Chapter 59: Act 51 – Wealth
“Do you dare to kill me?” The middle-aged man asked, struggling to suppress his fear.
“What’s there to be afraid of?”
“I am Count Dun, a high-ranking official next to Her Majesty. Do you wish to make enemies with all of Erluin?” The middle-aged man glared at Brendel like a venomous snake, his cold eyes fixed on him. “Not just you; think carefully—your companions will bear the same charge.”
Brendel paused for a moment, falling silent.
Count Dun thought he had swayed his opponent and continued, “Of course, this isn’t without room for negotiation. I can spare you and your companions, but for the sake of my reputation, you must leave behind that elven sword.” He said this half-seriously, though a deep resentment flickered in his eyes.
Brendel let out a derisive laugh as he looked at Dun, as if he were looking at a fool. “What do you think I was just thinking, Lord Count?”
The middle-aged man was slightly taken aback.
“I was thinking how some beings are truly dumb and ignorant, not understanding why they’re about to die.” Brendel shook his head. “To kill a king’s minister? And to escape from prison? In fact, no one would care about these little details because history records this day as follows—”
“In the year of Blossoms and Summer Leaves, on the morning of June 2, the armies of Madara captured Ridenburg. Count Dun, Lord Jinguo, and Sir Lukesons, leader of the White-maned Legion Swordsmen, unfortunately perished in the flames of war, sacrificing for the nation.”
“As for me, I’m just a passerby.”
Count Dun’s eyes widened, staring at Brendel as if he had seen a ghost.
“Do you think I’m lying? I’m not in the mood for jokes. Since you refuse to cooperate, then let’s use your head.” After saying this, Brendel swung his sword, decapitating him. He then sat down heavily and let out a long breath. After a series of battles, Brendel felt a bit weak, and considering that these fights were of no benefit to him, it was truly uncharacteristic.
However, his gaze shifted towards Count Dun’s headless corpse, and he froze. He stared at the ring on the middle finger, motionless.
It was a ring with an ‘O’-shaped serpent design on the surface. Brendel was startled at first, then cursed. Damn it, this guy was a member of the Everything Returns Society! Instinctively, he leapt to grab the Shining Thorn on the low table, but it was too late; the ring twisted slightly, and a cold voice echoed in the room.
“Well done, kid. Although I don’t know who you are, you’re not going to live long—”
This sharp voice abruptly appeared and then vanished. If Brendel didn’t know what kind of existence this organization was, he might have believed he was hallucinating.
But Brendel was well aware that this organization was akin to the ‘Shepherd,’ and even more mysterious. They had been involved in the downfall of Erluin and the northern Saint Ausoor, with no one understanding their true goals. Yet most high-level missions seemed to be connected to this organization—
This massive organization was a mystery in the game, and of course, it was the same here. However, Brendel knew that they were not benevolent and that senior members within the organization connected through a ring called the Ouroboros Ring; once one fell, others would immediately know and select a new member to take that person’s place.
Of course, the next step would be unrelenting revenge.
“Damned, I have tangled with these guys again. Lady Martha, are you playing me?” Brendel gripped the elven sword tightly and cursed under his breath. He had faced misfortune in the game because of this organization, as he had taken out one of their high-level members.
I never expected history to be so astonishingly similar.
Furthermore, it seemed even ahead of schedule—
“Lord, are you inside?” Charles rushed over and found that the battle was already over, but he thought to himself that a lord could easily finish off a battle alone. It must have been a courtesy for him to join in.
However, as soon as Brendel heard this voice, his anger flared. If he hadn’t been vigilant, this guy would have shown up to find just a corpse. Although he still didn’t know whether the cardholder would revert as soon as they died.
He casually picked up a stone and threw it, startling the wizard apprentice into dodging aside.
“Whoa! Lord, let me explain—”
“No need to explain, it won’t happen again.” After Brendel calmed down, he realized he still had an advantage; tonight, the armies of Madara would turn Ridenburg into a wasteland, and after the war ended, it would be difficult for them to ascertain who killed Count Dun—though the Everything Returns Society was powerful, they were not omnipotent.
Thinking this reassured him a bit; as long as they couldn’t find him, unrelenting revenge would be moot.
Brendel fully relaxed and turned to ask, “How many mana potions do we have left?”
“Not a single one, but I feel completely drained right now.” The young man shyly smiled, embarrassed to admit he was reluctant to use the precious ‘Wizard’s Gold.’
Brendel shot him a glance and said, “Let’s go to the rooftop. Drink one on the way. Mana potions don’t take immediate effect; in any case, I want to see you fully revived before the next battle.”
“What do you mean by fully revived?”
“To put it simply, a wizard without mana is no different from a dead person. When you restore your mana fully, that’s when you’re considered fully revived.”
“Although this sounds a bit harsh, it does seem to be true.” Charles nodded.
“Of course, am I just rambling with you?” Brendel thought, even though I’m not a wizard, I can at least still educate you to level 40 since you’re just an apprentice. However, he was curious as to why this guy and Babasha, that old hag, seemed to value mana potions so much; although they were indeed somewhat precious, it shouldn’t be to this extent.
“Your words are pearls of wisdom, Lord.” The young wizard attendant said, completely convinced.
Brendel then picked up his sword and walked over to Count Dun’s corpse. He brought the leaf-shaped elven sword near the body—the sword’s spine emitted a faint glow, as if reflecting the bloodstains on the clothes.
He frowned, recalling a scene from earlier, and then nodded.
“What are you doing, Lord?”
“I’m saving myself.”
“Saving yourself?”
“Stop asking useless questions and come with me. By the way, tell me what you saw.” Brendel knew he couldn’t allow this guy to become too smug; otherwise, he might make a mistake next time. However, he didn’t realize that his every word and action was increasingly reminiscent of his days as a leader in the game—
As they walked, Charles reported to Brendel about what he had seen earlier. When he heard about the nobles’ mercenaries gathering outside the castle, Brendel felt both worried and relieved. On one hand, escaping from such a crowd would undoubtedly be extremely difficult. On the other hand, the pressure on Romaine and Freya would be lessened significantly.
To be honest, even though he encouraged them so much, he was still very concerned about the two girls.
However, halfway through, he suddenly remembered something: “By the way, Charles, what about the task I assigned you?”
“What task?”
“A Highland knight commissioned his apprentice attendant to gather some living expenses for survival.”
As soon as Charles heard this, he became excited. “Lord, we have made great gains.”
“With your wide experience, I’m sure you’ve heard the name Ramona Darklight. She is the little princess of Saint Ausoor, born in the year of frog croaks, but her most famous identity isn’t that. It’s that she served as a royal court painter in Cruz for a time during her tour for study—her works from that period were once highly praised in Vaunte, known as the Voice of the Soul. She was also the pioneer of the Mesorra art style and a master of her generation, but I didn’t expect that this Duke Golan-Elsen would be a crazy enthusiast of hers, as many of his collections contain treasures.”
“No, I haven’t heard of that name. I’m only concerned about how much it’s worth.” Brendel shook his head. Who in the game would care about these things? They typically looted silver and gold vessels, reflecting just how uncultured they were.
“Rude, my lord, truly rude!” Charles shook his head disdainfully. “But such a painting should be worth several million Tor in the black market.”
“Barely acceptable.”
Seeing that his lord had no common interests with him, Charles momentarily lost his enthusiasm. However, he still mustered his spirits and casually pulled out a booklet from his bag. “Lord, I also happened to obtain one of these.”
“What is it?”
“This is a collection booklet for magical cards, mostly used for divination tarot cards and the like. But there’s more to it,” the young wizard attendant opened the booklet and pulled out a card. “Take a look at this, my lord.”
When Brendel saw the card, he vaguely recalled something, but only after he took it did he confirm that it was indeed a Fate Card.
It was a green wind system card, with the number X in the upper left corner. The face depicted a glowing equilateral triangle, with three segments of incantations on its sides—
Ta’m represents the target segment of the spell, Stau represents the mana that guides the spell, and Ee is the eye of the god of mana.
And the cost on the card’s face was three green wind crystals.
Brendel flipped the card over, scanning the back instinctively:
Energy Loss
(High Tower X)
Wind Element 3
[Spell – Instant]
Target a target spell and make it select a new target.
“Your magic, under my command—Pinnacle Guardian, Audu.”
Charles, watching Brendel’s expression, timely interjected: “This is a rare White Spell Card, my lord. It seems our luck is quite good.”
“White Spell Card?” Brendel inquired.
“It’s a spell card without requirements.”
“But doesn’t it have a cost?”
“No, that’s not the case, my lord. Most spells and summons in Fate Cards, apart from the basic land cards, require you to be in a certain state to use them. Just like the knight deck, which locks in the knight/warrior heroic path, that’s why you can use it, my lord—”
“And White Spell Cards have no requirements?”
“Precisely, my lord.”
Brendel frowned, suddenly recalling an encounter he had in Jirande’s tomb. He wondered if there was any connection, after all, during his previous life in the game, he had never heard of such Fate Cards. In fact, he had long harbored this doubt; it was just today he had the opportunity to think about it in detail again.
……
(PS. Surprise, this is the second update, and there will be a third update tonight.
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