"That's the crest of the Varnhagen family," declared Gren, a soldier at the southern gate, "didn't we get an urgent message about a visitor from the capital?"

All he could do was get scolded by his commanding officer for his blunder. "Not caring about the visit of a direct descendant of the Grand Duke could be considered insubordination," the commander scolded Gren, hitting his head periodically with a rolled up newspaper, "and it would be my fault too, since I have to teach idiots like you."

He had been assigned to stand guard that day, but he hadn't prepared at all. Even though he knew that a carrier falcon had landed on their tower two nights before, he had only listened with one ear at best.

But could they truly blame him for his carelessness? Honestly, there wasn't much for them to do in this remote place to begin with. Half the day was spent yawning and greeting the elders, while the youngsters were busy running around, working, or chasing opportunities – as well they should be.

The first division of the Silver Lion Knights' Brigade followed the Grand Duke to the battlefield and stood up in situations of great significance to the family or the Empire. But people like him, the second division knights, weren't meant for that.

They protected the family on a domestic level, served as guards for the city and all the small villages around it on the Territory, or acted as guards for travel within the Empire. A knight brigade wasn't recognized as a knight brigade unless at least thirty percent or more of its members were actually knights.

It was obvious that most of the "knights" were to be found in the first division, which was slightly smaller than the second division. Exactly one hundred and two people guarded the fortress city, and thirty patrolled the surrounding villages on a daily basis.

Only twenty-four of them were officially knighted, either by the royal family or the Church of Aurora. In contrast, about eighty members were sent to the Granbell Mountains to reclaim them from the clutches of the Visitors, more than sixty of whom were either Knights or Holy Knights.

There was also a mountain range adjacent to this area, but it didn't have a separate name because it wasn't as magnificent as the Granbell Mountain Range.

Still, it was quite high, and on the other side was only the barren land of the Principality of Nathos, a small nation that had split off from the neighboring Kingdom of Cirylla about a hundred years ago.

They were in constant conflict with their former mother nation and only managed a fragile truce as both nations suffered greatly during these conflicts, leaving them vulnerable to Visitors and possible hostile nations. They had no room for further conflict, especially with the Arlen Empire, which was ten times their size and had the resources to match it.

Yet despite thinking it was unfair, he knew he deserved it and resigned himself to his fate until he was let off. Not that it took very long. The arrival of the Varnhagen family's heir went smoothly, and he watched as they passed through the gates.

He had to admit, it was a sight to behold. The titular family of the Duchy of Varnhagen hadn't set foot in their own home for more than five years. Most things were in order, of course, they had personnel for that, an overseer on the estate, and regular reports to the capital mansion made sure that nothing was amiss.

But he had never seen a carriage of this size before. When Gren saw the seven huge warhorses approaching like a thunderstorm, he felt his heart beat faster and his breath catch in his throat.

The three additional horses with knights on their backs hadn't even come into view at that point. They weren't part of the second division, so they were probably real knights. The sheer menace they exuded left the man speechless.

"After all... who were they escorting?"

Annoyed, the commander crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the young soldier. "The Princess of Varnhagen decided to spend some time here."

'What princess?' Gren thought, "Lady Arabella? I've heard a lot about her."

Another blow to the head greeted him. "No, you blundering fool. Lady Rowena."

"What?" With a doubtful expression he looked at his superior, until he was threatened with the paper again and had to nod his head. 'Seriously? That odd annex lady?'

It would have been serious if he had said it out loud, but he knew that was what everyone around him thought, including his commanding officer. Word traveled fast - at least that's what people said.

Of course, they were interested in all the talk from the capital. Sometimes they rotated some of their soldiers or the few knights they had in the second division, so there was plenty of opportunity to exchange information.

There was a rumor that it was the bad relationship between the Grand Duke and his biological daughter that made him move his family down to the capital's mansion. That way, it was easier for him to commute from the battlefield to the imperial palace to report and check on his family just before returning to the front.

'And the reason he didn't want to return home was because of the fight he had with his daughter, Lady Rowena.' For the girl who was said to never even greet the few guards she couldn't dismiss, and supposedly never left her bedroom most days, she was a long way from home right now. 'I just hope she won't cause a mess around here.'

Well, a mess wasn't what Rowena had in mind. As her carriage made its way through the main streets of the city, since they couldn't fit through anything more narrow, she was fascinated. She hadn't seen much of the capital itself, and yes, it was big and fancy, but she hadn't expected a territory so far north to be this prosperous.

She could see poles arranged for electricity, and the waterwheel she had spotted outside might have been an indicator of it. It certainly wouldn't be a lot of electricity they were producing, and there might be other ways to generate it, but Rowena was already aware of the fact that electrical devices weren't as advanced as they had been in her old world.

Still, her eyes widened when she saw all the people gathered at the side of the road to take a look at the carriage that was being driven through their city.

As Norina looked at her mistress and the crowd, she held back a chuckle and simply smiled warmly alongside Ava, unbeknownst to their distracted mistress. They both couldn't help but notice the way the sparkle in her eyes matched those of the young children outside who were gawking at their now much slower moving Tevak horses, which were not often seen in this area.

Though it was the Territory that had taken it upon itself to lead the business of importing them, along with other popular goods from the Northern Peak. Well, it wasn't just the Territory, but this place had had the right to trade with the Northern Peak for a long time.

They used this right to establish a contract for trade with the island through a merchant group that had great influence in the North-Western Continent as well as the Southern Continent. Even though the taxes helped the finances of the Empire, it was also a great source of income for the Duchy.

But that didn't mean that many people had the money to buy one of those majestic black beasts - whether you saw them as monsters, which they weren't by definition, or as tools of war, they were naturally imposing and impressive to look at.

But all that aside, Rowena was nothing but grateful and happy when they finally stopped and let her out of that moving cage. The man who helped her out was the mysterious third knight, the one she had recognized as a southerner.

He smiled as he held out his hand to guide and support her as she stepped down and put her feet on the soil of the territory for the first time. The air was quite fresh and the estate, which she had seen from afar, was beautiful to look at. A bit militaristic, maybe, with a lot of soldiers standing around, but that was probably a given for a family that was known primarily for its military might.

It wasn't like they had thousands of private soldiers. Even an established knight's brigade was not allowed to have more than two hundred and fifty members in total, or else it would be suspected of trying to rebel against the imperial family; in other words, it would be considered a private army. Only the Imperial Army and the Church of Aurora were allowed to have an unlimited number of members. The latter had that right as their Holy Knights were not only knights who hailed from the Arlen Empire, but also Knights of the Aurora Empire by default.

'A disgusting double standard that would cost them dearly in the second part of the book,' Rowena remembered as she was led into the manor with the guard still beside her. 'Well, not the fact that they had so many knights, but rather the fact that all the Holy Knights have to be knighted in the Church of Aurora. And if the Church doesn't want them to fight, they won't fight.'

Just as the Holy Knights were ordained by the Church and led to the hidden knowledge they had accumulated over hundreds of years, so too were the Spellkeepers of this world. They were High Priests for a reason.

Every person capable of using Mana with their intent had to go to the Church and accept the priesthood in order to gain access to the knowledge they needed to flourish. Sure, there were kingdoms with little to no connection to the Church of Aurora and they still had people they would call Mages, but a Mage was a person who learned magic on their own.

A human could always learn things on his own, that was not the problem. Someone had to be first, no matter what it was. The problem was the execution; people were proficient at certain tasks because their craft had been passed down to them by someone else who had learned from someone else before them. It was knowledge that had been built up and refined through hundreds of years of experience.

A Mage who learned everything on his own would never be able to surpass a High Priest who had learned from masters in the field and from books written by countless wise men who had come before them.

They would learn everything there was to know about their craft and then use that knowledge to perfect themselves, while the Mage would be scraping the bottom of the barrel after discovering his initial traits and how to use them.

Since the drive to learn more professionally was too great, most Mages embarked on a journey that sooner or later led them to the Church, making the culture of Magic a dying art in kingdoms that were not reliant on the Church.

On that thought, after they had opened the door and two rows of servants greeted them by bowing on either side of the door, in the middle of a grand entrance hall, Rowena stopped.

"Would you mind showing me what kind of Manifestation you use?" Her voice was almost a whisper, audible only to the few people beside her, and it made the knight standing next to her open his eyes wide in surprise.

It was a blunt question, since she hadn't even asked his name yet, but she was too embarrassed to ask now, and she had been a bit curious before. He stood there, blinking, while the servants didn't quite know what to do, as they hadn't even known what she had said and stood there quietly.

They hadn't seen their young lady for almost six years and didn't know what to expect when they heard she was coming. Humphrey, the butler of the family estate, formerly the head butler of the family, now the overseer of the Territory, faked a cough and drew his mistress's attention to the front.

In the straight passageway that the two rows of people had formed, the man stood, ready to serve his lady whenever she uttered a wish. "We welcome you to the Varnhagen estate, Lady Rowena."

She shook her head, realizing that she had something to do that was more important than addressing her curiosity right now.

"Right. I'm happy to be home for the first time in a long time," she said, not loudly but clearly, "I believe in fair treatment. As long as you do your job as well as you can, I will be satisfied."