Chapter 669: Act 31 – Another Chance II
The young knight couldn’t help but widen his eyes, nearly doubting his own perception. He had seen many farmers and travelers from rural areas, including some bold merchants, but none had displayed such rude demeanor in the presence of a noble like him.
In fact, Romaine also dropped his mouth, staring at this guy in a daze. Our Merchant Miss was even slower to react than the others; she was still trying to comprehend how this person had appeared before her.
If it weren’t for her basic common sense, she might have thought the person had fallen from the sky.
After the absurd thought circulated in her head for a moment, she seriously asked, “Ah, who are you? Are you looking for Brendel?”
“Brendel?” Phillas finally reacted, but unfortunately, as a noble, he had only heard of the title Earl of Toniger and had no idea of who Brendel really was. He thought for a moment and figured that this rustic girl might be stunned by him, so he switched to a gentle smile and continued, “No, I am here for you, beautiful lady. My name is Phillas, the future heir of the Barano Family.”
Romaine thought for a moment: “Do you know me?”
“No,” Phillas said, feeling a bit embarrassed when he heard his fiancée chuckling behind him. Since leaving the empire, this had usually gone well for him, but today seemed to be hitting a snag: “…this should be our first meeting, beautiful lady.”
“Ah, I see,” the Merchant Miss seemed to finally register. “You want to buy my beer, right? You have a good eye! Romaine here has the best wheat ale in all of Toniger—no, in all of Erluin!” She had just realized that the tall and imposing knight in front of her might be a potential customer and began to introduce her product excitedly.
“No, stop,” although Phillas had finally learned the girl’s name, he couldn’t help but hurriedly say, “I am not here to buy your ale.”
“You don’t want to buy alcohol—?”
“Not buying.”
Romaine narrowed her eyes, finally understanding that the other party did not intend to haggle with her. She thought for a moment and decided to show her strict and ruthless side as a merchant; she didn’t utter another word and simply walked around him, leaving him behind.
Immediately, Phillas heard laughter erupt around him, not just from the locals but even from the Cruzian knights and Laurena behind him. Our young knight felt a bit embarrassed; instinctively, he wanted to grab the flag in Romaine’s hand:
“I say, wait a moment!”
But unfortunately, before he could reach the flagpole, a flash of silver shot through the crowd. Phillas, still a formal knight, quickly reacted in the nick of time, drawing the long sword at his waist. With a sharp clash, two gleaming long swords crossed in an instant.
The tremendous force caused Phillas to lean back slightly, and then he realized that the person opposing him was another outstanding lady knight. Freya, clad in shining silver lion armor, held aloft the Sword of Lionheart while coldly staring at the Cruzian on horseback. She stood motionless, with one hand firmly blocking Phillas’s attack.
A silver upper level of skill.
Phillas stared at the lady knight in front of him, his heart unable to help but tremble slightly. Just from their clash, he estimated that her strength was roughly equivalent to his own, but apparently, she was much younger than him; Freya was only just over twenty years old, while he knew he had been practicing swordsmanship for more than twenty years.
To think there was such a talent in this remote area, Phillas furrowed his brow, estimating her innate ability to be comparable to that of his fiancée. He certainly didn’t realize that Freya’s strength had skyrocketed after the battle of Ampere Seale, and she had probably been weaker than him before heading to the harbor city.
However, combined with earlier rumors, it was enough to make him frown. He was aware that the local lord was a renowned genius among the Erluin, but he hadn’t expected that the lord would also have such capable subordinates. Although Phillas was frivolous, he wasn’t a fool.
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
Phillas and Freya asked simultaneously.
“We are the Cruzian delegation,” a voice came from behind, commanding, “Phillas, disarm her.”
Phillas was taken aback and turned around, only to find the one giving the order was none other than Chancellor’s Daughter Delphine. He saw the woman coldly staring this way, mercilessly commanding, “Phillas, you represent the face of the Empire now. If she resists, kill her!”
“Miss Delphine?” Laurena certainly understood Delphine’s command. She was shocked, thinking Delphine would seek trouble with the lord, yet she never expected the latter to be so decisive, demanding blood right from the start.
Of course, whether or not to kill wasn’t something she needed to consider. The key was that if it was Phillas who acted, she knew her fiancé would find himself in deep trouble here.
But Delphine seemed to have made up her mind; she coldly glanced at the lady knight: “Laurena, you should understand that the Empire’s dignity cannot be profaned. Unprovoked threat against the Empire’s envoy is akin to declaring war.”
“But she didn’t do it on purpose; we can ask the local lord to apologize for this.” Laurena was flustered; she had never dreamed that Delphine would drop such a big hat down on them.
“No need!”
“No need!” Before Laurena could finish, both Delphine and Freya spoke simultaneously. Freya interposed with one hand to separate Romaine, coldly glaring at those people: “If it weren’t for you Cruz people, Beth wouldn’t have died. But you have never learned from others’ tragedies; Brendel will never apologize to people like you. Perhaps you think you are naturally superior, but one day you will understand the cost of choices between right and wrong—”
The future Valkyrie of Erluin reprimanded fiercely, and the Valkyrie emblem on her forehead suddenly shone brightly, stunning wings of light unfolded from her back, and brilliant blazing flames shot forth from her right hand, transforming the Sword of Lionheart into a blade engulfed in sacred flames.
“Ah!”
Laurena had intended to dissuade Delphine, but suddenly felt an immense surge of power from the lady knight in front of Phillas, instantly breaking through the barrier between the silver upper level and the silver peak, even approaching the realm of gold.
Another twenty-year-old Golden level existence.
Her expression changed, and she promptly warned, “Phillas, be careful!”
But it was still a moment too late. Freya, provoked into a fury by the Chancellor’s Daughter, swung her sword upwards with terrifying force, making it impossible for Phillas to resist as he was knocked off his horse. Then the Valkyrie stepped forward, her wings gently fanning out, as if leaping into flight straight towards Delphine.
“My God, a Seraph!” The Cruzian knights couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.
However, their shouts clearly did not attract the attention of the surrounding onlookers. The common people probably hadn’t anticipated that these two parties would suddenly engage in a brawl, immediately scattering in panic. Some fled toward the arena, while the more rational ones made a beeline toward the lord.
“Damn it, Phillas!”
Seeing her fiancé being knocked away, Laurena could no longer care about anything else. She drew her longsword and met Freya, who was coming head-on. The knights arriving from various places near Toniger to the competition immediately changed their expression.
If Freya was merely close to the realm of gold, the terrible aura emanating from the lady knight was definitely pressure from a genuine golden peak.
Delphine, seeing this scene behind all the Cruzian knights, couldn’t help but reveal a trace of cold laughter on her incomparable face. Phillas not recognizing Romaine and Freya didn’t mean she was oblivious to the Earl of Toniger; Freya, as expected, couldn’t hold herself back, but what chance did the other party have before the number one genius in Rustra City?
That answer was probably already clear in her heart.
Even in Cruz, only a few individuals knew this secret. The apparently gentle lady knight was, in fact, the recognized heir to the next generation of the Temple of Fire’s knight order.
The reason was actually quite simple.
That was because Laurena was the only one in Cruz in four hundred years capable of mastering the complete set of Flash Sword techniques.
Freya quickly realized this as well. Although she claimed she wanted to teach these Cruz people a lesson, it didn’t mean that this future Valkyrie of Erluin had lost all sense of reason. After knocking Phillas away, her primary target was actually Delphine, protected by the Cruz knights.
Freya had seen that strikingly beautiful woman behind the scenes sowing discord between the Erluin and Cruz people present; though she didn’t understand the other’s motive, subduing her was undoubtedly the most direct approach.
However, she had predicted part of that development but not all.
As she swung her sword, she observed that the earlier unremarkable lady knight on horseback suddenly flickered, and in the blink of an eye, a sharp sword appeared right in front of her.
Flash Sword!
Since Brendel also excelled in the same sword technique, Freya had certainly seen it, even experienced it herself. However, in her memory, Brendel’s Flash Sword was nowhere near as stunning as the one she saw now.
The sharp blade appeared right before her without warning, making it seem as if she had crashed into it herself, rather than the other party thrusting at her.
Freya was taken aback, quickly looking up to avoid the strike, but it was still a moment too late as the blade sliced a line of blood on her forehead.
The Valkyrie gritted her teeth, the sting on her forehead nearly causing her to black out, but fortunately, it wasn’t a fatal wound. She desperately flapped her wings of light to spin in mid-air, but before she could breathe a sigh of relief, blood gushed from her arm, shoulder, and abdomen all at once.
Freya let out a scream, unable to believe how she had been wounded. It felt like Laurena’s sword had appeared from countless attack directions simultaneously.
So this was the true Flash Sword.
(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit qidian.com to cast your recommendation and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
