Volume 8, Chapter 28 – Interlude

The Royal Capital of the Hels Kingdom, located between the Dragon’s Spine Mountains and the Taris Marquisate, was an ancient capital with a large population and dense surrounding villages. Although the Dragon’s Spine Mountains blocked all the sea breeze from the western coastline, creating an arid environment, it was not actually short of water due to the rich water veins in the earth and the existence of the King’s Tower. And what was very different from other parts of the kingdom was that even the common people here enjoyed the right to bathe.

Of course, “bathing” here meant being able to go down to the canals and wash off the dirt with river water. Hot baths were still a privilege of the nobility. In the past, the residents of the capital had always been proud of the canals that flowed through the city, but ever since the torrential rains began, no one had such thoughts anymore. The continuous downpours not only affected those living in the villages with less sturdy houses, but even the residents living in the stone houses of the capital were greatly affected.

First was the inconvenience of transportation. Due to the widespread flooding and landslides, some roads and wooden bridges were washed away, which in turn prevented the movement of goods. Second, the hot yet abnormally humid weather caused diseases to spread. Then there were the refugees, which were a headache for the nobles. And because the villages around the city were destroyed by the floods, the year’s grain harvest was poor. Coupled with the initial transportation problems, the price of grain had now nearly tripled. Even so, people, worried about the future, had to fight tooth and nail to buy it. If not for the three great dukes jointly opening their granaries to lower the prices, the price of grain would probably have increased more than tenfold by now.

In such an environment, even Yisi and her group were affected.

Sitting by the window of her bedroom on the third floor of the temple, Yisi, feeling a little stiff in her waist, got up from the soft chair. The still picture suddenly came to life, and her movement immediately attracted the attention of the other people in the room.

“Onee-sama, where are you going?”

Looking as if she were about to follow, Camilla placed the book that was open on her lap to the side.

Yisi gave a long stretch.

“Ah~ ah~ I’ve just been sitting for a while and wanted to stand up and move around.”

“I see.”

The room returned to silence. Edith and Refina, who had looked up, resumed their chess game. Mary and Tiffany, whose ears had twitched, continued to sleep with their heads on Laxy’s lap. If this were her own home in the afternoon, Yisi would have thought it was a quiet and beautiful scene. But this wasn’t because her companions wanted to stay in the room, but because they had nowhere to go and had to stay cooped up in the temple.

The continuous heavy rain made one have no desire to go out at all. For the first two days, Yisi had still found it enchanting to stroll through this ancient, rain-soaked city full of history and a sense of age. But after the initial novelty wore off, she quickly lost interest. Not only did the puddles, mixed with sand and mud, always get her shoes wet, but the humid weather also made her feel restless. This was also the reason why her companions were not going out now.

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Turning to look at her companions who were passing the time, Yisi fell into a moment of contemplation.

It had been almost a week since she had arrived in the Royal Capital. Although there was nothing particularly urgent waiting for her to do, with too much free time on her hands, she would start to think of things to do. In the current situation, she should probably do something to stop this endless rain. That way, she could take her companions out to play in the suburbs.

As she was thinking about such things, a knock suddenly came from the door.

Like a startled kitten, Mary, who had been sitting on the sofa with her head pillowed on Laxy’s lap, sat up straight and looked at the door with sleepy eyes.

“Master… someone is looking for you.”

“It’s probably Cynthia. The thing she promised me should be done by now.”

Click.

The door was opened from the outside.

As Yisi had expected, the person who opened the door was wearing a flower crown and a long white dress that nearly touched the ground. Paired with her turquoise eyes and long, golden-brown hair, she reminded one of a foreign princess.

“Why is it you opening the door again?”

Unceremoniously, Cynthia, holding a box-like object in her hands, squeezed through the door. If there were any unknowing onlookers here, they would have thought that Cynthia and Yisi were old friends who had known each other for years.

Yisi gave a helpless, wry smile.

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“I don’t have the noble habit of having family and subordinates open the door. Did you bring the item?”

“I did,” glancing around, a look of surprise appeared on Cynthia’s face when she saw Camilla and the others. “Why are you all here? Doesn’t the Blood Clan member over there usually go to the auction house, and the half-elf, the green-haired one, and the angel over here go to the refugee area? When I was leaving today, Alice specifically told me that if I didn’t see the half-elf in the temple, to have someone go back and inform her. She wants to go out with the half-elf… I think her name is Mary. She wants to go out with Mary.”

“Mary is mine.”

As if declaring her sovereignty, Tiffany, who had just woken up, first pounced into the arms of Mary, who was sitting on the sofa, then pouted and glared at Cynthia with a wary expression. For the past two days, Mary, Tiffany, and Laxy had often taken the temple nuns to the refugee area outside the city walls to offer comfort. They mostly did things like distributing rice porridge and rainproof cloths, and having the priests treat the injured refugees. And in this process, Mary had met Alice, who had snuck out of her home. Although it had only been a day, Alice and Mary had become friends.

Afterward, Yisi couldn’t help but sigh that Mary had a talent for attracting women. Whether it was Andrea or Tiffany, they had both become very familiar with Mary right after they met. Even a difficult person like Pepe wouldn’t say anything bad to Mary. To the extent that Yisi sometimes couldn’t help but think that Mary had a built-in buff for conquering beautiful girls. With a little time, she would surely receive confessions from many female friends.

Of course, according to Tiffany’s feedback, Alice only liked the pastries Mary made, not Mary herself. But putting aside the fact that Tiffany’s feedback might have been to slander Alice, even if Alice only liked Mary’s pastries at first, she would gradually discover Mary’s cute side later. Yisi had full confidence in her daughter’s charm.

Ignoring Tiffany’s declaration of sovereignty, Cynthia, as if walking in her own home, plopped down in the seat Yisi had just occupied and placed the box-like object, which was wrapped in cloth strips, on the table.

“I brought the item. Open it and take a look.”

“Mm.”

“What’s this?”

Her attention drawn by the box-like object, Edith paused her chess game and looked at the table.

“It’s the item I promised to give to Yisi. As long as Yisi agreed to fight with me, regardless of the outcome, I would temporarily lend her a Crimson Gold-grade magic item as a stone to knock on Master Avis’s door,” at this, a pained expression appeared on Cynthia’s face. “This is a secret treasure passed down from the first Duke Wozwahl. As long as the user blows it on a rainy day, they can summon lightning. Although the limiting condition means it can’t be a powerful item, once the condition is met, it is a weapon stronger than a magic cannon. It is said to be a magic weapon bestowed by the gods upon the founding king during the Age of the Gods. In order to reward the most valiant noble in a battle, the founding king divided the magic weapon into three parts and gave them to the three great dukes respectively.”

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“It doesn’t look like anything special.”

Edith picked up the petal-shaped item from the wooden box. As Cynthia had said, this petal was clearly missing a lot of things—to be precise, this petal looked like just a part of some larger object.

“Hah, that’s because the petal has requirements for the user, just like the Church’s Staff of Divine Retribution. Only those who are acknowledged by the petal can use this weapon. Otherwise, Father wouldn’t have let Alice join the army, but would have taken this magic item into battle himself. As long as the court magic chanter division creates clouds and rain, the wielder of this weapon would be invincible. Master Avis has been coveting this magic item for a long time. To be honest, this was originally my last trump card. I was thinking that if Master Avis was unwilling to see me in the future and I had an urgent matter to see him about, I could take this item to his door.”

“Mmm, wouldn’t it be a big problem to give it to me then? And for a treasure so precious it’s a family heirloom, Duke Wozwahl actually let Cynthia bring it out.”

Cynthia waved her hand dismissively.

“What’s the problem? You gave Alice the Tears of God. This is a debt our Wozwahl family owes you. I’ve never thought that items are more important than people. As for why Father let me bring it out,” Cynthia secretly rolled her eyes, a mischievous look on her face, “I secretly stole it from the treasury. Don’t you dare spread this around. Well, it was covered in dust when I got it. Father hasn’t touched it in a long time, so he probably forgot about it. As long as I don’t lose it, it’s fine to lend it to Yisi for a while.”

“I can’t believe you did that…”

Only someone as unconventional and rebellious as Cynthia could say ‘stole’ so matter-of-factly.

At this, Cynthia turned her gaze to Laxy.

“I’ve done what I promised. It’s a bit of a pity to just leave like this. I’d like to have a match with this angel over here. Is that alright?”

“I only obey my lord’s commands.”

Although she said so, Laxy’s purple eyes were repeatedly saying ‘I want to go.’ Yisi couldn’t help but smile.

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“If you want to go, Laxy, then go. Oh, right, Cynthia, do you know where those three girls who were looking for you at the Warriors’ Association that day went?”

She had marked them a long time ago and would glance at their movements every day. However, since a week ago, the three of them had not appeared on the map. If they didn’t have a magical weapon like the Staff of Divine Retribution in Evelyn’s hands that could evade her map’s detection, then the only possibility was that they had left the range of her map’s detection. But no matter how she thought about it, Yisi couldn’t understand why they had left so hastily. Her intuition told her that the people of the Divine Religion were planning something.

Of course, she had no grudge against the Divine Religion, so there was no need to clash with them. The reason she wanted to know was just to prevent them from doing anything that would harm her companions. Apart from the first day she came here, when the Royal Capital’s city wall was destroyed by a magic barrier, there had been several similar incidents of destruction in the past few days. The most recent one was at the temple. Fortunately, Yisi had discovered it in time, otherwise the main hall of the temple would surely have been blown up. Unfortunately, in the process of Yisi handing the culprit over to the patrol and having them transfer him to Duke Wozwahl, that magic chanter had bitten his tongue and committed suicide, and the clue was thus lost.

Cynthia shook her head.

“I don’t know. I don’t have a good feeling about that group of people.”

“Is that so… but thanks anyway. I’m going to visit Master Avis right now. You can have a match with Laxy first.”

The item Cynthia gave her was a far cry from Durandal, but that didn’t affect her plan. Originally, she had intended to use the item Cynthia brought as a cover. The real key was the existence of Viel.

“Thanks a lot.”

“Camilla, come with me for a moment.”

“Of course, Onee-sama.”

Nodding lightly, Camilla, who was wearing a nightgown, stood up and followed Yisi into the bedroom.