We sat down together and formed two circles. The inner-circle comprised the treenos royal family, the priestess, and me. The outer was the rest of us.

The treenos princess stared at me with a curious gaze.

I knew it might puzzle her, why a three-year-old boy was here? She held an ‘egg’ on her lap, which perhaps she retrieved from the evil guys. And worry slightly appeared on her face.

So, I believed I should be the one who opened the conversation here.

But before that, I took out a small crystalline plaque from my pocket and put it gently on her front.

She startled, so appeared the priestess.

This plaque was the symbol of a legitimate royalty member of Glaedwine Monarchs. I got one when the Majesty, King Glaedwine, bestow me a title as a prince.

“Your Highness. I believe this would prove you I hold the right to open a discussion with you.” I stopped for a moment. “First, let me introduce myself; I am Eiwa from Violet Cane Village not far from here. I would like to brief you that you are now within the territory of the Glaedwine Kingdom, a part of the Great Wine Empire. My friends and the priestess of Snow Moon Temple saved you from what we believe as a group of trained mercenaries.”

I knew our mother languages were different, but I trust as a part of royalty, she definitely understood every single word I spook of.

She looked around; and bowed her head.

“I thank you all for your grace for saving me from this unfortunate incident.”

“It’s okay. We love to help.”

“Yes, I hate when bad guys do a bad thing.”

“Yup, and fortunately, nobody is severely hurt. So, it’s fine.”

Everyone added their voices. One reason, perhaps because they got enthusiasts meeting a royal family member from another race.

“Yes, we are glad that you are okay, Your Highness. And we promise that we will take your safety as our prime concern. Since we don’t bring with us any luxury, we sincerely hope your understanding and patient in bearing our humble care.”

“No, please, you are too modest.” She gave a hurried reply, “Your name is Eiwa, right? And all of you, please let me introduce myself first. My name is Eunomia Fauna Ursula Quattrocchi, call me Fauna or Mia. As my family name implied, I am a princess from Quattrocchi household in Treenos Royal Family.”

I nodded to her, “Well Mia, welcome to our small group, I thought you were from Lindström family.”

“Ha ha…, many people saying that the first time they know it.”

At least, she started to relax a little. I threw a gaze to the lady priestess, a sign that she should take over the next discussion.

“Princess Mia, I am a Snow Moon Temple’s priestess, my name Karyna Lecia Wembley, you may address me as Lecia. We were on our way to elsewhere, but as the situation now, we plan to return to Violet Cane Village first. We will escort you to the village, and we may contact any known treenos or Western Holy Taiga ambassador in Glaedwine Capital.”

“Yes, I shall be in your care then.”

“But before that, would you mind elaborating what was happening to you, Princess Mia? Where were you before they kidnapped you? Do you know their purpose? Or do you learn any clue about your kidnapping? Since it may provide us some ideas about our following plan.”

Princess Mia told us about her side story. She was the royal representative who visited Illumination Wood at the Woodwine Kingdom.

The King of Woodwine Kingdom himself invited her for a banquet before she went to visit the ancient forest.

Illumination Wood was a sacred place for many trees and flower demons. In their myth, it was the birthplace of the original, intelligent tree and flower demon in Edwena, that guarded by many high-level demons. Obviously, the king didn’t wish to throw away any chance to tie goodwill to those guardians via a representative from the treenos’ royal court.

Along with her visit, she traveled near the border of Glaedwine Kingdom. There she encountered an ambush; she witnessed many of her royal guards were murdered. Before she could send distress magic, she lost her consciousness until she woke up and met us.

At least, that was the big picture of her circumstance.

We rested for a night on the cave. I discussed my things with lady priestess and Mia; we made some conclusions.

We moved again at daybreak on a return journey to our village.

“Your mind seemed preoccupied with something,” Ione whispered by my side.

“We all have a thing or two in our mind,” I said.

“But I don’t believe they have it.” She pointed to the group of kids who sat on the top of the big bamboo basket.

They sang together with the little bamboo sprout while sitting above the captured villains.

We’re the sons and daughters of Violet Cane
We’ve captured the smelly guys.
We’ll bring them for justice.
We’d dream of a peaceful day.

I shivered to hear the song, ‘there is no peaceful day except for those who are genuinely ignorant or truly reached the grand liberation.’

‘I miss my mother’s sweet cake.’

The sun shining brilliantly, but so many things become clouds inside my head.