Chapter 53 - Will Riveria visit the queen?

I felt intense pain in my face, and Serie moved off of me. I lay with my back against the ground and watched my magic fly toward the sky. It shot upward at incredible speed, sweeping away every cloud in its path before exploding high above.

It was a powerful explosion of light that could be seen from anywhere in the world.

“I might be exaggerating…”

I let out a long sigh and then raised my hand to my face. When I looked at it, I saw it was stained with blood.

“Queen?” I then heard Serie’s voice.

I turned my head and saw her kneeling beside me with a worried expression.

“You hurt me,” I said with a smile.

“Is it really you?” She moved closer and touched my face. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes.

“Yes, it’s me.” I placed my hand over hers and then used it to wipe the blood from my face. I was sure that only made things worse. Serie stayed silent for a while, then began to cry.

Tears streamed down her face, and then she hugged me, pressing me tightly against the dirt ground.

I started to run out of air, so I pushed her away.

“We’d better head back now. That drew a lot of attention.” I pointed to the sky. The pillar of light was still there, shining with overwhelming brilliance. Serie looked up, then looked over my body entirely.

“You’re right! You can fly? Do you want me to carry you?”

“It’s fine, I can fly. But first.”

I used water magic to soak my entire body, washing away all the dirt, including the blood.

Then I used healing magic to close the cut that had formed above my eyebrow and had been bleeding. The pain vanished as well. After that, I flew up into the sky, and Serie followed after me.

“As soon as I get home, I’m going to have a serious talk with that man.”

“Hm? Did you say something?”

“It’s nothing.”

Who gave him permission to control my body like that? He almost killed Serie!

I need to make sure that never happens again.

‘Is it possible to kill the soul trapped inside me?’

I flew at high speed toward the World Tree while thinking of solutions to deal with this problem. What a headache.

####

When I arrived at the elven village, all the elves were gathered near the World Tree. When they saw me completely naked, none of them seemed to care. Of course, they’re still just “children,” and elves generally don’t mind things like that.

Only Serie was acting strangely, looking embarrassed.

“Queen, did something happen?” Lyuu approached, clearly worried. “I saw you and Serie fly off together. I thought something serious might have happened, so I gathered everyone in case help was needed.”

“It’s fine.” I stepped closer and placed my hand on her head. It felt a bit strange, since Lyuu was already as tall as I was. “Nothing serious happened, right?” I looked at Serie.

“Yes, everything’s fine. We just needed to step out to talk.”

“Talk? Without clothes?”

“Ah, about that… I had just woken up and forgot to put my clothes on… Haha.” It made no sense, but Lyuu accepted it as the truth.

“I’m glad nothing serious happened. Serie, I’m getting ready to go hunting—do you want to come with me?”

Hearing Lyuu’s question, I was shocked. So she was already going out hunting on her own?

“You can go by yourself. I have something important to discuss with the Queen, don’t I?”

“…” I sighed and said, “Take a few elves with you, Lyuu. Train them the same way Serie does. Can I trust you with that?”

“Of course!” Lyuu replied with a big smile. “You and you—come with me.”

“You? Ah, right. I still haven’t named all of them.”

“You don’t need to do that now. First, we need to talk about what happened.” Serie grabbed my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes. “I want to know everything. I want to know everything you’re hiding from me.”

“Alright, alright, I get it.”

####

POV: Third Person

Some time earlier, in Orario, many people had seen that light in the sky.

One of them was Loki, who was in her room. She noticed the light through the window and approached to take a closer look. She placed her hand against the glass, and someone’s face came to her mind.

The only person capable of producing such powerful magic.

The clouds in the sky had been swept away, turning what was once overcast into a clear blue sky.

“Frieren…” she murmured her name.

Then someone entered the room.

It was Riveria, vice-captain of the Loki Familia, an elf.

“Goddess!”

“You’re here because of that?” Loki pointed toward the magic in the sky, which was beginning to fade. Riveria approached the window and nervously swallowed.

“Do you think it’s her?” Riveria asked.

“I’m certain she’s the one who created that magic. But why did she do it? Did she give up on hiding and decide to draw attention to herself? If so, she succeeded, didn’t she?”

“Yes, she did. There isn’t a single person in Orario who didn’t see that. The other gods who know the Queen well will realize that she’s returned.” Riveria was visibly nervous.

“What is it? Are you worried about her?”

“That’s…”

“I told you before, didn’t I? You should visit her. She doesn’t want me there, but she won’t mind if you go. She’ll be happy to see you, even if you ‘abandoned’ the elves.”

“…” Riveria fell silent, but her thoughts raced.

Should she go there?

That magic… the power it held was incomprehensible. Not even she—one of the most powerful mages in the world—could produce anything like that.

‘It seems she’s grown even stronger,’ Riveria thought.

But how was that possible? How could she be even stronger after sleeping for so long?

‘If I go there, I might find out.’

“You’re going, aren’t you?” Loki noticed Riveria had made up her mind and smiled.

Riveria nodded and left the room with quick steps.