They didn't stay on the subway for long.

After all, it was just a move in the same city - Annan only sat for more than 20 minutes before being taken off the subway by the teacher.

Exit from the subway station here, and you will already be at the entrance of the Grand Duke's Palace.

This surprised Annan a little......

Winter Grand Duke...... Would a subway station be allowed to open one of the platforms at its doorstep in such a blatant manner?

Isn't he noisy? With so many people coming in and out of the subway station, even if it is still some distance from the entrance of the Grand Duke's Mansion, it is already noisy.

And with such people coming and going, safety cannot be guaranteed......

Annan noticed that the residence of the Grand Duke of Winter was much smaller than that of Noah's palace.

The whole Grand Duke's Mansion looks like a boxy rectangle. From the outside, it was about the width of a street, with only about forty or fifty windows on each floor.

It is only three stories high, and there is a fourth story in the innermost part, forming a white minaret.

Outside, there are many circular columns, one every three or four windows, each of which rotates the wall about five degrees. As a result, the overall appearance is a flat arc that is convex outward.

Annan followed the teacher to a narrow door on the right.

I saw the old man stretch out his right hand and gently knock on the heavy black iron door with the ring that exuded cold air.

With a muffled sound, the narrow, two-man wide metal door opened inward.

"Enter."

The old man replied briefly, and then walked in with Annan.

Annan followed the old man closely—he didn't see any movement, but as soon as she had passed, the door closed again.

…… Absolutely, the automatic door is ok.

Annan muttered inwardly.

After passing through a narrow corridor with relief frescoes on the walls and ceiling, and metal soldier statues on either side, Annan followed the old man out through the front side door.

It's a small garden.

Annan could see that there was a small fountain in the middle. From the fountain to the east, west, south, and south, a white trail divides the ground into four rectangles.

It's quite spacious, about the size of a city square. It's a lot bigger than it looks from the outside...... And on all four sides of it, there are even ten gates, which is not a side door.

The innermost building should be the residence of the Grand Duke of Winter.

And where did the old grandmother sleep?

Is it on the back of that building?

Or is it underground?

Annan remembered that when his grandmother hibernated, she slept as a dragon...... But the residence of the Grand Duke of Winter was too small. He even doubted that he could cram a dragon into it.

That's a little bit bigger than the Viscount's House in Roseburg—just a little bit, and that's counting the office space.

Of course, Annan also understands Grand Duke Winter...... After all, the natural conditions of winter are different from Noah's.

The city of the Duchy of Winter is built on the basis of a thermostatic barrier. The area that can be inhabited is not large. If the Grand Duke's family occupies too much space, the number of civilians that can accommodate it will be even smaller.

In order to be able to make it possible for more people to survive.

Even the residences of the aristocracy were very cramped.

Annan could even see the desks inside through the window—it was clear that even the Grand Duke's Mansion was clearly the same as the government office buildings.

The only thing that really allowed the Grand Duke of Winter to live was this four-story building and a street long. And this is probably the only place for the Winter family......

Now it seems that the "Winter Hands" may also live here.

For the ruler's family, this is too narrow. The residence of the Grand Duke was so narrow that it was not even as good as that of a viscount.

Travelers from other countries can't help but compare their own country's palace to it, and feel complacent that their country is bigger than the Duchy of Winter.

But the Winters are not ashamed of it—on the contrary, they are proud of it.

Because they have leaders who truly love their people like children.

That's the proudest thing to do.

"—Stand up, Annan."

At this moment, Annan suddenly heard someone calling his name.

She reflexively looked over there.

only to find that there were two people standing there.

One of them was Dmitry, whom Annan had seen in "Nightmare: The Great Hunt...... And the other person is the young Annan.

He looked very similar to Mary, except that his hair was short and only up to his shoulders. And Maria's hair hung down to her waist...... Other than that, they have little difference.

In their hands, one of them held a sharpened sword—yes, not a wooden sword or a training sword, but a sharpened, combat-ready metal sword. The difference is only that Annan holds the sword in both hands, while Dmitry only holds the sword in his right hand and his left hand in his pocket.

The young Annan coughed softly once or twice, stared at Dmitry, and got up from the ground neatly.

"Come again!"

"Young Annan" did not look back at her, but only made a cold voice.

The voice made Annan dazed for a moment...... He vaguely thought it was Maria from "Nightmare: The White Tower".

After all, Annan hears his own voice differently than he hears when others speak.

The next moment, to Annan's great surprise, was -

I saw that the tip of Dmitry's sword shone with a burst of crystalline cold light.

As the blade swirled, a visible frost mark was left in the air. Crystalline traces dragged in the air, marking elegant traces.

- That's the Frost Swordsmanship!

Annan recognized it instantly.

It's completely different from the frost sword technique used by Annan himself-

Dmitry's steps were like fencing, moving back and forth rhythmically.

The blade of the young Annan was also quickly stained with pale white traces of frost swordsmanship...... But it was only LV1, and only shallow frost marks could be seen that were barely visible to the naked eye.

As a child, Annan spun his sword around his head like a helicopter while lowering his body and advancing calmly as if he were using a giant sword.

This is the [Konoe Swordsmanship] that Annan is good at!

But Dmitry's steps flickered like a phantom in front of Annan's eyes.

As he took a step back, he reached out and pointed his long sword at the sword of the young Annan.

The frost mark glued the two swords together, and while retreating, Dmitry easily broke the balance of Annan's steps, so that the young Annan couldn't help but fall forward, and the long sword that was originally protecting his head was adhered to and thrown to his waist.

And then, Dmitry took a step forward with his backhand, pointing the blade of the sword that flashed with cold light at the neck of the young Annan!

- There's no escaping this!

In his early years, Annan was in a state of imbalance, and even seemed to take the initiative to catch up...... How is it possible to dodge this blow?

At this moment, Annan subconsciously took a step forward.

It's not about trying to "save yourself".

It's just subconscious, I don't want to see a child die in training......

But her shoulder was held down by the old man's hand.

“……？”

Don't wait for Annan's inquiry.

I saw that young Annan was like a cunning young wolf, and then his unbalanced strength instantly crouched down and stood on both feet. At the same time, he split out a hand and slapped it on the inside wrist of Dmitry's right hand from the bottom up.

The subtle technique of pressing the weight of his body together loosened Dmitry's grip on the sword.

At the same time, the young Annan suddenly spun the whole person in a circle in place - not so much a chop as a throw.

With a blow full of spiral force, Annan's sword body collided with Dmitry's sword body, and the sword in Dmitry's hand was instantly knocked out!

- This is [Disarming]!

Annan immediately realized.

This was one of the initial skills that Annan mastered.

But for Annan, "disarming" is just a technique of using ingenuity to force the opponent to loosen his weapon when the opponent shows flaws...... I don't need to be so fancy.

…… Absolutely!

In my childhood form, do I have so much combat experience?

But just when Annan thought "he" was going to win.

I saw Dmitry suddenly take a step sideways.

Frost marks spread silently from Dmitry's feet to the ground. And his slender legs reached into the knee socket of Annan's right leg, hooked Annan and staggered forward, just on the ice.

Just a side kick that was extremely light and didn't even look like it was forceful, and it "flew" the young Annan with the long sword - Annan was directly glued to the knee socket by Dmitry's leg, and the whole person was more than half a meter above the ground.

Then the young Annan fell to the ground in embarrassment.

And the frost marks on the ground were once again retracted to Dmitry's feet.

He lightly kicked the blade of his sword, holding it in his hand again.

"Stand up, Annan."

He spoke again.

The young Annan gasped twice, and then climbed up again.

The real Annan next to him looked stupid.

No wonder when competing in swordsmanship, Annan was able to fall to the ground......

- Is the Rin Dong family so capable of fighting?

(End of chapter)