He willed the system, retrieving the two black swords from the system storage. The swords were reflecting the golden sunrays. Looking at the smooth surface, one could tell they were damn sharp. Still, Michael increased their sharpness by rubbing the blades against the sharpening stone bought from the system store.
”My Lord, if I may, can I suggest you something?” Azazel appeared next to Michael,
”Go ahead”
”You should finish the coronation ceremony soon. Your people need to see their king”
Azazel was right as he had never visited Bradford since he became the king. Claire and the elders handled everything. Michael wasn’t interested in being king. Nonetheless, he could at least visit the kingdom and his castle. Moreover, he needed to meet his army and commander.
”I will meet them” Michael stood up and put on his black full sleeves shirt and the long black coat.
”But first, I have an engagement party to attend” Michael threw the swords in the air, and they landed straight into the sheath on his back, forming an ‘X’.
Michael prepared to leave the mountain when he saw Ricky flying toward him. Azazel’s figure quickly vanished into thin air before Ricky could notice him.
”Master Ghost, your carriage is ready” as soon as Ricky landed before him, he bowed and informed Michael.
”No need for a carriage”
Beads of sweat broke out on Ricky’s forehead, noticing Michael’s current attire. Something told Ricky that Ghost wasn’t planning to give his blessing to the princess. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be in his battle attire.
”Have you ever fought a real battle, Ricky?” Michael asked, adjusting his tactical fingerless gloves. These gloves helped him grab the swords tighter thus increasing his sword mastery by a percentage.
Michael planned to transform the mountain top into his personal training area. Only, he was too busy to draw the blueprints for all the training pieces of equipment he needed forging.
For now, he just swung his arms in a circle a couple of times, and cracked his neck and knuckles before approaching Ricky,
”Only one time, Master Ghost” Ricky answered Michael’s question,
”Tell me about it” Michael put his arm around Ricky’s shoulder and asked,
”Well, one time when Daniel and I were guarding the gates, a group of hunters came to us chased by a gigantic brown bear”
”Did you kill it?”
Ricky embarrassedly scratched the back of his neck,
”No, it ran away. But not before giving me this” Ricky pulled down his shirt collar a bit to show Michael the deep scar running across his collar bone,
”Let me rephrase my question, have you ever fought a human?”
Ricky shook his head,
”Thought so”
While talking, they arrived at the edge of the mountain. The very next moment, Michael turned around to fall down.
”Huhoooooo” Michael shouted like a little kid free falling.
************************************
Kingdom Bredia was in a festive mood. One could feel happiness in even the darkest corners of the kingdom. King Bredia announced free food, twenty gold coins for each family, and more importantly, a permanent tax reduction by 2% to celebrate his daughter’s engagement to Andrews Winston.
The people flooded the surrounding castle. They all eagerly waited for the princess and the prince to appear. The vibrancy of the celebration, the energy of the dancing dragons, and the fireworks that make an artistic canvas of the morning sky, were enjoyed by all. The citizens showed their joy by painting their faces, carrying banners, offering food to fellow citizens, and shouting slogans appreciating the king and the princess.
The castle of Bredia had four solid, round towers towering above all and linked with small bridges. The castle walls were made of light gray stone. The engineers who built the castle placed refined windows thinly around the walls in seemingly perfect symmetry along with symmetric crenelations for archers and artillery. The real beauty came from the surrounding garden and the crystal blue stream running around the castle. The wooden bridge was raised to prevent the citizens from flooding the castle. Only after the engagement would King Bredia lower the bride so the people could enter the castle grounds to see their princess and prince.
Since the streets leading to the castle were flooded with cheerful citizens, the nobles and the guests entered the palace through the roof and landed directly in the throne hall.
Humble braziers decorated the throne hall, hanging from one side of each of the eight limestone columns that lit up most of the throne hall and radiated warmth across this hall along with the majestic chandeliers. The illustrations of a kingdom in the sky on the terraced ceiling danced in the flickering light while carved images and statuettes looked down upon the maple floor of this opulent hall.
The nobles were standing on the floor blanketed with a coral rug that ran down from the throne and split to encircle the entire hall while matching banners with emblazoned crowns decorated the walls. Between each banner sat a shrine-like ornament covered in candles. A few of them have been lit and, in turn, illuminated the artistic portrayals of Princess Katherin and Andrews Winston below them.
The draperies colored the same coral as the banners hid the windows while burnished corners and fancy tassels adorned the curtains.
A glorious throne of oak sat atop a tall elevated platform and five somewhat plain-looking seats for the royal highness’ family members accompanied the throne.
”His majesty really outdone himself this time. The place looks gorgeous”
”Where did his majesty buy the wine? it’s delicious”
”I heard his majesty even invited someone close to Empress Ara”
”You kidding me?”
”No”
”I thought only the kings and queens in Elon continent would attend the ceremony”
”I don’t think King Maxim or King Portes will come”
The nobles gossipped while slow dancing to the music played by the orchestra group. Thanks to the soldiers constantly patrolling and monitoring the castle grounds, everything was going smoothly.
”You’re late” at the moment, a lady adorned in a sparkling golden dress entered the castle with a couple of men. The lady who arrived at the castle was Emelda and the one who welcomed her was Natalia; Andrews’s mother.
”Where is everyone?” Natalia asked, fiddling with her golden hair nervously,
”Ethan is still at the battle grounds. Diana said she will be here tomorrow morning” Emelda said,
”What about the kids? Where are they?”
”Sabi is still in seclusion I guess. We received a note from Rowena and Noah. They’ll be here with Diana”
Natalia heaved a sigh of relief but when she thought about Sabrina, her smile grew shorter,
”Can’t Sabi just take a break and come here?”
Emelda shook her head,
”You know about Sabi, she is working so hard to break through to the Core Formation stage. She won’t miss the marriage, I guarantee you”
Emelda knew how much Natalia loved Sabrina. She was the youngest child in the family so every single one of them loved her dearly. As a result, Natalia was crushed when she heard Sabrina wouldn’t come to the ceremony.
However what she heard next cheered her up instantly,
”Do you know who’s coming today? Yasmin” Natalia’s face immediately brightened as though someone was directing a torch light to her.
”Really?!” Natalia almost bounced in joy. She was so excited.
”Yes. In fact, she is on her way here” Emelda brightly grinned,
Yasmin Winston was Ethan’s nephew. Several years ago, she went to Awor to hone her skills. There wasn’t a sect that didn’t invite her to join them. But she rejected them all because she believed getting real experience was more crucial than learning in a sect.
Yasmin was the pride of Ethan’s younger brother Kaiden. After what Jacobe did, Kaiden couldn’t look Ethan in his eyes. He was ashamed of his son’s plot to assassinate Sabrina and Diana. If Yasmin was there, she would have personally cleaved her brother’s head clean off.
”How can I miss this special day, Aunty?” Natalia heard a charming voice as she looked up to see Yasmin gracefully descending from the sky.
The girl wore armor set with a rounded helm and a faceguard. Attached to the forehead area was a crafted leather ornament piece shaped like a lion’s mouth. The shoulders were oval, short, and quite large decorated with three large, curved wooden spikes on each side, lined up from back to front.
She removed her helmet to reveal her perfectly sculpted face and her porcelain skin. Every single youngster in the hall turned their gaze to the black-haired girl in battle armor.
She wasn’t by any means a country toppling beauty. However, the grace and the aura she radiated rivaled even the most powerful people in Elon.
What particularly caught everyone’s attention was her armor which was made of many vertical layers of leather and metal mimicking a dragon’s scales. One could not find a single place in her body that wasn’t covered by the armor.
”Yasmine” the two ladies dashed at her and when her feet touched the floor, they hugged her tight.
”Aww I missed you two so much” Yasmine hugged them back.
”Too…tight” Emelda patted Yasmine’s back, barely letting her know her embrace was crushing them.
”Sorry,” Yasmine quickly let them go. She had to slap herself on the face for forgetting how strong she was and how fragile her aunties were.
”Where are my cousins? Don’t tell me they aren’t planning a homecoming party for me”
”Brat, couldn’t you have taken off your armor? Is this what you learned from the elves?” Emelda playfully twisted Yasmine’s ear,
”Yeah, they’ve been teaching me so much noble etiquette” Yasmine sarcastically said,
”Bring me to see my soon-to-be prince aunties”
Yasmine put one hand around Natalia’s neck and the other around Emelda’s neck. She didn’t give a damn about what the others would think, nor did Natalia and Emelda.
As they spoke, Ghost was on his way to giving the couple a gift that no one would forget for years to come.