Princess of the Silver Ocean - Chapter 91

Laojin smiled. He felt like he was appreciated by this team. For the first time in his life, he felt a sense of belonging. Like he mattered to someone. Being in Misty’s gang was nowhere near what he thought it would be. When he joined her gang, he thought he would be happy. That he would feel like he belonged.

However, the feelings were the complete opposite of what he expected. Misty never really cared about anyone’s opinion. She did what she wanted, whether people liked it or not. Also, it was not like he enjoyed bullying princess Nexi. He hated it. He hated what Misty did to princess Nexi.

He knew that Misty bullied the princess because she was jealous of her. Because the princess was gullible, a total pushover, and nowhere near being outspoken. He would watch as the princess said nothing to Misty, who bullied her. It was suffocating for him to see someone as beautiful and friendly as princess Nexi be bullied.

“Let’s go!” Laurelai yelled happily as a cab stopped in front of them.

“To the Heavenly Spruce Forest, please,” the fairy told the cab driver, who nodded.

The trip to the forest was quiet as the only sound that was heard in the cab was the radio. Astoria was wrapped up in her own world as she remembered that she had a ball coming up this weekend.

She sighed. She did not know any other high-class citizens or royal families except the Kuba family. She was nervous about how the day or night would be. When she goes back to the palace, she has to ask the king to give her brief info about the people, or in this case, creatures who would attend the ball.

‘Ah, the engagement announcement,’ she bit her lip as she stared at the buildings they passed as the cab drove.

How would the public take Nexi’s engagement to the royal, kitsune prince? Would they be happy for her? Angry maybe? Jealous even? She knew Naida was jealous and believed that the princess’ older sister was up to something.

If it was something terrible, something that would harm Nexi in any way, shape, or form, she was going to stop her no matter what. She turned to look at her teammates and secretly smiled. Again, Astoria was glad that Misty was not in Nexi’s team, or else she would punch her or something if she got on her nerves. That would not be good for Nexi. Not. At. All.

“We have arrived, fellow teammates,” she had Laurelai declare, causing her to snap out of her thoughts, “Welcome to the Heavenly Spruce Forest.”

They stepped out of the cab, and Astoria watched as it drove away.

“Wow,” Laojin said, and Astoria turned to face the marveling forest that Miss Yalvina had told them about.

“Well,” Davitt said, “What are we waiting for?”

“Exactly,” Laurelai added, “Let’s make haste. No time to waste.”

“Ooh, you rhymed,” Laojin said, causing the fairy to laugh.

Astoria smiled, and they walked to the entrance of the gate. There was a little reception area where they had to fill in their names and get tags that would allow them to enter the forest. Davitt passed the tags to the rest of his teammates, and they put them on.

“All right,” the receptionist anthousai said as she grabbed a piece of paper, “These are rules you need to follow when you enter the forest. Any breaking of the rules will result in you getting kicked out of the forest.”

Astoria and the rest nodded.

“Please also note that there are cameras within the forest, so you are being recorded,” the anthousai said with a wry smile, “This is a very sacred forward to this city, so I would appreciate it if you follow the rules written on that piece of paper I just gave you. If you understand, you may proceed.”

With that, she pressed a green button, and the aluminum gate opened. They bowed and thanked her and walked past the gate. Stepping inside the forest felt like stepping into a park that had luscious trees, exotic flowers, and the sound of wildlife all mashed into one.

“It is so beautiful,” the fairy said, twirling in glee.

“Yeah,” Astoria nodded, “No wonder the anthousai said it is sacred. For some reason, I can feel some kind of earthly essence.”

“Oh, that?” Davitt said as he began following the stone path that was provided as a pathway for people to use to navigate through the forest safely, “That essence is an earth magic source.”

“Ah, so that’s it?” Astoria nodded in understanding.

“Which path do we take?” Laurelai came to a stop.

There were three stone paths in front of them. She took out the brochure and read that the famous spot within the Heavenly Spruce Forest was the Cove of East Corrilt, a swamp in the middle of the Heavenly Spruce Forest.

“This brochure does not tell me which road to take among the three I’d I want to see this swamp,” the fairy pouted.

“What about the page with the rules that anthousai gave us?” Astoria asked, “There must be something there.”

The fairy held the said page in her hand and saw that the first page had all the rules listed on it. The second page had a map of the Heavenly Spruce Forest.

“Great thinking,” Laojin said as he noticed the map of the Heavenly Spruce Forest, “There is a map on the second page.”

“Do you see the swamp on the map?” Davitt asked, standing next to Astoria as Laurelai and Laojin scanned the map.

“Found it!” Laojin exclaimed.

Just then, a few citizens walked past them and out of the forest. Looks like they were done with their tour of the forest. They bowed at Astoria as they walked past, and she smiled, doing the same.

“On the map, it shows that the second stone road leads to the swamp,” Laurelai said, looking up from the map and at Astoria and Davitt.

“How’s our time, Laojin?” Astoria asked.

Laojin looked at his watch.

“It is half-past twelve,” he said.

“Let’s get going then,” Astoria said and began to walk next to Laurelai.

The guys followed behind them and watched as Laurelai could not keep her head facing forward. The fairy was overly excited, turning her head in all directions as she scanned the different trees and exotic flowers they passed.

“It is a shame one cannot take pictures here,” the fairy said.

“Yeah. Too bad we are not allowed to use our phones,” Laojin nodded.

“No, not that,” the fairy said, shaking her head ‘no.’

“I am guessing one of the rules is that no pictures are to be taken?” Astoria said, raising an eyebrow to the fairy, who nodded.

“No pictures, no food, no loud noises, no smoking or bringing in any type or form of alcohol,” the fairy began listing the rules as they followed the path, “No using magic that may endanger any plant and animal life.”

The fairy sighed.

“These are just some of the rules to follow,” she told them, “There are plenty more written on this page.”

She clapped the page and sighed again.

“It shows how really sacred this forest is,” Astoria said, “After all, didn’t Miss Yalvina say that this forest helps with the plant life of the whole kingdom?”

“Yeah,” Astoria and Laurelai heard Davitt say behind them, “If this forest is damaged, the whole kingdom’s plant and animal life would be in danger. That would also affect a creature’s magical energy, especially if their affinity is or is mostly related to earth.”

They had been walking for about ten minutes now, and the fairy was getting tired.

“Man,” she breathed out, “This forest is huge. I mean, is it just me, or does it feel like we have been walking for ages? How long have we been walking?”

“Ten minutes,” Laojin replied, “We have been walking for ten minutes now.”

Astoria and Laurelai sighed in unison. It was not as if Astoria was tired. In fact, she was far from tired since she was used to walking and running long distances in her line of work. She just could not believe that she was in a forest. A whole damn forest and that it was taking them so long to get to the Cove of East Corrilt.

“Then,” Davitt said, stopping in his tracks, “How about we take a little rest?”

He pointed at a nearby table with two benches surrounding it on opposite sides. Everyone nodded their head vigorously and ran to the bench. They all sat around the table and sighed in relief.

“My poor feet,” the fairy mumbled as she stretched her legs.

Laojin and Astoria laughed in unison.

“It cannot be that bad?” Davitt asked the fairy, who pouted.

“Of course it is,” she told him, “I am not used to walking for so long in such a hilly, zigzagging, and twisted road.”