Meeting a Queen

Watching the woman with black hair similar to the one his son had, Xiao Fan could see that Yi Lin, like all the others, had been saddened by what happened. She still had some tears falling off her cheeks, and her makeup wasn't holding too well.

Still, when Yi Lin was a few meters away from Xiao Fan, the woman could speak ¨Follow me¨ Her tone sad, but he felt that it was all an act and that she wasn't sad at all.

Indeed Yi Lin wasn't sad at all anymore. She was, in reality, thrilled after just reading the first few sentences of the letter this youth had brought her, from the other side? She had a lot to be asking, but not here, not in front of everyone else, not even if it was only her husband, the Emperor, would she talk here.

Xiao Fan cathing her idea didn't talk and followed the Queen into a more private place, a place that seemed to be a tent guarded by people, not in the Bald Eagle Dynasty clothing. Were these the men directly under her. Wang Geming's mother's family? He had thought before getting inside the tent.

¨You came back from the Tomb of the Four Ancient Ones?¨ Was the first thing he noted of when he got in. The Queen seemed so hasty that he didn't even get to look at the interior before he needed to focus on her.

¨Yes I came from the other side¨ He replied while looking at the Queen, who was taking out the letter and starting to read it again.

¨How is my son?¨ She then asked while reading the letter.

¨Your son, his Highness, The Second Prince, is doing well. I would even say thriving¨

¨Has he been in any danger?¨

¨He has been fighting a couple of times, even saving me from death once...¨ Xiao Fan was about to tell about The Prince saving him, but before he got more words out, he noted how the Queens's hand shot up.

She stopped reading the letter ¨He's been fighting? Is he hurt?¨ The Queen's tone was now concerned, her head turning to look at his answer.

¨No. The Second Prince hasn't to my eyes even gotten a single stain on his clothes yet¨ Saying this he could see how the Queen was relieved off some of the tension she had gotten.

¨So he's fine?¨ Though she asked the question again.

¨Yes, your son is completely fine. He's doing extremely well I can guarantee¨ He then thought 'Isn't his son like nearing thirty? Why is she so concerned for her son?' Though he was saying this, he did feel a little envious. He didn't remember his own mother after all.

¨How can you... Mask? Guarantee that my son is safe inside the Tomb of the four Ancient Ones? You even state that he's thriving there?¨ She looked up his name from the paper during that small pause.

¨If he wasn't thriving in there how does the Queen think I'm here? Queen, you don't surely think that being first to connect back out here is a mark that he's doing badly?¨ She was indeed very concerned for his safety, and like the Prince, she was very much so of the kind that everything needed to be a hundred per cent.

¨Right, right¨ The Queen, hearing him speak so got a little more relived again ¨He seems to be trusting of you?¨ She now having read the paper had noticed how much her son had vouched for this youth who in those robes looked like a bum.

Xiao Fan feeling his clothes coming under attack again and them being so dirty decided it was finally time to change to a new set ¨Sorry for the appearance, the way I got here made me dig through quite a bit of ground. And, yes, I think so. Me and the Second Prince have been together since the very start of the exploration¨

¨The way you came out here?¨ She asked and skimmed through the paper.

¨Your son named these things teleporters. These teleporters work the same way that the thing which took us all there works, after all, it might just be a gigantic teleporter¨

However, the Queen didn't seem to be interested in this all brand new technology so much as the fact ¨My son? My son named those things?¨ She was more interested in this.

Still, keeping his cool ¨Yes, the name is fitting¨ He spoke, it wasn't like he would show any other than positive things towards this Queen, who seemed so fixated on her son.

¨Of course, it does it is my son's naming after all¨ She agreed ¨Oh, where is the teleporter?¨ Only after that other thing had been gone through did she ask for the spot.

¨It's near the road. I can show you, but you going there isn't the best thing currently¨ He took a small gamble by advising the Queen in her actions.

Which did get a small look from the Queen, but she didn't say anything relating it ¨Yes, for now, it seems that my son wants me to gather support for his...¨ She paused her speech.

¨The Prince and I have talked through this, and I do know of it¨ The ¨it¨ he was talking about referred to them murdering the Third Prince.

¨He does seem to trust you well¨ The Queen hearing this stated, and by now her saying so was she slightly warmer in her tone towards him. Of course, because he was so close to her son, nothing else.

¨And I'm certain to make the best out of it. After all your son does seem to hold the best cards in his hands currently¨ He replied.

¨What if he loses those cards?¨ The woman mostly heard a specific part of his speech.

¨No, no. I'm not like that. I'm such a small character that me gripping onto the Second Prince is already beyond me¨ He realised that his words had been way too ambiguous to be spoken to this Queen.

He then made a point.

¨I already confirmed that I saw what happened to the Third Prince¨ He rises his tone ¨If I do something you can pin his death on me, so I can't run away¨ His point was valid. For like he had said if Xiao Fan would do something the murder of the Third Prince could be put on him. No one would defend him.

Yi Lin seemed to get his meanings ¨Good, then we can speak more freely of these things¨ This Mask person's life was very much so tied to her son.

¨Thank you for seeing through my statement¨ Xiao Fan felt lucky, not to have damaged his relations to this Queen by saying those words.

¨This letter is too short. Tell me of my son's journey in more detail please¨ She now took a more relaxed position on the couch and waited for the long story.

¨In how much detail?¨

¨All the details concerning him, of course. I am not interested in you¨

¨Yes¨ Xiao Fan then started to speak how her son was doing, from the smallest detail he could remember, though against this Queens wishes he did put parts that included him into it more than necessary, but he remembered those better than parts only about his son, he reasoned with an inner smirk.

Nevertheless, the Queen seemed to be happy even if he narrated every conversation between the two since in a way it let her get closer to the thinking her son was having inside the Tomb of the Four Ancient Ones. Which in turn, she could then use in her own doings.

¨Anything more you remember?¨ When Xiao Fan had spoken through everything, the Queen asked if there was anything he had missed or forgotten to tell.

¨Not really¨ Xiao Fan spoke.

¨What do you mean not really?¨ She inquired him.

¨Well, as you know, most of the things I have spoken concern The Prince's and my thinking of what the Tomb of the Four Ancient Ones could mean at large, the next Emperor¨ To which he got a nod from the Queen.

¨There are some things that during all that I haven't gotten to talk with your son, yet¨ He spoke his intention in a roundabout way, hoping that the Queen would let him continue.

At least the Queen who had seen many people like him do something like this got the idea ¨You want to speak them directly to me?¨ She was the Queen, so she could easily discern when someone wanted to influence or even talk their own opinions and ideas to her.

¨Only if the Queen wishes to hear them, or they will come up in the next letter¨ He meant that if the Queen didn't want to listen to them now would they come to her anyway during the next time someone brought her a letter.

¨You are influencing my only son?¨ Her tone wasn't too happy.

¨Queen, you got it wrong¨ She got it exactly right ¨I'm not trying to manipulate him, were only thinking what will be the best course of action for the plans of your son to succeed¨

To this, the Queen rolled her eyes before ¨Then let your ideas out. Better for me to hear them rather than let you talk them to my son¨ Plus, in her mind, there was that this youth didn't seem to bad after him narrating his and Wang Geming's conversation, as in them it came clear that he had had some good ideas, so who knows, and at least this would her see what this Mask was all about.

¨Thank you for your time. The two things I have wanted to talk to your son are regarding building and attracting traders¨ He kept them short, letting the Queen choose if she even wanted to hear more.

¨Building and attracting trades? What for?¨ Thankfully she seemed interested in these, even if it wasn't much.

All he needed was another sentence anyway ¨To gain legitimacy and profits for your son¨ He stated his sentence that gained interest from the Queen who was getting what he meant.

As ¨Continue¨ She said.

¨The letter told you of the tower your son has claimed and the teleporter I came to here with is right next to it. Nevertheless, we have concluded that the tower will be our territory at the very beginning and as we want to hold onto it, we want to have the manpower and with moving a lot of cultivators into an area where one can expect war one can also expect money to be moving in large amounts. That will lure in traders, and traders want a house and a shop, housing needs builders, cheap builders are mortals, mortals need their own accommodations, this will lead to a city, city will lead into walls being built for safety, walls will help us defend, successfully defending his territories will gain him legitimacy for your son to be holding that area¨ His speaking at the end was getting pretty fast as he was running out of air.

Thankfully the Queen was keeping up with his speaking, and she was also seeing his vision of a city being build inside there to help her son tremendously. Furthermore, moving her family into there at the end? Doing so, her house could be finally gaining some amount of independence from the Royal Family, so it was all the things she wanted, and his vision could help with that.

¨I like your idea¨ She even straightforward said that she liked his idea, though that might have been an understatement.

¨Its only an idea. Successfully pulling that off might be a challenge especially if we don't move immediately¨

¨We have some kind of hurry to do these?¨ This point from him the Queen wasn't seeing.

¨No. No real hurry. But if we want, for example, the traders to flock to your son's city to perform trade you could make some deals, I'm sure¨