“I see, so she’s living surrounded by children. At least I’m glad she’s happy then.” Alma looked relieved when she heard how Artesia was doing now. Read full story at novel★fire.net
Esmeralda was also happy for her, beaming a delighted smile. But as she was a fellow saint, she also began to wonder if Artesia had gotten any stronger.
Artesia the Rivalrous and Esmeralda the Divine Herald, one was one of the Nine Wisemen, the other one of the Twelve Apostles. Both were saints, but they had developed their skills in different directions.
Artesia had focused the most on healing and defense, while Esmeralda was better at strengthening and attacking. That was also influenced by the country they belonged to, and the friends they surrounded themselves with.
Solomon from Arkite’s team could serve as a tank, but everyone else barely knew what defending meant, so Artesia focused on filling that blank.
Meanwhile, Nirvana’s team had plenty of members with a warrior class, who naturally had more resilient bodies. And instead they had very few spellcasters, so Esmeralda tried to find a way to attack even as a saint to balance out their damage types.
“Could I go see her…” Alma mumbled those words, her voice filled with nostalgia, longing, and a bit of hope.
“Hmm, that might be difficult.”
Mira was the first to reply, followed by Esmeralda, “Sadly, you would need a major reason to leave the country.”
Then there was the option of calling Artesia to come visit Nirvana instead, which had its own difficulties. Artesia would never leave all of the children of the orphanage, no matter how badly Alma wanted to see her.
Alma and Esmeralda were fully aware of Artesia’s nature when it came to children, so they did not even have to bring up that option.
“Actually, there might be a way.”
Anyone with a heart would want to let them meet even more knowing all of those circumstances, so Mira gave it some serious thought until she came up with a solution.
Alma latched onto that possibility instantly, and Esmeralda also looked hopeful at Mira. With both of them paying attention to her, Mira prefaced her response by saying that she did not know if Nirvana had the necessary means yet.
“You know, if the mountain won’t come…or however that saying goes.”
Alma leaving the country was already ruled out, so they had to focus on ways to get Artesia there instead, which could work if they invited not just Artesia but everyone in the orphanage.
The tournament happening in Nirvana also gave them the perfect reason to do that. There were plenty of things for the children to see and enjoy in the city. And if visiting would make the children happy, then Artesia would never deny them that enjoyment, meaning she would readily accept.
Once they were in the city, Alma would just have to open a spot in her schedule for a meeting.
“The crucial part is how you invite them here. If you single out one orphanage to give them special treatment, other places might not appreciate it, no?”
Mira wrapped up things with that warning. Being given preferential treatment by a large country like Nirvana would raise all sorts of questions and doubts. If Alma did not handle that carefully, things could get dangerous, or some might even uncover Alma’s and Artesia’s personal relationship.
There was also the fact that the orphanage had only been set up recently, so it was better to avoid shining a spotlight on them. Regardless, Mira still sympathized with Alma’s feelings, and offered to help in any way she could.
Having heard Mira’s idea, Alma remained silent for a while, deep in thought. A few minutes later, her whole face lit up as she exclaimed, “Yes, that might work!”
“Oh, have you thought of a tactful way of inviting them?”
Mira asked just to confirm, and Alma nodded brimming with confidence.
“I’ve recently joined a trade route through Sentopolly, thanks to Solomon’s intervention. I’ve wanted to do that ever since I heard they had managed to build a port in those tall cliffs on the western shore more than a decade ago, but they wouldn’t listen to me until Solomon put in a word for me. So maybe I could send a written invitation to Arkite as a token of gratitude for making that possible? And couple that with my best wishes for the newly instated orphanage.”
After saying all that, she looked at Esmeralda with expectant eyes.
“I can’t deny that it sounds rather forceful. But you have a track record of being generous towards orphanages in the past, so we can just wave it away like that. Nothing to see here, just our empress’ usual quirks creeping up.”
When Esmeralda mentioned that, Alma looked away.
Maybe Artesia’s habits had rubbed off on her, or maybe she was always like that, but Alma was always overbearing whenever children came into the picture, but not to the same extent as Artesia. Essentially, if she saw a kid crying, she would not move on until she did something about it.
That was only an issue because Alma was also the empress, having a lot of authority at her disposal, and judging by Esmeralda’s reaction, Alma had caused quite a few scenes in the past because of that.
“Hmm, that might work, yes. If I may suggest one just thing, Arkite has another orphanage in Caranach, so it would be wise to consider that too.”
Alma’s idea would probably stave off envy from other countries. But singling out one orphanage within Arkite would not paint a good picture. When Mira mentioned that, Alma instantly said, “Then I’ll just invite that one too!”
“Well, that solves that…”
An invitation was easy to write, but fulfilling it would incur various costs. Just transporting one of them would be considerably expensive, but Alma did not worry about that in the slightest.
“Let’s see…how much for a round trip from Arkite…”
She quickly jotted down an estimate on a notebook, starting with the transport costs.
“Grandpa, would you happen to know how many children there are?”
“I’m pretty sure there were a hundred with Artesia, and in Caranach I don’t have the slightest idea. I’d say below a hundred would be a good estimate though, judging by how big it is.”