There were many indigenous forces in Western Holy Taiga, one of them is the Treenos Kingdom that governs all the tree-kinds, the treenos is an intelligent humanoid race of tree-kinds. The treenos race lived peacefully in Western Holy Taiga, and they never had any history of a significant conflict with other races. But if one of their imperial family is dead in Glaedwine, even under the protection of the Wine Empire, the Glaedwine Kingdom would not survive.

This is a kingdom-level calamity threat.

Lady Priestess hurriedly entered our cave. She looked around and found a flat place where we sat previously on which she then put the body of the treenos race.

The rest of the groups were not far behind, all of them were tired, and their clothes were tattered. Each of them falls on the floor. They seem to lose all of their energy.

I brought back their water canteens, those might be not full, but enough to rehydrate them, which they drunk them clean at once.

Ione cast a refreshment spell on the Lady Priestess who already look like on the verge of collapsing.

I turned my attention to the unconscious treenos; he had the same humanoid build as human, except all his body made of wood and bark. Judging from his appearance, he should be around fifty years old, which is equivalent to only a five-year-old of human age.

The treenos didn’t have any gender, but since they evolve into humanoid form, they tend to choose their appearance based on their emotional traits. So, there would be a treenos resembled a woman or a man. This gender selection usually took place after they reached two hundred years, at least. But there is an exception to everything. In this case, is if the treenos belong to the descendant of their imperial family. The treenos royal bloodline always has a distinct appearance from the time they were born.

“Eiwa, what’s happening with her?”

Ione asked with a worried expression.

Without looking back, I examined its body again. I sighed gently, “An acute magic poisoning.”

“What?! Can we save her?”

I looked back, and I saw the anxious expression, not only on Ione but everybody else as well.

“I’ll look for the antidote.” With a soft voice, I walked away.

***

When the petite shadow leaving the cave entrance, the kids just realize what was going on. Perhaps since they just escaped a life-threatening experience, they yet to calm their minds.

“Wait, stop him!” Micha yelled at first. “It’s too dangerous out there right now.”

“What’s kind of danger?” Ione smiled lightly.

“There were a lot of bad people chasing us out there.” Leilani almost yelled.

“Do they have any fangs, horns, wings, or claws?” Ione asked further with a light tone.

“No, they do not have any of those, but….”

“Then, we don’t need to worry about him. Everything can go wrong, but his luck on this kind of unbridled acts. Now let us focus on healing your wounds. We also need to make sure that this regal princess will not have any unfortunate fate more than what she already experienced.”

“This treenos is a princess?”

Almost all the kids surprised. Human villagers almost never encounter another race in whole their lifetime, since each race, including humans, has their super vast territories. Only on the borders of each area, people may have a better chance to find mixed races life.

Occasionally, other races may visit the human territory, just like this poor treenos princess. She may come for collecting rare herbs or rare earth minerals those valuable for treenos.

Unfortunately, she met ambush from bad guys. And fortunately, or not, she met the kids and lady priestess who saved her despite the danger. Lady priestess perhaps already identified that the treenos is part of the royal bloodline. If anything happens to her, this kingdom may fall to a dangerous situation, since no small country capable of bearing the wrath of an entire race.

After Ione gave her a short explanation, all the kids nodded their heads.

Lady priestess only stays silent; her solemn eyes closed tightly. She sat on lotus position while meditating to restore her internal mana pool. She was exhausted after the accidental rescue mission.

After a while, the cave fell into another silence.