Chapter 7 A great noble dukes daughter

Moving through the castle's halls was Lady Seraphina Darkwood, the daughter of the great Darkwood family, one of the four highest-ranking noble families in the kingdom.

The four noble duke families were quite powerful and influential in the kingdom. They were accordingly placed in the four cardinal directions: the royal duke of the north, the royal duke of the south, the royal duke of the east, and lastly, the royal duke of the west.

These four made the four royal dukes of the kingdom one of the only forces who could overthrow the king himself; they had the power to challenge the king with three of those nobles, and with four, they could overthrow the king, whether it is politically or physically.

The dukes were given this power thanks to their great family ancestors who had stepped up one hundred years ago, stopping the demons from destroying the kingdom. One hundred years ago, they had used their family guards and forces to protect the cities while the very heads of the families, formerly powerful warrior adventurers, strong noble mages, strong noble spearmen, and strong noble bowmen, all came together charging into battle side by side—an unstoppable force.

Legends say that those brave family heads went through the demon emperor's demon armies like they were nothing, cutting them down in numbers like never before, forcing them to not only retreat but stop their advance altogether for many years to come.

With this great accomplishment, their families were given the titles of dukes, each given great lands and estates for each of the kingdom's cardinal directions to sovereign over. They were not to abuse their power and were to work together in hopes of bettering the kingdom.

And in the unlikely case that an incompetent king were to take the throne or a puppet king were to be put on the throne, then the great noble dukes were to take their armies and step throughout the royal capital and take down said king and place a new one as the dukes themselves were forbidden from becoming a king themselves.

Their judgments on whether the king was incompetent or not were not to be put into alignments with their own personal feelings, agenda, or anything of sorts. Furthermore, the great dukes were to assist and try to make as peaceful of an agreement as possible if there were ever to be a civil war, and if they were to pick a side, they would need to not only all pick the same side or at least three with the last having to go due to the majority vote.

With all of those in mind, each of the royal dukes' families were to have up to one-fourth of the kingdom's army power in their family's in case of an emergency, however, were to said family become corrupt and deemed so by three of the others and the king, then the family would be stripped of its power and face their crimes accordingly.

If there were any young children from the family who were not corrupted, then the family would live on through them once they become of age, and their power would be handed to the king until the time for them to claim it comes. However, the king himself could not use that power in any voting; only the army's power and resources were it not comply put said family in a very bad situation unless under a state of emergency.

Were there no such luck for the family to have an uncorrupted heir, then the family would be nullified until a suitable person could be chosen by the people and king, as well as the nobles; then it is up to that person if they wish to continue using that family name and continue their legacies or start their very own family.

The great Darkwood family, also known as one of the great noble families and the one that sovereign over the north of the kingdom of Skotótopia kingdom, a kingdom so close to truly flourishing into what many would consider a utopia yet held back and halted by the demons' constant while ineffective attacks they could still not be ignored.

The young Lady Seraphina Darkwood was a beautiful young woman who seemed to be in her late teens, about nineteen years old. She had a short figure of fine feet two and had long blond hair going down in well-done curls down her back like clouds. She walked like a proper noble lady yet seemed to hold a childish side to her with her blue innocent-looking eyes. She had a very good but not overly developed body yet seemed to shine next to nearly everyone she was near.

As she walked down the halls, she thought about the meeting she had just left, remembering seeing the heroes who were meant to save her world, her family, her kingdom; she was not impressed to say the least. They had no fighting experience; it was clear as day, along with them willingly admitting to it. The heroes frankly had let her down at first, especially that one hero, Sora.

From her knowledge, the hero summoning was massively complex and dangerous; many things could happen. For example, what had happened in the throne room with the heroes being naked. From what she knew, the stronger the hero could be, then the more of their potential would be pulled out once they were summoned. For example, Hero Akane was a prime example of a strong hero, as she had been summoned as a phoenix, one of the legendary birds of immortal flames often found in the hottest places on the planet.

While impressive, someone else too had also caught her attention; this being Takashi. From what she could tell, the two seemed fairly close to each other, and as stated by the hero themself when they had been summoned and they had told them about themselves some they were identified to be brother and sister, something she could work with as she gave them her support as she believed they would become the strongest of the heroes, as shown by their races as the legendary phoenix and a powerful unknown demon.

And so after the meeting was over, she decided she would take her opportunity as soon as possible, as she had seen that Takashi seemed to have realized she had been interested in him, so she decided to start with him. And so she sent one of her most trusted messenger birds to him to fetch him that night.

And so the birds had found him late at night wandering through the royal palace halls as if looking for something or someone which had been whoever had been watching him or Lady Seraphina Darkwood herself.

After receiving the letter he had agreed to come meet her under the condition that his sister could come too.

This had worked out quite well for her, and so…

As the doors in front of her were opened by the guards revealing what was behind it, there was a big fancy-looking guest room. There stood Takashi, standing impatiently, tapping his feet on the ground; on the long sofa, Akane modestly sat like a high-class lady.

"I am sorry to have kept you waiting, my dear hero and fellow guest, but please take a seat and make yourselves at home," smiling happily, Seraphina spoke as she held a fan in hand before closing it shut.

"Tisk took you long enough, but you do have a warm welcome," Takashi said as he looked over the sofa and at the table in the center of the half-rectangle of sofas. There on the table were a few pieces of cakes and a few other snacks and such, some of which seemed to have been eaten not too long ago, including the cake if the half-eaten one in front of Akane was anything to go by.

"I'm glad you like it, Sir Takashi, and I assume it is the same for you

as well, Lady Akane?" Seraphina happily said, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh my!" making a somewhat outrageously but cute sound, she clapped her hands together as if to focus. "So sorry about that, where are my manners? I called you all the way here and made you wait only to forget to introduce myself."

Standing up, she did a small cortical bow towards the two heroes by lifting her long light blueish dress she gracefully pinched the sides and lift it up ever so slightly, "I am Seraphina Darkwood, daughter of Duke Alaric Sterlingheart Darkwoods and Lady Isolde Nightshade Darkwoods."

Going back to sitting down as Takashi did the same, she once again smiled happily seeing her guest cooperating, "as you may or may not know, this kingdom has four great noble dukes."

"Hmm, is that so?" Akane asked with a small curious glint in her eyes.

"Yes, indeed, for you see, each royal duke family looks over and governs over one-fourth of the kingdom and holds very great political influence and has access to many things…" Seraphina said with a more friendly and confident smile as she spoke highly of her great family.

"What kind of stuff can you and your family offer a great hero like me?"

"Well then, I'm glad you asked," snapping her fingers, she smiled as the heroes stiffened before she reached between her breasts and pulled out two scrolls.

Not missing how Takashi's eyes went over her figure a bit after her actions, she looked at the scrolls before placing them down.

One of the scrolls looked like an old metallic scroll of some kind with rusted edges yet you could tell that the metal-like silk was still valuable old as it may be; the other was much different it was a completely green almost like a shining gem with many golden designs that made it almost look as if it were on fire.

"Here are some gifts of mine, do you wish to get them? In the end."