Chapter 642 - v4c27 The Princess and the Princess (1) (2/2)

It was unclear what the Bugas were thinking, but all of that was an afterthought for Brendel; time was running short, and it was unlikely that he would be able to wait out the arrival of the new amba.s.sadors on the mages’ side of Ampere Seale and the like, so after seeing William off, he left the port with the princess, pa.s.sing through the Royal Cavalry Academy and heading straight for the Trentheim region.

The princess was eager to see her dear friend Magadal, while she herself must now set about preparing for the future of Aouine.

After a week’s journey, the carriage was now finally approaching the Glas Banks.

Arriving here meant essentially the same thing to Brendel as coming home. In the past half-day, he had already met several of the old members of the Red Bronze Dragon Mercenaries. Sue had finally been able to meet her father, Red Bronze Dragon Leto, and it was the first time Brendel had ever seen the daughter of that tough barkeeper tear up.

The meeting between Carglise and his father was, naturally, another story, and since Brendel was officially recognized, Sir Mirtai was spared the embarra.s.sment of imprisonment. However, the old-fas.h.i.+oned n.o.bleman apparently did not necessarily approve of his precious son’s actions and scolded the first commander of the White Lion Legion who was under Brendel.

This naturally became the b.u.t.t of jokes for the group of young people from Trentheim.

Regardless, it was still an uplifting thing for everyone to return home. However, no one would ever forget those souls who would remain in Ampere Seale forever.

Brendel silently thought about these trivial matters until the princess in front of him gently opened her mouth. The half-elf maiden looked up at the young man across from her, the dappled sunlight from the curtains falling on her face. Scattered golden spots of light cut straight lines of uneven lengths down her beautiful face as if she was wearing a natural veil, adding a bit more mystery to her out of thin air.

But Princess Gryphine’s appearance was very calm. She considered her thoughts for a moment before quietly asking, “Mr. Brendel, the royal spies have news that Radner seems to have met with Arreck, just as you suspected. In order to fight us, they will, by contrast, form an alliance. Although Duke Anthony and the Highland Knights have both agreed to fight in the war, I’m still a little worried…”

“Worried about what?”

“I fear for Arreck, Mr. Brendel. My father knows him well as a man. The Arreck family has been operating on the plateau where they have ruled firmly for generations to subvert the kingdom, and the Duke Arreck of today is undoubtedly the most cunning of their family’s succession,” the princess replied softly. “Archbishop Wood told me that he had proof that Arreck was also in cahoots with All For One, but throughout the war, he only sent Devard the Hawk to show up at the end-

“As soon as the war was over, he hastened away from Ampere Seale before the Holy Cathedral had gotten hold of him, but did not return to his own dominions. Instead, he went to Magitan to make an alliance with Count Radner.

“He never fights battles that he is uncertain about, so I suspect he must be up to something.”

Brendel nodded, but that was actually what bothered him. Wood had written to tell of the events leading up to the day of Arreck’s escape before the princess was tipped off, but he had a keen sense that the Holy Cathedral seemed to be withholding some crucial information, not the least of which was, Brendel knew that an order of knights from Kirrlutz had secretly entered Aouine. However, he did not know which legion it specifically belonged to.

This order of knights could not be here to deal with him, and naturally, they would not be here to oppose the eldest son of the king in the North, so the rest of the possibilities pointed only to this fellow Arreck.

But what value does Arreck have to be so important to the Holy Cathedral? Even if they were colluding with the cultists, it would be nothing more than a joke, and honestly, how many of Aouine’s n.o.bles did not collude with the cultists?

Although there weren’t many who acquiesced to All For One’s views like Duke Arreck, there were some n.o.ble families which harbored shady, suspicious fellows within their ranks.

If the Holy Cathedral was going to use this as an excuse, Brendel would not even feel like listening.

There must be some kind of conspiracy on Arreck’s part, but the question was what the conspiracy actually was. Radner’s primary target must be him and the princess. A war between the two sides was inevitable, and while the Holy Cathedral of Fire was looking for trouble with Arreck, it might not necessarily be him and the princess.

The Kirrlutz had suffered a big loss in Ampere Seale and might retaliate. The crux of the problem was that the situation in the North and South was already stabilizing, so the Holy Cathedral of Fire might not be happy to see the princess unify the South so quickly.

Moreover, Wood’s letter also mentioned that the high-ranking imperials coveted the Azure Lance, and if it was confirmed that this holy relic was still in Aouine, it could be a huge problem.

That was the true troubling matter.

After giving it some thought, he felt that the priority should still be to take out the alliance between Arreck and Radner first. However, it was obviously not realistic to uproot the power of the Arreck family on the Arreck Plateau in a short period of time. On the contrary, Count Radner himself was the weak link in this evil alliance.

However, he and the princess alone were not enough to accomplish such a thing.

<script>