Sword Mountain, southernmost mountain of the Han Mountain Range.
It had taken a week to travel from the capital, XiXi to this mountain by tigers that had red wings called Flame Steads.
When they landed, they fed the 3 tigers some meat and they flew away, stranding them on this mountain.
“Haa. Such a beautiful view, isn’t it?” Emelia looked behind her and saw Leo, Agor, Kornela and Kalene, all panting. Isabella had to return to the Dylarr Front once more so she couldn’t participate in this journey.
“Indeed, water anyone?” Duke Kar took out a pouch from his sack and passed it to Leo, the oldest. Kalene let out an exhausted laugh as she concentrated onto nothing in particular until her Storage Space opened.
“Sis, Sis! Gimme some! Please~~” Kornela jumped up and down in front of Kalene.
Duke Kar only brought water, while Kalene brought other types of drinks, and since the Storage Space is static, the drinks were cold.
Kalene teased her for a while until handing her a glass bottle. Kornela chugged the whole bottle and let out a satisfied smile as she handed the bottle back to Kalene.
“Ok, everyone set up camp here. Leo, organise and take care of everyone. Agor, camp fire. Kornela… relax.” Duke Kar very seriously handed out orders.
Emelia laughed quietly as Kornela pouted. She then followed Duke Kar, who began walking down the mountain and into a forest.
As they approached the forest, Emelia saw that it was dark inside and waved her hand slightly. A ball of flames appeared above the two of them and Duke Kar frowned.
“Empress.. This fire..” It was quite dangerous to bring a flame into this forest, as it was quite thick, anything could catch fire easily.
Emelia saw his frown and only picked up a branch which she put into the fire. She held it there for a couple of seconds, but nothing happened.
Duke Kar’s eyes widened. He lifted his hand and put it in the flame. Nothing. He felt nothing from the flame, yet the light it emanated was as if it were a torch.
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Emelia only smiled and didn’t explain.
“Your Majesty, this way. The woodchoppers' small village should be in this direction.” Duke Kar pointed to a fork in the road leading deeper into the forest. Emelia nodded.
They walked on this path, enjoying the scenery and peace until they began to smell a delicious scent. They saw some wooden walls and a hole in one of them, clearly leading into the village.
Emelia put out the fire that was above them and approached it.
They calmly entered the village and the dozen or so villagers dropped whatever they were doing to run towards them.
The crowd began to surround them, yet leaving a path right down the middle of the road, allowing them to walk on it.
They didn’t shout, yet they stared at Duke Kar with happiness and love. Duke Kar nodded and shook each of their hands. Only when he did that, did they walk back to whatever they were doing, but still staring at them in that way.
After some time, when all the villagers were pacified by Duke Kar’s wonder handshake, they continued walking on the road until they approached a slightly bigger and more luxurious looking house straight in the middle of the village.
“This was my relaxation and leisure home. I stayed here when I returned from campaigns. I mean, who wouldn’t. Lovely forest, fresh air and great people. A stark contrast with the battlefields.” Duke Kar sighed with emotion as he looked at the house and surroundings.
Though this was a rural village, it was very clean. The inhabitants clearly taking care of everything, even the long abandoned home. When compared to the dirty and smelly capital, it was very refreshing.
Emelia took a deep breath and let out her Qi around the whole village and forest, even just barely managing to sense Leo, Agor, Kornela and Kalene, though it was only vague images as it was too far.
Seeing that nothing had happened to them, she retracted her Qi and followed Duke Kar into the house.
As she entered, she expected the house to be covered in cobwebs and be very dark. But when Duke Kar opened the door, all she saw was a normal home. Nothing was out of place, the stairs leading up were clean with no filth, the fireplace had no sut, and the kitchen was fully stocked.
“It seems that the villagers took great care of this place.” Emelia smiled at Duke Kar.
“Of course. I take care of them every month, sending a bit of money and lots of food. Only very rarely do caravans come through this place, so the food is important, they have their own well, so water isn’t as important.” Duke Kar nodded as he lit up the hallways with lanterns.
He walked over to one of the lantern holders and pulled down on it with force. It slowly tilted and the wall beside it began to slide aside.
There appeared a dark staircase leading down.
Emelia had already known that there was another floor when she released her Qi so she only nodded when Duke Kar looked at her.
They carefully walked on the old creaking stairs, careful not to break them by accident.
As the lantern lit up the whole room, the only thing that appeared was a white shine. The walls were full of swords, reflecting the light.
In the middle of the room was an armour stand. On it was shiny red armour.
The helmet covered the whole head, apart from the face, which was fully revealed. On top of it was a long purple plume.
The chestplate was big, clearly for a robust muscular man. It was clearly defining a man's physique.
There seemed to be very little armour for the legs, clearly to allow for mobility, as it only covered the thighs and shins.
The metal boots had fur on the inside which was quite soft.
“This is.. Megan. My campaign armour. It was created by my wife, Megan, 3 years ago. It’s quite silly to name armour after my wife isn’t it? She laughed when I told her that. I said I always wanted to have her by my side.” He sighed.
“Yet, when I returned from my campaign, I learned she was sick, so I retired immediately and have kept it down here all this time to keep this memory of her.” Duke Kar touched the armour with care as he spoke to Emelia, who was also appreciating the armour.