The Goddesses’ Bath
It turned out that Bezewanst only ever visited cities close to Ehrenfest, sticking to a limited area within the already relatively small Central District. The moment we reached a particular distance away from Ehrenfest, the attitudes of the mayors and town chiefs changed considerably.
“Is this something that’s hard to notice from the archduke’s perspective?” I asked.
“...Bezewanst was the High Bishop for a considerably long time thanks to Veronica’s influence, and he always selected tax officials who would carry out his whims. The reality was, he had more leverage in Ehrenfest than a laynoble scholar. I can imagine his relationships to commoners were given no scrutiny as long as the taxes were collected in full from each city.”
At that, Ferdinand paused, before continuing with a bitter smile.
“Even my late father was weak to Veronica, due in no small part to him... taking me in. This all happened many years before Sylvester became Aub Ehrenfest. Sylvester lacked the strength and a good enough cause to remove his own mother and uncle from power, the latter of whom had served as High Bishop for decades.
“In any case, being a noble is the height of tedium; all just actions will encounter fierce resistance. To see actual results, you must accumulate power and thoroughly set the stage over an extensive period of time. Attempting to act against injustice the moment you see it runs the significant risk of causing more problems elsewhere. You must learn to sit back and observe the situation, even if you find what is occurring deplorable.”
I nodded, but deep down, I couldn’t imagine myself managing to silently overlook something I found deplorable. Ferdinand must have picked up on that, as he shot me a glare.
“Do not nod if you do not understand.”
“...I’ll do my best to learn to overlook things if they don’t involve books or my own family,” I conceded, which only made Ferdinand massage his temples and grimace even harder. In any case, I would need to be careful; I knew that the moment I got wrapped up in something, I wouldn’t be able to control myself.
My attempts to educate the mayors and town chiefs aside, Spring Prayer was largely the same as last year, and we consequently went through it without much issue. There were, however, a few things that stood out.
For one, my blessings last year had made such an impact on the harvest that every winter mansion we visited met us with enthusiastic fervor. They spoke to us with heated expressions, no doubt hoping for an even more bountiful harvest this year, since I was now the High Bishop and not just an apprentice shrine maiden.
In addition to that, our journey this year was a lot more leisurely; our potion-fueled death march was a thing of the past. We would arrive at our first winter mansion of the day in the morning and perform Spring Prayer, then speak to the local authorities over lunch. Then, in the afternoon, we would travel to the second winter mansion. Here we would perform again, have dinner with the authorities, and then go to bed. We repeated this process over and over, every single day.
It was fairly tiring, since we had every meal with city and town authorities, which meant I always needed to be watching my words. I was here as the archduke’s adopted daughter and the High Bishop, so I needed to act the part.
The sole silver lining was that I could use my youth as an excuse to retire to my room straight after each meal. Ferdinand, on the other hand, was not so lucky.
It wasn’t long before I had mastered my excuse. “I would love to spend more time speaking with you all, but I must leave so that I might provide blessings to as much land as possible,” I would say with a saintly smile whenever they tried to keep me at the table.
Each morning, our attendants would climb into their carriage and head to the winter mansion we planned to stay the night in. Meanwhile, I traveled by highbeast. Fran and Zahm rode with me since they served my lunch, and because they had been entrusted with managing the divine instrument.
For lunch, our personal chefs—in my case, Ella—prepared meals for us. This was standard practice, apparently done to avoid us having to test for poison and to reduce the burden on cities that were low on food after the winter.
The real reason, however, was that Ferdinand was adamant about only wanting to eat food that he liked. He was able to endure commoner food every now and again, but he didn’t want to eat it day after day. In all honesty, I had to agree; I would much rather have food that I enjoyed.
As we continued our Spring Prayer journey, we traded grain from the temple for wild spring vegetables that grew near farming towns, including something that resembled slightly hard lettuce.
“This is the town closest to The Goddesses’ Bath,” Ferdinand said as we arrived in Fontedorf.
Once we had completed our Spring Prayer duties, we were invited to dinner with the town authorities, as per usual. The town chief spoke to us about the spring while I ate.
“Aah, The Goddesses’ Bath? The water there has the power to heal minor wounds and illnesses. There are no travelers there at the present due to the snow still covering the mountains, but in the summer, people come from far and wide to acquire its water.”
“So the water has special powers, then?” I asked. “Is it a spring of Flutrane, the Goddess of Water? Or Heilschmerz, the Goddess of Healing?”
“It is said to be where all the Goddesses of Spring gather, though nobody has actually seen one there before,” the town chief replied, smiling like a kindly old grandpa teaching his curious grandchild.
“I am very much looking forward to the Night of Flutrane now.”
“A-Ah, could it be that you need to reach the spring by then? If so, I am sorry to say that you may not make it in time. It may be nearby, but... there are mountains you must travel through,” the town chief stammered, glancing uneasily between Ferdinand and me.
The spring known as The Goddesses’ Bath was located on a shortish mountain surrounded by forest, some distance away from any human settlement. And due to all the snow, it would take several days to reach it by carriage. The town chief asserted that we wouldn’t be able to make it, no matter how hard we tried.
But Ferdinand simply shook his head. “Fear not. We shall travel by highbeast, making the snow and distance irrelevant.”
“Ah... Ah, yes. I see. Flying highbeasts certainly would allow you to avoid those problems.”
The town chief sighed in relief, as did many others. There was one who crossed their arms with a worried expression, however.
“The talfroschs at the spring have most likely accumulated a lot of power by now. I imagine that you will be safe with your accompanying knights, but please do take care.”
“I thank you for your concern.”
As the talfroschs never strayed far from the spring and thus posed no threat to the local towns, it seemed they were largely left alone. That in turn meant that they grew fairly large, so we would need to stay on guard when we arrived.
“While it should not take us long to reach the spring, it would be ideal for us to exterminate the talfroschs while it is still bright. As such, we shall depart well ahead of time,” Ferdinand mused aloud.
And so it was decided that we would set up camp in the forest, hunting the talfroschs and other local feybeasts while we were there.
“We were just about to start hunting the harmful feybeasts ourselves to ensure the safety of our farms, so it would be an enormous help if you exterminated those in the forest for us,” one town chief said, his eyes wrinkling in a grateful smile.
While the forest was rich with food, the smaller feybeasts thriving there would apparently start invading the farming towns once they began growing crops. Farmers could hunt the smaller ones not dangerous enough to demand the Order’s help themselves, but doing this alongside their usual labor would be extremely strenuous.
“You may consider it payment for your information,” Ferdinand said, at which point one of the grateful old men clapped his hands together.
“Then allow me to tell you one more thing—you would do well to bring sweets to The Goddesses’ Bath.”
“Sweets?” I asked, tilting my head.
“You may not need any if you are traveling by highbeast, but it seems that the goddess of the spring has quite a fondness for sweets such as honey, milk, and fruit. Leaving such an offering by the statue at the entrance of the forest will allow one to reach the spring without getting lost.”
“Oh, I see. In that case, I will certainly prepare sweets,” I said. “I thank you ever so much for your valuable information.”
We lived in a world where building up mana and asking the gods for help resulted in actual magic. If an offering would make our path easier, then it would be wise for us to bring plenty of sweets.
“I shall leave the sweet preparations to you, Rozemyne. Be ready to depart tomorrow.”
We would be leaving the majority of our attendants in Fontedorf, instead heading to The Goddesses’ Bath with an elite strike team. The knights could look after themselves and thus needed no attendants, but I would be bringing mine, since my highbeast had the capacity for it.
In total, I would be bringing Fran, Monika, Nicola, Ella, and Rosina.
Ferdinand had suggested I bring a chef so that we could eat better food, and I was sure that Monika and Nicola would provide useful assistance in this regard. Rosina, on the other hand, was accompanying us at her own request, having said that she didn’t want to be left alone. I had thus ended up bringing her along too, under the agreement that she would help out with any attendant work that wouldn’t risk damaging her fingers.
I returned to my room with Fran, who had served my food.
“Monika, Nicola—begin preparations for spending the next few days in the forest. Inform Ella and Rosina the same.”
“You mean the food, water, clothes, medicine, and so on that we’ll need while staying at The Goddesses’ Bath?” Monika asked to confirm.
Fran nodded in response, then turned to me. “Lady Rozemyne, you may leave the preparations to us. The High Priest has informed us of what we need.”
“All the luggage will be put into my highbeast, so be sure to include food for the knights,” I instructed, looking over my attendants before resting my eyes on Nicola. “Nicola, inform Ella to prepare sweets as well. Honey or jam should do.”
Out of everyone here, Nicola was the most enthusiastic about food; I had no worries about leaving this responsibility to her. She always helped Ella with a smile and was closer to her than anyone.
“The sweets are for offering to a goddess. It seems that such an offering will allow us to reach the spring without losing our way,” I explained.
Nicola beamed with excitement. “Lady Rozemyne, we should prepare some of your special sweets as well, not just honey. I am certain that the goddess would be even more overjoyed if we offer confections she has never had before.”
“Very true. You may tell that to Ella as well.”
“Okay!” Nicola exclaimed, her reddish-orange hair bobbing up and down as she nodded. She then paused for a moment, carefully meeting my gaze. “Lady Rozemyne... Would you like us to also prepare sweets that, um, won’t be offered to the goddess?”
“Certainly. We can all eat them together when we reach the spring.”
“Okay!”
Since cookies were easy to eat, Ella opted to bake some as our sweets. Well, I suppose she was cooking rather than baking them; there was no oven available, so she had instead used a frying pan. They ended up looking like bite-sized pancakes as a result, but a quick taste-test confirmed that this wasn’t an issue.
We finished the last of our preparations in the morning and ate lunch, then headed to The Goddesses’ Bath by highbeast, leaving behind everyone’s attendants except mine. Together we soared through the sky, tracing thin roads laced between farms on our way to the forest.
It took some time, which was to be expected since the spring was several days away by carriage, but we managed to arrive at the entrance to the forest before fifth bell. Snow still coated the small mountain from its peak down to about the midway point, while the base signaled the coming of spring with a plethora of greenery.
We landed at the entrance to the woods, at which point Ferdinand started giving instructions to the guard knights.
“Eckhart, Damuel—search for the spring from above. Brigitte, stay here with Rozemyne.”
At that, Ferdinand, Eckhart, and Damuel got onto their highbeasts and returned to the skies. Those of us left behind got out of my Pandabus and stretched, taking in the chilly air. While it was absolutely more comfortable than riding in a carriage, driving for such a long time still tired me out.
As we continued to stretch, Monika pointed toward the forest. “Ah! Lady Rozemyne, is that not the statue we should offer our sweets to?”
I looked over to see the statue of a goddess sitting right beside the road leading into the forest, covered in dirt and vegetation from having been abandoned over the winter. It was easy to guess that it had been there for many, many years; the finer details of the face and clothes had worn away so that, even while looking with squinted eyes, I couldn’t tell which goddess it was meant to represent.
“Lady Rozemyne, shall we clean it?”
“I cannot stand to see a goddess look so filthy.”
My attendants all furrowed their brows. They had been raised in the temple, surrounded by near spotless effigies of the gods their entire lives, so it was no doubt hard for them to overlook what they were seeing.
“Feel free to brush away the vegetation and clean it a little, but you’ll have to hurry; there isn’t much time before Ferdinand and the others will return.”
Fran, Monika, and Nicola got to work at once, speedily cleaning the statue. They brushed away the dead leaves and plants before using a dry rag to scrub where we would be placing our offerings. That alone made the statue look significantly better than it had a second ago.
“Ella, prepare the offerings, if you will.”
Ella took out honey, milk, dried fruit, and cookies from the large box that she was cradling and gave them to Nicola, who in turn brought them over to me. I delicately placed the sweets and some nearby renfruhls—white flowers that marked the beginning of spring—onto the base of the statue.
“May we safely reach The Goddesses’ Bath,” I prayed, clasping my hands together.
It was a habit that my many years on Earth had deeply ingrained into me, and it was only when I noticed the confused, uncomfortable looks that everyone was giving me that I hurriedly corrected myself.
“Praise be to the gods!” I declared, raising one leg and throwing my hands into the air like I was praising the sun. My attendants did the same behind me.
Once we had completed our prayer, we hurried back into my highbeast; while the spring flowers had started to bloom, it was still incredibly cold outside. We all waited for Ferdinand and the others while eating the dried fruit that we had kept in Lessy.
“We have returned,” Ferdinand announced upon his eventual return, his highbeast being the first to land. I hurriedly wiped my hands and climbed out of my Pandabus to greet them.
“Welcome back, everyone. Did you find The Goddesses’ Bath?”
“Unfortunately, it could not be seen from above. There were unnaturally few gaps between the trees or rivers. We can conclude that mana is obfuscating the area, preventing the spring from being reached from above. Justus said that he found it quite easily from the sky when he visited during the summer, so it might be that now is a special time, with a greater amount of mana accumulating as the Night of Flutrane draws near.”
This abundance of mana, like what we had seen during the Night of Schutzaria, meant that the information Justus had acquired in advance wouldn’t be particularly useful. Ferdinand always prepared for things well ahead of time, so I could guess that he wasn’t very fond of unexpected developments like this.
He crossed his arms as if on guard and began scanning the area, his gaze eventually falling on the goddess statue. “I suppose this is the only entrance to the forest.”
I looked toward the statue as well and gave a big nod, simultaneously confirming that our offerings were still there. “It’ll be fine. We cleaned the statue, provided our offerings, and then prayed to the goddess, so we should reach the spring without any issue.”
“Your optimism astounds me, but very well. I shall take the lead. Brigitte and Damuel, stick with Rozemyne and stay behind me. Eckhart, bring up the rear. Follow me.”
Ferdinand urged his highbeast forward into the forest, its extended wings folding as it floated slightly above the ground. Brigitte rode hers behind him, while I followed her cape in Lessy, making him also float slightly.
See? I’m competent! I can do these things too, when I set my mind to it!
We hadn’t been able to see it from the entrance, but a little farther inside, there was plenty of snow that hadn’t melted yet. It was also pretty dark, maybe due to the rows of tall trees that were blocking out the light.
“Damuel! A zantze!” Eckhart suddenly shouted.
“I’m on it!” Damuel replied, rushing forward on his highbeast to hunt the cat-like feybeast. He came back in no time at all, only to be lectured by Eckhart on needing to improve his aim so that he could seize the feystone in a single blow.
“Damuel, there’s an eifinte. Go!”
This feybeast looked similar to a squirrel and was about as large as a cat. It had two short horns protruding from its head and moved fairly nimbly, leaping from branch to branch as Damuel chased after it.
We waited in place until he had retrieved the feystone.
“I see that Damuel is still rather slow,” Ferdinand observed. “Perhaps his limited amount of mana has caused him to rely on fighting without it.”
“It appears that he requires further training in mana-based combat, as well as standard physical improvement,” Eckhart replied, Ferdinand and him musing on the best way to train Damuel as they watched his movements. It seemed that he was still young enough for the Knight’s Order to take an interest in honing his talents.
The feybeasts that appeared before us were small in size and number, so they were hunted fairly quickly. Damuel fought alone, working up a sweat for our sake, until we eventually reached a small clearing that seemed to be a campsite of sorts. We passed through it, heading for the spring deeper inside the forest.
“...What direction should we be heading in?” Ferdinand asked aloud, looking around. We had passed through several campsites while hunting feybeasts, but the road had slowly disappeared beneath the snow, stopping us from advancing any farther.
I took a page from Ferdinand’s book and looked around as well. We were surrounded by trees, as we had been since we entered, but there was one spot where I noticed a sliver of light peeking through.
“Ferdinand, what about there? I see some light between the trees.”
“Where?”
“Over here,” I replied.
As I moved Lessy closer to the light, the trees themselves moved aside to make a path for me. I blinked in surprise, having not expected that at all, then looked at Ferdinand. “D-Did that happen because of our offerings?”
“Perhaps... but that might not be the only reason,” Ferdinand murmured with a bitter expression before advancing his highbeast down the opened pathway.
Brigitte followed, with me close behind.
Our surroundings became gradually brighter as we progressed along the thin, curved path, until eventually the trees fell away completely. The murky forest had opened into a clearing, with the sun shining brightly above us.
“...Is this The Goddesses’ Bath? It’s beautiful.”
To my surprise, the clearing felt like it had jumped from the tail end of winter to the middle of spring, time-wise. Clear water sprung forth as the beaming sun shone bright light down upon it—an unthinkable sight considering that we had just come from a road so covered in snow that we couldn’t even see it.
Surrounding the spring were groups of white renfruhls, and birds could be heard chirping overhead. A gentle wind stroked the water’s surface, which gleamed as more fresh water bubbled forth and flowed further down.
At the center of the bluish-green spring were pale pink flowers, which looked exactly like water lilies at first glance.
“Those are raireins, the flowers supposedly loved by the goddess herself.”
“And we’ll be gathering their nectar?”
“Correct. But we shall advance no further today. I sense feybeasts nearby, likely the talfroschs, and we have far too many non-combat personnel with us. We shall return to camp for now,” Ferdinand said.
This time, we traveled in the opposite order, heading back to the last campsite we had passed. Now, even the snowy clearing felt somewhat dark and gloomy when compared to the dazzling spring.
“Rozemyne, step back.”
Brigitte and I did as instructed, moving back to the trees, at which point Ferdinand and Eckhart each flicked something into the middle of the clearing. In an instant, the snow began to melt before our eyes. I watched on in a daze, at which point Ferdinand drew his highbeast close to me.
“Place this magic tool inside your highbeast; it will allow the creature to remain without your presence,” Ferdinand said. And he was right. I stepped out of my Pandabus, leaving the magic tool inside so that it wouldn’t disappear when I moved far away.
The air was exceptionally cold, like tiny daggers stabbing into my skin, maybe due to the nearby snow or the tall trees blocking the sun.
“Attendants, begin preparing food. We shall go forth and hunt the talfroschs. Rozemyne, ride with Brigitte and stay alert. I shall teach you how to gather the rairein nectar once the hunt is over.”
Once Ferdinand had given everyone a job to do, I checked to make sure that I had the gathering kit he had lent me, then climbed onto Brigitte’s highbeast.
“Now then, everyone—I entrust the food to you all.”
“Be careful, milady. We await your safe return.”
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