Chương 181: Chapter 164. Darkheim's Entrance

"We'll be arriving at the Royal Palace after stepping into this room." Prince Delcan presented an unremarkable large red wooden door as he announced we've arrived at the final stop." I assume there's Teleportation Magic behind the door?" Delcan smiled at us as he began to speak." Something like that. Here, take a look." Delcan opened the door. I expected a room with some kind of a Magic Circle. Instead, it was just pure darkness. Like staring into a shadow."

Old Man Rob, you can go first to show our Guests it's safe."" As you command, my Prince." The old man walked into the darkness and disappeared." So, the door is the conduit that connects to another door that's actually at the Royal Palace."" You sound familiar with the concept?" Sarah spoke to Delcan, she sounded unimpressed with the door. She seems to be thinking of Paula's Magic as she explained her theory of what the door was. She smirked as she began to respond to Prince Delcan."

My Mother is the Greatest Magician in Diablos, I'm quite conditioned to seeing Special Magic."" Wait, are you talking about Aqua Dreadnaught? The Demon Empress!? Wait... Your age... Are you First Princess Sarah Dreadnaught?"" Do the Dark Elves truly wish to be so isolated they don't even look for current information? Yes, my name before my Marriage to My Husband was Sarah Dreadnaught. I prefer my new name after my Marriage however." Grip... Sarah grabbed my hand and looked at me with a confident smile.

I had the sneaking suspicion she was referring to my true last name and not "Drake" as she smiled at me." How did a Princess of Diablos wind up marrying a Human?" Prince Delcan was quite shocked to realize a Human married Sarah. A part of me wondered if he was more surprised at the fact a Princess of Diablos married a Human or just the fact that a Human married a Demon?" Simple, I wanted him, so I took him before anyone else could. As a True Woman of Diablos would!" tighten...

Sarah tightened her grip in my hand as she happily gloated about our relationship." But wait, aren't you both married to Marquess Drake?"" Of course. Anna is Our Husband's 2nd Wife."" But... You just said..."" All due respect, Prince Delcan. But I'd rather not explain my Marital Status now. I'm here because I have a job to do." I interrupted the conversation as I'd rather not share private matters with a foreign Prince. poke... poke...

Sarah seemed to think it came from jealousy and was poking my cheek as she, Anna and I all walked through the darkness in the doorway. In an instant, we arrived on the other side, and I was shocked at what I saw. A giant cityscape was laid out before us. The sun was shining down on it as the citizens moved in the streets going about their day." Quite a sight for what was originally a settlement of refugees. Wouldn't you say?"" Yes, I'm surprised that your people can hide this big a city in the forest.

I'm assuming Magic helps with that?" Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site." You'd be correct." The Prince entered the door immediately after we did and seemed to want our opinion of Darkheim's beauty. It was a beautiful city. If Blackstone was like a medieval castle town with some special materials from Gaia that showed it wasn't a city from my world, then Darkheim was like a city made of treehouses. The giant trees of the Shadow Forest were gigantic.

Like skyscrapers from my world. The Dark Elves have built into them to create giant dwellings for the people to live in. Outside of the trees, the town was full of cabins made of different colored woods. While looking at the houses, I couldn't help but wonder about something pretty silly, since most likely, the Dark Elves already thought of an answer to the problem I thought of. I turned to Prince Delcan and asked him a question." Are there any concerns about fires breaking out?"

"?" Prince Delcan looked at me in surprise. It seems like he remembered something." Ah right! You've never been here before! The wood from the trees of the Shadow Forest is fire resistant. So, there's not much worry about something like fires breaking out."" Ah I see." I nodded my head in understanding to the Prince's words." We've also taken great pains to make sure that our land is resistant to flooding and mud slides.

Our history here is quite the tale of surviving different natural disasters as we figured out what worked and what didn't. Our Ancestors were able to pave the way for us to live in relative peace from all of their hardships. We actually have a Museum in the Royal Palace that archived the contributions of Our Ancestors so we, their Descendants never forget their efforts."" As a Noble who has to run a Fief, a museum sounds like a great idea. The place I look over has an unlucky history to say the least.

Are any of the people who made significant advancements to the standard of living in Darkheim still alive, Prince Delcan?" I asked a question to Delcan in response to his words. It's been some time since I heard about a museum being somewhere close. The closest thing Diablos seems to have is records being kept since the beginning of the Demon King Job's creation. There appears to around 10, 000 years of history missing from the records because of that.

And with it, Diablos only has oral retellings of moments in the history of the Demon Race because of it. With the weird explanations from the System of the Appraisal Orb's Status Screen, I've wondered if it was done on purpose or not. But that's a question that will most likely never be answered." Yes, around 10 people are still left, they're quite old, however. I doubt they'd want to meet an outsider as well.

I think the only thing that would get those old coots out of their homes and labs would be the chance to kill our enemies."" The Elves?"" Yes, I'm sure you know how we are only here because the Elves destroyed the original Darkheim. I assure you there's even more to it than just that. People don't wipe a country off the map randomly."" Do you know who started the fighting?"" Do you know who started the fighting between Humans and Demons?"

I asked the Prince who started the fight between the Elves and Dark Elves and in return, he asked me a question instead of answering my question. I was confused by his question though, not because he asked it, but because I never bothered to ask it to anyone since I'm not from here. Prince Delcan seemed to think I was offended or something and began to apologize to me." I apologize... Our History is a sore spot to us. If you'd allow me to change my answer, it would be "no".

That, like most things from the Age of Strife, are lost to time."" Age of Strife?" I heard a term I never heard before. Also, I noticed that the Prince was somewhat panicked, I looked behind me and Sarah and Anna were looking away at the cityscape... They must've done something behind my back. I repeated the term as I hoped to get an explanation from Prince Delcan." Ah, right. The Age of Strife is what we Dark Elves call the time before the Sentient Species started to record history.

Because the Elf Races are long-lived beings. Our Ancestors had passed on some of their experiences during the Age of Strife. I think the name explains the type of tales that were passed down."" I wonder what the other countries call that time period..."" You don't know?"" No, I'm not originally from Diablos or Promethia, so I wouldn't have a clue."" If you're not from Diablos or Promethia, where are you from, Marquess Drake?"

"!" Crap! I shared too much." My Love was raised in the Fog Mountains, Prince Delcan. He lived with his father, once his father passed away, he wound up in Diablos, that's where my Father stumbled upon him and used an Appraisal Orb on him as a curiosity, which is how we found out he was a Paladin." Sarah used some of her quick thinking and came up with a believable lie for me. I need to be more careful moving forward when it comes to talking about norms in Gaia." You were raised in the Fog Mountains?

How did you survive?" Now he wants an answer from me... Shit! I'll just go with what I think is a good excuse." My father's Job was a Hunter, or at least that's what he told me. He would hunt the wildlife around the area, we lived in a cabin deep in the mountains, he tried to teach me to be a Hunter, but I could never learn his abilities. He died in his sleep one day. I buried him and decided to leave our home and see what the Gods had in store for my life. I'd say it worked out.

I met the Loves of my Life after all." The Prince seemed to accept my answer." Prince Delcan, I believe it would be wise to head to the Royal Palace now."" I agree, Old Man Rob." With the old man's words, the Prince began to guide us to the Royal Palace. We boarded a carriage that was pulled by big deer, it seems they work as the horses of Darkheim. Sarah and Anna held my hands as we inched closer and closer to the Dark Elf King.