As we entered Deven's house, the smell of freshly cooked meat and vegetables hit me strongly, making my stomach growl hungrily, reminding me that I hadn't eaten anything that could be called a meal for nearly a month now.

Ignoring Deven's amused look, we were led into the kitchen, where Diana stood, currently cooking. She wasn't alone however as at the table there sat…

“Why are you here?!” Kate nearly jumped to her feet as she stood, but before anything else could be said or done, Diana turned around and slapped Kate's head with a spatula.

“Sit back down. They're here because I invited them here. No running off again, Kate.” Diana looks at me with a smirk before bowing with exaggeration. “Welcome to my humble abode, your Majesty.”

Feeling a strong urge to cringe at those words, I shook my head, not knowing what to say. Diana walked over and grabbed my shoulders, looking me up and down before looking at me sternly.

“We were worried, you know. You disappeared suddenly then out of nowhere Deven, Isabelle and Rebecca were attacked in your office, with Rebecca being kidnapped. Thankfully Deven received that message and knew exactly what happened, but next time at least let someone know you're going for a walk. Now come, sit down. Dinner will be ready soon. Oh Rebecca, how are you?” Diana walked over to Rebecca as I looked at the table.

Deven had already sat down in a position that left me with three options. Sitting directly next to Deven, which isn't feasible, that would be where Diana sat. To his other side is a baby's chair, which was obviously out of the question.

That left the two spots either side of Kate. Feeling my lip twitch slightly in annoyance as I watch Kate purposefully ignore me, I decided against making a scene and just sat to her right. If I had known this dinner would turn into a situation like this, I'd have…

‘We should've just gone to our house for the night. Argh, I have to sit next to her?!’ Hearing Bek’s voice in my head, I hid my smile.

‘I doubt Deven planned this. He looked surprised himself and doesn't seem particularly happy right now. He's watching what he says to Kate.’ At some point Kate had started talking to Deven, about the new influx of people and how much work she'd have to do, throwing in a sarcastic line about wishing she'd been given notice.

Within a few minutes, Diana started to serve dishes onto the table, telling us to dig right in. Seeing the range of burgers, salads and fries made me grin like an idiot and start helping myself. It didn't escape my notice that Kate threw me a disgusted look when I grabbed food, which made me seriously wonder why she was acting this way.

“So do those Fairies of yours eat, Ruby?” Deven looked at me…rather, looked at the Fairies and hearing his question I wondered if they did or not. I hadn't seen them eat, and asking them in the language of the Spirits, they shook their heads.

“They don't. Not sure what they eat.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kate sneak a look at me with curiosity before turning away.

“So I heard you became a Queen, Ruby. You've got to tell me the details!” Diana, who just sat down after grabbing some food, looked at me with eagerness. Retelling the story to her, casually this time, we had a laugh about certain topics.

“So you were nude that entire time?! Gosh, I don't know how you survived!”

“Nor do I. That lake was freezing! It didn't help that I was basically stuck in it for an entire year basically.”

Diana and I mostly talked, with Rebecca chiming in every now and then. Even though I could tell she was trying her hardest to pretend not to care, I could tell Kate was engrossed in our conversation while Deven just listened.

“Still, to know that this place will suffer from an attack that would've ended in your death if you hadn't stayed is rather depressing. I take it that is why you remained in this Spirit Realm?”

“Basically. If I could grow stronger to keep surviving past that date, then staying was the best decision. Judging by the attack we came into today, I'd say that wouldn't have been the attack the seer foresaw.”

“Which means instead of getting a chance to relax Deven here will have more work to do.” Instead of being down about this, Diana instead seemed rather happy.

“No no, he can have some time off. After all, now that I'm back, we will start to train everyone on a range of combat related items, like mana control and physical combat.”

“Well that'll be good. Having you back will be a relief to a lot of people.”

“NO IT WON'T!” Angrily standing, Kate glared at me. “What gives you, who abandoned us, the right to just come back and order us around?! Pass the leadership to Deven and fuck off!”

Looking at Kate with an expressionless face, hiding my shock, I held the urge to punch her. I could see Rebecca behind Kate, giving her a face filled with loathing. Before another word could be said, a loud smack sounded out and looking towards the source, I saw Diana's hand on the table.

“Kate! Sit down this instant. You're in my house, at my table. You do not treat guests like that here.” Kate, looking a bit terrified, sat down quickly, pale as a sheet. Still a bit stunned, I looked at Diana who then turned to me. “I also expect guests to clean up after themselves when they've made a mess. Even if I have to help.”

Not understanding what she meant for a moment, I quickly read between the lines. What she was implying is that I made a mess, which translated to leaving when I did, upsetting Kate. Folding my arms and thinking for a moment, I shrugged and answered Diana.

“Forgive me, I don't know how to clean this mess up. After all, I've already rinsed it as much as I can.”

‘And more than you had to.’

‘Tch, tell me about it. I nearly punched her, I had to restrain myself to the limit.’

“Then that is fine. Kate.” Diana's gaze fell upon Kate and softened slightly. “Stop running away and using anger to push people away. Tell Ruby why, be honest with her. I fear that if you run away tonight, neither of the two beside you will spare you a glance from tomorrow.”

Diana was right. After Kate's most recent explosive outburst, I had already made the decision to demote her and not bother with her anymore. I knew what Diana was hinting at, that after hearing what Kate had to say that I might forgive her. Glancing at Kate, I crossed my arms and leaned back, waiting.

Looking across from me, I saw Deven had left at some point and tuning my ears slightly I could hear the unmistakable sound of a baby laughing. It appears Kate's outburst had awakened him with Deven quickly leaving to settle him.

Trembling a bit, either with outrage or annoyance, Kate threw a look at me before looking at Diana then at the ground. She continued to remain quiet for some time before once again throwing me a strange look.

“This is a waste of time. Thank you for dinner, Diana. I think we will be on our way.” Saying this, Rebecca stood up and glanced at me. Nodding to her questioning look, I also stood up.

“Thank you Diana. We will come by and visit little Joshua another day.” Diana merely smiled, not attempting to stop us nor saying another word. From her look, it seemed like she knew that this would be one of the outcomes of tonight.

As I stepped towards the door, I stopped for a second. I wanted to give Kate this one last chance to speak up, to say something before we left. Once we stepped out of this door, there would be no more chances for her to open up, and I knew she knew this.

“W-wait! I-I…” Turning my head, I saw Kate standing, looking at the pair of us, panic in her eyes as she stuttered her words.

As if trying to find the words, she kept opening and closing her mouth. This happened several times and with my patience already at its boiling point, I just sighed.

“Out with it already. You have a minute before I leave, there are things I need to do.”

Opening her mouth again, Kate struggled to think of what to say, before closing her mouth ok once more. Time slowly passed before she opened her mouth once more with less than ten seconds left.

“I-I didn't arrive in this world a-alone…”

Hearing those words, I raise a brow before glancing at Rebecca. We could already tell where this sentence would lead to. Remembering that this is a 15 year old girl bordering on 16, I closed my eyes and thought about it for a moment. Sighing, I opened my eyes and walked back to the table, sat down and grabbed more food.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“Continue.”

Kate stayed quiet before giving Diana a pleading look. Diana simply shook her head in response. After that, Kate bit her lower lip then opened her mouth.

“I-I lied to you…to all of y-you…” Slowly, Kate began explaining the story before she met us. The first day she came in with her friends, three others, Aubrey, Gray and Sally. The four of them didn't play games competitively and mainly played for fun and to hunt achievements and secrets.

After the first day, they had already figured out that they had been isekai’ed into this world. At first, they each promised each other to stick together and find a way out. They'd been friends for five years, having attended primary and high school together. To them, they had an unshakable bond of trust as friends.

This lasted a total of 3 days. They quickly discovered their reality. Food was scarce, weapons weren't on every street corner, water nonexistent. It went as well as one would expect, especially in a town filled with the undead at night. Arguments between the four were frequent, sides were made, tears were shed. All in 3 days and already they had nearly split.

A few days went by, more arguments occurred, and then Kate was betrayed by the one who took her side. As it turns out, Sally, who had taken her side initially, liked Gray but he liked Aubrey, who liked Sally, but all of them pretended not to like each other. As it turns out, young love isn't real.

After switching sides, Kate was basically pushed out of the group when it came to discussions. Their argument was all over what they should do; stay in town and find others or leave town. Kate believed staying in town, scrapping resources, completing the quest and finding others would lead them to survival.

On the other hand, Gray, Sally and Aerith believed leaving the town would be better. After a week passed, they had a meagre amount of food and questionable water. The day arrived, they divided what they found between the four before another round of arguing happened. The last anchor for the four was Kate, who refused to leave the town, saying that without direction it would be suicide.

The next morning, Kate awoke to find the house they had been staying in to be completely empty. Sally, Gray and Aubrey had waited till Kate fell asleep, packed everything including the little food and water they had found and left Kate behind. There was no note, no message, nothing left behind.

After that, Kate became suicidal. She wandered the streets, alone, hungry and scared. Without a weapon, she couldn't fight, but thanks to her rather small body she could hide. The only thing preventing her suicide was her fear of pain and death, but that too was slowly ebbing away as the days passed.

The day arrived where she awoke, where she finally planned to end it. But unlike other days, this day she came across something, a message, in a language she understood. She'd done it, she'd found others. And after following the directions, she soon arrived at the base we made from the police station.

“I-I lied b-because I feared you w-would throw me aside, abandon me l-like they did. So I became the obedient girl, who could n-never disagree and o-only nod. But you all encouraged me to speak, to say what I thought and y-you never argued or shouted at me.

“Then you d-disappeared. I thought you a-abandoned us, no one knew where y-you went. I hated m-myself, I thought it was me, t-that I caused you to leave. Then D-Deven said you had l-left to find the S-Spirits. I thought he was lying to cover for you, b-because Rebecca also disappeared.

“Then my self hatred turned into hate. Hate that y-you abandoned us. I started to b-blame you for all o-our setbacks. W-without you h-here, I t-thought everyone would abandon me a-again. B-but the hate wasn't r-real. In reality, e-everything was fine, I realised…I m-missed you.

“Then you returned. I-I didn't k-know what to s-say. After a y-year there you w-were, risking your life to help u-us once again. You became stronger, far m-more than before. Then you told us the truth, that you'd been chosen by the Spirits. I hated that, I don't know why. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything, I missed you and yet I-I was so m-mean.”

Kate starts crying her eyes out, her head in her hands. Pursing my lips, I glanced at Diana who nodded, confirming that she knew the truth about before Kate found us. Crossing my arms, I sighed and thought things through.

I understood what she went through, what it must've been like to have been abandoned by those so called friends. What I failed to understand is why she switched her hatred to me, even after Deven semi explained the truth. I suppose it's because at that point she had convinced herself that I left for good.

Looking towards Rebecca, I could see similar feelings in her eyes. Understanding, but not forgiveness. She shrugged at me before casting a glance at Kate.

With a sigh, I stood up, sending a parting glance towards Diana. “We will talk later. Can you look after her for now?”

“Leave her with me.” Kate didn't stop crying, in fact it sounded a little louder, and waving goodbye to Diana, Rebecca and I left their house.

Under the night sky, the two of us walked in silence, avoiding others while just walking. The one to break the silence was Rebecca.

“A sob story like that doesn't automatically absolve her. At least, to me.”

Reaching over, I took Rebecca's hand in my own without a word. We continued to walk before I spoke next.

“It doesn't. I can understand a little of what she went through though. Remember what she looked like the first time we saw her, outside of our old base?”

A moment of silence followed my words. “I do, I remember how afraid she was at that time. To think that she at that moment was too scared to tell us the full truth. Dammit, Rubes, I wanted to be mad at her for a little longer. So what do we do?”

“For now, nothing. Let her sort herself out. Diana will no doubt tell her to come to us when she's ready so we will wait for that. For now, we have a lot to do.”

“Oh yea we do.” Feeling her eyes undress me, I giggle before looking at her lovingly.

“Later. I know the two of us are pent up as hell right now, but we have things to do. At least, till tomorrow night.”

“Tsk. Still wish we went to our house.” Giggling, Rebecca kept walking by my side before we reached the centre of the base. There, Greyback, who is reading a book, Maji, who played with some Fairies and Lumisara, who was image training, along with thousands of Fairies, were idling about.

“I knew you three would end up here. So this tree, does it have potential?”

“Yes, My Lady, but compared to Yggdrasil…we do not know.”. Maji answered me promptly, and as I approached the tiny sprouting of a tree, I sat down in front of it. This hadn't been given to me as a reward, it was Rebecca's for defeating the Void Captain all that time ago. I wonder, does it technically have an owner, or once planted did it just exist?

“System Call: Information.”

[Mystical Tree]

So it didn't have an owner. Even if it belonged to Rebecca, I wouldn't mind. Looking at the sky, I could see a waning moon nearing full moon. The ceremony to accept Yggdrasil’s remaining life force had given me the knowledge to feed this sapling. It was best to wait for a full moon, as Yin energy would be at its peak, allowing for the tree to benefit greatly.

Hearing the clashing of swords, I glance behind me to see Rebecca and Lumisara sparring. Inspired by this, I stood up and walked over to Greyback, before plopping back onto the ground.

“Greyback, teach me about the Mana World.”

Fake coughing, Greyback looked at me before looking to the left.

“Hey, I know your tells. No excuses, teach me.”

“Teaching the Spirit Queen is a great honour to us Spirits, My Lady. Please excuse Greyback, he simply believes he is not good enough to teach you.” Maji walked over with a few Fairies. Hearing her words, I facepalmed and looked at Greyback.

“Look, Greyback. You're an amazing teacher, you taught me all of those spells and how to create my own. To me, you're already my wonderful teacher, so please teach me about the Mana World.”

“Oh fine then, girl. I'll teach you all that you need to know. And don't think for a moment flattery will always work, you're the Spirit Queen, you need better teachers!”

“He says flattery won't work, but he can't get rid of that big, stupid grin.” Hearing Maji mutter loud enough so Greyback could hear, I felt my lip twitch, trying to hide my own laughter.

“The Mana World, huh? What do you know so far, My Lady?”

“Let’s see…each element is represented as an island, when you combine two elements a new one appears linked to those two elements. To upgrade an island’s Tier you need to use mana…I think that’s about it.”

“I see, so not much then. Alright. There are two parts to the ‘Mana World’ you need to pay attention to. First, ‘Mana’. Your Mana World is a place that draws in mana from your surroundings, but is also passively created from within yourself, though the amount you create is tiny it is more pure than mana you draw in. One thing all magicians should focus on is increasing their ability to generate their own mana, to slowly increase its speed.

“The next part you need to remember is ‘World’. Each person's Mana World is unique to them and then alone. It is where we draw our power from, but it also exists within our souls. It is a separate ‘World’, meaning that overtime you can enhance it, change it and bring life into it, or so rumours are told.

“By cultivating, either through battle, experience or absorbing monster cores of the correct element, you can slowly enhance your islands. For example, you can absorb monster cores that are at least Tier 2 in power to slowly refine one of your islands. Reaching Tier 2 is fairly easy, but getting any higher requires time and patience. You will know when the time is right to evolve an island, the island will tell you.

“The most important thing to remember is to never rush your cultivation. Trying to absorb a Tier higher than what you have obtained will result in a high risk to your island. The island may explode or you may be hit with a powerful backlash. Does this information suffice, My Lady?”

Mulling everything over, I nod slowly. “Yes, so basically the more elements one has the longer it will take to cultivate each one to the highest Tier?”

“That is right. There is nothing stopping you from learning every element, but it will increase the time needed. At Tier 3, your island will undergo a unique change, one that even I can not predict.”

Picking up his book again, Greyback grunted before continuing. “If you wish to learn more, seek out Xia. She is the Spirit of Space, she knows more than I do, and she taught the previous Spirit Queen.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“Most likely hiding in the Void. She swore to never return until she found a way to reverse Living Forest.id you ever go into the Void, I have no doubt she'll seek you.”

Blinking, I recall when I studied Void Magic with the crystal…those times I was being watched, don't tell me…

Shaking off those thoughts, I got up and watched Rebecca and Lumisara spar, and not long after they finished, Rebecca and I finally headed home, which we intended to not leave until one of us couldn't move.