Chapter 130 – Thou art my friend (1)

=========== Princess Gryphine POV ==========

“My lady, there are too many enemies, please move in a little deeper into the carriage.”

Knight Benninger pleaded sincerely outside the carriage, his voice a little urgent. Crossbow bolts from all directions struck onto the inner steel plates of the horse carriage, shaking and causing audible echoes within it. Princess Gryphine did not expect an assassination attempt within her own private lands.

“There’s no need, I’ll wait here for my knights to arrive. But the girl pursed her lips tightly and looked forward with her faint silver eyes.

“My lady—“

“Benninger.”

“Yes.”

“Say no more.” She answered simply. “…… Thank you, Benninger.”

The sounds striking the carriage suddenly stopped, and the youth turned around with one hand on his sword, and had only courage in his heart as his aid.

Gryphine had worn her usual white gown like before and sat with both hands over each other own her knees. Even at her moment of danger, her sitting posture was as refined as any lady. She exuded the ancient royal family’s grace, and even the most austere of nobles would find that she was the brightest gem on the royal crown.

At the opposite of the princess’s eyes, was the only successor to Aouine’s throne. The boy, Haruze was looking at her with a pair of frightened eyes.

“Sister…..” His voice was filled with dread.

She looked coldly at her brother.

“Haruze, pick up your sword and point it to the ground.”

The boy had always listened to her strict sister, and he did not disobey her this time. He overcame his jittery feelings and carefully pointed the sword onto the ground. The sheath of the sword was written with refined letters:

‘ Hark and know that my name is courage ‘

This was the motto of the Corvado’s royal family, and was renowned to be the half-Elven princess’s motto. However, it was a blinding irony on the boy. He stood up as held onto the sword and looked at his sister in utter confusion, with tears swimming in his eyes against the danger they were in.

Gryphine sighed when she saw his brother acting in this manner. She softened her features and spoke gently to him: “Don’t worry, your sister will definitely protect you.”

The boy wiped his tears with his sleeves and nodded with vigor at her words.

The forest had gone silent for quite some time. The interior of the carriage also fell into silence because of that. They tried to to pick up any signs of where the enemies were, but heard nothing other than their hearts beating rapidly.

============== Freya POV ============

Barsta, the Royal Cavalry Academy. Everyone in the courtyards, classrooms, corridors, any place with a window, looked up to the sky as the phenomenon happened.

Freya gazed at the blue sky with a central pillar of light connecting the sky and earth together. The clouds had been dispersed around the area, and the purity of the myriad glows in the sky made her gasp in awe of the beauty.

[What is that?]

The girl was wearing a set of armor meant for training, and she was combing her ponytail absentmindedly with her fingers before she subconsciously put it down. The lights on her face shimmered as smaller pillars of light in a circle suddenly lit up in the sky and connected to the center.

[Is Mother Marsha showing us a sign?]

The crowd in the training courtyard started to increase in numbers. They were screaming and shouting, telling everyone to look up at the sky, as though the end of the world was coming. They held their breaths as they watched it.

Whispers turned into murmurs, and the instructors joined in with their apprentice knights to discuss over what had happened. They shook their heads in disbelief almost as if to shake off what they saw.

“That’s an Artifact Resonance, right?” A man near Freya suddenly spoke.

“What did you say it was?” She turned around and asked.

The man watched Freya looked at him with a pair of light brown eyes. Sangany, the second son of a count, felt his heart skip a beat. It was an opportunity for him. The majority of the academy were males, and the few females that joined this batch were naturally targets of the nobles’ scions. Freya’s appearance was outstanding compared to the other girls, and it was even better for them because she did not have a notable background and was seen to be a delicious prey.

This game was circulated only amongst the seniors, and because she had just joined in recently she did not know the existence of this game. The only thing she did feel was the odd number of males around her, which made her slightly uneasy and anxious from her instincts. However, the boy with blonde hair in front of her had an answer to her question, so she took another look at him.

“It’s a type of Mana resonance, but for it to be so powerful…… I have never seen or heard something like that before.” He immediately showed off his best side and answered with a patient smile.

“Mana Resonance?” Freya’s mind was slightly jolted, as she recalled a certain heroic image of someone’s back at the Valley of the Golden Demonic Tree. She immediately turned away in order to prevent her burning face to be seen by anyone else. She took another look at the sky as the lights disappeared. She took another deep breath and calmed herself down: “Where is that area?”

“Judging from that area, it should be Randner.”

Freya thought of Brendel and Romaine, and she felt her heart beat faster: “Is that the doing from the two of you? I really miss you…..”

Her uneasy and shy expressions made the youth behind her think that she was impressed. He thought of her as a country bumpkin from her looks, but he maintained his smile and took a closer step to her, wanting to say more, but the tolls from a bell rang throughout the courtyard and interrupted him. Everyone’s eyes reluctantly tore away from the sky and put their gaze into a certain direction.

The giant steel bell was placed in the tallest building and used only in festivals or emergency situations. Everyone wondered if that phenomenon had anything to do with it.

A squadron of knights urgently ran into the training courtyard, with the crowd separating to allow them through. The leader of the knights was a young woman wearing a purple swallow-tailed army uniform riding on a horse. She rode to the front, turned around and raised her chin up while looking at everyone.

“This order is meant for everyone in their respective years. I want all of you to gather in three minutes, fully equipped and ready for battle—“

The woman’s voice was a little low and gruff, but her strict bearings made everyone alert.

[We’re to wear our armors and swords?]

[Are we going out for a battle? A mock battle?]

[But this doesn’t seem like we’re close for any tests—]

“These are knight members in the Reserves…..” Sangany muttered.

“What do you mean?” Freya looked at the leader whose straight black hair was tied behind her and weighted down behind her back like a straight spear, all the way down to her waist.

“The woman at the front is a senior apprentice knight of this academy but she’s special because she’s a Reserve. Their ranks are equivalent to the Black Knights, or the Royal Cavalry’s reserves. She’s a squire and a military officer at the same time. Her name is Maynild, daughter of Madame Ida. Perhaps this would be clearer, Madame Ida is Duke Rhun’s sister, she married to a knight who died in the Ten Years War, and lived alone in her home ever since. This woman is her only daughter.” Sangany explained with a stern look: “She’s a genius in this academy, but anyone who is capable of entering the Reserves is naturally more capable than us trash.”

Freya committed the name Maynild to her memory, and looked gratefully back at the youth with a smile: “There’s no need to put yourself down. I think you’re capable because you know so much.”

Sangany looked back at her in surprise, and was slightly moved and grateful at her sincere gaze. But that lasted only for a moment.

[Once you try the sword on me, you will find how impressive I really am—] The youth laughed coldly in his heart as filthy thoughts washed over his mind.

============= Brendel’s POV ============

The Silver Elves stood quietly in opposition of Barre’s commanded men. No wind blew in the forest, and both the black and silver swallow-tailed flags stood limply where they were. The sun’s rays struck down harshly onto the forest, and showed off the Silver Elves’ lily emblems, while Barre’s men held onto the flags depicting direwolves as their symbol.

There was the occasional horse pants and suppressed sneezes, but other than it was an awkward silence.

Count Barre and the men beside him had dark expressions, in contrast of the taciturn Nalaethar as well as the commanding officer of the other Elven Knights who wore a full helmet and prevented any signs of his expressions from being seen.

Only Brendel sat peacefully and lazily on a tree trunk in between them. He knew Rauze was beside him, so he did not need to fear of any sudden attacks, and also believed that he would be fine even if a battle was to break out.

Count Barre and the others still did not know why the Silver Elves were willing to break their vow, and were unable to find a solution to this stalemate. On the other hand Brendel was reflecting on his mistakes and assumptions, and thought about the fact that the Silver Elves had appeared on the continent so quickly after the first Madara war.

[Is there going to be any major change in the future because of this incident?] He rubbed his forehead.

It did not seem that the situation was going to change any time soon, so Brendel jumped down and went over the Acolyte of Earth’s body in boredom. The remainder of the mana had already condensed into a highly pure Mana Crystal. It was a Level 65 Boss’s drop, and even had the properties of the Blood of Gods. It was one of the best crafting and alchemy materials, only one rank below the items from a dragon’s loot drop.

He suddenly looked over the the direction of Rauze, although it was just empty air he was looking at.

“Your expression is a little strange mister Brendel.”

“Is that right?”

“But Rauze already has a mate. I’m also not really interested in humans. But— If it’s mister Brendel, I don’t mind trying it once.”

Brendel coughed uncontrollably, choking his spit wrongly into his lungs when he heard the reply.

The two leaders looked over at him for a while, before Count Barre broke the silence:

“Let’s negotiate.”

Nalaethar nodded.

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