After we decided to grant their request for an audience, Mother, Michael, and I went to the throne room, the Apollo Drawing Room in the real Palace of Versailles.
Naturally, Mother was the one to take a seat on the majestic throne that was elevated by a raised platform because she was the queen regnant, while Michael and I just stood diagonally to her on the floor.
There were a few knights stationed inside and outside the room for both security and formal purposes. We would be receiving our visitors, and a good first impression was a must so that our nation appealed to them.
Noticeably, Mom, Big Sis, Gabrielle, and our other vassals were not present in this audience. It was not like they were having a good time. Actually, each of them was busy with their tasks regarding our nation's administration.
Also, Gabrielle had begun to experience the symptoms of her pregnancy, so she was currently at rest and refrained herself from stress. But inside her head, she had been surfing the web and watching pregnancy tips online. Maybe her maternal instincts made her more attentive to the child?
Anyway, the throne room was ready. All we had to do was let the visitors come in.
"Call them."
"I understand, Your Majesty."
Upon Mother's order, one of the knights gave her a salute before he exited the room. By the way, we made the drawing rooms, Mars, Mercury, and Apollo, enclosed because we sometimes used those rooms for private matters.
Around a minute or so later, the knight returned, and now there were three women who followed him behind, walking on the red carpet. He then stopped before the throne and saluted the queen again before going back to his position.
Regarding the three women, they seemed to be in their early to late twenties by human standards. They all wore the same outfit of green silky dresses, plain with a few embroidery but delicate. They were like fairies in tales.
It was notable that they had the same hair and eye colors, which were green, and their skins were light. They all had this Scandinavian-like complexion, and each one of them possessed unique body shapes.
Starting from the left, the first woman had long, wavy hair with an hourglass figure. Then in the middle, this woman seemed to be the oldest and most mature-looking among them. Her hair was long and straight, pulling down to her waist, and she was the most prominent in that department. The last one, the youngest, was a petite young woman with braided hair.
"I apologize for not having that much knowledge about humans and their culture, but yes, dryads are one of the tree spirit races."
"That explains how you are able to live within the forest that is filled with ferocious monsters."
"The forest is indeed dangerous, and we have to exterminate the hostile monsters roaming our abode. Actually, killing those monsters makes us stronger, and now we used to be dryads anymore."
"It means that you have evolved into a higher existence."
"Yes. Also, dryads are not the base form of the tree spirit race. It is the Alraune, and then Alraune evolves into Dryads."
"So what are you now?"
"We have evolved a few times, and each of us is of a different race. Currently, Gron is a Nereid, an evolved Dryad, Fyr is a Meliad, an evolved Neried, while I have become a Tree Spirit Pillar.
"By the sounds of it, I assume that you are the leader of your kind, yes?"
"Not entirely for my kind, as there are a few other groves of tree spirits around the world. It is the same as human kings who only rule the population of their domain. Just like you are, Your Majesty."
*I see."
Enjoy reading at NovelFire-le-mp-yr
Hm. It was the first time I had properly thought of these. I never thought that spirits in general had that much lore. I wanted to inquire about Akashvani so that I could learn about them more, but I decided not to because I did not want spoilers. I just let them spill the beans for me.
"Well then, now that you have stated your identities, might we hear what your business is here?"