The Heart Kingdom truly is beautiful.
I haven't been here since before I became a magic knight, and much like that first time, I'm taken away by its beauty. So many flowing rivers and grand trees supported by the queen's mana zone is such an impressive sight. I'll have to go see her again. Besides, it's only proper procedure to do that before looting a dungeon on her territory. Thanks to the mana zone, she already knows I'm coming, so I'm going straight to her.
It didn't take very long to arrive thanks to the speed of broom travel. I'm already here just a few hours after leaving the Clover kingdom. It's certainly faster than using trains. I walked straight into the main hall of Loropechika's residence.
"Hi Lucy, I felt you coming so I had to see you. Welcome back. Just come on inside, we can talk more there," she said.
"Of course, thanks for the welcome."
"I have only you to thank for what you did back then."
And so it was. Together we walked inside, past the throne room and down a flight of stairs to an open chamber with a waterfall in the back. In the center is a dining table set up for three. The queen of hearts took her seat and I followed. Soon enough, the third seat was filled by Gaja, another person I met my first time visiting the Heart kingdom.
"You know Lucy, I never thanked you enough for what you did all those months ago. It may not have looked like it, but you saved my life,"
"I did what anyone with that ability would have done," I responded.
"Really. First of all, there aren't many people that could just read devil runes, much less rewrite them. Even if other people could do that, why would they? Maybe to try to get some boons out of me as the Queen of a kingdom, but you never did that. You just gave for no other reason than to help someone else. You actually looked at me as Loropechika, not as the queen. So few people do that anymore."
"I believe in kindness Loropechika and I'd just arrived in this continent after having to rewrite demonic script. I saw a chance to do some good and took it. It's what I've kept doing in Clover since then. I did what I thought was right, that's all."
"Then you truly are a wonderful person. Do you want to know how I got that curse? It could be important for you to know."
"Sure I'll hear it."
"As you know, in this continent there are four kingdoms. You've seen mine, and you've seen Clover. To the east is Diamond, where I've heard your friends are at right now. To the North, surrounded by a near impenetrable strong magic zone is Spade. Spade is a land of ice, snow, and currently, evil. It's ruled by three people who are possessed by devils, giving them immense power. With that power they set up a dictatorship then declared war against my kingdom, looking to conquer us. One of the three named Vanica led the attack here. She was already well known for having killed Acier Silva from Clover, and I was the next target. She's also a sadist. After having defeated me, instead of killing me outright, she put that curse on me that would slowly break down my health over a year. When you removed it, I had maybe a few months left to live."
"I don't know what to say. You were on that little time?" I said shocked. "And wait a minute, you said Acier Silva, I think I've heard that name before. I know her daughter."
"Yes, Vanica and the devil that possesses her, Megicula, are the only ones to fight outside Spade's borders. Even though I'm freed, she's still out there, no doubt looking for another fight. I hate to do it but we've had to prepare for war. The devils are nasty creatures, and dreadfully powerful. I can only hope you never meet one."
"I hope so too, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that," I said softly.
Gaja spoke up now, "Now that our queen's story is over, what's yours? I don't think you're here just for a friendly visit."
"You're right about that. I wish it was just a friendly visit but it isn't. We're tied up in a conflict with a terrorist group known as the Eye of the Midnight Sun and aggression from the Diamond Kingdom. That's the main part of why I'm here. I found another of my spirit friends locked away in a dungeon here, in the far north inside the strong magic zone. I need their power to help my team against Diamond."
"Why that spirit specifically," Gaja asked.
"Gemini has the power to take on the form and magic of others. In star dress, I can use that power to look like anyone I touch. There's no better way to infiltrate and complete a mission without fighting than with Gemini's powers. My captain thought it important enough I came here while the rest of the squad fights Diamond."
"I can see why you want to go after that. Feel free to go after it whenever, though I will tell you that surviving the strong magic zone isn't easy. You'll need a good mana skin to get through." Gaja told me.
Mana skin is needed here then. I'm glad Mereoleona showed me how to use that then, I'll need it. Funny how that works out.
"Alright, as grateful as I am for your hospitality, I do really need to move. My squad isn't going to stay in a standstill forever," I said assertively.
"Maybe so ... I have an idea," She said with a smirk.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked nervously.
I haven't visited the northern villages for some time. I'll make my visit there and you're coming with me. At least for today."
It deviates from the time-sensitive mission but when faced with a smirking Queen of Hearts, I don't think I have much choice.
"Alright," I said. "We'll go together."
And so it was. After watching Loropechika use her mana zone to water the entire kingdom at once, she switched into a very simple-looking dress she planned on using to blend into the villagers at our destination. Noticing this, I took off my golden dawn sash and regalia to get a similar look. As the sun set, we set off.
Again, I'm thankful for broom travel being fast. It was barely an hour before we arrived at the village. Over the way, we made some more idle talk, mostly Loropechika asking me a bit of what's happened in Clover from my perspective. As for the overall events, she already knew. She even asked a bit about Fiore and how it's governed compared to any of the four suit kingdoms. She was certainly shocked by how many large cities we had, especially since we had no nobles controlling cities, only the King who let the cities rule themselves.
After landing, we went straight for a few market stalls where Loropechika proceeded to overpay the asking price for everything and insist the merchant took it all. We kept doing this while the streets were busy.
While we were doing this, she asked me, "Isn't it fun to see the smiles I can put on people's faces up close? It's amazing."
"It really is," I replied earnestly. " I couldn't for a second imagine this happening in Clover. You're really too nice for this world. I find myself wishing to do the same back there."
"You can do it anytime really. That's why I like this disguise so much. I can act like a kind person and not as the queen for a while and help my people directly. It's so rewarding."
I started doing the same thing for the neediest I saw on the street as we walked up the main road beside a small creek. That honestly reminds me so much of home, where I could just walk down the road with no concerns but falling into the river. Again, the nature in the Heart Kingdom is beautiful.
After that, I also went to the market stalls, and the first one I stopped at was a farmer selling corn. Of course, I wouldn't really be able to do anything with the corn, but that's not the point. We would just end up handing it out later. Before making the purchase, the shopkeeper asked me, "Why's a lady like you buying corn from me I wonder?"
"Is there anything wrong with it," I asked
"Oh, you don't see many ladies over here. It's too rural here after all. I wouldn't give it up for anything."
"You must really like it here then. I would too, if I was surrounded by all this nature. Names Lucy, nice to meet you."
"Name's Andy. I'm just a farmer that's been growing the same plot of land my pa farmed, whose pa farmed, and so on. I could always go out and try something else, but this plot of land is mine. It's my connection to my family. It's a peaceful life I wouldn't trade for anything," he said.
"Alright Andy, I'm still buying all this corn, and I don't care about what cost you put. Maybe you can use this to see something else for some time before coming back home here."
"Now that you mention it, I do have some other family that wasn't big on the farm and left for cities. It'd be good to visit them once myself. On my normal pay, there's no way I'd afford that, so thanks a lot lady." With that, we exchanged goods for money and I went on.
Afterward, we walked upstream until we hit a beautiful sunflower field surrounded by water on all sides. Just past the field was a thick smoke leading into a forest, which is the strong magic zone. Loropechika sat down in the field, hand stroking a sunflower, while she spoke saying, "You know Lucy, I'm glad you were here with me. This is one of few times I can feel like Loropechika and not the queen of a kingdom. You're probably the first person to see me like that, so thank you."
"Of course Loropechika. I've made few friends since arriving on this continent and you're by far the kindest and strongest spirit I know. Your people are lucky to have you."
"That's the duty of a ruler after all, we exist to serve our people. At least that's how I see it."
I started speaking again in a softer, somewhat scared tone, "I keep wondering about Clover's people. They're so much worse off than the people of Fiore, and they're going to get no help from the kingdom. We don't have you. A little bit after joining the magic knights, I decided that helping the commoners would be my goal as a magic knight. Just to try to get somewhere close to equality,"
"You're also so kind Lucy. Not many people would pick out that goal in a foreign land," Loropechika said softly.
"I guess I'm like you. I can't stand seeing people hurt without doing something to help. So I thought about what I can do. But the system is so deeply entrenched!" I started screaming at this point. "All those foolish nobles see it everywhere and do nothing. They just keep abusing those poor people while laughing! I'm surrounded by jerks in my squad." My voice got quieter while the tone stayed the same. "Sometimes, I think the only way to help them is by tearing apart the system from its core, with the king and wizard king and all the magic knights in tow. All I can think of now is how many people would die if I tried a grand plan to help the people. I'd be creating martyrs and I can't stand doing that!"
Loropechika moved closer to me, grabbing my shaking hands. "Don't ever think that way. Even the heart kingdom hasn't had a perfect history. People have died to get my ancestors in power, and they used that guilt as motivation to help the people any way they could. I'm sure you'll do the same. The lesson here is that change can take sacrifice. Don't worry about that sacrifice. If you can change people's lives for the better, you should do it. All I think about when ruling is how many people I can help. Feel free to run any ideas by me before acting on them by the way."
How could she be so perfect? Great ruler, ever benevolent, and great advice. I pulled her into a hug saying, "You're really the best friend I could ask for. I'm glad to know you."
"And I you Lucy. Me too."
We broke and sat down in the field, watching the fireflies light up the otherwise dark night. It was peaceful. I have nothing else to say about it.
"There's still plenty of time in the night and the fog seems to have died down a bit. Lucy, now's your opening to get inside. I know you'll get through."
"I'll have to be off then, bye Loropechika!"
"Stay safe in there!"
With that, I called out Urano Metria Minima to get into mana skin and walked in. Pretty much immediately I could feel the lack of Loropechika's protective mana zone and a lot of hostile natural mana, trying to break down my protections. I've done enough training in the volcano to know what to do against this. I held my focus as I held out my map and walked forward, ducking and climbing over thick logs and sticks. Good thing is that I don't have to go far. Barely a few hundred cubits in and I already found my destination. It was a small building of stone terribly out of place in the wilderness of a forest undisturbed for hundreds of years. The door was wide open, showing a staircase and nothing else. I entered the building and walked down the stairs.
When I entered this dungeon, I was expecting some set of traps or challenges. After all, that's the experience with every other dungeon so far. I thought they all had to have some security. What I wasn't expecting was to see Gemini's key on a table directly in front of me in a room with only one entrance. The whole dungeon was just one room. It can't be that easy, right?
Turns out it is that easy. Nothing stopped me as I picked up the key from the table and attached it to my keychain. I guess the challenge was reaching the dungeon, not the dungeon itself.
As I turned around, I noticed a faint blue hologram appear in front of me. It was see-through and ethereal, much like a ghost.
"We meet again, Lucy,"
"Lucina, is that you? That's what you looked like?" I asked.
"Yes. I haven't taken a ghost form like this for some hundred years. Almost forgot what it's like to have a body."
Even in ghost form, she looked pretty. The specter had long blond hair and brown eyes, and a well-endowed chest. If I had to describe her looks I'd say it's shockingly similar to my mother, or even myself for that matter.
"Were there really no protections on this dungeon?"
"No, not really," Lucina replied. The strong magic zone is the main protection, and I could have other mechanisms activated here. We've already met and I know your spirits trust you, so I had the defenses turned off. Mostly, I wanted to speak with you before you leave here. I'm sure you've already heard this, but this strong magic zone is the border between a kingdom of devils and a kingdom of nature. Here, we're the closest I've been to the influence of a devil. How much do you know about those creatures."
"Not a lot," I admitted. "Only about Megicula, the one that attacked the Heart Kingdom.
"Devils are born in the underworld, a different realm of existence much like the spirit world, or your world, Earthland."
"You know about that?" I asked shocked.
"Part of being dead is that I can know about so much from other ghosts. Of course, not many actually stay behind in the world. I don't even know why I'm still bound here instead of passing on normally. Usually, doing that takes the darkest magic out there and I never remember that having been used on me. But yes, the devils are a race from another world entirely. It's a brutal society built on strength hierarchies, and they all are extremely cruel and evil. For all devils, their goal is to escape into the human world to conquer and subjugate all. Thanks to the difficulty of traveling worlds for everyone but us celestial mages, they haven't been able to escape, so instead they give their power to humans fitting their ideals. Right now, I feel the power of a devil-possessed human right outside this dungeon, which I needed to warn you about. Leave with caution, as the devil likely knows how celestial magic can open dimensional gates. You cannot lose this battle else devils will invade the world in large numbers, bringing the end of humans."
"I got that. How could they invade the world if they can't escape the underworld?"
"That's your magic. Celestial magic allows opening gates into other dimensions. Weaker mages will use objects focusing into the celestial world to pull this off, which are gate keys. More powerful mages can access the realm as a whole through spells like Urano Metria or by physically traveling there. What do you think would happen if instead of a gate key for constellations, you were forced to use your magic with an object from the underworld as a focus?"
"That's why it's so dangerous. I've never tried accessing other dimensions."
"Nor should you. It's really nasty and painful for the wizard. It's unnatural and goes against any normal magic." She paused for a moment, then continued. "It's how I died. I died giving myself up to prevent myself from being used by a devil to access his body. Whatever you do, don't lose, now go. Your friend will need your help."
Without saying goodbye, Lucina's ghost disappeared, leaving an empty doorway with a staircase back to the surface. I walked up the stairs, bracing for whatever I could find. First things first, after getting up the stairs, I still had to make my way out of the strong magic zone, which was simple enough to do. Just retrace my steps, and I was out. The sight in front of me was just as dire as Lucina made it out to be.
All the other spirit guardians were present and sprawled on the ground. Only Gaja remained standing among them, and even he was struggling to stay upright. There was a large dome of water, and Loropechika was swimming through it gracefully. The water spirit was also visible, keeping the sphere of water up. It was clearly a battlefield, and Loropechika was struggling to win the fight. I looked higher and saw why. Floating above the dome of water was the devil herself, Vanica. Gaja tried to stand back up, but he was slow to do so. Vanica saw that and fired another burst of blood, knocking him down. Vanica continued the attacks, which were stopped by Loropechika using the water spirit to dilute her blood.
"Oh, is my widdle Loropechika having a problem?" she taunted in a sickeningly sweet voice. Yeah, that one's completely insane. I heard Lucina's warnings, I need to do something here. I arrived in time to join the fight this time, it had still clearly only just begun. Running forward, I pulled out my keys, summoning Aquarius in the water sphere. The mermaid appeared and then dove straight for battle. It's very unlike her to not taunt me even a little bit, which means even Aquarius knows how serious this fight is.
That clearly isn't enough, so I also summoned Loke before getting into Aquarius star dress form and diving straight into battle. The next blood attack that came was repelled not by Loropechika but by Aquarius blasting powerful water from her jar. I appeared next to Loropechika saying, "Sorry I'm late."
Loropechika simply said, "You're just on time, Lucy," before ordering a soldier to use healing magic on Gaja. Me and Loropechika faced the devil alone, staring for a few seconds before starting the attack. Her mana zone was highly concentrated inside the sphere, which Aquarius and I used to increase our speed. On the way out, I switched to Cancer form and attacked with swords, which Vanica simply blocked with hardened blood claws. She retaliated with those claws, but Loke was around to stop the attack. Aquarius let out another blast from her jar, and once again Vanica released more blood from her body completely nullifying the attack and putting be back on the defensive. A combination of my water and Loropecika's magic stopped the worst of the attacks, but I was already getting a bit weaker, and it took every last bit of strength I had to defend against any of her attacks.
"Hah, the spirit girl is finally here. Oh, you're so cute, you'd make a fine plaything under my foot. Anyways, hold on while I crush you real quick. I promise I'll make it as painful as possible. Devil power, 40%.
Really! That was only 40% and it was already matching Loropechika and me. If that got higher we would have no chance. Whatever, I still have to try. My attacks, which already didn't make it through, were now being defended at a mere thought and I was using up my magic fast from needing Aquarius and Loke to keep me safe.
"It was nice playing with you," Vanica cackled, "But it's time I end playtime for now. Do try to follow me, you'll only make it more fun my widdle Loropechika and spirit girl. Devil Power, 50%.
Pretty much as soon as she said that, she fled deeper into Heart. But why would she ever do that? We were clearly beaten and she was going away. Somehow this was even scarier than if she directly fought us.
"We need to move, now!" I told Loropechika, who just nodded and ran with me deeper into the kingdom, back to the village we visited earlier today. She stopped in place and I saw tears in her eyes. I looked forward and saw the reason why. Where an entire town with peaceful farmers had been before was now just a hole in the ground. A giant crater.
Every one of those people we met, including the farmer Andy who was just going to visit his family, were all dead.
Just like that.
Just like that.
An entire town wiped out in an instant like it was nothing.
Vanica stood in the center of the crater, laughing her head off at our powerlessness to do anything.