Amber Sword
Chapter 99 - 41 Acts of Treachery_2

Chapter 99: 41 Acts of Treachery_2

Even his thought process incorporated some of Brand’s cleverness.

This feeling was great.

He took out the black ebony Stone Golem Statue, which now had a small crack.

He turned around and said, "You all must also make preparations. Frey, turn your ring around; the Flame Agate in the middle is too conspicuous. Little Roman, keep your short sword close to your body; those lazy guards won’t search too carefully."

"Should I turn my ring around too?"

"No, no one would bother with that broken ring of yours."

"Brand, those people are city guards! Why do you seem so... distrustful of them?" Frey couldn’t help but ask.

"It’s not a matter of seeming distrustful; I’ve never trusted them. You’ll understand when the time comes. For now, just do as I say."

Frey had never been in the city but felt somewhat that Brand was making a fuss over nothing. Still, Brand was the authority, and she had to trust him.

As Brand spoke, he took out various items from his belongings. Mainly, he found some small things from the remains of that nobleman that he hadn’t had time to identify. He found that the pipe was nothing but ordinary junk and tossed it away. As for the piece of dark grey stone, even he didn’t recognize it—understandably so, given the myriad types of minerals. It was normal for Brand to not recognize one of them.

The glass bead, however, caught his interest. Brand discovered that it was a container used for a Soul Crystal after its energy was consumed. Simply put, it was a storage item. The spell inside should be the Ten Feet Silence Technique—a very useful spell for bypassing some monster nests during outdoor adventures.

However, Brand felt awkward because, as a warrior, he didn’t have the ability to activate storage items. Hesitating for a moment, he decided to keep these things and the cards close to him to avoid having them swiped by those greedy city guards.

He looked up at the sky; it was still early.

The three of them descended from the east side of Fendek Mountain and began to see scattered buildings along the way. Mostly farmhouses and isolated farmworker’s homes immersed in the night. Farmlands spread on both banks of the Yu Song River, stretching in patches. There were also a few inns in the wilderness—such inns were only frequented by adventurers passing by and those engaged in shady businesses.

Of course, aside from players, most adventurers themselves weren’t very honest. Moreover, even to those players, most NPCs regarded them as akin to tomb robbers.

They walked about an hour in the wilderness when Ridenburg’s towering city walls abruptly appeared in the night. On the drawbridge below the tower, fire baskets lit up, their flames extending several tens of meters away. Brand signaled Frey and Roman to slow down, then they gradually emerged from the darkness along the edge of the firelight.

Guards on the tower were chatting among themselves, and a snoring sound could faintly be heard. Brand was exceptionally sensitive to these sounds; he frowned, guessing there were about seven to eight people on the tower.

As soon as the three appeared, the chatting stopped.

"Who are you?" The caution persisted for a moment, then a soldier with a pointed helmet poked his head out from the tower and shouted down. Roman squinted up, noticing the black pine mark on the pointed helmet.

Brand had mentioned that the black pine mark indicated local troops. The White Mane Legion soldiers would have a wolf feather insignia. Indeed, Brand knew everything, she thought.

"A man, two women. We came from the forest, sir. We saw some strange things. My wife and I are terrified and wish to enter the city for safety!" Brand raised his hand and shouted up.

Frey, behind him, flushed with both embarrassment and anger. What one man, two women, how crude! When she heard Brand call them his wives, she couldn’t resist quietly poking Brand’s back with her sword scabbard. This nasty guy must be doing it on purpose.

She thought.

Roman didn’t mind; she probably thought being Brand’s wife wasn’t bad; after all, Brand would protect her, wouldn’t he?

Brand felt conflicted; he had to say so to relax the guards’ vigilance. As for the rest, he, Frey, and Roman could each have a different story, but they couldn’t very well pose as siblings; the guards weren’t fools.

"Do you have weapons?" the voice from the tower asked again.

Frey, hearing this, nervously gripped her sword. But Brand, unperturbed, raised his voice and answered, "Walking through the forest without weapons? That’s a death wish. Besides, I was a militia member, my lord."

The tower quieted down, only the sound of slow breathing remained.

After a while, a basket was lowered, and the guard shouted, "Put your weapons in the basket, and we’ll pull you up one by one."

Brand nodded to Frey to follow orders. His Azure Light Piercing might be exquisite, but as long as he didn’t activate the spell, no one would realize it was a Magic Sword. After handing over their weapons, the guards sent down a hoist to bring them up one by one. Brand, not wanting Frey and Roman to suffer, went up first. Next, Frey let Roman go up, and she went up last.

But as soon as she sat in the basket and was pulled up, she saw Brand and Roman surrounded by guards with their longswords drawn, and two guards were pulling out their own longswords, approaching her.

"What’s going on?" Frey was stunned, asking in shock. By instinct, she looked towards Brand, but to her surprise, he averted his gaze and didn’t respond to her question.

Now the ponytailed girl began to panic. She had always relied on Brand as the backbone of the team, and now it seemed the final decision rested in her hands. What should she do? Should she let these people take them hostage? Were they following standard procedures?

Brand, answer me, what are you thinking? Damn it!

"Arrest them all; these are Madara’s scouts!" At that moment, Frey suddenly heard someone commanding from the dark. She was startled and instinctively retorted, "You know about Madara’s army invasion?"

Brand stared, pained. Although Frey had matured, she was still an inexperienced young girl, easily flustered by a few words. She might think there was nothing wrong with her question, but Ridenburg’s defense force’s greatest fear was receiving news from the Buqi direction.

These people needed to suppress the news until the future settlement could shift responsibility. Brand knew very well they relied on Ridenburg’s high walls and thick city, believing they could rest easy, not realizing the war was unfolding in unpredictable ways.

"Wait, we are not scouts!" Frey anxiously explained, "We are Buqi’s militia; we carry Buqi Guard Team’s tokens!"

But the voice paid her no heed and commanded, "Capture her quickly, what are you hesitating for?" The voice’s owner emerged from the darkness, clad in a set of black chain armor, with feathers on the pointed helmet marking him as the team’s leader.

This lecherous middle-aged man ogled Frey, thinking he lucked out. Of course, he believed Frey’s words, with her militia badge clearly on her arm.

He hadn’t expected such fine women to come from a backwater place like Buqi.

He stroked his chin.

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