The Two Brothers Collecting Fairy Tales

For the past two months, in several small countries south of the Rose Kingdom, many people had witnessed such a scene:

A silver-haired boy and a golden-haired girl traveling together.

The boy looked no more than twelve or thirteen years old, while the girl was even younger. The boy had a scholarly air, always bathed in the tranquil sunlight, reading a book; the girl was more lively, but her exuberance did not detract from the elegance of a noble's child.

Both children were exceptionally beautiful, their large, bright eyes as clear as lake water, possessing an otherworldly, transcendent beauty, like figures stepping out of a fairy tale book.

The girl, in particular, was special, as if possessing an innate charm that made people want to get close to her. Her voice was even more melodious, like a lark singing in spring. No innkeeper or shop owner, upon seeing this adorable golden-haired girl, was unwilling to give her a discount.

The two children were polite, well-behaved, and adorable, staying in inns every night. They clearly had plenty of travel money, yet no one saw any family members or servants responsible for taking care of them.

Many people guessed that they were half-siblings, hence the different hair and eye colors.

Some said that they might be two wealthy children who had run away from home, escaping their parents' supervision and embarking on a journey to a foreign land.

Others said that the children's homeland must have suffered some kind of disaster, their parents had passed away, forcing them to leave their original home and travel here.

But no one knew that they were the former Sage and future Queen of a once-prosperous kingdom.

Once, a kind innkeeper asked the two beautiful children, "Children, where did you come from? Has your family suffered some misfortune? Do you need any help?"

Aurora replied:

"On the day I was born, my homeland suffered a disaster, and my family members were cursed. Therefore, we must travel to a place very, very far away to find a way to lift the curse and save my family."

Her answer was quite honest.

"Thank you for your kindness, kind person. We don't need help. This task must be completed by us personally," Rhine also said.

"Then, may the gods protect you," the innkeeper offered a blessing to the two children.

The next morning, the innkeeper had just gotten out of bed when he discovered that his leg, which had been lame for more than a decade, had miraculously "healed itself."

But not everyone on the journey was as kind as the innkeeper.

From time to time, there were malicious robbers who wanted to take advantage of the night to rob these wealthy children without adult supervision.

However, the robbers and human traffickers who had similar ideas all disappeared without a trace.

Many days passed, and the story of the two children spread.

But through word of mouth and repeated embellishment, the legend was distorted.

People said that there was a pair of siblings whose parents were cursed by a demon and were seriously ill in bed.

The two children had no choice but to leave their homes and embark on a journey, trekking through mountains and rivers, to a sacred mountain to find the legendary Rainbow-Colored Flower that could lift the curse and heal their seriously ill parents.

A magical little fairy was moved by the two children and secretly protected them.

When the two children encountered man-eating beasts, the little fairy would cast a spell to drive the beasts away; when they encountered murderous robbers, the little fairy would turn the robbers into ugly toads.

People who heard this story praised the two children's strength and wished them well in finding the magical flower as soon as possible, returning to their hometown, and healing their bedridden parents.

Later, two brothers who specialized in linguistics and history, collecting and organizing folk tales and fairy tales, appeared on the continent.

They excavated folk stories from different narrators and recorders, identified them, and made linguistic and rhetorical modifications, compiling them into a collection of fairy tales.

The learned brothers discovered such a story during their extensive research.

"Brother, this is a very interesting folk tale, widely circulated in the southwest of the continent. This story has several different variants, but the protagonists are basically a pair of siblings, and the goal is to lift the curse on their family. I think we need to record it."

"Okay, let's call this story The Siblings and the Rainbow Flower."

Of course, that was all in the future.

After a long journey, the Magician, Rhine, took the princess, Aurora, and finally traveled to the southern coast, gazing at the boundless sea.

The water was so blue, like a clean, washed blue sky; the water was so clear, like the brightest gem.

The golden sunlight sprinkled on the water, sparkling, as if sprinkling the sea with fine gold leaf. The waves rose and fell, breaking into Duo Duo waves, as white as the first snow.

"The book says that under this sea is the kingdom where the Mermaids and other intelligent sea creatures live," Aurora said.

One of the Black Witch Maleficent's "Black Magic Sisters" is in the Mermaid's kingdom, under these turbulent waves.

Since the Black Witch Maleficent has contact with this sea hag, she probably knows where Maleficent is now! The princess looked at the raging waves and became troubled again:

"But, how are we supposed to get down there?" Moreover, even if we could get down, how would we find the kingdom where the mermaids and other intelligent sea creatures live in the vast ocean?

"And and, even if we found the mermaid kingdom, how would we communicate with them?"

"The information I saw said that the merfolk of the sea kingdom are very hostile to humans on land! They even deliberately create disasters and attack ships passing through this sea area! Even if we two humans can enter the mermaid kingdom, we definitely won't be welcome. Maybe, we'll even end up fighting them!"