At Ina's fingertips, two invitations with black paper and silver lettering were twirling. A quick glance revealed the flamboyant characters spelling out "Invitation".
Guests that she had wanted to invite but couldn't for various reasons would have a pleasant dream tonight.
Ina turned her wrist, and the papers immediately dispersed in the wind, like ashes of a burned letter.
Donne had an ordinary day, there weren't too many customers in the restaurant, nor had there been fewer. Ever since the boss had assigned him ten magical mechanical devices called "Mechanical Worker Bees", the job had become even easier. All he needed to do was greet the customers who had never stepped foot in the restaurant before, teach them how to look at the dynamic light screen menu on the wall, and then sit there, inputting commands waiting for the Mechanical Worker Bees to serve the food to the customers.
Even the sailors and crew at the port marveled at the Mechanical Worker Bees with astonishment and curiosity. No one was scared off by such magical machinery at first glance. Instead, some conservative nobles criticized the act of using magical machinery to serve food, believing it to be a disrespect to the nobility. How could magical machinery serve both hardworking poor laborers who haul goods and nobles who arrive in carriages accompanied by servants and guards? Some nobles believed that the restaurant would be better if it did not receive these dock workers at all. If it were not for the unique ice cream and soda here, they would not have deigned to come to eat here.
Donne was speechless. If he didn't want to cause trouble for his boss, he really wanted to grab these nobles by the collar and interrogate them: "None of your business! Eat it or not!"
However, when some restless nobles who attempted to make a fuss saw that the governor of Neranka occasionally appeared in the restaurant, their dissatisfaction was quickly swallowed back.
The Dragon Flame Restaurant's business ended for the day. Donne closed the front door, and although it wasn't time for him to sleep yet, he felt a bit sleepy. He propped up his arm, about to wash his face to freshen up when he suddenly fell into a dream.
In Donne's perspective, it was as if his soul was flying high above, soaring over the vast snowfield, and then, like a bird, rapidly descending towards the ground. Donne closed his eyes in fear, and when he opened them again, he found himself in the midst of a bustling scene.
A crowd was gathered together, dressed warmly which perfectly suited the snowy ground beneath them. Donne eyed a peculiar man, who held a giant teddy bear, his laughter showing all teeth but no eyes.
Donne locked eyes with the man and suddenly felt a pull as if his soul was being drawn away. When he had calmed down, he noticed that he no longer felt light, and upon seeing the teddy bear in his own arms, he knew that he was now seeing from the man's perspective.
Was this a dream, or some form of sorcery-related to the soul? Donne wondered internally, but his body was out of control, and he could only follow the man's movements as if sharing his vision.
The man excitedly returned the teddy bear to his house and returned to the same spot as before. He picked up a strange set of equipment - two sticks used as crutches, a rudimentary board to step on, and a neck protection device.
Then, he and many others like him slid rapidly down a high snow slope. Donne's eyes widened as the icy wind blew on the man's face, and also on his own face. The snow crystals sparkling in the sunlight were dazzling, and the fast speed made Donne's heart rate quicken.
It was exhilarating!
When the round of chasing finished, and everyone gathered around the leading person to cheer, Donne realized that it was a game.
Following that, he ate several kinds of food he had never seen before from the man's perspective. He walked into a transparent magic barrier, and it was surprisingly warm inside. Amidst the vast snowfields, rows of vibrant vegetables were neatly lined up. People were bustling about in this indoor greenhouse, their faces adorned with bright smiles and their eyes shining brightly.
Where exactly was this? Donne was both astonished and curious. If this was a dream, why would he dream of a scene completely unrelated to reality?
When his vision followed the man turning around and saw some familiar faces in the crowd, Donne's heart felt much more at ease. Weren't those Dusì and Anty? They were sitting around a table eating ice cream. The familiar ice cream, wasn't it the one that was taken from his own place this morning?
Upon seeing this, Donne didn't grow suspicious but rather felt enlightened. He had been wondering all day where all that ice cream was going to be sent to, and then he had this dream at night. It seemed like a classic case of 'what you think during the day, you dream at night.' What he was seeing now must be a dream!
Donne convinced himself and rather than panicking, he started enjoying following the man's perspective.
The man had lunch—he really ate a lot and emptied a large bowl of seafood soup until it was clean. Donne was surprised that he could not only share the man's vision but also taste. The food was delicious, not something one would expect from such a desolate place.
Donne was waiting for him to participate in another thrilling race like the morning snow slide, but instead, the man went out again, lining up at a snack booth. Multigrain pancakes, oden, spicy crayfish, grilled squid, and fried skewers, Donne had never eaten any of these foods before. Even though he had traveled through more than half the empire while on rotation with the imperial knights, he had never seen any of these foods.
However, Donne quickly came to terms with this. Having worked at Ina's restaurant for so long and having seen a lot of peculiar things, perhaps these experiences expanded his imagination, allowing him to dream up gourmet foods.
Donne was not only not suspicious, but he was also joyfully treating this as a unique experience. Being able to dream so vividly was already quite exciting! So, when he found out that this group of people was going to have a snowball fight in the afternoon, he was quite thrilled. He had long wanted to play in the snow. Neranka never saw any snowfall, which Donne, born in the North, found to be a shame.
But as soon as the snowball fight started, Donne sensed something was wrong. Why were all these people rushing towards him—or rather, the man he was inhabiting in the dream? The villagers who seemed simple and kind suddenly changed their faces. Their smiles were cruel, and they were saying something like, "You little fellow are very proud, aren't you? The saintly lady gave you an award, and your tail is about to go up to the sky!" "He's been showing off with that bear! We can't let him off easily~"
Then he was pushed down by a group of people, who stuffed snowballs into the man's back neck. The man didn't resist but instead chuckled at them while shrinking his neck, "Your jealousy is pointless, if you have the ability, win a championship and invite the saintly lady to give you an award too!"
Donne, who was inexplicably sharing sensations, was so cold that he couldn't complain. He wanted to inhabit someone else; this man's popularity was too low!
The one-sided snowball fight ended, and the sun had set unnoticed. The sunset dyed the snowfields a gradient of rose color.
Such a short afternoon, Donne thought. Indeed, this is how winter is in the north. The sun sets early, and the residents go to bed early as well. The long night was boring and a pity.
Such a long night, wasted like this. However, Donne didn't see any regretful expressions on the others' faces, and they didn't seem to be planning to go home either. Donne felt a bit hopeful, perhaps there were other plans?
———
Elvys held a quill in his hand, a tall pile of official documents in front of him. The window of the room's door was half-closed, a gust of night wind blew in, and a silver butterfly flew in from the window. Elvys stretched out his prominent-boned hand, and the butterfly landed on his fingertip.
He was engulfed in chaos.
Under the starry sky, above the snow field, a girl hovered in mid-air, her dark wings slowly flapping behind her, and her platinum hair scattered in the wind. In the darkness of the night, it was unclear whether her expression was stern or tender. Elvys only heard her softly say, "There should always be fireworks at a festival."
Elvys followed her gaze and saw the Rize people below looking up, only then did he understand that her words weren't meant for him. Elvys felt a pull, a fluctuation of the magic [Soul Perception]. However, he didn't want to share his perception with anyone present, so he broke free from the magic, thought for a moment, and transformed into a nimble black cat climbing onto Ina's shoulder.
This was just a memory, everything that had happened was in the past, so no one noticed him. Elvys saw Ina pull out his staff. He had never seen Ina use a staff before. After all, even when Ina cast the summoning spell [Flame Emblem], it seemed to come easily to her, still calm and collected.
Ina gave a smile and calmly raised the staff. The pure gem inlaid in the staff [Poem of Falling Stars] twinkled for a moment, and amid a gasp, a gigantic tree of light that reached from earth to heaven appeared in the distance. Its trunk was slightly dim, but the crown was dazzling, each leaf and each vein shimmered with radiance.
People opened their mouths, staring blankly at this scene that was like a miracle. The tree of light was still growing. It bloomed into tiny flowers, then quickly fell, leaving traces of light in the air, like a rain of gem fragments. After flowering came fruiting, and the fist-sized fruits ripened, a crack appeared on their skin, revealing fluffy cotton-like insides, similar to dandelions.
Ina waved her hand, and tens of thousands of cotton floated towards the crowd. The Rize people joyfully reached out to catch them, the cotton burned in their hands, emitting the final glow, then turned into tiny ashes and dissipated in the air.
Only one person was an exception—Lesley. In her hand, the cotton burned out, leaving a key behind.
A carriage entwined with flower branches and silk drove from a distance. The gold-rose pattern under the fire seemed as if it was about to ignite, the Nightdream Horse stopped in front of Lesley today.
Ina led Lesley onto the carriage, "Lucky little girl, you are the master of the flowered carriage tonight."
Lesley's voice choked in her throat. Her eyes were shimmering, the light of the fireworks, the golden decoration of the flower carriage, and the tears in her eyes.
Was she lucky? Clearly not. She was just an ordinary child living in a remote, cold town, where going hungry was a common occurrence. She couldn't complain to her parents either; her mother would only be hungrier, and her grandfather and uncle were old. Her mother had to worry about the family's livelihood. And her father... Lesley didn't have a father anymore.
But she was lucky too. Since the Holy Maiden appeared, their entire family had new jobs. Her mother's steps were light every day. Her grandfather would smile, his eyes turning into slits, as he saw the vegetables he had grown mature. Her uncle no longer despised himself, thinking he was a burden on the family. And Lesley herself, had now learned many words, could quickly calculate numbers within a hundred, and had even left Extreme Cold Icefield to visit a magical small town shrouded in fog all year round. She saw the magnificent sunset by the sea. At today's lively festival, the god of fortune favored Lesley again. She was chosen to be the temporary master of the carnival flower carriage.
No, Lesley shook her head. There was no god of fortune, only Lady Ina!
Lesley reached out to Anty, inviting her to join her in the flower carriage.
Ina stroked the head of the mechanical nightmare, and suddenly a pair of wings sprouted from the nightmare's back, carrying the flowered carriage towards the nearby tree of light.
The little girls happily poked their heads out of the carriage, reaching out to touch the glimmering, brilliant branches.
The flower carriage circled around the trunk to the crown, and the giant tree of light suddenly dispersed and gathered, re-condensing into a cloud that landed the high-flying carriage. The people of the Rize tribe surrounded the flowered carriage, cheering and jumping.
The tree and cloud both disappeared. Darkness didn't return for long before bright light orbs snaked up again on all sides, exploding above everyone's heads into glorious flowers. The petals of the fireworks were colorful and splendid, rose red, honeycomb color, grape purple, and finally, they all turned into dazzling falling gold.
Elvys was also watching those fireworks, his red eyes reflected in the gold light lost their murderous intent, adding a few points of tenderness. High-level attack spells of the light or fire series such as [Molten Light Curtain], [Meteor Rain], [Flame Vortex], and [Arcane Light Arrow] were released like this, not only dropping in the air to dissipate the magic power but also controlling the aftershocks of the spell to avoid harming these ordinary people.
Ina was more indulgent to these people than he had imagined. For some reason, Elvys felt a twinge of jealousy. But thinking that she had also invited him and even devoted her attention to him, making such a big effort to let him see these fireworks display too, Elvys felt reassured. He must be special to her. He looked up at Ina's profile, Ina was in a good mood, a slight smile playing at the corner of her mouth. It made her look less intimidating, she looked just like the fluffy balls that fell from the tree of light earlier—warm and inviting, making one unable to resist getting closer.
The festival was still going on, with strings of colorful fireworks blooming in the night sky, even more intricate than before. Each layer was embedded in another, each ring linked to the next, each flower bloomed to the fullest, finally turning into meteors with long tails, like fluttering petals leaving with the night wind.
The flower carriage circled the festival, and the Rhees tribe lit bonfires and started to dance around the fires.
They would occasionally look at Ina, their eyes full of respect and admiration. It was not enough for Ina to simply stand in one place; they seemed to need to catch sight of her to be reassured, as if worried that Ina might disappear like the fireworks.
Elvys was very familiar with this kind of gaze. As he conquered city after city, more and more people looked at him this way. With the departure of that generation, he had not seen such pure gratitude for a long time.
Ina was their sun. He read this message from their sincere eyes.
The black cat's ears twitched. Could he, tired, pained, and cursed, also receive the sun's favor?
Donne, who was lying on the desk, stirred his shoulders and suddenly sat up. He had fallen asleep!
He had had a very bizarre dream. The last memory was of the brilliant fireworks filling the night sky and the dragon-winged girl who never landed.
She, she had the boss's face?
Not only that, but Donne also felt the person he was possessing looking at the boss with eyes full of eagerness, trust, and total dependence. Now that he thought about it, his chest still throbbed violently.
Donne was stunned. He didn't have those feelings for Miss Ina! He really only dared to think of Miss Ina as his boss!
---
After breakfast, Sir Asland, the Knight Commander, usually went to Duke Elvys' study to clear away the documents that Elvys had reviewed the night before, archiving those that needed to be archived and dispatching those that needed to be dispatched.
Although the Silver Empire had a Senate, there were rarely issues that required the elders to vote collectively. With the exception of a few special territories, all areas of the empire were under Elvys' jurisdiction to varying degrees.
This de facto ruler had an advantage over others - because he didn't need to sleep, his office hours were much longer.
But today, seeing the almost untouched documents which was a rare sight, Asland raised an eyebrow: "You did fall asleep, did you?"
A hint of barely noticeable excitement flashed through Elvys' eyes, his tone was gentler than he realized.
"Someone sent me a dream."