"My goodness, aren't you just the cutest little Elf ever!" Remarked the calm womanly voice as she picked Elif up and faced him towards her, which allowed him to see her face.
Seeing my Great-grandmothers face stunned me as while Great-grandfather looked slightly older than my grandfather, Great-grandmother looked like she could be my mother's sister with how young she looked.
"Umm, are you really my Great-grandmother?" Asked Elif, slightly skeptical of the beautiful young woman in front of him.
"Why would you ask something silly like that?" Replied the woman as she turned to see Marcus, Maria, and Illumia enter the room.
"Because you look super young compared to Great-grandfather." Said Elif, though his words came off as a compliment to the woman's ears.
"Well, well, it seems you know just how to brighten up a woman's day, don't you?" Said the woman with a warm smile, though Elif seemed slightly confused at her statement.
"Grandmother, will you continue holding Elif like that, or can we go to the treasury?" Asked Maria.
Hearing my mother's voice from behind me, I try turning around, which proves very difficult with how tightly Great-grandmother is holding me.
"Mother, is she really my Great-grandmother?" Asked Elif after finally managing to turn around.
"Yes, she is, and her name is Celeste, by the way. Now, grandmother, can we go? You've been holding him for a while now." Said Maria as she walked past both of them and continued towards a door in the back of the room.
"Such an impatient little girl; let's go and meet up with your mother." Said Celeste as she stood up from the edge of her and followed right behind Illumia while shaking her head at Maria's personality.
"So what's your name, little lady?" Asked Celeste.
"My name is Illumia, and I'm Elifs personal maid, your Majesty." Answered Illumia with a bow.
"Don't call me your majesty; I'm no longer an Empress; just call me Queen Celeste." Stated Celeste.
"Of course, Queen Celeste." Said Illumia.
As Great-grandmother and Illumia continued walking down the hallway the door led to, I asked a question I have wanted to ask since I was before the nobles.
"Hey Illumia, why were the nobles staring at you from earlier?" Asked Elif.
"If I had to take a guess, it would be because of my previous job, your highness." Answered Illumia.
"Hmm, what was your previous job then? It had to be something special if all the nobles were staring at you." Asked Elif in curiosity.
"I was the general of the north, ordered to guard the northern border with my army." Stated Illumia, blandly as usual.
"Oh, so you're the 'Battle Maniac General' I heard about a while ago; I must say, with how you act now, I would've never guessed that was you." Remarked Celeste with a chuckle, though her words seemed to have caught Elifs interest.
"Battle Maniac? Does that mean you like to fight?" Asked Elif.
"You could say so, your highness." Answered Illumia with a slight grin on her face.
I had wanted to ask another question, but it seemed like we had arrived at our destination, considering that we had stopped right in front of a giant vault door.
"Stay here, Elif; I need to open the door into the treasury." Said Celeste as she set Elif down and went to the right side of the vault door.
"Did you bring the key, Marcus?" Asked Celeste as a glowing golden crystal appeared right in her hand.
"Yes, of course. Did you think I would come all this way and forget something so important?" Replied Marcus as a glowing silver crystal appeared in his hand, though it didn't have as much luster as the other one.
While holding both of the crystals, they suddenly inserted them into a hole on each side of the vault door, then the vault door's handle slowly spun counterclockwise for a while before it eventually stopped. Great-grandmother then walked towards the middle of the vault door before grabbing the handle and pulling it open, causing a loud noise to reverberate throughout the area.
"Now go and get Elif some cultivation resources; I'll take him to the weapons area." Stated Celeste as Elif suddenly appeared within her arms again as she made her way inside the vault door with Illumia following behind.
Once inside the Vault, I looked around and didn't notice any treasure; instead, I only saw a couple of doors with signs above them.
"Pills & Herbs, Artifacts, Talisman, Formations, and Weapons." Said Elif as he read aloud the signs above each door.
As we were heading towards the door with the sign 'Weapons' above it, I quickly looked behind me and saw mother and father walking through the 'Pills & Herbs' door.
"Make sure to get me a lot of resources, mother and father!" Yelled Elif.
"Don't worry; you'll get a lot." Replied Marcus before he walked through the door.
"Make sure to pick out a weapon you like." Replied Maria as she followed right behind Marcus, leaving the door to close on its own.
Seeing mother and father leave through the door, I turned back around just in time, too, as Illumia opened the door for us to walk through, allowing me to see a giant room filled with nothing but racks of different weapons. I could see the most common weapons, like swords and daggers, all the way to a staff with a chained spike ball attached to it.
"Woahhhh, that's a lot of weapons!" Muttered Elif in awe.
"It indeed is, your highness; even the armory my army had paled in comparison to this." Replied Illumia in astonishment, while her eyes seemed to sparkle at the prospect of so many weapons before her.
"Alright, Elif, now you must pick out a weapon that suits you; no need to think too much about it; just walk around and pick up any weapon that catches your eye and see how you feel about it." Said Celeste as she set Elif on the ground.
Listening to Great-grandmother, I arrive near a rack and pick up the staff with the chained spiked ball attached to it; holding it, I try swinging it around to see how I feel about it, but it slipped out of my hands and almost hit my face.
"Please be careful, your highness; these aren't toys; they're weapons meant to kill." Remarked Illumia as she held the spiked ball in her hand a few inches in front of Elif's face before putting the weapon back on the rack.
Releasing a breath I was holding in; I eye the weapon before walking away and picking up another weapon that looked cool; it was a long skinny staff with a long curved blade on the end, but after testing it, I didn't really like it, so I put it back. This continued for several more minutes, with me picking up cool-looking weapons before eventually putting them back down, as I didn't like them in the end.
"Hey, Illumia, since you were a general in the army before, that meant you must've used a weapon, right?" Asked Elif as he set down what looked like a chakram.
"During my time in the army, I wielded a battle axe in each hand, your highness." Answered Illumia with a slight grin.
Walking around, I picked up a battle axe and tried swinging it but again, I was not too fond of it, so I set it back down. Annoyed at not finding any weapon I liked, I decided to ask Great-grandmother for help.
"Great-grandmother, there aren't any good weapons." Complained Elif.
"That just means you haven't found the weapon meant for you, besides you kept picking out weapons that looked interesting but were quite hard to master. How about trying a more common weapon like a sword or hammer?" Replied Celeste as she tried comforting Elif.
"Haa, fine, but those weapons don't look that cool; I see those weapons everywhere; I don't want some common weapon." Stated Elif in annoyance.
As I walk to one of the racks, I pick up a hammer like Great-grandmother suggested and try it out; though I hate to admit it, it wasn't that bad, at least it felt better than those other weapons I tried previously. Still, I set the hammer back down and tried out some more common weapons to see how I felt about them.
'I've done the whip, spear, staff, dagger, and a few other weapons you would consider common; the only one left that I know of is the sword.' Thought Elif as he set down a whip and picked up a sword that was close by.
The moment I held that sword in my hands, I don't know how or why, but I instantly knew this was the weapon I wanted to use; it just felt comfortable in my hand, like it was supposed to always be there, and even swinging it around felt great, almost like the sword was a part of my arm. However, it seemed like I had gotten into some trance as I could only sense the sword that was within my hand; I don't know how long I was like this, as by the time I had exited that weird trance state, nothing seemed different.
"Congratulations, your highness!" Stated Illumia with slight shock in her voice.
"It seems like you've found the weapon meant for you, and to think it was one of the so-called 'common weapons' you talked about earlier." Remarked Celeste, also slightly shocked, though she instantly regained her composure before making fun of Elif.
"Hmph." Pouted Elif embarrassingly.