I was expecting some confusion, even hoping someone would spit their lemonades. But I wasn’t prepared to see almost everyone looking at me as if I had suddenly grew horns. Even the Queen herself was lost for words, though she managed to remember to cover her mouth. The only ones who remained composed were the Doctor and Anna, the latter seemingly sharing my own confusion at everyone’s expression. Maxwell was too busy re-reading the reports of the guards and everyone’s testimony to pay much attention to our conversation.

—That’s a Rose Nymph? That can’t be… —Neil was the first one who dared to speak.

I nodded, and he didn’t seem to distrust me, but he still couldn’t believe it.

—And you said it sprouted directly from the seed? —Erzi asked.

—Yeah, even early yesterday there was nothing visible on her pot. What’s so weird about it?

—M-madame —Victor intervened—, I might have forgotten to mention something important about the Nymphs on our talks. Those that have been sprouted by other people, they… well; they had allegedly sprouted as a regular sapling and then grow into a tree, before they would start to act like a creature. This whole process would take years, even most of their caretakers’ lifetime. It is unheard that one will just sprout like this.

—Huh? W-wait? What does that mean? —I asked.

—I’m not sure, it could be something as simple as a mutation, or maybe it had to do something with how you planted it.

—I… I don’t think I have done anything aside from what you taught me —I said.

But something did come to my mind. I had sung Violett to sleep while I was at the greenhouse a few times, and sometimes I would talk to the plants, even making voices for them. But I couldn’t tell them, it was just too embarrassing. It was a secret only between me and the plants. And Carmila, who caught me in the middle of it once.

—Couldn’t it have sensed that you were in danger, and sprouted to protect you? —Anna said.

—Could she? —I asked, looking at the Nymph, still sitting over my shoulder while eating a cookie.

—Well, some plants do bear fruits sooner when they are putting under stress —Victor said—, and that might apply to plant monsters too, but… to come up from the seed as an immature creature. I can’t say for sure, maybe if I take it to my study and do a few tests.

The Nymph suddenly stood up and threw a hiss towards the botanist. Or at least, it attempted to do so; it sounded more like an angry kitten. Then she hugged my face, pricking my cheek with her tiny and numb thorns.

—I’m sorry, Victor, I think she is still too young —I said—, maybe in a few months she’ll be a bit more independent?

—I understand. Still, this is a pretty unique situation; please allow me to take notes of her development.

—Of course. If she agrees with it.

I looked at the tiny Nymph and waited for a response. After a few seconds, she nodded and let go of my face, sitting once more on my shoulder and back to eating her cookie.

—I-impressive —was everything Victor could say.

—Have you given her a name? —Anna asked.

—Hmmm, not yet. Frankly, with everything that happened, naming her didn’t even cross my mind.

I have never been too good at coming up with names. Even Violett’s name was a suggestion of my late husband. Well, it would be more accurate to say he mentioned we should go with a flower pattern following my own name. But even if I used that pattern, I was already called Rosanne, it would be too confusing to name the Rose Nymph anything based on her own flower motif. And calling her any other flower’s name would have been even more confusing.

—Then, how about Eve? —I muttered.

—Oh ho! Like the Holy Saintesses? —Marcus asked.

—Eh? W-well… —I stuttered.

I had only thought of that name because it sounded like Ivy, but not as obviously plant-themed. I had forgotten that in this world, a few mythological and historical figures had shared that name. The supposed mother of all humans, a young girl who lead an army to victory against an invading force, and a nun who had spent all of her life protecting a forest from being turned into a desert, among others.

All of them had something in common, green eyes and the ability to use holy magic. Some even believed they were the same entity, reincarnating again and again to protect and guide humanity. The protagonist of Promises of an Enchanted Heart was even called an “Eve” a few times.

I felt a bit bad giving such prominent name to the Nymph, some of the other nobles might think I was intentionally trashing the previous bearers of the name. But at least one of those figures was a guardian of the forest, like the Nymphs were said to be, so I could use that as an excuse. Before I could think more in depth about it, Iridia came and called for my attention.

—The agent of our barrier’s provider has arrived —she said—, but due to our current situation, I have asked him to wait outside for the moment.

—Ah, thank you. I’ll go to see them now —I replied, and turned toward my guest as I stood up—, if you excuse me for a moment, the place where we keep our anchor is very cramped and must be pretty dusty, so I’ll just go and show where they can find it.

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I made a big deal out of it, because I was sure they all would insist on following me. My words seemed to be effective for most of them, but Erzi insisted on me keeping two guards near at all times.

—Madame, please allow me to accompany you —Neil said just as I was leaving the gazebo—, I might be able to spot a fault in their spells that they might try to hide, and one more person will not make it too much cramped, would it?

—I-I suppose it wouldn’t… —I said, not daring to confirm or deny his statement.

Then I hurried back to the interior of the house, before someone else came with a convenient excuse to follow me. On my way, I asked Gabby to keep pastries and tea going to our guesses, to keep them busy and distracted. I also checked up on Violett, who had been under Sophie’s care while I was busy, guarded by a guard. It hurt to just throw a glance at her from the door, as I really wanted to go an hug her, but I needed to deal with this first. Just as we were approaching the front door, Iridia told me something I should know about our visitor.

—He is one of the dwarf people, so please don’t be too shocked at his appearance —she said, and I nodded.

I have heard about dwarves existing in this world, as well as elves, and other fantasy humanoid races. They even appeared as background characters in some images of the game, perhaps as some sort of Easter egg hunt, or maybe to make the world look more diverse. But I have not seen one during my life as Rosanne, since there weren’t too many of them living in this country to begin with, and the majority of those that did lived in the countryside, away from the capital.

In any case, I was prepared to meet one for the first time in my life. It was actually kind of thrilling. But when we arrived at the entrance, my expectations were thoroughly subverted. That person was short, and a bit stout, but that was just about anything he had in common with the image of dwarves I had in my mind. There was no sign of a beard, and his facial structure was actually quite feminine. He was wearing a pretty sharp suit, with a few gold accessories.

—Ah, Madame Dragonroot, pleased to meet you —he said, bowing his head— I am Lucius Forte, representative of Aegis Incorporated. I was informed you had a problem with one of our products, yes?

—Y-yes —I said, still a bit surprised by his appearance.

—I would say that your product letting someone throw a dart against one of your clients is a bit more than a “problem” —Neil said, slightly pissed off.

—That… that could be the case. I ask you to forgive me for misspeaking. Could you show me where you keep your anchor?

—Of course, please follow me.

With Iridia guiding us, we reached the basement of the mansion. It was relatively clean, but it was a bit dark even as we hold to some glowing crystals. In a corner of that room, right next to our water purification system, was the anchor of our barrier. It was actually shaped like a cube, metallic in appearance, and it wasn’t bigger than the other boxes we had lying around in that room. Lucius touched it, and it started to glow. Soon it was displaying something that resembled a hologram, floating right in front of us.

That was a spell, an engraving of sorts that allowed objects to be enchanted. It looked like a group of pretty much every magic circle in a fantasy world, and the me of a few months ago would have been mesmerized and awestruck at that spectacle. But thanks to Neil’s lessons, even I was able to understand it… in general terms. The circles that were concentric among themselves were like lines of code, with those outside being as separate modules, but they all worked together like gears.

—Everything seems to be working properly —Lucius said, after he and Neil had been glancing at the magic circles for a few minutes.

—That seems to be the case, but how could someone manage to cross the barrier then? —the mage replied.

—The only way would it be if someone already inside let them come in.

—The only ones allowed to do so are my closer attendants and myself —I said—, might you be implying some of them could cooperate with the attacker?

—N-no, of course not, Madame! —Lucius quickly said. He looked a bit more scared than I would have imagined.

I smiled at his reply, satisfied. Only Sophie and Carmila knew the password after all, and there was no way either could betray me that way. I have been trying to be on good terms with everyone else too, so there was no reason for any to be disgruntled with me. At least not to go to that length to help someone attack me. I let a sigh escape from my mouth, and took at look at the magic circles myself. As expected, the details eluded me, there were a lot of symbols that I didn’t had any idea what they meant. Something caught my attention, though.

—Neil, this line here… —I said, pointing to a string of symbols.

I meant to ask him to explain me what they meant, but he took a look at it, and stood quiet for a moment. His face showed that he was in deep thought.

—Y-yeah, that could be it —he finally said.

—What is it? —Lucius said, three seconds before I could ask the same.

—This part over here might be causing weak spots on the barrier —Neil replied, and went on to explain how, in very confusing terms.

The only thing that I did understand was that it shouldn’t be a problem for perfectly spherical barrier, but the part of property that was covered by the barrier was wider than it was long, so it had been set to be like an ellipse. This would have caused problems with the flow of mana, and thus, weak spots.

—Madame Dragonroot, please allow me to apologize in the name of our business. The technician must have not changed to the right formula after the shape of the barrier was set, it is our entire fault.

—Ah, please don’t worry about it, things like that happen.

—That’s not it, Madame —Neil said—, even if the barrier had weak spots, nobody would have known.

—Except the technician… —Lucius admitted.

We went outside, meeting up first with the Doctor and the Queen. Lucius agreed to cooperate with the investigation, allowing her Majesty’s guards to look up in their private files to see who had installed the anchor, and to be sure that the whole business wasn’t cooperating with the intruder.

Before he returned to the capital, Lucius reconfigured and tested the barrier to be sure there weren’t any weak spots anymore. A few hours later, most of the guards also left after they had picked up every piece of evidence they thought they could possibly find. Erzi wanted to leave a few guards behind, but with the barrier fixed, I managed to convince her it wasn’t necessary. Victor and Maxwell went back to the city with them, and the three adventurers were the last to leave.

—Can I ask you one thing, Madame? —Neil said.

—Of course, what is it?

—How did you know that line was causing the problem with the barrier?

—Ummm… it’s a bit embarrassing to say it, but I didn’t know. That part just seemed a bit off. It was a hunch, I guess.

—Hmmm, I see. Well, we are lucky you were able to find it. This might have gotten us closer to find the culprit.

—And to find why they would attack me —I said.

As I stood on the pier and waved them goodbye, I felt a chilly wind. It made me remember that we were just a few months from the end of the year and the start of winter, and two more months later, we’ll be celebrating Violett’s first birthday. That was something I was really looking for, despite the feeling of worry I had in the back on my mind.

…..

They keep visiting me often, making sure Violett and I were alright. Erzi and the doctor gave me updates on the investigation, but they were sparse and lacking to say the least. Nonetheless, I trusted them, and believed they could find the culprit. I still felt anxious, though.

To make things worse, it started to tremble almost every night.