Chapter 183: Princess Kaeline

Then one of them recognized the pixie.

The tension vanished instantly.

The bowstrings went slack.

The bows were lowered.

"Nicky!"

The change in attitude was so abrupt that Blanche was almost left speechless.

One of the elves stepped forward to give him a friendly hug, while the other two exchanged a few jokes with him.

Blanche quickly realized they had known Nicky for a long time.

They escorted the pair through the forest.

An hour later, Blanche finally discovered the Woodland Elves' city.

And she was stunned.

Mostly, she was awestruck.

The city looked nothing like anything she could have imagined.

Here, the trees weren't simply surrounding the houses.

They were part of them.

Some trunks had been smoothed and carved directly into their bark, creating tiny staircases that wound around the trees before leading to cabins nestled among the foliage.

Other dwellings seemed to be literally suspended from the branches.

Fluorescent plants grew everywhere.

They climbed up the trunks, wound around railings, and framed doorways, casting a soft, colorful glow through the dimness of the forest.

Blanche slowly turned in place.

"It's..."

She couldn't find the word.

Nicky, clearly delighted by her reaction, grinned from ear to ear.

Lower down, between two massive roots, other structures had been built.

They looked like gigantic burrows, but their carefully crafted façades revealed that they were actually proper shops.

Wooden signs and polished glass indicated the various businesses: herbalists, craftsmen, cloth merchants, weapons workshops...

The city was alive.

It hummed softly with conversations, footsteps, and occasional bursts of laughter, without ever losing the almost unreal atmosphere bestowed upon it by the forest.

Blanche walked slowly, unable to tear her eyes away from her surroundings.

Then, farther ahead, at the edge of a vast clearing, something caught her attention.

Foundations.

Massive ones.

Wooden pillars already rose toward the sky, while unfinished structures outlined the shape of a gigantic building.

A palace.

It was made entirely of wood.

Not merely covered in wood: carved, assembled, and integrated into the forest with such harmony that it seemed to have grown naturally among the roots.

Blanche instinctively slowed down.

She wanted to stop.

To look.

To understand how such a structure could even exist.

But Nicky was already moving on.

She had no choice but to tear her gaze away.

She would have plenty of time to explore the rest later.

At least, she hoped so.

"Lady Neige!"

An elf leading another blindfolded elf called out to her.

Everyone stopped and stared at her.

The elves, remarkably similar to one another, dressed in green, cream, beige, or off-white robes, or in combat gear—bows, spears, and swords in hand—approached them.

The one who had greeted her wore a green robe embroidered with gold thread. Despite his lively demeanor, a few wrinkles betrayed his age. He stepped forward with the young elf on his arm.

She was dressed in a white gown embroidered with silver, matching the jewel adorning her forehead. She looked even more like Glen than the others did, despite her black hair.

"Lady Neige, I am delighted by your visit. We have missed you, as always. Welcome back, my friend."

The young elf's voice was soft and sincere.

Blanche shot an inquisitive look at Nicky, who shrugged, looking just as confused as she was.

"Hello... It's lovely to see you. Thank you for the welcome," she replied, caught off guard.

The blind elf stepped closer and held out her hands.

Blanche understood that she was looking for support. Despite feeling slightly uncomfortable with the sudden closeness, she let the young elf take hold of her arm.

She smelled wonderful, giving off a pleasant freshness, but she seemed so light that Blanche could probably have knocked her over with a single breath.

"Is someone accompanying you? Is that your charming son?" the princess asked upon hearing a fourth pair of footsteps.

The elves bowed respectfully before dispersing.

Blanche exchanged a look with Nicky.

"Princess Kaeline, it is a pleasure to see you again. I had no idea you knew my sister, Neige," the pixie explained, stepping slightly back.

"And I had no idea she was your sister, Flower Being. Otherwise, I would have given you an even more worthy welcome..."

Blanche mouthed, Flower Being? at Nicky.

He merely shrugged.

The princess had always called him that, and he had no idea why.

They began chatting about trivial matters as they walked, until the princess emphatically asked them the reason for their visit.

When Nicky explained that he needed an azalea for his quest—a sacred flower that grew only on elven graves—he expected an outright refusal.

To his great surprise, one was promptly brought to him on a silver platter.

"Being your brother has its perks," he murmured as they sat in the princess's private sitting room.

Kaeline invited them to stay at her palace, free of charge.

The phrase at the princess's expense had never been more literal.

She explained that her mother, the queen, was away on a diplomatic mission, while her father had joined his ancestors.

The Woodland Elves had no one left to lead them but her.

She asked for help indirectly: their people were declining, births were becoming increasingly rare, and attacks from the so-called "lesser races" were multiplying.

Nicky immediately understood that this was going to be his next quest.

Blanche, meanwhile, didn't even factor into the equation.

Her own quest was coming to an end.

The five days were almost over, and the time she had spent with the elves was enough.

They said their farewells despite Kaeline's insistence that they stay.

The elves escorted them back to the edge of the forest, and they had to climb the steep staircase again.

On the way back, riding on the unicorn with their vision almost completely obscured by the blue quest window, they stopped not far from the goblin dungeon.

"In my opinion," Nicky said, "you should be careful around long-lived creatures. It seems like they all know you."

"I was thinking exactly the same thing," Blanche grumbled as she lay back.

Nicky joined her, delighted that his quest had been so simple thanks to his "little sister."

"I owe you one," he said as he read through his rewards.

"Don't be ridiculous. Without you and Aaron, I'd probably still be with Rauõr... or dead and buried."

"Impossible. You would've managed somehow, like you always do."

"Either way, if my name can help you, don't hesitate. But I hope you don't run into one of my enemies..."

Nicky burst out laughing.

"You? Have enemies? When everyone wants to be your friend? That's like looking for light in a galactic black hole."

Blanche smiled.

He wasn't wrong.

She then chose the Rewinder skill, allowing her to travel a few seconds back along her own timeline.

Something that could very well save her life more than once.

With a radiant smile, she left the Otherworld, her hand still clasped in Nicky's.