Aravel

Chapter 65

The location of Aravel's military training grounds and headquarters was located not far from where the palace was. Even the days prior, they could already catch glimpses of the activity ongoing over there. While it was no surprise that Aravel also had its own army, it did intrigue the group to what sort of army does a nation like Aravel have.

Upon arrival, the group were immediately greeted with heavy security checks and inspections. Even though the Emperor, Empress and the rest of the princesses were there to escort them, the security was taking no chance at their safety. The group obliged, knowing this was standard procedure for guests of their calibre.

"Welcome to the Aravel military base, everyone," Reginsleif declared. "I would like to guide you myself but I'm afraid I won't be able to provide as in-depth a guide as someone who works here. As such, we shall have our guide for the day, Shiina and Sakuya, to lead you."

At his words, the two aforementioned dragonkin showed up from the sky. Shiina and Sakuya, being commanders of the dragonkin troops who escorted the Emperor's family to Tristania, could not have been a better pair to show the group around with them being familiar faces to some.

"Reginsleif-sama," Shiina and Sakuya dropped to their knees at once, showing respect to the Emperor. "You are in your training outfit. Will you be following us?"

"Yes, please," Reginsleif nodded. "Proceed as previously instructed."

The two brought the group to the main building ahead, presumably where the offices and storage were. As the entire training compound was huge, it was only natural to assume that they had a lot to look out for.

"Now, we will give you a rough overview of our training facility as well as the structure of the place," Shiina told the group as soon as they had registered their names. "As Reginsleif-sama has requested, we will be your guides for today. I am Shiina, Commander of the Emperor's private dragonkin squad."

"I am Sakuya, Shiina's younger sister and second-in-command," Sakuya continued on her sister's behalf. "The last time some of us met was back in Tristania. Then, we were acting as His Majesty's family's escorts. It was unfortunate we had to end our quick meeting so suddenly."

"Right away, the room to your left is where we have some paperwork done and stored," Shiina gestured to a room with the door closed on her right since she was facing them. "There's nothing interesting inside other than tables and papers."

"As the official Aravelean military, we are in charge of a lot of paperwork process as well," a burly male dragonkin with scars on his upper arm showed up to address the group. "The way things are, we have a rather complex hierarchy work order too."

"General, aren't you supposed to be busy with training?" Shiina sharply glared at the man. "Need I remind you that you're in the presence of the Emperor."

"Haha, don't need to get so uptight, Ms Shiina. I heard that we had guests coming over, so I came to greet them myself," the man said, sticking out his name. "The name's Bourek, it's directly translated from dragonkin so there's no correct spell for how you want to call me."

"Yuuji, crown prince of Tristania," Yuuji shook Bourek's hand with a confident smile. "Thank you for taking your time to meet us."

"Please, how can I not greet our delighted guests? So much so that a quick notice was issued by the Emperor himself," Bourek grinned at this. "As Ms Shiina had stated, I'm a General, one of the higher-ranked personnel in charge of the ground units."

"As I was saying, the military here is focused on a few factions," Shiina sighed, ignoring Bourek. "It would be difficult to explain the factions themselves since we are rather different from what the human empires and nations have, so it would be better for a direct tour."