While Allen could move freely in the palace now, Cecile and the other girls were together with Princess Rapsonile in a villa a short distance away from the palace.
Ignomas' knights were blocking the entrance and exit, secluding them inside there.
Allen's plan had been to get Cecile and the other girls inside that villa.
Prostia and its capital Patlanta were unknown locations for them, so Allen wanted to gather as much information as he could.
And that was not limited to just information about Ignomas or Bek.
Allen wanted to maintain a friendly relationship with the Prostia Empire, even though Ignomas had taken over the throne.
"I see, so you actually visited Clebeur in the past."
Cecile and the other girls' role was to find out all sorts of information that they could.
They were gathered in the dining room now, where Shea was asking Rapsonile questions about her life from before she turned 15 and became an adult.
As part of Prostia's imperial family, she had actually visited Clebeur in the past.
"Yes, the surface was a wondrous place. Though it was quite a struggle to move on my own, due to my feet."
She said while bringing forth her fish tail, pointing at it.
Princess Rapsonile did not keep any secrets, answering all of their questions honestly.
They had already rescued Princess Rapsonile's mother, the empress, but she had feet.
There were various other imperial princes there too, but all of them had feet, no fish tails.
Princess Rapsonile was special, having inherited the Sacred Fish Makris' bloodline, who was a Servant of Aqua.
"Ohh, so did you have to stay in a barrel and be carried around or something?"
"Yes, precisely. We had a bucket especially for that."
Shea had asked that mostly as a joke, but that was actually what had happened.
'...'
They had already explained Allen's presence as well.
Allen was listening to everything they said through a Bird G summon that hid amongst Cecile's clothes.
Because half her body was that of a fish, Princess Rapsonile had needed to be inside of a water container to move around when she visited the surface.
Whether that container had been a barrel, a bucket, or a fish tank, was irrelevant for the story.
"Once everything calms down you should come visit Albahar then, we'll welcome you with open arms."
Shea was Albahar's princess, and the opportunities to invite someone in a high position from Prostia like that were extremely rare.
And preserving the future of one's country was a common trait in beastmen.
"Thank you very much. I really hope such a day arrives…"
Princess Rapsonile's face clouded over as she said that.
She was currently trapped inside the villa, while Ignomas took control over the empire.
She felt like her future was looking very bleak, knowing Ignomas would eventually force her to become his bride.
"I believe I mentioned this already, but Ignomas' reign won't be long. His rebellion will fail."
Sophie said with certainty, Ignomas would fall.
Cecile and the rest had already told the princess who they were.
And how they were chasing after Bek, and that they were keeping Ignomas alive so they could obtain as much information from him as possible.
Ignomas would go nearly every day to the villa while they were eating like now.
He would always boast about his military achievements, and how nobles were on his side.
Allen knew Ignomas' routine, which was another reason why he had sent Cecile and the others to the villa.
Duke Drescalay and the empress knew enough about the empire in general.
But Princess Rapsonile knew things that happened while those two were imprisoned, including everything Ignomas told her trying to boast.
Either Ignomas was actually an idiot, or he had too much ego, his bragging becoming even more eloquent now that there were more people forced to listen.
"A-are you sure? Ignomas is the strongest in Prostia, there's no one who can defeat him…"
Prostia was a large country, so its population was also immense. That meant people with 4 Star Talents were sometimes born there, which was even rarer than the birth of a 3 Star Sword Saint.
In this world where one person could be as strong as ten thousand others, it was hard to imagine there were people who could fight Ignomas, a Spear King with 4 Stars.
"Master Allen would never lose, he's not that weak."
"Is he really…"
Princess Rapsonile was lost for words hearing Sophie's declaration.
Because of her appearance, she had the highest chance at becoming the next ruler of Prostia.
She could not believe Sophie, who similarly would likely become the next queen of Rosenheim, would say something like that.
"Ignomas will be defeated during the Songstress Contest. Is that alright?"
"Of course. Just make sure Ignomas' spear doesn't harm any citizens."
"Don't worry, it won't even reach that point."
They already seemed to have a plan to take down Ignomas.
Everyone in the empire was aware about Ignomas' rebellion.
Ignomas had forcefully seized power, and was trying to overturn the entire empire.
The best time to take him out was when people from all over the empire were gathered, as well as the Sacred Fish Makris.
Sophie had spoken with certainty, knowing how important that event would be.
Princess Rapsonile was still a little dubious as she turned to look at the Bird G summon.
Allen had promised Ignomas he would gather 10'000'000 gold coins in three months.
But that was just a lie to be able to move around freely.
He had no intention of gathering money for Ignomas, and would not give him a single coin.
Princess Rapsonile was unaware of Allen's strength though, so she was still unsure.
It was rather hard to believe all of that, so no one blamed her, and instead kept thinking if there was anything more she might know that could help them.
"Hm? Was that thing always there?"
Cecile looked to switch topics, trying to cheer up the princess.
She turned to the window, noticing something that had not been there the day before.
It looked like a column of light, just as bright as the crystal flowers.
The column continued high up, going farther than could be seen through the window.
"Ah, that's a crystal flower's style. It'll be producing seeds soon, so it's going to get even bigger."
'Ohh.'
The Bird G summon reacted after hearing that.
It turned its eyes at Cecile, pushing her to ask for more details about that.
"So what exactly does that mean? That's how seeds for new crystal flowers are formed?"
"Yes. The Prostia Empire exists thanks to various blessings from Aqua. The crystal flowers are just one of them."
A crystal flower's seeds were known as crystal seeds.
Princess Rapsonile continued talking about them.
Those flowers had been created with the power of the Goddess of Water Aqua.
But they existed for more than to just grant light.
There were many monsters lurking in the depths of the ocean, and the crystal seeds had a warding power that kept mermen safe from monsters.
"That reminds me, I believe one of Prostia's major exports are charms that ward off monsters too?"
When Cecile obtained her Sacred Bead in Clebeur, they had also heard about Prostia's exports.
Those charms were usually fixated to the bilges of ships, warding off monsters.
Those were one of Prostia's most valuable exports.
"Yes, I'm impressed you know about them. We're constantly protected by Aqua's blessings. I believe you liked our legend a lot, Cecile?"
Princess Rapsonile had noticed how passionate Cecile was about that picture book.
"Yes. Could it be that the power that protected Prostia from the sea monster was also a crystal flower?"
"That's correct. Aqua gave them to use in response to our prayers."
There was a large monster that would often attack Prostia, known as the Sea Monster.
It was as strong as an S Rank monster, and every time it attacked many mermen would lose their lives.
The Sacred Fish Makris had obtained the power of the crystal flowers, risking his life to seal away the Sea Monster with them and save Prostia. That was told in the picture book too.
"Wait, does that mean that there's a monster sealed inside this crystal flower?"
Cecile looked down in terror.
The Sea Monster depicted in the picture book had a horrifying appearance, and some said it brought the end of the world.
After reading that, Cecile could no longer go to the toilet alone at night, and would often go to the attic where Allen slept and clobber him awake.
"Yes, it's there. This crystal flower is so big because it's meant to keep it sealed down there."
There was a reason why this enormous crystal flower was 100 kilometers long.
Patlanta was once built on the seabed, a certain distance away from its current location.
After Makris fought the Sea Monster, an enormous crystal flower appeared there.
The people of Patlanta were attracted by the light and protection offered by the crystal flower, so they relocated the city to be above the seal.
Such a large crystal flower would easily seal the Sea Monster away, while also keeping any monsters up to B Rank at bay.
The mermen thrived atop the sacred crystal flower that sealed away the Sea Monster.
"So that was the whole story… It's almost like Allen's…"
Thinking that, Cecile was reminded of Allen's summons.
That effect was almost the same as his Gold and Silver Beans.
Merus had said that Allen's summons had been built based on existing Talents and Divine Blessings.
It could be assumed that the crystal flowers had been the basis of the Grass A summon that kept monsters away.
"For generations, we of the Prostia family have had the duty of watching the Sea Monster, making sure it never breaks through the seal."
While everyone listened in shock, Princess Rapsonile added that with a hint of pride.
Talking about her duties as part of the imperial family had brought back her good spirits.
Having Aqua's Blessing and being part of the Sacred Fish Makris' bloodline made the Prostia family more than suitable to rule over the undersea empire.
"Crystal seeds… I assume they also shine brightly?"
"I'm sure it'll be a sight you'll never forget. I hope you can watch it."
The seeds would be spread into the ocean during the Songstress Contest, and the princess wanted all of them to watch that.
'Crystal seeds, huh…'
Meanwhile Allen was thinking of something different, hearing those words.
