A huge underground city built out of nothing but metals, earth and stones. Golems working as labourers and canals and rivers running with lava.
The scene was such an eye opener that one cannot believe that something like this existed underneath the city without coming here.
Dawn Forge, it was the name of this place and not the shop.
“This way Lord Reinhardt” the old dwarf led them to the tallest building inside the Dawn Forge and opened the door.
“Elder Bodhog, you won’t believe who I brought”…
“I know, this is a small place, words travel fast” An aged voice answered.
“Welcome, commander” A dwarf with a wide muscular frame walked in.
“It looks like you are doing well, Sir Bodhog”…
“I should say the same to you. It looks like the curse was nothing for the commander”…
Reinhardt and the dwarf named Bodhog exchanged greetings. The latter was the sole elder of the colony and one of the few Grandmaster rank blacksmiths in the world. The Dawn Forge was run by him.
Reinhardt introduced the dwarf to Verdia and Arthur.
“I know why you are here. If it’s that runt’s armor that your father asked me to make, it’s completed”
To call the son of a duke a runt, only Bodhog had the guts to do that in the entire Lumiose city.
While Arthur tried out the armor which was perfectly tailored for him, Reinhardt and Bodhog discussed some important matters. It was mainly about the curse he was inflicted with.
“Those damn demons, so it was their doing after all. I can’t believe they managed to infiltrate this deep into our society” The dwarf sighed in concern.
“It looks like the upcoming days will be quite turbulent. However, it makes me and this entire region relieved that you are back commander”.
Bodhog was an old friend of his father and had joined the Temple of Light order in many of its expeditions. Hence the reason he calls Reinhardt commander.
Bodhog might not look like it but he was a level 6 warrior.
.
.
After finishing their task at the Dawn Forge the three exited out when Verdia all of a sudden declared that she wanted to shop. Naturally, Reinhardt had to tag along.
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For a Duchess to walk around in the city without any escorts would be unthinkable and only invite trouble. However, with Reinhardt there, Raymond had no qualms about sending his wife to the city.
Could there be any better escort than a peak level 10 knight?
As one would expect of a noble woman, Verdia was quite adept in shopping and thanks to the vast wealth possessed by the Arcknight, she bought mountains of items from every shop she visited.
Every employee of the establishments she visited would send them off respectfully and with stars in their eyes saying please come again.
Sigh… Reinhardt sighed in exhaustion. Naturally, he was not so fond of shopping; however, the reason why he was so worn out was because of the constant attention that he was getting.
As he was one of the only three level 10 knights in the entire kingdom, he was extremely famous. Plus this was his home territory, everyone recognised him wherever he passed by.
Some came to him to get his sign, others would come to him to curry favour or flirt. The constant interruption vexed him very much.
“You are quite famous… Commnader” Verdia finally opened her mouth to say something and it was laced with irony.
Reinhardt scratched his cheeks helplessly, it was not like he wanted all this attention. He was just about to say something when suddenly Verdia screamed.
Kya~ her foot tripped on a stone and she was about to fall on the ground. However, before she could, a big sturdy hand supported her at the waist pulling her into his embrace before she could fall.
He had curly golden blonder hair, sharp manly features and heterochromatic eyes that made one hypnotise just by looking at them.
Verdia continued to stare at the most handsome man she had ever seen, for an unknown period of time.
“Are you alright?” Reinhardt called out.
This finally snapped Verdia out of her daze and she pulled her body out from his embrace.
“Wait why am I suddenly like this? What’s going on?” With a flushed face and beating heart, she tried to keep her embarrassment in check when suddenly she realised something.
Arthur was nowhere to be seen.
“Arthur!! Arthur? Where did you go? Where is my son??”
Panicking, she tried looking for him everywhere to no avail. Tears streaked down her cheeks, she was on the very of crying and breaking down.
“Don’t worry, I know where he is” Reinhardt explained.
It turns out that they were being targeted. The perpetrators had been following the three of them for quite a while.
Noticing that they would walk by a secluded street, the criminals took this chance to set up a trap. One of the criminals dressed as homeless, deliberately set a stone right into her path to make her trip.
Using this chance when Reinhardt their sole escort focused on the lady, they kidnapped the little boy who obviously seemed to be the son of some noble.
“What?! Then is my son…” color drained from Verdia’s face as she imagined the worst case scenario.
“Don’t worry I will save him”…
She looked at Reinhardt and tightly clenched his hands “Please… you must save my son”…
“Rest assured, he is my brother. If someone wants to hurt him, they must first go through me, his big brother” Reinhardt assured.
Then in a swift motion, he picked up Verdia and chased in the direction the criminals ran towards.
“W-What are you doing?” Being princess carried like that, Verdia's face flushed red and she couldn’t help but protest.
“I am your only escort remember? I can’t leave you behind lest something happens to you. Since the criminals dared to kidnap the son of the duke in his own territory, they might be also targeting you. If you are with me, they won’t be able to kidnap you”
Reinhardt reasoned, tightly holding her body. He increased his speed further as he traced the tracks left behind by the criminals.