Meira offered a faint smile, half rueful. “Apparently, the Treant allowed a group of dwarves to enter once, dozens of them at a time. They were loud. Very loud. So much so that it became agitated. From then on, it declared that only those marked every fifty years would be permitted to enter. One person, chosen from among the dwarves. Those are the ones we call the Blessed Ones.”
Then she added, “It did, however, allow for one companion, someone to escort the Blessed through the cave. So, the rule is: one Blessed, and one other.”
Belamus raised an eyebrow at that. The Emperor Treant sounds like a stubborn old man, he thought. Immortal, powerful, and irritable.
Meira’s voice grew solemn once more. “Roughly fifty years ago, there were already growing efforts to eliminate the Blessed entirely. But thanks to the former leader of Gagagamoor, we managed to protect the one who had been marked and complete the trial.”
Her expression darkened with memory.
“But now, fifty years have passed again. The grass is on the verge of vanishing. Another season or two, and we’ll lose it—and with it, countless dwarven lives.” Meira said, her gaze lowering as she spoke, each word heavy with the quiet dread of a leader who had stood far too close to catastrophe.
She turned to Mimi, bowed low, and said with deep sincerity, “That’s why your arrival means everything. Lady Mimi… thank you. From the bottom of my heart.”
“I understand what I have to do,” Mimi said quietly, then glanced up at Meira, hesitant. “But… what’s the cave under the Emperor Treant actually like?”
“It’s dangerous,” Meira replied without a hint of hesitation. “The path leading to it is infested with powerful monsters. No one can pass through unscathed, but I’ll get you there. That, I promise.”
There was confidence in her voice, earnest and unwavering. Clearly, Meira wasn’t just a leader. She was a warrior, too. Still, hearing that the cave was dangerous made Mimi shrink visibly, her fingers curling tightly against her sleeves.
Belamus stepped in, voice cool and direct. “If we need to reach the cave, fine. But what I want to know is whether it’s even possible to enter it.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“What happens if the entrance is being watched? If enemy assassins are waiting there? Does the Dwarven Royal Court know you’ll try to lead the Blessed to the Treant’s cave?” Belamus asked bluntly, his tone tactical, eyes sharp as he ran through every worst-case scenario aloud.
He glanced at Meira, then added, “If they do, it’s the obvious place to intercept us.”
It was a fair concern. The entrance was located at the base of the Emperor Treant. If the court knew that much, they could easily stake it out.
That all depended on how much the royal family actually understood. If they truly believed the Blessed was a harbinger of disaster, as Belamus suspected, then maybe they were blindly hunting Mimi out of fear rather than strategy. Perhaps they had no idea what Gagagamoor knew.
But… if they did know, if the court understood the ritual’s importance and was deliberately trying to prevent it, then the cave could already be compromised.
Belamus wasn’t sure which was worse.
Either way, he voiced his thoughts. “I doubt the court would knowingly cause mass starvation among its own people. This makes me think they’re acting out of ignorance, not malice. But I can’t be sure.”
Meira gave a solemn nod.
“No one knows for certain what the court understands,” she said. “But fifty years ago, when the previous Blessed was chosen, they weren’t able to fully seal the entrance to the cave. And they won’t be able to now.”
She folded her arms, her tone becoming firmer.
“The area around the Emperor Treant is protected. Only the Blessed and one companion are permitted entry. Anyone else will find themselves blocked, like hitting an invisible wall. No spell or force, no matter how powerful, can break through it. Even if an army found the exact location, they wouldn’t be able to follow.”
Belamus absorbed that with quiet interest. If the Treant was truly as ancient and powerful as the legends claimed, then such a barrier wasn’t impossible. He could easily imagine a natural force, woven into the land itself, capable of repelling anything, even his own full power.
“The barrier’s range is vast,” Meira continued. “Too large to monitor entirely. Even if they tried to blockade it, they’d never cover the whole perimeter. And sending an army into the Great Frazes Forest would be suicide. Ordinary soldiers wouldn’t last an hour in there.”
“So, we might run into assassins,” Belamus said, “but it’s still possible to break through if we move carefully.”
“Exactly,” Meira said with quiet conviction, her gaze steady and unyielding, as if she'd already walked the path in her mind a hundred times and never once doubted the outcome.
Belamus didn’t relax. The path was still riddled with risk, but at least now, the threat wasn’t manageable. It was only about surviving long enough to get there.
“We should make our way to the Emperor Treant,” Meira said briskly, already stepping toward the path ahead. “We’re not on an urgent clock, but the sooner we get there, the better.”
Her words carried quiet decisiveness, measured, yet firm. Still, not everyone moved with her confidence. Mimi lingered a few paces behind, her shoulders hunched and eyes darting toward the looming cave ahead. With all the talk of powerful monsters lurking inside the Treant’s cave, fear had latched onto her and refused to let go. It wasn’t entirely unexpected; she’d always been the skittish type, and a dark, monster-infested cave was just the sort of thing to set her nerves alight. No amount of reassurance could undo a lifetime of cautious instincts.
As they moved, Belamus glanced over his shoulder and added, almost as an afterthought, “I didn’t mention this earlier, but I believe we’re currently being tailed. An assassin’s been tracking us for some time now. Chances are, they’ve already discovered the location of this hideout.”
Meira barely blinked. “That so? Well, we won’t be coming back here, then. No big loss; we’ve got other fallback points scattered around. This place was never meant to be permanent.”
It was a revealing comment. Meira wasn’t just competent; she planned ahead, always thinking three steps beyond the present. For her, backup plans were not a luxury but a necessity.
Belamus’s gaze shifted to the side, toward a curious sight, one that had been floating nearby, eerily silent until now. The dwarf assassin they’d captured earlier hovered in midair, squirming awkwardly against invisible restraints. At first glance, he still looked lifeless, but there was a subtle change. He was struggling more now, thrashing against the magical bindings as if he knew time was running out.
“What about him?” Belamus asked, nodding toward the prisoner. “Any thoughts on what we do next?”
“We don’t have time for interrogation,” Meira replied coolly. “He’s not worth the trouble. Easier to dispose of him and move on.”
The moment the words left her lips, the dwarf’s struggles intensified. For someone who had been stoic and silent when captured, so detached he hadn’t even flinched when threatened, his sudden desperation was jarring. It wasn’t fear of pain that had him panicked now; it was the finality of Meira’s decision. Something in him had cracked.