The Amber Sword

Chapter 30 – Brendel’s plans

But Freya did not get to finish her talk as she saw Romaine’s sad face, and swallowed the angry words that she had.

“W-whatever. I can’t be bothered anymore.”

Brendel already knew that Freya was someone who had all bark and no bite, so he took out his own bag and emptied it. A few silver coins fell out from it, and it appeared like he had around five hundred Tor.

His mouth opened slightly as he did not expect that he had so little money. He had sold off a low grade gem from Ebdon’s loot for a good price in Ankries that was worth of tens of thousands of Tor. He had split up up the money into three parts and divided them to Freya and Romaine. But after purchasing some ingredients for an alchemy potion, he used up most of it.

The ingredients that he had were planned to make a High-potion that was supposed to raise willpower for a short time. It was called a ‘Berserker’s potion for mages’ in the game, and it was more likely to be even more popular in this world.

But this item was an investment that would not see profit like the painting of the Elven princess that was worth a few million Tor.

[Especially this darn painting. I can’t sell it anytime soon. I kind of regret leaving the decision to Ciel. If I had known this I would have just asked him to take some random gold or silver plates... This type of special item isn’t easily sold even in the black market, unless I have personal connections.]

He arranged the coins on the table and sighed. “Looks like I only have this much. But Freya should have some money left, right—“

“W-what does your problems have anything to do with me?” Freya nearly choked from her ill mood. She glared at Brendel, but still took out her money pouch. “Grrrr. All our travel funds are inside here. Do what you want—“

Freya threw out over four thousand Tor and he looked at her in surprise.

They had been traveling around the Dragos region for nearly a month, and Romaine, Batum, Tamar and his son, as well as himself and Freya had been living on her budget. In fact, they had four more horses and the horse cart rental, so Brendel did not expect her to have much of the money left.

[Hoh... To think Freya is a budget planner...]

“What are you looking at?” Freya checked her clothes when she found Brendel staring at her.

“Nothing. I just thought you’re really a wise person. I wonder who’s lucky enough to marry you.”

“Freya is mine.” Romaine smiled happily.

Freya blushed like the evening sunset, her heart beating quickly. “What do you mean by lucky, s-stop talking nonsense.”

Then she glared angrily at Romaine: “And you, just shut up.”

But the merchant girl was long immune to such attacks. She smiled as she took out her bag which was just as empty as Brendel. “It looks like I ran out of money too.”

“Damn it, where did all your money go?!” Freya blurted out when she saw the empty bag. Logically, Romaine was the one who did not need to use any money.

“Investigating the market requires money, you know. Also I bought a storage warehouse and prepared a bit of wine.”

“You bought a warehouse?” Freya’s face asked when it happened.

“When Freya isn’t paying attention.”

“You need to tell us!”

Romaine thought seriously for a moment before wagging her finger. “A merchant needs to keep her secrets, heh.”

“You and your stupid secrets!” Freya was angry to the point she lost the ability to continue talking.

“Little Romaine, you stored wine and not food?” But Brendel raised a question.

“Yup, I mainly chose Juniper Berries Wine and the local sweet wines.” Romaine nodded.

Brendel was silent for a long while as he looked at her. He finally asked.

“You predicted that the war will end at the seventh month?”

“I thought it would be a little later than that. I didn’t think the situation would turn so fast. The Madara undead at Dragos didn’t seem like they are going to advance, so I think they are going to seek for another target. Didn’t Brendel always say that opportunities usually come only once, and I think the undead commander also know this. In any case, the nobles will definitely want a festival once the war ends.”

“When did you learn all these things?” Freya looked at her in disbelief.

“It’s a merchant’s secret.” Romaine’s imaginary tail wagged proudly again.

“You really do learn very fast.” Brendel’s hand looked like he was going to pat her head, but his fingers flicked Romaine’s forehead and made her clasp it. Her brows furrowed and she complained: “D-don’t flick my forehead Brendel!”

Brendel looked at the pool of money.

[But maybe it has nothing to do with any learning and is more of a natural instinct. It’s rare to see someone as talented as little Romaine. I have to maintain my identity after Bruglas, and I need a lot of capital to fulfill my plans. Even before constructing any new buildings, Leto and his large group of mercenaries still require me to pay them. Now that I have taken another look at the budget before us, it seems that I have to the task of earning money up in my schedule.]

Brendel rubbed his forehead.

[The higher ranked items that I have, like the painting or potion, can’t be sold in the southern Grinoires region due to many reasons. Too poor, too politically sensitive, hardly any black market presence.... Unless I go to Grinoires’s Folcrose, or the northern free port Ampere Seale, or Monsteras. These areas are where the filthy rich nobles reside, and selling in the black market in that area wouldn’t raise too much attention... The best option is still alchemy.]

Brendel decided that it was best for him to use alchemy since he also had Tamar as an assistant. He briefly considered to pretend to be a prophet of sorts since he knew the future events, but abandoned it when he considered that he might be branded as a heretic and burned on a stake like a witch.

[Most of the nobles like to use poison or acquire mana potions so they can recruit intermediate tier wizards... Hmm profits would be...]

“Romaine, how much do you need, is one hundred thousand Tor enough?”

“One hundred thousand?” Freya was surprised. “When did we have so much money?”

“I heard that Nakkin’s treasury has quite a bit of money in it.” Brendel rubbed his chin.

“Y-you—” Freya’s face immediately paled. From the performance in Fortress Riedon, she was certain that Brendel could pull it off.

But Romaine did not act like she cared at all, and replied without any guilt in her voice. “It’s best to have more than that. I can guarantee that the profits would double.”

“Stop that and persuade Brendel, h-he’s trying to—” Freya carefully looked around her and did not finish her sentence. She was afraid that someone would inform the local authorities and they would not be permitted to leave this inn.

“Freya, Brendel can be trusted.”

“Your head cannot be trusted!”

Freya was fuming , but she ultimately made up her mind not to let Brendel steal from the treasury of a noble. The escape from Fortress Riedon was a last resort, but no matter what, this attempt must not be allowed.

She convinced herself that it was out of justice and not because she was afraid of seeing Brendel’s neck in a noose. She glared at Brendel once she thought it through and calmed down.

“Why did you bring all of us to whis village?” She suddenly asked Brendel.

There did not seem to be anything in this village except for a single inn. There were only twenty or thirty families and this looked like a place that people stopped for a while and rest, but they were here for the entire morning.

But Brendel was equally impatient as well. He had sent out Batum for a task half an hour ago, but he still had not returned.

[Did I predict it wrongly? ... No, this place is the right place. My memory isn’t bad enough that I can mistaken it for a different place. What does this mean? That person hasn’t moved in to this place yet? But didn’t the forums state that he was always here?]

Brendel finally raised his eyebrow when he saw the striking red moustache from Batum at the corner of the street.