"Before anything else, there is something I must tell you, King Farlow. Something very important."
Gina turned to Farlow with a serious expression, and Farlow’s face darkened slightly when he saw the intensity in Gina’s eyes!
"What is this about?"
Farlow asked this curiously, and Gina shook her head and said that she did not want others to hear their conversation! Farlow realised that this was definitely something important, and he raised his hand and motioned for the soldiers behind him to leave them alone. All the soldiers quickly saluted before they filed out of the garden. And once Farlow was alone with Stella and Gina, Gina finally spoke up.
"I know about your wife, King Farlow. I’m sure you already have an idea that I was spying on you earlier today when you visited the Queen in the tower. I’m sorry for intruding on your private moment like that, but I think following you was a blessing in disguise."
Farlow felt his breath almost leave him when he heard Gina speaking about his wife! Farlow had been keeping the truth about his wife’s coma a secret from the rest of the Primordial Expanse for a long time because he knew it was a weakness, and he didn’t want anyone to exploit it! There were only very few people who knew that the Queen was in a coma, and even the civilians in Arandelle thought that the Queen was in isolated training to become a Sage! But Farlow didn’t even bother to feel any sort of anger or annoyance about the fact that Gina spied on him! There was a sense of hope that rose from somewhere inside Farlow’s heart the moment he heard Gina say that there was a blessing in disguise, and he spoke up with a desperate look on his face.
"What do you mean by that? What did you find out about my wife?"
Gina easily sensed the desperation in Farlow’s voice, and she gave Farlow a small smile as she said.
"There is a way to bring your wife back to life."
Farlow felt an electric sensation shoot through his entire body, and he stumbled slightly as he almost fell over! But Farlow caught himself, and he took in a shaky breath as he tried to calm down! Farlow had been searching for a solution to save his wife for so long that he had already started to lose hope! All this time, Farlow was shouldering the responsibility of the kingdom while also worrying about his wife, and he didn’t ever think that things would get easier! If Gina had actually found a way to save his wife, then Farlow would do whatever was necessary to make it happen!
Gina could literally feel Farlow’s desperation growing, and she knew that Farlow was doing everything in his power to maintain his composure at that moment! Farlow swallowed, and he asked Gina if she was actually serious. There was a pleading look in Farlow’s eyes, like a man in the desert who had just been told that there was somewhere for him to find water! Farlow was literally praying to the gods that this wasn’t some cruel trick! Gina simply nodded calmly to Farlow’s question, and then she began to explain what had happened when she went to meet the Spirit Queen. Gina told Farlow about the Queen’s appearance and how Gina had asked the Spirit Queen to please return the Elven Queen’s spirit to her. Farlow was obviously shocked to hear that the Spirit Queen was using his wife’s appearance to meet with mortals, but even though there was a surge of anger somewhere in his heart, he had to let go of it since he knew he had no right to question the Spirits. Farlow’s wife should have died from losing her spirit during her training, so in a way, the Spirit Queen taking the Elven Queen’s spirit was actually a blessing in disguise!
"The first thing the Spirit Queen asked for was my spirit in exchange for the Elven Queen’s..."
Stella immediately frowned from behind Gina when she heard this, and she hoped that Gina didn’t even consider that option! Stella knew that it was cruel, but she refused to accept losing the prince’s wife and child just to bring back the Elven Queen! But Stella was wise enough not to say this out loud since she knew it would sound bad to Farlow, and she just kept listening as Gina spoke up again.
"...but she changed her mind and told me she was only joking. I don’t think returning the Elven Queen’s spirit is a big deal for the Spirit Queen. But she refused to return it for free, and she asked me to bring her something in return as an offering."
"What does she want? I don’t care what it is, I will rally the army and offer her anything up to half my kingdom if she wants it."
Farlow’s face squeezed into a hard frown as he anticipated what sort of sacrifice he would have to make. But Gina just shook her head.
"No, it is nothing like that. What she asked for wasn’t something you’d need an army for. It was a fruit from a special tree within the Hidden Wind Forest. She called it the Moon Dew Fruit. Do you know what that is?"
Farlow’s eyes widened in shock, and his hand squeezed so tight that he almost drew blood! Why would the Spirit Queen ask for something like that!? If she didn’t want to hand his wife’s soul back, then she should have just said so! Why would she put an impossible task in front of him!?
The Hidden Wind Forest was a sacred place within the world of Arandelle. It was located a few thousand miles northeast of the main settlement, and it was a large forested area that covered more than a thousand square miles of land! That forest was one of the only regions in Arandelle that hadn’t been conquered by the elves yet, and this was simply because of the sheer number of spirits that had taken up that region as their home. There were dangerous spirits around every corner of the forest, and the most dangerous of them all was a Spirit known as the Valkan. The Valkan was a wind spirit as well and was one of the most aggressive spirits in Arandelle! From the legends that had been passed down from one Elven generation to another, there was a special fruit within that forest known as the Moon Dew Fruit that was so precious that any spirit would grant you a wish if you offered it to them, and the elves had tried many times to pass through the forest so they could find that fruit! But it was impossible! The spirits in the forest followed the Valkan’s orders and killed any mortal that dared to set foot in there! And since the spirits were invisible to any mortal that wasn’t a Sage, the elves were fighting against enemies that they couldn’t even see! But the real issue was also the fact that the Valkan had a close connection with nature that allowed it to use wind attacks that could decimate entire armies!
From the research Farlow had done, he knew that the Valkan had to be at least a TITAN Rank I, but the added wind magic it possessed made it dangerous enough that even TITAN Rank II’s like Farlow wouldn’t dare to challenge it in its own territory! Sending anyone to retrieve a fruit from that forest was like sending them directly to their death!