Rise of the Legendary Emperor

Back in his hut in the elven forest in the outer lands, Knight sat on the ground thinking back to the moments from the Divine Continent, both Don and him were inseparable there, this is the first time in a long time Don went somewhere without him. Knight realized that they are going to face many more unique situations here than the Divine Continent.

Ever since they arrived at this new world and rescued the elves, Knight knew they are not alone in this world and if they are going to face powerful enemies they need to protect the elves, at least until they turn this group of weak elves into deadly warriors.

Aside from that, Don and himself also want to increase their cultivation, now they were both at Moon level(realm) but to rule this continent they had to reach peak Star level.

While Knight was intriguing, a figure entered his hut.

Knight ruffled his hair and slowly stood up to see the figure entered the hut, it was Amaryll with a worried face.

Her emotions were not easily hidden on her innocent face. Her confusion and worry were evident in the crease of her lovely brow and the down-curve of her full lips. But her eyes, her eyes showed her soul. As Knight looked into her eyes he knew, she was still thinking about the bandits and Minister Bryan, she was clutching her green skirt tightly and her mouth was twitching like she needed to speak but couldn't find the right words.

Knight knew what she was going to ask, the same questions she asked him countless times since Don's departure "What do you think happened to Don?","Do you really think Minister Bryan will be dead?" "Are we safe here?"

After a couple of times Knight reassured her, he started to get irritated to answer this cute little elf as he gently shook his head stepped towards her,

"Look Amaryll, you're starting to get on my nerves"

Amaryll didn't look surprised or shock to hear Knight, her face still showed the same worried expression when she entered the hut,

"I'm sorry but where's Don? He should have come back by now right"

She asked while she walking towards Knight and sat before him crossed legs and one arm on her chin supporting her head,

Knight breathed a heavy sigh

"I told you everything will be alright what are you so afraid of?"

She avoided Knight's gaze reply for a moment her body was tensed then eventually she looked at him

"I...What if something happened to Don and Minister Bryan found us?"

"Hahaha" Knight started to laugh at the moment she finished talking his white teeth was fully exposed as he laughs

Amaryll was surprised to see Knight's reaction as she couldn't find the reason for his laughter her worried expression turned into pouting

"What's so funny?"

"You think a puny Minister in a puny city is gonna kill Don"

A simple line of words, but Knight was extremely arrogant and domineering

"Why do you trust him so much? You are a magical beast and he's a human"

The laugh on Knight's face vanished in a second when he heard Amaryll's words, he frowned his eyebrows he looked straight at Amaryll's eyes but his gaze was sharp

"You know nothing about me and Don...For you, I'm a magical beast and he's a human but for us we are brothers"

Amaryll sat there on silence as Knight continued

"Don never easily trust anyone but he doesn't betray the people who trust him"

"I'm not trusting a stranger, a human at that although my brother seems to trust Don I don't know why" she breathed a sigh and said,

"Because your brother doesn't want to live the rest of his life hiding and running" Knight calmly replied as he ruffled his mane which he likes to do many times a day,

"Can Don do something like that I mean uniting all the races and building a kingdom?"

Knight neglected Amaryll's gaze and continued to ruffle his man and said,

"Of course I and Don can do that but not with you questioning the man who saved you and your entire tribe"

The elf narrowed her eyes as she leaned forward a little

"I'm not being ungrateful or anything it's just his ambition seems unrealistic that's all"

"You will see" Knight simply said three words but his tone was full of confidence and arrogance,

Amaryll wanted to ask how he's being so confident just when Arwen rushed into the hut his face had a little smile, after Don's departure to slave city Arwen also pretty tensed up like Amaryll but now his body language was changed and relaxed

"Don and Uncle Dior are back" Amaryll quickly rose up as for Knight he just smirked at Amaryll and swaggered out.

******************

Leaving the slave city, Don did not take any detours, heading straight to elven camp.

By the time he reached the camp, it was already past morning he would have reached sooner if not for Uncle Dior shouting in fear to fly and wanted to throw up a couple of times, even with all Uncle Dior's shouting and flying the half-elf had not woke up, she was still sleeping in Don's arms like a baby.

Uncle Dior was not able to guess how can she sleep like this in the arms of a stranger, he could see her arms were still around his neck and Don brown robe was wrapped around her and proving her with comforting heat, the half elf's face was calm and serene while she was sleeping it was exact opposite of what he saw in the auction.

Just as he landed on near his hut, he saw Arwen walking towards him with Knight and Amaryll beside him.

"Don Uncle Dior, what took you so long?"

Amaryll asked, but it only took her a moment, as her eyes widened in surprise when she saw a half-elf in Don's arms. Clapping her hands in surprise and shock, she almost shouted out loud: "Who is she? What happened to her?"

"It's a long story we saved this poor soul from Minister Bryan. Don, you should bring her to Arwen's hut"

Don nodded and began to walk towards Amaryll's hut carrying the half-elf.

After a few steps, Don came in front of Amaryll and Arwen's hut,

It was a makeshift hut crudely made by some woods and branches and covered in long big leaves. The hut was six feet tall and two people could share the floor comfortably, there were no beds or anything just an animal fur spread to sleep and a cloth bundle as a pillow as in front of the hut was a small fire pit to warm-up.

Don entered the hut and knelt before the makeshift bed and gently dropped her on the bed but the half elf's arms were tightly wrapped around his neck.

Seeing this Amaryll walk towards them and removed half elf's hands around him as Don finally put down the half-elf on the bed.

Don gazed at the half-elf for a moment and gently stood up and walked outside while Amaryll, Arwen, Knight followed him behind.

"Don is he dead?" Amaryll couldn't help but ask with the nervous voice Don who was watching the late morning sky, his brown hair was blowing in the wind

Don neglected her gaze and continued to look at the sky

"Yes he's dead"

This was just mere words but it lifted the huge burden in Amaryll's heart as her face revealed a relieved look and breathed a heavy sigh but Arwen was not relieved not much as Amaryll.

Arwen knew the true purpose of Don's visit to Minister Bryan, it was not simply to kill him but to know more about the mysterious mage.

For a few breaths time nobody spoke, the five of them just remained there in silence just when Don pulled out some folded papers from his pant pocket and reached his hand towards Uncle Dior gesturing him to take the papers.

With a confused look on his face, Uncle Dior stepped forward to take the papers from his hand, the papers looked aged and made of finer material as he opened the papers to see a map of outer lands and a red X' mark on the map.

"It's a map...map of outer lands and wait…." Uncle Dior frowned and stared at the map confusedly.

At the moment everyone was looking at confused Uncle Dior including Don,

"It's the map of outer lands alright but this X points to the middle of nowhere"

"Let me take a look" Amaryll stepped towards Uncle Dior and peeked at the map over his shoulder.

"Hmm there should be nothing there except trees and more trees" Amaryll exclaimed.

"Arwen do you have any ideas on what is on there?"

Amaryll grabbed the map from Uncle Dior and handed it over to her brother as Arwen took the map and stared at it for a while and studied the map and ran his fingers through the surface of the map.

Seconds later Arwen eyes lit up in realization as his hands started to shake a bit he slowly looked at the people who were watching him with surprise and urged to know his answer.

"It's the castle it must be the castle," Arwen said and his body was trembling

"What castle? Arwen what are you talking about?" Amaryll urged him.

Don and Knight looked at each other and turned their gaze to Arwen

"It...It's the lost castle of Dragon King" Arwen was still trembling as he said

"No, it's not possible I thought the castle was destroyed along with Dragon King" Uncle Dior's voice had a tinge of fear while speaking to Arwen.

"No, it's not destroyed my grandfather told me the Dragon king teleported the castle and hid it with magic before he died" before Arwen could finish Amaryll asked

"Then how do you know it's the castle of Dragon king?"

"Because grandfather told me before the Dragon King died that he made a map and sent it away with his trusted bodyguard..." Arwen recalled his memories for a minute and continued

"Grandfather told me that the Dragon king ordered the guard to hid the map safely so that only someone with the world-changing Destiny could find the castle"

"This couldn't be the map the guard hid right? I mean how could you possibly tell what that map looked like?" Amaryll couldn't believe Arwen.

"Because this is not an X its the symbol of Dragon king" Arwen pointed at the X on the map to Amaryll and Uncle Dior,

"Look closely and touch the X you'll see it's not X but two dragons crossing each other"

Amaryll quickly grabbed the map from Arwen's hands and stared at it closely and rubbed her fingers on the X and shouted in surprise,

"Yes Yes Yes you were right Arwen it is two dragons is it really pointing towards the Dragon King's castle?"

Uncle Dior watched the excited Amaryll for a moment and turned towards Don,

"Don where did you get this map?"

"It was in the hidden safe of Bryan" as he said the excited look on Amaryll's face vanished

"Why did he have this map? Is he found the castle" Amaryll held tightly the aged map and stared at Don

"No he didn't, if he did why was he not in the castle"

"Don's right, if what Arwen said is true only the one with the destiny could find the castle right? Then how could our dead minister be the destined one"

Knight spoke in confidence and certainty.

"What Knight said makes sense it's not someone like Bryan can find the Dragon king's castle" Arwen agreed with Knight.

"We have to find this castle" Don stepped forward and removed his magic mask and revealed his real face as he said.