Versatile: Alternate World

The Frozen Region Kingdom where Queen Tori ruled has changed so much that even Queen Tanya felt lost after navigating a bit. Thankfully, another soldier is kind enough to escort all of us to the castle. Due to the changes of both the roads and buildings, the way to the castle has also changed making it confusing and difficult to navigate.

Around 3 minutes later, after twists and turns from the buildings and streets, we arrived at the castle. The castle still looks the same as before but since I was never personally inside of this place, this is my first time entering the place.

"Is my sister inside her chambers?"

"She should be, Your Majesty. If you don't find her, ask her maids since they know where she currently is. I am just a humble guard who is off limits from entering the castle itself unless there is some kind of emergency or we are called personally there. Anyway, I will excuse myself. I fulfilled my duty," the guard saluted, and Queen Tanya followed the gesture with a salute as well.

"Thank you, soldier," Queen Tanya replied before the soldier left.

We gaze into the castle. It was color white not because it was painted white but because of the eternal freeze that has been happening nonstop. It has withstood multiple cold conditions and still remains intact.

"Sheesh, although the castle back in the Elven Kingdom is really big, I don't think it can compare to this. This castle is massive and just the snow and ice covering its walls is a big sign of its longevity of staying in cold weather without being in any sort of wear and tear," Mila admired the castle.

"This castle is built using the mineral naturally mined and obtained in this region, making it able to withstand the cold weather for so long. Marble and concrete aren't capable of withstanding this kind of weather conditions for long. Anyways, let's get inside. The more we stand here outside, the more we will start freezing," Queen Tanya then allowed us inside as she opened the castle doors.

"No guards?"Renatta frowned.

"Nope. The guards are not necessary here and they are more needed elsewhere in their own work at protecting the walls of the kingdom instead of staying and guarding this castle that doesn't need protection," Queen Tanya grinned.

"This queen here must be pretty powerful for her to be that confident," Izmir randomly thought.

"She is quite powerful in her own right but she barely does any sort of fights unless she wants or needs to do so which is why no one knows her real abilities just yet. She only revealed quite a few of them," Riko said as she had seen Queen Tori a few times using some powers but since she does not do much, it was fairly unknown for them.

As we continued to walk, one of the maids appeared before us and with a graceful bow, she spoke to us.

"Welcome back Your Majesty, Queen Tanya, and to all of you as well. Queen Tori already heard of your arrival and is eagerly awaiting all of you in her office. Please follow me."

We all followed her and we were directly escorted into a room with two big doors. It was like a hall to be honest but the moment it was opened, it was soon revealed to be like a study. The whole room is full of shelves containing books on different topics and different knowledge that has been compiled and created. Although a library would be an overstatement, it can still be considered an office that every bookworm dreams of having. The smell of the book lingered in our noses the moment we entered the room.

Despite the amount of shelves and books, it wasn't even enough to cover the whole room. The second floor is directly accessible by climbing the stairs on both sides that anyone can see the moment they enter the room. It was adorned by gold intricate designs and some statues that looked like they were some sort of a dog or a cat. It was full of shelves and it was like the second floor was stuffed to the brim with books and shelves with only a few paths that allowed anyone to properly walk in between those shelves.

While the second floor is very library-like, the ground floor is full of shelves and books but there are some tables here and there, similar fashion to library desks. It is more spacious and the shelves are not there for the sake of filling up space, it was like it was purposely put there to make the place look good to see in the eyes of visitors, coupled with a few plants that I didn't know would grow in cold weather like this. On the very end is a long desk with someone sitting on the chair while drinking coffee. She looked at us and smiled before standing up.

"Sister, seeing that you are looking good and great means you are fine," Queen Tori welcomed Queen Tanya and the two hugged each other.

"Looks like you heard the news?" Queen Tanya then removed herself from the embrace of her sister.

"Of course. Although it is unfortunate I couldn't come and help you during that time, I know that you would be fine."

"You seemed busy with everything so I am not even assuming that you would be there to help me at that time so it's understandable. You also have your fair share of troubles here so I am not here to complain.

"Yeah, it's a big pain in the neck, and it would have been great if you were here to help but after I heard the news of your escape, the monsters up in the north started to get riled up for some unknown reason which is why I have to personally oversee a few operations to deal with those things. Anyways, am I seeing these right? Aren't these guys the ones who participated on the big exploration team we did during the last expedition? And you, although you have changed, I am quite certain that it is you Bladeheart," Queen Tori looked at us and then stared directly at me.

"It is indeed me, Bladeheart. But I am now using the name Manato."

"Eh? What is happening? I heard from my sister that you are missing and she can't even contact you..." Queen Tori frowned.

"It's a long story Sis, anyways, we didn't come here to actually visit. We have something to actually inquire on you," Queen Tanya shifted the topic straight to the reason we were there.

"Something to inquire me?" Queen Tori frowned.

Queen Tanya looked at me and seemed to be mentally saying that it was my turn to explain. So I decided to say our main goal there.

"Your men have excavated the relics and weapons that the late King Arthur left behind during the last expedition that we helped out right?"

"Uhuh? Is this about it?" Queen Tori asked.

"Indeed. We are here to take a look at what was unearthed back then and take a closer look at them."

"We did take a lot of them which made our armory full due to the amount of things present there but why though? If you guys wanted to use an artifact, I am willing to either lend it or give it to you as we have no uses for them as of right now," Queen Tori readily agreed to even give us those relics without any effort.

"Uh, no. Actually, we are not here to borrow or use any of them. We are actually trying to trace back if those artifacts can detect or even determine where the location of King Arthur is even if he was far from them."

"Huh? But King Arthur died right? I saw him die with my two eyes after he was killed by the sword that was... what was called again?"

"Clarent." Queen Tanya answered.

"Yeah, yeah! The Clarent! He was torn asunder by that sword before."

"That's what we thought so as well until he emerged again and decided to commit some violence and wipe out an entire kingdom in a single night."

Hearing this, Queen Tori's face grows serious.

"Follow me."

She walked to a nearby shelf and grabbed one of the books there with the name "King Arthur and the Round Table" on its title. As soon as she removes that, one of the shelves starts to move, revealing a big room that is glittering.

"Let's go downstairs."

We followed Queen Tori and we were led downstairs where the moment we descended, a golden glow of weapons and relics appeared before us. Multiple things glow even in the dark and some are even giving off an entirely different power that I didn't expect to feel on a weapon without a wielder alone.

"Search around, perhaps one of these relics are bound to be connected still to that guy."