The journey into the city was a rather... interesting one since we were required to be escorted every single step of the way to the Temple of Blades, which looked rather... egregious, but when you have not only the Queen but also a Goddess taking to the streets...
Plus we had both Duchesses as well as a Magistrate, so the amount of important people for the city in a single place was rather high, therefore making the presence of an entire honor guard understandable, but it was still just... mindbogglingly slow.
Or maybe that was just because we were fresh off of a situation where I felt rather irritated the entire time and that had yet to wear off, so now time was slowing to a crawl as I yearned to be anywhere but here...
That was probably the case, but I thankfully forgot all about it when we made our way to the Temple of Blades, which was one hell of an architectural masterpiece devoted to Areseta, who seemed to be an extremely popular Goddess here in Birchan.
Much like most of the temples we had seen before, it was a long rectangular hall that was many stories high, though where this one differed was the gigantic spires that adorned the front two corners as well as the center of the back wall, adding even more space to an already enormous building.
The stone was a gorgeous and smooth dark grey material that made the temple menacing, whilst the red metal accents and red stained glass windows added that extra flair that was associated with Areseta.
Giant double doors made from vibrant red wood opened up and revealed the dozens of pews facing the giant statue depicting the Goddess of War mid battle, a sword made from flaming materials burning bright and illuminating everything.
All of the stained glass depicted some sort of battle being fought or a certain person, and with each of them being created from red and red adjacent colors the entire inside of the temple was illuminated in said colors.
It was warm, cloying and constantly reminding you that you were small, yet at the same time the stillness in the air was soothing, completely at odds with the energetic colors dancing in your vision as well as the sharp tang of smoke burning your nostrils.
Everyone inside was either armored or clearly a warrior of some kind, their heads lowered in prayer or craned up to study the murals as they pledged something to either themselves or to the Goddess of War.
It was a serene atmosphere inside, and even as we entered the many warriors did nothing more than just bow to the Queen before returning to what they were doing; their curiosity was obvious, yet they understood that her appearing here was for official business, especially with this retinue.
Walking straight down the middle, the Queen guided us behind the statue and into the furthest spire, unlocking the door and beckoning us inside whilst the Canopy remained outside, guarding us even in one of the safest places in the Queendom.
Immediately we were greeted with dozens upon dozens of different weapons and armor held up on racks, each one being meticulously maintained by the red robed and blindfolded monks that shuffled about quietly.
"This is the Spire of War, and it is where all of the relics we have salvaged are stored. They come in and out for displays and ceremonies when needed, but otherwise they remain here to be tended to daily."
Walking past many of the shelves and racks, the Queen explained that to me - since I was the only one unfamiliar with this - and seemed rather unbothered by what was around her, though I felt the need to check one of the swords we passed just because I was curious.
[Retribution Of Yngrid (Drained Relic) : 250% Attack, 150% Attack Speed, 100% Fire Amplification, 75% Mana Regeneration (Note: When wielded by those not blessed by Areseta or those unrelated to Yngrid, all individual stats are halved and the blade has a slim chance to shatter, resulting in a potent, focused explosion directed at the wielder)]
Just skimming the stats of what was a 'Drained Relic' already had me blinking a few times as I wondered if I misread everything, yet as I walked I kept the 'tab' open so that I could read it again and again, only to smile wryly since it was... well...
That was quite a lot just for something that was drained, and even with the detriment of it being only realistically wieldable by a select few it seemed almost reasonable to think that this thing would be something countries would go crazy to have.
Just imagining having this on someone like Duchess Leonisa was horrifying to think of, let alone giving it to someone in my family who I could fine tune to maximize everything this sword had to offer.
And this was just a sword...
I felt like I should take a peek at some of the armor pieces to judge whether or not I should be ready to be completely blown away, but I immediately began to feel giddy as we climbed upstairs to reach Rhefia's new armor, because if that was just a drained sword... I wonder what she would be getting.
Plus it was multiple pieces of armor, so maybe it would actually do something more than just these stat increases... or maybe I was about to be given some crazy list of numbers that would just turn Rhefia into an absolute monster of a warrior...
As we walked I was just constantly thinking about all of this, but I was also well aware of how everyone was acting; the Queen was still her usual self, focused on what needed to be done but also enjoying the softness of her wife's waist, while the Goddess was relaxed and also swaying her hips hypnotically.
Beside me Renna was looking around in slight wonder, and right behind us was Leonisa... which seemed almost on purpose as the Lionkin got to stare at two asses the entire time, and she was joined by Rhefia who was just a step behind her; Fenkar was - funnily enough - more focused on looking at all of the relics than she was about being horny.
All in all I liked how we were all acting, and while I wanted to give some more sway just to turn on and tease the other Duchess I also felt a bit subdued about my lust whilst I was in a place like this, something that I had no idea how to react to since it could have been because of Areseta or it could have just been me.