3. The Former Emperor’s Envoy

I woke up in my own bed that evening. I’d promised I wouldn’t overdo it, but I ended up using all of my mana anyway. Even though it wouldn’t help anything, I couldn’t help but sit there on my bed, holding my head. A few minutes later, I snapped myself out of it and got up.

I wanted to know about what happened afterwards, so I headed to Lord Glen’s room. When I knocked, I was immediately let inside.

“Hey, Chelsea. Looks like your mana has regenerated,” he said with his usual angelic smile, urging me to sit on the sofa.

«Really! There’s only one of you, Mistress. Why do you always overexert yourself!» yelled kitten-form Ele from his spot on top of the wooden box nearby.

“I’m sorry...” I apologized.

«Treasure yourself more!» he said with a sigh, feeling bad. Ele stood on his hind feet, front paws on his hips angrily, but I nodded obediently because I knew he was just worried.

“So, what happened after I fainted?”

“After I had a maid carry you to your room, Lord James and I headed to one of the places they were trapping the miasma to plant the blue lily seeds,” he told me, pausing to smile amusedly. “After they bloomed, sucked up the miasma, and then withered and left a seed over and over and over again, all of the miasma in the area was absorbed. Since they had other spots where they were gathering the miasma too, I left the rest of the seeds with him.”

“That’s great,” I said, sighing in relief.

“When Lord James saw them bloom, he said it was like the ocean.”

“I’ve never seen the ocean. I wish I could have seen...”

“Let’s take a little detour to see them on our way to the Empire.”

“Really?” I asked, getting a nod in return.

For the next few days, I made more blue lily seeds. This time, in order to keep my promise not to overexert myself, I only made twenty a day. I thought it was a bit of a waste to leave ten seeds worth of mana unused, but I was told I should always have some to spare in case anything happened.

After I finished making the seeds, I gave them to my adoptive father, who then had the margraviate’s officials, soldiers, and mages plant them in the spots where the miasma was gathered.

With that, the Sargent Margraviate’s miasma problem should be over. Next is the Radzuel Empire.

＋＋＋

Someone who called herself the former Emperor of Radzuel’s envoy had come to the manor’s parlor. The lady, who was a bit taller than me, was smiling and looking my way. There were big fox-like ears poking out of her near-orange blonde hair, and a big fluffy tail sticking out from behind her, so I knew she had to be a beastman. I’d heard that they could take both human or animal form, but it seemed that they could make just one part of them animalistic, too. She has the ends of her hair braided, kind of like Gina, I thought.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Micah, a foxgirl~ I’m normally a chef~!” she said, spinning in place before giving us a smile.

Is that how people in Radzuel greet others? While I was surprised, everyone else introduced themselves.

“My name is Glenarnold Snowflake. I’m both the current Duke Snowflake and the King of Chronowize’s younger brother.”

“I am Jamesfort Sargent, the current Margrave Sargent. I’m here today as an observer. This is my daughter Chelsea.”

I curtsied when my adopted father introduced me. I was surprised again that he didn’t specify that I was adopted.

Lady Micah clapped happily when she saw me. “You seem just like the little noble girls I’ve heard of! Super cute~!”

My face burned beet red at suddenly being called cute by someone I’d just met. When I hid my face in my hands, she just smiled even wider.

“Let’s sit down and talk for now.”

Lord Glen and Lady Micah each sat on single-seat sofas, while I sat on a three-seated one with my adopted father. Beside the sofa where I sat was the wooden box with the Spirit Tree cutting, with Ele sitting on top.

Once the maids had brought tea in for us, my father cleared the room of servants.

“Lady Micah...”

“Just stop right there~!” she said, raising a hand to stop Lord Glen. “I’m an envoy, but I’m normally just a normal chef. Just call me Micah~”

It seemed that she didn’t like being called “Lady.”

“Then how about...Miss Micah?”

“Nnnnn... I guess I can live with that~”

Seemed like “Miss” was safe, though.

“Then let’s hear the details again,” said Lord Glen, only for the foxwoman to nod.

“I’ll start by telling you about Lord Royz~” she started, pulling a sheet of paper the size of both my hands together from her pocket. It was definitely bigger than her actual pocket... She might have been able to use Item Box, just like Lord Glen. “This is a portrait of him. He’s a dragonman, and was the Emperor of Radzuel up until three years ago~ He’s also my foster father, and he taught me how to cook, too!”

The former Emperor Lord Royz was a man with long hair and pointed ears. On the top of his head were two thick, straight horns. Since it was all drawn in black, I wasn’t sure what color his hair and eyes were.

“Three years ago, he fell ill and had to step down as Emperor~ A while after that, when he went to the castle to see how the new emperor was doing, he was exiled~ Now he lives in a house near the Demonic Forest and Chronowize’s border, spending his retired life defeating monsters every day~”

I had heard that he’d abdicated after falling ill from Lord Glen before, but I didn’t know anything about him being exiled or fighting monsters every day despite his illness, so it was surprising to hear.

“Next is some info about His Current Majesty, Emperor Bearsley. They held a huge battle tournament after Lord Royz stepped down, and Emperor Bearsley the bearman won~” This time, she showed us a portrait of a very rotund man with little round ears poking out from his short hair. “Emperor Bearsley is a dummy who only thinks of fighting. That’s why all the civil officials had to work hard to keep the country going~ And Emperor Bearsley...made friends with a fake fortune-teller in a bar and believed him hook, line, and sinker~!”

“How do you know he was a fake?” Lord Glen asked.

Miss Micah pointed at Lord Royz’s portrait in response to his question. “Lord Royz has the [Appraisal] Skill, so he knew at first glance~ Apparently, his Class was listed as Swindler~!”

“I see...”

It has to be true if it’s what [Appraisal] said about him.

“The fake fortune teller told Emperor Bearsley, ‘If you walk around with shards of Spirit Trees, the miasma can’t get you. You should have all the trees cut down and distribute the shards to the citizens to protect them.’ And then he DID!” She puffed her cheeks out angrily. “He really is a dummy, believing that when eeeeeeveryone knows that if the Spirit Trees are cut down, the Spirits can’t come and purify the miasma anymore~!”

“What?!” I gasped out from surprise.

In Chronowize, not many people knew that Spirits purified the miasma. Back when I first made the Spirit Tree Seed, Lord Glen and Lord Tris only found out about it from reading the ancient scroll.

When I looked over to Lord Glen and my adopted father, both of them had their hands covering their mouths, eyes widened in shock.

“Why do you know that without the Spirit Trees, Spirits won’t be able to come here and purify the miasma? In our kingdom, it was only written on an ancient scroll, and just a few people know...” Lord Glen asked her exactly what I had been thinking, and it was her turn to be shocked.

“Humans live such short lives, the oral tradition may have died out~ In Radzuel, it’s a famous folktale that parents tell their little kids before they go to bed~”

Since I’d lived in a shed away from the Eucharis manor, going to sleep and getting up on my own since I could remember, I’d never had a bedtime story read to me before. I wonder what it’s like?

“It may be told regionally, but I’ve never heard it myself. Would you be able to tell us more?”

Miss Micah put both hands to her cheeks at Lord Glen’s request. “That’s a bedtime story for kids! You want me to tell it to you here...? Too awkward~!” She hugged her fluffy tail, clearly embarrassed.

Both of the men looked at each other, wondering what to do.

“U-Um, I’m still a child...” I said, raising my hand slightly.

Her tail popped up straight. “That’s right, little Chelsea is here~! Hm? Now that I think about it, why are you here too~?”

“Well...” I wonder if it’s okay to tell her I’m the only one who can plant the cutting? I looked to Lord Glen and my adoptive father, and they shook their heads.

“We’ll tell you why she’s here once you finish telling us the story,” Father told her.

She frowned. “You mean I have to tell you the bedtime story~?”

“Of course.”

“If I have to~ You’ve gotta tell me why Chelsea is here afterwards, though~!” she declared, before slapping both her cheeks lightly three times and changing her tone of voice.

＋＋＋

Once upon a time, there was a girl and a Spirit Tree.

The girl was always fighting the miasma, all alone. The Spirit Tree pitied her as it watched, and summoned Spirits from another realm with the power to purify the miasma. Together, the girl and the Spirits put a stop to the dark miasma gas.

Years passed, and the girl became a woman.

One day, along came a man, asking for the girl-turned-woman’s hand in marriage. But she told him, “I won’t marry anyone, as I have the Spirits.”

But the man wanted to marry her, no matter the cost. And so, he thought...

—If the Spirits were gone, I’d be her only one—

The man set fire to the Spirit Tree that brought the Spirits, turning it to ash. The Spirits disappeared, and the miasma was unleashed.

The Spirit Tree, thinking of the girl, had been repelling the dark gas.

Having lost the Spirits, the girl-turned-woman lost the energy to fight the miasma.

Unable to do anything, the man was engulfed in the miasma and became a monster.

＋＋＋

“...The End.”

Since it was my first time ever hearing a story out loud, I really got into listening to it. Before I noticed, I was giving her quiet applause. Lord Glen and my adopted father looked somewhat conflicted, while Ele was facing down sadly for some reason.

“Since we all grew up hearing that story, no one would ever think of cutting the Spirit Trees down. But Emperor Bearsley parroted the fake fortune teller and ordered the trees chopped down. The word of the strong is absolute in the Empire~ The only way to stop Emperor Bearsley is to fight and beat him...” Miss Micah continued, with a big sigh. Her tail flopped listlessly, too. “...Lord Royz tried to beat him~ But his illness worsened, and he collapsed before the battle...”

You could tell from her tail and expression that she really cared for Lord Royz.

“And where would asking for a cutting come from?” Lord Glen asked.

She straightened her posture. “Every citizen of the Empire was given a Spirit Tree shard,” she told us, tugging out a leather string with a shard of a Spirit Tree attached. The shard, smaller than half of my pinky nail, glittered like glass. “As long as everyone carries one around, they’ll be safe from the fear of losing their minds to the miasma. But it doesn’t protect the livestock, fields, or vegetation. The land that was protected by the Spirit Trees’ presence has just gotten more and more corrupted.”

“I had heard rumors of famines despite a lack of destructive weather events, but to think it was a man-made calamity...”

Miss Micah’s shoulders drooped. “Lord Royz wanted to at least keep the impact to other countries to a minimum, so after he was exiled, he moved close to the border. Even though he’s ill, he’s been fighting monsters, using wind magic to keep the miasma from flowing out, and trying to find vegetation that’ll grow in blasted lands~ He’d been prepared to use the rest of his life to do what he could, but then we heard a rumor that the Spirit Tree had been reborn~!”

The Royal Research Academy was right next to the palace, and everyone in the capital knew that a Spirit Tree grew directly beside it. There was no way to hide a massive tree, just as tall as the five-story Research Institute, with a glass-like trunk and leaves. News of it spread throughout the continent via merchants and travelers, so it wasn’t odd that Lord Royz had heard as well.

“If we get a cutting of the Spirit Tree, the Spirits will appear and purify the miasma~ We’d have it gone before it got into Chronowize. Please ask Lord Royz for more details~”

“Then we’ll have to meet him and get a more detailed explanation,” Lord Glen declared.

Miss Micah nodded. “I’ve told you everything, so tell me why Chelsea is here~!”

I’d completely forgotten. I looked to Lord Glen and my adoptive father, getting nods this time. It must be okay for me to say.

“Um...I’m the only one who can plant the cutting.”

“Oh, so Chelsea has a contract with the King of Spirits, huh! That’s amazing~! Gotta keep that secret~!” She smiled happily, wagging her tail.

“How do you know that much?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

Somehow Miss Micah knew, despite the fact that the story she just told us didn’t say anything about only someone contracted to the King of Spirits being able to plant cuttings of the Spirit Tree.

“Lord Royz is a dragonman, and they have the longest lifespans out of all of the beastmen. He can read and write ancient script, and knows a lot about ancient traditions. He learned that part while he was researching the miasma~” she explained with a smile.

I can understand that. Lord Tris would be so jealous if he heard someone could read and write in ancient script.