CH289 Amelia Fury

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Things proceeded, for the most part, exactly as Drake expected. With a beautiful, sister-next-door healer like Amelia at his side, mercenaries flocked to his banner despite the Wolves of War being little more than a fledgling band.

Once Amelia displayed her skill as a healer mage, Drake gained enough leverage to become selective about his recruits.

It wasn't wrong to say that Amelia was the cornerstone of Drake's success. Thanks to her, he gathered the elite core that would become infamous as the Wolves of War—or, in mercenary circles, the Wolf Head's Pack.

That same core later evolved into the feared group that shook the noble circles of the Empire—the Mad Earl's Hounds.

But while things seemed to go near-perfectly for Drake, the same could not be said for Amelia.

After five years of observing Drake—now known as the Wolf Head—and his mercenaries, as well as others they met along the way, Amelia produced a detailed thesis on the demerits of alcohol.

Her work highlighted everything from alcohol's ability to inhibit the effects of drugs and potions, to its inherent harm on the body; direct damage to the liver, indirect strain on the kidneys, and erratic spikes in blood pressure that could cripple the body and foundations of warriors in the long run—let alone mages or warlocks.

With excitement, Amelia submitted her findings to the peer review committee of her mage tower. But instead of praise, her work was torn apart. Senior mages berated her for wasting precious time and resources on what they called a "useless project".

In the end, she was pushed out of the tower.

Worse still, her thesis—deemed worthless by the committee—was later published under the name of an older reputable mage... the chairperson of the peer review committee, a noble from a Margraviate fiefdom.

Neither Amelia nor the Wolves of War could contest such power. She could only swallow the bitter truth that her work had been usurped by a greedy noble to further their own ambition.

Her only solace lay in believing she no longer owed the mage tower anything. With her research stolen, she told herself she had at least repaid the deceased mage who had once recognised her talent and spent his own fortune to fund her education.

Hidden from everyone, Amelia had discovered that her talent as a healer came from a unique bloodline dormant within her body. From it, she learned healing methods far beyond the norm, secrets that could have propelled her tower into greater prominence among healers. But since they had betrayed her trust and allowed a greedy noble to usurp her work, Amelia resolved that these secrets would remain hers alone.

Thus, she threw herself into her duties as both healer and mercenary.

Unbeknownst to her, the other members of the Wolves of War had sworn a silent oath of vengeance—against her former mage tower and against the Margraviate that sheltered the thieving noble.

Whenever opportunities arose to ruin both organisations' ventures, the Wolves of War seized them.

They kept it a secret from Amelia—who would never have approved—and worked carefully to hide their identity so as not to bring calamity upon their mercenary band.

Of course, the damage they could inflict was minor when compared to the influence wielded by the mage tower and the Margraviate.

But fate, it seemed, had a cruel sense of humour.

A little over a decade after Drake and Amelia first met, the same greedy noble attempted to usurp the work of yet another mage. Unbeknownst to everyone but the tower master, this victim was the daughter of a Grand Duke, travelling incognito on sabbatical and resting at their tower.

In a storm of rage, the Grand Duke razed the mage tower and obliterated the Margraviate before the noble's very eyes, letting him taste what it meant to lose everything. Then, he was let go.

However, when the man finally began to crawl back from despair a year later, the Grand Duke finished him—an execution reserved for one who had earned nothing but contempt.

[A.N: Pettiness taken to the extreme.]

The scandal that followed unearthed a truth long buried: the noble had stolen the works of countless young and powerless mages.

The princess of the Grand Duchy personally ensured that every wronged mage received recognition and honour.

Every mage… except Amelia.

She never stepped forward to claim what was hers. By then, she had already moved on. She no longer cared for fame or recognition.

To this day, her groundbreaking research remained attributed to a nameless author—an anonymous gift freely available to all who sought its wisdom.

A nameless author's final gift to the world.

As time passed, Drake and Amelia inevitably grew closer. It was the age-old tale of the reckless berserker, forever throwing himself into danger, and the gentle healer, forever mending his wounds.

For years, neither acted on their feelings. Drake buried himself in expanding the mercenary band, while Amelia—scarred by past betrayals—feared imposing her heart on another only to be hurt again.

But the dam finally broke when fate intervened.

Drake was gravely wounded in battle against one of the Schaumer Legends, his body on the brink of collapse. To save him, Amelia pushed herself beyond her limits, drawing upon the very dregs of her bloodline to stabilise his battered form until his newly awakened Legendary constitution could carry the rest.

What she accomplished was nothing short of miraculous: an early-Saint healer sustaining a Legend's life. A feat deemed near impossible.

But such miracles demanded a price.

Amelia's foundation was irreparably damaged. Her path to reaching above the Legendary rank was cut short.

Drake was consumed with guilt. He knew Amelia could have risen to become a healer of unprecedented renown—an extraordinary Saint among healers. Yet for the sake of a berserker like him, she had sacrificed that future.

Amelia, however, never hesitated.

"I would have failed my duty as a healer if I had let you die," she said softly. "A dream of the future is worth nothing if it costs me the person standing before me. I would rather hold onto what I have now, than gamble it all for what may never come."

Those words shattered the final wall between them.

But in doing so, they unleashed the most dangerous version of Drake Fury the world would ever know.

The Mad Wolf.

The Mad Earl.

A figure so ferocious that nobles and Legends alike gave him way. His reputation grew to such heights that even the Light of the Empire himself, Emperor Ludevicus, summoned him for an audience.

From that meeting, the Mad Earl was named Guardian of the North—formally, at least. In truth, he only became the Guardian of the Northwest.

To Drake, this was the bare minimum. The only way he could ever hope to justify Amelia's sacrifice, and validate the loss of a true Legendary Healer to the world.

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