Chapter 27 – Knowing when to call it quits

Once Brendel heard Freya’s words, he immediately calmed down. He had cleared three secret quests and knew even more of such secret quests that were of equivalent level.

[There is absolutely no need for me to take on such a risk. When I fought against Ebdon, I literally used everything I had to defeat him. Fighting against anything that is above level seventy is completely suicidal. Furthermore, the first player who found this place did so three months later. Madara’s undead forces will retreat in approximately one or two months later, and they most likely won’t search this area because of the protective barrier. If I truly want to aim for this secret quest, I can try doing so later on, especially when my level is higher.]

He took the ring and kept it stashed away and patted the Freya’s shoulder: “Let’s go back.”

“Brendel?”

“There are plenty of chances to take such risks, but we only have a single life each,” Brendel smiled mockingly at himself: “You are completely right. There are problems with my attitude just now.”

[The First War of the Black Rose ends at the end of July, Aouine’s internal strife shows itself during September, and finally there’s a political shift in November. I have only five months to raise my levels as much as possible, but I’m obviously going too fast for considering what I did just now.]

Brendel wanted to gain enough strength to at least protect the people around him, even if he was unable to change the history was about to take place. He knew that the world would descend into utter chaos, and things like justice and logic would be destroyed by the wars ahead. In order to survive in the chaotic world ahead, he had to do ridiculous tasks in order to become stronger.

Romaine and Freya might not be able to understand, and even Ciel who followed him might not be able to understand either. Sometimes Brendel felt the feeling of frustration was even stronger in him because he knew he was powerless to stop the events that came along.

He sheathed his sword and walked towards the exit, and indicated to Freya to follow him.

When the two left the area, two person slowly walked out from the dark gaps between the rocks.

The taller person looked like she was female. She dressed in a strange robe that was white in color, with her sleeves, shoulders and chest area decorated with blue sigils. The upper dress fit tightly to her waist, but the sleeves and pants were uniquely wide. She had long silver hair and her eyes seemed like the deepest lake that was dark green in color. There were crimson patterns on her face, but she did not have any expressions.

“Rauze, are you not going to stop them from leaving?” Her voice was completely neutral and boring.

“Phoral, if you keep showing off your aggressive nature by showing off your claws and teeth, it won’t be fun anymore.” The reply that came back seemed to be full of excitement.

The shorter girl appeared like she was approximately fifteen years old. Her long golden hair was tied into twin ponytails, and she wore a traditional leather attire like many other adventurers. On her back was a heavy iron box that was taller than a human, with a constellation design that linked five different stars together.

Phoral thought for a while.

“Then why did you attack them?”

“Tsk. You’re really boring, I’m just testing them.”

“I see. I was wondering if the Principality of Gold had something wrong when your attack was less than two percent effective—”

“I really don’t want to marry a person as boring as you…”

“Rauze, we’re from the dragon race.”

“‘Person’ is just an analogy, bleah, I don’t wanna talk about this anymore. That human male actually took away your ring. Doesn’t he know what this means?” (TL: Dun dun dunnnnn, it’s a trap?)

She giggled as she spoke. Phoral looked at her without answering. (TL: Sorry, I couldn’t resist that pun. Don’t ask me about their identities, I really have no idea who they are.)

“Tsk. You’re really a boring fellow. But I really want to see his expressions when he sees the little present I gave him. I heard that humans are really greedy creatures.”

“Didn’t you came here to find the legend of the Golden Apple Tree? Why did you give away that item to them?”

“Hahhh…. The legend about the Golden Apple Tree isn’t as interesting as these small creatures fighting for their lives, ya know? I decided to give this adventure to them because of that reason. Also, I find that human male kinda familiar, he might be related to the King of Knights or something.”

Phoral stared at her: “Do you know the King of Knights?”

She immediately coughed: “That’s just an expression, expression!”

“What exactly are you scheming?”

“Ha ha ha… Just a simple test…”

Rauze started giggling again. Phoral’s brows furrowed.

When Leto saw Brendel and Freya returning to the camp, the mercenaries had already settled the refugees and started cooking a meal. The fire that was started in the foggy valley seemed to add some vitality into the empty land.

The mercenaries and militia were completely exhausted after the series of battles in the night. When Brendel rode back, he discovered that most of them were sleeping. However, some of the refugees volunteered to be cooks and roused the people who defended up when the meal was cooked, personally handing them the hot food..

Brendel appreciated the scene before him.

[The future can be changed. The people I rescued today can rescue even more people in the future, and bit by bit we can write a new history. Even though I’m still weak right now, I’m definitely becoming stronger.]

Leto approached and greeted him, asking him in a quiet voice if he wanted to set off immediately. Brendel looked around him and found Ciel and Sue sleeping deeply on a wooden box. He then took another look at the refugees and mercenaries, discovering that the entire camp was mostly quiet.

He thought for a while and shook his head. His plan was already half completed and there was no need to push the people here too hard. They could still pull ahead of the Madara’s ahead even if they slept for a while due to the time dilation in this area.

The exit in the north valley was very close to the River of Sharp rocks, and reaching there meant that victory was nearly at hand.

“Have you slept, Mister Leto?” Brendel asked.

“Don’t worry, my lord. I’m a mercenary. We’re very much capable of taking care of ourselves in a situation like this.” Leto patted his chest and laughed.

Brendel nodded.

“Then Freya, go ahead and sleep for a while.” He turned around and looked at the girl who had not slept for several days. Even though this place restored the body’s physical strength, it was unable to restore mental fatigue.

She shook her head immediately. “Don’t worry, I can still go on.”

“This is an order.”

“I, I…..”

She glared at him.

[Did I say I’m going to obey your orders?! I’m the militia captain right!] She growled in her head, but every time she thought of the youth’s elegance in leading everyone to safety, his words felt like they were naturally right, and in the end she could only lower her head and nod.

“I… I got it.”

Brendel obviously did not know the mental anguish going on in her head, but merely watched her leave with his eyes on her to make sure she went to rest. Finally, he turned his head around and asked Leto: “Ah, I want to ask where’s Romaine now.”

“I just saw Miss Romaine riding with the cavalry.” Leto looked at the squadron in front as he spoke. His expression appeared like he had just witnessed something unbelievable.

“Riding with the cavalry?” Brendel did not notice Leto’s expressions, but merely repeat his words in a troubled manner.

[This crazy lass went around the place by tying herself to the horse again? Looks like she has forgotten some of the punishments that I administered a while ago…]

But before he decided to grind his fists into her head again, he heard a voice calling out to him. “Brendel, hey, you’re back?”

Anyone could tell it was the lass with her distinctive voice.

When he turned around, he saw that she was riding proudly on the horse in front of him.

“W-when did you learn how to ride?” Brendel was really surprised when he took a closer look at her. He was able to learn it instantly with the help of the game’s AI system, but Romaine obviously did not have something like that.

“Because I’m one hundred percent merchant material!” Romaine stopped her horse in front of him and answered haughtily.

“What does this have anything to do with a merchant?”

“Eh? It has nothing to do with it?” Romaine’s eyes went wild with surprise. “But don’t all merchants know how to ride a horse?”

“Ah, Miss Romaine, I have to say this, but the majority of the merchants don’t know how to ride a horse.” Leto aided Brendel in his straight retort.

Romaine’s dainty eyebrows nearly bunched up together: “I-is that so? Well, there’s no problem at all since I’m one of the better merchants, right Brendel?”

“Yeah, sure.” Brendel’s reply was half-hearted. He thought that it was heaven’s way of compensating for a natural scatterbrain. He eyed her with her exasperation, dismounted and said: “Okay, little Romaine, since you’re so free, accompany me to walk around the camp.”

“Sure.” She looked quite excited.

“Do you need me to go along, my lord?” Leto asked patiently.

Brendel nearly coughed up blood.

[Nice going, mister. Do you really need to try so hard to be a third wheel?]

But Leto had asked out of good intentions and Brendel could only agree in a gloomy nod.

Suddenly Brendel felt a strange shift in the bag on his waist and he froze momentarily. He opened it to check and his expression immediately changed. He blinked and thought that he had seen something wrongly, so he closed the bag, then opened it again.

He still thought he was hallucinating.

Why would he have this object in his bag?

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