The Spring’s Appearance (4)
Lucia suddenly had a realisation. She gently hugged my arm and, by my ear, asked, “Your Highness, you are going to Hilles City next, right?”
I caressed Lucia’s long ears with a smile: “Lucia, do you want to come?”
Lucia firmly refused the offer: “No. My memories in humanity’s lands are, frankly, terrible.”
Indeed, Lucia’s memories in humanity’s 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 would’ve done it with Nier anyway, as I needed to save her! It was a necessary part of saving Nier! I probably would’ve saved her, but I would’ve told Lucia about it, which would’ve 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 humanity’s soil. I doubted Lucia would ever go there if Troy City wasn’t named after me. Accordingly, I had to abandon Lucia to go to humanity’s 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 wasn’t, 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 didn’t 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 didn’t have the best relationship – of course, that was still because of me…
“It must have to do with Daisy, am I right?”
I nodded: “Yeah, it’s about Daisy’s baptism. I don’t believe in their religion, but Mommy Elizabeth really wants for Daisy to go through the ceremony. It is the first time the royal family’s descendant is returning to Hilles City, after all. I bet it’ll be quite the grandeur event…”
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Fast forward… to when Nier and Daisy return to Hilles City for the first time…
“Her Majesty has returned! Royal Princess has brought Her Majesty back!!”
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 humanity’s empire. Rosvenor Family’s 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 states’ gifts were delivered to the Royal Palace. It was all done to celebrate Daisy’s 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 wasn’t use to socialising, yet she was by Daisy’s side the entire time as her mother and had to welcome lots of people. She couldn’t give them, the ladies-in-waiting who wanted to see Daisy or the nobles, the cold shoulder. Elizabeth wasn’t always by her side, so Nier was driven to the brink of insanity.
The scale of the situation didn’t pale in comparison to the Empress’s birthday celebration. The vassal states rushed into the Royal Palace to see Nier’s daughter. Though they were somewhat disappointed to find Rosvenor Family’s descendant wasn’t a boy, seeing Elizabeth’s high spirits, everyone thought they saw Elizabeth in Daisy. Nobody knew how Daisy would turn out in the future.
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I went to the elven spring. I didn’t 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 didn’t know why I heard and saw those things, but I felt I’d find out something if I went to the spring.
Mom didn’t have plans to seal the springs. Before me was just an ordinary door. I did hear there was a spell cast on it, though. Had nobody told me, the spell would’ve 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 them…? The crops at Troy City couldn’t grow, so how did it make changes to humans? Elven mana should be useless to humans as humans weren’t magical creatures. Subsequently, the question was: would it affect humanity’s structures? I, personally, didn’t think so; otherwise, my factory couldn’t have been built next to the river. So what exactly was their so-called spring water?
“Touch me…”
“Hmm?” I looked around but didn’t see anyone. There was grass, shrubs, but there wasn’t even a breeze. I pondered, ‘”Was that voice I heard just my imagination?”
“Touch me…”
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, “Where’s that voice coming from? Wait. Could… could… the… the voice be…”
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.
“Touch me…”
I crouched down and carefully reached my hand toward the spring…
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