Amber Sword
Chapter 115 - 48 Scenes Infiltration_2

Chapter 115: 48 Scenes Infiltration_2

The secret passage of Yu Song Castle is about 1.5 kilometers long, with most parts being so narrow that only one person can pass through. In slightly wider sections, there are three venomous spiders the size of humans. Wizards often do such things, raising servant beasts to serve as guards. Barbara placed them here, evidently to please Duke Golan-Elsen. However, these creatures might scare ordinary people, but to Brand, they were just a total of 9 points of experience.

The other end of the passage leads to a row of wine racks in the cellar of Yu Song Castle. Since it’s meant to be an escape route, it wasn’t completely sealed. Brand found the mechanism on the wall that moved the wine rack, which was mounted on iron rails, to the side with a little searching.

When the two of them emerged from the passage, they both let out a long breath — no matter how good the ventilation is, the smell of dust accumulated over the years in a narrow passage is unbearable for most people. After walking for a long time, Char almost felt as if a thick layer of dust had settled in his lungs.

"It’s been slightly more than fifteen minutes, my Lord." Upon exiting the corridor, he immediately took out a silver pocket watch from his chest, took one glance, and then said.

"It’s okay."

"Huh?"

"I originally left time for the treasure vault of Duke Golan-Elsen, but it seems we have to give up on that now. However, the collections of the nobles in their villas are mostly just some artworks and jewels, nothing of real use."

"My Lord, you are so decisive; not everyone can remain unmoved in the face of treasure."

"No, you misunderstand, Char. I meant we just need to grab a couple of items along the way. I’ll let you know which ones are genuine later."

"..."

Char was surprised at his Lord’s subtle greed, but he didn’t know that this trait of Brand wasn’t because of his personality but rather an unconscious behavior from being a player.

They walked up the stairs while talking but then stopped simultaneously. Brand extinguished the candle and handed it to the servant behind him, then placed his hand on the handle of the door leading out of the cellar. Power Burst activated, and the handle shattered with a click.

Immediately he pushed the door open, and two guards looked over in shock, only to see Brand already drawing his longsword with the other hand. The sword flashed a beautiful silver arc, and before the guards could even complete their draw, their swords clattered to the ground, sheaths and all.

They were startled, and realizing that the visitor was hostile, attempted to flee. But there was no way Brand would let them go. Without hesitation, he chased after them and killed them one by one.

This was the first time Brand had killed someone.

When he killed the two men, almost nothing went through his mind; it wasn’t even a blank mind. He felt he was even more composed than usual because if they didn’t die, both he and Char would be in a situation where death was certain. This was a life-and-death battle, and he didn’t even think much about what would happen to Roman, Frey, or anyone else. The instinct for survival was enough to drive him to act.

But after killing them, Brand felt a great sense of suffocation. He tried to calm his breathing, standing motionless with his longsword gripped tightly in his hand, letting the blood drip from the blade onto the stone tiles, showing no reaction.

In that moment, many thoughts flooded his mind, making it seem almost like a vacuum. He was dazed for a moment — at first looking for an excuse, but soon just to comfort himself and find some peace of mind.

"My Lord?" Char noticed his abnormality.

Brand raised his hand to signal that it was fine, though he originally planned to drag the two bodies into the cellar to hide them, he had no intention of doing so now. It was already his limit to make himself not look at the bodies; it wasn’t that he was afraid of killing but that he couldn’t take the shock of it all immediately.

What slightly reassured him was that killing didn’t yield experience points. For some reason, he found comfort in this; he should have desperately needed the experience, but when he thought about if killing people would earn him experience points — perhaps he wouldn’t be able to accept it.

He contemplated and concluded that he was, after all, still a human who couldn’t accept the fact of profiting from the lives of his kind.

"Now we split up," Brand took a deep breath and said.

"At your command."

"I’ll make my way up to trouble the Count, and you go to sound the alarm." Brand counted to three hundred in his mind; by the time he counted to thirty, he had calmed down.

"Sound the alarm?"

"Didn’t I tell you? We need to attack from the front, the louder the better."

"And then we retreat through the secret passage?"

"No, we must fight our way out."

Char was shocked: "Why?"

"The guest room is on the top few floors of the castle. We only have time to escape from the tower top, but if the White Mane Legion has brought archers, then you and I need to pray for Lord Marsha’s blessing."

Char nodded and turned to leave. He wouldn’t need to ask which direction the alarm was; if he couldn’t handle such a trivial task as capturing a tongue, he wouldn’t be suited to be a servant. Knights and their servants are expected to possess basic combat skills.

But Brand called him back: "Wait, why such a hurry."

"What’s wrong, my Lord? Do you have other instructions?"

"Of course, from here take the stairs and turn left at the end, there’s a corridor where everything is genuine. Take whatever is easy to carry and valuable without hesitation."

"..."

Char stared at him for a long while before finally speaking: "I take back my earlier words, my Lord."

"Which ones?"

"The first one, not everyone can remain unmoved in the face of treasure. It should be that indeed, no one can remain unmoved in the face of treasure."

"No, you don’t understand. Look, Char, I have the responsibility to support Little Roman and her aunt. It’s the duty of a man to provide for his family — it’s not easy to make a living. I have my difficulties."

"You should save these words for Duke Golan-Elsen, my Lord. Don’t worry, I’ve learned appraisal in Bujia. I’ll help you pick the most valuable items."

Brand was taken aback, then laughed mischievously.

...

(PS: I had fried rice for dinner and instant noodles for supper. But why did I feel a bit nauseous after the noodles?)