FSW Chapter 18

Flowering

If gods existed, their staple diet must be human suffering. Otherwise, how could they deliver a mountain of trials the moment things seemed to improve even slightly?

Thinking thoughts that would make a priest faint, Nishina sighed repeatedly. She couldn't even tell whether she'd drunk the tea through her nose or mouth. After hurrying to shore, she'd downed the still-steaming tea in one shot and quickly escaped.

Perhaps thinking her daughter's suddenly strange behavior was mere embarrassment, Melissa had seen her off with a warm expression.

And so, clutching her scalded esophagus, she walked the path back to her palace.

The strength drained from her aimlessly forward-moving steps. It was bitter enough that her intimate time with her mother had been shattered, but recalling those pitiful gazes inflated her guilt as well. If this weren't the imperial palace, if her status weren't that of an imperial princess, she would have grabbed her hair and screamed right then. Stress throbbed at her temples.

"Your Highness, are you all right?"

Seeing her walk so listlessly, Hilton, who'd been following behind, asked gently. His voice dripped with concern. He'd been acting subtly awkward since the tea party incident, but one bout of worry had apparently blown all that distance away.

"If walking is difficult, shall I carry you?"

Did she look that exhausted?

She lost all words at his earnest question. She'd known he was overprotective, but this was on par with Joy.

When she was little, yes—whenever walking became difficult, she'd unhesitatingly stretched out both arms and acted spoiled. But now she was eleven plus four more years. Thoroughly forgetting how she'd just been nestled in her mother's embrace acting spoiled moments ago, Nishina put strength in her back and primly declined him.

"I can walk on my own."

His somehow proud gaze was unpleasant, but Nishina's adult impersonation was soon interrupted by an unexpected figure.

"Your Imperial Highness!"

Approaching from the opposite direction with deep navy hair flying was Hugh Murray, the Chief Director of the Imperial Medical Office.

He'd been dispatched to Grafton territory adjacent to the Dryad Forest by imperial order since half a month ago—when had he returned to the palace? At the welcome face, Nishina's lips curved naturally.

"Hugh! When did you get back?"

"I returned just yesterday evening."

After bowing in greeting, Hugh exchanged nods with Hilton standing behind him before answering.

"Are you completely back?"

"I've put out the urgent fires, so for now, yes."

"I see. You've worked hard coming from so far."

"You honor me."

Nishina commended his efforts while patting his shoulder. Since he was a full head taller than her, the image was comical, but the person in question didn't mind. Hugh even smiled gently. Unlike his rather sharp features, his personality tended toward the mild—as long as the other person wasn't morally bankrupt or careless with their own health.

"I heard from Philip that you collapsed while I was away."

...Except when Nishina was ill.

Hugh's brow furrowed deeply. Combined with his upturned eye corners, he looked quite angry, but that was purely the face of worry.

Reading the true meaning without difficulty, Nishina shrugged lightly.

"That was already two months ago. I'm fine now."

Philip was the imperial physician who'd been in charge of examining her when she'd collapsed. Since he'd personally diagnosed it as "lack of sleep," Hugh would know it as such too. Yet that brow showed no signs of smoothing. As expected, everyone around her definitely treated her like glass—no, like a sunfish.

"I've been exercising regularly lately, so I'm actually healthier than before."

She added this while showing off her faint arm muscles, but it didn't work at all.

Like Hilton, Hugh seemed unable to see evidence of health. His eyes said, "Where exactly are these muscles?"

Feeling awkward, Nishina slowly lowered her arm. It seemed she needed to exercise even more diligently. Perhaps because she hadn't gained his trust, Hugh—still full of concern—spoke carefully.

"When you have time, could you visit the Medical Office?"

"I told you I'm really fine?"

"Yes, I know, but it's been quite a while since your last examination, hasn't it? It's just a simple checkup, so please feel free to stop by."

As imperial family, even if not ill, one received examinations from him once or twice a year. It was done using water spirits—something only skilled spirit users could perform.

'Oh, come to think of it!'

Hugh was an advanced water spirit user of a level counted on one hand even in the empire. Which meant when it came to asking about spirits—especially water spirits—there was no one more suitable. However...

He was certainly a good person and would answer questions faithfully. But separate from his character, he was the Emperor's man. If she aroused suspicion while questioning him, there was danger it would go straight to the Emperor's ears.

"All right. I'll visit soon."

Though she had many curiosities and many questions, Nishina swallowed them all and nodded. Regrettably, this wasn't the place where she could seek help.

'Is this right?'

The destination she'd changed course to reach was the main palace where the library was located. Deep within even the main palace, Nishina entered a secluded corridor where not a soul passed and kept looking around.

She was searching for the imperial family's exclusive reading room, not the public reading hall. The public reading hall was a place anyone with an access pass could visit, even if not imperial family. In contrast, the imperial family's exclusive reading room was inaccessible unless one was imperial family—and direct lineage at that.

Because she'd never once had occasion to visit that place filled with ancient texts, forbidden books, classified materials and such, finding her way was quite difficult. After several trials and errors, she finally managed to locate the reading room at the corridor's end. The knights idly standing guard at the door quickly straightened.

"We greet Your Imperial Highness."

After bowing at right angles, they swiftly pushed open the heavy door. Since Hilton couldn't follow inside, she left him outside and crossed the threshold alone. The moment she stepped in, the acrid smell of dust and old paper rushed at her. The reading room, kept dim to prevent deterioration, was darker even than the desolate corridor.

Though it wasn't damp, which meant it was being maintained at optimal temperature and humidity for paper preservation. She lit the lamp placed beside her and crossed the spacious reading room. With no librarian present, she had to find books herself.

Nishina rapidly scanned the displayed books. Some volumes had no titles at all, and some were in unreadable languages. At the far end, she discovered books related to spirits. Perhaps because the imperial family had historically produced many water spirit users, there was fortunately quite a bit of material on spirits.

Of course, since books on spirits weren't classified, they'd exist in the general reading hall too—but books emphasizing popularity and written for entertainment were heavily exaggerated and lacked accuracy. These, in contrast, were books written directly by authors of confirmed status.

[Author: Spencer Van White Snow]

Spencer was the 15th Emperor of the Snow Empire.

In other words, this book was a record left personally for his descendants by an emperor who'd been a water spirit user. Whether transcribed or because he had excellent penmanship, the writing was in very neat script.

The first page was an overall explanation of spirits.

So what she'd seen at the lake had been a water spirit after all. The appearance of the spirit in the book, drawn in commonly known form, quite resembled the spirit she'd seen directly.

The shoulders of Nishina—who'd harbored the futile hope that perhaps she'd just seen an illusion—dropped rapidly.

The author had been an advanced spirit user who'd challenged becoming a grand spirit user but failed. Affinity was innate and not something effort could resolve. There was a theory that the empire's first emperor had been a grand spirit user, but... without evidence, a theory was just a theory. At this point, weren't spirit users legendary-animal level? Only the definition existed, not the actual thing.

There existed primary spirits corresponding to the four elements and pure spirits that didn't fall under those categories. Pure spirits included mental, light, darkness, and others, and beyond these, there were secondary spirits derived from primary spirits. For instance, tree spirits were secondary spirits derived from earth spirits.

The cute spirit wearing the leaf-hat had probably been a secondary spirit. Had it been a willow spirit? The cynical lines delivered in that cute appearance had been even more adorable. Catching herself grinning unconsciously, Nishina focused on the book again.

Not all water-attribute spirit users worked at healing centers. Lower-level spirit users couldn't use the "regeneration" ability unique to water spirits.

The Nishina in the original had worked at a healing center using her ability, so she must have been at least intermediate level or higher.

She'd discovered the reason for her personality in an unexpected place. This disposition of easily empathizing with others' pain and sorrow seemed likely to have originated from here. Did all water spirit users share such a personality? Hugh's gentle nature might also stem from this source. If synchronization became easier the stronger one's empathetic disposition, then she herself would surely become a remarkable spirit user—what a joke. Amusing herself with such thoughts, she turned the page.

Fundamentally, spirits held goodwill toward spirit users without reason or price, and the greater the spirit user's potential, the more boundless affection they showed.

Recalling the spirit brimming with anticipation and joy as though it had been waiting to meet her, one corner of her heart grew uncomfortable. When she also remembered how tears had dripped from its eyes, Nishina hurriedly shook her head. Honestly, she wanted to run to the lake right now and explain, but in the current situation, that was impossible.

With trembling fingertips, she flipped through the book searching for the information she needed most. Content similar to what she sought was described in the latter part of the book.

Though she wanted to know about spirits, what she needed most was a method to delay the ability. But once it bloomed, that was the end!

There'd be no one who wanted to stop or hide a precious ability once manifested, so this was all the information on that subject. She flipped through to the last page, but as expected, couldn't find the information she needed.

Growing dejected, Nishina let out a deep sigh and closed the book. Though she'd learned much new information, the effort felt unrewarded.

If things were like this, the conclusion was singular. For now, she had no choice but to avoid them as much as possible. Recalling the crying spirit made her confidence plummet, but she could do it.

...She had to.