Chapter 317: Act 84 – Freya’s Letter (Second Update, Please Look Forward to It)
At that moment, time seemed to freeze.
The young viscount was drenched in cold sweat, barely managing to squeeze out a question: “What… do you want to do?”
The Emerald Knight pointed to the long, bundled package behind him—its meaning was clear, it referred to the sword he was carrying.
“That sword is what you made me take out—” Test took a breath, breathing heavily, “What exactly do you want?”
By the time he finished that last sentence, the young viscount was almost shouting!
Test had never been so toyed with in his life; he felt utterly humiliated, like a young girl being played with. He thought it would be less painful to be killed by this monster than to play dumb with it.
But when he saw the cavalry captain nearby, turned to stone, Test instinctively shuddered.
The Emerald Knight remained expressionless—of course, its cold mask could not show any emotion—then it pointed again to the long package on Test’s back and pressed its hand against its chest.
The young viscount understood its intention; it wanted him to hand over the sword.
But what kind of joke was this?
If he handed over the sword, how would he explain himself to the other members and elders of the Everything Returns Society? He had only managed to gain the attention of the high-ups in the society because of this task, or they wouldn’t have sent a whole squad of elite cavalry to protect him.
Now, he was not only going to lose these cavalrymen but also this important item. If it came down to it, regardless of his status in the Everything Returns Society, he could face dire consequences.
Although he was a Saint, he was not the only one.
Test breathed heavily, his red eyes glaring fiercely at the Emerald Knight, trying to see some sign of weakness on its face; unfortunately, as previously mentioned, it was impossible to read any expression on the cold helmet.
The young viscount considered for a moment, struggling internally; he had no doubt that if he refused, he would immediately be turned into a stone statue as well.
Even though he didn’t understand why the Emerald Knight had spared him time and time again, he knew it could have killed him and taken the Lionheart Sword; yet it had not done so and instead offered him a choice.
Could it simply be for fun?
But that clearly wasn’t realistic.
As Test thought of this, he glanced at the knight again, hesitated several times, and finally made a difficult decision. The young man reached behind, unfastened the long bundle, and threw it to the knight.
“Why don’t you kill me?” he asked at the same time.
The Emerald Knight bent down to pick up the Lionheart Sword, seemingly unconcerned that Test might attack him—or perhaps it simply had no fear of such a thing at all. This attitude made the young viscount take a deep breath, but he suppressed the desire to strike while he had the chance.
The astounding power displayed by this monster left him utterly unwilling to resist. Of course, he wasn’t without attempts to resist, but the result had been a crushing defeat; he had tasted that feeling once on lakeside island.
Then the Emerald Knight looked up at Test.
“You are unwilling to submit to your fate yet are willing to bow to another?” it asked.
This was the first time Test had ever heard the Lake Knight speak. Its voice buzzed under the helmet, making it impossible to tell if it was male or female.
“Which side?” Test frowned, a hint of dissatisfaction flashing in his deep green gaze.
The young viscount laid it all on the line, realizing that he might as well die here—he even stopped considering the punishments from the Everything Returns Society—by handing over the sword, he simply wanted to understand why this monster continually sought him out.
“To be filled with rebellion against the world is understandable, but to willingly be used by others because of that is foolishness,” the Emerald Knight replied.
“You mean the Everything Returns Society?” Test asked. “I’m just using them.”
“Weakness,” the Emerald Knight said as it turned and walked toward the river, dropping that remark. Test stood there motionless, watching the peculiar knight step onto the stone bridge and toss the Lionheart Sword into the cold river water.
In that moment, he almost thought the knight had gone mad, but quickly he calmed down.
Whether the knight was mad or not had nothing to do with him.
However, the last words of the Lake Knight echoed in his mind—weakness? Test truly felt weak, but he suddenly chuckled bitterly, finding himself unable to stop thinking about how to deal with the punishments from the Everything Returns Society.
He raised his head again to see the instigator of his troubles.
But the Emerald Knight had long since vanished.
…
For Freya, a girl from the countryside of Buche, life in the Royal Knight Academy seemed to pass by faster than in other places. The withered leaves on the trees appeared to have turned golden red just yesterday, but in the blink of an eye, they were already bare.
This was a break between training sessions; the future Valkyrie was sitting alone on the stone steps, daydreaming.
The girl rested her chin on the sword hilt, her arms wrapped around the longsword, staring blankly at the distant dark green mountains outside the academy. When she noticed the stark silhouettes of the bare trees, she realized winter had arrived—it had been almost half a year since she had come here!
The girl pondered absentmindedly.
From initially struggling to adapt to life here to gradually getting used to it, the change in her mentality made her almost overlook everything around her. The lush leaves of summer faded to the brilliant reds of autumn, and winter leaves withered away; a whole year had passed just like that.
Yet her daily life had become monotonous like that of a monk; in her pursuit of strength, she had almost eliminated all other activities. Her days revolved around training—rest—training—rest, and this future Valkyrie was determined to reach her goal desperately—
She felt she couldn’t even determine whether it was for the people of Buche or simply because of the expectations that young man had for her. But every time she thought of Brendel’s gentle and concerned gaze, Freya’s heart raced uncontrollably, leaving her feeling breathless.
Sometimes she thought it was embarrassing for her to be like this, yet she couldn’t shake off his shadow.
“Brendel, Brendel…”
She unconsciously muttered his name, not noticing someone had come in front of her. Then the young Valkyrie suddenly noticed, looking up—she saw the black-haired lady knight standing seriously before her, pressing a sword against her side—her face instantly turned beet red.
Freya was somewhat at a loss and stood up, unsure of where to place her hands.
“What’s wrong?” Nemeses tilted her head as she looked at her.
“Nothing… nothing…” Freya lowered her head, answering in a daze. She felt that even she wouldn’t believe those words.
But this time the stern lady knight didn’t reprimand her like usual for not being alert.
She approached silently, reaching out to touch Freya’s forehead with her cold hand—this affectionate gesture startled Freya, almost making the future Valkyrie turn and flee—yet when she saw Nemeses’s dark, concerned eyes, she froze.
“Missing home?” Nemeses lowered her hand, her face impassive but her tone a bit low.
“No…” Freya shook her head but then nodded hesitantly. She realized it would be hard to explain what she had been doing if she didn’t just go along with Nemeses’s words.
“Freya, you really are a fool—” she silently scolded herself: “You can’t even tell a lie, while that guy can lie with a straight face!”
Nemeses sighed at seeing the young lady zoning out again in front of her, probably guessing what she was thinking. However, she didn’t ask more questions; instead, she reached under her cloak and pulled out a letter:
“His letter.”
“Brendel’s letter?” Freya was taken aback, and then she blurted it out. But she quickly realized something was wrong and instinctively covered her mouth—this had a hint of trying to cover up.
A fleeting smile crossed Nemeses’s expressionless face; it was the first time Freya had seen her smile: “So, his name is Brendel, huh? Lucky guy—”
“Lucky… what lucky…” Freya lowered her head, feeling her ears heat up, defending herself in a barely audible voice. Yet she hurriedly took the letter with a cautious demeanor.
At that moment, the two of them heard the rumbling sound of carriage wheels coming from outside, an abrupt noise echoing from the large road on the side of the academy. But at this time of year, very few people returned from outside. They were both attracted by the sound, unconsciously turning their heads.
They soon saw a white carriage, like a ghost cutting through the morning mist, slowly driving into the academy. Then it passed a short distance away from the two of them and entered deeper into the academy—the direction Freya knew was where the princess’s residence was, guarded by royal knights, and generally off-limits to commoners.
“What is that…” she quietly asked.
Nemeses noticed the shield emblem on the carriage, the violet color so striking; she looked for a moment before returning her gaze to the road: “A visitor from Lantonrand, yet another lucky guy.”
The lady knight’s tone had a somewhat unfriendly edge.
“What’s wrong?” Freya was taken aback.
“Nothing,” Nemeses shook her head, her long, beautiful black hair something Freya had always envied: “Just focus on your own matters, Freya. You’re making great progress, so don’t get discouraged—”
“Th… thank you.”
The lady knight paused for a moment, then seemed to recall something: “By the way, has that guy come looking for you again?”
Freya froze, then quickly realized Nemeses was referring to the second son of Count Bakeberg. After Nemeses had warned her, she had cut off contact with him, but she hadn’t expected him to rally a group of people to cause her trouble.
As a result, this incident somehow came to Nemeses’s attention; she personally intervened and taught those people a lesson, to the extent that the second son of Count Bakeberg was nearly expelled from the academy.
However, this issue ended up being dropped later. Although Freya was somewhat bewildered, she roughly understood that it was a compromise. But she felt very grateful; after all, she was merely a commoner.
But why bring up this matter again now?
She looked up at Nemeses in confusion.
(PS: I wonder how many updates there will be today, guys. Let’s play a guessing game.) (To be continued. To know what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support genuine reading!)
