Chapter 458: Working As Proxies
Yesterday, Big Sis and I toured Aesfen, Fyr, and Gron around the city. They tried a lot of new things, and they seemingly enjoyed the tour, I suppose. I also learned a few things about the tree spirits, so we benefited as well.
We should be showing them our trains and even tried boarding on them, but we were already short in time as we had to fit the things we needed to do it these few days of summer vacation. We could probably do it the next time they visited us again.
The tour was simply to imply that we were transparent toward the tree spirits, showing them the details of our nation in its raw form, although they had to cover their identities in accordance with the terms of the pact.
But that was just the first part of knowing one another. Today, it would be our turn to visit their place and see this World Treant in person. It would not be fair if they were the only ones enjoying.
Apparently, the ones who would be visiting were me and my sister. Since our mothers were now reigning monarchs, they should not be always outside of the nation, especially when the queendom was still in development.
In addition, people would wonder if they noticed that the queen was absent without an official announcement, as almost every queen's formal visit should be formally documented. The World Treant and the tree spirits should always stay hidden, and Mother going there was basically disclosing its existence.
We should be abiding by the rules we implemented after all. Even though Mother personally wanted to see the World Treant herself, she understood that it was for the sake of everyone.
That was why my sister and I volunteered ourselves in their stead since our movements were not limited. We would be acting as unofficial proxies of the queen.
"Her Highness Louise and His Highness Raphael, thank you for accompanying once again. But I think our place has nothing to offer though."
"It's fine, Miss Aesfen," I replied to her. "It is not like we are looking for entertainment or something. We just want to know more things about you and your kind."
"Yeah." Big Sis seconded with a nod. "As the next ruler of the queendom, I should know who my future constituents are. But can you make sure that everyone is going along with the idea of the World Treant being owned by the queendom?"
"If you are worrying about any objections, I think a few of them are against it inwardly. But this is what we have agreed to and anyone must respect that decision. However, in case of someone showing direct aggression toward you and His Highness Raphael, I promise I will personally take care of them myself."
Aesfen said the latter with a seemingly gentle smile, but she was not smiling at all. She would be punishing them if that scenario happened. Scary.
"Uuh, I appreciate it, I guess? But don't be so hard on them."
"I will try."
Currently, I was in the forest outside the city, around a kilometer from the Outer Wall, and I was with Big Sis and the three tree spirit ladies. We just got here from the palace through my Portal.
The tree spirits were in their previous garments again. The souvenirs they got in the city and the outfits they wore yesterday were in my Inventory, which I would hand to them once we got to their place later on.
"We are going to the center of the forest, yes?" Big Sis said. "So how are we able to get there?"
"That would be my job, Sister."
"I know that you have been exploring the forest for some time, Raphael, but have your coverage reached the tree?"
"Even though I have not gone there in person, my clairvoyances have captured an image of their place once. I just have to visualize it clearly so that I could conjure a Portal there."
Even though I had seen the World Treant through my remote vision, I have not been there yet. I probably could not properly land there even if I could since my clairvoyance was interrupted by the thick condensation on mana in the area in addition to the distance.
But now that my Clairvoyance had been upgraded to Supernatural Observation, I could now clearly see the tree, and I also discovered the existence of the tree spirits living there. Due to how secluded they were, I was truly surprised when they approached us. I was still wondering how they managed to reach the city without being detected by my radars.
Despite having the power to, I still did not teleport myself there, as I have no idea how the spirits would react once they perceived an intruder. Today, things were different, and we currently had the right to enter their place with the permission of their matriarch.
"Alright, I'll open a Portal now."
With a snap of my fingers, a black line appeared vertically in front of us before it quickly widened and morphed into a pitch black rectangular panel. A second later, a ripple motioned from the center of the panel, and the black panel gradually changed into a forest scenery.
Awestruck with my magic, the tree spirits gaped. "I have never seen such magic before. It's impressive that you even cast it without enchanting." Aesfen remarked.
"Thank you. But I have been wondering how you were able to reach the city without anyone noticing. I am pretty sure that we have a decent detection system that stretches out for kilometers."
"Well, actually, superior tree spirits have an innate ability called Arboreal Bound that allows us to transport ourselves between trees as long as they were connected to the roots of our mother, the World Treant."
"In that case, you can basically leap from trees to trees throughout the forest."
"If you put it that way, then yes. That also includes the treants that are originally connected to our mother."
"I see. We have been cutting down trees and exterminating treants that might be related to the World Treant, so we apologize for inflicting damages to your mother."
"It is totally normal, and she actually doesn't mind that much."
"If you say so..."
Afterwards, we passed through the Portal, and we finally reached the enchanted land of the elusive and mysterious guardians of the forest.