Yearning for the Moon

Chapter Eleven

I open my eyes in the spatial world, curious to see what Fluorite has done to make a habitable space for the Burning Ember sapling, I'm not sure why but I imagined a volcano suddenly forming somewhere, but all I see outside is the normal forest, though normal couldn't begin to describe the vibrant forest. "Mistress, have you come to check if the space for the Burning Ember sapling is ready?" I nod, and she gives me a huge smile, looking extremely pleased with herself. "I am just adding the final touches, come, come." She beckons me as she leads me towards the greenhouse, I follow her in there, half expecting a pool of lava, but there is no such thing to be found, the room looks exactly the same.

Except then she leads me over to the corner and we descend down a set of stairs that most certainly weren't there before, it gets warmer the further we go down, until I am practically sweating through my clothes, at least before I begin using my spirit energy to regulate the temperature around me. Soon we step into a large room, which indeed has the lava stream I had been expecting, along with a large pool of water not too far from it, that was steaming with heat. "I thought if I was adding a natural heat source then I should add in a hot spring for you to relax in, the Burning Ember sapling will be placed on the other side of the lava river so that it can spread out and erupt into flame without damaging anything." She gestures to the small stone bridge that arched over the rather big lava stream to the other side, I suppose in case I wanted to make use of the Burning Ember tree's talents of purifying things.

Fluorite truly was a miracle worker, she didn't just take on and complete a task, she did it the best possible way she could, usually adding extras in to please me. Made me almost wish I could live in this miraculous world all the time, but the real world wouldn't just allow me to hide away in here all my life, I wasn't selfish enough to do that. I take the initiative to leave the spatial world and head over to see Gregory, he seems so relieved when I am able to take the Burning Ember sapling as I promised, looking at me with so much trust in his eyes.

He is happy to receive another bag of spirit tea, but he looks more grateful that I had found a better place for the Burning Ember sapling to flourish, and I was grateful I hadn't had to pay a single coin for what would have been a very expense plant. After I speak to Gregory for a little while, I know I must head over to the city lord's residence, they were no doubt already waiting for my arrival, I dreaded the mere thought of it, but I suppose it was inevitable.

Given my prestige from the competition, there was no way the city lord wouldn't have reached out sooner or later, though I hoped I would be free of having this meeting for more than the two days I had been here. The city lord's residence is as grand as I had expected it to be, even grander than the residence they had previously lived in that was now mine, but I would expect nothing less. The guards obviously recognize me upon arrival, because they immediately act extremely respectful and open the gates for me, where a servant leads me to the main hall.

An older man sits on a throne like chair at the end of the hall, not old and gray haired, but certainly older than me, at least as old as my parents, and considering I was pretty sure his cultivation was above my parents that was saying something, looks didn't usually match ones age anymore with significant cultivation practically halting the aging process, all we could do was guess and hear rumors. "Miss Dagonus, a pleasure to finally see you, I had heard of your arrival but hadn't expected you to come visit so soon." I roll my eyes on the inside, I mean really, you practically forced me to come here, I certainly wasn't here of my own volition.

Given a choice I would rather just leave, because chances were this man would behave even worse than his son, after all he had to learn it somewhere. "I assure you the intention was always to come here at some point, Lord Rowan." I was polite, but certainly telling him that I did not come here without an invitation first.