Chapter 555: Act 303 – Whirlpool VII
Navigating through the crisscrossing underground passages, stocked with grain and water supplies that resembled wartime bunkers, Jill soon found the spot where the three enigmatic figures had buried their ‘treasure’; in the narrow tunnels, a massive sack lay silently on the ground.
Jill and Bud’s eyes gleamed with excitement, “Jill, should we open it?”
”Of course!”
Both of them hastily untied the ropes, but what first emerged from the sack was not the glittering treasure they expected, but a maiden with a deathly pale face and tightly shut eyes. Both of them screamed in unison, jumping back as if they had seen a ghost.
”Ah! Jill, this isn’t treasure at all!”
”I know, my God, this must be a murder! By Martha, how could it happen right under her nose? By heaven, I swear I did nothing!”
”Bud, help me up, my legs have gone weak from fright.”
”Jill, me too. Not only my legs, but even my back is gone weak!” Bud said with a woeful expression; it was the first time in his life that he had seen a dead person.
”Nonsense, Bud, how could your back go weak from fear?”
”It’s true, Jill, it’s soft and even the wall behind me feels soft…”
”Nonsense, walls don’t soften.”
”It’s true, but admittedly, it’s just an illusion!” Bud retorted angrily seeing that his companion wouldn’t believe him.
But his words were interrupted by a gentle voice from behind, “I believe, that’s not an illusion—it’s because you’re leaning against my foot.”
”Ah!” Bud let out a shriek and turned around to see a young man wearing a black nobleman’s suit, with a longsword at his waist, standing behind him, looking both amiable and close.
”Ah! This-this has nothing to do with us, we… we just happened to stumble upon it. Please don’t send us to the harbor authorities…” Both Bud and Jill jumped up at once in this ghostly place, almost petrified to see a nobleman, much like a rat encountering a cat, “Don’t wrongfully accuse us…” Jill stammered, casting a look at the stranger who had appeared so soundlessly — despite his boldness, in Ampere Seale, the punishment for murder was always severe: deprivation of Ampere Seale citizenship, confiscation of all properties, and hanging.
Of course, at least for Jill and Bud, the most severe part of the sentence was the confiscation of all properties.
It was a form of punishment that felt equivalent to falling straight into hell.
The young man who had appeared out of the blue was none other than Brendel. With half of his soul being from the ‘future’, he couldn’t have not known about this hidden passage beneath the Temple; it had been designed and built by Rogneigh along with the Andevole Grand Temple. This passage was originally set up as an underground defensive work for the Temple, but later the Temple used it to do many things that wouldn’t bear daylight.
The entry and the key should ideally be under the Grand Prelate’s custody, making it off-limits to the common masses. However, there was a task in the Amber Sword related to this passage, giving it an ‘extra entrance’.
This secret entrance, linked to a sewer drain, was one of the ‘backdoors’ left behind by Rogneigh during the Ampere Seale defense battle. Players from Erluin often used this secret entrance to repeatedly capture the Andevole Grand Temple controlled by Madara, and thus this secret passage was once also referred to as ‘the lifeline of the Temple’.
However, in this era, the descendants of the Rogneigh family who offered this task were probably still struggling through life in Graywind Port, waiting for destiny to call them, and aside from Brendel, no one else should know about this secret passage.
Therefore, when he saw Jill and Bud, he was somewhat startled.
He had thought about Princess Margadale possibly having keys to this passage, considering her status alongside Lord Wood, it was completely plausible for the Princess to have made a copy. Although that was inconsistent with her dignity, based on her confidence and determination displayed before him, Brendel could guess a little about that.
But he definitely didn’t expect to encounter a pair of great fairies, a race he was familiar with – they were practically a breeding ground for thieves, with many famous ‘Nightingales’ among players also originating from this race.
Their appearance here made Brendel immediately aware of what they were here for.
Truly bold and reckless indeed.
At that moment, Freya stepped out from behind Brendel. The first thing she noticed was the two noisy youngsters, prompting her to pause, “Brendel, how come there are two goblins?”
”No, we’re not goblins! We are fairies!” Jill immediately exploded into anger, he could endure the gallows, but absolutely could not tolerate being mistaken as goblins. Though in Vounte, both goblins and fairies indeed belonged to the same great family of fae creatures, fairies were absolutely disdainful of the dirty goblins. They regarded goblins as cave dwellers, or even the ancestors of them.
”Fairies? Aren’t fairies tiny?” The future Valkyrie even made a gesture with her hand, meaning, aren’t fairies just one or two inches tall little creatures with beautiful wings?
”Those are forest fairies, we are great fairies!” Jill replied indignantly, though his tone couldn’t help but carry some dejection; compared to the fairies of the forest, in matters of lineage, the great fairies were undoubtedly several levels lower.
”Alright, then—” Freya nodded, but suddenly noticed the sack behind the two great fairies, her face turning pale at once, “Princess Margadale!”
Brendel’s expression changed too. Without giving Jill time to explain, he pushed both of them aside and pressed his fingers against Princess Anteupuro’s neck – icy cold, yet still soft, but no pulse could be felt. Brendel had learned battlefield first aid from Freya, and he knew clearly what this meant. But even so, he wouldn’t give up easily. When he called up a virtual luminescent screen and took a look, his heart immediately froze.
The glowing screen displayed a line of icy words:
Name: Margadale Almanrodour de Anteupuro
Race: ???
Gender: Female
Status: Dead
The sword wound was at the chest, almost piercing through. For a human, such an injury could be fatal even to one who had stepped one foot into the Realm of Elements. Let alone Princess Margadale, who was just an ordinary person…
Brendel’s hand trembled lightly, and his expression turned somber. Princess Margadale had few intersections with him, whether in this world or in the game, but she had left a deep impression on him in those few brief meetings – gentle, courteous, yet free of common noble misses’ flaws, neither cold nor aloof, and even somewhat warm and hospitable. The most commendable quality of all was that, in the manipulative noble circles, she hadn’t acquired a single bad habit. Even during the darkest days of Erluin and the Temple, she had remained the purest of souls.
Firm in her beliefs for the sake of friendship, such people were indeed rare, even in the more developed modern spiritual society. This princess from Anteupuro was a devotee, but she believed in the true truth, the brightest facet of the human heart.
Freya silently squatted next to Brendel. This wasn’t the first person to fall in this political struggle, but the one she was most familiar with — and the close and gentle young woman, this princess’s confidante, now lay cold and lifeless.
This jolt made her can’t help but bite her lips tightly.
Brendel sighed, smoothing out the princess’s disheveled hair due to a struggle, trying his best to make her appear serene.
”Brendel…” the future Valkyrie’s voice trembled slightly. She wasn’t unfamiliar with death, but just couldn’t understand why people had to fight and kill each other to such an extent.
In the eyes of the Temple, wasn’t the nun princess always the most devout believer?
Brendel shook his head, feeling a bit bewildered too. This conclusion was beyond his expectations; even if Margadale had been discovered, at most, she would be placed under house arrest. How could anyone dare to take such an extreme action? Their reactions were too intense.
And for a while, his thoughts were a tangled mess.
He was not known to be a rational man to the point of coldness — this quality exactly contrasted sharply with most of the nobles in this land, who admired such icy rationality, considering it a remarkable virtue necessary for an outstanding feudal lord. But Brendel didn’t fit in with this quality.
After quite some time, he finally came to his senses. He turned cold eyes towards Bud and Jill, “Just look at what you two have done, you’ve murdered a foreign princess on Erluin’s land. Do you know what grave mistake you’ve made, enough to spark a war—”
”I must apprehend and deliver you both to mitigate the incoming fury of the neighboring country…” Brendel tried his best to make his voice cold and impersonal, though his heart felt oppressively heavy, as if he were suffocating.
Jill and Bud, stared down by Brendel, turned bluish pale, though they didn’t know exactly what this young noble meant, it was undoubtedly terrifying, mentioning things like war and appeasement of anger, frightening them until they started trembling.
The uniform Freya wore was of the Eruin army, though they didn’t understand the difference between the royal guards and the port authority troops, in their eyes, Brendel was the dreadful god of death that would arrest them.
Freya naturally knew that Princess Margadale couldn’t possibly be killed by these two little fellows, but they being here might have known something. She understood that Brendel was cleverly tricking them into talking, though seeing Jill and Bud tremble like sieves made her heart ache, but a glance at the dead princess prompted her to stay strong.
Jill and Bud were speechless in fright, until Brendel added, “Of course, these punitive measures will also include the confiscation of your entire property — including those you’ve buried in the forest outside the city.”
”No, how do you know!” Jill was stunned for a moment, for every time the port grand court confiscated all their belongings, technically only a small part of it was taken. The tradition of the great fairies was to bury their treasures. Their race generally chose an unknown, fixed place to bury their properties, usually one for the whole clan, and only the great fairies themselves knew where these ‘tribal’ treasures were buried.
But Brendel was an exception.
”No, no, it’s none of our business, you can’t do this…” Jill and Bud hurriedly panicked, their previous state of being petrified quickly turning into real unease.
Especially considering their properties were still in grave danger.
”Not your business?” Brendel raised his tone and asked coldly, “Then what are you doing here? Tell me you weren’t stealing something?”
”No, we were stealing.” Bud immediately blurted out his crimes, prompting Jill to try and cover his mouth in a panic.
”Very good.” Brendel said coldly, “According to the law of Ampere Seale, stealing results in a confiscation of half your entire properties and a year in jail, you should both be aware of this, right?”
”Alright… ” Bud immediately regretted saying that, though it wasn’t all of their properties, even half would deal them a severe blow — especially since this time it was truly ‘half’ of their entire properties.
”However, there is an opportunity for redemption.” Brendel shifted his tone, “You’re currently implicated in a murder case, and if you can provide some useful leads, I may take that into account and lighten your sentences.”
When Brendel said this, he appeared like a proper judge, but the two great fairies did not consider what qualifications a judge must have, nor did they question whether being judged here was according to regulations or not. In short, they believed a noble certainly had the authority to command their death or life.
Both of them nodded fervently.
”Very good, tell me how you discovered her?” Brendel asked.
”Her? No no, sir, we just discovered a sack, we had no idea this…this princess was inside.” Jill answered hastily.
”A sack?”
”Yes,” Jill immediately recounted everything he had seen before in full detail, fearing any omission might cause this ‘Your Honor’ to change his initial plan, after all, if he could alleviate their sentences, he could certainly worsen them, shouldn’t he?
For a moment, Jill was rather proud of his acumen. His emerald-green eyes turned rapidly, and in no time, even overlooked details returned to his mind.
”Three people? Can you imitate their accents?”
”Brendel?” Freya paused slightly, she found this request unnecessary. To be honest, the tones and ways of speaking between nobles were actually quite similar, distinguishing who it was based on their conversation alone was almost impossible — especially when you had no idea who they might be.
But Brendel just shook his head, signaling her not to rush. His frown showed a clarity of thought that had never been present before. Princess Margadale’s fate truly enraged him, and this time, those behind the scenes were bound to face his wrath.
Miming voices was one of the essential skills for night thieves, and certainly, Jill excelled at it. As soon as he mimicked the first person’s voice and inflection, Brendel immediately understood, “Merros.” He silently murmured within.
”Next one.”
”Julian.”
”Next one.”
”This person seems unknown, though his tone sounds like a soldier. The harbor guard wouldn’t be involved with the Temple, and Merros and Julian wouldn’t trust them either. Probably from one of the main armies, maybe one of Earl Victorkin’s men?” Brendel’s brow furrowed, and Freya’s earlier concerns were actually non-issues to him. An ordinary person might not be able to tell, but not him.
The ones daring to lay a hand on Margadale wouldn’t be just random soldiers; they must be those of influence throughout all of Erluin, people who were intimately familiar with the historical records of Brendel. Their voices to his ears bore distinct characteristics.
Moreover, an act as big as killing Princess Margadale would absolutely be impossible for even the Temple to cover up. Hence, the fewer people in the know, the better. The ones who committed the act would personally handle the aftermath, and entrust the job to no one else.
As soon as he listened to Jill’s description, it confirmed his suspicion — indeed, it was as he had thought.
Brendel smirked faintly, and his eyes showed a sense of clarity. Freya looked at him and couldn’t help but linger, “Brendel, you’ve figured it out?”
She was amazed; though Brendel had shown abilities before that let her believe there was nothing he couldn’t do, this still seemed too incredible. Is there really someone born all-knowing and omniscient in this world?
This thought only crossed the future Valkyrie’s mind for an instant, but then she saw the ashen face of Princess Margadale, and she felt a pang of sorrow, and gradually understood the source of Brendel’s anger.
”Brendel…” she softly sighed, feeling a wave of sorrow wash over her.
But Brendel patted her hand and quietly said, “Don’t worry, Princess Margadale’s matter can still be reversed. But no matter what, this time I must ensure those who manipulate conspiracies in the dark learn a life lesson they’ll never forget.”
The last few words he almost growled through clenched teeth.
”Ah!” Freya froze, couldn’t believe when she looked up at her companion: the princess.. she was… she was…
Brendel seriously nodded his head, this wasn’t for comfort, but due to something he had just remembered.
…
