Route 1: THE DREAM 1.0

The Emperor, together with his Imperial knights and his most loyal Duchy, Bicester Duchy, are now on their way towards the town who is rumored to have been free from monster attacks for years now. They left the empire earlier than the planned date and they are expecting to arrive at the location tomorrow night if there are no other delays such as unexpected rain or monsters that could possibly block their way.

The Duke of the Bicester household is at the front since he is the head of the the Emperor's imperial knights, not to mention that he is the strongest in the troop followed by his two sons, Shawn and Sean Bicester. And also, just like the usual he is expected to put the Emperor first before anything else, even before his own flesh and blood.

His two sons, Shawn and Sean Bicester are standing on both sides of the Emperor's carriage because just like their father, the duke, they too are expected to put their lives on the line just to make sure that the Emperor is safe and sound.

They are already halfway towards their destination and the sun is almost setting. The Duke and his sons knew that they need to settle down and prepare a camp to rest because it is not actually safe to travel during the night. Unless, the Emperor itself wishes that they should proceed with the journey without resting then they will.

Because of this question Duke Bicester has on his mind, he decided to raise his hand and then closed his fist as a sign that the troop shall stop from their tracks. The troop did stop the moment they saw their leader's signal.

Duke Bicester maneuvered his horse and made his way towards the carriage of the Emperor. When he reached it, he immediately knocked on the door and as if on cue, the esteemed Emperor shove the curtain that hides the inside of the carriage and his whole face is now visible to the knights and to the Duke himself.

"What's wrong Duke Bicester?" - the Emperor said in an interrogative manner. However, his tone is not of a tone of a happy Emperor; his tone is comparable to a dissatisfied one, more like he is quite annoyed. The Duke is already used to this kind of attitude the Emperor is giving him, and although he is also quite annoyed sometimes, he can not really do anything about it because he is just a Grand Duke and this man in front of him is the Emperor; the law of the empire. If he desires to wipe out an entire duchy, then his orders will automatically be carried out without any complaints.

And he does not want that thing to happen to his family. He cannot afford to risk it, despite being one of the strongest duchy, and being a powerful mage and his sons being one as well, it is undeniable that he is still no match to an Emperor who has an imperial army, an army of mages and the Emperor is also forming a secret army of promising individuals that could use powerful magic and are excellent sword fighters.

He knows this information because he is the one who train those individuals to become skilled in wielding the sword. Being able to handle the Emperor's foul mood has a lot of benefits for him as a Grand Duke of the Bicester Duchy, and the most important of it all is the fact that he has a first hand access to different informations.

But none of those information could tell him the whereabouts of his long lost daughter. He still believes that his daughter is still alive and kicking, although there is doubt inside his head that maybe his daughter is already dead, just like what the Emperor said to him. Honestly, who would really survive alone with those kind of wounds and not to mention that he saw with his own two eyes how his daughter intentionally let herself fall from such a high place.

And he really can't believe that he wasn't able to do anything about it. He is actually blaming himself, he told himself many times that maybe, if he had grab a hold of his daughter sooner and secured her on his arms then his daughter would not be missing right now.

But he will not lose hope. He is really sure that Scarlett Mila is still alive.

"Your highness, are we going to proceed with the journey or are we going to camp out?" - he politely asked while bowing his head slightly as a sign of respect towards the Emperor.

"Proceed with the Journey, I want to see that town as soon as possible" - The Emperor said and without even waiting for the Grand Duke Bicester's reply, he immediately moved the curtain again to hide the insides of his carriage.

The Grand Duke heave a deep sigh subconsciously as he moved back towards his position a while ago. He raised his right hand with a closed fist and he opened it, as a signal that they are going to start moving once again. He, as the leader moved first and the people behind him followed him silently.

A few hours had already past, and it is already night time. The moon is high up the sky, although it is already quite dark, the moon gives them light. Shawn Bicester looked high up in the sky and he can't help but to frown because of the uneasiness he is feeling.

However, he is aware why he is feeling uneasy all of the sudden and it is because the moon is in it's full state; and a full moon means that monsters are a lot more stronger than the usual and they are appearing more than the usual number. However, it's already been a couple of hours but they haven't encounter any monsters yet.

He can't help but to think that maybe the rumors are indeed true, that the town they are headed, which was once a town that always got attacked by monsters are now safe from it. He started thinking that way because the way towards the town seems to be peaceful.

Sean on the other hand also feels quite uneasy. However unlike Shawn, he is definitely sure that something is off, he thought that a road should never be this peaceful. It is too peaceful to be exact and it is really terrifying. He can't help but to think that the monsters they are expecting to appear are just around the corner, waiting for them to let their guard down.

As they continue to move forward with the same speed, all of the Imperial Knights, especially the Grand Duke and his two sons are shocked with what they saw on their way towards the town. And it is none other than several bodies of monsters scattered around the way, on top of that there are no signs that a magic has been used.

"What happened around here" - The Duke asked himself while frowning, however as he examined the body of the monsters he cannot help but to think that maybe, his daughter was the one who did such thing. Is his daughter the one protecting the town, because he remembers that his daughter has no signs that she could use magic. Nevertheless, the only thing he is sure of is that this thing is a great lead towards him getting to meet his long lost daughter again.

And maybe he could find something about his daughter in that town, he has this strong feeling that he is really going to find a useful information in that town.