Chapter 114

Fly Far Away

“Chiharu . Are you alright then?”

Aeris was clearly worried not just about the Mandragora, but also whether or not she had trouble with the princesses . Chiharu didn’t notice this though, and she just smiled as she replied .

“I’m fine . The Mandragora are nothing but nice . ”

“Hmmm . ”

Aeris flicked off one of the Mandragora that had been clinging to Chiharu . Immediately, the others swarmed around Aeris and began to slap his feet with their roots .

“It’s fine . I won’t do anything to her . It’s just that you are all in the way right now . ”

Aeris said to them, but of course, they did not understand .

“Aeris . I’m having a lot of fun right now . I’ve never seen such creatures before . Please don’t treat them like that . ”

Well, there was nothing to be done if Chiharu was asking him . Behind them, the servants had been kind enough to prepare a new set of food and hot tea .

“Aeris . Mandragora aren’t even harmful to people to begin with . Now, they’ve brought us some tea . Maybe you should calm down and have a seat . ”

Aaron said . Aeris hesitated for a moment, but then he stepped away from Chiharu . That’s when he finally noticed that the two princesses were there .

“First Princess . Fifth Princess . ”

Upon hearing those words, the first princess’s shoulders dropped .

“I can’t do this anymore! You blockhead! I thought you were like that to everyone, but you get all soft around Chiharu . What about all those years I looked up to you!”

She shouted .

“Oh, so you two are on a first name basis now? That’s nice . ”

Aeris seemed like he was used to her fits .

“We’re not close at all! Also, why must you call me ‘First Princess’? Call me Aila, like you used to . You’ve built this wall ever since I returned to the palace . But I! I…!”

“Sister . ”

The fifth princess stopped Aila . Chiharu had been standing behind Aeris and watching them . She knew how hurt they had looked when Aeris had walked past them without noticing at first .

Still, what could she say? Things never went the way that you wanted them to . It wasn’t as if Chiharu could do anything about the way that Aeris felt . And there was no way for her to measure how great or how long lasting their love was . Chiharu looked down at the Mandragoras as they shook their leaves . The sisters would just have to console each other .

“In the first place, if you liked Aeris so much, why did you go off and marry someone else? Besides, I heard that you were very happy . It’s preposterous that you suddenly claimed to have always loved him . ”

“What? You’re just a little brat who knows nothing of love!”

“Oh, yes . I had no idea that mature love is all about kicking and screaming . ”

“Grrr . ”

So they were rivals after all! But before Chiharu could say anything in exasperation, Aaron sighed and interrupted them .

“We have something very important to discuss, so please be quiet, princesses . ”

Aaron was being much more mature . When Aira and Rhea had sat down quietly, Edwy then stood up and slowly walked over to Maki and Chiharu . The Mandragoras swayed their leaves as he approached, but they weren’t cautious like they were with Aeris .

“Will they let me touch them too?”

He said as he stretched out a hand towards them . Then he gently picked one up . And while it moved around, it did not resist .

“Isn’t it cute?”

“Yes . It’s sort of…yes . ”

Edwy looked happy .

“Maki and Chiharu . You can stay right there, but listen to me . We’ve been told that monsters are slowly starting to come out of the dungeons . And so we will have to go quickly by airship . And…”

Before Aaron could finish, Aeris continued .

“Yes . And they want to use my airship . I’m very sorry, but both Edwy and I must go with them . ”

He seemed terribly disappointed . Edwy kept quiet as he picked up the Mandragoras and put them back down . As for Maki…

“That’s fine . We were just talking to the fifth princess about sightseeing somewhere in the elf lands . ”

She answered . Of course, she did feel sad, but they hadn’t come here to play . Just then, something like dandelion fluff came floating towards her . Well, it looked like dandelion fluff, but it was about half the size of Maki’s face . She grabbed it without thinking . Woah . It was so soft .

“Oh? I don’t think that there were any cotton trees here . They must have come in from outside . That’s unusual . ”

The first princess said with shining eyes .

“Cotton tree?”

“Yes, it’s something that only exists in the elf territories . A very tall tree with white flowers that bloom in the summertime . And when the summer ends, their seeds are carried away in this big fluff . I don’t know if the seeds have a will of their own, but they catch the wind and fly far away . It’s only during the autumn that they lose their power and fall . That’s when they are gathered and put into blankets . ”

“I see . So I shouldn’t catch them then . Okay, you can fly away now . ”

However, there wasn’t enough wind in the hot house, and so the fluff that Maki caught just drifted back to the ground .

“Chiharu . I’m going to go outside so it can fly . ”

“I’ll go too!”

The two looked at Aeris and Aaron, and they nodded in reply, and then followed after them .

“Still, it’s very strange . ”

Maki and Chiharu walked carefully so that they didn’t step on any of the Mandragora . But there were so many of them there, that it looked like the whole ground was moving .

Finally, Maki and Chiharu got out of the hothouse . That’s when they saw that the windows of the palace were crowded with elves . Some of them had even stepped outside .

“I wonder what happened?”

Maki looked at the elves and then to the sky . She saw that even more of the fluffs were floating down around them .

“Woah . There must have been a strong wind somewhere . Look, it’s your friends . Go and join them . ”

Maki said as she threw it into the air . She thought it turned around once, as if it didn’t want to leave, but then it was caught by a slight breeze and rose into the air .

“Maki-chan . ”

“Don’t worry, Chiharu . Look up there . There are so many of them . ”

The sky was almost filled with white .

“No, that’s not it . Not above . Look down . ”

“Huh? Down? I already saw the Mandragora . ”

Maki was about to say that she wanted to look at the sky, but then she froze .

There were so many Mandragoras in the palace garden, that it looked like it was swaying .

“Don’t you think this is kind of bad?”

“It totally is . ”

“What should we do?”

“Maybe we can talk to them…”

Just then, there was a gust of wind, and all the fluff rose into the air .

“Woah, it’s so pretty . ”

“Fly, fly far away!”

And as if Maki and Chiharu’s voices were heard, they were carried by the wind, and flew far away .

It was the birdfolk that had created the wind .

“They are always so popular with strange things . Well, this season is dangerous, because they get tangled in our wings . So it’s best that we blow them away . ”

Sauro said as he watched from a distance with a smug expression .

“Sauro!”

“Saikania!”

While they had only parted recently, Maki and Chiharu were almost about to cry out of gratitude . However…

“But, what do we do about these noisy things?”

Sauro and Saikania said with puzzled expressions as they looked at the Mandragoras at their feet . The two never looked very heroic for long .