Reincarnated as a Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage

After we decided to grant their request for an audience, Mother, Michael, and I went to the throne room, the Apollo Drawing Room in the real Palace of Versailles.

Naturally, Mother was the one to take a seat on the majestic throne that was elevated by a raised platform because she was the queen regnant, while Michael and I just stood diagonally to her on the floor.

There were a few knights stationed inside and outside the room for both security and formal purposes. We would be receiving our visitors, and a good first impression was a must so that our nation appealed to them.

Noticeably, Mom, Big Sis, Gabrielle, and our other vassals were not present in this audience. It was not like they were having a good time. Actually, each of them was busy with their tasks regarding our nation's administration.

Also, Gabrielle had begun to experience the symptoms of her pregnancy, so she was currently at rest and refrained herself from stress. But inside her head, she had been surfing the web and watching pregnancy tips online. Maybe her maternal instincts made her more attentive to the child?

Anyway, the throne room was ready. All we had to do was let the visitors come in.

"Call them."

"I understand, Your Majesty."

Upon Mother's order, one of the knights gave her a salute before he exited the room. By the way, we made the drawing rooms, Mars, Mercury, and Apollo, enclosed because we sometimes used those rooms for private matters.

Around a minute or so later, the knight returned, and now there were three women who followed him behind, walking on the red carpet. He then stopped before the throne and saluted the queen again before going back to his position.

Regarding the three women, they seemed to be in their early to late twenties by human standards. They all wore the same outfit of green silky dresses, plain with a few embroidery but delicate. They were like fairies in tales.

It was notable that they had the same hair and eye colors, which were green, and their skins were light. They all had this Scandinavian-like complexion, and each one of them possessed unique body shapes.

Starting from the left, the first woman had long, wavy hair with an hourglass figure. Then in the middle, this woman seemed to be the oldest and most mature-looking among them. Her hair was long and straight, pulling down to her waist, and she was the most prominent in that department. The last one, the youngest, was a petite young woman with braided hair.

(Are they siblings or something? Or maybe it is just because they were in the same race?)

Generally, they were all good-looking, but there was this supernatural atmosphere around them. Knowing what they really were, it made sense to me why they were emitting such a vibe.

They claimed that they were from the forest, and they requested an audience with the queen. But what did they want from us? Before that, I had something to remind them of first.

"You are in the presence of the queen! I demand you all to give your respect!"

The three of them were startled by my sudden words and lost in thoughts for a few seconds. Afterwards, the woman in the middle eventually understood what I meant before she slowly bent her knees, initiating the submission. The woman on the right immediately followed suit, but the other hesitated for a second before she kneeled.

"Sister," she whispered. "Do we really have to submit ourselves before someone other than our mother?"

"Just do whatever their demands."

"If you insist..."

They were having a short chat for a brief moment. I heard she called the other woman "sister," but it was not enough to say that they were siblings. Also, she mentioned above their "mother." The way they hesitated showed that they truly respect that person to a high degree.

Anyway, let us hear their words.

"Well then," Mother spoke. "If you don't know yet, my name is Mylene Clare Therese Lou Raevender, the reigning queen of the Queendom of Raevender. I am granting your request for an audience with me. Now, could you state your names?" Your journey continues with m-vl-em|p-yr

"It's a pleasure finally meeting you, Your Majesty, queen of the Queendom of Raevender," the mature woman intoned with her mature voice. "My name is Aesfen, and these two are my sisters, Fyr and Gron. Despite our appearance, we are not humans. We actually belong to the tree spirit race."

"Tree spirit? Like dryads in the stories?"

"I apologize for not having that much knowledge about humans and their culture, but yes, dryads are one of the tree spirit races."

"That explains how you are able to live within the forest that is filled with ferocious monsters."

"The forest is indeed dangerous, and we have to exterminate the hostile monsters roaming our abode. Actually, killing those monsters makes us stronger, and now we used to be dryads anymore."

"It means that you have evolved into a higher existence."

"Yes. Also, dryads are not the base form of the tree spirit race. It is the Alraune, and then Alraune evolves into Dryads."

"So what are you now?"

"We have evolved a few times, and each of us is of a different race. Currently, Gron is a Nereid, an evolved Dryad, Fyr is a Meliad, an evolved Neried, while I have become a Tree Spirit Pillar.

"By the sounds of it, I assume that you are the leader of your kind, yes?"

"Not entirely for my kind, as there are a few other groves of tree spirits around the world. It is the same as human kings who only rule the population of their domain. Just like you are, Your Majesty."

*I see."

Hm. It was the first time I had properly thought of these. I never thought that spirits in general had that much lore. I wanted to inquire about Akashvani so that I could learn about them more, but I decided not to because I did not want spoilers. I just let them spill the beans for me.

"Well then, now that you have stated your identities, might we hear what your business is here?"