Irene Pov
Red lines formed on the image of the knight in a pentagram form before going over into a magic seal shining in my red magic color. The stone door started to crack and slowly move backwards before moving to the left with creacking hinges.
Magic activated torches started to light the dark entrance revealing a staircase covered partly in moss, the heavy smell of dust was in the air. "How long has this place been shut, it seems like ages." My daughter said as she looked inside.
"Well, last time I know it was 400 years ago that I openned it so there is that and this place was there before my father ruled this kingdom and its at least 500 years old." I replied and Erza nodded understanding it.
We all slowly went inside and I made general Balius close the stone door from the inside before heading down the stairs with clicking heels. Insects crawled on the walls and spider webs were eveywhere, we got rid of them by simply burning them with the torches that we took from the walls.
"How deep does this go, we are at least 50 meters bellow the palace and have been walking for a while now." Erza exclaimed and I turned to the group as Y/n was in front. "Erza we are almost there, the reason why its so deep down into the earth and stretches out so far is because those weapons have an extreme magic field that could cause some issues that I do not know the outcome of." I said and she gave me a shocked look.
After another five minutes of walking we reached a huge cave with a bridge in front of us and a door on the other side. "This place is massive are you sure we are just 50 meters bellow?" Y/n asked and I thought for a moment. "Its more like hundred." I shrugged and saw their dumbstruck faces.
We walked over the bridge that had dragon statues on it and stood front of the massive door now. "This door its surely hard to move." Erza exclaimed and I smiled softly at her. "It is but we can manage to do it." I replied and placed my hand on it. A purple magic circle spread from my hand over the entire door, startling most.
"Mother, isn't this circle forbidden dark magic?!" Erza yelled pointing at it and I mused a bit but she was right about it. A sigh escaped my lips and I slouched down lightly. "Yes it is Erza but when I originally used it, it was just as legal, its a form of sealing magic that when activated for the first time requires blood of the one who uses it, everyone who shares that blood that means you will also be able to open it." I explained to her.
The door opened slowly and revealed the massive armory under Dragnof. I turned to the group giving a small cheeky smile and immediately Erza's mouth dropped agape when she saw the armors and swords all perfectly lined up on the shelves.
The room extended over a hundred meters back and was 10 meters high,
"So what do you think, does this suit your taste Erza?" I asked as she seemed like a child in a candy shop while she walked up to the first shelf with chest armors. Y/n grabbed Rose and handed me her to hold her as we walked up to Erza.
"Do you have anything in mind?" I asked her and she eagerly nodded. "I do, I want to see if there is a sword for me here." She replied and I pulled out a harness that had a metal dragon head on its chest piece. "The elite guard armor was given to those soldiers which were able to not only convince me of their strength but also on their behavior, I didn't care about their height, I had always looked at how capable they are." I muttered and Y/n listened to me.
"Are you thinking of reusing those armors?" He asked pointing at it and I whipped away some dust on it. "I do, you've seen in what conditions the soldiers are, but these are not for them, they are further back an I will get to it later.
I searched for Erza and found her looking at the long battle swords which were bigger then herself. "I can't imagine how someone fights with these, they are heavy and massive." She groaned as she pulled one of the shelf before placing it back down.
I walked up to her with crossed arms "They are used on horseback and can be used on foot too they are called zweihänder and originally they come from the kingdom I told you about before. The way they forged those swords is astounding, we used swords that were flexible and light with a single edge, like your katana but those swords double edged long blades with a huge thrust force could knock down the strongest fighters in a single hit. The first time I encountered those was back when the ruling kings had their annual meetings in one of the major castles in 353 and I was just a 10 year old princess being guarded by two of the knights from the king of Tirol, he gave everyone of the 9 kings their own knights as guards during the 5 day meeting and my father was very interested about getting to know how those swords are made and a few days later after we came back the forge master in Dragnof was issued to make 3 different versions to test them together with a sword master who was the general at the time and my very own teacher. Our army and soldiers were amazed by those swords when we presented them and everyone wanted to have one, but they were hard to carry and fight with so we had to make special courses for those swords alone, which turned out to be easier done then we thought since they were carried on the shoulders and are used similar like battle axes, but against a fully armored knight not even a long sword could kill him, you'd have to use a war hammer or a mace to make much more damage to him." I explained and Erza oohed.
"So using the right weapon against the enemy was a crucial thing to be done to have an advantage?" She asked and Irene then nodded slowly.
She grabbed one of the Maces and inspected it. "It is, unlike us the mages who can use different kinds of armors people with no magic have to rely on different weapons or magic enchanted weapons which are powered by lacrimas, a person who can use magic can use an enchanted sword but one without cannot use an enchanted sword, you should know this as its basic magic knowledge." I replied and then huffed lightly. "What did Makarov teach you about magic." I scoffed.
Erza looked at me lightly offended and I felt bad. "We didn't even know enchant magic existed until Wendy appeared, we thought it was lost magic for a reason as there was no one around with it." She replied and I smiled.
"We should get the armors and weapons up to the castle and then we will equip our army with them." I explained and Y/n raised an eyebrow.
"How are we getting them up if we had to go through all those corridors?" He asked in shock and I giggled softly.
"It's simple, we will use the lift, if you ask yourself why we didn't use it is because its deactivated, a safety measure." I said and then pointed to the far end with a serious glare. "A safety measure for one of the biggest weapons created in my kingdom, magic controlled artificial knights with the power of dragons in them, a whole army strong enough to overthrow any kingdom no mater it's size and far superior to our human power as they feel no pain nor remorse for killing people, the perfect soldiers that will never disobey orders." I said and then Erza gave me a look I knew all too well.
I solemn look spread on my face while I saw her look in disbelieve at me. "Why do you have such destructive weapons right under the castle, aren't you worried something could happen?" She asked in shock pointing at them.
I kept silent for a few seconds looking away. "I am Erza, but not in the way you would think." I said in a low worried tone." These weapons can only be activated by an enchanter, that means me or Wendy are the last two in the whole known world to use this rare magic and without it those artificial warriors are nothing but pretty sculptures to place into your garden." I said and looked away from them. "I'm not going to destroy them either as those are the last defense of Dragnof against possible attacks from the outside, we need to keep a strong military presence for other countries to see or else they could think we are an easy target for their wealth as we seem weak for not having a strong army." I said and Erza looked down.
"I understand mother, being a royal isn't really as easy I thought." She said disappointed in herself.
We got the armors and weapons into the elevator on the moving carts and I activated it by placing my hand on the socket that was in the middle at the back wall. I felt Y/n's hand grab my shoulder and turn me to him. "What are you planning on doing with all those weapons Irene?" He asked in a worried tone and I looked up into his eyes that were filled with concern. I knew he was concerned as I didn't tell him what I wanted to do, I would have said it later when we were up on the main courtyard.
I just shrugged in silence before looking down to my belly. "I'm doing what every mother would, protect her children and I'm not planning on destroying those weapons down there, its better to have them and not need them then to need them and not be able to use them." I said and he pressed his lips firmly together.
"I'm just concerned about you overworking, you should be letting me handle everything from now on, Erza and you should eat sleep read and think of how you will raise the coming children, we can make our kingdom into the dream you wanted to have." He spoke softly and placed his hands on the nape of my neck. "I'm going to be the best father to yours and Erza's child I can possibly be." He assured and the elevator started to move making me lightly nauseous, I had to support myself on the side of the elevator while taking deep controlled breaths. A thud sound made me look down and Erza too who saw Y/n flat on the ground with a green face.
It eventually came to a stop and we found ourselves right next to the passage between the palace and the city, the elevator was build into the battlement of the inner city wall to hide the structure and have an easy aces point for a possible evacuation if the city was overrun by enemies.
The first time it was used as an evacuation point was during the attack of the Pergrande kingdom in the year 250. Several thousand people had been brought down and once everyone was down there my great grandfather let hell lose upon the attacking army with the few dragons that Belserion had convinced to join him. It was a bloodbath like non other, with the enemies being overwhelmed in seconds.
I got the armors and weapons to the training area of the soldiers, I could see the several hundred men do their assigned trainings as the corporal was overseeing them. General Balius was bringing the armors to the soldiers instructing them on how to wear and use them.
"Lets get back into the palace, I'm sure we will be having enough stuff to do in the coming days." Y/n said and I nodded while Erza took his hand.
I could not wait for the next few days to happen and I already knew that a conference is going to come up with my subordinates.