Everyone said the Eternal Throne held the largest power in the world.
The clerics at the temple often preached that the Great Pioneer built the Eternal Throne as a foundation, not just for Tsatu, but all of Dunia as well.
All my life I had been hearing the might of the Eternal Throne.
How the Eternal Throne would stand as long as the Eternal Serpent lived, which was forever.
It was not hard to believe.
Tsatu Empire was the largest and the strongest nation in Dunia.
The old healer I used to apprentice under said the empire never lost a war before. Not even once in the three thousand years of the Eternal Throne's reign.
Aided by the Watchers of the Realm, the Eternal Throne stood firm during turbulent times.
It became a pillar of strength which empowered the empire.
For three thousand years the Eternal Throne had served that role, and for another three thousand years shall it continue to serve as such.
I could not help but wonder the kind of person which seated themselves in such divine position.
Some scholars said the Eternal Throne was not the seat, not the furniture carved with ancient crystal and bejeweled with eight rare gems.
The Eternal Throne was actually the one occupying it.
The one who embodied the ideals the Eternal Throne stood for, the ideals the Eternal Throne stood as.
Those scholars said the reason why everyone believed the Eternal Throne would stand forever was because the way the people whom sat on the Eternal Throne carried themselves.
Every person that had ever sat on the Eternal Throne had always become great embodiment of strength, wisdom, and benevolence.
Some said those people were empowered by the Eternal Throne. Some said the Eternal Throne was the one being empowered by them.
I believed the latter was the truer statement.
The Eternal Throne held power because people projected value on the chair. And people valued the Eternal Throne because they saw the one whom sat on it.
Hence all the glory and reverence should be attributed to the monarch of the empire instead.
And because of that, I found it very difficult to comprehend a human with all those powers and traits.
Someone who carried the weight of the empire and the whole world on their shoulders.
Someone who had the duty to live up to their predecessors, one of them which was the founder of the empire.
Someone who, indeed, had what it takes to achieve it all.
I could not help but to think what kind of person that someone would be.
The thought that I would probably meet that someone soon prevented me from thinking anything else.
I let out a huge sigh to calm myself.
The breeze on the airship's deck felt as refreshing as being on the hill back home.
Of course, you did not get clouds passing through you even on the hill's highest peak, nor could you see the entirety of the world, but the breeze still felt much the same.
"Enjoying the view, Miss Andal?"
A regal woman's voice called out.
I turned around and found a silver-haired woman in black armor approaching me.
"Lady Reingand! I did not mean to wander around your battleship, my lady! I was just looking for fresh air!"
I uttered rapidly while bowing my head and curtseying.
The woman chuckled at my gesture.
"Calm yourself, Miss Andal. You're a guest on this ship. You may go wherever you wish on this vessel."
"I-I see. Thank you, my lady."
I said to her while curtseying once more.
The woman was certainly someone of great presence.
Not only she was beautiful, but she carried herself with strength and dignity far surpassing all the knights I had seen in my life.
The insignia of a single-horned crimson bear glistened majestically over her dark breastplate.
Only the best knights in the empire could wear that symbol over their chest. Even someone from a remote village like myself knew that much.
"I do wish you would've step out of your cabin sooner. That way we would have time to give you a proper tour of the ship."
Lady Reingand said.
I frowned at her words.
"What do you mean, my lady?"
The armored woman nodded her head beyond the foredeck.
"Take a look. We're almost to the capital."
I turned my gaze to the south, toward where the airship was cruising.
My breath was taken away by the sight in front of me.
A beautiful silver gem of a city towering to the clouds by a crystal-blue lake.
For someone who had never left Mala region and only ever visited two towns in my whole life, it was the most beautiful city I had ever seen.
A circular city layered with ten giant walls.
Its streets were paved with glimmering marble. Streams of carriages and oceans of people walked through them as if they were all in a hurry for something.
Never had I seen so many people in one place my entire life.
Each building looking like manors and castles that belonged to nobles and rich merchants.
My entire village population could easily fit into even one of their smallest houses.
But of all the beautiful buildings, there was one that outstood them all.
Towering solely at the center of the city was a giant silver palace with a thousand golden-domed spires.
I could not begin to imagine the amount of resources and effort to build all of these.
This was the imperial capital, Tsuaka.
The center of the empire where the Eternal Throne stood and the destination of our flight.