271 Emir’s Transformation

Amaryll's carriage was a variant of the Jewel of Don and though it couldn't be compared to the Jewel, it was still a fancy carriage to travel in style and comfort.

It took a few hours to reach Emir from Sigalla through the Outerlands and if there wasn't Korrinth in between Agoria and Emir, their travel distance would have been reduced further.

And before Amaryll could answer Amber, her face froze at the sight before her. Currently, they were standing at the border of the capital and unlike Amber's previous visit to Emir, now the kingdom looked full of life.No one could say that Emir was a dry barren land after laying their hands on the beautiful water fountains and the green sprouts of grass sticking their heads out of the brown soil.

Carefully placed marble stone formed elegant roads throughout the streets and tree saplings decorated the roads with the presence.

"Look mama! The king's people are here"

From the distance, a little boy called out for his mother pointing his little finger at Amaryll and the black-armored men behind her. There was no fear in his eyes but full of joy and the people walking on the street quickly bowed their heads with happy smiles on their faces.

"They look happy"

Amber noticed the admiration and respect in their eyes as she said

"Of course they are, we did root the water spirit for them after all"

Amber felt genuinely happy for these people because she knew first hand how devastating it would be to live in a dry land without any water source. Fortunately for them, they were getting the much-needed water from Agoria in gigantic balloons filled with water. And after they complete the dam, they could get a steady water flow and her mother could take a rest considering she was constantly opening portals connecting Agoria and Sigalla.

"Lady Amaryll"

"Your Royal highness, Amber"

The people kept bowing towards Amaryll and Amber while they were strolling through the street.

"5 coppers for Cinnamon buns!"

"3 coppers for freshly brewed ale!"

"10 Silver discount on any swords!"

The food merchants and the blacksmiths were shouting with full of life standing before their stores. If it was a year ago, the people wouldn't have entered the stores but now, the stores were crowded with people, especially all the stores that sell food because of the upcoming winter.

"Even the air feels cool"

"It's because of the water spirit nearby, we have rooted it on empty lands over there, behind that construction site"

Amaryll pointed at the busy construction site a hundred meters away. The construction site and the surrounding area were loaded with black armored guards. When Amber was about to take a step in the direction of the construction site, Amaryll grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Not even you?!"

Amaryll just giggled looking at her shocked expression 

"Yes, not even me, now come on, the tour is not finished"

Amaryll led Amber through the streets filled with the chitter-chatter of the crowd and the smell of freshly baked goods. The crowd quickly moved aside and paved them the way to pass through when they noticed the black-armored men and Amaryll. The capital now separated into several distinct blocks. At the moment, there were separate blocks for blacksmiths, food stalls, and everything related to food. The dwarves were constructing houses for everyone living in the capital in a block near the lake that was far from all the noises of the business area.

The two-story houses in the distance gave an elegant charm to the city and Amber was surprised at the speed of their construction.

"So your army is also your engineers and workers?"

Amber asked Amaryll after noticing that many of their construction sites had black-armored guards working alongside the civilian workers.

"Yes, it's not like we have a war to wage every single day, besides we need to finish building those houses before the winter begins, so its all hands on the deck situation for us"

While Amaryll was talking to Amber, a few black lines appeared on Amber's forehead as Amaryll stopped talking and looked at the place where Amber's gaze is at

"You have girls in your army?"

The humans in the army were allowed to remove their helmets and masks unlike the elves, dwarves, and everyone who didn't belongs to the human race to keep the slave traders and trouble away from them.

This was the first time Amber saw a girl in the army as no kingdom allowed females to be in their army and not to mention the army, many husbands and fathers wouldn't even let their wives and daughters work. Even in the noble circle, only the powerful cultivators and girls who had special talents leave their houses and work, like Amber. But a majority of the peasant girls' couldn't get a job and even if they did, it would be a maid or a servant in a noble house.

However, Don and Knight treated everyone in their kingdom equally and allowed the girls to be recruited into the army for the same wage as any man in the army.

"Yes, what's wrong with that?"

"You allowed girls to take part in war? As a soldier?"

"Ah huh, at the moment, we value talent and thirst to prove themselves more than their gender. Just like you and me"

It took several seconds to pull herself together after hearing Amaryll and looking at the female soldiers.

"So the men in their house didn't have a problem with this?"

"They did actually but we knocked some sense into them"

Amaryll and her team of black-armored men explained and convinced some fathers, brothers, and husbands who were genuinely concerned about the girls' safety. However, some men felt offended to let the girls in their home earn more than them as they used women to cook their food and gave birth to their babies. Men like them got special treatment from the black-armored men and all it took, was a few broken bones to convince them to let the girls choose whatever they want to do with their life.

Amber noticed a foxy smile on Amaryll face

"Sometimes violence is the best approach"

Amaryll wouldn't have said this a year and a half ago but now she started to mature and see things differently than she used to.

Amber blankly stared at Amaryll and walked with her while noticing the various merchants coming and going and a few noble carriages passing them by. The amount of crowd roaming the streets and the merchants on the streets indicated the prosperity of the kingdom and Amber wanted Sigall to be like Emir in her heart. Yet, she had no idea the amount of wealth they poured into Emir to make this happen.

After a few minutes of walking, Amber had finally seen the walls and the towers of the Emir castle. Emir castle had been renovated by the dwarves some time ago and fixed most of the repairs in the castle. Even though the castle was mainly built using gray stones like Sigalla castle, Amber could tell that this castle looked more appealing than her castle as Emir castle had more watchtowers, strong tall walls, a water-filled moat, and fully intact glass windows.

Many women and men were still planting flowery plants and tree saplings around the castle since they now had ponds and streams to water these plants.

"Lady Amaryll, Princess Amber"

When they neared the castle gates, the guards quickly opened the gates as they saw Warren walking out of the gates to welcome them.

"State head Warren"

"Lord Warren"

Amaryll and Amber said respectively as Warren bent his back a little and bowed towards Amaryll.

After rooting the water spirit, most of the lands here began to turn fertile. This made Warren's job a little harder as he had to recruit farmers to utilize the fertile lands and Loren became busy with beautifying the kingdom. Besides recruiting farmers from the villages, Warren also had to oversee the block separation of businesses and houses in the capital while still managing the mining operations around the kingdom.

Thanks to Don's intervention with nobles who now had no noble title to their names became more supportive of Warren and paid taxes without coming up with excuses.

Warren's busy schedule and lack of sleep became apparent because of his sleepy eyes. His hair was disheveled as he lost a few pounds.

"You have to get some rest, State head Warren"

Amaryll said noticing his shape as Warren let out a sheepish smile while fixing his hair

"I didn't know you are coming, Lady Amaryll, I had no time to arrange a proper welcome for you and Princess Amber"

Amber had visited Emir a couple of times with Amaryll before they rooted the water spirit, so she became quite familiar with Warren.

Amaryll and Amber followed Warren into the castle and seated themselves in the living room to discuss the reason they came to Emir.

"State head Warren, how do you feel about starting a winery in Emir?"