Soul of Searing Steel

The sky faded. The moon was wiped off the sky as dark clouds were beginning to shroud the entire sky. It began to snow again.

The sky that was torn apart by ‘Starfall Break’ was once again covered by layers of clouds under the rush of the howling winds. Light snowflakes were beginning to fall from the sky. At first, no one seemed to notice that. However, after a brief moment, the snow began to get heavier like puffs of dandelions flying all around the air. The snow then turned even heavier like goose feathers floating in the surroundings.

Moldova was much further to the north then Moldavia was. So half of the time throughout an entire year, the place would be covered in snow and frost.

Right in the middle of the snow, on top of the wall, the resting knights were waiting for the arrangement for them to take shelter for the days to come. They were waiting for the soldiers on duty to inform them. With their heavy armor dragging them down a little, they removed their helmets and placed their weapons on the ground right beside their warhorses, breathing quietly. Once in a while, voices could be heard.

“Huh. The shadow that appeared just now, that was our Liege’s head of servant, right?”

Nearby the spiral stairwell, one of the young knights with good eyesight caught a glimpse of silver hair beside their Count and that golden-haired swordsman while the two of them were walking towards the middle tower.

The young knight immediately turned his head around and asked his comrades, “I’ve wanted to ask much earlier on actually. Why did our Liege bring his head of servant along? We’ve been rushing all the way right? We didn’t even rest all the while… Meanwhile, that young lady vanished without a trace while we were on our way here. We don’t even know where she went. So how is it possible that she just suddenly reappeared again?”

“Don’t read too much into it.”

One of the knights who seemed to be very experienced shook his head and said, “Our Liege need not report to you about what he does every time. In other words, it’s pointless even if you knew the answer to your question. Furthermore, do you know anything about the Class called Shadow Guard?”

“What’s that?”

“You’d understand just by its name.”

The young knight was filled with curiosity. Meanwhile, the old knight was willing to explain, “Usually, important people would bring along some bodyguards and elites while they are out or into the battlefield to protect themselves. Even when our Liege is extremely powerful, he would still meet some unforeseen danger. However, normal bodyguards would not always be by his side. That is where the Class called shadow guard comes in.”

He explained patiently, “The shadow guards have an ability called ‘Shadow Lurker’. They can conceal themselves in the shadows of someone else and follow the targets that they aim to protect. Of course, they could also use their skills to assassinate their targets. However, their power was more to defensive side if they are compared to the same Class type called assassin.”

“According to rumors, the butler of our late old Count was a shadow guard as well. His name was Fang Amos. I heard that this young lady servant should either be the descendant of Mr. Fang or his apprentice. When she vanishes into thin air, she should be in our Liege’s shadow all the while.”

“Maybe…”

“You guys are annoying. What’s there to talk about, huh?”

Another knight joined the conversation. Then he said, “Regardless of what Class she is, or whether she vanishes or not, we don’t need to care about that as long as our Liege did not say a word about it. Shouldn’t we knights focus our minds on how to slay our enemies?”

“True to that.”

“Indeed.”

Upon remaining silence for a moment, they agreed and nodded at the same time. The three of them instantly abandoned the thoughts they had on the pointless topic. They shrugged and said, “Anyway, it has nothing to do with us. Let’s just keep our minds on our own roles then.”

The female Divine Armament would not know that she had been labeled as a shadow guard out of the blue by the others. God knows what they were guessing about. However, that would not matter much after all.

Following the rushing footsteps along the way, the three of them arrived at the middle tower.

Snow was raining down from the sky. In the middle of the blizzard, the two banners that represented the Scarlet family’s [Golden-lined hexagram with red background] crest were standing right by the entrance to the building. They were fluttering along the direction of the wind quite violently. Because all of the soldiers and available combatants were gathered by the wall of the fortress, there was no guard guarding the entrance of the tower. There were only a few female servants that looked flustered while they were running in and out of the tower in a hurry.

Meanwhile, there was a beautiful female servant with short silver hair and blue eyes that looked like blue gemstones standing at the entrance to the tower. When she saw Brandon with Joshua and Ying walking from afar, she walked up to them to greet them. Then she spoke to Brandon in a soft voice, “Sir, your wife is in the bedroom right now. However, her condition is not that good… You should go in and see her first.”

“Yes, I’ll go at once!”

The golden-haired swordsman had a troubled and worried look in his eyes. However, before he was about to move his body, he halted and turned his head towards the warrior and Ying. Then he apologized, “I’m sorry. Now, I need to…”

“You need not say another word.”

Reaching out his hand, Joshua shook his head and stopped Brandon from explaining himself. Then he spoke briefly, “Just go.”

Feeling relieved, Brandon immediately told the silver-haired blue-eyed servant, “Miss Yue, can you escort our two important guests to the guest room? I’ll be right there in a moment.”

“Yes.”

Upon hearing the calm servant agreeing to his request, the golden-haired swordsman immediately turned around and walked into the tower. He strode in a hurry like it was the uttermost emergency he had ever had in his entire life.

“…”

Such a good man who loved his wife very much.

Before he even had time to sigh, the silver-haired servant with blue eyes called Yue was already standing right before Joshua and Ying. She lowered her head a little and bowed at them. Then she continued to speak in an impassive tone, “Please follow me, the guest room is just ahead. We’ll arrive there shortly… you can wait for Sir and Madame in the room.”

“Thank you very much.”

Without saying much, the black-haired warrior followed the female servant and the three of them walked into the tower. After passing two sets of stairs, they arrived at a vast room that was well decorated with fancy and comfortable decoratives.

Cream colored mattresses covered the floor of the room. The warmth of the place came from the burning fireplace in the room. There were quite a number of masterpiece paintings hanging on the four walls of the room. Meanwhile, there were a few chairs that looked very comfortable to sit on them. Under the glimmering light from the chandelier made of crystals and gemstones, a plant in a pot that looked green and healthy was placed right in the middle of a big table across the room. There were also visible green lines across the entire surface of the plant that were radiating with uncertainty. Sometimes, they looked bright and sometimes, they looked dim. It was obvious that the plant was some sort of magical plant.

“If you have any need, you can just inform the female servants right outside the room.”

Standing before the door of the living room, Yue did not enter. She narrowed her eyes while she smiled. Her attention did not seem to be there. Nonetheless she still spoke politely, “They will do their best to serve the two of you. You’re both our distinguished guests.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

A brief moment after, Joshua realized he was not being very polite. He lowered his head and looked at his half-naked body that withstood the dragon breath attack from the Corrupted Black Dragon earlier on. He requested, “Please provide me a full set of decent clothes then.”

Yue who did not reply just nodded slightly. Then she looked to the female servant beside her and gave her some instructions. After that, the servant turned around and walked towards the spiral stairwell on the high level of the tower.

With the warrior’s listening capability, he could easily hear the quiet servant increasing her walking speed. She had begun to feel anxious as she started to run.

“They’re very loyal.” Joshua stated casually, while seated on a chair. After that, the warrior turned his head towards Ying who was standing by his side without saying any word all the while. He smiled as well and reached his hand out. Then he patted on the head of the little girl and praised her, “Ying is also very loyal to me. You have performed well today. Many of the bones of the daemons are solid. The lances would not have penetrated them. However, they became so vulnerable right before your blade. They were torn apart like they were made of paper-thin material… Stop standing there like that, come, sit down.”

Upon saying that, the warrior recalled the scenes of the intense battle. He could feel an excited rush through his chest. Then, he could not help but replay the scenes in his head again.

Upon hearing her master praising her, Ying was naturally very happy. The female silver-haired Divine Armament turned her head to the side and looked at her master. She was looking forward to seeing a smile on her master’s face. However, what she saw was that the warrior in the black armor looking at the crystal chandelier that was hanging from the ceiling of the living room. His eyes looked distant as if he was recalling some interesting moments of the past.