In early March, a large convoy arrived at the gates of Virgo. New Cardinal of The Virgo was part of the convoy and had come here to govern the city offered to him by the Pontifex.
The convoy contained the body of Leoral dri Vermilia, Duke of Vermia. Leoral had died of respiratory failure at the end of February and his will called for him to be buried in Vermia.
But the city was now in enemy hands and the body would rot if they waited for it to be captured. So the body was embalmed to wait for Vermia to be taken. And when Vermia was retaken, Leoral could be buried there as he had willed.
“I have not been charged with anything. There may be people who suspect me, but there is no evidence against me. It looks like I'm going to get away with it.”
If Leoral kept his mouth shut and didn't talk to anyone but Bart, Yu wouldn't have to think about it anymore and could move on.
“Now I need to get my head around Vermia. Before we left Andromedia, we received word that the siege was continuing.”
The siege could last for months, perhaps even over a year. Large quantities of food and manpower were needed. With the army that Cornelia dri Vermilia had built up in a short time, Vermia could not fall.
“There was news that the royal side was gathering an army to send to Vermia. I must be quick to meet Cornelia, to win her friendship and make her a duchess, to gain the support of a duchess, and to raise an army for the Cathedral of Virgo.”
He was going to join Cornelia with the army to retake Vermia. Just standing back and sending support was not enough to win her friendship.
“Maybe I can affect her the way I affected Luna. This is all so we can rewind time, even if Yurine doesn't want to. I wonder if Cornelia is pretty? I've heard she's a little older than me, so I guess that won't stop her. Three years?”
With Cornelia's support, they would have laid the foundation for the Virgo Cathedral.
“This place is more beautiful than Andromedia,” Yurine said.
The City of Virgo, offered to the Cardinal of Virgo, has until now been under the protection of the City of Aqua, located to its north and home to the Cathedral of Aquarius.
The Cathedral of Aquarius provided security and the Church of Andromeda collected taxes. The old lord of the city and his family were executed for accepting Yu Zao Long as king.
Virgo had been ruled by a council after the death of its lord, but now that Yurine had arrived, the old council was no longer needed.
Instead of the old council, Yurine would become the city's leader and would be accompanied by a new council.
“Just because it's white? If the whole city is one color, won't it get boring after a while?”
“I like it. Don't you like white, Yu?”
He looked at Yurine's white hair. “I like it a lot.”
Virgo was white from its harbor to its walls.
There was a legend, some say a historical fact, behind the city's whiteness.
Legend has it that long ago, the son of the lord of Virgo lost his heart to a beautiful white-haired witch. Back then, Virgo was a city as colorful and full of life as a rainbow.
But when the lord of the city heard of this love, he strongly objected to his son being with a witch, had the witch found and killed, and forced his son to marry a noble girl he did not know.
The lord wanted his son to give him an heir of noble blood. He was not interested in anything else.
The noble daughter he had given his son in marriage died in childbirth giving him a grandson, the lord got the noble heir he wanted and did not try to marry his son again.
Time passed and the lord of the city died and his son became the new Lord of Virgo. This new lord was a strange man, very withdrawn. Everyone thought he was mourning the death of his wife because he had not remarried after she died.
In a way they were right, the lord was indeed mourning, but not for his dead wife; he was mourning for his long-dead lover.
He was so fond of the witch that he had statues of her all over the city. Even though the witch was dead, the love in his heart caused him to paint the whole city white, the same color as her hair. That was why the city was so white.
Clara had told him the story of the white city on the way here and it made him sad to hear it. He didn't like dramatic things.
“The only person in the story who gets what he wants is the first lord of the city. His son, his daughter-in-law, his grandson and the witch all lived a bad life. All because of one person's selfishness, it hurts my heart to hear such stories.”
He had spent his life trying to avoid dramatic stories. Even when he watched hentai, if something bad happened to the character, even a little bit, he would stop watching. He was not a person who liked drama stories.
“I think life is for laughing, not for sadness. Such sad stories should never exist.”
The city walls stretched along both sides of the coastline. The city had five gates facing in different directions and all the gates were decorated with silver.
The doors were adorned with silver because of the abundance of silversmiths in the city. Virgo had the most skilled silversmiths in the country and the land was full of silver.
But despite the presence of silversmiths who could produce masterpieces, the city's main source of income was fishing. Before the outbreak of the war, Virgo was a commercial area, but the war reduced the number of ships arriving and, although there was still trade, fishing became the main source of livelihood.
On the shore of Virgo City, there were two coastal arrows pointing towards each other, and on top of them were walls. The harbor was behind the coastal arrows and ships that wanted to enter the harbor had to pass between them.
The natural shape of its coast kept the harbor safe and allowed the city to defend against invaders. Virgo was a city that was difficult to capture by a landing from the sea.
“Even if they don't like having a white-haired, half-human-looking girl as a leader, they must be attracted by the large convoy.”
Despite the civil war, the city was bustling with the arrival of spring. To greet their convoy as it entered the city through the magnificent Lord's Gate, people stood on the city's white-gray sidewalks, watching the convoy as it passed by.
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“What do you think of your new people?”
“Lower forms of life that have the honor of being governed by a superior being.”
“If you said that in Africa we would be lynched on Twitter for racism. It's not nice to see a little kid being racist.”
“I am an immortal being with high magical power, they are not. And I don't know what racism means, I'm speaking the truth in plain sight!”
“Are sword fairies immortal?”
He had never heard that sword fairies were immortal, and out of respect for her, he decided to wait for her to tell him instead of researching sword fairies at the Wizarding Academy.
“Children see their parents die, that's the norm. Why did it make me feel bitter that she will live forever?”
He knew they would part one day, but it broke his heart to hear that she was immortal. What would Yurine do without him? He didn't want to leave her, he didn't want to die.
“Well, sword fairies are mortal if they make a deal, but, uh... Because my condition is special... I can live in this form forever.”
What he heard was an inadequate explanation, but he didn't want to press him on it because she was embarrassed to explain the situation. He didn't want to bother her any more by questioning what she was afraid to tell him.
“But I'm so curious!”
He suppressed his curiosity by biting his tongue.
In the center of Virgo there was no inner walled castle. The lord ruled the city from inside the manor, not from inside a castle.
Security was a concern, but since the manor was on an empty hilltop, it would be possible to build a wall there in the future. By the time they could build a wall, though, they could turn back the time and there would be no need to bother.
“We'll set up a temporary camp for the roarons on that hill, we can't take them all to the mansion. Then we'll create living quarters for them near the city center. Once we find jobs for them, we won't have to think about the roarons anymore.”
They crossed the streets, which were so white that it was almost unsanitary, and came a little closer to the Full Moon Manor. Yu wondered where the name of the mansion came from because it was nothing like the full moon except that it was white.
“Maybe this has something to do with that witch. Oh, this story really got to me. I hope it won't come back to haunt me at night. I don't want to suffer the pain of two people who died centuries ago.”
With his weight on his back, he could feel that they were going up a hill. If the snow hadn't started to melt, they would have found it difficult to climb such a steep hill.
“We need to build a proper road here, there will be problems when the snow is heavy.”
Before entering the Full Moon Manor, they left most of the roarons and some of the people Leoral had brought in the tents they had set up on the hill.
“We will live here, but where will Virgo Cathedral be?”
“We'll find a place in the city, you don't have to worry.”
When they arrived at the mansion, it was Dimen who opened the door to their carriage. Yu got out first and led Yurine downstairs.
It was a big building built in a U-shape. Virgo was not a poor city, but the building was too grandiose for this city.
“I guess whoever built the mansion was a light bulb man, he didn't save on reputation.”
It was a large enough mansion to house all the roarons, Leoral's soldiers and their families. On the marble path in the middle of the lush garden was a huge ornamental pool, and in the center of the pool was a large marble statue of a woman holding a staff and spouting water.
“That lord exaggerated.”
The manor was almost entirely white and the monotony made Yu uneasy. At least the grass was green, so he could relax a little.
“There are too many servants here, aren't there?” Ana asked. It seems that those who used the mansion, as well as those who built it, were not sparing its reputation.
The three servants of the Virgo Cathedral were mourning Bart's death, but Sivina and Ana's mood was normal, despite Raul. The two of them were even cheerful today.
“It's a big place, a few people are not enough to run it.”
The number of servants could have been reduced, but it was also true that this was a big place and needed a lot of servants.
If they put all the work of this place on just four people, like in the Cathedral of Virgo, they would find them lying unconscious at night.
Rooms had to be cleaned regularly, the needs of a large household had to be met, and the many guests who would fill the guest rooms had to be taken care of. This required many servants.
“We could hire roaron women, but their hands are too big, they have a hard time cleaning small things and preparing food for people, but they are stronger than men, maybe I can get them to work in the harbor or in the fields.”
Sivina put her hand on Yu's shoulder, approached him and spoke.
“Just two years ago I was in the Ecues mansion and I thought it was the most comfortable place to live. I was wrong, our family estate looks like a shanty next to this mansion!”
“This place was built for a lord to live in, after all.”
He knew that Sivina came from a family of knights, but other than that he knew little about her past.
Sivina, the first of the Virgo Knights, was again dressed in the white knight's uniform. Yu thought knights wore armor, but she was content with a simple uniform.
A red cloak hung down from Sivina's shoulders, and on it was the Maiden, the symbol of the Virgo Cathedral.
They dressed Ana in white priestess’ clothes. The original outfit was quite simple, but for Ana they had added silver and gold ornaments.
Link, standing quietly behind them, was dressed in the same way as Sivina. Sivina wore a knight's uniform in the Elhaven style, so Link was given a similar uniform.
“All four of them wear things that fit in with this city.”
Yurine was also wearing white. Yu looked quite out of place with his friends in his black butler's clothes.
“Welcome, welcome!”
A short, bald, fat man was walking fast, clapping his hands and stamping his feet. The cymbals tied to his heels made a constant noise as he walked. He was dressed in purple silk and sprayed with women's perfume.
“Is he a eunuch or something...”
As his egg-like head shone, he noticed that he had no eyebrows, the only hair on his face was his black kohl eyelashes. He had gray eyes.
“Faggot after faggot…”
There were other people coming from behind the man. Instead of looking at them, Yu chose to focus on the bald man standing facing Yurine. He didn't want him to touch Yurine, not even to shake hands.
“Glad to meet you Your Eminence. I, Verryho Atless, will sit in Her Eminence's council.”
Verryho bent so low that he was almost at Yurine's feet. He didn't need to describe his discomfort at someone like that approaching him. Yu wanted to punch him in the face.
Yurine was also uncomfortable with him and instinctively approached Yu and grabbed his hand.
“The young lady is not happy with you approaching her like this, please go away,” Yu said.
As Verryho turned away from Yurine with exaggerated apologies, the knights and roaron guards of the Cathedral of Virgo approached Yurine, thinking that the uncanny nature of the arrivals meant that they should show themselves.
“Who are they?”
When Link came up to him, he murmured quietly in his ear.
“Verryho the Brothel Lubunya owns most of the brothels in the Mora. I don't understand what he is doing here.”
“I don't understand either! How can someone like him appear in front of Yurine!”
Like any normal person, he couldn't accept someone like him coming near a small child. Yu turned to Verryho and raised his voice.
“Who organized this nonsense!? What's someone like you doing here?”
“Disappointed to see me? I apologize, young gentleman, but I was commissioned by a letter from the Pontifex to be in Her Eminence's court, just like the rest of my friends.”
He looked at the men behind Verryho. There was a man in black clothes with a black beard and black hair. Next to him a young man in a white suit with long pink hair and greed in his red eyes was smiling at them.
The one coming from the back was the oldest. He had completely white eyes under his bald head and walked with the help of a cane.
“It seems we are in a place where sons of bitches grow up.”
While he had blood on his hands, he thought he might as well take care of them. How hard would it be to get rid of them all? They shouldn't have been with Yurine.
“By a letter from the Pontifex? Why would His Holiness the Pontifex appoint people like you here? I want to see the letter,” Link said.
“Of course, Mr. Long. Here you are.”
Verryho slipped his hand into his purple silk dress and pulled out a letter from between his breasts and handed it to Link. Stepping forward, Link took the letter in disgust and read it silently.
“Pontifex is not called Martus. What a game you are playing!”
“Don't be so quick with your sword, my dear Long Excellency. I guess you haven't heard the news. Pontifex Tauntis has died, the Andromeda Blessing has passed to his brother Martus and a new Pontifex has been proclaimed. With his letter, we have been appointed to the council of His Eminence the Cardinal of Virgo.”
Coming from behind Verryho, the pink-haired man explained the situation with a sharp smile to Link who hold his sword.