Chapter 106 Wanting to See the Outside World
Rast put away the “Chronicles of Silver Wings” and placed it in the bookshelf beside the palace.
On the pure white soft bed, the ice blue-haired girl still clutched the pillow in her arms.
Her gaze appeared dazed yet magnificent, and Rast could see the flickering candlelight on the bedside table reflected in her eyes.
Helen remained immersed in the “Chronicles of Silver Wings” that Rast had recounted earlier, the story of the knight Lyle and the Plague Witch, lost in thought for a long time, even though she had read that fairy tale book countless times before.
“Have you ever seen the places Lyle traveled to in the book?”
Just when Rast almost thought that this queen he served had fallen asleep, he saw the ice blue light points dancing in the air in front of him.
Unlike the quick appearance of letters when Helen had conveyed her commands earlier, this time the gathering of ice blue light points into definite characters was slow, accompanied by a hint of hesitation and doubt.
“Yes.”
Rast nodded: “I have seen them.”
“Those places outside, beyond this palace, are just the most ordinary sights.”
Perhaps because he shared a similar experience with Helen, having been imprisoned in Deep Blue Harbor for three hundred years, Rast keenly sensed the reason for Helen’s hesitation at that moment.
All along, this high-born queen, who seemed like a bird trapped in a cage… had built her understanding of the world on those fairy tale books.
Especially “Chronicles of Silver Wings,” whose first half recounted the adventures of the male protagonist Lyle and the amnesiac girl as they traveled across the continent, experiencing the customs and cultures of various nations.
Helen loved this story very much, partly because the love between the male and female protagonists was, in her view, touching.
And partly because the contents of that travelogue were her only way to imagine the scenery of the outside world.
On countless starless nights, Helen would sit on her bed holding the pillow, flipping through the fairy tale book under the dim candlelight.
With each line of clear black and white text, she imagined herself as the young knight named Lyle or the young witch in “Chronicles of Silver Wings” embarking on a journey across the continent.
To explore the world crafted within that fairy tale book, painting in her heart the mountains and rivers described in the book, as well as the glittering stars.
But “Chronicles of Silver Wings” was ultimately just a fanciful story, a concoction of words, and even the worlds depicted in different fairy tale books often conflicted and differed.
Helen had long wanted to verify whether the world she had imagined based on the text of the fairy tale book was accurate.
However, having lived in the palace for so long, the only people she could interact with were the maids—
And those maids were also residents of Paradise, most of whom had been in this palace for a long time and were not knowledgeable about the outside world; their lingering memories had long since faded into obscurity in the endless passage of time, and they could not provide Helen with the answers she yearned for.
On one hand, she longed for the outside world; on the other hand, she feared that the real world would be entirely different from what she had imagined, unable to bear the psychological gap brought on by longing.
Thus, when Rast appeared, her question became hesitant, as if she were a traveler returning home with trepidation.
But ultimately, her yearning and curiosity overcame her fears of returning, and the ice blue characters began to coalesce in the air.
“Then… do mermaids who sing beautifully and entice sailors really exist in the depths of the ocean?”
This was the greatest crisis encountered by the male and female protagonists early in “Chronicles of Silver Wings.”
When they set sail, the sailors were enchanted by the mermaids’ songs, which led to an accident, leaving them stranded on a deserted island… after enduring countless hardships, they finally reunited.
Along the way, they also met a mermaid princess and gained the friendship of the merfolk, who had roles to play in the final showdown.
“They exist, both the Sirens and the merfolk are real.”
Rast recalled the information recorded in the Tower of Secrets.
“It was just that early in the era when human civilization began to step into the age of exploration, shipwrecks caused by the Sirens and merfolk singing near shipping routes became common, and humans began to send hunting ships for large-scale extermination of these two races.”
“Long-term hunting and targeting led to both Sirens and merfolk populations drastically decreasing; for a long time, traces of them could only be found in remote deep seas.”
“Later, human civilization entered the information age, and various high technologies greatly reduced the accident rate of shipwrecks. People gradually began to realize the importance of racial diversity and thus initiated policies to protect the endangered Sirens and merfolk.”
“To this day, the number of Sirens and merfolk in the ocean has started to increase again, but there are clauses explicitly prohibiting them from singing near popular shipping routes.”
“So if you want to hear them sing, you’d probably have to go to their ancestral lands to listen.”
“The ancestral land of the Sirens is located at the bottom of the ocean, but with your strength, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Is the floating airship real?”
On the pure white soft bed, Helen clutched the pillow, and the original drowsiness in her eyes disappeared completely.
She tilted her head, listening as the ice blue characters danced in the air again in front of Rast.
“It is real.”
Rast nodded: “Earlier floating airship technology was somewhat flashy and lacked practicality, but with recent advancements in runic matrix technology, many countries and factions have begun to adopt them in large quantities.”
“What about goblins? Is every goblin lair truly terrifying, where no matter how powerful a knight goes in, they cannot escape?”
Is there something strange mixed into those fairy tale books of yours?
Rast shook his head: “This is pure artistic processing; the original form of goblins, gremlins, is a real race, but the stories of those knight adventurers and goblins… are completely concocted by certain people to indulge their peculiar preferences.”
“Real gremlins, though somewhat temperamental, are quite outstanding in alchemical technology. They have built a prosperous gremlin kingdom underground, with their own independent civilization and social system.”
“They’re nothing like the green-skinned creatures in the books that live in caves, drooling, and can’t be defeated by anyone other than haughty knights.”
…
The question-and-answer dialogue between the two continued for a long time.
Until the white candle on the round table nearly burned to its end, it finally came to a pause.
“Your Majesty, it’s time for bed.”
“This is your warm milk before sleep.”
Rast poured the warmed milk into a glass and brought it to the bedside.
He waited aside, waiting for this queen who loved to hear bedtime stories to finish her warm milk and fall asleep before he would take the empty glass away for washing.
On the soft white bed, the ice blue-haired girl holding the pillow blinked her violet eyes, looking at the cup of warm milk before bed… a hint of nostalgia and reluctance flashed in her eyes, as if she wished to chat for a while longer.
But in the end, she obediently accepted the glass from Rast’s hand and complied with Rast’s arrangement for her to go to sleep.
After spending a long time together, Rast found this queen of the Netherworld to be even easier to get along with than he had imagined…
Her psychological age was quite young, and her relationship with Rast felt more like that between a noble young lady, Satyah, and her old butler, Sebastian, rather than that of “Your Majesty and the attendant.”
Helen took small sips of the milk, and just then, her vision suddenly faded as the white candle finally burned out.
Rast stood up, intending to replace the candle.
Although the palace was pitch dark, the Chariot Sequence’s “Intuition” and the Tower Sequence’s “Navigator” allowed him to navigate through the darkness without losing his way.
Just then, Rast heard a soft sigh from the girl behind him.
It was not words appearing in the air, nor speech, but a sound almost like praise, a long and ethereal breath.
Rast turned around and, following the girl’s gaze in the dark, looked out the window…
In the black night sky, a beam of azure fireworks suddenly rose, accompanied by a slight sound that pierced the air.
When it reached its highest point, the beam shattered in the night sky.
The fireworks transformed into countless falling light lotuses, blossoming in the sky, and then turned into a flurry of light points descending to the earth.
Above was an extremely dark dome, below were rolling hills, and in the middle was a silver light rain, like a meteor shower from the heavens.
The falling light rain illuminated the mountains beneath, with one side facing the sea and the other a brilliantly lit royal city.
As the land of the deceased, the night in Paradise City should have been very quiet, and fireworks were not allowed.
However, recently too many refugees had poured into the royal city; they hadn’t received the blessing and naturally did not have to abide by the netherworld’s rules… and it was unclear who had brought fireworks from outside to release on the hills outside the royal city, lighting up the night sky.
Helen gazed blankly at the fireworks outside, where the mountains illuminated by the firelight held dense forests… just like the hiding place of the male and female protagonists in the grand finale of “Chronicles of Silver Wings.”
The rain of light reflected in her eyes, refracting a glazed brilliance, reminiscent of a splendid star river.
Slowly, her previously hazy and lifeless gaze began to grow lively—
Like a little kitten who found its cage opened.
Rast felt a faint tickling in the palm of his hand, as delicate fingers were writing in his palm, bringing a cool sensation.
“I want to see the outside world.”
“Alright, tomorrow we’ll disguise ourselves and go play outside,” Rast gently said.
He also looked at the scattered fireworks in the night sky, but his gaze was profound, like a shadow that swallowed the light, pondering something unknown.
(End of Chapter)
