By the time Brando and Maynild returned to the camp, it was already early in the morning. The sky was faintly lit, the stars were hidden in the west, and the sky was pale white. There was a line of gold on the lake, and the first rays of the morning sun were breaking through the surface of the lake.
The two had just walked out of the forest when they heard a joyful shout, "Senior Maynild, Brando!"
Brando raised his head when he heard the voice. Freya was sitting on a tall rock bathed in the morning light and saw them first. She hugged her knees with both hands and rubbed her red eyes when she saw them. She looked like she hadn't slept all night, but the worry on her face was finally relieved.
He smiled slightly. Although he still hadn't recovered from the series of events that had happened last night, seeing this young girl from the countryside of Bucce still gave him a warm and friendly feeling.
"It's your turn to keep watch again?"
Freya jumped down from the rock, her expression unnatural. She was too embarrassed to say that she was worried. She nodded and made a sound of acknowledgment. But this couldn't fool Maynild. The female Knight glanced at her.
The young girl blushed slightly and looked around at Brando. "Did it go well?" Everyone knew that Brando and Maynild had entered the forest to hunt the Crystal Stag. Although most people hadn't heard of the Crystal Stag, she was still slightly curious that he'd returned empty-handed.
In Freya's impression, there was nothing he couldn't do. In her heart, he was the strange reserve militia of Bucce, and the young noble who'd led everyone out of the encirclement. Later, he'd become the Lord of Tónigel and helped the princess defeat Duke Arreck and Duke Seifer.
The Count of Tónigel in front of her now was a person with real power and authority in Erouine. Even people like Makarov and Oberwei, who used to be high and mighty in her eyes, didn't dare say they were higher than him.
The princess trusted him, and there were even rumors that he was a new noble of the kingdom, a future powerful minister. However, Brando didn't put on airs in front of her, which made her feel that the distance between them had narrowed a little.
But she was still not satisfied. Didn't this guy know that he was already a count? In her mind, the count should be serious and unsmiling, so when she saw Brando's sloppy appearance, she couldn't help but feel a little angry. But then her heart softened, and she comforted him, "It's okay, I think there's still a chance. I, I looked at the map, it will take a few days to get through the Anserra Forest."
Brando couldn't help but laugh when he saw the future Valkyrie babbling incoherently in front of him. "What are you thinking about? Did I tell you that I didn't succeed?"
"Ah?" Freya was stunned.
Brando especially liked to see this future Valkyrie in a daze in front of him. She opened her mouth slightly and revealed a surprised expression. He continued to smile. "Do you know why I'm hunting the Crystal Stag?"
Freya shook her head. How would she know? The nobles loved to hunt, and in her eyes, this was a luxury. But just like the winter hunt in Grinoires, it really didn't have much to do with the ordinary citizens of Bucce.
Brando smiled slightly. He intended to surprise this dazed young lady, so he stretched out his hand with his palm facing up. A wisp of silver fire rose along the lines of his palm, slowly weaving upwards. The silver fire was like a thin thread, and they intertwined together to form a beautiful spiral.
Freya couldn't help but widen her eyes when she saw this. She was no longer that ignorant country girl. Before the War of the Black Roses, the most powerful beings in her mind were probably the cavalry scouts in the stories told by the veteran captain Mano. In those stories, the cavalry scouts were actually able to fight Madara's Pale Riders to a standstill. The exciting battles and experiences of circling around the enemy's formation were always able to make the listeners' hearts flutter with excitement.
But later on, she understood that the most elite soldiers in those armies were only at the peak of Dark Iron. Even the Lord's bodyguard Knight was only at the Silver level, about the same as her now. In just a year and a half, she was already one step ahead of the existence she yearned for the most in the past.
It was said that after this autumn, Her Highness the Princess would personally confer the title of Knight to this batch of students. Before this, Freya probably never dreamed that she would become a noble in her lifetime.
But none of this could compare to her surprise at this moment.
Because the silver fire burning in Brando's hand was none other than the fire seed of the Precept, the Line of Precept. In Wohnde's world, those who could activate their Elemental Powers were considered to have crossed the boundaries of the mortal world, and stood at the starting point of the path to the Sage and the Truth.
These people were all existences that left their names in history.
But Brando was only twenty-one years old.
"Brando, this is …" Freya frowned slightly. Her expression showed both joy for Brando and a trace of worry. She was worried that Brando seemed to have taken another step forward, but she was still pacing back and forth. She was worried that one day she would not be able to keep up with him and be left far behind.
Although Brando once said that he would stop and wait for her, how long would he wait? She remembered that he also seemed to have said that he would not stop and wait for her to move forward endlessly. Freya's heart was filled with mixed feelings for a moment.
Brando did not seem to notice the hesitation in the heart of the girl from Bucce. He just nodded at her encouragingly.
"You've really activated your Elemental Powers … But you … I remember those heroes in The History of Erouine, Duke Urano, the Thorned Flower Lord …" Freya stared at him blankly, as if an existence that surpassed the heroes in history had appeared in front of her. She could not accept it for a moment. "Even, even your grandfather Darius was not as young as you when he activated his Elemental Powers …"
"There's no one ahead, Freya –" Brando finished her sentence.
The young man's confident, even slightly arrogant words startled Freya slightly. In the girl's memory, the Brando she knew had never acted so arrogantly.
Not far away, Laurenna and her fiancé Filas stepped out of the camp and could not help but stop when they saw this scene. Both of their gazes fell on Brando.
Of all of them, only Maynild glanced at Brando indifferently.
Brando looked at Freya and did not answer, but the words in his heart seemed to have been hidden for a long time. The late King Erik had established Erouine, and in that era, he had to protect this kingdom. His enemies were the Cruz people, or the Wind Elves of Saint-Auol – "
All those gathered under that glorious flag had participated in that war, and everything that the ancient nobles had fought for was now at their feet.
But today, Erouine had suffered too much. He might have had a strange dream, like Maynild, of seeing the decaying kingdom sliding into the abyss, her people fighting desperately, but in the end, they gained nothing.
As if meeting his gaze, Maynild twisted her body uneasily, and she frowned her slender eyebrows.
But Brando's gaze had gone past her, as if through Lake Vallenden. He saw that in the far west, there was a dark, nascent empire slowly rising. This war would be an opportunity. Once the merciless Emperor eliminated the last stumbling block, the Emperor would not be able to do anything.
Then in the next step, his scepter would be pointed at Erouine. The great demonic wave was coming fiercely, and what the Crystal Stag Marlow had seen was only the tip of the iceberg. The darkness of the entire world was restless. After Evernight, the true chaos of war would descend upon this world.
At that time, what would Erouine do? That was content that had never been written down in history, but at least this time, he hoped that the sacrifices of those who fought to change their fate would be more valuable. If history forgot those nameless heroes, then he would change history.
He suddenly understood that this was his mission. After all, he had not come to this world to live a nameless life, or to be a spectator again. Some regrets, only experiencing them once was enough. He retracted his gaze, as if suddenly understanding Martha's intentions. Sacrifices were valuable, stemming from people's pursuits and ideals. They might fail, but in the end, they would influence and change this world.
This kind of influence had always been in his heart.
King Erik only wanted to change the arrogance of the nobles, but what he wanted to change was history.
Brando smiled slightly at Freya. "You will understand. Go and wake the others up, we are ready to go." He kept the last sentence in his heart — Her Excellency Valkyrie.
Freya looked at him suspiciously. She was about to turn and leave, but suddenly seemed to realize something. She turned around and glanced at Brando. "Brando … I, can I keep up with you?"
Brando glanced at the experience crystal he had left in the Ring of Portability and nodded at her.
"Those with faith will not fall behind."
Freya was slightly taken aback, but she quickly nodded her head firmly. She suddenly remembered her ideals, which were like the wildflowers blooming in the countryside of Bucce, ordinary but tenacious, and even the wildfires of summer could not burn them out. Those flowers bloomed in the mountains of Yusong, leaving a deep impression.
The girl's wish was equally simple. She wanted to protect everyone, so that those memories that stayed in peace and beauty would no longer be invaded by the flames of war.
Brando saw the girl from the countryside of Bucce turn and leave. He looked back and saw Laurenna and Firas standing to the side, the female Knight looking at him with great appreciation.
"Mister Brendel, a person with faith will never fall behind. Is what you said true?" Her eyes sparkled as she asked in a loud voice.
"If you insist, how can you back down?" Brando asked casually.
"But reality is not perfect."
"That's why some people are called heroes."
"You are quite a hero, Mr. Brando." Brando's words were so straightforward that the female Knight was a little surprised.
"If this is a beautiful definition, why don't you pursue it?"
"I see —" Laurenna frowned slightly.
"But I want to be the Demon King more —" Brando continued to answer.
The female Knight was slightly stunned and looked at him.
"Because sometimes you have to be the enemy of the whole world."
Laurenna took a deep breath and nodded at him with some admiration. "I hope you can persevere, Count." Then she seemed to whisper back to herself, "I hope I can too —"
…
The news of Brando's Elemental Activation finally spread like wildfire in the convoy. Before that, Brando's swordsmanship had been considered by many to be at the level of a Sword Saint, but it wasn't until now that he could be considered a genuine Sword Saint.
Since the last Darius went into seclusion, Erouine finally had a second Sword Saint in the last hundred years. A young Sword Saint. Brando's prestige in the convoy, especially among the guards, seemed to have reached its peak for a while.
Brendel had jokingly mentioned his title before, just like 'Garlock the Wanderer' and 'Nicholas the Blazing Flame'. A Sword Saint who had Elemental Activation was already qualified to be honored by the world.
But Maynild simply reminded him that, in fact, after the battle of Ampere Seale, he had a well-known name.
Wolf Herder —
Wolf Herder Brando.
On Grand Duke Arreck's thin face, two pairs of tired but sharp eyes in his deep-set eye sockets silently scanned the parchment map in his hand, but in his mind, he repeatedly evaluated this name.
A few months of information feedback had already allowed him to recognize the person behind the scenes who caused the entire Ampere Seale plan to fail. This bandit leader from Tónigel seemed to be a nobody before, but he made a name for himself in Fortress Riedon and then rose like a comet.
The other party's methods seemed uncouth and unbearable, like the tricks of a bandit, and were not in the eyes of the nobles at all. Even the northern nobles once joked that the new Lord of Tónigel was a rustic nouveau riche.
Many people secretly envied his luck.
But Arreck did not think so in his heart. How could the grandson of Sword Saint Darius be so simple? He had seen the Sword Saint in person before, and the impression he left at that time was still chilling to him.
Moreover, he had already noticed some details. The Count of Tónigel always seemed to be able to predict the enemy's moves.
A typical example was — —
This time, he followed behind them again.
Grand Duke Arreck frowned, and there was another argument in the distance. He raised his head, and the beautiful female Knight seemed to have noticed the displeasure of the once powerful figure in Erouine's upper-class noble circle, and quickly explained in a low voice: "The hunters seem to be unwilling to continue — —"
"They still think that there is a terrible curse in the Stained Frost Forest. What a bunch of fools." The female Knight added.
Arreck frowned and replied coldly: "Devard really disappoints me. Only one person is enough to lead the way."
Sylvia was slightly startled, but she immediately reacted. She lowered her head and obediently replied: "I understand, my lord."
The Silver Knight looked towards the forest and could not help but shake her head — — some people really don't know what's good for them.
… …
(PS: There are guests at home today, so I don't have much time to write. I only started at 10 o 'clock. By the way, there will be a lot of times like this before the new year, so I will try to guarantee 6K every day. As long as I have time, I will give you 10K. I will owe you 2K for today. So annoying.) (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to qidian.com to vote for me. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
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