"Fay, dearest, I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to step into the starlight plain. Not when it was designed to keep your kind away."
This was the one topic that I feared tackling ever since I realized a time would come when it would surface.
But there was absolutely no way for me to let Fay step anywhere close to the starlight plain. Not after I myself deduced that it was designed to keep her kind away, striking at the very core weakness of it.
Looking at Fay's face, I could see how it went from shock, turned into a milder surprise only to then explode in anger as she came to the exact same conclusion as I did.
Yet, while I knew there was no way for me to let Fay come with me... Fay couldn't even imagine a scenario where she would allow me to go there without her.
"No."
Rather than coming up with long, logical, or even purely emotional arguments, Fay simply took a step back and crossed her hands over her chest, looking at me while openly denying my decision.
"Fay..."
"No," Fay repeated herself while shaking her head. "There's no way I'm going to let you go to that plain alone. And while it might be true I cannot cross the plain... But doesn't it also mean I'm more than suitable to cross the misty valley instead?"
By now, Makary was already pricking his ears to ensure he would commit every single name and location he heard to his memory so that he could later find out its meaning or coordinates.
His officers didn't seem to mind the exchange all that much, taking it for what it really was - a god-sent break for their minds exhausted from all the thinking and working they did in the last few hours.
But when it came to me and Fay...
"First, I've already asked around. The lands that the princess wants us to open a trading route to lay to the north rather than the south. All on its own, it wouldn't be enough for me to pick the path, though. Fay, listen..."
I took a deep breath, calculating what and exactly how I was supposed to say to her, not to reveal too much to the others in the area.
"Do you remember how I've got my ability to open the first stable gate?"
"Yeah," Fay nodded her head while already squinting her eyes. "You..." she opened up her mouth again, only to cut her words short as she glanced to the side before turning her eyes back to me and nodding her head again, "Yeah."
I took a deep breath to artificially slow down the train of my thoughts.
"It's pretty much the same right now.
And while I already figured out that both the misty valley and the starlight plain are pretty much the same with the sole difference of the mist acting as the conductor for whatever force reins all the invaders in... It's the starlight plain that I need to explore if I want to get any further benefits the likes of that stable gate," I breathed out, "not the misty valley."
'So he banished her to remain the most powerful when she reached a level close to threatening his position. And judging by how pressed he was to defend this forest, there's a chance he did it out of a sense of duty rather than a greedy desire for more strength and higher position...' I thought, trying to take all the possibilities into account.
"Okay, I get it," I spoke out before Madam could get even further into the details of the situation, details I wasn't sure I wanted Makary to know yet. "But doesn't that mean that he's not only physically crippled but also lost access to his greatest source of power?" I asked, inferring my deduction from what Madam said thus far.
"Sir, a second," right as Madam was about to answer, one of Makary's men snuck through the back of the area and approached the man while already showing a sealed letter into the man's hand.
"That's true. His balls are as crushed as they were when I stomped down on them," Madam lowered her head in a nod, paying only a single glance of attention to the small commotion to the side of the table. "But you appear to miss the one, extremely important detail in this specific situation."
Madam smiled before leaning back in her chair and crossing her hands over her chest with a confident look in her eyes.
"He has to be the strongest in the whole area. And unless you reveal your true strength, something I'm led to believe you would rather avoid, then he should regain a lion's share of his greatest power the very moment you guys step into the starlight plain."
I squinted my eyes, taking a moment to process what Madam said.
'Wasn't his requirement about being the strongest in the clan? If so, what does location...'
My face froze when the realization struck me.
'The strongest of his clan... in the entire region. And this forest is so damn different from the starlight plain, even my system recognizes it as a separate area!'
Now, everything clicked.
The potential reasons why Madam could want to have her ex-husband take part in our harsh expedition ranged from how he was perfectly suited for traversing the starlight plain all the way to how she could want him to score up some accomplishment.
With enough merits, his name could be cleared of the sin of his betrayal, opening up a way for him to reunite with Madam, someone who was bound by fate never to have a different lover.
Then came the aspect of Loraz's power which, after experiencing it with my own two eyes, I could easily vouch for. Ultimately, as a figure Fay was aware of, he would be much easier for her to accept as my protector than any random divine we could find in the forest!
"I'm sorry, but I will have to stop you all right here," Makary suddenly joined the discussion, forcing his way into it while raising his eyes from the letter that he already opened and scanned the content of. "Whatever we will do with the princess's request will have to wait.
For now, though, I need you to take a look at this," he stated, only to push the opened letter across the table, throwing it so perfectly it lost all its momentum and stopped a mere inch away from my hands.
Looking down, I glanced at the letter's content, quickly realizing it was a relatively usual report of how the affairs were going back on the other side of the gate. And from the looks of things...
"The city hall decided to open an investigation into the group. The magistrate's decision comes into effect starting tomorrow."
From the looks of things, the matter of Etaria's request was merely half of our problems, with the other half already putting a huge wrench into our plans back on earth!