The Springâs Appearance (4)
Lucia suddenly had a realisation. She gently hugged my arm and, by my ear, asked, âYour Highness, you are going to Hilles City next, right?â
I caressed Luciaâs long ears with a smile: âLucia, do you want to come?â
Lucia firmly refused the offer: âNo. My memories in humanityâs lands are, frankly, terrible.â
Indeed, Luciaâs memories in humanityâs lands were horrendous. I was sorry. I swear, if I knew Lucia was coming over in her wedding dress, I would never have done that with Nier at the time. Wait, even if I did know, I probably wouldâve done it with Nier anyway, as I needed to save her! It was a necessary part of saving Nier! I probably wouldâve saved her, but I wouldâve told Lucia about it, which wouldâve allowed us to avoid all the problems that came thereafter.
Lucia was still vexed about losing the duel. That was why she never wanted to set foot on humanityâs soil. I doubted Lucia would ever go there if Troy City wasnât named after me. Accordingly, I had to abandon Lucia to go to humanityâs lands for the baptism.
I wanted to know if the water the humans spoke of was the elven spring water or not. Even if it wasnât, I need to find out what the miraculous water was. If it had to do with magic, then it was definitely linked to elves. The biggest problem was that elven mana should be ineffective for humans. By logic, then, that so-called holy water had to be magic, or it had to be connected to something more complex, where it was utilised as a tool. At the very least, we needed to start investigating it from the elven side.
We needed to know if a human came over to get their hands on it. Elves and humans previously had a trading agreement, but very few humans came over. After the alliance between the two races was established, more humans visited the elven lands.
I knew Mommy Elizabeth didnât explicitly harbour any ill-ill toward elves. Put another way, Mommy Elizabeth would never send a spy or someone to sabotage elves. If somebody came and stirred trouble, nonetheless, it would mean that Mommy Elizabeth tacitly gave consent. I was cognizant of the fact my two moms didnât have the best relationship â of course, that was still because of meâŚ
âIt must have to do with Daisy, am I right?â
I nodded: âYeah, itâs about Daisyâs baptism. I donât believe in their religion, but Mommy Elizabeth really wants for Daisy to go through the ceremony. It is the first time the royal familyâs descendant is returning to Hilles City, after all. I bet itâll be quite the grandeur eventâŚâ
Fast forward⌠to when Nier and Daisy return to Hilles City for the first timeâŚ
âHer Majesty has returned! Royal Princess has brought Her Majesty back!!â
News of their return sounded as if a volcano erupted when the Valkyries heard of it. With Hilles City as the centre, news of their return instantly spread to the entirety of humanityâs empire. Rosvenor Familyâs descendant was returning to the nation she ruled. Not long after news spread, all of the roads in the city were jammed with traffic. The military nearby entered the city to prepare for a grand parade. All of the vassal statesâ gifts were delivered to the Royal Palace. It was all done to celebrate Daisyâs birth, and the first time her family returned to the nation.
Elizabeth proudly went back and forth in the crowds. Elizabeth had been in the conference hall and seldom made appearances the last few days. Some people could even hear her cheerfully humming a tune. Nier, on the other hand, was in a tragic situation. She was originally a Valkyrie and, therefore wasnât use to socialising, yet she was by Daisyâs side the entire time as her mother and had to welcome lots of people. She couldnât give them, the ladies-in-waiting who wanted to see Daisy or the nobles, the cold shoulder. Elizabeth wasnât always by her side, so Nier was driven to the brink of insanity.
The scale of the situation didnât pale in comparison to the Empressâs birthday celebration. The vassal states rushed into the Royal Palace to see Nierâs daughter. Though they were somewhat disappointed to find Rosvenor Familyâs descendant wasnât a boy, seeing Elizabethâs high spirits, everyone thought they saw Elizabeth in Daisy. Nobody knew how Daisy would turn out in the future.
I went to the elven spring. I didnât know why I went there, but I felt as though there was a voice calling out to me. I continued to see the spring mouth in my dreams the last two nights. I could always hear the sound of the water from the spring. I didnât know why I heard and saw those things, but I felt Iâd find out something if I went to the spring.
Mom didnât have plans to seal the springs. Â Before me was just an ordinary door. I did hear there was a spell cast on it, though. Had nobody told me, the spell wouldâve shifted my focus away from the door. When I kept focussing, I could see the door.
The soldiers down immediately surrounded me when I descended. I vigilantly drew my handgun. I was aware that my handgun was useless, but it made my stance clear. The guards, who had me surrounded, slowly backed away to allow me passage to the path beyond them. I headed to the spring and never looked back at the soldiers.
The spring was the same as before. The water was still flowing down with a cheerful rhythm. There was oxygen, flowers, birds, bugs and grass down there, but the place would never change, not even the sun. The spring continued to gurgle and flow outside, delivering the limitless power god-gifted power. It ran toward the elven forest and everything in the surroundings, thereby delivering life and beauty to all living things in the land. The place, the spring was the source of everything.
What good was the spring water to humans? What purpose would it serve themâŚ? The crops at Troy City couldnât grow, so how did it make changes to humans? Elven mana should be useless to humans as humans werenât magical creatures. Subsequently, the question was: would it affect humanityâs structures? I, personally, didnât think so; otherwise, my factory couldnât have been built next to the river. So what exactly was their so-called spring water?
âHmm?â I looked around but didnât see anyone. There was grass, shrubs, but there wasnât even a breeze. I pondered, ââWas that voice I heard just my imagination?â
I heard the voice again. I stood up. I tensely scanned my surroundings. Again, there was nobody in sight. I was absolutely certain that the voice was real.
I contemplate, âWhereâs that voice coming from? Wait. Could⌠could⌠the⌠the voice beâŚâ
I looked at the flowing spring. The water continued to cheerfully flow; but nonetheless, it was as though a pair of eyes was intently looking back at me.
I crouched down and carefully reached my hand toward the springâŚ