Chapter 544: Act 292 – The True Change Begins
Brendel kept the second and third points to himself, ultimately not speaking them aloud. Some words are simply not suitable to say in front of the royal faction; he had known from the beginning that the path of the royal faction was destined to differ from that of Princess Grifian. As he turned to leave, the kingdom behind him had already turned into a crumbling palace. He seemed to see a sea of flames, with the debauched nobles of Erluin having already destroyed the foundations of this ancient nation—even the most excellent group of people in the kingdom, such as Makarolo, Livwz, and Overwell, were limited by tradition, or rather, fearful of change.
History is remarkably similar; as long as there are compromises, victory can be gained. At this moment, the royal faction had their best chance for a comeback. However, for that princess, it was not the case. Brendel had already seen in her eyes what she desired—unfortunately, that was something the old nobles of Erluin were destined to never give her.
However, for Brendel, only destruction could bring about rebirth at this moment. What they could not give, he would endow.
Sometimes, a single word is enough, while some people are simply not worth saving. He and Freya arrived outside Lokesh Palace. “Sue!” Freya exclaimed in delight, surprised to see a girl with dark skin and hair styled into several braids, smiling outside the palace, dressed in a merchant’s daughter’s attire. “Miss Freya, you’ve grown a bit taller,” Sue responded gently.
“Sue, deliver this letter to the Naga clan.” Brendel took out a letter and handed it to Sue. She nodded, silently accepting the letter; she was a taciturn and reliable girl, and Brendel had always been exceptionally at ease with the daughter of the copper dragon Retao.
“Naga?” Freya turned back, surprised, and asked, “Brendel, I heard the Naga clan are pirates roaming the Sea of Shimmering Light. I had no idea you even knew them?”
Brendel couldn’t help but smile, teasing her, “I know many more people than you think.”
“Hmph, snobbish noble.” Freya said through gritted teeth.
Sue watched the two of them and couldn’t help but shake her head—she kept the letter safe, a symbol of the broken negotiation. As the daughter of a tavern keeper, she didn’t care about the future of this kingdom, but her indifference did not mean Freya could remain apathetic. The girl suddenly looked up, “Brendel, what are you thinking now?”
“I have done all I can. Next, I plan to return to Toniger and wait for Her Highness the Princess to join hands with Anlek to spark a war—”
Before he finished, he saw Freya looking at him with suspicion. Brendel couldn’t help but sweat a bit, wondering if he was really that untrustworthy. “Be honest with me, Brendel.” Freya closed her eyes, answering irritably. This guy loved to lie just like Romaine, and she didn’t believe he would just let things go like this.
He had the ability to achieve everything he wanted; the key was that his determination was always stronger than others. Freya was well aware of this, and in her eyes, Brendel had already become synonymous with omnipotence. Moreover, subconsciously, she also did not wish for the Princess to ally with Anlek.
Coming from a common background and having received higher education, she inherently distrusts the decayed old nobles of Erluin—
“Kill.” Brendel replied calmly.
Freya was taken aback and looked up at Brendel.
Brendel said no more; the royal faction had given him an answer, and now he would have to give everyone else one. He looked down on the need to explain too much to people like Makarolo and Livwz, because only swords could explain everything. The moment he realized that the royal faction was obstinately stubborn, he had already made up his mind to execute his second plan.
A plan already decided.
Intervene with military force in Ampere Seale’s peace talks, and personally spark the war—
Then the kingdom would fall into a great conflict, flames would consume everything, and the decayed would turn to ashes, leaving only those who could truly withstand the test. Brendel had once personally participated in this war; it had a name—The Erluin Civil War.
At that moment, melodious bells rang out over the harbor, and Brendel turned around. The Ampere Seale conference had already begun. Historically, this conference lasted seven days, with nobles clashing and squabbling incessantly, unwilling to give an inch, only to conclude the talks with a completely different outcome—war.
The nobles were indeed that laughable.
“Brendel!”
Brendel heard a voice calling him; he initially thought it was Otales—he had just discussed the situation in Erluin with this lady wind elf, who resembled a mentor to him. However, when he turned around, he saw Dierphir, the Count of Yanfang, in formal attire, with Lady Knight Nia standing behind her, apparently prepared to attend the meeting.
But now she stopped, glaring at Brendel with some anger. “The meeting is about to start, what are you doing?”
Brendel was taken aback. Since he had decided to instigate war, participating in this meeting actually had no significance. In fact, today he had infiltrated the venue just to meet Grifian, and he was not interested in this kind of noble squabbling conference. Moreover, hadn’t he agreed with this lady that they would separate once they entered the venue? What did she mean by this?
Brendel couldn’t help but look at Dierphir in confusion.
The countess gritted her teeth, “You are my vassal; if you don’t attend the meeting with me, do you want me to become a laughingstock?”
Freya stared at Brendel with suspicion; her expression seemed to say, ‘Did you not say you were forcing this lady to bring you into the venue?’ Of course, Brendel noticed her ‘pure and simple’ gaze, but he also felt a great headache wondering what was causing this lady to act up. But this was not the time for explanations; since Dierphir had said so, his indifference would only arouse suspicions about his identity, and he still needed to stay in Ampere Seale for a few days without intending to expose himself too early.
With that in mind, Brendel had to shake his head and walk over. He looked at Countess Dierphir with annoyance, asking, “Lady, what craze are you in? Aren’t you afraid of being associated with me, the ‘heretic’?”
Dierphir rolled her eyes at him, a faint blush spreading across her pale face. “You’ve caused me so much trouble, and I’m asking you to accompany me to the meeting; are you going to refuse? To be serious, you owe me a favor, and you have no right to refuse my request, right?”
“Are you perhaps feeling nervous?” Seeing Dierphir’s shy demeanor, Brendel suddenly asked curiously.
“What of it?” The countess huffed softly, “You’re a Swordmaster; having you by my side makes me feel more at ease.”
Brendel sighed, suddenly feeling that participating in this meeting might not be a bad idea after all. Anlek and the Temple’s attitude toward the royal faction had subtly changed from history, and he had a vague premonition that something beyond his original control might happen at this conference. This feeling calmed his mind.
The Ampere Seale conference is one of the famous events in the history of Erluin. Since it occurred early in the game, only a few players witnessed this assembly of nobles. Brendel was not one of the witnesses, nor had he ever thought he would have the chance to personally participate in this historical event—
The meeting was held in a circular hall, where a large round table was filled with elites from the entire kingdom. There was no illumination in the hall, only a beam of natural sunlight streaming down from the vaulted ceiling, soft rays illuminating the floating dust, in sharp contrast to the surrounding darkness, making it hard to clearly see the faces of the attendees.
Brendel and Dierphir sat in the lower seat on the south side, while Lady Knight Nia stood as a guard and did not take a seat. It took some time for him to adjust to the light, allowing him to slightly make out the faces of the noble crowd amidst the darkness. At the northernmost point, directly opposite him, were the royal faction and the princess. Brendel noticed that Princess Grifian was also paying attention to him, stirring his heart slightly.
On the other side was the cold-faced Duke Anlek and his entourage. This military old fox was well deep in his schemes; Brendel couldn’t discern any useful expression from his chiseled face. Below Duke Anlek sat Marquis Baltar, who seemed somewhat anxious and nervous.
Looking further down, he saw a stern middle-aged man, obviously the kind of person who is principled and unbendable. Brendel recognized this man—the Earl Yanilasu, commander of the royal fleet and captain of the flagship Frontal. He should be one of the few loyalists to the royalty and not part of the royal faction. He must have been detained by others, which is why he had missed the morning session.
Brendel took note of the noble earl and continued looking down. Then he spotted the bearded Earl Victorkin, with the pallor of the Gray Mountain Earl sitting next to him. These two were also the death knell of the Siphai family; Brendel glanced at them and immediately passed by the two. Then he saw a group of knights clad in green warrior attire and couldn’t help but mutter “what the hell.”
These knights were none other than the Highland Knights.
What really made Brendel exclaim internally was when he looked over at these knights, the visibly leading middle-aged man turned back, almost as if he had noticed him, smiling slightly. Brendel suddenly thought, what the hell? While he could disguise himself as a Highland Knight and deceive many, it was unfortunate he couldn’t fool these locals. His mind raced, speculating what that smile from the man could mean.
In reality, Highland Knights rarely left the province of Karasu. Duke Karasu himself also didn’t meddle in the affairs of the kingdom. His casual decision to send a group of knights to act as envoys instead of attending personally could be indicative of that; however, Brendel couldn’t help but scold the duke—of all people, why send Highland Knights over? Isn’t the province of Karasu’s diplomacy usually handled by the mages’ faction?
Feeling somewhat guilty, he shifted his gaze to another side, where the delegation from Duke Vieiro was seated. The current temperament of Duke Vieiro mirrored that of Duke Karasu. He had enmity with Count Rendener and was currently embroiled in a heated border conflict due to Brendel, showing no intention of acknowledging either the Temple or the nominal authority of the kingdom—the delegation hadn’t even sent decent representatives, which was laughable.
Of course, for the same reason, Count Rendener was also absent. So, it could be said that because of Brendel, two significant figures expected to attend were missing, making this so-called Ampere Seale conference a bit of a debacle, making Brendel feel a bit proud of himself.
While he was still unsure about the situation on the side of the Temple, he figured he had changed history, hadn’t he?
Duke Golan-Elsen did make an appearance as scheduled, but Brendel knew this guy was merely there to observe. If he hadn’t suddenly recalled that he still had a stolen item from him to deal with, Brendel might have forgotten all about this guy.
Duke Siphai was also present in person, followed by Prince Liuk. The firstborn son of the king seemed to have not shown up. Brendel narrowed his eyes. Theoretically, with the Siphai family attending, the Coqava family should have sent the current firstborn son as a representative. Since the firstborn was absent, it essentially meant leaving that position open for Grifian.
Brendel didn’t understand why the Siphai family would make such a mistake; could it be due to distrust in the Temple’s credibility after that morning’s incident?
Weren’t you all the ones who plotted that assassination? What are you pretending to be pure for? Brendel couldn’t help but think contemptuously.
And at that moment, the last three attendees finally arrived.
Brendel immediately recognized the governor of Ampere Seale, but he didn’t pay much attention to him; this guy was clearly there to mediate. What he was more concerned about was the representative from the Temple. He looked up, and the first to step out was the bishop who would preside over the meeting—this person was inconsequential.
However, the representative emerging from behind this bishop was someone who made Brendel’s eyes widen.
This time, it was right!
Brendel’s heart skipped a beat; the representative emerging from the darkness—was none other than Merros, the chief priest of the Ampere Seale region and a representative of the radical faction of the Temple. Brendel immediately recognized this man; he had sunken eyes, a hooked nose, and a cold expression. Merros was supposed to take Wood’s position as chief priest in two months.
How is this possible? Brendel’s mind struggled to comprehend; how could Merros arrive in Ampere Seale so early? But he suddenly realized—no wonder, no wonder the Temple’s attitude had undergone a 180-degree change. Since Merros had taken over the main temple, it meant that the Crusian people were prepared to meddle in the affairs of Erluin.
Wood must be facing trouble now. Brendel immediately thought of this, but now was not the time to consider the chief priest’s troubles. The current issue was why Merros had shown up here in advance? Historically, the meeting for the Ampere Seale conference should have been presided over by Chief Priest Wood.
Brendel suddenly felt that the history he was familiar with had cracked open a wide gap, and something within it had subtly changed forever.
…(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it; your support is my greatest motivation.)
