TPOP 139

Chapter 139

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣ ⁣⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠“ Your Highness!”

Upon spotting Elliott, she leaped to her feet.

“You’re awake! Are you hurt anywhere? Is anything bothering you…?”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry for causing you worry, Diana.”

“Don’t say you’re sorry—I’m the one who needlessly dragged Your Highness into this… This won’t happen again. Why don’t you get some more rest?”

Thanks to the spiritual energy imbued in the Spring, vitality had returned to his body, but the wounds on his wrists and ankles—which had been bound by chains for quite some time—remained. This was because the spirits’ power was limited to purification; it could not aid in healing or revival.

However, the situation was too urgent to allow for leisurely rest.

“What’s happening outside?”

“…I was just sending out spirits to assess the situation. Around sunset, I thought I heard screams coming from somewhere near Mepen or Kairam. I wondered if there had been a clash…”

“It probably wasn’t the Ormance. They were all captured by the Karman army along with me.”

“Yes. According to the whispers of the wind, it seems the neighboring nations have already arrived on Dortes soil. They say the sound of marching boots can even be heard from farther away…”

A bloodbath in Dortes must be prevented at all costs. Diana tapped the ground anxiously with her toes.

It was frustrating, but what that man had said was true. Diana had a lot to lose: this land, the people who lived here, and the spirits. They were her everything.

“If a battle breaks out, the command center will draft the defenseless Dortes people first. He’ll do everything in his power to keep this royal castle from falling, and to do that, he’ll call in imperial troops from the homeland…”

Since it would take time for the Imperial Army to mobilize, they might conscript the Dortes people. And even if they didn’t, what if a belligerent nation like Grenia launched a preemptive strike?

‘It would be best if Grenia defeated Karman….’

Even if that happened, what came next would be another problem. If it merely meant that the master of the Dortes Colonial Command changed from Karman to Grenia, how would that be any different from the current situation?

The Spring of Balestega was no longer a mirage from legend. It was a coveted gold nugget—one that had already fallen into Karman’s hands once before and that anyone could easily seize.

She had to be cautious even when distinguishing between friend and foe. But isolated here as she was, she couldn’t make contact with anyone….

‘Isolated?’

No. Diana snapped back to her senses. Isolated?

She wasn’t trapped here. She simply couldn’t leave this land, but there were more than enough ways to convey her intentions.

Her foot, which had been anxiously scraping at the dirt, came to an abrupt halt. Having made up her mind, Diana raised her head with a resolute expression.

“I can’t just wait here like this. I have no choice but to take the initiative.”

“If you take the initiative?”

“I want to show them that I’m the one who chooses my allies. I’ll have to… write an official letter.”

“How do you plan to send an official letter….”

Elliot felt a twinge of concern, but there was no need to worry. As Diana whispered something into the air, the wind rustled through the leaves as if it had understood her words, causing them to fall.

More and more leaves began to swirl in the wind. The leaves that had been circling above Diana’s head for a while were eventually carried far away by a strong gust. They flew past the towering willow tree, crossed the bridge connecting the royal castle to the streets of Mepen, and soared even farther, carried by the flag of the Empire’s temporary headquarters.

“……?”

Ianna, Queen of Ormance, looked up at the sky. A single delicate willow leaf was drifting toward her.

The leaf, smaller than her little finger, was imbued with a profound sacred aura. It carried the fresh, crisp scent of grass that Diana always carried with her.

A silent command contained within the leaf flowed directly into Ianna’s mind. With her eyes wide open, Ianna listened intently to the message from the spring, then burst into loud laughter.

“I knew she was smart, Tina. I’m talking about your daughter….”

The wind carried the willow leaves all the way to the old border of Dortes.

A leaf that settled on the Blue Bird’s flag, which was flying at the border camp, was soon spotted by the foreign commander. Another leaf flew westward, and the last one headed far to the east.

“A call from the Spring. Am I to come in person?”

Someone snarled, as if utterly flabbergasted.

“Baleste… So it’s true that the spirits have returned?”

Someone’s eyes sparkled with wonder and curiosity.

“I knew they hadn’t perished. This is an opportunity for me.”

Yet another laughed as if the moment they’d been waiting for had finally arrived.

The leaf, which had reached every nation surrounding Dortes, ultimately did not find its way to the Karman Command. Thus, with the exception of Karman, the will of the Spring spread to all nations that took an interest in the Spring of Balestega.

Which of you will become a friend of  Balestega?

14. Negotiations

“Who will become a close friend of Balestega? O you who will become a close friend of the Spring, come here….”

A young man, running his fingers over a leaf that had fallen beneath the Blue Bird’s banner, muttered as if to himself.

He was a young man with a physique as massive and rugged as cast iron, his face flushed with blood and his eyes flashing with ambition. His name was Allot, the second prince of the Kingdom of Grenia and a leading contender for the throne.

The second prince’s attendants gathered around the leaf and began to whisper among themselves.

“Is this really a message sent from the Spring, Your Highness? No matter how closely we look, we can’t see anything that resembles writing.”

“Tsk, you fools. Why would the Spirit Spring bother to communicate in human language?”

Allot scowled and gestured. His men scrambled backward in a rush.

After lying in wait near the border of Grenia for several days—ready to march on Dortes at any moment—the Spring finally responded. It was a kind of invitation that only those chosen by the Spring could recognize.

“But I’ve never heard of a spirit reaching out to humans first.”

“It’s not the spirit reaching out. It’s the Spiritmaster.”

“A spirit summoner…?”

“Yes. That Spring—the one said to have turned the Royal Palace of Dortes upside down—already has a master. It must be a human. The very fact that it can issue an ‘invitation’ like this is a human way of thinking.”

Just as nature did not speak to humans first, spirits simply exist in a place or vanish. The only ones who could move spirits were spirit masters born and raised at the Spring. A spirit master, whose lineage had long since died out, has reappeared and revived the Spring.

Furthermore, the scorpion explicitly stated, “Which one of you will become the Spring’s close friend?” Allot, the heir to Grenia, was not the only one chosen. Judging by the fact that the Spring reached out to the nations beyond Dortes, it was clear that it had no intention of joining forces with the Karman Empire, the current ruler of that region. Or perhaps relations with Karman had already soured.

After all, Karman was the main culprit responsible for trampling and destroying the Spring. What if the revived Spring harbored a grudge against Karman and colluded with other forces to bring down the empire?

Wasn’t this a golden opportunity to gain control of the Spring and give Karman—that thorn in their side—a taste of their own medicine?

“So, will you accept the invitation? And refrain from attacking Dortes as planned?”

“They went so far as to send an invitation—I can’t very well ignore it, can I?”

“But how do you plan to get past Karman’s guards? Getting to Kairam might be possible, but Mepen is out of the question. I hear the Commander-in-Chief has sealed Mepen off like a fortress.”

“Didn’t I tell you? This is an ‘invitation.’”

As Allot snapped this out in exasperation, a leaf floated up into the air as if it had been waiting for that moment. Spinning swiftly in midair, the pointed tip of the leaf pointed eastward. His subordinate asked, dumbfounded,

“Uh… you don’t mean this is going to show us the way, do you?”

“That’s right. You can’t see it, but I can.”

To those chosen by the Spring, a faint line of light emanating from the leaf was visible. As Allot rose to his feet and moved in the direction the leaf was pointing, it trembled slightly, then tilted like a compass, making a subtle adjustment to its direction.

If they followed this, they could enter the Spring while evading Karman’s gaze.

Allot grinned, revealing his white teeth.

“There must be a reason the Spring singled me out. Let’s go hear what it has to say and then decide. And while we’re at it, we can take a look at what the inside of the legendary Spring actually looks like.”