Ariadne saw the two coming as the door was open. With Alya smiling and Edmund laughing, she clenched her fist, but her eyes stayed the same as their eyes locked on her, and she approached with a serious posture.

  ‘Thank you, Alya. Can you leave us alone?’ She smiled at the maid.

  ‘As your will.’ The maid turned around and left the office.

  ‘So, what is the problem, your highness?’ With a relaxed attitude, Edmund sat on the chair before her desk.

  ‘Why do I even try? You don’t care about my position, hum?’ She lay back in her chair and sighed.

  ‘We are alone; what is the big deal about it?’ He crossed his arms.

  ‘You need to respect me; I’m your master, and you come here all happy and jumpy with Alya, disgusting.’ She slammed her hand on the desk.

  ‘Wow, what is going on? I’m your slave; just give the order, and I will do it.’ He spoke with a tone of indignation.

  ‘NO!!! You must do that yourself; what is the point if I command you? Respect me, damn it.’ Ariadne slams the desk again.

  ‘I do; you allowed me to do all that, and I respect you more than anything.’ Edmund looks into her eyes.

  ‘Humph… Okay, I will believe you. My father said he would marry in a year and a half, and our protection is going away. They think I’m going to die soon, too.’ She took a fan on her desk and gave herself a breeze.

  ‘That sure is a lot, but I think we are fine. For the amount we did in six months, I think we can invade the dungeon in another year because you train to fight against the dungeon guardian. We are fine.’ He smiled at her.

  ‘What are you talking about, peasant? I’m not talking about dungeons; they will invade us.’ She raised her tone.

  ‘Calm down; we need the resources from the dungeon, and after that, we can face off against the two kingdoms at the same time if you want, even conquering one of them if you focus.’ Edmund tapped his chin.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  ‘Hum? Is that true?’ She leaned forward.

  ‘What surprises me is the fact that you are worried; we see the soldiers train all the time; maybe it's the fact I didn’t show you a vehicle that I was working on for the past six months; it takes time; I’m in fantasy levels of innovation here; not even Leah can help me; I tried, and she didn’t understand what I was doing.’ Edmund scratched his head.

  ‘I know. I think it just took me by surprise. What is this vehicle you are talking about?’ Ariadne closed her fan.

  ‘If you want, I can show it to you, but it is not ready. My idea is for transport because we can’t bring horses into the dungeon.’ He continued to scratch his head.

  ‘So show it to me; I already told the village chiefs using the phone and the mayor too, but Alon and the rest need to know to prepare for it.’ She got up from the chair.

  ‘Not a problem; now that we have a real timeframe, I’m going to adjust things to be fine, but we still need more Nihilium and magic crystals for the vehicles.’ He got up, too.

  The two exited the office and were followed by Alya, who walked right behind the duchess. Out of the mansion, Alon was still seeing the construction of the building for closed-quarters training, but as soon as he noticed Ariadne coming, he came close to her and bowed.

  ‘What a great surprise, Your Highness, putting on another show with your training for the soldiers?’ The captain smiled.

  ‘I’m afraid not, Alon; we need to discuss something important, so follow me and the peasant.’ She continued to walk.

  Edmund took the lead. As they passed the warehouse and entered the forest, they came across an open field in the middle of the forest after some time.

  ‘I did this so that if something got wrong, it wouldn’t put the lives of the soldiers training in danger; that is why it is quite far from the mansion.’ Edmund approached something covered by a black sheet, but it looked reflexive.

  ‘You keep pulling strange things like this, Edmund; now I know why the duchess keeps grabbing you by the throat.’ Alon nodded his head negatively.

  ‘He has his motives; forgive his manners.’ Ariadne made a motion with her hand, calling for Alya.

  ‘Yes, Your Highness, here.’ The maid opened an umbrella and protected the duchess from the sun.

  Edmund took the cover off and reviled the vehicle. It was extensive with a massive front, but it looked like a larger wagon with a weird front and had no wheels. The three were confused about what the thing was; it appeared to be broken because of how it looked.

  ‘I said it was not finished, but I have something to show you.’ Edmund jumped into the front of the vehicle.

  He pushed a button on a panel in front of him, and a sound of homing could be heard from the front of the vehicle. He then pressed another one on the panel, and the hole structure lifted from the ground, making everyone open their mouths. Seeing their faces, he laughed, jumped out of the front, and walked toward the three of them.

  ‘I don’t know how to make stronger wheels, so why not lift it? But right now, I don’t know how to move forward. This is a lot in six months if you ask me.’ Edmund smiled with pride while looking at his creation

  ‘Peasant, you cleared all my worries with this monstrosity.’ Ariadne grinned.

  ‘It is Edmund; to this point, everything is possible.’ Alon massaged his forehead.

  ‘With the power of the goddess, everything is possible.’ Alya looked at the vehicle with bright eyes.

  It started to fall to the ground by itself slowly, and the homing sound stopped right after. Edmund was just scratching his head as his face turned into disappointment.

  ‘We need those magic crystals, your highness... Nihillium has reached its natural limit for magic storage use.' He kicked a stone next to him in protest.