Volume 5, Chapter 2 – The Saint Alexia Festival

“The streets feel a little more lively than before. Is it just my imagination?”

Having left the royal castle, Fia was now walking down the King’s Avenue in Blossom.

Thanks to the fact that the golden phantom’s facial details had not been very clear, and that the Eldest Princess was known for her black hair and red eyes, Fia encountered no awkward situations of being recognized after dyeing her black hair white with a special washable dye and tying it into a side ponytail. ¹ woaaaaa white hairrrrr

Of course, a disguise of this level would still be seen through at a glance by an acquaintance, but as royalty, the Eldest Princess didn’t often wander around Blossom. Therefore, the average person didn’t know what she looked like. This was especially true after Fia tied her white hair into a long side ponytail, which diminished much of the cold, unapproachable feeling her black hair gave off, making her “Eldest Princess” aura even weaker.

That being said, because the Eldest Princess’s looks were already nation-toppling, and Claire’s group was equally striking, their party still had a very high head-turning rate when walking down the street without hoods. If not for the fact that no one was shouting, “Look, it’s the Elf Goddess from yesterday!”, Fia might have thought her disguise had been blown.

“It is not your imagination, Your Highness. There are indeed many more people on the streets than before.”

Just as Anastasia said, although there were still small mountains of snow piled up on either side of the road, the streets were bustling with carriages and pedestrians carrying bamboo baskets. From time to time, one could even see large land birds and lizard-drawn carts. The level of activity was several times greater than the desolately quiet streets Fia had walked a few days ago when she went to discuss matters with Clark.

“Firstly, the weather is clear today. It only snowed for a little while when you woke up. Whenever the sun comes out, there are more goods at the market, so people choose this time to purchase fresh vegetables and meat. Secondly, it’s almost the end of the year, and it won’t be long before the annual Saint Alexia Festival, which is why the festive atmosphere on the streets is stronger.”

“The Saint Alexia Festival?”

Fia tilted her head in confusion. It sounded like a festival related to the royal family.

Anastasia, dressed in a long maid’s dress, smiled and affirmed.

“Yes. The Saint Alexia Festival is a holiday that has lasted for ten thousand years and is one of the oldest celebrations on the World Tree Continent. Legend has it that this was the day Lord Elf God summoned the Holy Son. Because the Holy Son changed the poor and weak state of our elf race, uniting us from tribes into a nation, later generations established the Saint Alexia Festival to commemorate the changes the Holy Son brought us. Every year during the festival, everyone returns home to celebrate with song and dance. It is also one of the rare times in the year to buy new clothes and eat meat that one normally couldn’t afford.”

“By the way, after the Saint Alexia Festival ends, as is tradition, you and Her Highness Liti, as princesses, are to distribute Branches of the Holy Tree to the couples who come to the royal capital. Although you only need to give them to the first few who enter, who are usually nobles qualified for an audience with you, you must still attend, even if it’s just a formality. It is a ceremony to share the good fortune of these prolific couples with you.”

“The couples Anastasia mentioned, are they same-sex? I remember the Branches of the Holy Tree are items used for procreation between same-sex elves.”

In response to Claire’s question, Anastasia nodded lightly.

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“Yes, that is correct. However, there are also cases of people who are infertile for many years after marriage, as well as scalpers who try to take advantage of the situation, obtaining a Branch of the Holy Tree only to resell it at a high price. Even though the Empire has established strict laws to prohibit it, similar acts occur every year.”

“The good fortune of having many children, huh…”

More than the content of the festival, Fia was focused on Anastasia’s last sentence. No wonder the ceremony had to be attended by princesses and not princes; the concept of “good fortune of having many children” could only refer to childbirth.

Fia couldn’t help but look down at her own stomach. This doesn’t look like the material for bearing children. If that day ever comes, I should probably leave it to Claire. Yes.

With such thoughts, it didn’t take long for the group to travel from the bustling King’s Avenue to a remote corner far from the city center. Here, the dense and magnificent stone houses were gone, replaced by smaller, low-rise houses with poorly maintained exterior walls. Since entering this area, the proportion of elves on the streets had noticeably decreased, replaced by a variety of other races such as beastfolk and dragonfolk.

Fia, in her capacity as Thanatos, knew that most of the residents here were non-native races who couldn’t integrate with the elves but lived in Blossom. Most were engaged in shady businesses, such as stalking, eavesdropping, selling illegal liquor, and even slave trading and assassinating nobles. Since the entire underground industry was under the Eldest Princess’s control, Fia was well aware of these matters.

It was worth mentioning that at first, Fia didn’t understand why the Eldest Princess allowed such things to exist under her command. But after seeing a more detailed report submitted by Erin Slate, she understood the former princess’s thinking.

In the Eldest Princess’s view, even if these things were forbidden, someone would always do them. As long as there was demand, someone would provide the service. Therefore, it was better to control it within an acceptable range. It was difficult to completely ban something, but banning ninety-five percent of it, bringing it under one’s control, and dictating what was and was not permissible—that had room for implementation.

However, even knowing this, Fia had still struck out several industries she disliked, among them slave trading and human trafficking. She could not permit such things.

Perhaps they had just gotten off work, as Fia saw a group of fierce-looking beastfolk in work clothes coming out of a casino. This group seemed to be the casino’s enforcers. They walked down the street in small groups, causing others around them to give them a wide berth.

It seems that how to integrate the non-native races into Blossom is also a problem.

Allowing a group of people who couldn’t integrate into society to gather together was undoubtedly planting a hidden danger. The nobles and ministers in the royal castle must have long known about the existence of this group, but due to the elves’ disdain for other races, they didn’t want to bother with them. What if these people were deliberately organized—no, with the underground industry run by Thanatos, it was impossible for this group to organize any large-scale action. To put it metaphorically, they were all people working under the protective umbrella of Thanatos, and Thanatos was the Eldest Princess. The Eldest Princess would not allow her own people to turn against her.

Moreover, as long as these people were fed, and an appropriate system of rewards, punishments, and promotions was established, they wouldn’t jump out of their own circle to compete with people from another. Although some of the things the Eldest Princess did lacked the empathy of a normal person, appearing absolutely rational, it was precisely because of this that many disputes were avoided.

It could be considered a good thing. At least for these non-native races, having something to eat is better than having nothing. On the way to Blossom, Fia had seen too many people who couldn’t afford food or clothing. Compared to the cities she had passed through, Blossom was already much better. Thanks to the elves’ nature magic, which could produce large quantities of food, one couldn’t see children begging on crutches, and the number of beggars and slaves was quite low.

As the snow on the road became more pronounced, Fia’s group completely arrived at the outskirts of Blossom. Before long, Fia saw a large, steaming building—or more accurately, several simple wooden sheds that looked like warehouses. They were the witches’ temporary residences and storage for their items. Although Friede had her funding, she had not given up on teaching the young witches how to brew magic potions.

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In addition, near these wooden sheds, there was a brand-new house that looked like a nobleman’s mansion. Fia could recognize that this noble mansion was the same dilapidated, abandoned house from before.

She had thought the witches would tear it down and rebuild, but she didn’t expect them to be able to repair it to such a perfect state. Even the carvings on the exterior walls and the windows were fully restored. Judging from the light shining through the windows, the interior might have already been furnished.

Adding the fact that the original fence had been replaced by a two-meter-high gray stone wall, the place looked completely new.

“Look, it’s the Guided One!”

“Idiot, you have to call her Her Highness, the Princess! Didn’t you see that dance yesterday? Quick, go inform Lady Friede!”

Two young witches, dressed in thick cotton coats that made them look like round balls, soon spotted Fia. One hurried forward to greet her, while the other rushed towards the magnificent mansion behind them. Additionally, there were several human men at the gate whom Fia had never seen before. Judging from their respectful attitude towards the young witches, these were likely the first “warlock” ² the male counterpart to a witch to arrive in Blossom.

Led by the young witch, Fia soon entered the newly renovated mansion. Then, in a room that looked like a reception hall, Fia saw Friede, who was wearing a black cloak over a conservative long dress. Seemingly nervous about Fia’s sudden arrival, Friede was fidgeting on the sofa, directing the young witches in the room to bustle about.

Just like before, Friede, with her silky black hair and Asian features, looked exceptionally gentle and soft. Perhaps due to good nutrition and greatly improved living conditions recently, her mature charm was even richer, exuding feminine allure at a glance.

It’s probably best not to trouble Friede and the others.

With this thought, Fia, standing at the door, deliberately coughed. When Friede saw it was Fia, she jumped up from the sofa in excitement.

“Lady Fia, why did you come without notifying us? I… we weren’t prepared to welcome you.”

“You don’t need to give me a special welcome. I just came to see how things are progressing on your end,” Fia said with a smiling wave of her hand. She deliberately looked at the room behind Friede. “Aren’t you going to let us come in and talk?”

“You certainly have the right to enter!”

Friede quickly stepped aside and took the initiative to lead Fia’s group to their seats. Perhaps due to the urgency, there hadn’t been time for a proper renovation. This reception hall still bore the marks of time; the walls and ceiling were a bit old, but the furniture, like the sofa and low cabinet, was all new.

“We haven’t had time to clean up properly here… Please excuse the mess.”

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“No need to be modest. How about you? Have you run into any trouble? If you’re short on money, you can tell Colita at any time. She will inform me.”

“We haven’t encountered any such problems! I still haven’t used up the Gem Coin you gave me. Even after buying so many luxury items, there’s still a lot left.”

As she spoke, Friede stroked the armrest of the sofa beside her, as if to say this was something bought with that Gem Coin.

“Lianne and I discussed it and thought that this mansion could be put back into use with some serious magical renovation. It would be a shame to tear down such a good house. So, we started buying materials bit by bit, used earth magic to patch up the places that needed repairing, and hired craftsmen for the professional work. It wasn’t until yesterday morning that it finally reached a barely habitable state. However, there’s still a long way to go before it’s ready for you to live in. Many areas are still incomplete…”

“Huh? This is for me to live in?”

Fia had assumed this would be the place where the Witch Sanctuary would conduct its business in the future. As a formal, large-scale organization that accepted commissions, it would be improper not to have a presentable reception and office space.

“If you are not satisfied, building a new mansion is also not a problem, but please allow us another year for the time!”

“No, I didn’t mean it in a disdainful way. I’m just surprised.”

Fia raised her hands with a wry smile.

“Then where will you and the others receive guests in the future? All the witches are magic casters. The people who issue commissions are bound to be nobles or wealthy merchants. It’s not appropriate not to have a decent reception area. Nobles love to show off.”

This is especially true for elf nobles, Fia added in her mind.

Friede’s expression stiffened, and then she lowered her head with an embarrassed look.

“This… I hadn’t thought about that. Will nobles not give us commissions if we don’t have a suitable reception area?”

“At least a large portion of them are like that. Not only will they be unwilling to come, but they will also think you and the others are impolite. You can’t be too frugal in this regard.”

“I understand. I will discuss it with Lianne later. With the magic ore you had us excavate in that desert, we no longer need your financial support. It’s just that we lack people who understand noble etiquette. We have no idea how to build a house in accordance with noble standards.”

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“Don’t worry, I will send people to guide you. Have you encountered any other difficulties? Things like food and clothing become issues you have to consider once the number of people grows.”

At the mention of other difficulties, Friede’s expression became strange. She frowned slightly, as if contemplating whether to say it or not.

“Other problems… I don’t know why, but even though we haven’t revealed our identities as witches, the people nearby have been inexplicably afraid of us recently. I’ve had the witches try to help the nearby farmers with their daily chores, like helping to fill their wells or cutting down trees with magic, but instead of being happy, they avoided us and begged us not to.”

“Afraid of you? Did something unusual happen?”

Although magic casters held a high status, if they took the initiative to help and express goodwill, the farmers shouldn’t have avoided them. Fia still remembered seeing the magic casters from the Elf Tower helping nearby farmers with weeding and accelerating crop growth in the fields.

“I think it had to do with a land tax collection. When we first moved here, a group of fierce-looking beastfolk came to collect a land tax. But Miss Colita had said that this land is registered under your name and no one would collect any taxes. I thought they were probably people collecting protection money. Thinking that we shouldn’t cause trouble right after arriving, and the protection fee wasn’t particularly high, I gave the ‘land tax’ to them. A few days after that, the nearby farmers became especially afraid of us. No, on second thought, it seems to be more like reverence than fear?”

Hearing this, Fia’s expression instantly became a spectacle. She sat up straight and asked, feigning seriousness.

“Did you tell Colita about this?”

“Yes. Miss Colita comes by every two days and asks me to compile a detailed report of everything for her, so Miss Colita knows about it too.”

I get it. I completely get it.

Fia sighed inwardly. The matter of “someone trying to collect protection money from Lady Thanatos” must have been reported by Colita to Erin Slate. Erin Slate, having lost face, would have seen it as a disgrace and handed it over to Loca to handle. Then, Loca must have taught that group of protection-money-collector beastfolk a lesson.

In the eyes of the farmers, who had also been extorted for protection money, it would have looked like this: that group of beastfolk tried to collect protection money from Friede’s group, and then those beastfolk were never seen again. Thus, Friede’s group was revered by the farmers as powerful figures.

The reason Fia thought this was because the Eldest Princess’s underground industry was managed by Erin Slate, which Colita was not involved in. And Colita had a delicate relationship with Erin Slate—Fia didn’t know the reason, but she could tell from their conversations that the two didn’t seem to get along. This led to a plausible guess.

Fia’s expression was awkward as she pressed her right fist to her lips and deliberately coughed twice.

“Ahem. Friede, there’s no need to rush things. Maintaining a sense of distance can be a good thing. Over time, the people around you will gradually accept you. More importantly, is Latania here? I have something to discuss with her.”