Chapter 1327: City of White (4)
Faced with the little queen’s panicky question, Rhode didn’t answer her straight away. Rather, he stared curiously at the little one in front of him, shrugged, and asked.
“By the way, Your Majesty, I still don’t know what happened between you and her. Can you tell me about it?”
“I…”
Upon hearing his question, the little queen revealed a somewhat terrified expression. Her eyes wandered to the left and right, staring at the scenery on both sides. She subconsciously pointed her fingers at each other. At that moment, anyone could tell that the little one looked like she was guilty of a crime. And upon seeing her expression, Rhode kind of figured out the situation. Earlier, it was indeed out of spite that the little queen wanted him to kill the giant. After calming down and remembering her words, perhaps she was regretting it.
If this was Celestina’s mental world, maybe Rhode would be facing the cunningness of a demon. However, Celia was an angel, so no matter what her mental world was like, the fact that her essence was an angel wouldn’t change. So in the end, the little queen chose to confess to him honestly.
“Actually… It’s not that big of a deal. It’s just that she came to us for food at first, but we didn’t have that many sweets to give her, so we refused her. We didn’t expect her to return and stir trouble a few times, so we tried to chase her away. But later, she took things too far and actually attacked us, so that’s why I wanted to… Teach her a lesson and keep her away from our place…”
The little queen’s voice became softer toward the end. It was obvious that she knew that what she was saying was a little too far from what she had asked him to do. That was why the little one felt a little guilty. Upon hearing her confession, Rhode felt relieved. It seemed like there wasn’t any resolvable conflict or misunderstanding between them. What he was most afraid of was misunderstandings. Sometimes, misunderstandings were more troublesome than anything else. One might think of things one way, while the other party might think of things the other way. Even if one were to explain the situation, the other party might believe otherwise, and so forth. And now, it seemed like both parties knew where the problem was. Judging from this situation, Celia was indeed an angel. Humans in most situations like these would try to downplay the mistakes they made, before highlighting the wrongs of others. However, Rhode didn’t see this problem in either of the Celias. They both complained about what they did to each other, but also knew their own problems and that made things easier for him.
“In that case, why don’t you keep her around? Even though she’s huge, there are some benefits she can offer, right? For example, when building a house, she can easily put them up, can’t she?”
Speaking of which, Rhode remembered the story of the Lilliputians in Gulliver’s Travels[1]. And now, this was like another otherworldly version of that story. By all accounts, if both sides could do what was done in that story, where the Lilliputians sewed clothes and made food for Gulliver, while Gulliver helped Lilliputians with things that he could easily do as a giant, wouldn’t that be a win-win situation for them?
“Uh… It does work that way…”
Upon hearing Rhode’s suggestion, the little queen put on a difficult look, pondered deeply for a moment, and murmured to herself. And looking at her embarra.s.sed look, Rhode raised his eyebrows.
Is there something that I’m unaware of?
At this thought, he asked quickly.
“Are there more problems?”
“This was what happened, traveler.”
Upon hearing his question, the little queen said.
“It’s not that we don’t want her to live with us, but we really don’t have enough ingredients to make the food we give her every day.”
“Oh, really?”
After hearing her explanation, Rhode couldn’t help but feel interested. He originally thought that the mental world was a place where everything was available to them, where desserts, candies, and feasts were all just a matter of thought. If one in the mental world could have whatever one wanted, there would be no need for the giant to come to the candy city and destroy it just for food. And in response to his question, the little queen nodded.
“Yes, traveler, all the ingredients we use to make desserts come from Candy Mountain. In the past, we had enough ingredients to prepare food for her. But now, Candy Mountain has been taken over by a group of outsiders. Although we fought against them several times, the results weren’t good. In the end, we’re only left with this small piece of land…” The little queen said, curling her lips. It was apparent that she felt really dissatisfied. But after looking at her expression, a thought cropped up in Rhode’s mind. He seemed to have a grasp of the core problem in Celia’s mental world.
“How about this, Your Majesty? I will go and talk to her to see if she can help you reclaim Candy Mountain. If she can, will you make her a resident here as well in the future?”
“Are you willing to do that for me?”
Upon hearing Rhode’s proposal, the little queen stared at him with wide eyes and excitement. But shortly after, she frowned and shook her head with force.
“You’d better not, traveler. The ones who occupy Candy Mountain are powerful. We can’t beat them. Even though she’s huge, she can’t fight that many enemies alone…”
“In that case, how about you two work together?”
In response to the little queen’s melancholic reply, Rhode offered his advice with a smile. This was his way of doing what he could in someone else’s mental world without doing anything. He would rather rely on his words to guide the inhabitants of the mental world to make their own decisions and take actions. It was like two villains in a person’s head fighting each other; it was okay for them to fight on their own. But it wouldn’t be good if there were a third party influencing their views. That was why he decided to act as a guide and use his words to gain victory in the mental world. In this regard, he was really confident. At the very least, he had relations.h.i.+ps with a number of women in the past. Back then, he was neither the Void Dragon nor n.o.ble. He had nothing to do with being a rich young man and was just an ordinary college student. Even though he had a beautiful face, which woman would be willing to sleep with a boring man who couldn’t sweet-talk?
The kind of guy who didn’t even speak more than 10 sentences in a day, smiled only at his computer and yet, had a pretty girl knock on his door, clean up his messes, cook for him, and warm his bed would only be suitable to be a NTR protagonist. While he enjoyed the times when his childhood sweetheart was supposedly making a loving lunch box for him and immersed himself in the forums, he didn’t know that his childhood sweetheart and his optimistic best friend had, in fact, opened a room in a small hotel not far away from home. Yes, this was the direction where reality was headed. They no longer showed on TV how a childhood sweetheart would stay with a geek forever… By the way, plots with polyamorous relations.h.i.+ps were all over TV nowadays…
Due to Rhode’s expressionless face, he was often mistaken for a silent geek. In fact, he had a lot to speak of, but it depended on the occasion…
And now, since swords were useless in the mental world, he would have to rely on his mouth to save the world.
The little queen was also moved by his proposal. After thinking about it for a moment, she finally nodded in agreement that if the giant version of Celia could help them repel the enemies of Candy Mountain and allow them to retake it, they would be willing to accept the giant as a member of their country and would also be willing to prepare enough desserts and sweets for her. As for Rhode’s previous statement that he had killed the giant—he lied to the little queen, of course.
After getting the confirmation from the little queen, Rhode quickly went to find the giant and explained the proposal to her. And when the giant heard that the candy city was willing to accept her, she was quite thrilled. She nodded and agreed to the proposal quickly. As long as she was able to help the candy city and the little queen reclaim Candy Mountain, this dispute would all be over.
And Rhode would also be able to get away with this headache-inducing fairy tale… Of course, he would never admit that it was due to the fact that he had had enough cakes and desserts.
There was no need to prepare anything in the mental world. Soon after an agreement was reached, the giant and little queen joined up and headed to Candy Mountain together. After arriving at Candy Mountain, Rhode realized that the ma.s.sive mountain in front of him was, in fact, made of real ‘candy’.
As far as the eye could see, one could see all sorts of sweet treats everywhere: candies in the shape of flowers and gra.s.s, tree trunks made entirely of chocolate, a canopy of fluffy white marshmallows, and cream instead of fruit juice flowing in the river bank. Not only that, but a sweet scent also a.s.sailed their nostrils, enchanting the little queen and giant.
As for Rhode, he was about to pa.s.s out from the sweet aroma that rushed straight into his brain.
Despite plenty of sweets here, the little queen looked really serious.
“Be careful, those guys are scary. We need to be wary!”
On their way here earlier, Rhode heard from the little queen about these enemies that had taken over Candy Mountain. They were so powerful that there was no way for the guards of the candy city to drive them away. Not only that, but the number of these invaders was also increasing, and eventually, the little queen had to evacuate with her subjects. They were only able to gather some ingredients from around Candy Mountain to make food, which was why they didn’t have enough food to share with the giant. After all, the giant’s appet.i.te was too large for an average person to handle.
“Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!”
Just as the little queen’s voice sounded, all of a sudden they heard sharp squeaks. Shortly after, Rhode was surprised to see nearly a hundred huge mice running down from Candy Mountain and blocking their path. They were like personifications of animals in fairy tales, wearing human-like clothes, and having sharp claws on their two front paws that glinted icy-cold light. They squinted their small eyes at the group of people before them, and one of them who seemed like the leader screeched.
“Get out, get out! This place is ours, ours! Everything here belongs to us!”
In response to the mouse’s squeaks, the little queen took two steps forward, puffed out her chest, and raised her head to glare at them in discontent.
“Well, you’re the ones who should leave! This place is ours. You stole our land and we won’t let up!”
As the little queen said, she raised her hand and swung it forward with force.
“Onward, my loyal guards! Defeat these invaders and take back our Candy Mountain!”
“Oooooh!”
Upon hearing the little queen’s words, the guards behind her yelled immediately. They raised their candy spears and charged at the mice in front of them. Soon, both sides entered a battle. Although they fought fiercely, the battle wasn’t realistic at all. Rhode was initially a little worried that there would be spraying blood and flesh like in reality. But soon, he found out that Celia’s mental world was still a childish place, after all. And although it looked like both sides were fighting fiercely, no lives were taken at all. The mice’s claws, which looked sharp enough to tear through delicate skin as if they were made of film, didn’t rip through at all. And naturally, the angels’ weapons made of candy didn’t hurt the mice much when they hit them. And those who were defeated didn’t turn into corpses, but just disappeared with a soft bam… At that moment, Rhode finally understood why the little queen hadn’t driven the nest of mice out of Candy Mountain yet. With this kind of fight, it would be strange if they could defeat them…
But this time, the little queen had a secret weapon. After seeing that her subordinates couldn’t support her any longer, she crossed her arms and shouted loudly.
“Come on out!”
Boom!
With the little queen’s call, the giant came out from the back. According to Rhode and the little queen’s plan, they hid the giant in the back for the finale. And now, when the giant heard the little queen calling for her to make an appearance, she didn’t hesitate in the slightest. She sauntered forward and entered the battlefield quickly. Upon seeing the towering giant in front of them, the mice were bewildered. They had never seen such a huge person. At that moment, the mice weren’t as ferocious as before anymore.
The battle reversed instantly. In the face of the giant, there was nothing the mice that were as tall as a full-grown man could do. And every time the giant raised her arm, she swept away a large nest of them. After a short while, the mice retreated hurriedly, never to be seen again.
“Yay!”
Witnessing the mice leaving Candy Mountain desperately, the little queen raised her hands high in excitement and cheered. And along with her action, the guards around her also raised their arms and celebrated the victory. After their cheering, the little queen didn’t forget who helped her to victory. She ran up to the giant, gazed at her with a smile and bowed.
“Thank you very much. If it weren’t for your help, we wouldn’t have been able to reclaim Candy Mountain at all. I declare that from now on, you are a citizen of our country! An honorable citizen!”
“Really? That’s great!”
Upon hearing the little queen’s words, the giant cried out in excitement. Looking at this scene before him, which was like the end of a fairy tale, Rhode felt relieved.
It should end now, right?
But when this thought cropped up in Rhode’s head, a dazzling brilliance flashed by his vision.
“———!”
A bright and dazzling light streaked across the sky like a meteor, before striking the giant heavily. The giant didn’t expect this ambush in the slightest and fell to the ground immediately. This scene stunned the cheering little queen and guards and left them at a loss. Just as everyone was bewildered, a serious and earnest voice sounded all of a sudden.
“It ends here! You guys are taking it too far!”
Along with this voice, an angel wielding a sword of light and clad in golden armor that was shrouded in glorious brilliance slowly descended from the sky. With a serious expression, she gazed at the crowd below her. Her entire body exuded an incomparably strong and substantial aura that was almost overwhelming to them.
Celia.
The moment Rhode saw the battle angel, he confirmed that this person was truly the Celia that he knew.
It looked like the rightful owner finally made her appearance.
[1] A 1726 prose satire by the Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift.