Chapter 54.

CHAPTER 54.

Amber had gotten some much needed relaxation from sleeping, it was still hard to believe that she had been given an entire house to herself right next to the castle. But it had happened, she even had servants that wanted to tend to her very need. Though, she didn’t spend too much time on that, instead she had gone to bed not too long after arriving.

And then, she proceeded to some much needed relaxation. While she didn’t need sleep at this point, it still felt like heaven to drift off into a world of darkness. Amber couldn’t exactly remember her dreams, but she had vague impressions. Of Earth, of her mother, of dragons, of Ax’thra and even Val’leri.

By the time she awoke, it was a bit past the early morning, but Amber was quite sure she had slept more than twelve hours given how early she had gone to sleep. And now, she was leaving. Not leaving to see the capital, not leaving to see the gardens, but leaving. She was going to depart from the castle and head over to Laria.

Even though she had only stayed a day, in the end, Amber was itching to see her friends. She was itching to know what Thieney was up to, she wanted to see Liz and her sister, and she maybe wanted to see the smith as well.

Amber at first had been worried about repairing her armor, but she realized that it had the same Self-repair ability that the Cursewelder had which meant⁠— Val’leri had upgraded her armor to Relic Grade without even telling her.

[Relic Grade ⁠— Armor of Frenzy ⁠— Superb Quality.

This armor is enchanted with the enchantment of lightness, decreasing the weight of the armor by half.

Ability: Self-repair: At the cost of your mana the Armor of Frenzy will be repaired of any damage.]

It was something great, but at the same time she wished she realized it sooner, or better yet⁠— been told about it when it happened. However, Amber didn’t complain, instead, she inwardly thanked the crimson Primordial Spirit. After that, she repaired the armor with a not so small quantity of mana, and then, after bathing, Amber went off to say her goodbyes.

The first person Amber found, and by pure coincidence, was Ave, the red-haired knight captain that had welcomed her into her team during the demon incursion. This time, however, she wasn’t wearing any armor, just simple clothes.

“Oh, look who it is.” She smirked. “The one who fought twenty knights at once and nearly won.”

Amber scoffed at that. “I'd like to see you do the same.”

Ave chuckled, “We both know that I can fight five at most, but hey maybe if you cheer for me I can do six.”

Amber rolled her eyes at that. She didn't take Ave for the joking type, but evidently, she was wrong. Still, her conversation reminded her of everything that happened the previous day.

She had fought alongside Charles and that battle had been a blast even though it was short lived. Apparently, she was the only person able to increase her strength at will so it led to quite a lot of situations where the knights were caught off-guard.

After that there were multiple one versus many fights, finally culminating into a one versus twenty, first was Charles’ turn and he fended off about ten knights before he got overwhelmed. Meanwhile, Amber⁠— she almost won except one of the last people remaining jumped out of the arena and since he was a mage⁠— he used a spell to swap their positions just as he was about to hit the grass. In the end, given she had already used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash, she lost.

And even though Amber wanted to keep going after that, all of the knights were too tired to continue⁠— except for Ave. Amber fought with her, and while the captain’s swordsmanship was most definitely superior, in the end, she still lost on the contest of true strength.

“So, what brings you here?” Ave asked.

“Well, I was on my way to say goodbyes.” Amber scratched the back of her head. “I’m leaving to Laria.”

“Laria?” The captain thought for a moment. “To kill more demons or what?”

Amber smiled at that and then answered, “No, not killing more demons, I’m just going to visit friends. I haven’t seen them in a very long time.”

“Oh I see.” Ave nodded.

“What about you?” Amber raised her brow. “Where are you going all dressed casually?”

“Today is my day off, you see? So I was about to go get wasted at a bar.” She smiled triumphantly. “Though I do hope you were planning on saying goodbye to me.”

“I was, and now that you are here, I’ll say it now:” Amber nodded. “Goodbye, captain Ave.”

“Ave is fine,” the captain said. “Though I’m surprised, I didn’t take it you were one to say goodbye so dryly⁠— kidding.”

Amber blinked as Ave placed a hand on her shoulder.

“We’ve known each other briefly, but know that I’ll miss you. Goodbye, Amber.”

With those words, she was pulled in for a brief hug before the captain departed to quote on quote “get wasted”. She didn’t expect her first goodbye to go like that, but she didn’t mind⁠—

“Oh, by the way, you can find me at the Golden Bar, if you want to say goodbye again,” Ave said before disappearing around the corner.

Amber smiled and nodded, before going off to find other people.

* * *

She said her goodbye to the princess and to Charles, even though the latter was quite sad to see her go just a day after meeting her, he wished her well. They did, however, reminisce about the duels yesterday and had a few laughs about them. In the end, Amber told him that if the opportunity arose in the future, she would duel him once more⁠— with the caveat of being around the same level as her that is.

She wasn’t planning on just staying level 125 for all eternity after all.

Then, after that she headed to meet the king, Octavius, who welcomed her with open arms.

“Amber!” He smiled from his throne. “Nice to see you here, I just sent a message to my Lady wife, I was informing her about you.”

Amber blinked. “Wait, is the queen not here?”

“Unfortunately not, otherwise she would’ve loved to have the maids dress you in different outfits.” He laughed. “So, what brings you here, my friend?”

“I was coming by to say goodbye.”

“You going to the tavern or something?” Octavius raised his brow.

“Er no, I’m leaving,” Amber said. “To Laria.”

“That is soon, are you sure you don’t want to stay around?” he asked, his voice weird. “You’ve only been here for a day.”

Amber shook her head. She half expected for the king to try really hard to get her to stay, and while she did feel a bit bad, she also felt it necessary to go visit Liz and Thieney, it felt like a duty. She had been gone for a whole eight months, and loitering about in the castle while not having taken care of that felt nothing but wrong.

“It’s been eight months since I saw my friends, it’s something that I must do.”

The king at that, sagely nodded. “I suppose that that is a duty, I do hope you feel the same kind of obligation to see me in the future.”

Amber smiled at that. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.”

In response, Octavius snorted. “Then how about I rescind your noble status.”

“Uh… please don’t?” Amber meekly smiled.

“Anyway, Liz and her sister Velda, are now officially the new heads of their house, and have rights to everything that once belonged to the Risnar family,” he said simply. “But they have one month to make that claim, so make sure to tell them as much.”

“Oh I see.”

“As for you.” Octavius met her gaze before breaking out in a smile. “Have a good journey.”

Amber blinked. “Thank you⁠—”

“But, I do wish to hear if your travels whenever you return,” he said, nodding to himself. “That will be your debt to me for abandoning the people of Cytel so soon. What will the city do without a hero I wonder?”

She could tell he was joking so she laughed. “Sure, sure. Considering I’m most definitely the strongest person here, your people will be fine.”

“And how did you draw that conclusion?” Octavius asked with amusement.

“Well, I hear one of the members of the Arcane Council died right outside the captain, I’m sure he was quite strong.”

“And yet, we were unable to recover the stolen artifacts,” he said grimly.

“But my point still stands.” Amber argued before adding. “But if I get my hands on the artifacts ⁠— and don’t need them ⁠— I’ll make sure to bring them back.”

He smiled, “Should I say, as expected of the friend of the kingdom?”

Amber shook her head. “Don’t expect too much.”

“I won’t.”

Then after a pause he continued, nodding to himself.

“Well, Amber, I hope you have a good journey, do tell Liz and her sister that I'd like to meet them sometime.”

Amber nodded and then the king smiled.

“I'd give you some kind of hug but this is the best I can do. So, goodbye friend.” He waved.

Amber smiled. “Goodbye Octavius, the only king I've had the pleasure of meeting.”

He laughed at that. “What an honour!”

Amber turned and waved, leaving the her friend⁠— the king behind. She briefly contemplated trying to visit Val’leri but decided against it.

Instead, Amber focused on leaving, having taken care of things⁠—

* * *

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Or so she thought.

When she was leaving the castle she was met with a familiar face. In fact, it was a face she was somewhat familiar with, and by the looks of it, he noticed her too. Amber watched as the knight rushed from across the castle courtyard all over to her, it was none other than Terrel. The knight captain she had befriended.

“Long time no see,” he said in a good mood. “Where are you going?”

“I’m leaving to Laria.” Amber scratched the back of her head. “But we can grab something to eat if you want?”

At that, Terrel nodded grinning. “I’d be skipping out on training, but I’m sure everyone will understand that I couldn’t miss an opportunity to hang out with the hero of Cytel.”

Amber blinked and sighed. “Please tell me you aren’t going to start treating me like royalty.”

“No, and I’m also not one for jokes so don’t expect too many either.” He shrugged. “Anyway, let’s go?”

She nodded and after, they departed from the castle, drawing many confused gazes from numerous people. And while Amber hoped the gazes would stop, they didn’t. Even though Cursewelder was now on the ring⁠ — and still affecting her with curses due to the fact that its overall quality greatly surpassed that of the ring ⁠— she was still attracting attention due to the fact that she was basically a public celebrity.

And so, she took out a cloak, which she used to hide her face. She had gotten plenty of clothing from the servants when they learned she only had her armor on her.

“When did you get one of those?” Terrel asked, seeing the cloak appear.

“As soon as I became a hero I got one,” Amber replied before smirking. “What kind of hero doesn’t have a magical storage?”

“Fair enough.”

And with that, they continued walking. But Amber noticed something⁠— and that was the way looked at her, there was some level of disbelief in his gaze.

“Is something the matter?”

“When I met you, you were slightly lower level than me, and now you are over ten levels above me, it’s hard to believe that’s all.”

Amber raised her brow and used Identify.

[Warrior. Lvl. 114]

“Well, I fight alone and you have a whole squad,” Amber pointed out. “It only makes sense.”

“That is true.” He nodded in agreement. “However, I’ve heard of your feats, and I don’t think I could do the same even if I had the same opportunities as you.”

“I don’t think I’m that special, so, I think you could.” Amber shrugged.

All she had going for herself was stubbornness and an obsession with pushing herself, other than that she was actually pretty normal ⁠— at least that’s what she thought, but evidently Terrel didn’t.

“No I couldn’t.”

“That is pessimistic,” she said and at that she got a chuckle.

He smiled. “You call it pessimism and I call it realism.”

Amber shook her head, and a minute after that, they arrived at the restaurant where they took a seat and ordered food. She ordered some extra food for her journey as well.

“So, I hear you’re friends with the Primordial Spirit, how was that encounter?”

Amber blinked before smiling. “Well, like any normal friendship, it starts with fearing for your life.”

“Ah, classic.”

“Then comes convincing them you didn’t come for their life, given they mistook you for a member of some dangerous organization, and finally telling them about your friends in common.”

Terrel nodded before asking. “I wonder who you met that knows the Primordial Spirit though?”

“Well, he’s a very annoying but fun man,” Amber said before thinking. “Helpful, and kind but also… annoying and will rub it in your face?”

He raised his brow at that. “He sounds like an interesting person.”

He is interesting given he is a god. Of course, Amber couldn’t exactly say that so instead, she just nodded. That said, she did miss him, but at least she knew where he was now.

“So, what will you do after returning to Laria?” he asked. “You don’t seem like the type of person to stay around that long.”

Amber pondered. “I heard about the Grand Dungeon in the desert, I’m interested in that.”

“The Grand Dungeon?” he asked, surprised. “Well, given you are not a mage the desert might not be that dangerous.”

“Oh right,” Amber recalled Thieney’s words from long ago. “It has bad mana density or something, right?”

“Yes, it makes mana regeneration be painfully slow so mana is precious when traveling through it,” he said simply. “Something to be mindful of, though, of course, you can always use a mana potion if truly needed.”

I should prepare a ton of those then, Amber noted. That said, she remembered wondering if they were even a thing in the past⁠, and considering Liz hadn’t bought any, she had to ask:

“Never heard of them, are they expensive?” she asked.

“Quite expensive, yeah, expect to pay no less than one gold for a Rare Quality one, as for Common Quality?” He shook his head. “Those aren’t sold anywhere, they generally just get used as alchemic ingredients instead.”

Amber nodded, thankfully one gold seemed like a trivial price.

“Anything else I should be mindful of when going to the desert?”

He thought for a moment. “Bring money, it’s a trade hub and a place where uncommon goods constantly pass through. You never know when you may want something.”

Amber nodded at that. “Fair enough.”

“And finally, consider having high elemental resistance or the sun will literally burn you alive.”

Amber nodded and just like that, she began to make a bucket list of things to get before going to the desert⁠— which consisted of: water, food, money and mana potions. While that happened, their food also arrived, so Amber enjoyed it to the fullest.

“So, who did you make friends with?” Terrel asked. “In the castle I mean.”

“The king, the princess and her knight, Ave the knight captain.” Amber tilted her head. “And that’s about it. Maybe Volkar but I think we’re more like friendly acquaintances?” she second-guessed.

“Interesting and eclectic list.” He nodded. “So, you’re leaving right after this meal?”

“Indeed, I am.”

“I see, and how long will you be gone?”

Amber thought for a moment. “Maybe a few months, possibly more? Unless something needs me to return.”

He pondered for a few moments before speaking up.

“Before you leave, I’d like you to wait a moment. There is something I want to show you.”

“Huh, sure. I’m going to go see Ave anyway at the Golden Bar or whatever she said.” Amber tilted her head. “So, that’s fine, we can do that after.”

He shook his head. “No, this is important, I’ll get Ave to see it too.”

Amber blinked. “If it’s that important to you, sure?”

At her reply, he smiled. “Alright.”

She wasn’t too sure what Terrel found so important to do, but she supposed that that was alright, given how long she would be gone and all that. After that, they continued eating before Amber tried to settle the bill and⁠— failed at it at Terrel’s insistence, this was in spite of the fact that she had ordered multiple meals that she stored inside her ring.

“You know, I probably have more money than you at this point, right?”

“Well, I don’t doubt it, but let me treat you,” he said simply as they left the restaurant. “There is a chance you die out there, so I’ll consider that as our last meal until I meet you again.”

Amber scoffed. “I’m not that fragile. Also, if we don’t meet will you just assume I’m dead?” she asked, raising her brow.

The man smiled. “Exactly.”

She sighed at that. “Fine.”

“Well, let’s go outside of the town first, there is a nice place where you can depart from,” he said simply before gesturing for her to follow.

Amber did as such, she didn’t mind indulging his request given she wouldn’t be returning for quite a while. Though before leaving she tried to get enlisted into a caravan, but it seemed that individuals of her level inspired fear on most merchants so she had no luck with that.

Finally, they exited the city and walked for a few minutes before Terrel took a detour, and then, she found herself on a little pond off the side of the road. It was quite the pretty sight all things considered.

And that was when⁠ Terrel said something unexpected.

“Wait here for a few minutes.”

And with those words, he left.

Did he bring me here to show me some family heirloom nobody can see? Amber wondered for a few moments. Or just to kidnap me? She was a helpless damsel without a weapon in the middle of the woods after all.

Of course⁠— not for a moment did she take her thought seriously, instead she laughed at her lame joke and took in her surroundings.

The pond was shimmering with crystal clear water, its surface rippled from the fishes that swam inside, and the sunlight reflected with a rather calm atmosphere. The wind blew, the air smelled of earth, and the trees rustled while letting some leaves fall out here and there.

Overall, it was a nice atmosphere.

Amber sat down and relaxed for a moment, and then⁠ she closed her eyes as she fell on the bed of grass.

It was nice, almost too nice.

She heard the humming of birds, the sounds of nature, and for a moment she almost fell asleep right then and there. And she would have if not for a voice that startled her⁠—

“I say goodbye thinking you’ve already left and you’re just leisuring about in a forest?” a familiar voice asked.

Amber’s eyes snapped open and she turned only to see⁠— the king, Octavius. Then she paused seeing that the princess was there, that Charles was there, that Ave was there, the mage secretary and also Terrel. They were all huddled in a group.

“Wait… what are you people doing here?” Amber asked, standing up and confused.

“Your friend Terrel informed us that you wished to see us one last time before departing,” Octavius gestured. “And of course, I’d oblige knowing that.”

Amber blinked and she was about to deny it before getting a knowing smile from him. Evidently, it was a surprise and something that she actually appreciated.

“Right, thank you.” She nodded.

“You could’ve just asked me to walk you to the gate, you know?” the king said, shaking his head. “As if I’d deny you that.”

“Your majesty, that would cause quite the stir,” the attendant said quietly.

Octavius harrumphed before turning to her. “I hear you are departing after this, so.” He extended his hand.

Amber blinked and took the handshake only to be pulled for a tight hug, then she was let go as she blinked.

“Stay safe, I know you won’t return for months if not years, so you better send some letters.”

Amber blinked. “Ha, I will.”

Then, the king took a step back and the princess stepped forward.

“Listen, I know our meeting was very brief, but thank you for dueling Charles, and thank you for being so nice to me when we interacted.”

Amber blinked. “It’s not something to thank me for.”

Aurelia smiled. “Yet, I appreciate it regardless. My knight is also thankful.”

Charles at those words nodded, he was clad in armor but Amber could already tell it was him. Not for his level but just the aura he gave of, though none of that mattered right now.

“I’ll look forward to our next encounter, I will be trying to climb the tower alone following in your footsteps,” he said. “Then I’ll befriend the Primordial Spirit.”

“Good luck with that.” Amber chuckled. “She is nice, if you meet her send her my regards.”

“Will do.” He nodded. “When we meet again⁠, let’s duel.”

Amber smiled. “Yeah, and this time, I won’t lose.”

“Likely,” he agreed. “I’ll work hard to not fall behind.”

With those words, he backed off and then Ave stepped forward.

“You know, I remember when I first heard of you I judged you and when I saw you, I judged you too,” Ave said, smelling lightly of alcohol. “But you were also very pleasant to talk to, and not only that, but you are also fucking strong.”

Amber blinked. “Right.”

“So in short, you are a good girl Amber, and I respect you.” Ave nodded to herself. “It was an honor to fight alongside you in battle.”

Amber smiled hearing her words and then received a hug from the red-haired half-drunk woman. After that, it was Terrel’s turn to speak.

“I’ve said most of what I have to say, so all I have for you is to wish you good luck.”

He nodded before leaning in for a whisper.

“This is my gratitude for saving the lives of my squad members, hopefully you enjoyed this surprise.”

Amber smiled at that. She didn’t fully know how she had gotten Octavius in particular to leave the castle, since the reason she was given didn’t seem like quite enough, but she could never be too sure. And at the same time, she didn’t really want to ask right now, instead, she just wanted to enjoy the moment.

And so, she did. She walked all the way to the edge of the forest being followed by the group of people before finally, speaking once more.

“Thank you all for seeing me off,” Amber began before smiling. “It makes me happy.”

“Seeing you off like this is the least I can do given you saved the capital,” Octavius, the king, said.

“I just wanted to say thank you,” Aurelia stated.

“Meanwhile, I saw the chance to see you off and I took it,” Charles chuckled.

“I just got dragged into this.” Ave shrugged.

“Good luck.” Terrel smiled.

Amber found herself happy from all of it. It was weird, weird to think she had come to this world with no friends and yet, she had people she enjoyed talking to now⁠— people she wanted to hang out with, and people that appreciated her for who she was.

In the end, she found herself a bit emotional over how far she had come, but of course, she didn’t show it.

Instead, she turned around and bade her final farewells.

“Thank you all for everything, I’ll return someday.”

“You better,” Octavius said, and she found voices of agreement after.

Amber laughed and took a couple of steps forward, and just when she heard their footfalls move back to the forest, she glanced back to the king with a grin.

“By the way, I don’t mind if you give me a couple of divine artifacts as departing gifts.”

“Bah.” He waved his hand off before scoffing. “Next time how about you bring me one instead.”

She laughed and with that, she departed for good.

After eight months, she was finally returning to Laria.