Vortex(3)

“Your Royal Highness.” Footsteps stopped outside the walnut door. A woman’s voice followed behind. She was who Brendel saw that day, a cool female knight. “Maynild?” Princess Gryphine asked while trying to fix her dress. It was crumpled up by a previous dispute.

“And me, Your Royal Highness.” A deep but yet sharp voice replied.

“Sir Oberwei.” Gryphine let out a sigh of relief. After a short while, she got back to her senses. “Please wait a moment, I was just getting ready for bed, come in,” Gryphine said. The door pushed open. Maynild and Oberwei, the Wolf Baron were standing there cold-faced. Both of them seemed like they had been in the rain, they were soaking wet.

Maynild closed the door. Oberwei immediately said, “Your Royal Highness, Makarov and his comrades have already gone to see the Prince.”

“I already know everything, Oberwei.” Gryphine interrupted him and raised her head to see both her close subjects. Maynild was her childhood friend, to the extent they were like sisters.  Maynild once swore that she will be Gryphine’s knight. The Aouine princess held in her laughter, unsure whether Maynild still remembers this oath of hers.

She gazed at Oberwei once again. Although Fleetwood was the teacher of the princess and Gryphine, all her swordsmanship and political knowledge were taught by this lone wolf. “Teacher, Sister Maynild, please get ready. We are leaving Ampere Seale immediately.” Gryphine said.

Oberwei froze slightly and raised his head up. The princess’s endurance and willpower were not expected so he originally had created a lengthy speech to cheer up the princess. He was very well-versed with his student’s personality and immediately knew what was going on recently.

With this in mind, the main character of the Royal Faction scanned the room suspiciously, and his eyes quickly fell on the opened window.

“Teacher, you don’t have to guess anymore. I had it all figured out. I can’t give up the future of Aouine nor allow Duke Anthony to divide the kingdom. You told me that the flag still remains in Aouine. But do you think that I can pick it up, no matter how arduous the journey ahead is?” Gryphine asked.

“We’ll never know until we try  your Royal Highness.” Oberwei agreed and looked away from the princess.

Princess Gryphine nodded and said, “But my main task now is to return to my territory, where I will wage a war against the Seifer family and the cathedral. I believe that our people will support us.The people of Aouine  have never forgotten the war with the Kirrlutz. They had only forgotten the vows made by the nobles.”

Oberwei bowed slightly in agreement, he said, “The Holy Cathedral must have known of our disagreement, but they would not know that we’ve already been separated. This is our only chance.” He turned to Maynild, “Maynild, how many Royal Cavalry troops can you maneuver?”

Cardell, the Royal Cavalry’s commander was Grandmaster Fleetwood’s student, who took sides with the Royal Faction, and would definitely not side with the princess. Oberwei arranged Maynild into the Royal Cavalry to limit this commander’s power. But for now, Maynild only had some prestige among the young knights.

Maynild lowered her head and groaned, with a sterned face he said, “Only 30 percent of them, and they are all just graduates of the Royal Cavalry Academy and are lacking in experience.”

“That is quite less, “ the princess frowned even more.

“We could maybe get some outside help,” Oberwei suggested with a slight smile.

“Outside help?” The Aouine princess flashed a glimmer of anxiety and looked over to the closet.

“Count Audine seems to be in great favor of the princess, opposing the separation of the kingdom. When I sent him out the door, he told me that he intended to support us. He commands a battalion of hired troops from the Black Forest. If he can be persuaded to join us, it would not only help us in our current situation,” Oberwei replied, slowly realizing the reason behind his wet clothing.

“Teacher, can you convince Count Audine?” Gryphine flashed excitement in her eyes. She was not only excited because of this surprise foreign help, but because her idea was acknowledged by the traditional nobles.

Although Brendel’s forces were exposed back in the war in Trentheim, the princess did not think that his new force would be powerful.

In comparison, Gryphine felt that Brendel was of more use as a gold ranking swordsman rather than relying on the return of Count Audine’s soldiers from the Black Forest.

The battle-hardened mercenaries will be more useful in the stormy situation at Ampere Seale.

In addition, Count Audine was supported by an ancient family and a large number of nobles with the same political demands. This was a huge support. Being able to obtain the goodwill of this power is precious to the precarious princess.

Brendel who was hiding in the closet scoffed at this. Oberwei and the Royal Princess still wanted to rely on the nobles. He had to admit, this mentality would be hard to change. After all, the Kingdom needed capable people to govern, and the nobles were definitely much more talented and knowledgeable than most people.

King Oberg the Seventh established the Youth Police and built a college for searching commoners with talents in order to disrupt the monopoly power of the nobles. However, the Kingdom had fallen into warring flames before the effect could be seen. But in the long run, the Kingdom would definitely benefit from this solution. If they could select the geniuses from the commoners in the Kingdom, there would be no doubt that Aouine would prosper!

If it was not for the Second and Third War of the Black Roses interrupting this process, maybe Princess Gryphine would be able to slowly bring the Kingdom Of Aouine back on track.

Brendel pondered on it and sighed.

He continued to listen to Maynild’s icy cold voice outside. “The secret passage leads out of the city, but the area around the Sixth Road is under control by the Royal Faction. If we head further south, it will be the territory of Duke Arreck. The students of the Royal Cavalry Academy had already planned out the route of escape. The only conclusion was to escape from Ampere Seale through the waters.” Maynild said.

“But we don’t have a boat,” Oberwei replied.

“Even if we had a boat, it wouldn’t work either. We can not head out to sea as the storm during the new moon is approaching.” Maynild added.

“No, we might actually have a boat.” Something popped up in Gryphine’s mind. She hesitated. Maynild and Oberwei looked at the princess strangely. The Royals always had secret agents and hidden retreat pathways. In that sense, it was possible if there was a merchant ship prepared beforehand by the Royals. The Aouine folk has a saying “The king has many secrets. Although they may not be entirely true, it surely has some certainty to it.”

After thinking to herself, she unexpectedly said, “Let me introduce you to a guest.”

“A guest?”

Maynild was slightly stunned and even Oberwei was stunned. Princess Gryphine bit her lip and knocked on the wooden table. “Come out, Mr. Brendel. I hope you’ll fulfill your promise and help us leave this place wholeheartedly.”

Brendel was shocked but he quickly returned to his senses. He did not expect Princess Gryphine to push him out at this moment. Both Maynild and Oberwei were close subjects of Princess Gryphine. If she allowed him to reveal himself now, it at least indicated that the Royal Princess had already identified him as a member of them.

He took a deep breath, opened the closet door and walked out.

“It’s you?!” Maynild raised an eyebrow slightly.

Oberwei also raised his eyebrows but he did not rush to speak. It was rather awkward to Brendel. Why would not he? The two of them were in a room alone, and one was even a princess! Who would not make any assumptions about what they did there? While Brendel did not do anything too shady, his face was still blushed red.

Brendel laughed, “Oberwei, we meet again. I heard that you’ve seen me before, but sadly I could not meet up with you previously.”  He was undoubtedly referring to Oberwei tracking him back then in secret, which was not told to him by the princess, but rather by the dragon. With some other small details revealed unintentionally by the princess in her letters, it was impossible for Brendel to not know.

In fact, there were only a few people who could be themselves in the presence of the princess. Makarov was still just a mercenary leader in the mountains in the south, it was naturally impossible for him to be in Fortress Riedon.

Oberwei smiled slightly and said, “Mr. Brendel’s sword skills have progressed a lot unexpectedly.  I didn’t believe that you were approaching the Elemental Realm until I saw the truth with my eyes. Now I do believe that prodigies do exist.” Oberwei complimented Brendel but he immediately changed the topic and asked, “But I would want an answer regarding why Brendel is here at this moment.”

Princess Gryphine’s cheeks flushed red, not because of feeling shy, but because she was scared of getting exposed. “Mr. Brendel has been my knight for quite some time. He is my secret agent and he is here in Ampere Seale to assist us secretly, which you all have known beforehand. But tonight I allow him to be here because he has a boat, which will be useful.” She said.

“If I’m not mistaken, Mr. Brendel came here by Trentheim’s boat right?” The half-elf princess looked at him.

“Since when did I have a boat? Have I switched to work in supplying boats?” Brendel froze. He did come by boat, but that was a merchant boat. Now that the storm was near, no merchant boat would go to sea, as the relationship between the commerce chambers of Trentheim and Ampere Seale was not as strong. He did not expect the princess to lie with such justification. In fact, he had a way to get a boat. Not by purchasing, borrowing nor renting, but by snatching one. The Nagas were pirates by nature after all.

He pondered on it for a moment, quickly sorted out his thoughts and nodded. Princess Gryphine’ hypothesis seemed seamless but in actual fact, it was extremely flawed. Who could have imagined that the Royal Faction would be divided?

Besides, the news of the Lion Beastmen going to war in advance was only delivered to her study desk around one or two hours ago. It was easy to break the claim she had arranged earlier because of that.

Oberwei was still thinking about Brendel’s boat. He looked at Brendel and accepted what the princess said reluctantly, then he said, “Even though there is a boat, the storm would make it impossible to go out to sea. Is the princess planning on going through the straits of the Ampere Seale into the Wall of Death? But that route involves passing through Arreck’s sea region, which means Duke Arreck will use the navy to stop us.”

“No, we won’t do that,” Gryphine answered while shaking her head. “There is a statue in the predecessor of Erik’s era in the collection of the Anderla Cathedral. It is a statue of Goddess Marsha that was made out of the tooth of the Demon Whale.  According to legends, if we carry this statue on the ship, it will calm the storms.” Gryphine added.

“It is a good idea.” Oberwei’s eyes sparkled. “But the basement of Anderle Cathedral is not so easy to break into.” He added.

The princess replied, “I will ask Magadal for assistance. As for the person who sneaks into the cathedral-” Gryphine set her eyes on Brendel.

“Me??” Brendel was startled. He knew the legend of this statue but was doubtful of whether it was true. Of course, it would be great to have this thing…

It was not just to deal with this current situation, but could also be the preparation before entering the Home of Storms. Home of Storms is a sea region at the south of the Loop of Winds, out of Marsha’s protection.

There was an instance dungeon in there where you can get a level 70 equipment and quest items to temper the Bronze Body.

Sorcery storms reigned outside the Home of Storms throughout the year, and the Nagas were prohibited to go there. Without the Naga’s Demon Whale, the only way to calm the storms was to obtain the objects that could do it like The Potion of Peace, The Statue of Marsha or having spells to calm them.

Brendel did not want to create more problems at this point so he just silently took mental notes and nodded.

Gryphine seemed to be very satisfied with Brendel’s attitude. She could not help herself but comforted him, “Don’t worry, Mr. Brendel. Although entering the basement as a commoner might be difficult, Magadal is able to move freely around the cathedral so it won’t be that difficult. Valuable objects are not important to the saints. Your mission is just to meet her and bring the object back with you.”

Moreover, only you can move around freely and obtain Magadal’s trust.

Brendel thought for a while and it seemed to him that Princess Gryphine was right after all. He nodded, but he was only thinking about taking the opportunity to meet with Magadal. The Nun Princess should be done gathering information in the cathedral by now.

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