Snow laden mountains, and a hissing wind. The snowstorm had subsided a little but Adiel was no where to be found. Vincent Adad had thought that everything would be fine if he just waited near the river where Reina Aurwood would stumble upon Adiel… but he was too early. He was a day and a half early to be exact.

By now Adiel must have infiltrated the trafficking team, and escaped with Tammy. If he could just get a hold of them...“The Phantom Bridge” he mumbled as he trudged onto the snow and took shelter in a lofty cave. That was where the traffickers would be gathered. There was a good chance he would find Tammy and Adiel near there. He knocked onto a wall at the cave, and opened a door. Another secret path he knew about from his past. . . The North was full of secret paths and tunnels, where the raging weather had no effect – he had multiple occasions to learn of this secret. First these were used by the Northern Forces- he learned it when he was a part of the Northern Army- and second, there were illegal or obscure extensions to the tunnels used often by criminals, traders and sometimes even children for their convenience–he met some while he was in the lost in the woods once.

Nonetheless, they got you where you wanted to go pretty quickly, he thought, as he raised a flat stone to the floor of another cave, and came out to a place glowing with bright blue light. He could listen to the clanking sound of people hitting on the stones with their tools on the other side.

“The mine workers…,” he thought, while hiding behind a large stone ore. They were quarreling.

“What do you mean the stock is nowhere to be found? I just handed it to you! ”

“Are you kidding me? I was here the whole time!”

“Stop it! Those batch of stones were specifically prepared for Lord Victor !”

They started whispering to one another.

“ Stop scolding us when it’s not our fault!”

“You can all be happy once he hangs my head on top of his castle!”

“Hey, hey, hey! Stop fighting!”

Suddenly an explosion could be heard a bit far away in the mine.

“Look for them!,” some nasty looking men came running that way, leaving the mine workers distraught. They held swords in one hand and explosives on the other.

“Two children! Look for them!”

“They let everyone escape!”

“Those fuckin’ bastards...”

“Get that boy! I will stuff his balls onto his face once I catch him!”

Vincent’s eyes widened. They were looking for Adiel!

“Be careful! He uses magic!”

Meanwhile a bit farther from the main cave, a cloaked man rushed outside onto the snow, and summoned a white owl. He then wrapped a piece of paper onto its legs and let it fly, and inconspicuously returned back to the scene.

“The trafficker’s base was infiltrated by a boy….,” a man in clanky armors read it aloud to Sir Clement.

“Apparently he caused mayhem there, and now four out of five kidnapped people are missing.”

“And the dealers?,” Sir Clement asked.

“There are three of them, most likely from the west, but they have hired a group of mercenaries- there are eighteen to be exact, and a few of them also use magic…”

“Must be dealing with very valuable items then…”

“Yes, but “it” is still nowhere to be found...”

“How many of our men have they caught?”

“Two. They are injured, and probably being interrogated, but I doubt the enemy knows they are with us.”

Sir Clement recalled the words of Reina Aurwood.

“You Sir who are obsessed with my duties, I must know what it is that YOU have been doing that gives you such a high ground over me!”

Men putting their lives on the line was not enough, eh?

But his other subordinate who was also in the same room stopped his train of thoughts.

“Vice Commander!,” he called him out of desperation, “Do you have want to have our division demolished?”

“If you keep acting the way you do, certainly…,” Sir Clement told him.

“You KNOW I am not talking about that.”

He stiffly pointed to Reina sitting at the center on the other side of the tent on a large warm and fluffy seat. He didn’t even look at her, just pointed at her from sideways.

“I am talking about ….ahem…,” he breathed, “Our Gorgeous Ladyship over there!”

Bright red and orange hair, green eyes… and she glared at them from a distance. He was not far from the truth.

“Well, I heard she insisted on coming…,” said Sir Arlen, the one who read the letter. He was short, black haired and had a quite apathetic face most of the time.

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?! That’s the Lord’s daughter! Lord Victor Aurwood’s sister! And...She is ruling the North right now!”

“Our Lord asked Sir Clement to take care of her...that’s why he may summon her if she sees fit.”

“You fucking copy of the Vice Commander!,” he tried to grab him by his armor. He was known for being neurotic.

“He told him to make sure she doesn’t miss out…!,” he clarified, “I remember the words clearly! ”

…

“Well now she doesn’t..” his friend bluntly replied, however, while shoving his hand off, “A rare insight into the inner workings of the Fortress of the North, Sir Clement! From the viewpoint of rookies...”

Actually the rookies who stood guard outside the tent were very nervous...Why on earth was a royal family member going to watch Sir Clement with them?!

“Ughhhh!”

He rushed over to her and then knelt immediately, offering her a cup of warm tea .

“My Lady, if there is anything at all that you need,” he said very sincerely, “Just give an order to this humble servant named Julian from Southsfort. ”

“I will protect you with my life!”

Reina Aurwood had traveled for half a day and finally- oh, finally arrived at this small camp! Oh, how she missed cars! And as if adding salt to her wound, chaos to her confusion, this young man told her that he would protect her with his life... As if Reina Aurwood would die again. She almost chuckled.

“That’s very thoughtful of you…,” she replied, still.

Nonetheless, and she didn’t mention this to anyone, she actually regretted it...How did she end up here, she thought again ?! Right… she was advised to...

“My Lady, there is no need to do as Sir Clement says…,” Master Hem had advised Reina Aurwood after Sir Clement had left the Council Room making his dashing statement that she should leave with him.

“If you leave with Sir Clement, you may or may not be able to leave for the Spring Valley on time…” Reina did not care about that.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“My Lady, this is outrageous!,” Edwin Lian, strangely, was the only person who talked sensibly, “What if something happens to you? How dare he ask a royal to accompany him to a place as dangerous as the Northern Woods?!”

Exactly. Reina had assumed held a rank that she held a rank higher than him considering how he bowed or knelt every time she saw him, but now it felt like he was riding her like a horse. She looked at the four empty seats at the Council and the people around her: an old man, an old man, a very old man, one person who looked out of place- did she have any power at all?

But an unexpected response came from Old Grandmaster Shenan, who had just woken up.

“The words of royalty are taken as laws, My Lady, ” the old man smiled warmly, “ Sir Clement is your vassal. It is his duty to protect you… ”

So there she was. Indeed her pride would not allow it if she were to run away from this. Plus now she may not have to go see Veronica, though she was already done packing at the palace, and her servants were all ready for her to leave the moment she returned back to the castle.

“You may think of this like making an unnecessary detour…,” Master Hem had later even assured her with sympathy the moment she left the castle, even though he was against it initially.

So there she was in the same room as these knights who were discussing strategy, and in front of the fifth division commander, who couldn’t believe in the outrageous circumstance!

“My, Sir Clement! You sure have guts subjecting Her Ladyship to this horrible weather!,” he said pacing back and forth in the same side of the room.

“Can you even take responsibility? What if something happens to her Ladyship? Oh! I cannot even imagine!”

Sir Clement, it seemed, couldn’t care less. “Of course…,” thought Reina, annoyed.

“You sure seem to have a lot of free time, Sir Edwin.,” his blunt subordinate, Arlen, however, replied for him in return.

Embarrassed, Sir Edwin blabbered, “How disrespectful! Is this how all the members of the second division treat their leaders?”

“I am only letting this slide in the image of your brother the First Hand !”

The young boy paid him no heed and only arranged the maps and other items in the tent. Indeed the maps were the same as Reina had seen in the library before...only more detailed. She stood up from her seat and looked around.

“How old are you?,” she asked the Deputy Captain, who was arranging the maps.

“I have lived for twenty one years, My Lady…,” he replied, bowed and got back to his work.

He was much more reserved in comparison to Sir Julian, who took a bow from the corner and opened the door to the tent.

“My Lady…,” he said.

“Let me show you something” and then streched an arrow onto his bow.

“My range is over two hills and one river…,” he said and released the bow. It passed so fast Reina’s heels lifted up two inches from where she stood in amazement, as she watched it disappear into the distance.

“Wow…,” she clapped, while the rest of the men cringed.

What kind of technology was this? Was it the bow, she thought as it pulled its string and felt its shaft? Or just pure strength? What kind of superhuman strength is that?

“You are stronger than you look…,” she said, still feeling the bow, even though she thought he was a bit of a bragger- two hills and one river, he said, as if he was firing a missile instead.

“Ahahaha…I am grateful you think so, My Lady!,” he said, “I will sniff out any enemy in the radius of my arrows, so don’t worry! I won’t let anything happen to you…”

It was sudden, but Reina felt warm and cold at the same time...why did everyone act like something could possibly happen to her; with that much care, she also had to believe in them…

Meanwhile, Sir Clement stood up from where he sat and came over to her. Handing her a cylindrical vessel, he told her, quite unwillingly, “ While you may be here because of me, it doesn’t make this mission any less dangerous, My Lady. To me it’s a cinch but while while you are here, my first priority will never be the mission.”

Eh?

“If you ever find yourself in danger, just squeeze that thing, and Vice Commander will come to protect you…,” Sir Arlen clarified it for her before they left.

“Oh...”

“Well, then we are leaving, My Lady…” Sir Julian called upon her and helped her get onto a horse.

“For now, you are under my care...”

“Alright…,” Reina nodded – did she have any other choice?- as groups of soldiers in their clanky metal outfits came and surrounded her from all sides in their own horses. Some held spears while some held swords… “Are they protecting ...ME?”

“Most of them are rookies, My Lady. We are just going to watch from the sidelines.,” Sir Julian smiled.

It was the first time she felt such a sense of awe since she had arrived in this place...Maybe being Lady Aurwood was not-

“Woahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”

She almost slipped down the saddle of the horse as it started speeding into the woods; she would have fallen if not for Sir Julian catching her.

“My Lady, are you alright?!”

Reina panted… Did it look like she was alright?! Her hair was disheveled and her face turned all red from adrenaline. Right. She was riding a horse, she thought...She didn’t know how to ride a horse?! How did she even get on this thing?!

“My Lady, you must be steady…,” the knight helped her, “What happened? Why are you not holding the reins?”

Where? Where are the reins? She came in a carriage all this way here, and now they were all moving on horseback. How did she not think it was weird that she even knew how to get on a horse in the first place?

“I forgot…,” she had to admit...Otherwise how would she make it to Sir Clement?

“During my illness, I forgot how to ride a horse…,” she swallowed her pride and lied.

“Oh…” The Knight looked confused at first but then he just smiled without asking questions and took the reins for her.

“We can make do, My Lady…,” he smiled.

What a nice man...Reina almost cried.

They soon appeared on top of a cliff from which one could see a lake. Underneath the cliff extended slopes, and some tunnels… Blue light glowed from there, and they glowed even brighter as the sun went down.

“Do you see that bridge at a distance?,” Sir Julian asked.

“It’ s the famous Phantom Bridge you only see during sunsets...”

“During sunsets ?”

“Yes, My Lady! It’s looks really beautiful especially when the snow is falling on it…”

He was right. It was quite far from there, but it disappeared the moment the sun set. How mysterious...Reina thought.

Still the place that she was looking at wasn’t so bad either. The lake was almost frozen ,and was surrounded by these beautiful blue stones that emitted light like a halo. Tunnels opened from many places in the slope below and a significant amount of digging, it seemed, took place there.

“There are traffickers inside these tunnels?,” Reina asked, as she saw Sir Clement’s small team a few slopes below them.

“Yes, My Lady… they have two of our men, and some of them are magic-users…”

Reina pretended she didn’t hear that.

“I see…then how does Sir Clement plan to catch them?”

“Oh, he is just going to blow the place up...”

“I see…”

“WHAT?”

Sir Julian shook his head.

“There are different ways people like to fight, My Lady, and our highly respected living fortress of the North never sneaks on anyone.”

He was saying when suddenly the land shook from the sound of an explosion. Reina was not sure how exactly he did it and what kind of device he used, but Sir Clement stood there on a slope with his sword supporting him in front, and watched...

“W-what the fuck!”

“W-what was that?!”

As a swarm of people ran out of the tunnels…

“Who did this ?!”

“Are you pickin a fight-”

A shadow loomed over them.

“You know how it is done, My Lady,” Sir Julian told Reina on the other side, “If you want honey, you need to set the honeycomb on fire…”

“Who on earth dares-”

Some wild man running out grunted, but saw Sir Clement glaring at them from above, and immediately froze in fear.

“W-why,” he said…

“I-isn’t that…”

“Well, let’s just say us second division people are fond of one-one fights…,” added Sir Julian.

A team of knights and soldiers came out from behind Sir Clement.

“The ..., ” the mercenaries mumbled.

“The Fortress of the North! ”

“Huh?! Who are you talking about?!,” some dared to question.

“Don’t you see that stone hilt sword?? ”

“Huh?!”

“Clement of Brutesfort!,” someone finally spat it out as he gripped his sword with all his might, and anger.

“That’s the second hand!”

“What is he doing here?!”

Indeed Reina had never seen such a scene unfold before her eyes.

“It took you a while…,” Sir Clement told the gangsters, as he lifted the sword from the snow, and jumped down.

“Why have you come to catch some small-fry criminals, Clement?,” one said, as he stood there with his guard completely up, gripping his sword, and sweating.

“Good question…,” Sir Clement said, as he made some hand signs and breathed. His small team along with Sir Arlen, on the other hand, took the chance to deviate and return back to the tunnels.

“Everyone,” the man from before who knew Clement flinched, “Put your guard up!”

A purple energy disc imprinted with strange symbols surrounded Clement.

“And watch for him! Careful-”

Sir Clement raised his sword, and made a swerving move. In a moment, a bunch of stone giants had risen from the ground and caught hold of them, making them unable to speak or move. And soon, like Clement, made a swerving move.

Men flew like birds and their weapons like projectiles. One by one, they fell onto the snowy ground with a thud.

“I also wonder the same thing…,” Clement told the man who had not been flown away yet, as he looked at Reina Aurwood mid-battle, who flinched.

"Why do I do what I do...knowing that small fry people are never gonna change..."