Volume 3, Chapter 55 – The Reason for Immortality

“Please wait, Your Highness Dofilia! I am Bishop Bartholomew of the Leopardfolk from the Cold Moon Alliance. As long as you return to my tribe with me and help me defeat the shameless Lionfolk, I will name you the Great Sage of the Beastmen!”

“I am the seventeenth prince of the Ceciron Empire, Elf Princess! Help me seize the throne, and I swear to give you the most fertile land in the empire! After it is done, our two countries can launch a pincer attack, annexing the Alfrieg Kingdom and the Milcandis Holy Kingdom, and become the twin powers of the northern continent!”

“I have a better deal! I only need Your Highness, the First Princess, to give me one hundred Gem Coins to recruit soldiers and horses, and I will repay you tenfold after the matter is settled!”

When Fia stepped out of the inn room, the numerous exiled nobles who had been waiting in the first-floor lobby for a long time swarmed her. The news of Fia single-handedly destroying hundreds of thousands of monsters had already spread throughout the city, naturally attracting their attention.

Almost every noble was wearing their most decent clothes. Not only did they have longswords at their waists, but their hair was also carefully styled with pomade. Apart from the urgency and anticipation in their expressions, they were handsome from every angle.

However, that was only when taken individually. Now, the scene of them swarming up all at once only made one feel as if they were in a market full of salesmen.

How troublesome.

Maintaining an expressionless face, Fia complained in her heart.

If Fia had to say who had troubled her the most in the past two days, it would definitely be these exiled nobles who kept visiting, hoping that she would help them “restore their country.” This group of nobles were all existences who had nowhere to hide after their coups had failed in their own countries and had been forced to flee to Byrne City.

They had neither the money nor the strength to restore their countries, and they had to be constantly on guard against assassins sent from their home countries. If they did not have sufficient opportunities for the rest of their lives, they could basically only live in exile with the servants they had brought with them until they died.

If that were all, they would at most be pitiful minor characters. What was disgusting was that this group of people still liked to put on the airs of great nobles even after they had fallen from grace. When Anastasia was fighting the Son of Balor in the square, these exiled nobles had also watched from the sidelines, not letting their somewhat capable servants help deal with the low-level monsters nearby. Therefore, Fia had no favorable impression of them at all.

Not to mention that yesterday, a man who called himself the son of a prince had come to knock on her door. After Fia had Renee convey the order to refuse guests, this prince’s son had still relentlessly pounded on the door, saying things like if she did not help him, she and her attendants would regret it, and that giving her the opportunity to help him was her honor.

As a result, this prince’s son had successfully filled Fia’s anger gauge. She had walked out the door, lifted him up with [Telekinesis], beaten his attendants to the ground, and then, in front of everyone in the inn, dragged him to the entrance and thrown him into the street, not forgetting to drench him with [Torrent]—interestingly, because the water from [Torrent] was gushing, many commoners had run over with buckets and basins, wanting to scoop up the water on the ground after Fia left. Fia had then tossed the prince’s son aside and used [Torrent] and [Ice Bullet] to fill their buckets, earning herself the title of “Saint of the Commoners.”

After this incident, no more foolish nobles came to trouble Fia. Instead, they all adopted an extremely humble attitude and waited for her in the first-floor lobby day and night.

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Having anticipated this would happen, Anastasia walked to the very front and dispersed the nobles blocking the way.

“Her Highness has important matters to attend to. Please come back tomorrow.”

“How could this be…”

“I’ve been waiting here since dawn.”

“Tsk, just because she has a little strength, she puts on such airs.”

Although they said so, the exiled nobles still obediently made way for Fia. No one wanted to become the second “prince’s son”—that one couldn’t stand the ridicule of the people around him and had fled the sanctuary of Byrne City overnight.

Ignoring the chattering of the exiled nobles, Fia’s group of four soon walked out of the door, surrounded by the adoring crowd in the lobby.

“Hmph, these people became exiled nobles precisely because of their pride and arrogance. They don’t even learn from their failures. The attendants who follow them must have done something shameful in their past lives to be reduced to being their servants in this one.”

With a puffed-up expression, Liti said impolitely after they had walked some distance.

Anastasia answered with a wry smile.

“It could also be that the truly talented people have already found their patrons, and only the incompetent nobles are left here. That being said, they won’t be able to stay here for long either. The Barony of Khesa will soon belong to our Silvar.”

“Kill them all.”

Milu made a ruthless comment with an expressionless face.

“It is possible. After all, they are exiled nobles. No one will avenge them if they are killed. At most, the people from their own countries will symbolically condemn it, and then secretly send us a thank-you gift. However, if it’s done too bloodily, it will make the world mistakenly believe that Your Highness is vindictive and fear you deeply. You are a benevolent and gentle princess and cannot be associated with such a bad reputation.”

Benevolent and gentle is too much of an exaggeration. Shouldn’t that be you, Anastasia?

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Fia answered in her heart.

“Well, let’s not talk about these people anymore. Just remembering them is giving them too much credit. More importantly, did that talking crystal tell you how to solve the problem of little Milu fainting as soon as she leaves Byrne City, sister?”

“Yes, Laplace’s Demon has told me everything.” Fia nodded lightly and explained in terms that everyone could understand. “Simply put, the reason Milu faints as soon as she leaves Byrne City is because there is an invisible mana connection between her and the Witch’s Heart Core. If she is too far from it, this connection cannot provide her with mana, causing her to pass out.”

Of course, the actual situation was not as simple as Fia had said.

Regarding the matter of Milu’s origin, Fia had gone to the Witch Hall the day after the explosion to ask Laplace’s Demon clearly.

In the beginning, to understand what a soul was, Laplace’s Demon had tried to create life itself, and Milu was thus born. On the World Tree Continent, a baby had its own soul since birth, so Laplace’s Demon had naturally thought that if it could create life, then the life it created would also have a soul. This way, it could carefully feel at which step in the process of creating life a soul was formed, and how it was formed.

The fact was, it had indeed thoroughly studied “monsterology” and “life magic,” and with the help of puppet creation magic, had created the life that was Milu. However, the cruel part was that because Milu was an unnaturally born life, she did not have her own “soul.”

The soul here was not synonymous with the soul in the usual sense.

On the World Tree Continent, the soul was a real thing. It represented a person’s spirit and way of thinking, and could exist independently of the physical body. In short, the soul included the concept of self-awareness, but self-awareness was not equal to the soul; the two had a subordinate relationship.

Therefore, Milu, who had no soul, was in a very strange state. She was both alive and not alive. The reason she could move was that Laplace’s Demon, to maintain her existence, had created a mental field centered on itself, providing her with a continuous source of power. In this way, she had a body and a soul, becoming a living being that could move—it might be more appropriate to describe them as a mother body and a child body. Laplace’s Demon had given a part of its own spirit to Milu, which was also the reason why she knew the language of the Human Alliance.

With her soul needing to be “provided” by Laplace’s Demon, she naturally could not be too far from it. And the same was true for the short-haired Milu. The reason she could go to places the long-haired Milu could not was that Laplace’s Demon had given her a “container,” like a battery, allowing her to be away from the power source for a period of time without shutting down. But in essence, she was no different from the long-haired Milu.

Therefore, the solution to Milu’s inability to leave Byrne City was very simple.

One only needed to change the person providing the soul field from Laplace’s Demon to Fia. This process was not complicated; Laplace’s Demon could begin as soon as it had made some preparations. It couldn’t wait for Fia to take Milu away sooner. Milu’s existence was a burden to it, especially when she died.

—Here, one had to mention why Milu was immortal. This was closely related to the rules of the World Tree Continent. Although Laplace’s Demon could not produce evidence, it guessed that it was precisely because she had no soul that she was immortal. After a living being on the World Tree Continent died, its soul would leave the body and go to the Land of the Dead in the netherworld. But Milu had no soul from the very beginning, so “her soul” would never disappear or die. Each time, it would return to her body under Laplace’s Demon’s mental field.

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But this created a new problem. Every time Milu died, she would resurrect in an uninhabited corner. Then where did the materials for remaking her body come from? To this, Laplace’s Demon couldn’t even give a guess. It knew very little about the outside world and didn’t even know that Milu was still alive. It only occasionally felt a palpitation. In the past, it had always treated this as a natural phenomenon. It wasn’t until Fia mentioned Milu’s immortality that it had linked the palpitation to her death.

After discussing it, the two felt that the only possibility was that the world had a logical error due to the appearance of an unnaturally born life, so Milu would resurrect in a place with no observers every time she died.

As for why her body could be created out of thin air, the two had struggled for a while without reaching a conclusion. Magic was something that came from nothing in the first place. Perhaps because Fia and Laplace’s Demon were from another world, they always felt that such a violation of the law of conservation was incredible, and that they were missing something. But to the people of this world, they would probably just exclaim, “What a wondrous magic!” and treat it as a miracle.

“So sister will be providing the mana…” Liti tilted her head slightly. “Doesn’t that mean little Milu can never leave your side?”

“I don’t mind.”

Saying this, Milu gently pulled on Fia’s sleeve, a look of what seemed like happiness in her crimson cat’s eyes.

“No, no, that’s not what I mean. I just mean, if sister has to act alone for some reason, wouldn’t little Milu be in a bad situation?”

“Laplace—the Witch’s Heart Core said that the stronger the soul, the wider the range of the connection (field). In addition, it can also add a contract that can temporarily store soul power, just like with the short-haired Milu. Even if I leave for a short period of time, she won’t faint.”

According to the theory that the stronger the mana, the stronger the soul power, her own soul field would surely be much larger than that of Laplace’s Demon.

“Well, that being said, it can’t go on like this forever. We’ll have to wait until we get back to Silvar and see if we can ask the Elf God for a solution.”

As her voice fell, Fia gently patted Milu’s head. Milu’s white hair always reminded her of Claire’s, which cascaded down like starlight.

“Ask the Lord Elf God?! Are you joking, sister?”

Liti’s voice suddenly rose by several tones, so much so that the passersby beside them turned to look.

“Are you saying the Elf God won’t send an oracle?”

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Even the Milcandis Holy Kingdom could receive oracles from the Goddess of Life. The Elf Kingdom, which was stronger than them, should be even more able to receive one from the Elf God.

Liti placed her index finger on her lips, a troubled look on her face.

“How should I explain this to you… The Lord Elf God hasn’t sent an oracle for a very long time. Ever since the last Holy Tree Priestess was martyred, he has not contacted us again. And it was from that time that the leaves of the Holy Tree slowly began to wither. Without the Dance of the Holy Tree, we don’t know how to restore it.”

“The Dance of the Holy Tree?”

The one who answered Fia’s question was Anastasia.

“Your Highness has forgotten this part. A few thousand years ago, although we elves were also ruled by the Elf King, he had to first consult the Holy Tree Priestess before issuing important orders. The Holy Tree Priestess was the one who served the Holy Tree, the link that connected us with the Lord Elf God, and also his spokesperson in the world.

The Dance of the Holy Tree was a dance to call upon him. This process consumed a great deal of energy, and only the purest Holy Tree Priestess of each generation could perform the entire dance.”

“Then why did the Holy Tree Priestess disappear?”

If she couldn’t obtain an oracle from the Elf God, she wouldn’t be able to solve the curse on Claire. Although she could still seek out other gods, that would lose most of the meaning of returning to the Elf Kingdom.

“That’s because…”

“Lady Fia!” Before Anastasia could explain, a beautiful-looking apprentice witch appeared in everyone’s sight. She shouted with a happy face, “Lady Friede sent me to find you. She said the ritual is ready!”

It seemed that Laplace’s Demon was ready. Fia looked at the apprentice witch running towards her. The matter of the Holy Tree Priestess could be discussed later. It was just a dance; it shouldn’t be too difficult for her. Embarrassment was one thing, but whether she could do it was another. For now, she had to transfer the soul contract on Milu to herself first.

Fia responded with a smile.

“Alright, we’ll go now.”