Humanity's Hero Of Despair

After several hours of navigating the unfamiliar landscape of the Oriventh Empire, we finally arrived at the Grand Duke Lancaster's castle.

You heard me right.

The Grand Duke has a castle of his very own.

This castle is on par with the Tarondar Palace, if not even slightly more grand. Matteo, Leena, Zephyr, Neve, Ivy, literally everyone was gawking at the sight of it as we got closer and closer. Lancaster Castle was not the only thing impressive, either. The Dukedom of Lancaster was impressive on its own.

To put it into perspective, the Dukedom is at a minimum of four times the size of Stonelight. Yeah. It's huge. These Grand Dukes are very wealthy and powerful. We have to be careful of them.

As we approach closer to the golden gates of Lancaster Castle, I notice the walls lined with enchanted cannons and magic wards. If you look closely, you can spot the translucent magic shield that forms a dome around the castle to protect it from any attacks.

From the amount of mana I can sense in the air, I am pretty sure it can withstand up to at minimum ninth affinity magic spells, which is saying something.

The towering gates are adorned with the symbol of the House of Lancaster, twin gold swords intertwined with each other, with a laurel wreath in the middle of the swords. The gates open up to allow us in without even us saying anything which surprises me.

Then I notice several lookouts on top of the walls with what appeared to be enhanced telescopes. They probably spotted us right away and noticed our enormous party and the symbol of King Grey's crest on the side of the main carriage.

As we pass through the fortress's walls, we notice a sprawling, beautiful garden. Many of us took a second to look at it before passing them. I mean, the garden was filled with such rare glowing plants and flowers it was hard not to.

Two words. Very rich.

An army of staff comes out to greet us in fancy suits and dresses, all with any sort of drink and food you can imagine we would want. The staff helps us out of our carriages and helps us grab our things. We are all being lead to into the castle's grand hall.

The grand hall is a massive chamber lined with gold framed paintings, fancy statues, and enchanted crystal chandeliers. This place makes the former Keeper Principal's office look like a shack.

Grand Duke Lancaster descends the grand staircase flanked by two women in very fancy dresses. His appearance obviously screams show-off, but his outfit looks fairly cool. Flowing silk robes in silver and gold lining, several ornate rings on his fingers, and a rare gemstone necklace.

"Welcome everyone to my grand castle! I had a sneaky suspicion Governor Griffith was up to something once I recognized the banner of the Veltharian Republic. I was quite surprised to see the royal seal of the Kingdom of Tarondar as well. Seems like it will be an exciting few days."

The Grand Duke says as he gently lets go of the women on his arms and walks over to Quillen. The immediate feeling I get from the Grand Duke is that he is a creep. A rich creep, but still very much a creep.

"You must be Quillen! From the House of Martin, right? I have spoken to your parents many times. It is great to finally meet you!"

"It is great to meet you, your Grace!" Quillen says in a formal tone while bowing slightly. Grand Duke Lancaster laughs and replies to Quillen.

"There is no need for such formalities! So, what is the main reason for your visit today?"

I respond to the question by handing him King Grey's letter, the President's letter, and Governor Griffith's official seal. He glances through the contents and then sighs. He gives the letters to an attendant, and they are whisked away, probably to his office.

"We can worry about political business in a few days. In the meantime, enjoy my home to the fullest! Come on. Follow me everyone."

We all follow him up the grand staircase, which brought us up to a sprawling balcony which looks over a lot of the Dukedom. The sight is very beautiful to look at. Next, we go outside to look at the huge enchanted pool that was enchanted to shimmer in different colors.

Matteo and Zephyr both asked the Grand Duke if he had a private training area. With lots of pride, the Grand Duke happily lead us all to his private training courtyard, which would've made the size of the former Keeper Academy training grounds look miniature.

Both Matteo and Zephyr were astounded by the size of it.

Estes then spoke up and asked if there was any room or area that he liked to play cards at, etc. The Grand Duke nodded and then started leading us to the huge game room. The game room had so many tables and even had a few people in it who looked wealthy playing poker.

"Don't mind them. They are my friends who like to hang out with me sometimes."

The Grand Duke waves at them, and they wave back. I could see it in Estes' eyes how jealous he was of such a vast place to play cool card games in. What made Estes even more jealous, though, was the Grand Duke's personal library. It probably was a few hours that went by until the Grand Duke showed us all the Lancaster castle.

"So…. how did you all enjoy my humble home?"

There was nothing humble about it.

Quillen said something, as all of us didn't know what to reply with.

"It was extremely interesting and surprising at all the things you have around the castle!"

That was well said Quillen. I couldn't of worded it better.

"Thank you Quillen! I knew the House of Martin raised a kind young man. Now, you all may wonder what we do next, right? Well, I still believe the political business can be done another day, so I have a surprise on the way!"

The Grand Duke threw out his hands while he said this line dramatically.

You don't impress anybody you know.

"Tomorrow I have something planned, something that you will never forget."

"Any hints?" One of the magical knights asks the Grand Duke.

"None at all. For now, please enjoy your stay in the luxurious guest rooms. I will explain it in the morning."

"That doesn't sound good…." Zephyr whispers to me.

Nothing ever comes good from this guy, I think to myself as we leave to head to bed.