I woke up after a few hours of sleep, and I could instantly tell the difference. I could feel certain particles in the air floating.
'So this must be mana.'
Closing my eyes, I tried to focus inside my body, and in the area where a small structure was first seen, now had a completed plate floating majestically.
"So this is my plate? It certainly looks strong."
Plates are the base from which you build your power. It forms when you turn 10 years old. The more you cultivate, the more plates you keep above it, creating a tower.
That aside, I could feel the power residing in my body. I was tempted to start cultivating, but the first time you move mana, it should be done under supervision for safety.
I got out of my bed, had lunch with my little sister, earning some affection points, and went to see my mother to get permission to head outside the mansion.
Entering my mother's office, I saw her buried in her work. Ever since my so-called father died, she had to deal with all the stress of the Dukedom.
If it weren't for her being a powerful warrior, she would have long since fainted. Speaking of which, I started to remember the background of my mother.
'The only princess before the emperor and the younger sister of the current emperor,' she was said to have great talent in swordsmanship, and she had joined the military, creating her brigade and achieving merits.
It's how my parents met. My father was a commander, though not much in strength, he was said to be a genius in leading the army.
While I was going over my background, my mother lifted her head from the heap of documents. Seeing her child, the only one within the household with purple eyes, she smiled sweetly, inviting me to her lap to sit.
Seeing my mother call me, just like a young boy happy from her mother's call, I ran up to her, sat on her lap, and used her breast as a pillow I sat.
Grace looked towards her child who looked all the same but different. At first, she was really worried about him. Due to the incident with her husband, her child had started to form an introverted personality.
She was afraid that he would be unable to come out of that, but thankfully he started to change recently for the better.
She had received reports of what had happened these weeks, and to say she was surprised would be an understatement. She knew that her family was not the same after her husband's death, but she just didn't have any time to deal with it due to her work, and she was deeply guilty about it too, but her son had come up to the task and did it for her.
She was deeply relieved when she heard that her children had started to play with each other again. Looking at her son sitting on her lap so innocently, she couldn't help but pinch his cheek.
'Sigh, I need to spend more time with my kids.'
Being seated on my mother's lap, I looked at her. She was looking at me with a myriad of emotions and thoughts. I am no psychic, but I could still pretty much guess what she was thinking.
So I turned towards my mother and switched on the caring-innocent-adult-child mode.
"Mom, is something the problem? You seem deep in your thought."
Grace was pulled out of her monologue by her child and saw his deeply worried look at her. Feeling touched, she responded.
"No, I am fine Austy, it's just that your mother is just feeling a bit sleepy, that's all, no need to worry."
"Mom, you don't need to worry about us. We know that the reason you don't have time for us is that you are busy, and we don't hate you for it."
"We love you no matter what."
Saying so, I kissed her on the cheek and began patting her head like an adult consoling a child.
My actions brought a small smile to her face, and she ended up laughing, and a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Mom, are you alright? Why are you crying? Did I do anything wrong?"
I responded in fright, just like an innocent child would, but to my surprise, after that, my mother had ended up laughing loudly.
Along with it, she ended up pulling me into her embrace, and I got hit with the scent of roses again. After laughing for a while, my mother recovered, and she looked at me with a playful smile.
"So my little Austy is consoling his mother, huh?"
Acting flustered, I replied, "No, no, Mom. I was just cheering you up because you looked so down."
"Don't worry, mother is not mad at you."
After that, I and my mother continued talking for some time, and after a few minutes, she asked the reason why I wanted to see her, and I expressed to her my desire to go out to get fresh air, to which she instantly agreed.
So after a few minutes, I was outside the mansion with a few guards and my maid Mia accompanying me dressed as common people. This time I decided that I wanted to go incognito.
This will be the first time that I go outside and see the world, the streets filled with humans, elves, beastmen, and a few demons here and there. It was when I saw the different races that I was once again reminded that I am not on Earth.
As the head city of the dukedom, our city was a porch, to say the least. The noble district displayed elegance like no other, with buildings resembling modern times rather than old. The world of Ether ain't that behind in technology, though no cars, phones, planes, etc. The world is indeed well-developed.
Clean roads, cafes, amusement parks, and many more exist here, and not to say about the happy smiles on the people's faces.
Covering my head with a hood, I, along with my guards, started strolling around and "accidentally" reached a shop crowded with many young men standing at the entrance. There were quite a few noble scions there too.
They were like a pack of chickens standing there to take a look at their idol or something. Playing my child persona, I asked, "Mia, what's happening there? Why are a lot of people gathered there?"
"Oh, that? It's just a bow shop that was currently set up."
"A bow shop? Then why are there a lot of people outside?"
I asked like a total ignorant child I am.
"Well, young master, it is said that the owner is a very beautiful woman, so many men come and visit here."
"Why do they come if there is a beautiful woman here?"
My innocent eyes directly looked into Mia's, and my question stumped her a bit. She didn't know how to respond.
"It's nothing much, young master. You will know about it when you get bigger."
"Oh, then let's go inside the shop. I want to see what's special about it."
Leading my guards, we pushed to enter the shop. Getting inside it, I marveled at how the shop was much different inside than the outside. The interior was well decorated with different kinds of bows hanging on the walls.
The shop was only one floor, but the area was wide, giving out a welcoming vibe. In the counter area sat a single woman She was wearing a one-piece dress that covered her whole body, a veil that covered her face, her black hair fell her back, and she was sitting at the counter reading
Despite covering her face, her Phoenix-like eyes and her ethereal aura give her a strange atmosphere, as if she doesn't belong to this world, seeing her I used the read function
Power: Imperial rank 3
Title: The Bow Empress, cold beauty, The imperial...etc
Description: currently in search of a successor
>feeling a bit dispirited that she hasn't found anyone till now
Difficulty: S+ (she is a woman with powers you can't imagine, courted by several men, if you wanna conquer her, you gotta work to the bone)
Seeing the data I smiled