Amber Sword

After completing this formal ceremony, Brand now had the actual status of mentor to Prince Haruz. In fact, as a player, Brand had heard of this ceremony’s existence, but he was not aware of the details. Generally speaking, a teacher observes a student over a certain period before formally performing this ceremony upon being satisfied. Thus, he certainly did not know that the Princess, in her haste, had made Haruz undergo this ceremony as a small scheme.

In Vorn, once the mentor-mentee relationship is established, it is not an easy task to dissolve it.

But fortunately, Brand actually didn’t care about this. If Princess Griffine knew that the knight before her only wanted to use her brother as an experiment, she would probably angrily stab him to death here in the carriage.

Unfortunately, both had their own little schemes and didn’t realize each other’s "plots" at the moment.

The carriage soon arrived at its destination—a manor courtyard located at the entrance of Passa Road District. Since the reconstruction work of the Ande Fulei Grand Temple was far from complete, the Wood Main Priest had been temporarily residing here for some time. Both Princess Griffine and Brand had heard that the place previously belonged to the Xifah Family’s estate in Ambeser, but neither of them were petty about it and didn’t mind.

The carriage stopped at the courtyard’s entrance, and it was obvious that Wood had long prepared for the Princess’s visit. Servants quickly opened the way for them, leading everyone into the courtyard. Upon alighting, Antitina hurriedly pulled Roman to walk at the forefront, while the Princess took a step ahead, leaving Brand and Prince Haruz to walk at the rear.

This was actually a tradition. The Princess understood that as a teacher, Brand surely had something to say to his new student. However, what she appreciated was that Brand’s staff lady was so clever and capable, reacting even a step faster than she did.

Such etiquette among the upper nobles was something ordinary people didn’t know much about. Even in half of the noble families, very few paid attention to it.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but glance at Antitina twice.

Meanwhile, Brand indeed had something to say to Haruz. But as he got off the carriage, he saw Prince Haruz walking alone at least two or three meters away from him as if he were some monster. However, the young Prince still understood basic etiquette and did not dare to overstep, walking parallel to him.

Brand amusingly looked at the Prince, who walked with his head down. Of course, he knew what the other was afraid of: "Prince Haruz."

Haruz was startled and looked up at him. "Wh-what... Teacher..."

"The Princess doesn’t know yet?" Brand asked.

Haruz’s face turned pale: "Teach-teacher... I..."

"Who taught you?" Brand asked. Of course, he was referring to this young Prince’s study of Black Magic. He hadn’t brought it up in front of the Princess at the time, partly to leave himself some leverage and partly not wanting to make a big issue of it.

A Crown Prince studying Black Magic was naturally seen as perfectly justified in Madara. But in Erune, under the rule of the Flame Temple, it was a major affair. The first thing on Brand’s mind was conspiracy, though he didn’t rule out other possibilities either.

First, he needed answers from Haruz.

But Haruz shook his head vigorously: "No-no one taught me..."

This obviously didn’t sound like the truth. However, Brand was puzzled to see the young Prince turning red in the face, not looking like he was lying. He paused slightly, thinking maybe things were as he suspected?

Curiously, he asked, "What exactly happened, Haruz? Now that I’m your teacher, you must answer my questions honestly. I promise I won’t tell your sister."

This statement evidently had an effect on Haruz. The boy looked up mildly at Brand, somewhat doubtful, but eventually mustered the courage to ask, "Really?"

"I keep my promises, even the Princess believes in me. Do you trust me?" Brand shamelessly replied. He couldn’t help but scratch his face, feeling a bit embarrassed by his own words. But since he was only coaxing a child, he pretended not to have heard it.

Haruz considered for a moment, then nodded very honestly: "Actually... I don’t even know why, Teacher."

"Huh?" Brand was stunned, as that hardly constituted an answer. But he caught onto something, quickly asking: "You don’t even know why? What’s this about?"

"It’s just... I don’t even know if that counts as magic..."

"Did you sneak into the Royal Library?" Brand immediately asked.

Haruz paused slightly and looked at him with some fear, then nodded. It was as Brand suspected, and he asked again, "Did you read the books inside?"

Another nod.

"Did you imitate what was in there?"

"Mm..." The response was faint.

"How many times?"

"Only once... Please don’t tell my sister, Count." Haruz hurriedly pleaded in a low voice. As far as he was concerned, Brand was almost like a monster, and he couldn’t fathom how the Count had figured all this out.

He had only inadvertently entered those Forbidden Lands once before leaving the Royal Capital, and only that once. And he thought no one knew about it.

He couldn’t help but look at Brand with fear.

Brand also looked at his newly acquired student; he was now certain that some of what was said on the forums was likely true.

...

(PS: Happy New Year, everyone...)(To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)