Year 4094 since the Great Assembly
Veil Greenhouse, 8:31
“Something had changed about you, Avy.”
That was the first thing Wolffia said after awkward silence had spread across the ‘Veil’ greenhouse garden.
The greenhouse was filled to the brim with a wide range of species of plants and flowers, some common enough to see on the side of the road to the nearest town while others rare enough to confuse a veteran botanist. With its entrances nowhere to be seen, the greenhouse stood in the center of a large labyrinth built between Swallowed Sun Castle and Snowhang Forest all of which were under Avah’s possession
“Well, for starters, I am a month older since we last met.”, Avah replied only after sipping the hot chocolate that was served to him as he subconsciously avoided Wolffia’s clear bright pair of green eyes. He found himself both physically and mentally in the center of a labyrinth at this moment with the only path to the outside blocked.
“You know that’s not it, Avah. Come on, we’ve known each other even before we learned how to talk. Was it an awakening? An enlightenment or something else? Did you gain something from the little cult gatherings you went to before for the ‘drama’ after all?”
Avah’s life was fortunate enough that he did not have the need to tell lies and he couldn’t bother using his brain for such things anyway. Practice made perfect so it was not unexpected to find out that he sucked at lying. Which was also why he talked as little as he could last night with Larah. Even after he had rehearsed his lines in the shower, alarms were ringing in his mind as Larah might just see through him.
He was too ignorant thinking that as long as he managed to convince Larah to not mention his unusual midnight activity by abusing Pfanya’s name, he would have a few days to collect himself enough to play his newly bestowed role in this world. It was pure luck that his mother was busy with the wedding preparation for his second sister and his father and eldest sister were on a diplomatic trip to the neighbouring Xavier Kingdom.
No one else other than family would bother him after all. No, wait, there was Wolffia, his closest friend, and surprise! She just had to visit him today, earlier than her usual month-end visits.
Attempting to hint at his reluctance to answer, Avah answered her with a question, “Fia, am I the only one who has changed?”
“Well…those old men in the Church have been stroking their beards way too often these few days, they might just rip them off. Must have something to do with how quiet the ‘Moles’ have been… Oh, is it also the reason you are being…off?” Wolffia said as if she had realized something.
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“Haa...Fia, remember I told you that I wanted to slack off and not have to try hard at all for the rest of my life, or something along the line, that time you came up to me with ‘If you had one wish and can’t ask for more, what would it be?’. " Avah sighs at the foreign memory of the two of them. “Well, I can only tell you that my modest wish will not be granted after all.”
Wolffia sneers at how unwilling Avah looks, “That was an impossible wish. Even if your parents let you do whatever, you still can’t escape the spotlight, Avah. The slightest chance you had died on the day, his majesty declared you as the second in line to the throne after the eldest prince, completely ignoring the rest of his six sons.”
“Ugh, I can only wish Brother Zayden lives longer than I do. The ocean would dry out before I’m willing to sit on the throne, bothersome stuff.”
“Anyway, there’s no need for me to say this but still don’t get carried away and let me know if there is anything you need a hand with. This humble 5th ranked Sentry is not as great as the exceptional youngest son of Duke Striken but I have survived jumping into a lava pond.” Wolffia snickers remembering how upset Avah was about this topic just a few years ago.
“Right, to think someone would rather jump into a lava pond than marry this exceptional youngest and only son of Duke Striken.” Avah could not physically stop himself from rolling his eyes.
Wolffia was the youngest daughter of Baron Barlow and Avah’s playmate. Her firm green eyes smeared with stubbornness not only got many young men musing over her for days but also inflated her parents’ expectation of getting a good deal out of her marriage. And, that was exactly what they do once she turns a marriageable age; they signed her off to an old rich viscount, three ex-wives of whom all mysteriously died young.
Given that situation, even when they weren’t romantically attracted to each other, Avah had proposed for them to get into a contract marriage until Wolffia found someone she truly wanted, or she had cleanly cut off her ties with the baron family. And what did this woman do? She ran away, somehow managed to slip into the restricted zone, and tried to hunt a mid-tier entity that could literally stop time for a few seconds.
If she hadn’t been chosen as a sentry and blessed by archangel Pfanya at the last moment, she would not have gotten out of that with just nasty scars on her hands, he would be visiting her empty grave at this time.
“Oh, come on. I don’t mind myself a blue-eyed straight-out-of-a-romance-novel prince charming such as yourself, but if my entire life was to be about men, might as well go kill a Knaeye and bet on the slight chance of getting blessed by her faithful lady.”
And so did and won the bet. Now, as a member of the church, her family could no longer put their grabby hands on her.
She quickly moved on from the previous topic and decided to let him have his fun. After all, this was Avah who would casually tell her, “I had joined this so-called ‘divine gathering’ I heard about in town. Thought there would be some good drama but what a bunch of disappointment. One glance at ‘The Outer’ occult book they worshipped is enough to tell that it is fabricated by followers of God ‘Art Theft’. So, I reported them to officials.” on a random Tuesday as if he was saying “I tried eating bacon yesterday morning, but it tasted crappy.”
“Anyway, I do have a favor to ask. You have an extra fast travel card, right? I need to pay a quick visit to Maswell. I was too lazy to apply for one and have been using eldest sis’s.” Avah could apply for an associate card but that might catch his dear father’s attention before he gets to do anything at all.
“Maswell? I have never heard of that place before.” Unlink Avah who has been gobbling up all the cakes and macarons, Wolffia has not touched anything besides her tea. She knows better than eating those snacks with ridiculously high sugar content. It was one of Avah-exclusive superpowers to survive this long eating literal sugar every day.
“A small village near Parlour, someone I want to meet lives there.” That and a plot scene from <
“Parlour in Count Wainwright territory? That is quite the distance, must be an important person for you to travel all the way there for,” said Wolffia with her eyebrows raised exaggeratedly.
Avah focused on his food and pretended not to hear the hooking tone in her voice, “Yeah, thus the fast travel card. It would take a day even with door travel and I would be too exhausted to look around. Not every day this northerner finds himself in a village along the southern coastline after all.”
“Yeah, yeah. Keep being as mysterious as you want but see if I don’t beat you up if you don’t fill me in after you’ve had your fun there. When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow.”