The Villainess Is Being Doted on by the Crown Prince of the Neighboring Country 162
- The Flame of Luciarose
Aquasteed and Keith were preparing to confront the Gnome when Slyph suddenly disappeared.
“Keith, do you know where’s Slyph?”
“No?”
Right when they were about to confront Gnome, Slyph has disappeared.
Perhaps she went to save Emerald alone? That’s what they thought but it’s almost impossible to break through Gnome’s defense circle.
“It seems like she’s an old acquaintance of the Gnome so perhaps she went to persuade him?”
“It’d be fine if that’s the case but the worst case scenario is plausible.”
And that’d be the case where Slyph would cause magic resonance with Luciarose. Even though she did refuse before, that does not mean she’d never ever do that.
“We better hurry.”
“Let’s teleport over.”
“Yes.”
Keith took Aquasteed along and transported to the mineral ore castle of Gnome.
***
Tiararose’s at her own house today; Tiararose, Luciarose, Akari and Darel were playing together since morning.
“Wow~! Little Lucia’s good at walking~!”
“Ah~!”
Right now, Akari’s grabbing Luciarose’s hand and were practicing walking together.
“Kyau, ah”
Looking at Luciarose who’s walking forward, Darel called her amazing and clapped his hands with a smile.
Darel Lapis Clementine is the adopted younger brother of Tiararose.
He has naturally curly light-blue hair and blue eyes. He has a gentle appearance and is a very skilled user of healing magic.
When Tiararose was pregnant with Luciarose, she received a lot of help with Darel’s healing magic.
Luciarose tripped various times, but Tiararose, who’s been looking over her at her side, held her hand and guided her.
“Hm~!”
“Oh, what’s wrong, Lucia?”
It seems like Luciarose’s happy being helped out by Tiararose and hugged her. Her smile was incredibly cute and it made Tiararose fall head over heels for her.
“Little Lucia loves mama a lot right~”
Akari rubbed Luciarose’s head while calling her cute repeatedly.
“A-!”
Luciarose showed Akari a smile too and stretched her hands out.
“Oh, are you asking for a hug? I’d anything for you- hm?”
“Lady Akari?”
“U?”
Akari suddenly stopped talking and Tiararose tilted her head. Right then, Luciarose seemed to be imitating her and she also tilted her head and toppled over.
Her appearance was very cute and Tiararose, Akari and Darel cannot help but have their attentions on her.
“It’s bad, Lady Tiara! There’s a crack in the protection ring!!”
“Eeh!? That’s bad!”
She hurriedly took Luciarose’s hand and as Akari has just said, there’s a crack in the protection ring. If left alone, it might break apart.
“…It could be the result of the resonance with Gnome.”
Tiararose looked at Luciarose with a serious look and prayed that nothing more would happen.
“What about making the ring again?”
“…It seems like the ring isn’t able to contain Lucia’s magic power so a new ring would probably end up in the same state; we have to deal with the root of the problem.”
Akari shook her head at Darel’s suggestion and thought about what other options there are. If this continues, the magic power would run out of control even without resonance.
“Even so, there isn’t such a convenient item…”
“If only I’d be able to absorb Lucia’s magic power”
“It’d be good if there’s any item that would require magic power…”
The three of them were troubled and muttered their thoughts- right then Akari opened her eyes wide and grabbed Darel’s hands tightly.
“We could do that!!”
“Eh?”
Akari was so excited that it made Darel took a step back. However, Akari is not someone who would let go of him just like that.
“We have the right thing here!”
“Eh? …Lady Akari, could it be”
“Yes. I’m talking about that! Lady Tiara.”
The smile on Tiararose’s face disappeared in a moment.
Darel shook in fear when he saw that and immediately looked at Akari and asked her for the reason.
“From Big Sis Tiara’s reaction, it seems like it isn’t really a good plan…”
Darel said in a roundabout way that it might be better to give up on that plan.
“But, there’s no other better plan than that…”
“What’s that plan?”
Darel decided to ask for the details and Akari grinned.
“We’d use the mineral ore of the fire spirit to absorb Lucia’s magic power!”
***
“Hm…?”
“What’s wrong, Aqua?”
“No, I just felt a cold chill… I guess it’s my imagination.”
He had a sense that something’s going to happen without him knowing… Right then, he started thinking that it’s a bad idea to call Akari to accompany Tiararose.
Aquasteed and Keith safely arrived in the mineral ore castle and started searching for the Gnome. However, it seems like he’s not there.
“In that case, hm? I sense Slyph’s magic power here.”
Keith sensed the presence of Slyph, who separated from them in the city. They don’t know what she’s doing but there’s a possibility that she’s with the Gnome.
Both of them ran towards the direction of Slyph.
The flame used to burn vigorously, reaching the great heights, but now it has been reduced to quite a shoddy state.
The flame of the fire spirit has gotten smaller and is like the size of a bonfire.
“…”
When Gnome and Slyph looked at that fire, they heard cracking sounds. This country which is made of the mineral ore of fire spirit seems to be falling apart.
“Hey, what’s going on with this?”
“Keith!”
When Aquasteed and Keith came over, Slyph’s face brightened for a moment… and she immediately looked sad.
Of course, it’s not the time to be happy over the appearance of Keith.
“Is that the flame of the fire spirit…?”
“It’s quite small.”
Aquasteed questioned and Keith’s probing.
Gnome must have already given up as he told them that it’s going to disappear soon; and that’s not the only thing that’d happen.
“This country would fall together too.”
“What…?”
“Huh? Are you planning to self-destruct?”
Aquasteed furrowed his eyebrows and Keith cornered him. However, the Gnome seemed to have given up and his expression did not change.
That made Keith even more furious than ever.
“You…”
“Wait, Keith!”
However, Slyph butted in between Keith and Gnome. She had tears welling up in her eyes and she seems like a different person from the lady they saw in the royal castle of the Phylargia kingdom.
“Please save this country… save the Gnome and the dwarfs.”
“Slyph?”
Aquasteed and Keith heard about the founding of Eluty kingdom and the mineral ore of fire spirit from Slyph.
Gnome has been putting in his power, but he’s at a tight spot now and this country would collapse and be buried if the mineral ore of the fire spirit disappears.
It seems to be a rather grave situation, even more than expected.
Aquasteed glanced at the mineral ore of fire spirit.
It’s originally vigorous and bright, but right now it has become rather dim.
“Would it really absorb magic power just by touching this…?”
“…Y-Yes.”
After hearing Gnome’s response, Aquasteed tried touching it. Right then, indeed, his magic power was being absorbed.
However, fire spirit only shone for a moment before returning to its depressing state.
It seems like it’d only absorb and accumulate “fire” magic power.
“I guess Gnome spoke the truth of how fire magic is required.”
Keith clicked his tongue and asked Aquasteed what they should do.
“It’s none of our business so let’s get back to land soon.”
“Yes. That’s probably the best decision.”
While feeling sorry for the Gnome and dwarfs, Aquasteed’s the king of the Marineforest kingdom.
If there’s a chance of him being buried and dying here, it’s better for him to escape as soon as possible. However, at the same time, he cannot possibly abandon the dwarfs.
However, they don’t know when the fire would cease burning soon; the country might collapse before they could evacuate everyone.
“…there’s no use thinking and mulling about it. Let’s order for evacuations promptly. Slyph, you’d discuss with the side of the Phylargia kingdom- oh right it’s impossible since Princess Emerald is not around.”
Slyph do not have any interaction with the royal family other than Emerald, however as she’s being trapped by Gnome now, there’s no one to mediate between them.
“Gnome, release Princess Emerald. She’d prepare for a place where the dwarfs could escape to.”
“…Well Slyph wouldn’t listen to my request anyway. I got it.”
Gnome snapped his finger and the mineral ore prison containing Emerald emerged from the ground.
“–!? Slyph!! King Aquasteed and Keith too!”
“Emerald! I’m glad you’re safe.”
Slyph immediately rushed over to Emerald; the door of the prison was open and Emerald was immediately freed.
However, the next moment, the ground that Emerald and Slyph were standing on started cracking apart.
“Kya!”
Emerald was about to fall through the cracks and Slyph immediately blew her off with a gust of wind. Right then, Emerald’s body flew up in the air.
She was relieved for a moment that she did not fall through the ground, but Slyph’s face turned pale in a moment.
“Slyph! You saved me- what’s wrong?”
“Oh no!? I’m sorry, Keith… I used magic right now… and it seems like that caused a resonance…”
“-!?”
The worst case scenario happened and Keith roughly shouted “damn it”.
Adding fire to the fuel- it seems like the Eluty kingdom is going to be buried and the mineral ore of fire spirit is going to be gone.
“Aqua! We don’t have the time to protect the dwarfs under this situation! As the king, you should immediately head to the ground, towards Lucia.”
“Yes, however, the most important thing is to deal with Lucia’s magic power-”
“I’d do something about that.”
Aquasteed was worried about it but Keith immediately responded to him.
-It’s pretty hard to leave the dwarfs behind, but there’s nothing that can be done.
“I got it. I believe in you, Keith. I’d go back to land-”
Immediately.
Aquasteed was about to say that, but the ceiling wall started to collapse and he’s at a loss of word.
It seems to be more serious than expected; that’s what he thought when he heard a bright nonchalant voice.
“Wow~~! There’s really a country underground. Amazing!”
“Lady Akari, let’s meet Aqua immediately-”
“Tiara?”
At the sight of his wife, Aquasteed dashed towards her. At the same time, he realized that Tiararose’s carrying his daughter.
“Aqua! Lucia’s magic power…!!”
“Fue, fuee”
“I guess her magic power has gone out of control. You have done well, bearing it with it.”
Tiararose immediately informed him that it’s an emergency.
There’s a crack in Luciarose’s ring and it needs to be dealt with promptly. For that sake, she decided to get on with Akari’s plan of using the fire spirit’s mineral ore to absorb the magic power.
Also, as Slyph used her magic power earlier, both the rings of protection and attack have shattered into pieces.
“I didn’t expect the rings to last forever, but I didn’t expect it to break apart this quickly too! Sir Aqua, please use the fire spirit’s mineral ore to absorb Lucia’s magic power as soon as possible!!”
“I got it!”
Aquasteed received Luciarose from Tiararose and headed towards the fire spirit’s mineral ore; Gnome was there too.
“Luciarose…”
“…I’m not doing this to save you guys; Lucia’s magic power is running out of control so there left me with no choice.”
“Even so, I do not mind… thank you, I’m so glad that the land of dwarfs would not be gone…”
Gnome took the fire spirit’s mineral ore and placed it in front of Luciarose.
Luciarose’s magic power has increased so much so shortly that she looked like she’s in pain with repeated shallow breathing.
“Please touch this. I’m sure that great magic power would ease down… probably. No, it’d ease down…”
“Lucia, try touching this stone; it’d absorb the magic for you.”
“Ah-?”
Aquasteed gently held Luciarose’s hand and they touched the fire spirit’s mineral ore together. Right then, Luciarose’s magic power, which was about to explode, was absorbed into the fire spirit’s mineral ore quickly.
Ah, that’s great.
Everyone’s relieved.
“Hehe, my strategy was a great success!”
“It’s great, but how did you guys come over?”
Keith questioned Akari who was all gleeful. There’s no way it’d be so easy to come to this place.
“We tried digging a hole into the ground and it seems like it was a bingo!”
“-Huh?”
Keith was at a loss for words when Akari posed a victory sign.
“Lucia, you can do it!
“U~~”
Tiararose placed her hand on Aquasteed’s back and looked over as Luciarose’s magic power was absorbed into the fire spirit’s mineral ore.
Just a few minutes before, Tiararose was so nervous about Luciarose’s magic power, but she has gotten considerably quite relieved.
-I’m glad, it seems like she’s fine.
Tears were about to overflow from Tiararose’s eyes, but she opened her eyes wide open at the sight that presented before her the next moment.
The fire spirit’s mineral ore could not withstand Luciarose’s great magic power… and has shattered into pieces.
“-What?”
Gnome’s eyes turned into dots.