Supreme Magus

"If my people aren't safe in the Royal Palace, it's only because its rulers failed. If there's something I can do for you, all you have to do is ask." Sylpha said.

"About that." Menadion raised her hand. "Once we are done with the Gardens, we planned to visit the Royals Exhibits. I would love to have access to Valeron's room. Some of my fondest memories are bound to those old paintings."

"I see." The Queen was taken aback by the request.

On the one hand, not even the current Royals were allowed entry to the room belonging to the First King unless it was necessary. On the other hand, refusing the First Ruler of the Flames' request would have been rude.

On top of that, Menadion was alive back when Valeron ruled the Kingdom. She was likely to have already seen most of the pieces stored in the exhibit and could conjure their holograms.

"I should probably ask the King first-"

"There's no need for that, Sylpha." A figure shrouded in blinding light appeared beside the Queen. "Valeron gave Ripha clearance to his room in his will. She has his and my permission."

"Saefel!" Seeing Tyris standing right before the statue of the First Queen revealed her identity and filled Captain Ekler with awe.

"Glory to the Kingdom." The proud soldier fell to his knees and offered his halberd to her, his gaze fixed on the ground.

Tyris' aura of power was as gentle as a spring breeze but her beauty and majesty resonated with that of the Gardens, making the captain of the Royal Guard feel unworthy of standing in her presence.

"Stand up, captain. I'm not the Queen anymore and I'm undeserving of your loyalty." Tyris placed her hand on his shoulder and the Royal Fortress armor shone with power like a small sun. "Nonetheless, I have to ask you to keep my existence a secret.

"Can you do it?"

"I swear on my life!" Ekler stood on attention, banging his fist on his heart and thumping the halberd's haft on the ground.

He was supposed to ask the current Queen for permission first, but Sylpha overlooked the minor slight. Even centuries after Valeron's death, there were countless people who revered the figure of the First Royal Couple and Sylpha was among them.

"Your request is granted, Forge Magus." The Queen said. "Can I accompany them, Lady Tyris?"

"I don't see why not." Tyris gave Sylpha a dazzling smile that misted Ekler's eyes with tears of joy and steeled his resolve to serve his country to the bitter end.

Elina and Rena took several family pictures inside the Gardens. They even asked Tyris to stand beside her statue and assume the same pose which shocked Ekler. Yet it was nothing compared to when the Guardian actually did it.

The captain didn't know whether to be outraged by the familiarity with which the Verhens addressed the First Queen or honored by witnessing such events.

He was in such a daze that he was almost left behind when they returned inside the castle.

"I'm sorry but you can't come inside." Tyris stopped Ekler before she opened the door to Valeron's exhibit.

"I will guard the entrance, then." He turned his back to the door and notified the rest of the palace security no one was allowed in the area.

"By the gods!" Rena said when Sylpha turned on the lights.

Calling the room an exhibit was an understatement. It was actually a scaled-down version of the Throne Room. The corridor was shorter and the ceiling lower, with paintings and statues of the First King arranged close to each other to fit into the space.

There was no empty spot beside the central corridor and the walls were covered with paintings yet the place was spacious enough not to feel cramped.

"Grandma, this is you!" Solus pointed at a large painting depicting Valeron, Menadion, and Silverwing stranding in the open.

On the background, there was the hill where the Royal Palace was being built and the small groups of houses surrounding it could be barely called a small city by modern standards.

"Grandma?" Menadion looked at Tyris in confusion until she remembered that Sylpha was with them and grunted: "Oh, right. Grandma."

"There is no information available about this room." Lith replied to the silent stares addressed at him. "Ripha, Tyris, if you please would do the honors."

"Silly me." The Guardian chuckled. "This painting was realized to celebrate the end of the Founding War.

"Thanks to solid peace treaties and plenty of troops stationed at the borders with the countless states that would later become part of the Blood Desert and Gorgon Empire, Valeron could finally shift his attention to building rather than destroying.

"He left Ripha and Lochra to deal with the castle while he took care of fixing the ruins of the border regions. Their people had known war longer than anyone else and Valeron made their well-being his first priority."

"Really? He didn't care about his own house?" Rena asked.

"Even worse, this painting is all Lochra and I got for our work." Menadion grunted. "The cheapskate dared pay us in exposure. Can you believe that?"

"To be fair, the long war must have strained Valeron's resources." Lith said. "Building a castle wouldn't have filled the granaries or brought prosperity to his people. Valeron had to focus on building roads and making the border regions feel important.

"If they rebelled, the war would have begun anew and countless more people would have died."

"That's exactly what Valeron said." Menadion sighed. "He built this castle right after the end of the war only to consolidate his power. Valeron knew that without the trappings of his status, his retainers would lose respect for him and the citizens of the newborn Griffon Kingdom would question his authority.

"It's hard to consider your superior someone who lives in a house worse than yours and doesn't have two coins to rub together. Also, Valeron wanted the Royal Palace to be a beacon of hope for his people.

"He was a farmer turned warrior who had become a mage first, a conqueror later, and then a king. When he commissioned this castle to Locha and me, Valeron asked us to not only make it a symbol of what he had achieved but also of what anyone could."

"I've never heard this story." Sylpha didn't bother hiding how moved and surprised she was. "How did you know about it, Magus Verhen? I mean, that's exactly how your game of chess works. A pawn can become everything, like Valeron."

Everyone turned to Lith, even Solus who Lith shot down with a glare since she was supposed to know better.

"I didn't know either. As I told Mirim back when I gifted chess to her, that rule is just a metaphor for the rise to power."

"He didn't know." Tyris confirmed. "Nobody did but Valeron, me, Ripha, and Lochra."

"If there was no payment involved, how did Valeron convince you to do it, Grandma?" Solus asked, causing another involuntary spasm in Menadion's left eye.

"He didn't." She sighed. "It all happened because a bet Valeron made with Lochra back when we first met him. You should have seen him, Solus."

THIS CHAPTER UPLOAD FIRST AT NOVELBIN.COM