Amber Sword

He couldn’t help closing his eyes, and that shimmering river of time surfaced before him one scene after another:

The Long River Campaign.

Blood-soaked Golden Tings.

The eastward advance of the Flame Temple.

The offensive into the Alfalfa Field.

Then came the beginning of the long and brutal November War, and never had the Holy War been so drenched in blood as on those days. Brand suddenly realized: what was it that made this war so merciless. Those veterans who had endured over a decade of war were rapidly ground down in less than a year afterward...

All revolving around...

A series of tug-of-war battles along the extended belt of the Alkash Mountains.

The records in history say...

The Four Great Sanctuaries entered this region at the same time, followed by a protracted, sky-darkening meat grinder—a slaughter that lasted an entire year. It nearly drained the blood of every small duchy and kingdom vassal to the Four Great Sanctuaries, such as Erune.

The shadow cast by that war has lingered to this very day; Erune lost an entire generation, perhaps even two, of its youth.

Brand suddenly felt a chill of dread, for history was uncannily similar. In another war a hundred years later, the Knight Order Country Greythius, Fanzan, Elrant, the Wind Queen Temple, and Madara once again entered this region.

That too was a grim and terrible great battle.

He could still recall to this day that all-encompassing Undead Army, as if everything had fallen into the Dark.

Yet looking back now, Alkash Pass itself did not seem to possess such vital strategic value. Why, then, did several Great Temples fight great battles here again and again. Strictly speaking, Alkash Mountain was part of Fanzan’s traditional territory, yet even in later times the Cruz people, the Wind Elves, and Madara’s Undead Army all garrisoned forces there.

Brand’s heart thudded wildly; he realized he might have seized on the crux. He remembered clearly that after the November War ended, the Holy War was for all intents and purposes declared over. It was also at that time that his Grandfather went into seclusion. A keen sense unique to a player whispered to him that if there was anything wrong with this segment of the storyline, the problem had to lie within the November War.

That brutal war that lived in the memory of every veteran. Brand also recalled one detail: during that war, the Holy Temple had awarded the precious Candlelight Medal to many veterans who had distinguished themselves.

This was unprecedented.

He opened his eyes, a soul-seizing brilliance flickering within them.

"Are you all right, Mr. Brand?" Princess Griffine asked.

"Why are you only telling me this now?" Brand shook his head and asked.

"I’m sorry," Char sighed. "If I could avoid saying it, I would rather have kept this secret forever. To be able to quietly watch over the Lord, descendant of Marshal Darus, that was already the best wish I could hope for."

Brand gave him a look, as if trying to see right through the fellow. But Char was still the same Char as ever, wearing a Great Mage’s robes, that youthful man with an ever-confident smile on his face.

Char answered his gaze with a smile of his own.

"This sly fellow," Brand thought to himself. "Let me change the question: why did my Grandfather choose to spend his final years in seclusion in Brags. You know, I didn’t even know he was a Highland Knight; was my father also kept in the dark?"

"No, your father should have known something of the situation, Brand," Her Highness the Princess replied. "In truth, I don’t know much either, but at least I know that when Lord Darus left the army, your father was already a grown man; that very day he even arranged a betrothal, and according to the traditions of the Highland Knights—the other party was also a noble of Cardilego."

"That was my mother. But Grandfather never taught me anything about the customs of the nobles; before I reached a certain age, I never thought—nor did I know—that there was any connection between the Catedrago people and the Highland Knights." Brand answered.

"Ah, Lord Darus actually... In that case, did he teach you swordsmanship?" Princess Griffine was slightly surprised.

"Grandfather taught me some swordsmanship, but it was only the barest surface of Military Swordsmanship." Brand replied.

"Ah..." This time the Half-Elf Princess was truly somewhat astonished. She couldn’t help lifting her long lashes to look at Brand with curiosity. "Mr. Brand, your swordsmanship..."

"There is another story behind that," Brand replied. "The same goes for the knowledge I now possess. In another part of my life, I once apprenticed myself to a Wizard."

Brand felt that he wasn’t really lying. His swordsmanship did indeed have another origin: it was a player-modified version of Marshal Darus the Sword Saint’s improved Military Swordsmanship. And he had indeed once studied under a Wizard—but that had been in the game of his past.