Between Wish and Duty — Meilin

“It’s just like a warzone.”

Haruki clung to me tightly as the people around us thrashed each other. It was all normal until a second ago, when someone screamed and began fighting.

Something must've happened with Himari, or perhaps the Princess.

From the start, I’ve sensed something wrong with the Kingdom. I assume the others knew as well, maybe not Himari, but the majority of us knew. The peace seemed too fake. During my few weeks here, I studied the past of Kingdom de Fleuve with Haruki.

Long ago, Kingdom de Fleuve was a place raged with civil wars and rebellions. The place had no laws, no system. Then there came a savior, who cast light upon this land. The wars magically stopped, and that savior, loved by many, became Kingdom de Fleuve’s first ruler. They called him Sauveur Fleuve, the savior… but no one stops a war that cleanly. I wondered if he cast a spell to end the war. However, Haruki said that spells wouldn’t be able to last that long. They weren’t illusions either. The only possibility would be the meddling of an orb. But surprisingly, the citizens were completely oblivious about it. The savior captured the hearts of many. Even the deities had cast their gazes on him, granting the blessing of waters on the Kingdom de Fleuve.

I also studied the Kingdom’s royal family. And that’s when I learned of Princess Elizabeth. She certainly didn’t resemble a Princess, and didn't act like one at all. She was the oddball of her family, freer, sharper, and curious about the Kingdom’s secrets. Apparently, that was all because of the Queen’s protection. I had a chat with her, and it turns out the Princess had always sensed something off about the Kingdom. So, I told her about my conjecture of the truth.

Hopefully, they didn’t get in trouble.

We were now making our way out of the castle in the midst of chaos.

I originally planned on taking Himari as well, but she’s not here. Probably still with the Queen. I truly hope nothing has gone wrong. It may be a cruel thought, but I believe it would be better if Himari had stayed in Fleuve. The road ahead of us would only be increasingly dangerous. We need people who can fight for themselves. Protecting the wish orb is hard enough. Another person to protect would only be a hassle. I wanted to leave her behind. It wasn't kind, yes. But wasn’t it kinder, too? She loved it here, and she’d be happy with the Princess.

“Meilin, we need to find Himari.” Yulan’s eyes darted around the area, searching for her.

“No…”

“What do you mean no, nya?” Haruki was looking for Himari as well, his tail twisted into a knot in worry.

“She’ll be fine here. We need to get out of the castle first.” I’ll explain later. My feet were hurting. I removed my high heels and bolted through the corridors.

But Yulan was faster.

She grabbed my hand tightly. “We have to find her. She’ll not be able to survive here.”

“I sent her to the Queen; she’d be alright.”

“The Queen? What if she orders her guards to kill her, thinking this chaos was her doing?” Yulan’s eyes were terror-stricken, her lips were wavering, and her brows were furrowing.

“Nya, we need to find Himari fast!”

What a nuisance.

“We should leave the castle first. Once things settle down, we can resume searching for her. With the situation now, we ourselves might not even be able to escape, let alone drag Himari along with us.”

“I agree with Meilin. We should escape first.” Jianyun said firmly.

“That’s not right! You can’t just leave a party member behind, Madame Meilin! No matter how dire the situation was, Madame Cecilia never abandoned her teammates!” Haruki argued.

“I’m sure Himari would be smart enough to find the exit on her own.” I narrowed my eyes. The yells and screams of people were coming closer.

“Halt!”

A young man pointed at us.

We really should have run. I aimed the staff at him, energy surging at the tip. “Wait, whoa, whoa!” He raised his hands in surrender, “We’re not here to fight. You’re Lady Meilin of the hero’s party, right?”

Not here to fight? He doesn’t seem crazy like the others, nor does the middle-aged man behind him. “Yes, what do you want from us?” I asked without withdrawing my staff.

“The Young Prince wishes to see you.” The man stepped aside. Behind him stood a child with black and white hair. His big, determined eyes lay on me. His face resembled that of a girl. If the man hadn’t stated that the child was the Young Prince, I would’ve thought he was a Young Princess. How adorably precious.

There was only one Prince in the royal family: Prince Fleur. Not much was recorded about him, but I’m certain he isn’t Queen Josephine’s child. She was still too young to have borne a child.

The Prince tugged on his caretaker’s sleeve. “The Prince states that he would bring you to Miss Himari, but on one condition.”

“What is it, your royal highness?” Yulan spoke softly to the Prince. She had always had a soft spot for people younger than her, to the point that she would even consider a 20-year-old as a child.

The Prince’s caretaker did most of the explaining, while the Prince played with his soft toy. He should be old enough to talk by now, but his mouth seemed sewn shut.

To meet Himari, we would have to help restore peace to the nation. Huh. I embarked on this journey not to be a hero, but to fulfill my wish. Somehow, I found myself agreeing, perhaps charmed by the cuteness of the Prince, or maybe I sympathised with the poor citizens of this nation.

Either way, we were being led to the royal meeting room to meet up with Himari by the Prince’s caretaker, Jean, and his uncle Emile. Jean was super chatty, the opposite of his uncle and the Prince.

“What a gorgeous young lady you are, Miss Meilin!” “How splendid clothing you have on you!” Jean chattered nonstop, showering me with compliments until Jianyun’s glare finally shut him up

“Oh! I didn’t realise you were taken! My apologies, Miss Meilin!” Jean threw up his hands in defeat, leaving a wink before moving on to pestering Yulan.

Me, taken? I stared at Jianyun. He can be pretty protective of me sometimes.

“Miss Yulan, how beautiful are those blue eyes of yours!”

“I can be as old as your mother.” Yulan scoffed. Emile dragged Jean aside while apologising to Yulan over and over again.

“My, Miss Yulan, you look too young to be even near my mother’s age!”

“I assure you, I’m older than I look.”

And so the bickering went on until we arrived at the meeting room. Jean and Emile were asked to be on guard outside, and Prince Fleur led us into the room.

“Ah, dear travellers.” A sweet voice rang out, “Have a seat.” Sitting on the refectory table were two young ladies—Himari and Princess Elizabeth.

Himari was dressed up. She was changed out of her usual kimono into a graceful, soft lilac gown. Her hair was tied up into a bun. Hmm, it looks nice on her. Her eyes sparkled at the sight of me, “Meilin! Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad you’re okay, too.”

“Alright, ladies! Ahem—and gentlemen!” She shot an apologetic smile to Jianyun and a displeased Haruki. “We called you here today because, as you know, the Kingdom is, well, in a difficult situation. We hope you can devise a plan to resolve this situation. Of course, we’ll offer sufficient compensation. That is, a gift of your choice from the Queen’s treasure trove.”

“Would we be granted safe access out of the castle walls?”

“Of course.” Princess Elizabeth looked down at her hands, “The Queen doesn’t need the wish orb anymore.”

Himari still hasn’t told me what the Queen’s wish is. I suppose I can ask her later.

We discussed a plan to re-establish Kingdom de Fleuve’s harmony. Back at Eikasia, we had Lady Elpida’s help. She was an elf, a gifted and knowledgeable species. Aside from being an elf, she also had the spider lily’s blessing. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have ever been able to be the heroes who reconstructed Eikasia.

I’m not sure how we can restore temporary peace in Fleuve. First of all, I’m not even sure what caused the fights to erupt. And secondly, we only had to break the illusion in Eiksia. In Fleuve, we need to reverse the damage. Repairing the broken will always be harder than breaking it in the first place.

This is an outrageous task.

I don’t know why we need to help them. If we had escaped instead, we wouldn’t have to undertake this arduous task. I never wanted to be the hero. I just wanted my wish.

But innocent people are being killed. A feeling clawed at my heart. I can’t just watch them die and not feel guilty…

Princess Elizabeth explained the current situation. “We can’t even summon the soldiers to fight off the citizens. They’re fighting amongst themselves. But the funny thing is, outside of the capital, everyone is acting normally.” She clutched a lucky charm close to her chest. Jean and Emile seemed to have possessed something similar, as well as Prince Fleur. His charm was tied to his bunny plush.

“Hey, Haruki, what’s that on the Prince’s plush?”

Haruki explained to me: The ornament is a protection created by Nymphs. Nymphs are long-lived beings known to be able to create enchanted items, such as the handkerchief Jianyun gave me and that lucky charm. Unlike other strays, they can’t speak and usually have humans as their masters. The charm seems to have the ability to nullify the effects of orbs or spells.

Interesting.

Could it be why they aren’t acting like the others?

That would mean there’s a spell or orb cast onto this nation externally, instead of this being the after-effect of the masquerade orb breaking.

It’s a possibility, but who would bother doing such a thing? It doesn’t seem like the royal family is behind this; whoever did this has only brought chaos to the capital.

“Princess Elizabeth, are you aware of the effects of this lucky charm?”

“No, not really, but I remembered a young maiden giving that to me. I tried asking her about it, but she didn’t say anything.”

Haruki explained again, smug at knowing more about the charm than its owner.

“I believe I can duplicate the lucky charm,” I recalled, thinking of a spell I had learned from a spellbook. “However, because it’s an enchanted object, the effects would only last for one day. I could make one for everyone at the capital at once, but there’s a cooldown after that, so I won’t be able to cast the spell twice in a short period.”

Now I couldn’t help but wonder…

If even a simple charm could protect us, then what kind of power was truly tearing this Kingdom apart?