VERSATILE: ALTERNATE WORLD

The nightlife of the city is quite lively and the air has finally cooled down significantly as well, making the temperature of the surroundings similar to how most continents have during nighttime.

Bazaar stalls have filled up the streets, and various tourists and players are walking in the streets enjoying the night time cool breeze blowing in the air. In short, the nighttime life of the city became the most lively time for the people.

However, I don't have much time to enjoy that luxury and besides, I am not that interested in taking a day off from my work. My appointment with the queen comes first and the others should be prioritized last.

Arriving at the gates of the castle, the guards instinctively blocked my way but one of the guards immediately recognize me.

"Oh, it's him. Hey, stop blocking his way, he can enter the gate just fine."

"Huh? But aren't we supposed to block anyone who has no appointment or any kind of invitation to enter the gates of the palace?"

"Of course, we have that job but the guy before us is a major VIP and one of the Queen's close friends. Also, he is one of the few people that the Queen considers as a rival."

Hearing the explanation of the other guard, he stopped me from blocking and I bowed at them for allowing me to enter and continue on my way to the castle.

No one is blocking me this time as most of the soldiers have recognized me now, allowing me to continue my way without anyone blocking my way towards the throne room.

The castle has also significantly changed, the place is neatly adorned with Everlasting Frost Flowers, flowers that usually only bloom in the Frozen Region which is something that contributes to the cold temperature of the surroundings. From the looks of it, Queen Tanya's sister gifted her some of these to decorate the place and also to cool down the temperature of the castle as well. Not only that but it will also make the place great in the eyes as the desert area has limited flowers growing, making it a rarity as well.

I continue my way to the throne room but the guards blocked my way there.

"Mr. Bladeheart, you must be looking for Her Majesty, yes?" the guard on the left asked.

"Yeah."

"Then please proceed to the dining room as she just headed there a few minutes ago. The throne room is off limits if the Queen is not present there at the moment."

"We can escort you there if you like," the right guard suggested.

"Ah, no that's alright. Thanks for the gesture though but I will be fine and I can go there by myself. I know where to go anyways," I shook my head.

"Well, have a good day." _{Please visit 𝒇𝚛𝙚𝙚𝘸𝙚𝗯𝓃𝗼ѵ𝚎𝘭. c𝑜𝘮}

The two guards bowed down and continues to do their job as I turn back and head to the dining area of the castle.

I spotted Queen Tanya's maids carrying dishes and other stuff in a hurry which means the current preparations for her dinner are almost done huh? But I am not here to eat but to start the job that she proposed.

When I arrived at the dining area, Queen Tanya is currently waiting while drinking an iced juice of some fruit. Beside her is her maid who seemed to be using ice magic, keeping the ice cubes on her drink from melting, The maids are also putting down the various food on the table as well.

Queen Tanya then turned in my direction and she saw me looking into the dining room she smiled at me, standing up from her seat.

"If it isn't my rival. I can tell you are so busy with your various business of whatnot for you have not visited Sandurk for quite some time," Queen Tanya spread her arms, hugging me as a gesture to welcome a close friend in Sandurk Continent. Since she treats me as a close friend now, she does not have the same authoritative voice now compared to when I first met her.

"So much stuff I barely even come back home and rest. It's kind of troubling, to be honest."

"Well, that's the life of a mercenary who got the right talent for the job. And if you do, you are always in demand by the people and that results in your business I think that is fine but if I were you, you should at least have some rest or perhaps take a vacation instead of keeping yourself buried in your work and adventure stuff. Anyways, join me, I am just about to start dinner and it's a bit lonely eating by myself. I can't even invite any of my butlers or maids to eat with me so eating here is pretty lonely. We can also discuss what I have written in the letter while we eat, what do you say?"

"As long as I don't need to pay after eating then I think I am in on that!"

"Haha, great. Now have a seat while the food is being laid on the table. Heck, you can even call your other followers as well."

"Let me ask them first then," I excused myself and asked my followers in the Summon's Area but most of them declined while some said that they are not worthy to but into the conversation or anything. The only one who readily agreed to join was Lucia and she was the only one who decided to join us. The others? They are keeping themselves private for some reason.

"Oh, I am quite sure that you have other followers with you, where are they?"

"Almost all of them declined and since I can't force them, I just keep it by myself. Only Lucia here is ready to dine with us."

"Lucia-san... I see. So you have read the letter as well? Then it really does involve you in a similar thing. We still don't know how involved you are but we needed to ensure we know how deep your involvement here is."

We seated on our respective seats and the food has been properly been put on the table.

"Alright, let's eat. Have a good meal as well, don't be shy!"

I nodded and I started eating as well. The food here is great and to think this taste is indeed a real food I am eating, I am fooling myself and wasted all my time not enjoying these kinds of food and satisfying my cravings as well. As I am eating and feeling all of the various flavors on the meat I was eating, Queen Tanya begins her discussion.

"Bladeheart, how much do you know about the ancient demon civilization?"

"Not much. Most of the knowledge I have are mostly the relayed version of what Lucia has told me before. I tried looking for additional info for her in the libraries and other areas where they might hold information but I have not gotten any new information regarding them so I can't say much to be honest."

"How about you, Lucia-chan?" Queen Tanya looked at Lucia.

"I only know what I know from what happened to my childhood up until I was sent to sleep and that was it. Anything deeper than that like the state of the world and whatnot is something I don't have many memories in. You can say my information is pretty limited as well," Lucia answered truthfully.

"Pretty understandable. Still, I think the next ruins that we discovered might be something that can trigger your memories for a bit," Lucia-chan. Here, take a look at the imagery recorded using the Photocapture Magic that gives a bit of a peek at what the ruins look like. Maybe it will give you some sort of idea of what we will be facing?"

She snapped her fingers and a few still image holograms appeared in the air, showing some that have been showing like a real captured photo in a hologram. Lucia frowned and looked at the ruins in the photos, turned the photos, inspected them, looked at the others, and keeps on inspecting them.

"Now, do you feel anything?"

"There's something but still not pretty sure about it much."

"Honestly, I thought you would feel something. After all, there must be some sort of connection this ruin has and you but maybe we are just spouting nonsense here."

"No, no. Don't worry about it, I do feel something but because it is pretty unfamiliar, I don't think I can properly explain the feelings I felt when I saw the photos."

Which means there is a minimal reaction.

"A connection is still a connection. Since Lucia said that she somewhat feel similar in that ruins, there must be something there that might have attracted her attention."

"Looks like the photos weren't enough. Next time, we will check the site personally. Make sure to be fully prepared as we will be heading there straight."