"I would appreciate it if you didn’t destroy that communication device. It is quite rare."
Gina turned to Farlow with a frown on her face, and she spoke up angrily!
"How can you be so calm!? Hesabeth basically kidnapped Jason! We have to get him back."
Farlow sighed calmly as he allowed Gina’s anger to wash over him. Farlow was a king, and normally, it would be a serious offence to speak to a king in such a disrespectful manner. But Farlow could understand Gina’s anger, so he decided to overlook her words just this once. Farlow spoke in a calm tone.
"Firstly, if you are to speak to me, you will speak in a civil manner that befits our positions. You are a guest that I have accepted in my world, and you would be wise to remember that. Secondly, Hesabeth did not kidnap Jason, or at least, she didn’t take him without necessity. Hesabeth’s claim that Jason needs a period of isolation in order to synchronize with his abilities is not false. This is something that every Vympir Dead Apostle goes through. The powers that they are granted due to the Blood Oath is far too much for them to completely assimilate on the spot. And from what I have heard just now, it would appear that Jason is in safe hands. Regardless of how prideful she may be, Hesabeth is not a cunning person who would resort to lying in order to get her way. Her ego will not allow her to do such a thing. And thirdly, I believe that this is actually a blessing in disguise for you as well."
When King Farlow started talking, Gina had felt her anger melting away into guilt when she heard his warning about showing respect. Gina owed a debt of gratitude to Farlow for taking her in, and she knew it was disrespectful to talk to him like that, but as Farlow continued, Gina began to slowly get confused about what he could be referring to, until her eyes finally narrowed in curiosity and she looked up at Farlow before asking.
"What do you mean, this can benefit me?"
Farlow hummed as he turned and began to walk. Farlow motioned for Gina to come with him, and Gina fell into line behind him as they both left the communications room. There were guards standing around and various servants who were moving various materials across the castle, and they all stopped and bowed to Farlow before they continued on their way. There was a magical spell cast on the ceiling of the castle that made it into a mirror image of the sky outside. Sunlight shone down on them with a bright, brilliant light, and white clouds drifted across a blue sky lazily. Although Gina knew that they were indoors, she couldn’t help but admire the brilliant sky that had been created using magic! If Gina had woken up in here and no one told her that she was indoors, then she would definitely have believed that she was still outside!
As they walked, Gina noticed a certain building in the distance that seemed to be isolated from all the other buildings. It was a sort of tower that had only one window facing the sun, and Gina couldn’t see any sort of entrance that would allow you to enter the building. It was a very strange thing to see, but Farlow was moving very quickly, so Gina didn’t have time to really study the building before she was forced to move once again. After a few minutes of just walking, Farlow finally spoke.
"When I saw you for the first time, I didn’t know what to think of you. You were certainly a talented mage, and I could see that you had taken a path that would allow you to discover a form of magic that isn’t accessible to many people. But in truth, I never thought that you would be capable of accomplishing such a feat in such a short time. Tell me, when did you hear the voice of nature for the first time?"
Gina looked up at the much taller man, and she was able to immediately understand what he was trying to say. Farlow had already been certain that Gina would become a Sage after they met for the first time. That was why he gave Gina advice on how to move towards sagehood. But Farlow never expected Gina to accomplish sagehood in less than three months! There was a sense of pride that rose from somewhere deep in Gina’s heart as she realised that she had surpassed the expectations of someone as powerful as Farlow, and she answered his question calmly.
"It’s been about a month since I awakened the abilities. I was in a battle against the Beast of the Apocalypse on Hanir. We underestimated the beast, and it nearly killed us with its windstorm, so I had to force myself to discover that path to divert the winds."
Farlow had a look of mild surprise on his face as he considered Gina’s words. In truth, Farlow was a little shocked that Gina managed to achieve Sagehood at all! From what Farlow knew about Sagehood, it wasn’t the sort of thing that you could just force to come out when you were in the middle of a battle, and it was extremely hard for people to awaken it when they were under a lot of stress! So the fact that Gina was able to awaken the power while being attacked by the Beast of the Apocalypse, and also the fact that Gina managed it when she was still so weak, was beyond Farlow’s understanding! What Gina had done broke all the rules of awakening Sagehood, and Farlow couldn’t help but chuckle. Gina looked at Farlow curiously when she heard him chuckle, and Farlow just waved her curiosity away as he spoke.
"It would appear that you and Jason are a very suitable match. You both tend to ignore what is considered normal by the rest of the world. Normally, I would never bring anyone to this place since it is land that is sacred to my people, but the wind spirits tell me that you will also find great benefits from this, so I shall grant you the honor."
Gina blinked in surprise as she saw that they had already walked out of the strange castle and were now making their way through the large forest of Arandelle. Gina asked.
"Where are we going?"
Farlow just shook his head and told Gina to continue following him, and Gina decided to simply follow along for now. Gina still felt a bit of anger as she remembered that Jason was being held captive by Hesabeth right now, and a part of her wanted to tell Farlow that none of this was important and they had to go and help Jason! But Gina could feel a peaceful calmness coming over her the longer she stayed in this forest, and her anger slowly bled away to rationality as she decided to listen to Farlow’s advice and see what he wanted to show her first. Gina didn’t really understand what the Blood Oath was, and she had no idea if this Blood Metamorphosis was going to harm Jason, but Gina knew that there was no way she could contact Jason right now since he was unconscious, and she could only hope that Jason woke up and contacted her soon.
There were hundreds of elves moving all around the forest, and Gina could see many of them looking toward her with curious expressions. Most of the children who had been playing in the trees stopped what they were doing to gaze down at Gina and Farlow curiously, and Gina smiled and waved at a cute little elf girl who was looking at Gina from behind her mother’s long gown with a small blush on her face. The elf girl’s blush darkened once Gina waved at her, and she quickly ducked back behind her mother’s gown to hide! Gina smiled happily at how cute the little girl was, and she took in a deep breath as she enjoyed the feeling of nature all around her. The elves were peaceful creatures that lived in harmony with nature, and Gina could sense that harmony in everything around her. It was obvious that the forest loved them just as much as they loved it.