I wake up amidst rubble, the last memory I have is being in the drawing room with the Viscount. The first thing I notice is a barrier in an about 10 metre radius around me. Outside the barrier I see a few tents and a few people going between them. I can’t recognize anyone as I’m still a bit in a haze but as I try to stand up the barrier surrounding me disappears and someone comes rushing to me and embraces me.
“Don’t worry, everything is okay now. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Mom? What are you doing here? What happened?”
“This isn’t the right place to talk about this and others will want to talk to you as well so let’s go to the camp.”
She helps me up and we walk towards a large tent, looking around more I see that about half of the Viscounts castle is destroyed but it looks like there is more castle missing than there is rubble. We enter the tent and there are two people, a man and a woman, sitting at a table looking at a pile of documents. Both of them look rough, having scars all over their body and the woman is wearing an eye patch.
They look at us as we enter and the woman is the first to speak, “Had a good nap, little Miss?”
Mom gives her a death glare, “She doesn’t remember what happened but I think if we go through everything with her we might be able to piece things together.”
The man gestures towards some empty seats, “We better start from the beginning from our side then.”
Mom sits down at the opposite side of the two and I sit down next to her and the man starts with his explanation, “Let’s start with telling you who we are. I’m Angus, the Guildmaster of the local branch in this territory, and this” he points towards the woman, “is Felicia, the Guildmaster of the main branch of this country. About a week ago there was a beam extending into the sky coming from this location and we soon got reports about the castle being destroyed so we sent out an emergency request to nearby adventurers and the main branch. By the time we made it here, about 4 days ago, everything was already in rubble but to our surprise there were quite a few survivors as well as you within the barrier. We tried to destroy the barrier to get to you in order to make sure you are safe and not hurt or in any danger but neither of us was able to even dent it so we had to give up on that and just wait. While waiting for the barrier to dissipate we questioned the survivors to figure out what happened, most of them were castle staff but some were children who, according to Eliza, were wearing clothes similar to the ones you were wearing when she rescued you. They all had different stories for what happened with the only common points being the Viscount doing evil deeds, him and everyone involved in those being killed and no one actually saying who or what caused this.”
Felicia interrupts him, “Let’s be honest. We all know it was you, Lucina, but we have no proof and everyone who could be a witness is denying it. But even if someone was speaking up saying it was you no one would actually blame or try to hold you responsible for it. Not only did you rescue people who were in life threatening danger, everyone involved would most likely have gotten the death penalty for it anyways. Also since there aren’t actually any corpses accusing the royal princess of murder feels like commiting treason.”
Mom lets out a sigh, “What they mean by that is that whether or not you remember what happened, no one blames you. The survivors are clearly protecting you, they even prevented us from getting close to the barrier at first and only let us try after we told them we were trying to help you.”
Felicia is speaking up again, “Now then, if you don’t mind, could you tell us what you remember?”
I think for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts, “I was doing an escort request for the guild, guarding a merchant caravan that goes to some of the smaller villages and at the second village we stopped at, I met Alexia again. She is the daughter of the village chief from that village and she asked me to check the Talent her younger sister has because she suspected something was wrong with the translation. Her hunch turned out to be true and I offered her a position at the research department under the royal family which she accepted but her father tried to stop her saying that she was promised to Viscount Branlor against her will. I decided to interfere and had Alexia take my place in the escort and visit Viscount Branlor to figure out what exactly the story is before taking further action. When I arrived at the castle I was shown to a drawing room and the Viscount gave some weak excuses but quickly changed his demeanour and called someone in. She recognized me and even called me ‘V’. After that everything went dark and the next thing I remember is waking up in the rubble.”
I can feel anger rising from mom and there is an awkward silence. The silence doesn’t last long as it’s interrupted by my stomach growling, reminding me I apparently haven’t eaten in a week.
I turn red from embarrassment and mom gets up from her seat, “Let’s leave it at that for now and get something to eat.”
We leave the tent and enter another one that looks like a make-shift cafeteria. She sits me down at one of the tables and goes to get something to eat for the both of us. Just a few moments later a group of a few adults and children enter the tent and look around until they spot me and then walk in my direction.
They all give a small bow, “Thank you for saving us, your highness.”
At that moment mom returns with our meals, “You know, this is essentially admitting she is responsible for what happened and all of you lied during the questioning.”
They look at her in shock as she sits down next to me and places my plate in front of me.
“Mom, don’t scare people like that.”
I turn to the group, “And I’m sorry, but I don’t remember anything that happened so I can’t really accept your gratitude.”
After saying that I start eating and the group disappeared outside again. I finish my plate and before I can even say anything mom switched hers with mine. I continue eating my second plate and mom starts talking, “I’m sorry you got involved in a mess like this. We really thought the facility you were in was the last one in the Kingdom.”
I stop for a moment to look at mom, “You know I don’t blame you, grandma or the Kingdom for what happened back then or even now.”
Mom had a conflicted expression for a while after that. I eat another 4 plates and as we leave the tent I notice it was already dark outside.
“Let me show you where we can sleep for the night.” Mom guides me to a collection of tents and gestures to one, “This one was prepared for you,” she then points at the tent next to it, “and this is mine in case you need anything.”
I give mom a long hug, “Thank you.” and then enter my tent. It’s a basic tent with just a bed in it and I lie down trying to sleep.
I look around and I’m back in the drawing room, the Viscounts castle fully intact again and the woman and the Viscount sitting in front of me. It looks like they are saying something but I can’t understand anything. I grab my scythe and unfold it, my body not listening to what I want it to do.
A single strike hits both the woman and the Viscount but they didn’t get cut and they just look at me in shock. Just a few seconds flames start to erupt from where they should have been cut quickly engulfing them and it doesn’t take long for them to turn into ashes as if they were never there to begin with.
My body turns around, facing the maid that served me tea, she looks horrified and frightened. She tries to talk but I still can’t make anything out and there is another strike from my scythe.
A few seconds pass again but this time there are no flames, instead there is a bright light emitting from her. The light seems to be coming out from her and fully envelops her before turning into a barrier floating slightly in the air.
The door to the drawing room opens and 4 guards enter, their mouths making me think they are screaming about something but there is no sound.
I walk past them as they move in slow motion and cut each of them. Three of them burst in flames moments later while one of them gets engulfed in light, just like the maid.
I continue walking, striking every person I meet on the way with my scythe. Most of the maids and very few guards get put into a barrier while anyone else turns to dust.
I stop in front of a big iron door and punch it in. The door bends where my fist hits it and gets stuck in the wall on the other side and behind the door is a staircase going into a basement area.
There are a few people who attempt to stop me but they are moving too slow to do anything. I recognize the corridors, they are similar to the ones in the facility I was in. Each time I reach a door with a number on it I pull it open by force, a lot of them are empty and the ones who aren’t I strike the children that are being held in there and each of them gets swallowed up by a barrier.
There is only one room left and as I enter a very scared person has just pushed a button, I strike them down and just as they burst into flames there is a bright light and I wake up.
I look around frantically and notice I’m still in the tent. It’s still dark outside and the castle is in ruins.
I’m thinking about telling mom about the dream but decided it can wait until tomorrow and go back to bed.
I wake up in my bed in the facility and look around, the room is exactly how it was before mom rescued me. I check out my body and it’s small, just how I was when I was 12. My door opens and two people in full body suits enter, “It’s time for today’s tests, follow us.”
I get up and follow the two people, we aren’t going the usual path for the magic and physical power tests and instead go into a large empty room with a few weapons on the side. On the other side of the room is a young boy holding a sword with a distressed expression.
“You better pick something to defend yourself if you want to live.” saying that the two people left and closed the door behind them.
Just then the young boy comes charging at me, “I’m sorry! I have no choice!”
It looks like he is about to start crying but his movements are slow. He swings down his sword and I just step aside. He tries to follow up with a sideways swing but I punch him and he flies to the other side of the room again.
Fighting people is almost boring after sparing with mom for such a long time.
I go to the wall on my side and pick up an axe. Too bad there isn’t a scythe here.
Before I can move I get a strong headache. Wait. Mom? A Scythe?
The headache disappeared again but the young boy closed the distance already and I can’t dodge or block.
I wake up in my bed in the tent again, drenched in sweat. It’s still dark and I’m pretty sure not that much time has passed since I went back to bed.
My heart is beating loud and I can feel tears welling up in my eyes so I leave my tent and go into mom’s.
I’m pretty sure mom is asleep but the moment I enter she sits up in her bed, “What’s the matter Bunny?”
“I had a nightmare again, can I sleep with you?”
She lies down again and holds open the blanket, which makes me think she might not really be awake, so I lie down next to her and soon fall asleep.
I wake up next to mom, she seems to still be fast asleep. I used to have a lot of nightmares for the first few years after mom rescued me and she always comforted me like this. I didn’t have a nightmare in quite a while but it’s still very comforting, especially knowing mom doesn’t mind it. I thought I’m over everything that happened but the nightmares I had last night prove I still have some issues.
Before I can think more about it mom wakes up as well, “Lucina? What are you doing here?”
“I had a nightmare yesterday and I think I remember what happened to the people who disappeared. Looks like I was right thinking you were still asleep, you even called me Bunny.”
We both turn a bit red with that last remark. “I’m sorry, I know you don’t like that nickname. As for what you remember, let’s talk about that later with the others present as well and I’m assuming the nightmare was similar to those when you were younger?”
I just nod. “Okay. Do you want to go eat breakfast or do you need a bit more time?”
I nod but then I can feel the tears welling up again. Mom seems to have noticed it as she is now embracing me. It takes me a moment to calm down again but once I have we make our way to get breakfast.
We eat in silence until mom starts to speak, “How would you feel about travelling for a while to get a change of pace?”
I finish my second plate, “That might be a good idea, but I want to drop by the capital first to make sure everything works out with employing Violet.”
“Sounds like a plan. Let’s inform Angus and Felicia after you finish eating and then leave for the capital.”
Back in the large tent mom is telling Angus and Felicia what I told her earlier. I’m having a hard time following the conversation but lucky for me mom is able to answer all the questions and I don’t seem to be needed.
“Hmm. I can see how strength like that is kept secret by the kingdom but after what happened here I don’t think it’s possible to keep it hidden much longer. I suggest we make Lucina A-rank and publicly state she declined S-rank,” Felicia looks at mom, “just like you. Since she is your daughter it should be believable and as long as we don’t tell the whole truth I’m pretty confident most people would just dismiss it as her being your daughter so of course she is going to be at least close to your strength.”
“I agree. Making it public that she is your daughter should also protect her from people trying to use her for her power, which, knowing you, is more a favour to them.” Angus chuckles while he adds that.
Felicia now turns to me, “Could you give me your Guildcard please?”
I instinctively reach for my backpack and only when I grab air do I notice I don’t actually have it on me. “It’s in my backpack and I don’t know where it is.”
They all look at me with a troubled expression until Felicia suddenly jolts up. She rushes to a corner of the tent where a lot of different objects are in a messy pile. It doesn’t take her long to find what she is looking for and walks over with a pitch black backpack in hand.
“Is this your backpack?”
I shake my head, “No, my backpack is brown.”
Felicia’s expression changed from excited to frustrated, “Damn, I was hoping it was yours because we aren’t able to open it to see what’s inside and every time I hold it it feels like it will bite me any second. Could you try opening it anyway?”
Before I can even answer she puts the backpack down in front of me and when I think about opening it it already opened all by itself, revealing my Guildcard.
I give the Guildcard to Felicia, “Looks like it’s mine after all.”
Mom leans closer to me and whispers, “When did you add a security feature like that?”
I whisper back, “I didn’t.”
After Angus and Felicia recover from the surprise of the backpack opening Felicia does something with my Guildcard and then gives it back to me. The card looks the same with the only difference being that the “C” indicating my rank is now an “A”.
As I put the card away mom gets up from her seat, “If you don’t mind we will take our leave now.”
We walk out without waiting for an answer and I follow mom to a makeshift stable, which is just a few tents without walls, where there are a few horses and carriages. We approach someone who seems to be taking care of the horses.
“Could you get a carriage ready for me? We are leaving for the capital.”
They nod and walk off and mom turns towards me, “It’s going to take a moment for the carriage to be ready, so how about a spar to ease your mind a bit?”
Stolen story; please report.
I look at mom dumbfounded, “If you think there is a place where we can go without causing any collateral damage.”
Mom smirks and gestures for me to follow her. We don’t walk too long but we reach a large open space with no one around. Mom takes up her position some distance away and waits for me to get ready.
I have to take even a spar with mom very seriously, I can’t afford to make a single mistake.
I put my backpack to the side where it shouldn’t get into the way or be damaged by crossfire, take my scythe and unfold it.
I go into position and mom doesn’t waste a second and charges me.
She swings down her sword on me and I dodge it to the side. I try to punch her to throw her off balance at the same time but she uses the momentum of her downward slash to jump over her sword, still holding it, and then uses the momentum from pulling her sword along to add power to a horizontal slash.
I barely blocked it with the end my scythes hilt but the impact still pushed me a few metres away while spinning me around.
We continue like that for a while, mom consistently deflecting my scythe while I dodge her sword but neither is able to hit the other.
I stop when I notice how out of breath mom is and she stops as well and collapses onto the ground clearly exhausted. I walk over to her after grabbing my backpack and give her some water.
“Thanks. I don’t think I will ever get used to just how much stamina you have, but I’m a bit surprised you didn’t mind all the spectators.”
Spectators? I look around and it looks like everyone from the camp is standing around the edges of where we were fighting looking at us awestruck. I start blushing and cast a cleaning spell on mom which instantly removes all the sweat and dirt from our fight.
Mom gets up while smiling, “The carriage is probably ready now so let’s go.”
We only had to camp out one night before arriving at the capital. I used a normal tent together with mom because I wasn’t able to find my own tent in my backpack. I am still a bit in a haze so maybe it’s because of that.
We went directly to the castle and mom is currently explaining what happened to grandma and Emelia and they left me to watch over Emelia’s child, Liliana Rhea Stellard.
Lily is very smart for a barely one year old and she seems to be very interested in my backpack for some reason. It’s good that Lily has some toys already because I don’t think most of the things I have are appropriate for a toddler. I am curious why she is so interested in my backpack though and I swear I could see it move slightly when she approached it.
I’m in the middle of reading a storybook to Lily when the door to her room opens and Emelia enters, “Thank you for playing with Lily. I hope it wasn’t too much, she has Eliza’s energy.”
“It’s fine, she is very well behaved. Are you finished with your talks?”
Emelia picks up Lily and looks at me with a serious expression, “Almost. The only thing left is your suggestion for the remote villages and we all think it would be best if you are present for that discussion.”
“Ah, sure.”
We walk back to the drawing room where mom, grandma and Emelia were talking before and I sit down next to mom. I explain what Tanya told me during my time escorting them to the villages and the idea of assisting the merchants by paying them for those routes. Grandma and Emelia take a moment to think before grandma speaks up, “I think I understand your idea but do you think it would benefit the kingdom?”
“Honestly, I don’t really know much about the financial parts and I think you should discuss that with the Reyes Trading Company. I also recommend giving them priority since they are among the only ones who are currently doing that part. As for the benefit for the kingdom. In my opinion, the reason why we are more powerful than the Stovaria Empire is the happiness of the common people. A lot of people will try to return a favour and actually help someone according to their abilities when they were helped by them before so while there probably won’t be any short term benefits there is a high likelihood of long term benefits. Also, if the villages aren’t dependent on every single person in the village it’s more likely for them to send their children to the royal academy and someone with an exceptional Talent is more likely to be found.”
“I see. We will see what we can do.” She then looks between me and mom, “So what’s your plan now? You could stay here for a while if you just go back.”
Mom answers for me, “We are dropping by the Ordno Duchy to check in with Alexia, Violet and Miss Bella before travelling for a while. I’m hoping that will ease her mind a bit.”
Grandma lets out a sigh, “Okay, be safe, and know that you can come home any time.”
It has gotten dark faster than expected and mom and I are staying at the castle for the night before leaving for the Duchy tomorrow. My room looks the same as before I left for school when I was living here for a while. Mom’s room is also still right next to mine with a connecting door.
hope the familiar surroundings help me sleep better.
I lie down on the bed and close my eyes.
“I’m sorry! I have no choice!” a young boy screams while rushing towards me with a sword. Just before the sword reaches me everything turns dark and when the light returns the boy is lying on the floor in a puddle of blood and then everything is dark again.
The same scene repeats over and over again, each time with a different child.
After about the 9th it stops and everything stays dark.
The floor feels muddy as if I’m in a swamp.
Different voices echo through the darkness like a soft whisper, ““Why did it have to be us?! Why wasn’t it you?!””
One after another translucent children without recognizable faces appear, slowly surrounding me.
““This is all your fault!””
““We would still be alive if it wasn’t for you!””
Then suddenly all of the translucent children rush towards me and the moment they reach me I’m blinded by a bright white light.
When I open my eyes again I’m in a plain white room with a single bed and door and before I can fully comprehend what’s going on the door opens and a familiar woman enters the room. I recognize her as the scientist from the Viscounts castle but she is missing her right arm.
“I got to give it to you, V, I didn’t expect you to put up that much of a struggle and after all we did for a monster like you.”
I can feel anger welling up and try to reach for my scythe but nothing happens so I rush towards her trying to punch her. Just before my hand reaches her face she dissipates and soon after the floor gives out and I appear to be in the royal academy.
“I bet they manipulated her score since she is the princess.”
“She probably thinks she is special just because she was adopted into the royal family.”
“Do you think we will also get some strong magic item if we pretend to like her?”
“I have never seen her use magic or fight with a weapon, I bet she just used her status to attend here and get into the advanced class.”
“I heard she is so useless even her parents abandoned her and her highness only adopted her out of pity.”
“What kind of monster would attack someone just for putting a peasant in their place?”
“Why did someone useless like her get adopted into the royal family to begin with?”
Everything around me changes again and I’m now in a dark brick room and cuffed to the wall with large chains. A soldier is standing in front of me and mom is on the other side of the bars looking at me with a disgusted expression. The soldier reads off a scroll, “You are sentenced to exile for impersonating the royal princess and deceiving the royal family. You will be sent out to the wilderness tomorrow at dawn and all of your possessions will be confiscated.”
I look at mom in horror, “Mom! What’s going on? This isn’t true, is it?”
Mom scoffs, “Of course it’s true. As if anyone could love a monster like you! Do you even know how many people you killed?!”
“—CINA!”
There is a loud bang from a door being opened, “LUCINA!”
I open my eyes but everything is blurry which makes it hard to see.
“Lucina! Is everything alright?”
I rub tears out of my eyes, it seems like I was crying in my sleep, and now see mom next to me looking worried.
“I think I had another nightmare.”
Just as I finish saying that I can feel tears flowing down my cheeks again.
Mom hugs me and whispers, “It’s going to be alright.” repeatedly.
I don’t know when I fell asleep but I woke up still in my room, mom still asleep next to me. I sneak out of bed and look through my backpack. I haven’t had the chance to check if the tent really isn’t in there so it might be a good idea to check if anything else is missing.
Essentially everything is missing, only my Guildcard and a few sets of clothes are still in there and I’m pretty sure at least 2 sets are missing as well. What surprises me the most is the box I used to create my metal, I made sure it’s sturdy since it did have to withhold a lot of mana and even if it broke there should still be fragments of it or at least the metal around. Then again, the backpack isn’t burned so it might have turned black from absorbing the metal but that still doesn’t explain all the missing things.
I just put the last set of clothes back into the backpack when mom wakes up. We briefly discuss my nightmare and then eat breakfast before leaving. Grandma already had a carriage ready for us to use and sent word to the Duchy about our arrival.
We arrived at the Dukes’ mansion in the late afternoon and they are already waiting for us outside.
“Welcome, your highnesses. We hope you had a pleasant journey.”
One of Bel’s fathers turns towards me, “Bella, Alexia and Violet are currently in the backyard training, why don’t you join them? I’m sure they will be excited to see you again.”
I nod and follow a maid who gestures for me to follow.
I can hear the clashing of metals before I can even see them. It looks like they have improved quite a bit since I last saw them and are also quite distracted with their spar so as I spot Violet I go and sit down next to her.
“Hey, how was your first adventure?”
Violet jolts at me suddenly talking to her but quickly gathers herself again and gives me a courteous bow, “Your highness, it’s a pleasure meeting you again. The journey was quite pleasant.”
I look at her in shock, “Please don’t do that. I’m living and grew up as a commoner so formalities like that make me uncomfortable.”
Violet blushes and avoids eye contact, “Ah, I’m sorry. I’m trying to learn proper conduct so I don’t mess up too much while at the academy.”
“It’s fine and you don’t have to be too worried about the academy. The principal already got informed about you so no one should give you any trouble.” I gesture at Alexia and Bel’s spar, “How long have they been going at it?”
She looks at them concerned, “About an hour so they should probably finish up soon but I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing them go at it like that.”
“I mean my spars with mom are usually about 2 hours depending on how all out we go.”
She looks at me in disbelief, “I thought I got a rough grasp on how strong you are from what Alexia told me but I think I underestimated you quite a bit if you can last that long against her highness Eliza.”
I shake my head, “Strength isn’t everything, we usually end in a draw because mom has way more experience which can’t be overcome by brute force. That’s also the reason why Bel and Alexia keep sparing like that, or at least that’s what they told me.”
Violet ponders for a bit, “I wonder if I can meet someone like they did and I bet your strength and power made you popular in the academy.”
“Nah, focusing on experimenting with magic tools made me weird so no one was really interested in me, not that I mind that to be honest.”
I didn’t notice that Alexia and Bel finished up and walked over to us and got a bit surprised when Bel suddenly joined the conversation, “She did get hit on at least once a day in the first semester, I always thought she turned everyone down because she just isn’t interested in relationships but it looks like she is just too dense.”
Alexia adds, “And I’m pretty sure it only stopped after half a year because we started a rumour that she is only interested in someone who is stronger than her and people who ignore it will be subjected to testing her more dangerous magic tools.”
I look at them in shock, “What do you mean dangerous magic tools? Everything I make is safe to use, at least once I let other people use it.”
“““THAT’S the thing you focus on?!?!”””
All three of them almost shout at the same time and I just shrug. “I mean I really am not interested in a relationship so I don’t really care about that and being dense isn’t an issue in that regard either. If anything I’m grateful to both of you for doing that even if I didn’t notice it.”
Alexia shakes her head, “Then how about you spar with us as a thanks? Me and Bella against you to make it fair.”
I smile, “Never.”
Bel frowns, “Oh come on, just once so we can see how much progress we made. You never agreed to it even in the academy.”
“Forget it. Fighting you too is too exhausting. If you want to test your strength go ask mom, she’s a battle junky just like the two of you.”
Alexia is pouting, “How come fight Miss Eliza isn’t exhausting but fighting is? She is way stronger than we are, even when fighting together.”
“Because mom’s style is simple and straightforward and I agreed to not use magic during our spars while your style focuses on the combination of magic and weapons so there is a lot more to focus on and I’d have to use magic as well, especially if you are tag-teaming.”
“Fiiiine. We will ask Miss Eliza after she finishes talking to my dads. You’re going to stay for until tomorrow anyways, right?”
“Yes. I think mom planned to leave in the afternoon since it’s going to take a few days to arrive at the Empire anyways and she refuses to camp out since my tent is missing.”
“What do you mean it is missing? I thought you always had it in your backpack? Where is your backpack anyways? Why do you have a new one?”
“It’s actually the same backpack, I don’t know why it’s black now but most of the things that were in it disappeared. The only things left are my guildcard and clothes but some of the clothes disappeared as well.”
Violet looks at my backpack and then at me, “Why do you give it mana? Is it required for it to work?”
I look at her confused, “What do you mean giving it mana? I’m not giving it any mana.”
Bel, Alexia and I look at her questioningly and she blushes a bit, “I-I’m not quite sure but I can faintly see mana coming from you going towards the backpack. I only used to be able to see Alexia’s mana before and I don’t know why I can see yours now as well but with Alexia it was when she started having more mana so I figured I’m just getting more used to it.”
I’m trying to think of a reason for why she can see my mana and why my backpack is absorbing my mana but before I can even really start Bel asks, “What about me? Can you see my mana? I should have a similar amount to Alexia.”
Violet looks at Bel for a moment and then shakes her head, “No, I don’t see anything. Alexia and Lucina are the only ones I’ve ever seen the mana of and I also don’t think I can see all of Lucina’s mana because it looks like less than what Alexia has but from what you told me she should have more.”
“Hmm. I will look into it while travelling. From what I know nothing really comes to mind that would explain it but who knows, maybe another country has more information on that.”
We talked for a while longer until mom and Bel’s dads came outside and Bel and Alexia spared with mom. It was impressive to watch and the both of them made a lot of progress but I could tell mom was holding back still. The stay with Bel’s family was very pleasant and mom and I are now on the way to our first stop for our trip, the capital of the Empire.