Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 581 Don’t want to leave?
"I heard from Lord Katins that you, mother, plan to move the city of Nereids away from the Blue Sky Sea and to the open sea. Is this true?" Lorena asked.

"it is true."

Queen Amyra had no intention of hiding anything, and in fact, there was no need to hide it, because the news would be announced in two days, and by then, all the residents in the city would know about it, and the rumors they had been keen on discussing in the past few days would become reality: "You are back from the city of Lothdana, Lorena, and you should know the current situation of that city better than us. The cult jointly rules that continent and is extending their evil tentacles to the ocean. As a mirror elf, I should not abandon my homeland and go far away; but as a queen, I only hope to avoid unnecessary sacrifices and give my subjects the right to enjoy peace. Can you understand me, Lorena?"

The queen looked at her daughter quietly, and the latter sighed softly: "I can understand, mother. The united cult is indeed a behemoth. Even if all the aliens of the Azure Mirror are gathered together, even if they can achieve a temporary victory, they will only dig a grave for their own death in advance. Moreover, the Nereids are nominally the ruler of the Azure Mirror, but in fact, not everyone is willing to obey the orders of the royal family of Nyerid, right?"

In addition to the more civilized aliens, the aliens living in the Blue Sea Mirror also include the weaker sirens and the Fezero tribe, the barbaric spiny sharks and thorn sharks, the low-intelligence fishmen, and various sea beasts. They nominally submit to the throne of the Mirror Elves Queen, but in fact they are just retaining the title of subjects. Due to various restrictions, the Nereids City does not have actual ruling power over them, which means that if the Mirror Elves decide to move the city to the open sea, most of these subordinate races will not respond.

After all, it is hard to leave one's hometown, and not everyone can make up their mind to leave their hometown and go to live in unfamiliar seas. Moreover, at present, the union of religious orders is still a very distant threat, and no one knows when they will come. Some even think that they will never come, because the sea will always protect its most loyal creatures.

Only Queen Emila, who had formulated the migration plan against all odds, knew that the threat from the united religious orders was never far away.

"If they don't want to leave, I won't force them, but I still sincerely hope that they can recognize the situation and not have unnecessary fantasies." The queen's fingers unconsciously rubbed the handle of the teacup. The smooth and delicate touch was warmer than the sea water. "Among the guests from the earth, there is a Countess from the Shiqilia Peninsula, who was once the ruler of the Bloodfang Valenhild family. She brought me some bad news. On that ancient peninsula, almost all alien species have died. Even the last counterattack was cruelly annihilated in a fire by the combined forces of the church. The fire burned for a full half month before it was extinguished. The rest either fled or lived in disgrace. The natural disaster detectors throughout the seabed let me see the same ending. Lorena, have you heard any news since you came back from Lothdana City?"

"Yes." Lorena nodded slightly, and then told her mother about the newly established investigation and governance committee and the "Water Management Regulations" promulgated at the same time. However, she concealed the fact that her workshop was facing the crisis of closure. Perhaps she thought it was not a big deal and did not need to let her mother worry about it.

After listening to this, Queen Aimi sighed: "Sure enough, the style of the united cult has always been so decisive and fierce, always able to determine their own advantages before the enemy reacts; in contrast, our city and our government are as old and decayed as a beu snail that has lost its direction. It takes a week to discuss whether to migrate, make plans, calm people's hearts, and make preparations... Could it be that they can't see that the united cult's governance action on the polluted sea area is essentially a danger signal to us deep-sea aliens?"

"Why do you think this is targeting us, the deep-sea aliens, mother?" Rorona seemed to have a different opinion: "Perhaps the cult alliance just really wants to control the pollution. If they can restore the polluted sea area to its past state, it would be a good thing for the creatures living in the sea, right?"

"You mean, their main purpose is to manage the sea, and threatening us is just a byproduct?" Emilia frowned slightly, as if offended by this sentence, just like how Gundaruf felt when he realized that he had never been a major concern for the Inquisition. "Besides, even if the pollution is managed, what's the use? It's still the human sea, the territory they took from us. The sea creatures there are expelled, the fish and shrimp there are raised by humans, and even every drop of water there no longer belongs to us. How can this be considered a good thing, Lorena?"

The ocean has never belonged to anyone, no matter if it was humans or mirror elves... Rorona wanted to say this, but facing her mother's stern gaze, the words that were on her lips could not be said. She lowered her eyelids, hiding the deep thoughts in her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, and whispered, "I know."

Only then did Emilia look away.

She made a request to her daughter: "Lorona, if I ask you to persuade those tribes who are unwilling to migrate with the city of Nereids to the outer sea, will you go?"

"Me?" Rorona blinked, as if she hadn't reacted yet. "That's right." Emilia nodded and said, "I know you have a high reputation in the hearts of those people. They call you Princess Haiqi and are willing to listen to your words and respect your will. At the same time, you are the second princess of the Nieried royal family. You are qualified to make promises on my behalf and give them confidence. So you are undoubtedly the most suitable person to persuade them. This is also for their own good. If they wait until the cults start to attack the Azure Sea Mirror, even if they want to leave, they may not be able to leave."

After hearing this, Lorena was silent for a moment.

Just as her mother said, she enjoyed a high reputation among the deep-sea races that nominally submitted to the city of Nereids, and even earned the title of Sea Princess. This was not due to the glory of her bloodline, but because of the magical alchemy that Lorena mastered, coupled with her own noble and flawless character. She liked to help others, always making potions for the poor and helpless patients, curing their diseases without charging anything in return; she treated weak races or barbaric races equally, and would not discriminate against them because they were too weak or not very civilized; she used her only pocket money to purchase all kinds of strange and bizarre things from the people of the entire Azure Mirror, in this way turning the high-handed charity into an equal transaction; the music box she made for the sirens who loved music was fanatically loved by them, and the underwater torch she made for the Fezero people who could not see at night but had to live in the dark abyss due to their weak strength was still emitting light, and was revered by them as the "Sacred Lighthouse"...

There is no one in the entire Mirror of the Azure Sea who has not heard of the name of the sea princess Lorena, and no one has not benefited directly or indirectly from her magical alchemy and kind character. If the guests from the ground knew about the princess's past deeds, they might not be surprised by the noisy scenes of discussion on the streets.

Queen Amyra knows her daughter better than anyone else, and is proud of her nobleness and flawlessness, so she made such a request. She believes that the united cult will definitely take action against the Mirror of the Azure Sea, and there will be no hesitation. So, today, Lorena persuaded those tribes that did not want to migrate to go to the outer sea together. Tomorrow, when the united cult begins to slaughter the aliens in the sea, those who are rescued will offer sincere gratitude and fanatical worship, so that the name of the Sea Princess will be widely spread in the outer sea, until it becomes a beacon, illuminating and guiding the future of Nereids City.

This proposal was based on both family and political considerations, and perhaps even Queen Amyra, the proposer, was not sure which one was more important. But she could be honest and said that she would never hurt her daughter, and all her efforts were for her daughter's future.

A qualified mother.

but.

Rorona shook her head, and the only words that came out of her mouth were gentle but firm rejection: "I'm sorry, mother, I may not be able to agree to this."

"why?"

"Because, how can someone who doesn't want to leave convince others to go with her?"

Rorona said with clear eyes: "I don't want to deceive anyone, and I don't have the right to deceive anyone in the name of kindness, so I may disappoint your expectations, mother."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)