Amber Sword

He first began to suspect it was thanks to that Demon Item he had obtained on the battlefield, but once Antitina took it out, that possibility was quickly ruled out. Although he still couldn’t figure out what it was for the time being, Brand could tell at a glance that the thing seemed to be Sealed, completely unable to produce any effect.

And Antitina herself also proved that she did not possess Self-healing. First of all, her blood was the normal Red of an ordinary person, which proved she had neither Gold nor silver bloodline. Secondly, the time it took for her wounds to heal was no different from that of a normal person.

Yet this situation only made Brand feel uneasy. He did know of some special abilities that could produce a death-and-resurrection effect, but none of those were reassuring abilities. Some even came at the price of sacrificing one’s lifespan.

However, Brand did not reveal this information to his Staff Lady. It could be considered a kind lie; he made up his mind to investigate it thoroughly himself.

"Getting what I deserve?" Antitina raised her head when she heard Brand’s wording.

"It means suffering the consequences of one’s own actions." Brand explained. The Staff Lady glared at him fiercely: "Lord, please stop inventing strange phrases all the time, people will laugh at you. You clearly know so much, yet you always like to use slang."

"Only Civilians talk like that."

"I didn’t invent this one." Brand couldn’t help but give a wry smile. It had already been more than a year since he’d crossed into this World as if waking from a dream, but some spoken habits were very hard to change. Especially idioms with a historical background—aside from a small portion that overlapped with the lore of Jiu Feng, most would probably be taken as bumpkin slang here.

But there was nothing to be done about that. In a short time a person could quickly adapt to an environment, but they couldn’t change deeply rooted habits. He had lived in this World for a year, spent seventeen years in the game, and lived a full thirty years in another world.

Meanwhile, Duke Xifah was dead, and a historically illustrious family had thus fallen into a state of disintegration. Without the restraint of this powerful force in the North, the nobles there had probably all become wildly ambitious. No wonder Her Highness the Princess was in such a hurry to come seek him out.

He hadn’t expected that such a famous figure in history would just die like that. And there was also Marquis Youxi, Count Vitokin, and even Marquis Balta and Master Li Wuze had died; Li Wuze fell under the sudden attack of another Demon King, yet saved everyone aboard the flagship Victory of the Royal First Fleet.

Enlock, one of the Three Heroes of Erune, had also died. Brand thought of that young man who always wore the same cheerful grin as Kagris, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. He had originally made up his mind to protect them—this Kingdom’s future.

"That bastard Beigening actually sent the Little Prince back," Brand replied through gritted teeth. "Does he think he can be forgiven just like that?"

"No, in fact Prince Haruz was not sent back by him." Antitina helped fasten the buttons on his sleeves, then stepped back and let out a small breath of relief. "All right, Lord."

"Thank you, Antitina." Brand asked, "What exactly happened?"

"I heard it was a Medusa that sent him back. I’m not very clear on the details either; perhaps you can ask Her Highness the Princess." Seeing Brand about to speak again, the Staff Lady hurriedly cut him off: "All right, don’t keep Her Highness the Princess waiting too long, Lord—you are now already an Earl of the Kingdom."

"What? An Earl? Then where is my fief?" Brand was slightly taken aback; this was completely beyond his expectations. Originally he hadn’t cared in the slightest, but suddenly hearing it made him blurt out the question.

"Count of Tonicel, Lord."

"That’s still no real change." Brand smirked.

And received a fierce glare in return.

...

Brand had just walked out of the Holy Temple—the reconstruction work on the Ande Fulei Great Temple had in fact only been half completed at best; when he passed through quite a few corridors he could still see collapsed walls and forests of scaffolding. These were all Char’s handiwork, of course, but Brand would never admit that—then he saw Her Highness the Princess waiting outside.

"Your Highness the Princess."

Princess Griffine turned back, and, seeing his attire, nodded in satisfaction. "How is the Earl’s health?"

"Still all right... Your Highness the Princess..." Brand’s words were cut off midway by Princess Griffine: "Mr. Brand, the northern nobles intend to support my younger brother’s ascent to the throne. The Flame Temple also intends to facilitate peace talks between us and the North. What do you think of this matter?"

Brand froze. Wasn’t that a good thing? But he immediately reacted: "They have conditions, don’t they?"

"No, they have no conditions, they only hope that we promise the Kingdom will maintain the current situation." Princess Griffine answered quietly. Brand fell silent. The Kingdom maintaining the current situation? Which ’current situation’? This half-dead state?

For both him and the Princess, that was unacceptable.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The nobles of the North still wanted to maintain the semi-independent state that had existed since the time of An Yin the Seventh; Brand only felt these bastards were daydreaming.

He put away his earlier joking mood and asked coolly, "If we refuse, are they going to raise troops in rebellion? Will the Flame Temple back them from behind?"

Her Highness the Princess shook her head. "I’m afraid not, but even so, it is still unacceptable. The North is facing the threat of war... Reid... the old Commander, he handed the White Lion Legion over to you. You know that, don’t you?"

"What!" Brand almost jumped. "He handed the White Lion Legion to me? Will the others agree to that?"

He suddenly fell silent. Marquis Balta was dead, Reid had also died on the battlefield; if this really was that Lion’s last wish, it was entirely possible the White Lion Legion would end up in his hands.

That was good news.

But not entirely—

...

(PS: Wuwuwu, first, my thanks to the Prince for the recommendation. But... um, I happen to have something tomorrow and need to go out, wuwuwu, may auspicious signs ward off misfortune and keep my home safe. If by any chance I don’t make it back, QAQ...)(To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation tickets and Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)