Chapter 45 – Dancing in the Moonlight

PRINCESS CATTLEYA AND HER escorts finally reached the Emergent Kingdom. As they exited the dense forest, their eyes had to adjust to the bright sky and they were greeted by a vast grassy plain. Further was a long lake that separated the grassy field and the walls of the kingdom.

As the guards spotted the princess's arrival, a horn was sounded, signaling the soldiers below to open the gates and lower the drawbridge.

The people inside the kingdom bowed down as they saw the princess and her escorts. They could not help by wonder why she was riding on Thora’s steed instead of being inside the royal carriage with her personal aide.

It was a long way to the castle from the entrance near the forest. And as soon as the princess and her escorts reached the kingdom’s castle, the princess immediately entered the throne room and greeted his father.

Thoras was behind her, trying to say something. “P-Princess, I think we should—”

“Father, we have returned,” Princess Cattleya greeted and knelt.

Thoras, Lancea, and Kiana knelt as well.

His father, King Daffodil, stood from his throne to meet her. “Ahh! Cattleya! It's great to see you back! How was your diplomatic visit to the Garanthal Kingdom?” asked the delighted king.

Princess Cattleya stood up. “The visit was successful, father. They agreed to our proposals and trade agreements. Also, they would like to send their regards to you and expressed that they were looking forward to this year’s auction. They hope to take home some fine treasures.”

The king sat down once again as the princess continued to report to him all the events that occurred back in the Garanthal Kingdom. Somehow, the king did not immediately notice that the princess's dress looked messy.

When the king finally did, he interrupted the princess's report. “Wait, what happened to you? Why do you look so stained and filthy?”

“Y-Your Majesty, an incident happened inside the forest. We were ambushed earlier by the Rogue Archers and took some bags of gold and lanias,” Thoras explained.

The king sprang up from his throne. “And you’re only telling me this now?! Thoras! Didn’t I tell you to keep my daughter safe at all times?! That is your top priority!! If anything happened to her…” The king paused as his back hurt and went back to sitting on his throne.

“Father! Sir Thoras did not do anything wrong. Besides, I wasn’t hurt. Kiana and I are fine.”

From the entrance, someone entered the throne room and joined the conversation.

“This is why I told you, dear father, that we should capture all those archers and slum people at once.”

“Prince Rafflesia,” Thoras kneeled in the prince’s presence.

Another man abruptly entered the room. “I agree with brother Raff, dear father. Nobles and royal treasurers always fall into their traps. I will not forgive them if anything bad happened to Kiana!”

Everyone looked at him suspiciously.

Kiana was surprised and couldn't help but blush.

“Who is a citizen of the kingdom. And, of course, to our one and only princess. We should not let anything happen to her,” he continued as he cleared his throat.

“Dionaea, I commend you for your chivalry,” the king said as he brushed his beard. “Protecting our people, our interests, and the princess, including her aide, is what makes a true prince and a knight. Perhaps Sir Thoras has taught you well.”

“I only did what I was told by the late queen, Your Majesty,” said Thoras.

The king finally calmed down and sat back on his throne. “Ahh, of course. My dear Mellia’s last wish. What about you, Thoras? Should we invade the forest and end this conflict once and for all?”

The royal siblings looked at him.

“Your Majesty, just like what the princess did, I believe we could reason with the forest-dwellers—”

“Uuuuuugh!” Prince Rafflesia interrupted.

“—and fix the issue with a diplomatic approach. If that doesn’t work, then that’s the time to resort to military actions.”

“Very well. Princess Cattleya, I assign you for another diplomatic visit. This time, I want you to talk to the leaders of the people of Shiromori. After all, you already made contact with them. I'm sure they will listen to you.”

The princess made an innocent smile, “As you command, father. I will do this as soon as possible. Perhaps the day after tomorrow.”

“The day after tomorrow? Isn’t that the day of the auction? My dear, there’s no need to hurry. I want you to be there at the night of the auction and meet—”

“The earlier I speak with the people inside Shiromori, the earlier we could put an end to whatever strife we have with them. Meeting a prince can always wait.”

King Daffodil sighed. “You’ve always been the one to work hard, Cattleya. But I trust your judgment. I hereby approve your mission inside Shiromori.”

* * * * *

“Guessing with that smile, things went accordingly?” asked Kiana as she peaked at the mirror held by Cattleya.

“Reporting to my father went well. And I was given a new diplomatic assignment,” Cattleya replied still wearing her smile.

Kiana, Cattleya's aide, continued to comb Cattleya's hair as they talked about what happened earlier in the throne room.

“Do we really have to go back there?” Kiana asked with her words filled with anxiety. “I’m really scared of that place.”

“We just need to know why they keep on attacking the nobles of Emergent Kingdom. After that, I think we could come to terms with them.”

“But you already know that, don’t you?”

“You know what? Enough about me. What was that about earlier? Is something going on between you and brother Dio?” the princess tried to dodge the question.

“You know what, princess? It has been a long day. You could really use a rest now,” Kiana dodged the question as well.

“Fine. Fine. I'll just change my clothes.”

Kiana stood up and left Cattleya's bedroom, letting her change dress and rest.

As soon as Kiana stepped outside and closed the door, the princess took out her locket. She opened it, revealing an image of her as an infant and her late mother, Queen Mellia.

“I miss you, mom,” she kissed the picture inside the locket. “I'm doing my best...helping father with foreign affairs, trying to settle things with the people inside Shiromori, and I'm still waiting for that person grandma told us about...I'm still waiting for the avatar of Ariyani.”

The princess closed the locket after kissing her mother's photo once more. She then placed it inside a box that contained sealed documents and a sealed letter envelope.

She proceeds to undress and changed with the ones prepared by her personal aide, making herself more comfortable.

As she picked up the dress she was in earlier, a piece of paper fell that immediately caught her attention. The princess picked up the folded paper which has something written inside: Tonight, at the lone rock. When the moon is up in the sky.

The princess couldn't help but smile as she read the letter. She folded the paper again and threw it at the fireplace, making sure that no one will ever read it except her.

* * * * *

That evening, Daisuke and his friends reached another hill near Shiromori.

“It’s already dark. We should camp here,” Riku suggested.

“How are you, Daisuke?” asked Siegfried.

“I feel a lot better now, to be honest,” Daisuke replied.

*

*

*

Earlier that day, back when Daisuke lost consciousness inside Shiromori.

After the incident inside Shiromori, Raijin carried the unconscious Daisuke back to the group while Siegfried and Mirana towed a giant frozen piece each from the giant snake they fought earlier.

From the top of the hill, Riku immediately noticed them. “Raijin! What happened to Daisuke?”

Raijin slowly dropped Daisuke to the ground as they reached their camp. “We don’t know. He just fell to his knees then fainted.”

Brunnhilde went over and immediately used her healing magic but to no avail. “I don’t get it. It looks like he’s not injured.”

Mirana dropped her piece of the snake. “Try checking his arms. When we saw him, he was steaming and his arms are having this purple discoloration. I applied ice magic to keep him cool, then it disappeared.”

Brunnhilde scanned Daisuke’s arms. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary until she tried to extract mana forcefully.

Daisuke, who was still unconscious, winced and the purple discoloration appeared on the spot where she tried to extract mana in the shape of her hands and fingers, like a traced shadow.

“Oh, no...”

“What is it, Brunnhilde?” asked Jack.

“I think he’s got a mana bruise. He got in contact with pure mana.”

“Mana bruise? What does it mean?” asked Raijin.

“It’s a kind of bruise caused by pure mana, which is very potent and lethal. Once you got mana bruise, it will be difficult to use mana,” Jack explained. “Your mana bruise will react to your own mana and you’ll feel almost excruciating pain to the extent that you might lose consciousness. Think of it as a mystical blister, but instead of a liquid that cannot get out from inside your skin due to burning or friction, it’s the mana that cannot get out due to the mana bruise.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Raijin. “We all have mana inside our body, so why would he get a mana bruise if we are in constant contact with mana?”

“Mana is a mystical energy, Raijin,” said Brunnhilde. “If I ordered Siegfried to stab you, mana would not leak out, but your guts and blood.”

“Geez, no need to be graphic…”

“Where did he even get it? And how are we going to remedy it?” asked Riku.

“Is there any other explanation? He probably got it when he used his avatar form back at Arcanas,” Jack claimed.

“I know a spell that could remedy his mana bruise,” said Brunnhilde. “But it might take me days to prepare the runic circle. I can try to lessen it to half a day, but the process of healing the mana bruise itself might take longer if I got something wrong with the runic circle.”

“That long? How serious is this mana bruise?” asked Raijin.

“It seems that his whole body was affected by the mana bruise. It would require a high-tier spell to heal him.”

“Then we need to go somewhere safer where we can stop for a while,” Riku suggested.

“Then we should go to the nearest kingdom,” Raijin suggested.

Everyone’s attention turned to him.

“What’s the nearest kingdom from here?” asked Jack.

“Judging from where we are now, that would be the Emergent Kingdom.”

“That’s settled then. We’ll have to make a detour. Let’s explain everything to Daisuke once he’s woken up. And remind him not to use his mana for now,” said Riku.

“Great. Now, how about we cook these snake meats? I’m pretty sure everyone’s hungry,” said Siegfried.

*

*

*

Back to that evening.

“We’re almost at the kingdom. Shouldn’t we just continue that way and rest inside the kingdom proper?” asked Jack.

“That would be troublesome. It’s already late anyway,” said Raijin. “Besides, Emergent Kingdom is quite stringent when it comes to outsiders.”

“Let’s just start a camp here. That forest looks too dense as well. We’ll continue on the first light tomorrow,” said Daisuke.

Jack, Daisuke, and Raijin built their camp while Siegfried and Brunnhilde collected dry woods to use for their campfire.

“Elves that can make whole trees but not fire woods,” Siegfried whispered.

“Okay girls, you can now go inside your camp,” said Raijin.

“You guys can go inside now as well. I’ll stay up to watch for now,” Daisuke offered.

Brunnhilde, Mirana, and Riku went inside first. Siegfried, Jack, and Raijin also went inside theirs.

From the hill where Daisuke’s group built their camp, he could already spot the Emergent Kingdom, at least that's what he thought it was. And separating the kingdom and the hill was the dense Shiromori. The moon shone brightly and the forest lit up as well. The white leaves of the trees can be seen vibrantly.

Daisuke looked at the span of the forest in awe. He stayed up for hours without him noticing. For some reason, he felt at home just by seeing the forest.

He then noticed a light below, a light from a fire.

“Hey, Daisuke. Aren’t you sleepy yet?” said Riku who was half awake.

“Oh, Riku.” Daisuke greeted. “No, not really. I was asleep on our way here so I’m still good.”

“Ok. Well, you can go inside if you want. I can watch from here.”

Daisuke considered Riku’s offer.

“Thanks, Riku. I actually want to go down to...to poop.”

Riku snorted. “Sure. Sure. And Daisuke, remember, no powers.”

Daisuke nodded as he went down the hill and searched for the light he saw earlier.

* * * * *

He didn't want to risk using his mana until he exactly knows when he can be healed, so he decided to just go in the direction where he saw the light. It is odd though, he thought, that there were no beasts in the vicinity that tried to attack him.

Finally, he reached what seemed to be an open field inside the forest. At the center was a single large rock where there were two people, holding each other as if they were dancing with the moonlight raining on them.

He walked slowly inside the forest, hoping he hasn't been found.

“Robin, I’ve got to go,” said the person wearing a nightgown under her cloak.

“Stay for a bit, Cattleya. I don’t think anyone’s looking for you right now,” Robin insisted.

Cattleya caressed Robin's face. “It’ll take a while to get back to the castle. Besides, I’ll return here the day after tomorrow.”

“Really? Why?” Robin couldn't help but smile.

“I was asked by my father for a diplomatic visit here in Shiromori. To end the conflict between the kingdom and the forest-dwellers.”

Robin stepped back. “Diplomatic visit? But I already told you it was your eldest brother who kept on attacking us, the reason why we left and why we are fighting. Tell them to stop trying to abduct the people who already decided to leave the kingdom. We are free people and we no longer consider ourselves as part of the kingdom.”

“And we can discuss that when I return here. We also need strong evidence. Otherwise, the king will only consider the attacks as an act of terrorism.”

Cattleya held Robin’s hands.

“You’ve got to trust me. Once we have the necessary proofs, the actions of my brother will not go unpunished.”

Robin held Cattleya’s hands as well, then softly took one of her ring fingers. Robin took something from her pocket, a simple ring, and put it on Cattleya’s finger.

Daisuke couldn’t hear the conversation, but he thought it was too personal. He decided to leave the area instead.

And just as when he’s almost outside the forest, he triggered a trap that entangled him and was shot with a dart. He removed the dart from his butt but quickly fell asleep.

* * * * *

Morning came and everyone inside the camp came out. Riku was already preparing breakfast for everyone.

“Good morning, guys,” greeted Riku.

“That smells great,” said the half-awake Mirana.

“Yeah. It smells great,” said Raijin as he yawned.

“Raijin, is Daisuke still asleep?” asked Riku.

“Hmmm? I don’t know.”

“It's just Jack left inside,” said Siegfried.

“That’s weird. I was up for hours now. I saw went inside after he came back from doing his business.”

“Raijin, have you seen my swords?” asked Siegfried.

“No.” Raijin went back inside and looked around their tent as well. “Wait. My tonfas are missing too.”

“Mirana, your staff is not here either,” said Brunnhilde.

“And our golds and lanias too. They’re missing,” said Jack.

“Is this a prank? This is not funny at all!” Mirana was getting agitated that her freezing mana started to leak.

“No. No, no, no. Daisuke said he was going down the hill to take a dump. Then I saw him go straight inside the ten—”

From the distance, a gigantic cherry blossom tree erupted, easily towering over the tall white trees of Shiromori. The birds scattered as the cherry blossom tree continues to grow.

“That’s Daisuke! Come on, we’ve got to go!” said Riku.

Brunnhilde immediately summoned Geri and Freki.

The group went straight towards the giant cherry blossom tree that suddenly grew inside Shiromori.