They did not stay long on the subway.
After all, they were moving within the city. The teacher led Annan off the subway after a 20 minutes ride.
After exiting the subway station, they were already at the gate of the Grand Duke’s Residence.
Annan was a little surprised.
Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke allowed a subway station to be built before his gate.
Wouldn’t it be noisy? With so many people coming in and out of the subway station, it would still be quite loud even when there was still some distance from the Grand Duke’s Residence gate.
With people coming and going like this, it was difficult to keep the place safe as well.
Annan noticed that Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke’s Residence was much smaller than the Noah Kingdom’s Palace.
The Grand Duke’s Residence was rectangular. It appeared to have the width of a street. There were about fifty windows per floor.
The height of the residence reached three floors. Only the innermost section had four floors, forming a white tower.
There were many circular columns arranged outside. Each column had a four windows gap between them. Soon, Annan realized that the wall rotated about five degrees at each subsequent column. Therefore, it presented a flat arc that bulged outward.
Annan followed the teacher to a narrow door on the right.
The old man reached out his right hand and tapped the heavy black iron gate with a ring exuding cold air.
With a muffled sound, the narrow metal door that was only two people wide opened inward on its own.
“Enter.” The old man answered briefly, then walked in with Annan.
Annan followed closely behind the old man. She did not see the old man doing anything in particular, but the door closed again automatically after she passed through.
What? An automatic door. Annan commented in his heart.
After passing a narrow corridor with frescoes on the walls and ceiling and metal soldier statues on either side, Annan followed the old man into the side door.
It was a small garden.
Annan saw a small fountain in the middle. A white trace extended from the fountain to the east, west, north, and south, dividing the area into four rectangles.
It was relatively wide here, about the size of an ordinary city square. It seemed the place was much bigger than how it looked from the outside. Surprisingly, this place already had ten main doors, even not counting the side doors.
The innermost building should be the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke’s quarters.
Where does the Old Grandmother hibernate?
Is it at the back of that building?
Or underground?
Annan remembered that when the Old Grandmother hibernated as a dragon. However, Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke’s place was too small. She even wondered if a dragon could be stuffed here.
This place was a little bigger than the viscount’s mansion in Roseburg — just a little bit. Plus, that included dedicated areas for governing purposes.
Of course, Annan also understood that the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke had a different natural environment than the Noah’s Kingdom.
The city of Austere-Winter Dukedom was built under the heat regulatory barrier. There was not much living space. If the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke family occupied too much space, fewer civilians could be accommodated.
What happened now was to allow more people to survive.
Even the nobles had cramped dwellings.
Annan could even see the desk inside from the window. Even for the Grand Duke’s Residence, the three buildings outside served as the government office building.
The four-story, one-street-long section was the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke’s house. This was probably the only dwelling for the Austere-Winter family.
At this moment, it seemed that the [Winter’s Hand] might also live here.
For the ruler’s family, this place was too narrow. The Grand Duke’s dwelling was so limited that it lost the viscount’s mansion.
Travelers from other countries could not help but compare their royal palaces with them and feel complacent that their country was bigger than the Austere-Winter Dukedom.
But the Austerians were not ashamed of it. Instead, they were proud of it.
That was because they had leaders who truly loved their people.
It was indeed their pride.
“—Stand up, Annan.” Just then, Annan suddenly heard someone calling “his” name.
She looked over there reflexively.
But she found out that two people were standing there.
One was Dmitri, whom Annan had met in “Nightmare: The Great Hunt,” and the other was the young Annan.
He looked similar to Maria, but with short hair that only reached the shoulders. Maria’s hair draped down to her waist. Other than that, they were almost indistinguishable.
In their hands, one of them held a bladed sword. Indeed, it was not a wooden or a training sword but a bladed metal sword that could be used in combat. The only difference was that Annan held the sword in both hands, while Dmitri only held the sword in his right hand, with his left hand in his pocket.
The young Annan coughed softly, stared at Dmitri closely, and quickly got up.
“Young Annan” did not look at her but spoke coldly, “Again!”
The voice made Annan dazed for a moment. In this blurred moment, “he” thought it was Maria from “Nightmare: White Tower”.
After all, hearing his voice differed from hearing it from the other’s perspective.
The next moment, what surprised Annan was the tip of Dmitri’s sword shining with a cold, crystal-colored light.
As the blade moved, frost traces painted the air. Traces of crystal light were left in the air, drawing elegant paths one after another.
That’s [Frost Sword]! Annan recognized it instantly.
It was completely different from the Frost Sword Annan used.
Dmitri’s pace was like fencing, moving back and forth rhythmically.
The young Annan’s blade was also quickly stained with pale white marks from the Frost Sword. However, the damages were only at the degree of LV1. Only light frost marks that were barely visible to the naked eye could be seen.
The young Annan appeared as if using a greatsword. While spinning the sword above his head like a helicopter, he lowered his body and charged forward.
This was the [Bodyguard Swordsmanship] that Annan was good at!
However, Dmitri’s figure flickered like a phantom before Annan’s eyes.
As Dmitri took a step back, he pointed out the long sword and tapped at the young Annan’s sword.
Frost traces glued the two swords together. At the same time, Dmitri easily broke the balance of Annan’s footsteps. With that, the young Annan couldn’t help but fall forward. The sword that was initially protecting his head section was thrown back to his waist.
Immediately after, Dmitri took a step forward. He pointed the cold blade at young Annan’s neck, backhanded!
He wouldn’t be able to dodge it!
The young Annan loses his balance, and it appears as if he is rushing to the blade with his neck. How could he avoid this attack?
At this moment, Annan took a step forward subconsciously.
Not trying to “save himself”, but subconsciously did not want to see a child die in training.
But the old man pressed on her shoulder.
“…?”
Before Annan could ask, the young Annan instantly crouched and stood on both feet like a cunning young wolf. At the same time, he sent out one of his hands and slapped Dmitri’s right inner wrist from the bottom up.
The mysterious technique of utilizing body weight shook Dmitri’s grip on the sword.
At the same time, the young Annan suddenly spun in a circle. Instead of a slash, it felt more like flinging his sword.
With the attack incorporating the spiral momentum, Annan’s blade collided with Dmitri’s blade, and the sword in Dmitri’s hand was instantly knocked away!
That’s [Disarm]! Annan realized immediately.
This was one of the starting skills that Annan had mastered.
But for Annan, [Disarm] was just a technique that forced the opponent to release the weapon when the opponent showed a flaw. It was not so fancy at all.
Wow!
In my childhood form, did I have so much combat experience?
But just when Annan thought “he” was going to win, Dmitri suddenly stepped sideways and took a step forward.
Frost traces spread silently to the ground from under Dmitri’s feet. His slender legs assaulted the knee socket of Annan’s right leg, hooking Annan’s right leg and staggering him forward. After that, he happened to step on the icy surface smoothly.
It was a fluent and light kick from the side. Dmitri’s attack glued Annan’s knee socket to the ground, leaving Annan only half a meter away from the ground.
Then, the young Annan fell to the ground in an embarrassed manner.
The frost traces on the ground returned to Dmitri’s feet again.
He kicked his blade up lightly and held it in his hand again.
“Stand up, Annan.” Dmitri spoke again.
The young Annan caught a couple of breaths before getting up again.
The real Annan next to him was dumbfounded.
No wonder Annan fell to the ground during the swordsmanship sparring…
Is the Austere-Winter family so good in combat?