We went back to the waiting room to further discuss the details of our plans. We were offered tea or coffee by our guide, though frankly, I was starting to wish for a more substantial meal. Now that the interview with Iridia was a thing of the past, my body had started to relax, and it noticed I only had a light breakfast in the morning, several hours ago.

—I will accompany you to retrieve the Seed of the Ygdrassil, and we’ll keep it secure at the palace’s vault until the saintess is found —the King said—, any objection?

—We don’t know if there are members of the cult of Lilith within the palace’s staff. I would feel more safe if some precautions are taken to diminish this risk —Maxwell replied.

—Of course, I personally will check the background of everyone involved, and we’ll set up security protocols to prevent anyone who might slip under the cracks. What about you, Lady Dragonroot?

—I have no objection, the seed will surely be more safe there than in my greenhouse —I replied—. Ah! But I can give you the documents of a security barrier upgrade I have been working on. It is still a work in progress, but I’m sure the royal court’s magician might see something that could help keep it even more secure.

—That… will be appreciated. Now, that only leaves us with finding the saintess. Is there any hint of her location?

I tried to keep my poker face and smiled gently.

—There might be something, but I can’t see it clearly yet.

The hint was Christopher, of course. He was the one that had found and adopted her in the game, so he was our best bet in finding where she was. But that was something I wanted to deal with personally, I didn’t want to involve him and his family into this mess. Once I get the information, I will surely share it with the King.

—Your majesty, the resources of the church are at your disposal. Our manpower and our installations are for the benefit of the people —the girl who had been guiding us said, bowing towards him.

That took me by surprise, I had forgotten she was even there, but I somehow managed to avoid jumping from the shock. The King stood in silence for an instant.

—Yes, we’ll be needing the help of the church for this. Please inform your superiors that we’ll be in contact. But remember, anything that you or your colleagues have heard about is top secret. Speaking openly about it will be considered betrayal to the royal family and to the nation.

—You don’t have to worry, your Majesty —she said, bowing again.

We left the Black Tower shortly after that, going through the same passageways we had used before and I still felt the glare of every member of the church that we passed. I could only breath properly once we got out of the building.

—Huh, the rain finally stopped —Maxwell said.

The sky was still mostly covered in clouds, and I could still feel the humidity on the breeze, but he was right, the rain had stopped. I took a moment to appreciate the view of the ocean. I always have had a bit of thalassophobia, even in my previous life, but at that moment the water seemed calm and peaceful. I noticed a strange sight, near the White Tower, there was what seemed to be a giant turtle, with a fancy tent built over its shell. A woman was extending her arms outside of it, roughly looking at our direction. I couldn’t distinguish her features, but she looked pretty tall. After a moment, a black raven and a white dove flew to her arms, and she went back inside of her tent.

—Rosanne, are you alright? —the doctor said, already going down the long staircase.

—Ah, yeah, sorry! —I said while hurrying to where he was.

The king was still inside dealing with some paperwork, so we left the pier ahead of him. The river was certainly more calm on the way back, but it still was carrying quite a lot of excess water, and its flow was opposing us this time. We got home safely thanks to Adrian. I thanked him profusely and told him to go to rest. Then I hurried up to our greenhouse, followed by Maxwell, and thankfully, the seed was still exactly where I had left it.

I could see why Violett would think of it as a jewel, it looked pretty much like it was made out of jade, with golden veins running across it. The kind arrived shortly after that, and as previously agreed, we gave him custody over the seed of the Ygdrassil. That was one half of our plan to save everyone from the curse of Calliope. It was only after that, that I could go back to our house, where my baby was waiting.

—Welcome home —she said, and I hurried to hug her. I didn’t let go of her for a couple of hours.

Maxwell stayed with us that night, but had to leave early the next time. We had figured enough about the curse, so he could go back to his own work. He groaned at the idea of how many backed up appointments he had. Of course, those were all regular check-ups, even as busy as he was, he took the time for the emergencies.

The rain didn’t return after that, but the sky was still covered by dark clouds. Sometimes I could hear thunder rumbling in the distance, and other times the wind howled pretty aggressively. Still, I decided to pay a visit to Christopher and his family as soon as possible, so I sent a letter to their household. Before that week ended I received a very short letter from Victoria, just agreeing to meet up at the date I had suggested. They had a residence in the most affluent district of the capital, but at that moment they were on another property of theirs, in a city a bit to the north. It was a historic town, with buildings that have stood for centuries, and more and more people with money had been buying properties there recently. Even I had contemplated getting one, but aside from the high cost, there was a reason that had persuaded me against it.

—So, we’ll have to walk from here? —Violett said as we reached a point where the river became too shallow for us to continue traveling through it. We could see the city in the distance, above a hill. I’m sure they hadn’t had any problems during the recent rains.

—No, no, we can take… a carriage —I said, trying to resign myself to that idea.

In this country, where aquatic vehicles were the norm, land ones were still used in certain circumstances, but they weren’t that developed in comparison with those from more inland nations. And the same could be said about our roads, they were just lanes where trees and the biggest stones had been removed. To complicate things even further, the road was pretty muddy.

After half an hour we got into the city, but that wasn’t too much of a relief. The streets were paved with stones of varying sizes and shapes. I felt each and every vibration, jump and bump on my back. Alyssa didn’t show any sign of discomfort; perhaps she was more accustomed to these kinds of travels, or she was simply more resilient than me. Or it could have been that Violet was sitting on my lap. It took us another fifteen minutes or so to reach Christopher and Victoria’s residence.

—Rosanne, darling! It is great to see you! —Victoria said as she opened the door, throwing her arms around me. She hugged me with quite a lot of strength.

—V-victoria, I’m glad to see you too —I said, trying to hide my aching back.

—Good morning, Lady Snyder —Violett said, greeting her just like Carmila had taught her.

—Oh my! You must be Violett! You have grown so much! The last time I saw you, you were just a tiny baby —Victoria said, pinching on Violett’s cheeks.

My daughter kept a polite smile on her face, but she threw a glance towards me, as if asking me to save her. No, more like asking why I wasn’t helping her again.

—And this is my bodyguard, Alyssa.

—Oh, it is a pleasure to meet you. But please, come inside.

The inside of her house was decorated with all sorts of stuff brought from far away places, gifts from trading partners, or mementos of exotic places Victoria and her husband had visited. She directed us to her living room, where the table was already set with tea and pastries waiting for us. The radio was turned on, playing some jazz-like instrumental song. Victoria left us for a moment and approached the stairs that connected to the second floor.

—Helena! Diana! Come down here right now, we have visitors! —she yelled.

Soon her two daughters came down, a teenager, and a girl a few years younger. They didn’t look too enthusiastic, they probably were thinking of just greeting us and going back to their rooms, until they caught a gaze at Violett.

—Oh! Who is this cutie! —Helene said.

—Good day, I am Violett Dragonroot —my baby said, repeating her courteous bow.

—Awww, she is adorable! —Diana replied—want to come play with us?

Violett turned towards me, with a slightly confused expression. I nodded, and the three of them scampered away. The sisters hadn’t even bothered to introduce themselves to us, but Victoria didn’t seem to notice, and I didn’t mind enough to point it out. But that made me think that so far, Violett only had boys as friends. I suppose Eve counted as one, she acted as a girl and identified as one. But it would be great if Violett could have more friends.

—Is Christian not going to join us? There was something I wanted to ask him about… our business —I asked, once we had sat down.

—Oh, my! He is traveling right now, did I forget to mention? —she replied, in a tone that made clear she had omitted that on purpose.

That put a halt to my investigation, the reason why we had gone to visit that house, but even I wasn’t as discourteous to just leave right at that moment. We still had time, so we could postpone that for later. Still, I needed to speak with him soon.

—Would you happen to know when he is going to come back?

—I can’t really say —she said, sounding slightly aggravated—, he spends months supervising the construction of those towers, and just comes home for a few days before going away again! He is even going out of the northern territories, can you believe it? I can barely sleep not knowing if he is going to come back in one piece!

—S-sounds quite rough…

—Right! That’s not even the worst part! Before this we were thinking of having another kid, but he… hasn’t touched me for a long time! He always says he is tired! I am still an attractive woman, right?

—Ri-right…

The conversation followed that topic, and at some point, wine was introduced to it. I only drank a few cups, but both Alyssa and Victoria drank to their hearts’ content. They spoke about their previous and current heart aches, and even found out both were fans of romantic novels, while I just observed and nodded occasionally. It was a bit of fun, I have to admit it. We left a few hours later, I had started to have a huge headache, probably because of the alcohol, and Alyssa was starting to fall asleep.

—It was fun playing with you, Violett, would you come to visit us again? —Helena asked while we waited for our carriage. My baby again looked at me searching for approval.

—S-sure—I say, once again trying not to think of the travel we’ll have to make each time. If it was for my daughter, I would even crawl through that path. I’ll complain about it, though.