We woke up early the next morning to Petra's incessant knocking. "Are the both of you decent?"
I managed to groan out a reply. "Come in."
Petra quickly came inside and took the book from the nightstand. "I'll be back to call you for breakfast."
She left the room as swiftly as she entered. We took the time to quickly wash up and get ready for our day using the private bathroom attached to the bedroom.
We finished just in time for Petra to come call us to eat. "Miss Petra, has everyone eaten already?"
"Yes."
Vera chimed in. "Even you?"
"Yes."
"Can you join us in the room while we eat?"
She gave us a slight nod as we entered the dining room. The breakfast spread was a hearty meal consisting of waffles with fruits, omelette, and hashbrowns with a choice of milk, fruit juice, or water for drinks.
I had an inkling as to why Vera asked Petra to stay. A minute into breakfast, she spoke up. "Petra... about the book we read last night. Was it real or was it fictional?"
"People believe it as fictional. Especially the foresties."
"Does Miss Artanis think so too?"
"No. Lady Artanis believes it to be a real historical record and we believe the same. Forostar's lumber is evidence enough of its validity. Lady Artanis took inspiration from the notes of the person in 'The Butterfly' — who we tentatively named Butterfly — and tried her best to recreate and implement the things in her notes."
"But no one else believes her?"
"No."
"Why don't they?"
"The foresties. They've banned every single mention of Butterfly, saying it's heretical due to how Butterfly depicts their hallowed tree."
We got lost in thought. The book we read already had a lot of information and it was only the first volume. Considering how much books there were in the bookshelf, there had to be tons more information hidden there.
If Lady Artanis believes in the existence of Butterfly, then — as a snow elf — she had to have tried looking for what Butterfly mentioned in the first excerpt.
"Has Lady Artanis found the snow elves' equivalent of Yggdrasil?"
At my question, for the first time, I could actually make out a semblence of emotion on her face. It was an incredibly small purse of her lips.
"No."
"I see." If the tree actually existed, it would be the greatest proof of Butterfly's existence. It would even be enough to make some forest elves think she was real.
On the other hand, the fact that Lady Artanis still hasn't been able to find it even after years and years of searching implied either two things. One, Butterfly wasn't real. Or two, Butterfly didn't make a tree for the snow elves.
It was nearly impossible for Lady Artanis to still have not found the tree had it existed. Yggdrasil was incredibly large, it should just be natural that its 'wife', as Butterfly put it, would be just as big.
A sudden thought made me widen my eyes. What if the tree was located in a place like our home? Where it's hidden in a barrier? That would explain why it hasn't been found yet. Could the tree have been inside our barrier? I racked my head in an attempt to remember, but it came up empty. If the tree was in our barrier, then it certainly wouldn't look like the forest elves' tree.
"Miss Petra, did Butterfly ever describe how the snow elves' tree looked like?"
Petra took a breath. "Ask Lady Artanis."
Conversation stalled after that as we finished up our breakfast. Just like yesterday, Petra brought out dessert after our meal; this time, it was ice cream.
"Vera."
"Yeah, Dina?" Vera looked up. She looked cute with splatters of ice cream still on her lips.
"About what you said yesterday. I... don't think I can."
"Okay!"
"Because — wait, what?"
She stared at me, her eyes glimmering with confusion. She tilted her head. "I said, okay. Why? What's the matter Dina?"
"Oh. I thought you would ask me why or something; instead of, you know, just agreeing right away."
She beamed at me. "Cause it's too comfortable?"
Seeing my surprise, she giggled. "You're not as slick as you think you are Dina. It's almost like you're not the one who —"
She stopped, remembering Petra's presence. "Petra! Say something or sit down! I completely forgot you were still there!"
"Anyways! I'm fine with what we originally planned, Dina. It's no trouble at all. I'll be with you no matter where you go, okay?"
I bit my lips to prevent the indecent joke from leaving my mouth. I chuckled as I abruptly changed the topic.
"Miss Petra, when does the train leave and how long does it take to reach Vier?"
"At 12 PM and around five hours."
We still had around four hours before then and who better to show us around than someone who worked here in Lumisade.
"Miss Petra..."
No response.
"Can you help us spend four hours?"
"I can."
"Will you help us spend four hours?"
"Fine."
I was starting to have fun in needling Petra for a reaction. And judging by Vera's smile, it seemed like she thought the same. It really was nice to see her being comfortable with others.
We went straight to the train station by the outskirts of Lumisade. There were only five stations across the entire empire. One in each capital city and one in the city of Vier. The main reason the empire didn't utilize more trains for travel and logistics was simply due to a lack of trust from the public.
Back in the far past, when the empire was still working on a way to identify people, bandits and brigands ran amok. But with everyone knowing how to use mana, they had to be careful whenever they targeted travelers. One method that got popular was for someone strong to lead the carriage in front and have them flaunt their strength.
The criminals were less likely to attack a carriage that had someone like that in front. Riding a carriage also had the advantage of easily leaving the vehicle in order to confront enemies. Riding a train would, in a way, limit the ability to react to potential threats due to its enclosed nature and set path.
Even now, with the advances in train safety and low number of bandits, people still clung to what they were used to.
When we arrived at the station, someone waiting by called out to us. "Miss Petra!"
"Are these, them?"
"I see."
"Okay. I'll let the pilot know."
He was a uniformed young snow elf working at the station and it was clear that he was familiar with Petra with how smoothly his one-sided conversation went.
He turned to us and bowed. "This will be your first time riding a train, I presume? Please be back before 12 PM. Someone will be here to guide you. Your luggage will also be delivered here. Have a nice day!"
He left as soon as he said his piece. He seemed like a pretty busy guy with how he didn't wait for a response at all.
"Petra, who was that?"
"Someone who admires Lady Artanis."
Nearly everyone we've met so far knew her. Well, I guess it doesn't really mean anything since most of the people we've met so far have all been under her employ in one way or another. That city guard did know her though. "Is Lady Artanis that famous and loved?"
"Yes."
"Petraaa, why is Miss Artanis staying in Forostar when she has all these stuff here in Lumisade?"
"Politics... and don't talk about that in public, here in Lumisade."
Her voice was stern and strict, devoid of its usual lack of inflection.
Taking the hint, we turned mum. It seemed like we touched a sensitive topic. More and more questions about Lady Artanis was piling up in my head.
Just who was she?
Why do so many people admire her?
She left Lumisade because of politics?
How influential was she?
Her ease in forging documents for us was also one thing.
Petra took us to the center of Lumisade to see the most integral part of Lumisade. It was a wide open ground filled with parapets, embankments, and fortifications facing towards a cave opening with a sloping stairway heading underground. Walls were installed around the cave that funneled the exit of the cave into a tight bottleneck where, in theory, monsters would be killed en masse in the event of a dungeon outbreak.
Fully-armed guards stood by the entrance, checking the licenses of every entrant of the dungeon and logging down their entry into a record. There was no merchants or people hanging around the entrance
Entry into the dungeon was tightly controlled by the empire and every manalith gathered inside the dungeon was sold directly to the government. Any other loot, and the dungeon divers had free reign to do what they pleased with it.
This tight regulation over the dungeon made dungeon divers somewhat of a government worker albeit with much looser contracts. To even get a diving license, one had to pass the empire's preliminary exam.
But dungeon diving was an activity far and away from the both of us, at least for now.