rather than hoping the n.o.bles would listen to reason, he would rather bet on pigs flying in the air as a better possibility. There were many clashes amongst the players and the arrogant n.o.bles in the game, and even until the political changes in the twelve month, they were still fighting it out.

He did not even have one good impression of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds at all.

When he considered the pieces in his mind, he realized that Freya might see things differently. He spied on her with the corners of his eyes. She was staring vacantly at the campfire — The countryside girl still believed in this country. It was not a bad thing, but he was worried that she would be impulsive when it came to the critical juncture.

And even if displayed the facts before her, she might not believe him. This would only lead to a rift between them and he did not wish to argue with her. He continued to mull things over, then a sudden idea hit him.

[There are some moves I need to consider in advance for this plan.]

He pretended to think a while longer, then answered: “I have thought things through. It seems like we don’t have much of a choice. We are still Aouine’s citizens and we cannot avoid the dangers here.”

“But,” He paused: “We need to prepare for every situation.”

His logical and grand speech made the girls nod in agreement. Even Freya’s att.i.tude softened. She looked at him with appreciative eyes, suddenly finding that he was not such a shameless lout.

Only the G.o.ds knew that Brendel felt relieved after his speech. He realized that he finally found a way to bridge himself to his past and the current Brendel. He was never a person to be mired in rules, but the recent days made him feel that there was a huge hand continuously pus.h.i.+ng him from behind, and that made him feel breathless at every turn.

But with his growing strength and the baptism from the Golden Demonic Tree’s dream, he finally felt the carefree feeling from the past returning to him. This made him feel like things could be solved easily. His thoughts also had the addition of the former Brendel’s flexibility.

He took out the black gargoyle statue which still had a small crack on it.

He said: “You need to be prepared as well. Turn your ring to face inwards, Freya. Your fire agate is too conspicuous. Little Romaine, you need to keep your dagger close to your body. The lazy guards won’t search too close for it.”

“Do I need to turn my ring too?”

“That’s not necessary, n.o.body will want your cheap ring.”

“Brendel, these people are the guards of the fortress! Why do you look like you don’t…… trust them too much?” She asked.

“… I had never trusted them in the first place. Once we reach there you will understand what I mean. In any case, just follow what I said for the time being.”

Freya had never entered the city and felt that he was overdoing things. But she could only choose to believe since he was the leader of such things now.

Brendel took out various trinklets while he explained. The only thing that he had not identified was the trinklets from the fallen n.o.ble. He found that the pipe was only a common item and he he threw it away. He did not know what the dark gray colored stones were, but there was bound to be something that he did not recognize since there were thousands of different materials.

But the crystal beads were interesting. He discovered they were the containers of a spent soul gem, or more accurately, a storage spell item. The spell inside them should be a silencing spell, an appropriate magic to use for going around the monster’s nest during adventuring.

But what made him feel awkward was the inability of activating the storage spell items since he was a warrior. He hesitated for a while before keeping the cards and the items away, so the greedy guards would not take them away later on.