Chapter The Twin Sacred Tree

Elysia opened the Nature Realm portal at Rhea"s request. The Tree of Life had already prepared something and sent the leaves to deliver it to Elysia.

    After that, Elysia closed the portal and looked at the small item in her hand. It was three cloudy mirrors framed with twigs from the Tree of Life.

    "Here." Elysia gave the three small mirrors to Rhea.

    "Let"s go back. Celes will definitely be pleased about this." Rhea became excited for some unknown reason.

    She kept the two mirrors, leaving one in hand. After that, she and Elysia returned to where everyone had gathered.

    When the mirror arrived in Lifa"s hand, she gave it to the little fluffy ball on her palm. "Celes, I want you to keep this well. This will allow you to come face to face with me whenever you want. Fufu, you also have a twin, did you know? Would you like to meet her too?"

    "O-oh~ Thank you very much, mama! But, a twin? Is the one you mentioned the sacred tree of the Elven Continent? She is my twin!? I certainly want to meet her too!" Celes hugged the mirror. She jumped up and down for joy.

    "After this, we will visit Eshvelenora Woodland, Elven Continent. That way, we can communicate using this mirror even though we are separated by place and dimension. You need to tell this mirror regarding your request with the plant communication technique. Please treat it with great care." Lifa gave a little explanation and reminder slowly and clearly.

    "Mm, I understand! Please wait a moment. I will keep this special mirror in a safe place first." After saying that, Celes flew to the top of the Celestial Tree and immediately returned after placing her treasure in a safe place.

    For the following several times, Celes spent time with Lifa talking and playing about many things. Rhea, Nell, and the others also got involved voluntarily.

    "It"s been three hours, and it"s time for lunch. Shall we have a picnic here? Those young fairies won"t bother us." Sylvia raised her hand and proposed an idea.

    "We really have some leisure time playing, hmm..." Oceanid muttered under his breath.

    "Picnic? Sure, let"s have a picnic!" Yuuki agreed with the idea.

    "Ah, this reminds me that we haven"t had lunch yet. Time goes by so fast when we"re enjoying it, huh..." Vanessa glanced at the clock cube in Sylvia"s hand and smiled weakly.

    "I have some sandwiches and lots of pastries. A picnic with an afternoon tea?" Evelyn took a basket from her s.p.a.ce Bag.

    "Nice~ But we need more than just cakes. Let"s prepare everything, girls. Ely, you stay here. Since it"s a picnic, we don"t need to cook because we still have enough snacks and light meal supplies. Please just relax here while we prepare everything." Sylvia invited the girls to prepare the picnic event. However, she immediately stopped Elysia from standing because her girl squad was enough.

    "Mm, alright. We"ll be visiting the picnic event as soon as you"re done with all the preparations." Elysia didn"t mind that and sat back down beside Elena.

    "Isn"t that a good thing?" Elena muttered with a faint smile on her face.

    "Hmm-mm, somehow, I feel that Sylvia tried her best to stand out from the rest. Does she want to be the leader?" Elysia spoke in a whisper-like voice.

    "That can happen. She wants you to make her special by attracting your attention in her own way. Our devil girl has a cheerful and active nature. I wouldn"t be surprised if she could influence the girls. However, did you realize something, Ely?" Elena tapped Elysia"s arm for attention.

    "What is it?" Elysia looked at Elena"s face curiously.

    However, Elena replied with a mysterious smile. For some reason, Elysia felt that Elena was about to do something naughty, and she backed away a little with a faint blush on her face.

    "Oh, my, oh my, what"s going on, Ely? I haven"t said anything, though? I thought you"d listen to my answer." Elena covered her mouth and giggled lightly.

    "No, it"s nothing. So, what is the previous thing? What I might not have noticed?" Elysia shook her head slightly. Apparently, she was just overthinking things.

    "Hmm, what was I going to say earlier?" Elena tapped her chin while remembering something. "Ah, that"s it! Just look at them. You can see Sylvi trying to get closer to Yuuki and Vann. Do you know the reason?"

    "..." Elysia looked at her friends. They were getting along well, and they had some fun just because they prepared a picnic together. She could hear some chuckles and a little bickering, but everything seemed harmonious. Gio was even dragged in to help take care of the menial and heavy work.

    "She wants you not to forget her. By getting closer to Vann and Sylvi, you won"t be able to leave without her. Our conversation about travel between worlds got her interested, and Sylvi will stick with you everywhere because she wants to come too. My only concern is your human friends. They are in the confused zone." Elena put her hand on Elysia"s shoulder and whispered near Elysia"s ear.

    Elysia trembled a little because it was ticklish. Her ear flushed, and she wanted to move, but Elena held her shoulders firmly. So, she could only helplessly blush.

    "Fufu~" Elena freed Elysia"s shoulders and covered her mouth with some satisfaction.

    "What"s with Elysia and her master? Are they used to being that close and flirting with each other?" Celes asked her mama innocently.

    "Uh-huh?" Lifa was taken aback by the question, as were Nell and Rhea.

    "Hmm, that"s not the right word to describe it. The G.o.ddess of Light is indeed that close to her disciple Elysia. It"s just that she is fond of teasing Elysia for a complex reason." Lifa rubbed her forehead with her finger while choosing the right words for easy understanding.

    "Oh~ But what kind of complex reason is there? I can understand complicated things. I"m actually brilliant." Celes nodded understandingly. She glanced at Elysia one more time, then looked at her mama.

    Lifa looked left and right and spoke in a whisper-like voice. "I just know that the G.o.ddess of Light likes to see her disciple blush. Elysia looks so adorable and comforting when that happens."

    "That"s a unique fetish." Celes rolled on her mama"s palm and glanced at Elysia once more.

    Luckily, Elysia and Elena were still too busy with their small conversation and didn"t really listen to Celes" conversation with Lifa. Otherwise, no one knew what might happen.

    A few moments later, the picnic event was ready. Everyone joined the event happily, unnoticed by the surrounding fairies.

    At that moment, Yralissa sighed after finishing with her various affairs. She left her palace and went straight towards the sacred ground where the Celestial Tree was.

    "Welcome, My Majesty Empress. Would you like to visit the Celestial Tree?" A Fairy General happened to be around the sacred ground and gave a respectful greeting.

    "Yes, I"d like to visit Celes. You can continue with your activities and stay alert for unexpected situations, Gerard. Please keep an eye on the latest information from our intel." Yralissa grasped her hand with a n.o.ble att.i.tude.

    "Understood!" Gerard replied with a knightly bow.

    Yralissa just nodded slightly and entered the sacred ground. She could see dozens of young fairies playing around happily. They were allowed to take cover around Celes because the previous situation was an emergency.

    The sealed area in the southeast could collapse at any time, and this forest capital city was in the red zone. The fairies" concern for the younger generation made the Empress ask Celes to protect the young ones while the parents went into battle.

    However, divine help came and solved the problem very quickly.

    Yralissa pressed her finger to her lips to the young fairies who wanted to say h.e.l.lo and gathered around her. The young fairies immediately covered their mouths and nodded in understanding.

    "Sigh..." Yralissa flew close to the Celestial Tree and landed near the tree trunk. She tried to find where Celes was, but she couldn"t find anyone around the tree. Therefore, she knocked on the tree trunk and spoke gently. "Celes, are you there? I came to see you."

    Yralissa waited a few minutes and tried to call Celes again, but she didn"t get any response. Worry slowly enveloped her mind.

    She immediately flew up and tried to find Celes. Still, she suddenly felt a subtle aura that seemed to be giving her a subconscious command to stay away.

    "Is this from Celes? No, that"s impossible, right? Did something happen to her? This subtle command will have no effect on me." Yralissa fortified her mind from the mysterious, subtle command and flew forward.

    *Bam*

    Yralissa hit an invisible wall and fell down. Luckily, she had only flown a meter high, so her fall on the gra.s.s was not that painful.

    *Thud*

    "Ouch, what is that?" Yralissa held her head and immediately looked around frantically. A n.o.ble Empress falling down ridiculously was definitely a shame to remember, especially when watched by the young fairies.

    However, the young fairies around didn"t even know what was happening near the sacred tree. They just played around happily as if they couldn"t see she was there.

    "Eh?" Yralissa was stunned when she noticed the presence of a group of individuals having a picnic near the Celestial Tree. She was sure that she had not seen them earlier. After a closer look, they were the same divine group that had just helped her to overcome the sealed area three hours ago!

    "Oh! It"s you, Yralissa! Come and join us because we"re having a picnic and afternoon tea. I"ll introduce you to my mama." Celes flew over and grabbed Yralissa"s hand.

    "Mama?" Yralissa was a bit surprised, but she still followed Celes to join the mentioned event.