I played first as white pieces, and then I played d4. Aldea moved f5. I sent up my bishop to Bg5. She countered it with h6. I set back the bishop to Bh4. She kept insisting on pursuing the bishop with g5. I didn't withdraw my bishop; instead, I moved my pawn to e4.
Aldea was surprised and looked at me. "Your highness, are you really sure not to withdraw the bishop from there?"
"I am sure you can take it if you want.."
Aldea took the bishop with the pawn, gxh4.
"You are being fooled, Aldea.."
"What?" she said.
I moved my queen to Qh5#, checkmate.. "I think it's mate.."
She found it unbelievable and checked it.
Louis was just laughing to Aldea "Hahahahahaha, you were just being tricked by her highness.."
"Rematch!!" Aldea said to me..
"Sure…"
After some rematching, I beat her all the time..
"How can it be?" Aldea said while looking at the chessboard; she lifted her head up at me. "Surely, your highness has learned and studied this game, right? There is no way you can be this good with just my plain explanation, especially since the royals or nobles surely love this game."
"I can't recall anything about this game from my memory, maybe or maybe not, because I can't recall some memories." I turned to Louis and said, "So where are Elpis and Cail?"
Louis said, "Elpis went out, she just said she wanted to research the soil more after you told her about this crop rotation, she became more interesting, and Cail is in his room, he said he wanted to prepare all the trade and possibility of this crop rotation."
"And you three in here are just playing; do you not worry about Elpis, who went alone?"
They were just looking at each other after they heard that.
"How about your highness try one on one with Elpis? You will know about her.." Aldea said.
Darryl smacked her head again..
"WHY YOU SMACKED ME? I think it's the best way to show her about Elpis.."
"I think what she said meant, Elpis is not that weak; she needs protection all the time…The weakest among us is Cail, other than him, we can manage our own safety." Louis said.
"If you said that, I would diminish this worry... and how about Zoe? The sun has already set, and the sky is already dark. Is she going okay? Well, it's worrying for me if she doesn't come back."
"That woman will not come back unless her task is finished..She can manage everything; just don't keep worrying about us; we can manage our own safety." Aldea said.
"All of you are under me; surely I will be worrying all the time.." I looked at Louis and said, "Louis, surely you remember what I said to you... Your act is-"
"Your highness's act..."
"Your mistake is-"
"Your highness's mistake.."
"Your sin is-"
"Your highness's sin.."
"Because all of you are under me, everything that you have done will reflect that I did it…I will keep worrying about my people no matter that all of you are so capable about it…." I stood up from the table and said, "I think it's enough for me. May I excuse myself to my room.."
I left the table and walked towards my room. In my room, Aalis and Ame had already slept, so I went to my bed and went to sleep.
….
…
..
.
The next morning, I was woken up by Aalis. I did the morning routine like usual, but Aalis and Ame didn't say a single word. While they did my hair, I said to them that they would help Elpis, and they did everything that Elpis said. They just nodded. I wore the clothes that they bought yesterday, just like Aalis' clothes that I wore yesterday.
We went down; everyone except Zoe was already in the tavern. We went to them; Aldea and Cail were sitting, and others were standing behind them. They prepared one seat for me, so I sat in it.
"Good morning, everyone…." Suddenly, I saw Cail yawning.. "It seems there is someone who has a lack of sleep…" Immediately, he covered his mouth with his hands. "I don't mind you guys didn't sleep at all, but I hope your spirit is still the same…So today, like what I said last evening, everyone will help Elpis and the villagers plant the seeds of peas. There are three things that I want all of you to obey. One, don't force the villagers' land to plant these seeds; you need to explain the details, like what I have said about the nutrition of peas. Second, don't overwork the villagers; I want you to provide everything for them, like water. Three, I want all of you to respect what they believe; for example, if there is a land that we can't step on, don't step on it ... .I think that's everything ... .Aalis and Ame will help all of you too, and they will listen to what Elpis said…Everyone's clear?"
Louis raised his hand.
"What's the matter, Louis?"
"I am still worrying about your highness, that you and Geri go to the woods alone. I advise your highness to bring Aldea by your side for this one.."
"No, I will go there just with Geri. I hope you can accept it... Is there anything else?"
Everyone just nodded up, and for a few seconds, there was no question.
"Great, now let's go to work for the people…and good luck for everyone.."
All of us stood up from the table, Elpis gave me the map of the wood, and all of them went to the entrance of the inn. Besides, I went to the backdoor of the inn, to see Geri…On there, Geri already stood up, not like usual.
"Not like usual with you.." I said to her,
"Cut it out, just get to my back…"
"Alright alright.." I climbed on her back.
After she felt I was on her back, she immediately dashed off, caught off guard for me, and quickly, I held her fur as tight as possible. She ran so fast that, in an instant, I could see everyone still walking to the land. While we passed them, our eyes met each other in quick time.
In a second, we just passed the entrance of the village, and I said to her while she kept running.
"HEI! I HAVE A MAP FOR THE WOODS, DO YOU NEED IT OR NOT?"
"HUH? I DON'T NEED IT, I CAN JUST USE MY NOSE FOR THE ONE YOU JUST SAID."
"OKAY THEN.."
…
We entered the woods, and like she just said, she just kept running with her nose tingling like she was smelling something. After some seconds of running inside the woods, I heard the singing, like Elpis and Darryl said.
"YOU HEARD THAT? WE MUST BE CLOSE.." I said to her,
"YES, I HEARD IT.."
The singing became more loud and clear…After some seconds, in front of us, was a bright light around trees. We went there, passed it and saw a giant lake of water. We stopped immediately, and I noticed there was someone in the centre of the lake.
"SIREN?" Geri said to me.
"Siren? You mean creatures of the sea, like you have told me, but it's not in the sea; instead, it's a lake."
"That's weird; can you get away from me? There is something I need to do; if you are still on my back, you will fall down.."
"Sure.." I went down on her back..
After I was on the ground, I saw one of her paws to the front, and another on the back, like she was ready for something… she took a deep breath, and in a seconds, she was howling with her full power to the creatures, the lake liked had been split by her howl. It was amazing to see, and her howl didn't emit a single sound. After a few seconds, the creature on the lake noticed it, and turned its face at us.
The creature descended to the lake, I was worried and asked Geri
"Where is it?"
"Calm…It comes to us.."
Like she said, there was a shadow on the lake that swam to us..
"If you are afraid, you can hide behind me…" Geri said to me
"No way…I hide.."
We waited for a few seconds, and it ascended from the lake some distance from us, and it was a woman with white long curly hair and light skin white like a lunar. She wore a white plain dress. I noticed she had long ears, and in a few seconds, I thought she was an elf. I saw that her mouth was going to move..
"What fools come here?"
"You are not a siren like I thought, but your scent is the same as mine."
"Ho ho ho ho, a wolf who can talk; I thought you were just a mere wolf; if you talk, it means her.." She pointed her finger at me "Might be your master.."
"Yes, I am."
She showed me a smirk. "So what brings two fools to come here?"
I stepped to the front "We came here to investigate because, according of a report from my people, there was singing inside the woods…I was surprised to find you in here, and it seemed Geri didn't hide her true nature; it means you are–"
"Yes, I am like her, a spirit.."
"May I know what spirit you are?"
"I am a spirit from Wood's kin; I hope your pet told you about the kins.."
Geri showed some growls from what she had said.
"What an aggressive pet you have!"
I put my hand to Geri's head to calm her down "So may I know why the spirit from Wood's kin is here?"
"Why do I want to tell two fools about it?"
"We came here to investigate your singing. You have a beautiful voice, but your singing seems not to be as beautiful as your voice. If you can answer my question, may I help you??"
"You blinking idiot is mocking me!!
"I don't intend to mock you; somehow, I listened to your singing while we were going here. I found something disturbing with your singing. I acknowledged your voice and your singing is beautiful, but I felt there was something in your verse…I think it's not just in your verse…but something deep in you, that root inside of you."