32 Hausen house

After the greeting, the girl moved towards the graveyard, so the other men seemed to be puzzled that she was leaving them.

"Young lord, what did she say?" Blaze asked. He winced as he tried to keep up with Aliester.

Aliester replied. "It is about to rain. We have to move somewhere first. She said we should follow her."

The young lord brought the others with him and trailed after Aria. They made their way towards the main graveyard to where the Hausen family were laid to rest.

Aliester felt conflicted while eyeing his own tomb. 'I indeed died here. I really have to live possessing this body.'

Before he could think more about his death, the mage nudged him and whispered. "Who exactly are you? You seemed to be the young lord of Alcove but I sensed that you are not."

Conrad pointed out. "You could speak the language in this realm, although no one from our place had traveled here. Added to that you even figure out that she is the princess. So, who are you?"

Aliester sighed. He knew that Conrad was quite smart. He actually anticipated that the mage would be able to figure it out. However, he did not think that Conrad would confront him this soon.

"I will explain it later, if you are alright with it. It would be better to reveal everything after we freshen up." The young lord answered. "Just know that I am your ally."

The mage was not contented but he let the young lord be for now. "I could not sense any malice from you and you helped us escape that prison. So, at the very least, I know that you can be trusted."

{Hurry up!} Aria called while fetching her bike.

Aliester translated for her. "She is asking us to hurry up."

"Where?" puzzled, Daxton asked.

"To her house." The young lord answered while taking the bike from his twin. {I will handle this.}

The girl nodded while leading them towards the Hausen household.

Upon seeing the bike, the knight drew near and asked. "What is that? I have never seen something like that before."

"It looked like a skeleton steed." Conrad commented. "Aren't the people here feeding their horse?"

Aliester chuckled. "This isn't a horse. This is a bike. They don't need to feed it"

"Bike? What is this for?" the redheaded king asked.

"This is used as a means of transportation in this realm. Instead of a using a horse for transport, some people had to use this." Aliester answered, forgetting the fact that he was not supposed to know that information.

"How does this work?" Daxton asked.

"I will ask the princess to show you later. Aliester said as if he realized that he made a mistake of revealing information that he should be clueless about.

While walking towards the Hausen estate, the other men had been very curious about a lot of things. They were even suspicious why the young duke knew a lot about this realm.

But knowing that they need to get to their destination on time, they shut their traps.

After a fifteen minute walk, the group arrived at the Hausen household.

"Is this her highness's house?" Blaze asked as he surveyed the strange structure.

Unlike the castle that they had lived in, the houses in this realm looked different. They had seen box like houses made of stone and with triangular roof.

There were other houses that were two story tall and very few infrastructures that almost touched the sky, but this house in particular was unique.

This one was mainly made of wood. The roof was shaped differently and the structure was very different from the houses that they were used to. It was huge but not as huge as the castle back at their realm.

{Sorry, it is not a castle.} The girl apologized as she led them inside the gate.

{Bro, I will allow you to talk on my behalf.} she said to Aliester.

Aliester obliged and translated what she had said.

"Why isn't she living in a castle? She is a princess." Daxton inquired.

"Castles are not common in this countryside. These are the structures common in this place." Aliester tried his best to answer.

Aria slid the door open and ask Aliester to let the men take their footwear off.

"Please put your shoes or boots here. We cannot bring them upstairs. It is considered impolite in this culture." The young lord explained while taking off his footwear.

Aliester instructed the other young men on what to do and handed to them a few spare indoor footwears that Aria found.

After they were done, Aria invited them inside. However, before they can enter the door towards the next room, Blaze stepped on something and an arrow swiftly flew towards him.

Aria was quick to act. She managed to catch the arrow and broke it in half.

"Are you sure this is your house?" Daxton asked as he drawing his sword to get ready for an attack headed their way. "why are we being attack?"

{Yes. This is where I live.} The girl replied. {Only that I forgot to deactivate the traps.}

{Traps?} Aliester asked incredulously. {Why in the heavens' name would you put traps in our house?}

{I am a lone girl living here, without you or Anika. I have to protect the house. Besides if I step on the trap, I would feel that I am somehow not alone. Plus, it serves as training." The girl simply answered.

{That's crazy!} Aliester could not believe that his younger twin would turn into something like a lunatic after he was gone.

Before Aria could argue with him, the floor board gave way when she took a step.

{Aria!} Aliester shouted as he tried to grab his twin but the only thing he caught was air.

Since Aliester was not able to grab her in time, Aria threw a thin string which attached itself to a wooden beam.

She swung herself and landed perfectly to the other side. Then the girl pressed a button. In an instant the floorboard went back into place.

The men just watched her stunt with wide eyes.

"I am… really… sor…sorry about this." She apologized in broken Verbenian as she made sure that the others can pass through the hallway safely. {These are part of my training.}

Aliester translated the last part for her and explained the whole thing starting from the arrow trap.

"Training? For what?" Daxton asked while keeping his guard up. "Surely these types of drills are not for knights."

{I aim to be a shadow.} She replied as she stopped a few more knives from hitting her companions.

{You are aiming to be like Anika, now?} Aliester cried in disbelief. {One spy is already enough for the Hausen house.} he commented.

{It is my choice, bro.} she bit back.