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Chapter 149 - Aled's Return
Feeling like her position was being threatened with the way things were going, Tania made the decision to stick by the empress’s side from today onwards. When she told Girgantia she would be busy from now on, the dragon blinked at her dumbly.
“Then what about me?”
“You… Hmm… If we bound you in chains three times thicker than they are now, wouldn’t you, the attendants, and I rest assured?”
“No! You want to leave me alone in chains again? If you’re going somewhere, take me too!” Girgantia shouted and wailed, “What am I going to do by myself without you? I’ll be bored!”
In the end, Tania gave in and went to get permission to bring Girgantia out too. Even amidst all the ruckus, the organization of the storage room was slowly wrapping up, but Tania couldn’t afford to ease up.
“What a relief. I was worried about what I’d do with so many heavy things, but it’s all done thanks to Tania,” Cecile complimented.
Despite the empress’s compliments, Tania knew that Irene was doubtlessly still enthusiastically tending to all sorts of work throughout the palace. Apparently, she’d taken charge of everything from handling the attendants down to the types of meals served to the empress. ‘I don’t like that either!’ Who was she to manage all of that? Tania had even caught whisperings among the attendants that Irene was the one best suited to remain at the empress’s side.
“At any rate, I don’t like Lady Irene,” Tania muttered to herself.
“I hate her too. Isn’t she the one that cut down our chicken from ten to five?” Girgantia whispered, as he crept over to Tania’s side.
“Do you mind butting out?”
Cecile left the whispering Tania and Girgantia to their devices and walked over to the display again. Just then, something flashed. A green light poured forth from the Forest of Tetin, illuminating the entire storage room.
“Hmm? The Forest of Tetin…!” Cecile stammered.
Richard immediately drew his mana, while Tania ran to shield Cecile. Something emerged from the jewel—a small humanoid figure. Flying out of the jewel and into the air, it dusted off its wings.
“Aled?” Cecile called out in surprise.
“Wachoo!” Instead of a greeting, Aled sneezed and blew its nose for a long time, before looking around the space. “Eh, I came back properly.”
Sniffling and rubbing its reddened eyes, Aled spotted Cecile and shouted urgently, “Hey! Great, you’re here! The emperor. Where’d the emperor go?”
“Why are you asking?”
“What do you mean why? The Archwitch is…”
“Archwitch?”
“I see there’s been newcomers since I was gone? Woah, look at that. A wyvern? No, a dragon? The heck? Why is something like this here? And who’s this? A handsome boy? No… the inside is a little old. A mage? An incredibly strong one at that. And this one is… just a girl?”
True to its name, Aled began chattering incessantly and Cecile had to block her ears. “Aled. Will you make yourself visible firs—”
Before Cecile could finish, Tania swung her fist and her fist connected with Aled, who was sent straight into a wall. The impact sent the items in the display cabinet and the spirit tumbling to the floor.
“Huh? I just swung because I heard some fly…” Tania said bewilderedly.
It was a wonder that she’d managed to hit Aled so accurately when she couldn’t even see its form. Richard, who flinched when the archwitch was mentioned earlier, was gaping at the scene, while Girgantia proudly mouthed to him, “See that? This is what she’s capable of.”
“Wow, it’s small.”
“Oh, isn’t that a spirit?”
“What the… a spirit?”
The trio approached Aled and were eyeing it with curiosity. Picking itself off the floor, Aled dusted itself off and was about to say something about all the eyes gawking at it, but instead shook its head and flew back to Cecile.
“First things first, I need to meet the emperor urgently. Where is he?”
“Well, his Majesty went to conquer the dukedom of Etia.”
“Dukedom of Etia? And where’s that? When’s he coming back?”
“Why are you in such a rush to find him?”
“Well, that’s because the emperor—”
The talkative spirit suddenly clammed up. The emperor had left his express wishes that not a peep about Eugendiph’s blood should be mentioned to the empress. He seemed intent on murdering the spirit if it broke its promise.
‘Right. He told me to never mention Eugendiph’s blood in front of her. Figures, since if he took it, his true form would be that of a monster.’ Instead of trying to explain itself, Aled flew over to the center of the storage room, where a large map was sprawled open.
“Why the map?” Cecile asked.
“Mark where that Etia place is, will you? And you there, mage. You look strong, so help a spirit out.”
“Ha. Well, well. This spirit sure has perceptive eyes,” Richard said, smoothing back his hair as he walked towards them. “What can I help you with?”
“I’m going to open a gate to that place. You can support me.”
Richard quickly calculated the distance between Etia and the empress’s palace and shook his head. “A gate? It’s too far. Besides, it can’t be maintained for long, even if it’s opened,” he said. There were too many risk factors in opening a gate meant for traversing through space at that distance.
“I’ll be the only one crossing so it’s fine,” the spirit shrugged.
“But if something goes wrong, you’ll end up lost in the gap between space.”
“What’s the problem? Since I’m a spirit, I can just take a detour back if something goes wrong. That’s only a problem for humans.”