TL: Yup, sorry for the late schedule.

Next planned TAS update: Next weekend. The next arc won’t start for quite a while, so I’ll be clearing on my stuff.

Amber Sword

It’s kind of done and not finished at the same time. Technically it’s supposed to be more of a horizontal splash title screen for TAS, so when I crop it later on, it’s just slightly above the neck and title. That kind of saves me from drawing the ring and background. I think it’s kind of interesting to think about placing the light directions for this illustration though.

At some point I was thinking, well the shirt’s design isn’t that great, and the posture isn’t that interesting. Technically I did plan to add some form of emblem on the side of the shirt, but I still think it’s still going to be somewhat boring because Brendel isn’t doing anything in particular.

Things that he could be doing are holding a sword or a card etc. Hmm. Well, I’ll keep in mind to do dynamic stuff in the future so that I can save time on doing a splash screen and a proper illustration.

I’ll be practicing some anatomy stuff in the next few days and then draw some fanart for Nier:Automata or Persona 5.

During this month, I’ll also look into getting a website and check out some plugins so that the readers can have more features. You guys will finally get the features you want to see (well, at least the previous/next button and standard linkage, no promises on reading mode though).

The ones who really participated in the negotiations were Count Barre, Fleetwood and the newly arrived Elven commander of the Unicorn Knights.

Buga and Makarov went over to the bushes with Brendel’s directions, brought out a bloody Eke out from there with reluctant thanks, and lowered their glowering attitudes against him. The Silver Elves had clearly displayed their intentions to protect Brendel because he protected the graves of their old kings.

Brendel sat beside the Acolyte of Earth and watched the discussion. Even though he did not participate in the negotiation, he knew that Count Barre’s core topic would now be about the Silver Elves instead of him. The Silver Elves had disappeared and gave up on this particular forest a long time ago. This land was now regarded to be part of the kingdom, and even the closest allies of the past may not easily enter this land anymore.

Aouine had the upper hand on the territory.

Brendel could see the Silver Elf commander was adamant in his attitude, almost refusing Count Barre and Fleetwood’s every suggestion. He wondered what sort of agreement would the two increasingly annoyed men enter into.

“Are you able to guess why the Silver Elves have returned?” He suddenly asked.

“How should I know what these strange Elves are thinking about. They don’t socialize with others.” Rauze’s voice was nonchalant at the start, before she suddenly grumbled. “And stop disturbing from doing my important stuff!”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m writing a script about the knight Ser Brendel. It’s really hard for me to get good inspirations. Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m a bard—” Rauze’s voice turned to one of pride.

[A bard..]

Brendel frowned from that revelation. It seemed like many of the dragons’ professions were bards. He recalled a famous quest in the game: A dragon made a huge underground dungeon and captured a few strong monsters and put them inside, becoming the BOSS with his monster underlings. When the unsuspecting adventurers or gamers challenged him, he would record the results and turned them into stories. If they won, then the dragon awarded them part of his treasures. Some gamers investigated the whole affair and proved that the dragon actually made ten times more money than what the given treasure was worth.

The quest was meant for level 45 players and was disguised as a normal chain event, but gained notoriety when this secret was revealed. Many players were quite impressed with it and was a hot topic for quite a while.

Although it was clear that some of the dragons had bad hobbies, they were still much better than the ones who actually just directly robbed others.

“Ahh, stop bothering and annoying me.” Her attitude quickly changed. “Never mind, I’m going some place else to write it—“

[Tsk.] He clicked his tongue sarcastically when he heard nothing more from her.

He suddenly heard a cracking sound behind him, and whipped his head around, thinking that it was Rauze but it was Nalaethar instead. The latter had taken off his helmet and looked solemnly at Brendel, then at the creature beside him; his eyes had a puzzled streak in them.

Brendel looked blankly at him, then gave a smile and said: “Hey, Nalaethar—“

The handsome Elf looked back at him, slightly startled at Brendel’s strange tone.

“Could you wear your helmet?”

“Why?” His monotone reply came.

“You’re so good looking that I feel great pressure looking at you.” The youth sighed.

Nalaethar smiled for the first time. He thought about the request seriously before wearing back the helmet, leaving only a pair of eyes that looked at the youth. He paused for a while before he spoke again.

“I’m leaving, Brendel.”

Brendel looked back with puzzled eyes. It was obvious that the Elf was going to leave when the mission was over. He wanted to say thankful words but suddenly realized that there was an empty feeling in his heart. Even though they did not exchange any wasted words along the way, he had trusted in this ally completely and he was now leaving.

He wondered where Nalaethar was going to go after this.

[Is he going back to the altar or take his final slumber? The Altar’s magic is growing weaker by the day and although I said I’ll bring back information of the outside world, is it really possible to do so? Maybe this is really like a quest, Nalaethar and I will only meet this one time and once I leave, the Altar will be nothing more than an abandoned building.]

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that possibility was very high. His heart fell when he realized that fact. After a long time, he could only find the greedy words inside of him.

“Are you going already? But you haven’t fulfilled your promise to teach me that skill. Are you trying to break it?”

“Breaking promises. That’s something you humans are fond of. Of course I will fulfill it.” He took out a scroll and handed it to Brendel as he spoke. “I have written the usage of the skill on it, my friend.”

That two words struck Brendel like a bolt of lightning and he looked stupidly back at him. Nalaethar squeezed the scroll into his hand and hugged him once, before releasing him with a smile: “I thank you for bringing us a battle. We had hoped to have one for a long time. The blood in me has once again been set aflame. You are exceptional. Your skills in battle impressed me and the others, but there comes a time where we have to go our separate ways. Now, you owe me a promise—“

Nalaethar closed his eyes:

“Remember to tell me the events of the future. Be it ten years, or a hundred years from now. I will wait for you to fulfill it, my friend.”

“I will. Yes.” Brendel wiped his eyes with his hand. “The wind is a little big.”

Nalaethar nodded with understanding.

“There is one other thing. We rushed over to your side because of the Acolyte of Earth. We do not know what has become of your mercenaries, you should ask the Nightsong Tiger for more details.”

His body was gradually disappearing, his helmet dissolving away to show his smile one last time. All the heroic Elven spirits then turned into white light and shot out into the sky, disappearing into a certain direction in the southern forest.

The other humans looked puzzledly at that display, while Brendel caught the Elven commander of the Eversong army nodding to him with respect from afar.

The youth felt slightly better at Nalaethar’s parting words, before he set off to the Nightsong Tiger’s location.

Count Barre went through the situation before him with suppressed anger. He could not allow his forces to fight against the Silver Elves: the Eversong army was renowned in the continent for their skill, and persisted in the lore for more than seven centuries. The only wise decision he could make was to retreat.

In the end, they negotiated a neutral standpoint, they each retreated three hundred meters away and set up camp, and the atmosphere in the forest finally lost some of its bloodlust.

The Elven knights nodded at Brendel with respect, and their commander walked over and gave him a silver fern leaf. It looked something like a bookmark, but Brendel knew that it was a sign of the Silver Elves’ greatest gratitude.

[Nice. If there’s some political bullshit in Aouine, I can apply for political asylum.] He joked to himself.

The silver leaf allowed him to redeem a boon from the Silver Elves, and anyone who brought it before them could seek help no matter how much time had passed He did knew that someone in the game world managed to borrow over a hundred heavy infantry from the Silver Elves and the loan period was a hundred years, although he did not know what favors could be sought exactly,

The Silver Elves’ heavy infantry was just one or two ranks below the Eversong army, but they were definitely regarded as the top tier army to have. Brendel wanted to try and ask for that favor right away, but stopped after a moment of deliberation. This was an alternate parallel world which was different from a game. It would be much better to establish a proper relationship with the Silver Elves so that he could gain more in the future.

If he acted greedy, these prideful and distant race might look down on him and affect things in many subtle ways. It would be a loss.