The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

The next morning, the entire contingents from the four kingdoms – the Sapphire Kingdom, the Emerald Kingdom, the Obsidian Kingdom and the Pearl Kingdom – all of whom had been enjoying a leisurely stay at the Sapphire Kingdom after the banquets – set off for the Amber Kingdom together.

This time, King Jaren, Mana and Jules (as well as Raven and Bella) were glad that they had not told Grandpa and Grandma about Queen Dora's return – it would be all too cruel for them to learn that their older daughter was still alive, and then lose her immediately to their younger daughter yet again. It would be much better when they were able to get Queen Dora back properly and remove the spirit possession – and until then, it was best to just let things be the way they were. Perhaps it was fate that they had forgotten to notify Grandpa and Grandma earlier, Mana thought – but it was for better, at least at the moment.

Fox and Vanilla, too, reunited with them after what felt like ages. Mana and Raven knew that they would require Fox's help with the magical device they needed to build Queen Dora back, so they didn't want to bother Fox and Vanilla too much at the moment, either. Let the couple enjoy their time together while they can, Mana thought – she knew that once they started working, Fox would lose all sense of time and space and pretty much everything, and things could get a bit trying even for Vanilla, who had infinite patience when it came to Fox, as well as endless adoration for the eccentric genius.

Mana was glad that her Raven was much better in comparison even when he was super busy.

King Corvus and Crown Princess Pica also came by to speak with King Jaren. King Corvus did know a few things about spirit possession, and he spoke briefly in a quiet voice to King Jaren, Raven, Mana, Jules and Bella – and most of his words were confirmations on the research that Mana and Raven had already done the previous day. This was excellent validation for the two children, and they were satisfied for now. King Corvus also promised them that he would lend them a few relevant books from his own personal collection back in the Obsidian Kingdom when they went there. These were books that Raven never seen, of course. He was familiar with all the books in the imperial library of the Obsidian Kingdom because he had practically lived there for most of his life, but King Corvus's personal collection was something which even Crown Princess Pica, his most beloved daughter, had not been allowed to touch, let alone Raven, who had been an abandoned prince until a few months ago.

King Jaren was very grateful for all the support and thanked King Corvus politely, thinking that it was a bit strange that the sly old man had softened up so easily. What he would learn later was that King Corvus had been softened up by General Aquila using the name of the famous Poison Expert Naver, and how King Jaren had called in a favour with the famous Poison Expert Naver for the sake of King Corvus, and after discussing with Raven and Mana, the famous Poison Expert Naver had diagnosed that King Corvus had been poisoned and had actually agreed to prepare the required antidote for King Corvus as well.

Naturally, King Corvus was thrilled and harbouring an immense amount of goodwill for King Jaren, Raven and Mana at the moment, and he did possess a few books which would help with a matter related to spirit possession, so he agreed to lend them to King Jaren, Raven and Mana. It was a minor thing compared to the huge favour that King Jaren had done for King Corvus, even without his asking, in his mind.

General Aquila could be quite resourceful and get his own way when he wanted to do so.

Queen Carolina saw that her favourite people were gathered in one place and chatting with King Corvus and Crown Princess Pica. She didn't have a very favourable opinion of these two, but nonetheless, she was grateful for their support, and she had some basic consideration for them since they were being nice to Raven finally and also to Mana and King Jaren.

"Ready to leave?" Queen Carolina asked with a smile, when she reached them. She greeted everyone politely.

Greetings were exchanged among all the royal family members, and then King Jaren replied to the initial question asked by Queen Carolina.

"We are ready," King Jaren said to Queen Carolina. "Shall we start off now?"

"Let's go, then," Queen Carolina said with a nod. She raised her hand and gave the order to her subordinates.

The magicians of the Sapphire Kingdom spread out among the guests, with instructions on positioning them so that the array could be made effective. It took them about thirty minutes to bring everyone into the correct positions and once everyone was all set, they activated the huge passenger transport array.

An instant later, all of the people within the array were transported to the western most border of the Sapphire Kingdom, where they had a common boundary with the Amber Kingdom.

The entry barrier of the Sapphire Kingdom did not restrict exits, so there was no issue at all for the huge group of people with a mix of citizens from all four kingdoms to pass through and enter the Amber Kingdom.

Mana was stunned the moment she set foot in the Amber Kingdom. While she had become used to the fact that this was a magical world and she had become more and more reliant on magic since she had come here, so much so that she would even use magic unconsciously even without realising it these days – it was still very shocking for her to be able to understand how the topography of the Amber Kingdom could be so drastically different from the Sapphire Kingdom in just a matter of a few feet in terms of physical distance!

The Sapphire Kingdom was cold and snowy, and very picturesque. It was clean and well ordered and organised, and very easy on the eyes in terms of beauty and convenience. It had clear blue skies, and despite the cold environment, the homes and insides were warm and prosperous, and the indigenous flora and fauna were well maintained and created a good balance between all the elements. It was clear that the Sapphire Kingdom was a prosperous one and that the people were well off and well settled (and well fed, too, for you could often smell delicious things when you walked down a street – not as much as the Emerald Kingdom, but close enough). You could also see cool new machinery scattered everywhere (in a neat, organised manner, of course, as was typical to pretty much everything in the Sapphire Kingdom).

The Amber Kingdom, on the other hand, was in complete contrast to the serene, organised and frosty beauty of the Sapphire Kingdom. It comprised of hot, uncomfortable winds hitting their faces, stretches of reddish sand with thatched huts here and there, and from the hungry and poverty stricken looks of the people they could see, it was all too clear that their living conditions were very, very poor.

The overall happy mood that had been maintained within the group in the Emerald Kingdom as well as the Sapphire Kingdom (despite the occasional ups and downs) was immediately dispersed into the thin, sparse air of the Amber Kingdom.

"I didn't realise that the Amber Kingdom was so hot," Bella murmured, wiping her sweaty brow with a silk handkerchief. She was a native of a cold country, and the Emerald Kingdom had a temperate climate all round the year, so it was difficult for her to cope up with the heat.

The condition of the other people from the Sapphire Kingdom wasn't much better than their Crown Princess Isabel, either.

"Can we cast a cooling spell or something?" Mana whispered to Raven.

"Cooling spell?" Raven asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Like air conditioning, not as in cooling down the weather of the entire Amber Kingdom," Mana murmured. "As in, could we create a barrier around our group of people, and then provide some air conditioning within the barrier?" She went on to explain the concept of how modern air conditioners worked in her previous world – while there was no electricity here, there was magic, and there was a handy little genius called Raven by her side.

Jules, Bella and Fox, who were also listening to the conversation between Mana and Raven, immediately perked their ears. Mana's strange ideas were always great – all of them knew this from their previous experience.

Raven tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I think it can be done," he said finally. "We would have to create a selective barrier, and then we would have to run several spells simultaneously, so that the air within the barrier is constantly circulated and exchanged with the outside, but the temperature and moisture level within the barrier remains at a constant level."

And that's how air conditioning spells were invented.