The Time Bomb

When the Royal Knights finally left, peace once again filled the manor.

Dilferi turned his gaze away from them and looked at Brendel. Under the moonlight, he seems to be in deep thought, and he pointed out, “You seem to recognize them.”

Brendel did not want to reveal his identity, and he just took off the mask and revealed a mysterious smiling face.

“Hmph!” Dilferi snorted. He looked at the mess beside him, at the remains of the manor. “Anyhow, I do have to thank you all. As a count, I will not go back on my word. But Marsha is looking upon us, so I believe you all will remember your promise as well.”

“I promise I will not bring you all into my troubles. Don’t worry about it,” Brendel reassured the boy count.

“Who are you guys up against?” Dilferi questioned.

Brendel just smiled.

“I cannot be at ease if that’s the case, sir,” Dilferi was slightly displeased.

“Then we’ll just go separate ways once we get inside.”

“But The Holy Cathedral will know that we went in together.”

That’s truly troublesome, Brendel thought. But this count sure is cautious. He looked back at Ciel, who raised his shoulders to indicate that he did not know what to do as well. After all, the Holy Cathedral was not some manor located on the outskirts. They would definitely be able to see through Ciel’s illusions.

Brendel fell silent, and replied, “Alright, if that the case, under dire situations, you can say that you were forced into it.”

Dilferi was stunned.

He looked at them curiously. It appears that he did not expect those words, “Aren’t you afraid that you’ll inflict some trouble upon yourselves for doing so?”

“If I was scared, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place,” Brendel smiled again.

“But you guys can force me to shut my mouth, can’t you? You could have taken me hostage after all,” Dilferi raised his eyebrows, intrigued, “Isn’t that the case?”

“I can understand your point, but would you want us to do that, Count Yanbao?” Brendel burst out laughing as he asked.

“No… That’s not it…” the boy’s face was beet red, “It’s just that-”

“It’s just that you didn’t understand?” Brendel smiled. He never thought that his actions were something that had to be covered up, but he just wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble. If the Holy Cathedral wanted to trace their background, he would have let them do so. He dared come to Ampere Seale to cause trouble, so he would have definitely expected that.

The worst-case scenario would be to oppose the Holy Cathedral. It was a possibility that had happened once before after all. Back then, King Erik had fought many battles with them. He may have had the help of the Wind Elves, but Brendel had that too. And Brendel was sure Orthylss would definitely help him out. And the Holy Cathedral of Wind would obviously like to mess with the Holy Cathedral of Flame.

At that thought, Brendel laughed. Be it the Holy Cathedral of Flame, or the Holy Cathedral of Wind, Aouine is Aouine, the place he swore to protect. And that would not change.

He waved his hand, “Nothing else matters now. Just remember that I do not have a habit of causing trouble for others.”

“That means…” Dilferi looked at Brendel and the others. Are they mad? Don’t they know that the Holy Cathedral will impose a heavy punishment on them if they found out that Brendel had kidnapped me? Ever since birth, I have never heard of something as ridiculous as this in my life!

“So how? Count Yanbao?”

“Alright… I…” his palms were sweating, and unknowingly his heart began to beat sporadically, “Under the supervision of Marsha, I will agree to our deal. Don’t worry… If it’s not serious, I will not snitch you all out… You all are the most gentlemanlike bandits I have ever seen in my life.”

“Hahaha! Have you seen a lot of bandits before?”

“Ah… No, just a few by the border…” DIlferi realized that he had spoken the wrong words and replied with a red face.

Brendel just laughed, “Then, happy cooperating with you.”

……

“You really do have a knack at deluding others, My Lord,” On the way back home, Ciel said. It was unsure if it was a jeering tone or an honest admiration. He was talking about the story that happened back in the castle when Ciel interrupted.

“I am good at what?!” Brendel was sitting on the horse behind Romaine with his arms around her and he twisted his head, “When did I ever do that? Are you talking about Andrea?”

“Hmph!” Not far away, the Andrea snorted. She was riding on a tall black warhorse, and it was her preference to choose it.

“Nonono, I didn’t mean that,” Ciel, on another yellowish-brown one, hurriedly explained. “I just wanted to say that My Lord made a good move by bringing out the crystal ball and completely conquered the Count’s final mental defense. He just reminded me of the Norken people who were infamous for being sly merchants in Karsuk.”

“They weren’t just sly in the Karsuk, but everywhere as well. Plus, can you use a better analogy?” Brendel said in a pissed tone.

“Back onto the topic, isn’t the Recording Crystal is in the custody of Amandina?” Raban asked, “How did My Lord know that he would require such an item? Don’t tell me My Lord had already known that the Count is researching Summoning Arts?”

“Recording Crystal?” Brendel brought out the crystal ball. “You’re talking about this?” He smiled and threw it into the bushes.

“Nani!? My Lord!” Raban was confused.

At that time, Romaine finally laughed. She laid onto Brendel’s chest, tilting her head, and smiled, “That was not some Recording Crystal Ball. It was just an ordinary one I bought last night. I’m pissed now that I was reminded of it. That scammer of a merchant! Tricking me with a glass ball! How unprofessional!”

“Ah?”

“No, no,” Ciel was shaking his head. “As a sly merchant, he was quite professional.”

“That’s true indeed,” Raban admitted.

“But I didn’t expect the Yanbao family to fall to this point,” Ciel shifted his shoulders and said with a serious tone. “They can’t even find an actual successor. If they can find someone with experience to back her up, I suppose they would not have let her come to Ampere Seale alone, would she?”

“Little Princess? She?” Amandina was confused.

“Count Yanbao is a girl,” Brendel shook his head. His Willpower was so high that he was not affected by the trick. It may appear that only the count herself did not know that she was a girl. But as Ciel said, for them to send a female successor to the meeting, the Yanbao family must have been in some sort of trouble. But thinking about Count Yanbao’s actions, that did seem possible. But Brendel did not care about that. As long as the count can bring them into the meeting, there would be no problem.

He looked at Ferlarn, “What did you manage to scavenge from the remains of the Devil just now?”

Ferlarn looked at him, and brought out a large gold armband. There were some odd flame engravings on the surface, but to people who could understand those words, they would see that it was actually a type of Hell Runes. And the entire text of the Devil Pact supposedly on the Sulfur Slate on the eleventh floor of the Burning Hell was engraved on the armband.

“Devil Armlet!” Brendel yelped upon recognizing the item. It was an object the high ranked Devils used to control their servants. But that usage was only a rumor spread by the witches and was never truly confirmed before. But with it, some people did manage to form a pact with beings from the Underworld. It was a highly valuable and rare tool.

But the thing is, it was an unwanted good. There were no auctions for it, and even if it was placed for sale in the black market, who would even buy it? Although Brendel knew that it was a valuable item, but he did not have any ideas on how he would use it or even sell it. I can’t go and sell it to the Evil Cultist, can I? Brendel thought. He was not that mad anyways.

He flipped the item in his hands. He could not use it after all, unless he switched to being a Summoner. But there would be another problem. The Devil summoned would not be an ordinary one, but one who had an armlet themselves too. And from the lowest ranking Devil Lords to the highest twelve tanked Demon Kings, no one knew which one of them would be summoned.

If they summoned the King of Greed, Trickster or Enchantress, there may be some room for business. But if they summoned the King of the Burning Hells, Arken, or the Broken Blade Lord, Lucius, the Summoner would probably be blasted into ash. And that might have led to a war between the living and the Devils. Brendel remembered some players used to make this mistake and caused a series of troubles.

He looked at it for half a day, and finally suppressed his urges. Curiosity kills the cat. he thought as he put it away into the Dimension Space and decided not to play with it for the time being. After all, with his bad luck, he may actually summon the King of Burning Hells, Arken.

Ferlarn on the side saw his odd reactions and asked, “What is it?”

Brendel answered unwillingly, “A time bomb.”